New Year Sketch

Here is my December sketch challenge entry.   I embossed the dove ornament in clear and then used yellow Bister to get the colouring.  Then did different coloured/textured words.

Holiday Tags

I made a few tags to decorate my presents this year.  The first one I made with my new ornament stamp and some yellow Bister.  First I embossed the ornament in clear and then sprinkled on some yellow Bister and sprayed on water.  When that dried I also used a bit of Antique Linen and Scattered Straw around the edges.  The next one uses the medium sized tree and some green Bister.  I sponged on Gathered Twigs around the edges.  Some fibers that a friend sent me were used for the ribbon.  They turned out really great and were so fast to make!

Stamps:   Michael Strong (Cloisonné Dove Ornaments, Christmas Trees)

Turkey Game giveouts

This next paragraph is pretty boring and personal and not much about the box so you can skip it if you'd like.

This past month has been busy with holiday preparations and also getting ready for my annual Turkey game!  I did google "Turkey game" to see if people who didn't know what it was would be able to learn.  No, you can't, so I'll explain.  When I started playing bridge a long time ago each year around the holidays the clubs would hold a special game called a "Turkey game" where the winners would each receive a turkey.  (Not a live one.)  I guess this kind of dwindled out over the years because A) it was hard to keep 4 dead turkeys somewhere and hand them out to people after a game and B) what do people want with turkeys?  So they gradually changed this to giving out cash (not much -- about the cost of a turkey) but still called it a "Turkey game".  Now I'm back to bridge after a long absence and they are just holding a special game and giving out random prizes and not calling it a "Turkey Game".  So since I'm teaching I held a special little game for my novices and called it a "Turkey Game" without turkeys.  (Again, what do people want with turkeys?)  So I prepared a bunch of grands for them to bid and gave out some prizes.  At the end of the game everyone received a Holiday "card" from me.  This little box was filled with a chocolate card they could savour at home. 

To make the tag I stamped the Tim Holtz card stamp on a tag and then sprinkled with some Brusho -- which is quite like Bister and very fun.  Then I punched out a Santa hat and glued on a little white pom pom.  I think they were a big hit.

Tie Dyed Koi

The Tie Dye Circles technique is from the April/May 2014 issue of Technique Junkies.  The colours I used for the circles were Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Evergreen Bough.  I stamped the Koi with Evergreen Bough and then misted it slightly for a more watercoloured look.  The paper is Taken with Teal and Garden Green.

Stamps:  Technique Junkies Stamps (Koi)

Triple Masked Glimmers Koi

This uses the Triple Masked Glimmers technique from the Oct/Nov 2010 issue of Technique Junkies.  For the background I used Lindy's Baby Blue Eyes Aqua and accented with Dylusions Sprays (Vibrant Turquoise and Calypso Teal).  The Koi, banners and sentiment were all stamped in Chipped Sapphire.  The paper is Night of Navy.

The layout is based on this weeks Sweet Sunday Sketch (#245).

Stamps:  Technique Junkies Stamps (Koi),  Stampin Up! (Banner Blast, Watercolour Trio)

White on Watercolour sketch

This uses the White on Watercolour technique from the Oct/Nov 2014 issue of Technique Junkies.  The reinkers were Peacock Feathers, Broken China and Tumbled Glass.  It's based on this weeks Sweet Sunday sketch (#244).

Stamps:  Technique Junkies Stamps (Koi)

Shimmer Shadowed Heart

The pink I used for the card was Pink Pirouette.  The square panel at the front uses the Shimmer Shadows technique from the Feb/Mar 2014 issue of Technique Junkies.  I also used my colour spritzer to spray some pink onto the panel before I placed the hearts on and I used some shimmer spray to spray originally.  The rectangular panel behind it was just stamped all over in pink with the small heart and then sponged with pink.  The main panel at the very back was just sponged in pink.  The layout is this week's Mojo Monday sketch (#371).

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Mini Shapes),  Create with TLC (Free saying)

Sketch Help!

This month's Michael Strong sketch is this:

 I had an idea to try the 3 strips in blue and have the center as Mike's Christmas tree.  That evolved to the blue being a starry night background and I could use my Crosshatch stamp and put white dots where the lines met for stars.  The sponging starts off light on the bottom strip but then gets darker and darker for the top strip.  I tried to use both my white pens but both had dried up so I ended up using white paint instead.  Now for the tree.

I tried first with white shimmer paint for the tree to show a snow glistening tree:

Then I tried stamping the tree in Chipped Sapphire but the ink pad needed refilling so I ended up having to sponge all around the edges so you wouldn't notice the stamping wasn't very good:

I reinked my ink pad and tried the tree again:

So now I like ALL three cards the same!  I don't know which one to post as my sketch!  Help!

Be UNIQUE!

This card uses the Stamp, Crackle, Pop technique from the June/July 2005 issue of Technique Junkies.  The colours are Real Red, Smokey Slate and Black Soot.

 Stamps:  Michael Strong (Mini Wings, Hannah's Busy Bee, ), Stampin Up! (Crosshatch), Create with TLC (Free saying)

Hot Pink Verve

This center piece uses the Stamp, Crackle, Pop technique from the June/July 2005 issue of Technique Junkies.  I used black for the Gecko and Smokey Slate for Mike's flower.  The tiny flower was stamped in neon pink.  The layout is based on this week's Verve sketch (VLVNov2014).

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Mini Creatures, Hannah's Busy Bee)

White on Watercoloured Koi

This uses the White on Watercolour technique from the Oct/Nov 2014 issue of Technique Junkies.  The reinkers were Peacock Feathers, Broken China and Tumbled Glass.  The script is stamped and sponged in Peacock Feathers.  The paper is textured Taken with Teal.  I resized and printed out the free digital stamp from Create with TLC on vellum.  The layout is from this weeks Sweet Sunday sketch (#243). 

 Stamps:  Technique Junkies Stamps (Koi), Create with TLC (Freebie)

Watercolour Reinkered Forest Floor

This uses the Watercolour Reinker technique from the Feb/Mar 2012 issue of Technique Junkies.  The reinker colours I used were Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango and Rose Red.  I also used the leftover paper to cut the leaves out.  The layout is this weeks Mojo Monday sketch (#370).

Stamps:  Designs by Ryn (Forest Floor 1)

Ombre Watercolour Resist Roses

This card uses the Ombre Watercolour Resist technique from the June/July 2012 issue of Technique Junkies.  The colour used was Rose Red and I just used reinker and kept watering it down.

Stamp: Technique Junkies Stamps (Roses #S183)

Ombre Watercolour Resist Forest

This card uses the Ombre Watercolour Resist technique from the June/July 2012 issue of Technique Junkies.  I used reinkers (Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango, Rose Red) instead of watercolours.  The layout is the weeks My Favorite Things sketch (#200).

Stamps:  Designs by Ryn (Forest Floor 2)

Ombre Watercolour Resist Koi

This card uses the Ombre Watercolour Resist technique from the June/July 2012 issue of Technique Junkies.  I also used this weeks Sunday Sketch (#242) for the layout.  The colours are Pacific Point and gold.  I haven't tried this technique before and it is quite beautiful with the gold embossing.  Definitely one to try again!

Stamps:  Technique Junkies Stamps (Koi)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Fiendish Friday

First I used a Tim Holtz stencil and sponged a bit in black.  Then I embossed the cat with black embossing powder.

 Next I sprayed on a bit of homemade green Bister spray.

 Then I sponged around all but the bottom right corner with Ripe Persimmon.

 Then I used another Tim Holtz stencil and some black distress paint and sponged on some dots.

Finally I added some yellow paint onto the eyes and nose and cut it out and mounted it on black cardstock.

I had this weeks Sweet Sunday sketch (#241) in mind for this and here's how it turned out:

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Toxiferous Technique Thursday

First I want to say that today's card REALLY shocked and horrified me!   Last week the Tim Holtz blog had some tutorial where they made the same tag with all different kinds of paper to show just how different a look each paper produced.  What a GREAT idea!  So I tried that and I must say I was VERY surprised about the results. 

Since it's Thursday I need to show a technique.  The technique I'm showing today is the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique.  I'm not really doing it exactly right though but there is a tutorial on SplitCoastStampers if you want to check it out.  Basically what I think is the whole point of this whole blog post is to show you how the different papers look.  The technique doesn't really count for anything so that's why I wasn't really concerned about doing it "properly".

So here goes:

The papers I used were Glossy paper, Watercolour paper and Stampin Up! Naturals White and Whisper White paper.  I kept them in the same place throughout this tutorial so you can tell which is which.  Now normally I would have just used Whisper White paper which is my normal paper to stamp with so I was expecting that to work out the best.  Here are the 4 tags.  See the glare on the Glossy paper?  Get used to that:

 For the Wrinkle Free Distress technique you are supposed to not get the colours mixed up but I didn't pay much attention to details when I was reading it so I kinda skipped over that one.  Anyhow I layered Seedless Preserves on top, Ripe Persimmon in the middle and Peeled Paint on the bottom then misted with water.  My mister is a bit funky so there are large drips on the bottom where I held the mister.

 Now I put the tags into the mess.  I didn't drag them or move them in any way.

 Here's the result when I flipped them over.  Right here I noticed a BIG difference in the papers.  The Glossy paper had the most vibrant colour while the Whisper White paper (far right) had the least.  Here's where I was shocked and horrified.  My go to paper worked BY FAR the worst! 

 Now I put some water in my hand and flung it on each of the tags.  The tutorial doesn't do that, but again I wasn't really paying too much attention to it.  Again my WW paper just doesn't look very good.  But I was loving the watercolour one...

 Here is the result when dry.  I did dry with a heat gun to make it quicker.  Here my favourite tag is the watercolour one with the glossy a very close second.  Wasn't too crazy about the other ones but they do get better...

 So now I stamped on Mike's spooky tree.  The Glossy paper actually stuck to the stamp and I had to peel it off but the black ink (Black Soot) covered the entire stamped area on this tag and not on the rest.  You can see how the black is faded quite a bit on the rest.

 So I touched up the inking with a Black Soot marker (not the Glossy one -- it didn't need touching up).

 I sponged around the top with Seedless Preserves, Ripe Persimmon in the middle and Peeled Paint on the bottom. 

 Then I added some dots with Black Soot and a stencil.

At this point I had the cardstock ready that I wanted to add the tag onto but the tag didn't show up quite as much as I wanted so I added some Black Soot sponging around the edges of the tag.  Then I added some ribbon dyed with the Seam Binding Ribbon Dying technique from the Oct/Nov 2014 issue of Technique Junkies (I used the same 3 colours as in the tag) to get this:

 Then I added a couple of glitter stickers to get my 4 tags.  Now before this experiment I would have just used Whisper White because I always tend to use Whisper White but it was actually my least favourite tag.  The Watercolour one was my favourite and the Glossy one came in second because the colour was so vibrant.  Between the Naturals and the Whisper White I far preferred the Naturals just because I thought the colour worked better on it.  Anyhow definitely something to try to see what paper you like best.  I think Tim's point was that there is no right or wrong, good or bad just differences and some people like one paper better and some like another.  On the tutorial the lady didn't like her watercolour one at all but I liked mine best (and to be fair I liked her's the best also so I guess we just have different taste...)  So give it a try and see what YOU like!

 So here are the cards:

This is the card made with the watercolour paper and still my favourite on the cardstock (Rich Razzleberry and Lucky Limeade.)

This is the glossy one that I don't feel looks as good on the card because there is a big difference in the card paper look and the glossy tag look. 

This is the Naturals tag and I do like it much better now that it is complete and on some cardstock.

This is the Whisper White tag and again I do like it much better now that it is complete and on some cardstock.  There were some tense moments for it though...it almost didn't make it after that first dip.  I REALLY didn't like it at that point...  But I think it looks better on the card then the Glossy one just because it matches the whole subdued paper look.  (On it's own the Glossy totally wins out.)

Anyhow next time rather than reaching for your normal everyday paper try using a few more to see which YOU like best!

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Wrathful Wednesday

This card started out with me embossing Mike's spooky tree with black embossing powder on watercolour paper and then sprinkling on some yellow Bister and spraying with water to get this.

Next I sprayed with some handmade black Bister spray.

Then I sponged on some Gathered Twigs over a honeycomb stencil.

I cut out an oval shape and mounted on some Black paper and some Early Espresso textured paper that I ripped and sponged.  Then added some glitter bats and a glitter boo!

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Trepid Tuesday

This card only uses a tiny bit of this next piece.  It started to use the whole thing but then the card just went it's own way for some reason (okay, I messed up).  So it started with some black Bister that I sprayed with some Dylusions sprays (Lemon Zest, Squeezed Orange) and let dry.

From there I stamped Mike's witch on with black craft ink but I smeared the back of it with my hand accidentally.  So then I could either throw it away or only use the front part.  I had a film image in my head for some reason so decided to put her in film!  I sponged on some Brick Red ink through a stencil then cut out the thin strip I wanted and put the film die cut on top.  I cut out Mike's pumpkin and coloured with Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs markers.  I added a few leaves that were cut out from some leftover Bister fun and then sponged with various inks and some linen string and a glitter bat.  The background was partially stamped in Canvas and then sponged around the edges.  Here's the result:

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes),  Stampin Up! (Canvas, House of Haunts)

Michael Strong Card of the Day - Miscreant Monday

This card started out with a Bister base.  I put a bit of natural Bister on some watercolour paper and sprayed with water.  I let dry and then sprayed with some home made green Bister spray.  Then I applied some Dusty Concord ink on with a diamond stencil and stamped the spooky tree from the Spooky Silhouettes set.  Here's what it looked like now:

I cut that out, sponged around the edges with Dusty Concord and matted with black.  I mounted on some Perfect Plum paper that I also added a bit of Dusty Concord on with the same diamond stencil.  I printed out Mike's digital pumpkin (I want a REAL pumpkin stamp please please Mike!) in a couple different sizes and coloured with Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs markers.  Then I cut them out and applied some glossy accents all over the pumpkins and let dry.  I added a few bats, some orange brads and a glitter "Boo" sticker.

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)

Eerily Batty

I LOVE Halloween!  Tomorrow I start my Halloween card countdown for the Michael Strong Yahoo Group.  Today will be a preview of the horrors to come!

First I stamped on the tree from the Spooky Silhouettes stamp set.

 Then I used the leftover paper from a Tim Holtz movers and shapers bat and used some embossing paste and added in a few bats.

 When the embossing paste was dry I sprayed on some home made mahogany Bister spray right in the middle of the tree.  It was pretty watered down so it came out kinda pink.  Then I sprayed on some Dylusions Crushed Grape aound the edges.

 The bats didn't stand out enough so I painted them with black distress paint.

When it was dry I added some crackle accents which made the pink come out even more. 

 I added a ribbon dyed using the Seam Binding Ribbon Dying technique from the Oct/Nov 2014 issue of Technique Junkies and added a pink and purple paper border. 

Stamps:  Michael Strong (Spooky Silhouettes)