A Card from Scratch

Hello!

This week’s Monday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp is to make something from scratch.  For me  gardening and drying flowers extends our short summer and carries happy memories into our long winter. So I am very excited to start in my garden to create this card from scratch.  I select the best flowers and plants for their size, color and quality to make the card. I use a microwave flower press to quickly dry the plant material. For this challenge I decided to incorporate watercolor, acrylic paints and stamping with the 2 dried flowers and fern.  Here is my card created from scratch.

 

   

The image background is started with a watercolor technique.  After the background is dry I ink a background script stamp and stamped it off onto scrap paper and then onto the watercolor background.  To create some additional interest I ink a flower blossom stamp with white acrylic paint and stamp the subtle image onto the background then completely dry it. 

Each dried piece is laid into place for a final layout check.  I put a small amount of gel medium on the background to adhere the flower and then a small amount on my finger I very delicately rub it on the front of each petal from the center to the outer tip of the petal. Hooray, the gel medium did not react with the watercolor background. Then I use a white pen to color in accents on the stamped image and add a flower stock.  

For my card base I used a high quality paper for acrylic paint to create a metallic and iridescent background.  I start by covering the paper with a black paint and after drying I sponge on metallic silver and repeat additional layers of black and silver iridescent paints, drying between each layer. 

This project is also a reminder of the new Mixed Media Card Challenge #1 .  I am on their design team and encourage you to consider entering before the deadline of July 25, 11:55 p.m. PDT (GMT -700).                                        

Happy inky moments!...Jan

 

Supplies

Stamps: Stampendous Agapanthus background flower;  Hero Arts Cherish Yesterday

Paper: Arches white wove, Tim Holtz watercolor paper

Acrylic Paint: Golden fluid acrylic carbon black, metallic sparkle and silver iridescent  

Inks: Archival Black and Watering Can; Kaleidacolor multicolor, Uniball Signo white pen, Micron Archival Ink Pen

Other Supplies:  Golden Soft Gel Medium and Microfleur flower press

Saying thanks to our military

Hi there!

I hope if you live in the USA you enjoyed part of this weekend celebrating our freedom and appreciating members of our armed forces. I spent time creating this card for operation Write Home. This card will be included for AnyHero with a note of appreciation and encouragement.

 

I started by making a watercolor background inking a brayer with a Kaleidacolor ink pad and misting. Once dry I over-stamped with various star stamps.  The field of red is made by using Memory Box's wave stencil. The sentiment is embossed in white to give it some extra pop. 

Hope it is not long before your fingers are inky too!

...Jan

Tagging nature

Hello!
I am really excited to be a part of the fantastic design team that Sheri Russ has pulled together for the new monthly Mixed Media Card Challenge (MMCC)! This month's theme is nature with an optional element of a tag.

I find comfort in being surrounded by nature and know I am fortunate that my home is nestled in a birch forest. Inspiration for my cards often comes from nature which is one of my most frequent card themes. Here is the card I designed for this month:

 

The little bird is the inital greeter to my scene.  The acrylic tag is a Tim Holtz fragment.  On the back I used  his alcohol ink resist technique and the bird is stamped on the front. So fun to see the depth of ink through the acrylic.

Now, I'll share my secret fast and easy watercolor technique. The background for the focal image and the card base are made with a brayer, inked on a multi-color ink pad and misted before rolling.  The focal piece was rolled onto watercolor paper while the background is on flat cardstock. 

For added detail the flower stamps were inked and misted before stamping and some added sponging adds depth to the meadow.  An embossed band adds texture and depth and helps move the viewer's eye across the scene.

Hey, why don't you consider looking in your stash to find your under-loved brayer and multi-ink pads and roll out some colorful watercolor backgrounds?  It is one of many fun places to start a mixed media card. But no matter, I hope you get inky and try the Mixed Media Card Challenge this month!  

I am looking forward to seeing your card!

...Jan