Rocket Galaxy with Chibi Lights!

Wahoo! I got myself a kit of Chibitronics lights with a huge coupon on Black Friday! I showed my kids and they were eager to try out the lights but I didn’t want to just practice in the book. It seemed easy enough so why not start out with a card?

I tried a new way of making my galaxy background this time. I started by adding lots of stars with my frisket that has a needle tip on it. When that was dry, I used three colours of Gansai Tambi paints for the bright colours. They are semi-opaque so the colour stands out more under the black than with my professional paints. I dried it then added another layer for more brilliant colour and dried that as well. At this stage of course, it is very messy and imperfect. Next I added black (sometimes I also use some very dark blue) paint using my professional, more translucent paints. I applied it over the entire panel focusing on the areas without colour. If the colour starts to disappear underneath the black paint, I use a cloth to pick some of it up off the coloured areas. I add two layers if I need to to get the coverage I want. This layer is also dried before continuing. Last I add some black dye ink around the edges using an ink blender and over the coloured areas if the black isn’t dark enough. An eraser (with a clean tip) easily removed the frisket to reveal the white of the paper creating the look of stars.

The rocket was coloured with Copics and a gel pen for the silver bits then cut out by hand. The flame was cut out in the center as well to make room for the flame. I set up the chibi lights and also cut the flame shape from the background, adding a piece of vellum coloured orange behind the opening. I layered fun foam all over the back except for the battery area and attached the battery with a glue dot. It doesn’t seem to bother the electrical system at all because it is a very small glue dot. The planet was made using eggplant coloured paper cut with punches and dies for the craters. A piece of dark grey paper helps make the craters more 3 dimensional and I rough sponged on some purple, blue and black inks for texture. I used the same sponge I use for ink blending but instead of smoothly sponging over the paper, I just dabbed on the ink which left the texture behind.

For finishing touches, I used some teal glitter washi tape, some nuvo drops in glitter silver and some clear shimmer spray. A few sequin stars and silver Sharpie coloured wood veneer stars and my card was complete! My kids ADORE the light up feature. We’ve decided I will wait and send the card for the next card shower we hear about for a child the right age. So sweet of them to agree to that don’t you think?

Enjoy, Rebecca

Winter Feathers n Tea Card for the Winter Coffee Lovers Bloghop

Today I’m showing you a card for the quarterly Coffee (or tea or cocoa) Lovers Bloghop! I just got the new Vintage Tea Cup set from Altenew and it was perfect for my card for today.

The paper is from the new Winter Wonderland paper pack by Simple Stories. It has the most lovely soft blue-greens in it. Fortunately for me, Ocean Tides by PTI matches perfectly! So I die cut my tea cup from this colour except the inside which I paper pieced in with ivory cardstock. By embossing the cup it made it easier to line up the liquid image stamp because you can overlap it slightly and not worry about it. I accented the teacup with BG 70, 72 and 75 Copic markers. The flowers on the teacup were stamped using images from Beautiful Day.

The feathers are by PTI also, I stamped them in kraft, ocean tides and chocolate ink with a little Hero Arts soft pool on the aqua feather. I did lots of layers of stamping using my MISTI to get the stripes and  ombre looks within each feather. For the dots, I used the stamps provided but when I stamped them, they looked too perfect. So I stamped each dot then inked my stamp again, stamping a bit to each side creating more of an oval. I also tried tilting my stamp block (not the MISTI) to only get about 2/3 of the dot then reinking and stamping the opposite side of the stamp, using only 2/3 of it again which makes sort of an oval as well. It was easier to do this last technique with the larger dots.

Enjoy, Rebecca

Our Last Challenge of the Year!

We are looking back at this year’s sketches from Crazy 4 Challenges. I chose our sketch from challenge number 354.

I just got my latest order from Altenew today. It included both of the sets you see here: Vintage Teacup and Vintage Flowers. Can I just say how much I love them both? It took me ages to try out all the flowers as they each have up to 4! layers! I die cut them all then place a piece of typing paper under the negative piece. I then stamp each image on the typing paper so I have a record of which die goes in each place. It helps me line them up faster from then on. And if I want to make multiples, I have a way to place the die cuts in the same place each time.

While using the tea cup set, I learned a few things. Next time, I don’t think I will use the gold rim stamps with the polka dot ones. The gold rim goes better with the small flowers. I wanted to try the polka dots out so I’d have come contrast with all the flowers. But hey, can you ever have too many flowers on a card?? ha ha! You can find all 11 sketches over at the blog. I know it’s a busy time for most people but if you are still making cards, maybe thank you’s for after the holidays or hostess cards, try out one of our sketches!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Year in Review for Flourishes–Floral Tag

This week we’ve been having a review on the Flourishes Blog. Each designer created a card for this week using their favourite stamp set.

I love all of the Year of Flowers sets by Flourishes l.c., they are so beautiful and realistic. This time I used Year of Flowers 3. I stamped it with a light coloured ink using my MISTI than coloured it with Copics. After colouring, I re-stamped it with Versamark and embossed it with silver powder. The papers are from a My Mind’s Eye paper pack; the border and word dies are by SSS and the intricate die is by Spellbinders. Instead of sequins, I used my new Nuvo drops to make the shiny glitter drop embellies.

Enjoy, Rebecca

NEW! A Fun New Type of Shaker Card!

I have a new shaker card for you today, one I invented. Or at least I’ve never seen it anywhere. Neither had Dina of Splitcoast Stampers who has scheduled me in for a tutorial the first week of January! So exciting.

Fortunately for me, I don’t have to wait for my tutorial to come out to show you my idea! This is a card I made for a friend who had twin baby girls. Before you open the shaker portion, this is what the card front looks like.

Here you can see the shaker emerge as the front panel is removed. The shaker window is underneath it.

And finally with the front panel fully removed, you can see the entire shaker. I filled the shaker with lots of sequins and confetti, a bit too much really. The little onesies are held by stretchy clear jewelry cord (clear thread works just as well) so they don’t go sideways or upside down. That idea came from Jennifer McGuire. I did find that they don’t move much as the sequins underneath them hold them in place so next time, if I use larger items held in my the clear stretchy cord (like the onesies), I will use a double layer of fun foam.

I thought this was a clever idea and I hope you do too. Please share this idea on your blog and share the link with your friends as long as you give me credit. Please keep on eye out for my Splitcoast Stampers tutorial and video on the first Wednesday of January!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Altenew Baby Zoo, Card Directions-Clear Dollar Stamps (pull)
Ink: Versafine black
Paper: Echo Park
Accessories: tab die-PTI, stitched rectangles-SSS, sequins-Lucy’s Little Things, confetti-Martha Stewart, fun foam, clear jewelry cord-Michaels, onesie die-Lifestyle Crafts

Poppy Bookmark Card

It’s our Flourishes l.c. Friday Free for All Blog Hop again. It was my turn to choose the challenge so I picked one of my favourite types of cards – Interactive! If you’ve never made one, it means you construct the card in such a way so the card moves or the recipient has to do something other than just open the card.

The focal panel is actually a removable bookmark! I used a PTI die which cuts a scalloped banner. I cut the first time only partially leaving the short straight edge uncut. Then I turned the die around, lined it up and cut it a second time also leaving the short edge uncut. This left me with one long panel with banner shapes at both ends. I scored it so it folds into what you see here. The white die cut is adhered  everywhere except where the book mark tucks in. To use the bookmark, just place the front in the place you want to save and fold the other part down a few pages past.

The poppy image is from Year of Flowers 2 which is a fabulous set if you love to colour flowers! I use it constantly! I just ordered a new set of 150 !! Prismacolour Premier Pencils so I used then on this image. They are so creamy and blend without using a blender pen! You just go over the join between two colours with one of the pencils. I look forward to learning more! If you’d like to make an interactive card, check out the tutorials at Splitcoast Stampers, they have a ton of cool ideas! I’m going to have a tutorial there the first week of January so keep an eye out for that! I am so excited!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Check out what the other girls on the team made!

Beverly Cole
Linda Lucas
Naomi Gong
Tricia Traxler