May-Mixed Media Card Challenge.

Welcome back!

You are arriving at the just the perfect time.  If you need a little extra sunshine today... I have plenty to share. Sunrise here today is at 4:10am and sunset at 11pm-that's right nearly 17 hours of daylight!  So yes, I have lots of extra daylight to gather inspiration, be creative and to share!

This month the MMCC's theme is wings with the optional element of foil.

I wanted to play on a different surface for today's inspirational card so I chose a non-porous glossy cardstock to create an alcohol ink background. Then I chose a fond stencil to use with the Faded Layers Technique to add a layer of dark leaflets pointed on the left edge. The stencil was used as a mask while removing the background ink with rubbing alcohol.

Another stencil was used with distress inks to create a mosaic pathway.  The bird was stamped with archival inks and then over-stamped with script in memories unicorn ink. I used enamel accents to create the eye .  Additional branches were stamped with archival inks. To finished I added drops of rubbing alcohol for additional dimension.

I would like to thank you for stopping by, sharing your
comments and moving onto find additional inspiration at the rest of the design team blogs.

Here is a link back to the challenge post.

I look forward to seeing you entry into the Mixed Media Card Challenge!
...Jan

Moments in the Garden

Welcome back!  Hope you are having a great summer!

Weekly I volunteer at our University's Botanical Gardens. It is only a 13 week assignment since our summers are so short.  But they are glorious weeks as I watch the maturing of each plant in my 2 assigned raised beds. This results in gardening being one of my favorite themes in my creative work.

With this post I am playing in a challenge named after Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume III.   Every 2 weeks a new challenge is selected from the products and techniques shared in the book. Out of respect for Tim each player must use there own copy of the book. Anyone found sharing information will be disqualified. So that is the basics of this challenge. You will find Linda Ledbetter, the challenge coordinator with more details at the link above.

Please let me share how I created my card-

For my background I started with cool peri,wild plum and purple twilight alcohol inks and used Tim's dot fade and burlap stencils. As I look out over the vast botanical gardens the colors blend together so beautifully and that is what I tried to develop here.  Of course I work through many trials until I finally achieved results that matched the picture I had in mind.

I used stamps from Tim Holtz's Stamper's Anonymous collection for the plants, bird and sentiment and stamped with archival ink.  Highlights on the flowers were added with jelly roll pens and a Signo white pen.  I pulled apart a loosely woven ribbon to give the bird a place to rest and to add some subtle texture.

For the base foreground, I upcycled a piece of metal, painted with acrylic paint, embossed with a Tim Holtz embossing folder, added Inka Gold and cut the shape needed.

Thanks to the Curiosities Crew for this week's wonderful inspiration! And another special thanks to Inspiration Emporium and The Funkie Junkie Boutique for sponsoring these challenges!

This is also a reminder "summer" is the theme for this month's challenge over at Mixed Media Card Challenge  until August 25, 11:55 p.m. PDT (GMT -700).

Thanks for stopping in!  Have fun getting your fingers inky!
...Jan

Painting with Alcohol inks

I love swishing my aquabrush with pretty alcohol inks across acetate. I find this technique not to be a precision painting style but rather lends itself to relaxing and playful creative time. This one I had fun experimenting by adding playful dots.

I used parts of background stamps for both of these images. I had fun adding stickles behind the alcohol ink for a set of ATCs.

Thank you for a special year Stacy!

Serving on a creative team for a full year is a large volunteer commitment. So I wanted to say a BIG thanks to Stacy {jbgreendawn } for the tremendous effort she put forth to making the Stamp Shack creative team projects a success. Stacy and I share the joy of gardening so I made her a lunchbox and of course sent the red and yellow card I posted earlier.

Drying flowers so I can enjoy summer throughout the year is a favorite of mine. I love incorporating them into boxes. Here I use a white lunchbox (perfect for storing our A2 cards) and covered it in alcohol inks. I use coordinating Adirondack pens to complete the coverage next to the hardware. A layer of background images is stamped and heat embossed. Ferns and a net background are stamped and embossed with Ranger's seafoam white powder. Finally I add the flowers and ferns that I have dried with a microfleur in the microwave. I put down a layer of modpodge where I want to place them and place the flower on top. Then I add another layer of modpodge on top starting in the center of the flower and gently stroking it onto each petal to the tip in an effort to complete coverage without bubbles. A coat may take approx 15 minutes to dry. I used a foam bush to add an additional layers. I generally add 3-4 coats before I like full coverage.

My original photos turned out blurry so I want to say an added thanks to Stacy for taking these for me.

A pocket full of posies

After watching the video tutorial on painting a transparency with alcohol inks and blending fluid in a aqua pen of course I had to give the new technique a try. But first I hooked my friend Jennifer into agreeing to play along with this experiment. We agree to reveal our results tonight.

Clear Paintables are transparencies that one buys with designs preprinted for easy coloring. Since they are not proportioned to fit cards I decided to try to make my own by stamping with Stazon ink and using the alcohol ink on the back side. I tried a couple different images until I found one with larger painting areas. Unfortunately I could not get the alcohol ink to build layers of colors which makes them so fantastic. I did use recycled plastic instead of transparencies so I have more work to do to see if that makes the difference. I did use some metallic pearl behind the background...I like that look a lot. I confess I had to use my Sharpie markers to fill in a few spots where the alcohol ink would not stay. This is a fun and fast technique--definately worth more experimentation!

Don't forget to check out Jennifer's work she will be posting tonight too!