Happy New Year!

I wish for all of you a happy and healthy New Year! 

2019 is the year my baby will have a baby! Our new grandson will be born in the first month of the new year, and we could not be more pleased. What a great way to start out the year. Cheers!

Magenta Products Used:

07.974.G Cheers!

Other Products Used:

Basics Acrylic Paints

Golden Fluid Acrylics

Deco Foil - Gold

Sharpie marker

Lucy's Little Gems

Versamark ink

WOW Rich Gold embossing powder

Papertrey Ink True Black cardstock

Tim Holtz watercolor paper

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Magenta Stamps Used:

14.671.M Stitched Leafy Branch

07.995.E Joyeux Noël

Magenta Super Saturday - Last Minute Cards and Tags

Christmas is getting close, and if you still have a card or some tags to make, it's best to keep it simple and fast. This post appears on the Magenta blog today, and you can see it here.

This card turned out so pretty, and yet it was really fast to make. I love this Trio of Poinsettias stamp from Magenta. It's not new, but I chose it because it goes so well with the new Calligraphy stamps designed by Sally Penley for Magenta. The Poinsettias and the Calligraphy stamps are so classic they will never go out of style.

I stamped the poinsettias with Versamark ink and embossed them with gold embossing powder. I did the same with the sentiment, and they were all stamped and embossed twice to get that beautiful thick, fluid gold look.

I pressed some Distress Inks onto my mat and painted them onto the flowers. This actually goes really fast, and I love the look. You can see more examples where I have done this here and here. I tend to go to Distress Inks to paint quite a bit because I'm so familiar with the colors, and so I find it fast to do.

The white dots were added with Pico Embellisher. At the end I scattered some gems, matted the panel with red and mounted it onto a base card.

I liked the pairing of these two stamps so much that I also made a tag with them

This was easy and fun to make, and could be mass produced very quickly. For the "To" and "From" on my tags, I usually print out current pictures of intended recipients and punch them out with a circle punch. You can see this here.

Magenta Products Used:

02.273.L Trio of Poinsettias

07.989.G Merry Christmas

Other Products Used:

Distress Inks: Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn,

Peeled Paint

Versamark Ink

JudiKins Gold Detail Embossing powder

Wedding Dress Pico Embellisher

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Various gems

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Stardream Jupiter cardstock

Neenah Solar White #110 cardstock

Magenta Super Saturday - Season's Greetings

I'm still making a few more Christmas cards leading up to Christmas, and I have been wanting to use this great new Magenta stencil, Evergreen Ornaments. This post is on the Magenta blog today, and you can see it here.

I started with a panel that I had made with alcohol inks. I floated some alcohol ink on a container of water, and dipped watercolor cardstock into the water. This particular panel came out in light shades of pink and blues.

I used Distress Ink through the stencil, in greens for the evergreen branches, and in red for the ornaments and flower.

To decorate some of the ornaments, I used a few other stencils and used Distress Ink to add the patterns. Although this is a color palette that is outside of my comfort zone, since it appears so pink, I did enjoy making this card. I loved how the different stencils made pretty patterns on the ornaments. I stamped the sentiment with the Festive Berries Distress Ink.

I ended by adding some gems and coloring some of the ornaments and the flower with a clear glitter Wink of Stella pen.

Magenta Products Used:

TM281 Evergreen Ornaments

TM256 Stylized Vine

TM260 Flower Branch

TM264 Small Old Lace

07.994.F Season's Greetings

Other Products Used:

Distress Inks: Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn

Tim Holtz Watercolor cardstock

Stardream Jupiter cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Wink of Stella clear glitter pen

Thanks to Our Veterinarians

My son asked me to make a card as a thank you to his Veterinarian. His cat had kittens and the Vet helped a lot and really went above and beyond. I loved being asked to make a card!

First I made a background by blending Distress Oxide inks onto some white cardstock, and flicked water onto the blended colors to make speckles. You can see where I talk about Distress Oxides and show blending here.

I stamped the Kitty Flourish stamp in Black Versafine ink, and then stamped the Small Thank You above.

I cut a piece of Paper Accents white cardstock to slightly smaller than the colored panel, and cut an oval window in the center of the panel using a Die-namics Inside/Outside Stitched Oval die.

This was a pretty easy card to put together, but I loved how it turned out, and I hope the Vet's office also liked it.

A an added bonus, here are some kitten pictures

This is Lucy, the Mom

This cutie's kitten name is Ziggy Stardust

Axl - the only boy!

Alaska and Boga

All five of them - milk coma

Sister and Brother, Alaska and Axl

They are about 4 weeks old now and so cute!

Magenta Products used:

13.153.M Kitty Flourish

07.977.E Small Thank You!

Other Products used:

Distress Oxides: Peacock Feathers,

Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey,

Seedless Preserves

Onyx Black Versafine ink

Die-namics MFT-846 Inside/Outside Stitched Ovals die set

Paper Accents white cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Happy You're My Friend

One of my dearest friends here is moving very far away, and I don't know if I'll ever see her again. This is a happy move for her, so I'm glad for her, but I will miss her! I made this card with a stamp set that I recently got from Simon Says Stamp

I really want to get out my watercolors and play with them, but when I'm in a hurry, it's always my Distress inks, because I know the colors so well.

I stamped and embossed the image with gold embossing powder onto watercolor cardstock first. Then I applied Distress ink to several acrylic blocks and added a little water to paint with them. At the end I flicked a little color and stamped the sentiment, also from the same set.

I added a few gems and that's it! I think there is a lot you could do with this set, and I plan to use it more in the future.

Products Used:

SSS101830 Sketched Flowers

Die-namics MFT-463 Blueprints 13 die set

Distress inks: Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron,

Peeled Paint, Barn Door, Rusty Hinge,

Dried Marigold, Mustard Seed

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

Curious Metallics Super Gold cardstock

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Magenta Super Saturday - Coloring Hellebores with Prismacolors

I am coloring with my Prismacolors again, and this time I'm using the new Magenta Flower Corner stamp. This stamp was drawn by the very talented Nathalie Metivier, and the flowers are Hellebores. Hellebores are a beautiful winter flower, and often appear in Holiday bouquets. I think this stamp could be used all year round, and for any occasion.

I first cut 6 panels from different colors of cardstock, using the Lawn Fawn die LF768. The largest die of this set cuts a nice stitched edge panel that is 3.75" x 5". I placed the first panel into my MISTI and arranged the stamp in a corner. I stamped, and then flipped the panel and stamped again in the opposite corner. I did the same on each panel.

I stamped the dark cardstock panels with white ink, and the others were stamped with light colors of ink that went with the colors I was going to use on the flowers. The important thing is that you can see what you are coloring. This ink will be covered up later.

I have done this technique with different stamps before, and you can see those posts here and here. I like to stamp a lot of panels when I do this to make multiple cards. Once you have it set up, it's easy to do. One tip is that you should leave your stamp in your stamp platform until you have finished coloring all of your cards.

I have been experimenting with colors, and have found that I like certain ones on different colors of cardstock. I really like the purple on black, red on Kraft, and so on. The combinations I have here are some of my favorites, and you can find details about them in the product information below. I'm still tinkering with combinations, but when I have finally figured out my very favorites I will do a post about them.

Once I finished coloring each panel, I put each one back into the MISTI (I never moved my stamp) and stamped on each of the previously stamped and colored corners with Versamark Ink. It's very important to use a powder bag or some sort of anti-static tool before you stamp with the Versamark. Embossing powder really likes to stick to the Prismacolor.

After stamping with Versamark, I applied embossing powder to each one, according to what I thought would look good with the coloring and the color of the cardstock. In all, I used white, gold and silver.

After embossing the flowers, I went back and stamped and embossed the sentiments. I think that Magenta's Sally Penley calligraphy stamps go very well with this type of card design.

On all of the first 5 cards shown above, I stamped with Versamark ink and embossed using the same embossing powder on the sentiment as I used on the flowers. On this 6th card, I thought the silver would not show up well enough, so I searched for the right color of blue. I discovered I have a lot of blues.

Sorry for the not so great photos here, but I thought you would like to see my process. I realize I'm obsessive, but I wanted to get the best color for the sentiment that I could. I spent a lot of time coloring these panels, and I didn't want to ruin one by having a poorly matching color.

Weird shadows and lighting on both of these, but you get the idea. All of them were stamped and then embossed with clear embossing powder onto the front and back of a strip that I had saved of the same cardstock used in the panel. I ended up using Blueprint Sketch Oxide ink for this sentiment. I'm going to save this strip in case I need to refer to it in the future. (And yes, I have more blues but I stopped with these since I found my match).

Here are all of them ready to be matted. I wanted to finish them all for this post, but I also think it would be good to stamp, color and emboss the panels, and then wait to stamp the sentiment until you need a card for a particular occasion. I think this design and these stamps could be used for lots of kinds of cards such as Thank You, Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Thinking of You, Mother's Day, and Sympathy.

I hope you like these and will try out this technique.

Magenta Products Used:

14.669.L Flower Corner

07.989.G Merry Christmas

07.975.I Happy Birthday Large

07.979.G Thank You Medium

07.980.E Thanks Small

Other Products Used:

Card #1 Merry Christmas:

Prismacolors: PC924 Crimson Red

PC923 Scarlet Lake, PC1014 Deco Pink,

PC911 Olive Green, PC912 Apple Green,

PC1005 Limepeel, PC1004 Yellow Chartreuse

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

Tea Dye Distress Ink

Versamark Ink

Lawn Fawn die LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Strathmore Tan Tone Mixed Media cardstock

Malmero Pearl Red cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Card #2 Purple Happy Birthday

Prismacolors: PC931 Dark Purple,

PC1008 Parma Violet, PC956 Lilac,

PC1026 Greyed Lavender,

PC911 Olive Green, PC912 Apple Green,

PC1005 Limepeel, PC1004 Yellow Chartreuse

JudiKins White Opaque embossing powder

Hero Arts Unicorn White pigment ink

Versamark Ink

Lawn Fawn die LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Papertrey Ink True Black cardstock

So Silk Passion Purple cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Card #3 Turquoise Thank You

Primacolors: PC105 Cobalt Turquoise,

PC905 Aquamarine, PC992 Light Aqua

PC911 Olive Green, PC912 Apple Green,

PC1005 Limepeel, PC1004 Yellow Chartreuse

JudiKins White Opaque embossing powder

Versafine Smoky Gray pigment ink

Versamark Ink

Lawn Fawn die LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Strathmore Gray Tone Mixed Media cardstock

So Silk Glamor Green cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Card #4 Orange Happy Birthday

Prismacolors: PC944 Terra Cotta,

PC921 Pale Vermillion, PC1001 Salmon Pink,

PC1011 Deco Yellow,

PC911 Olive Green, PC912 Apple Green,

PC1005 Limepeel, PC1004 Yellow Chartreuse

JudiKins Detail Gold embossing powder

Tea Dye Distress Ink

Versamark Ink

Lawn Fawn die LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

White Stonehenge cardstock

Stampin' Up Cajun Craze cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Card #5 Turquoise Happy Birthday

Primacolors: PC105 Cobalt Turquoise,

PC905 Aquamarine, PC992 Light Aqua

PC911 Olive Green, PC912 Apple Green,

PC1005 Limepeel, PC1004 Yellow Chartreuse

JudiKins White Opaque embossing powder

Hero Arts Unicorn White pigment ink

Versamark Ink

Lawn Fawn die LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Deep Blue cardstock from The Paper Cut

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Card #6 Blue Thank You

Prismacolors: PC901 Indigo Blue,

PC902 Ultramarine, PC1097 Powder Blue,

PC911 Olive Green, PC912 Apple Green,

PC1005 Limepeel, PC1004 Yellow Chartreuse

JudiKins Detail Silver embossing powder

JudiKins Detail Clear embossing powder

Versafine Smoky Gray pigment ink

Distress Oxide Blueprint Sketch ink

Versamark Ink

Lawn Fawn die LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Strathmore Blue Tone Mixed Media cardstock

Malmero Pearl Blue cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Seattle Skyline Happy Birthday

I made this card for my son's birthday, which is this month. He lives in Seattle, and this is one of my die-cut mini-masterpiece cards. One of my first mini masterpiece posts is here, where you can see more about the process. You can find other die cut mini masterpieces here, here, here and here. There are many more as well, just search for "mini masterpiece" here on my blog.

I die-cut the focal point using the Impress Seattle Skyline die, and cut it out of this master sheet I made a while ago. I have have already used this piece to make several cards, and there is still a lot left of it.

I love this type of card because it's fun and easy to make, and it always looks great. 

I mounted the die-cut onto a square of So Silk Fair Blue cardstock cut to 2.5" x 2.5". The square was mounted onto a piece of Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock that was cut with the Lawn Fawn LF 768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables die, and that panel was matted with another piece of the So Silk Fair Blue.

I stamped the sentiment using one of Sally Penley's fabulous calligraphy stamps.

At the end I put some very very small pearls onto the background, which look like stars in the sky.

Magenta Products used:

07.975.I Happy Birthday Large

Other Products used:

Various acrylic paints

Sharpie markers

Impress Seattle Skyline die

Lawn Fawn LF768 die Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Versafine Onyx Black ink

So Silk Fair Blue cardstock

Watercolor cardstock

Tiny pearl embellishments

Crossing Things off My List! Alcohol Ink Happy Birthday

Do you make lists? I do, especially when things start to get hectic. Suddenly it's November, and I realize there is so much to do. If you live in the U.S., I hope that you will vote on Tuesday. It's so very important. I love that I live in Washington state, where 99% of the voting is done by mail; my ballot has been in the mail for over a week. I wish I could push a button on the TV now to say that I voted, and avoid the constant stream of political ads. Better idea: work on my list! I literally have a dozen close friends and family with birthdays in November and December!

This one is going in the mail to a family member, far away. 

The top piece is alcohol ink on Yupo paper. I absolutely love to play with alcohol ink. For this piece, I  dripped various shades of greens and yellow onto Yupo, and blew it around with a straw. I added more color, more plain alcohol, and blew it around some more. I got a tiny micro brush applicator, dipped it in alcohol and made spots al over. I just had fun playing with it, and I loved the end result. The way alcohol ink moves on Yupo is just magical.

I cut my Yupo panel with the Papertrey Ink Sentiment Splits Curve, Horizontal die. I then cut a piece of 80# Neenah Solar White cardstock with the same die and adhered it to the back of the Yupo piece, but dropped down so that about 1/4" would show below the green. 

I used a sentiment from the Papertrey Ink Botanical Blocks stamp set. I had searched for an acrylic stamp that just said Happy Birthday in block letters, that was small enough to fit. I wanted to be able to bend the stamp into the shape of the curve, and this one worked perfectly.

I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black ink, and adhered the pieces onto some Neenah Solar White cardstock that I had dry embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. I'm trying to remember to use my embossing folders more. The entire panel was matted with Curious Metallics Super Gold cardstock, and mounted onto a white base card.

Another thing crossed off my list, and I really hope my family member likes my card! At this point in the year, I am so very thankful that I have already finished all of my Christmas cards and tags. That doesn't mean that I won't do more Christmas cards this year though! I have some planned for some Magenta posts, so please stay tuned.

Products used:

Ranger alcohol ink in various greens and yellows

91% alcohol

Yupo paper from Ranger

Papertrey Ink Sentiment Splits Curve, Horizontal die PTD 0787

Papertrey Ink Botanical Blocks Stamp Set 2817 (for the sentiment)

Sizzix 657252 Embossing Folder Branches with Leaves and Flowers

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Curious Metallics Super Gold cardstock

Neenah Solar White cardstock 80# & 110#

Super Saturday - Magenta ATCoins Swap Part 2

If you saw my last post, then you know that Magenta is having an ATCoin swap! It's so fun to create little artworks on a 2.5" circle, and even more fun to swap with someone else. You can participate in this international swap by signing up here. Once you're matched up with someone, you can send them your ATCoins, and they will send you theirs. I can't wait! You can see my first two Coins here.

My third Coin has a Fall theme. I blended Distress Inks Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey and Mustard Seed onto the background. I thought I would try my technique of "stencil stamping" on this one. You can see the technique demonstrated on a previous post here. I sprayed the Magenta stencil TM286 Wavy Lines with water and placed the wet stencil onto my blended background. When I lifted up the stencil, it picked up some of the ink and the water reacted to the background leaving ghostly trails that look like branches.

I stamped the Distressed Background Text stamp just lightly on the bottom on the Coin in Tea Dye Distress ink. I then stamped the new Fall Berries stamp in Versamark and embossed with gold embossing powder. I cut out the circle with the Frantic Stamper FRA-DIE-09637 Stitched Circle die that cuts it to exactly 2.5" and leaves a nice stitched edge.

The last coin in this series has a winter theme. I stamped onto watercolor cardstock one of my favorite new stamps in the new Magenta collection, Poinsettia Border. Under it I stamped the Peace sentiment from the top of the Peace Love Joy Calligraphy stamp designed by Sally Penley. I stamped everything in Versamark ink and embossed with Gold embossing powder. Sorry that in the photo the gold doesn't look shiny like it does in real life.

I tried photographing it at an oblique angle, which kind of makes it look oval, but you can see that the gold is shiny. I colored the poinsettia and the background with Kuretake Zig Clean Color markers and colored over those with a Wink of Stella glitter pen. You can almost see the glittery sparkle at this angle. Once again I cut this Coin out with the Stitched Circles die from Frantic Stanper.

Here are the backs of these two coins, using the new Magenta ATCoin stamp. You don't have to have this to participate in the swap, but it's a fun one to have. I plan to make lots more ATCoins. You can swap them, or you can adhere or insert them on cards or make tags from them. It's just such a fun size and shape.

Pam, Bianca and I did a joint post on the Magenta blog today and you can see that here. You can see Pam's post on her blog here.

You can go here to sign up for the Magenta swap, but hurry! The deadline is October 30 to sign up, then you have until November 12 to make and send out your ATCoins.

Magenta Products used:
(If you click on the link in the name below each image, 
it will take you to the Magenta store)

0760.N Fall Berries

TM286 Wavy Lines

48.003.N Distressed Background Text

02.317.O Poinsettia Border

07.990.G Peace Love Joy

07.1009.J Artist Trading Coin

Other Products used:

Distress inks: Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey,

Mustard Seed, Tea Dye

JudiKins Gold Detail Embossing Powder

Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens:

022 Carmine Red, 029 Geranium Red, 

047 May Green, 041 Light Green,

053 Yellow Green

FRA-DIE 09637 Stitched Circles

Wink of Stella Glitter Marker