Man Oh Man Monday No. 8 (on Tuesday)

Hello and happy Monday...er Tuesday rather!  Great to have you visit again for another installment of Man Oh Monday.  Coming up in June is one of the mega man holidays: Father's Day.  In honor of such an auspicious holiday I have decided to dedicate all of May's Man Oh Man Mondays to Father's Day.  I hope you will join me in celebrating the fathers and father figures in our lives in May!  

Now on to today's cards (again rated Easy Going):

I was inspired by Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #114 video by Dawn McVey to create a couple of cards using the Star Gazer Additions stamp set.  I chose to use Distress Markers for my cards, but if you have reinkers, watercolors, Distress Stains or Distress Paints this could work just as well.  You could even use the ink pad themselves in much the way I used the markers.  I used the markers in two different ways for these cards.

**Of note is that after I colored these images I let them dry overnight under a heavy object to help them to dry flat, but I placed them under a plastic object which meant they still were not completely dry so they are "artistic" and not flat.  If you prefer flat put them under a heavy non-plastic object perhaps even wrapped in water absorbent paper towels.  Just sayin'.

Card No. 1 | Simple Version

I white heat embossed the large image from Star Gazer Additions.  I scribbled the markers onto the Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet and then liberally sprayed the ink with water and picked up the color with a paint brush and dropped big drops over the image and then used the straw to blow the color in different directions.  I also flicked (best adjective I can think of and you may want to put a tarp over cover your work surface to avoid drops of color being everywhere!) smaller drops of color over the image and cardstock.

I added the panel to a piece of pewter cardstock and added a sentiment strip using dimensional adhesive. 

Okay, I have to admit that the torn bottom of this card is purely accidental...an adhesive mishap which I decided to just go with and sort of supports the whole tie-dyed Seattle circa 1992 grunge look,  I am sure tie-dying came about in much the same serendipitous way.

Card No. 2 | Flashy Version

I gold heat embossed the large image from Star Gazer Additions.  I used the markers to color in the image directly.  I then used the paint brush to drop water onto the image (remember that Distress products are reactive to water...cool stuff!) and used the straw to blow the water in different directions.

I added the sentiment strip which was bordered by some gold (the color is actually brown sugar which I often prefer to the real gold color) glitter tape and added some wood veneer stars for added embellishment (confession: the wood veneer stars were a clever ruse to cover the fact that the top star from the sentiment didn't quite fit on my white strip).

The card base was painted with some of the Distress Markers and water. 

MOMM Tips:
MOMM Tip No. 1: Mix It Up.  Use the same products for different results.
MOMM Tip No. 2: Go For It.  Add that dash of drama.  A little gold is appreciated.
 

That {finally} concludes this week's MOMM.

If you have any suggestions or questions regarding the upcoming focus on Father's Day, just leave me a comment!  See you next week for our first MOMM Father's Day special.

Happy creating,
Shay.

Supplies:
Stamps: Star Gazer Additions, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Versamark, Tsukineko; stone wash shadow ink, Hero Arts
Cardstock: stamper's select white, Papertrey Ink; pewter, Neenah Paper
Markers: tumbled glass, broken china, stormy sky, faded jeans, chipped sapphire, dusty concord and pine needles, Tim Holtz Distress Markers by Ranger
Other: opaque white and detail gold embossing powder, JudiKins; Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet, Ranger; stars wood veneer, Studio Calico; brown sugar glitter tape, American Crafts; drinking straw; paint brush; water; spray bottle; dimensional adhesive

Man Oh Man Monday No. 2

Good Monday and ahoy mateys! This week I bring you a clear based card with a touch of a nautical feel.   I was inspired to make a clear card by Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #107: Clear Card & Copic Coloring Basics. 

I would say this card is Easy Going.

As I don't have any clear cardstock (something that I need to add to my already eye-popping long to-buy list) I used some of the backing that stamps come on that I have collected over the years.  I cleaned the backing with a old t-shirt to get any unsightly film off them. 

For this project I wanted to use my Background Basics: Herringbone.  I love this set, but found the large image a challenge to stamp with good results.  Perhaps I am merely stamping challenged, but if you also find yourself in this undesirable situation I can help by suggesting doing this:

1. stamp into a foam pad or mouse pad; 
2. apply some force with your fingers onto the acrylic mount or stamp press enough so that the ink actually sticks to the paper;
3. carefully flip over the acrylic block with the paper still stuck to the stamped image
4. place a piece of scratch typing paper over the cardstock being stamped upon
5. either use your fingers, brayer or a smaller acrylic block to evenly press all over the cardstock and stamp through the typing paper. 

Using this method I then got a clean stamped image instead of an image with gaping holes.

The little sailboats are from Bitty Baby Blessings which I stamped three times on a white piece of cardstock with black ink and then colored in with Copics.  I wanted a little interest on the sails so added stripes using the Colorless Blender and edging it with the darker blue for them to stand out in contrast.  The sentiment is also from Bitty Baby Blessings, but I decided not to include "little sailor".  Somehow a smidgen of the ink from the "little sailor" part of the sentiment transferred although I swear I carefully wiped it all away.  So that is why there are those three brown gems under "ahoy". 

The herringbone panel is adhered on the opposite side of the clear card front with the sailboat panel adhered to the top of the cart front.  A word of caution, take your time placing your panels down as once adhered they won't budge without damage thus why the cardstock panels on my card list (pun intended) to one side.  The card front and back are adhered with a simple strip of gold washi.

I think this card could be given to a baby, boy or someone older with an interest in the sea and thus why I left out the "little sailor" of the sentiment.  Also, this card could be used for various occasions depending on what sentiment was put inside (my inside is a simple red piece of cardstock).

Challenges Met: Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #107: Clear Card & Copic Coloring Basics.

MOMM Tips:

MOMM Tip No. 1: Clearly fun.  Try using acrylic cardstock or clear packing material to make a card.  It is fun to play with the transparent aspect of acylic.
MOMM Tip No. 2: Don't fret mistakes.  If you fumble a bit try to find a creative solution before tossing it and starting over.  I covered up my mess up with a gem and like the card more for it and only I know the reason I added the embellishment.
MOMM Tip No. 3: Use your background stamps.  Those stamps are marvelous for gender neutral designs that you can ink up in any color you want to match your project.
MOMM Tip No. 4: Modify your stamps as needed.  There is no rule that you have to ink up the whole sentiment/image of your stamp.  Ink up whatever part works for you.

And there you have it.  I am firmly behind the nautical trend and you will probably see this theme appear in future Mondays (wait until I go anchor crazy!).  Are you on board for all things nautical or rather see them walk the plank? 

If you would like to play along leave a comment with a link to your creation(s). I am so excited to see whatever you make. Also, if you have any suggestions for products, inspiration, themes, colors, etc. please don't hesitate to leave me a comment.

Happy creating,
Shay.

Supplies:
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings and Background Basics: Herringbone: Papertrey Ink
Ink: pale tomato mid-tone shadow ink, Hero Arts; tuxedo black, Memento by Tsukineko
Cardstock: stamper's select white and pure poppy, Papertrey Ink
Other: acrylic; colorless blender (0); prawn (R24), cadmium red (R27), light grayish cobalt (B95), night blue (B97), sepia (E37), dull ivory (E43): Copic; gems, Studio Calico; gold washi

Make It Monday No. 106: Two-Toned Stamped Flowers

Happy Friday (or Saturday)!

Tonight I bring you a card I made for my mom's birthday this week.  She's in love with aquas and turquoises right now so that dictated the monochromatic color scheme.  I was inspired by Make It Monday No. 106: Two-Toned Stamped Flowers by Melissa Phillips (isn't she amazing?  If you haven't seen her work I highly recommend spending some time over at her blog) although I used two colors very similar to each other: tumbled glass (pale aqua) and broken china (turquoise/teal) that blended much more than in the example by Melissa Phillips.

What I did:

1. I colored in solid peony from Pretty Peonies (unfortunately no longer available) with the tumbled glass Distress Marker and then came back in with broken china Distress Marker only coloring in about half the stamp.  I misted the image lightly with water before stamping the flower 3 times.  I over stamped the outline peony with broken china Distress Ink.
2. I pleated a strip of pattern paper.  I cut out the bracket tab from Fabulous Frames Die Collection from white cardstock and stamped the sentiment from Mini Blooms (love, love this font!) in broken china.  I adhered that down and then adhered the pleated pattern paper (I used Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive which worked fabulously) over it.
3. I drew a frame around the top part of the card using my broken china Distress Marker.
4. My peonies needed some leaves so used the leafy Lovely Layers die from the Lovely Layers Die Collection to cut from vellum twice.  I folded them over and then attached them to the cluster of peonies.
5. I added some sparkle to the peonies with Stickles.
6. I adhered two stripes of the pattern paper onto the right and left sides of a 4.25 x 5.5 inch white card base and added my flower panel over that using dimensional adhesive. 

Voila!  Thankfully, my mom liked the card.  And maybe you will too.  Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit.

Oh and if you are interested I will be blogging at The Aviary Monday (a mixed media project) and also on Monday I am introducing my brand new (my first!) blog feature that I may be a tiny bit excited about.

Until Monday,
Shay.

Supplies:
Stamps: Pretty Peonies (limited edition and no longer available) and Mini Blooms, Papertrey Ink
Inks: broken china, Tim Holtz Distress Ink by Ranger
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Papertrey Ink; vellum
Patterned Paper: Shoreline 6x6 paper pad, American Crafts
Markers: broken china and tumbled glass, Tim Holtz Distress Markers by Ranger
Dies: Fabulous Frames Die Collection and Lovely Layer Die Collection, Papertrey Ink
Other: star dust Stickles, Ranger; dimensional adhesive; Cuttlebug, Provo Craft; Quick-Dry Adhesive, Scotch

Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #104: Handmade Pinwheels

Dear Reader,

I found myself taking some time off blogging this week and was enjoying being the observer of beautiful art, creating and crafting that happens all over the world.  I did make a card during my siesta.   This week's Make It Monday #104: Handmade Pinwheels caught my attention.  Does anyone else remember the show "Pinwheel"...as in "pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around look at my pinwheel and see what I found?"  Good times.  Anyway, Ashley Cannon Newell did a video showing a couple of options for making pinwheels that are super easy, but so fun and capture the happiness from childhood.

I went with cutting a larger square and a smaller scalloped square to create a double layer pinwheel.  All the patterned paper for this card come from Dear Lizzy's Neapolitan collection.  This may be a slightly older collection, but it is gorgeous and perfect for spring and summer which can be mixed up with other Dear Lizzy collections or numerous collections and products.

I stamped the lined ray from Hello Sunshine in yellow on piece of white cardstock cut from Tag Sale #5 Die...this is an endlessly useful shape and paired with the Wine Bottle Tag Die makes an instant statement.  I added a little border of the floral design (from a strip found on the sea breeze paper) to each side of the Wine Bottle Tag Die.  I adhered my pinwheels to the tag and then adhered it all to a piece of white cardstock.  I stamped the sentiment in soft stone ink.  Last touch was a yellow enamel dot to the center of the smaller pinwheel.

There you have it...a pretty pinwheel card. 

I hope you have a delightful Sunday and enjoy the Oscars!

Happy creating,
Shay.

A Note of Thanks card
Supplies:
Stamps: Hello Sunshine and Happy Trails, Papertrey Ink
Ink: lemon drops, Jenni Bowlin for Ranger; soft stone, Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: white, Georgia Pacific
Patterened Paper: Sea Breeze and Cheerful Notes from Neapolitan collection, Dear Lizzy/American Crafts
Other: square and scallop square Nestabilities, Spellbinders; Tag Sale #5 Die and Wine Bottle Tag Die, Papertrey Ink; Cuttlebug, Provo Craft; The Sweetest Thing Honey "Love" Enamel Dots, My Mind's Eye

Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday No. 1

Hello there, dear reader.  It is amazing how one little blog post about a simple card can take ages to complete.  Am I especially slow or do others experience the black hole that is blogging?  Hours pass in which I photograph, edit, wait for my camera battery to recharge, reshot, write, edit, add links, upload pictures, hunt for the names of this stamp set, that tool, etc.  It is a production and I am not even a good blogger.  I have *so* much respect and admiration for high class bloggers like Ali Edwards.  How does she do it?

Okay, now that I have digressed let us get on to the main point of this post: Papertrey Ink.  The 4th anniversary celebration continues and I am so happy that I can participate.  Today marked the first Make It Monday. To learn all about it visit Nichole Heady's blog: here.

The card wasn't hard to make, but the photographing of it has been a real chore.  The lighting is horrible and my studio is a complete mess so I can barely find anywhere to place the care without clutter or something else in the way.  This studio really needs a complete overhaul, but that is another story or rather saga.  Please don't laugh too hard at the photos.

I really enjoyed the challenge of a Go-To Sentiment card (using the same sentiment from several stamp sets over and over) and challenged myself even further by making a clean, mostly monochromatic card.  I was inspired by the very clever and talented Maile Belles, but in no way did I pull off what she can do with such grace and panache. I used a large amount of stamp sets (11 I think) for this and I really like how this challenge utilized so many stamp sets in a fun and unique way.  I also decided I wanted the main "thank you" to be spelled out with my Trajan alphabet set.  Luckily "thank you" has no repeat letters which makes it a breeze to spell out.

And more beautiful shots of the card.  Every model needs to be seen in different poses.

Hope you enjoyed the card.  Thanks for stopping by the Hall!

Thank You Go-To Sentiments Card
All Papertrey Ink products unless otherwise mentioned
Stamps: Fillable Frames #1; Borders and Corners-Squares; Out on a Limb Sentiments; Giga Guide Lines; Year of the Flowers: Violet; Mat Stack 1 Collection; Mat Stack 2 Collection; Everyday Classics; Round & Round; Simply Stationary; and Trajan Monogram Edition
Ink: Dusty Concord and Pumice Stone, Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger Industries
Cardstock: Earthstone, Neenah Papers
Die: Banner Borders
Other: Emboidery Floss, DMC; Dimenstional adhesive, Stampin' Up!; Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, We R Memory Keepers