Finding my Mojo with Honey Bee Stamps

Hello everyone and welcome back!!

These past couple of weeks I have been struggling with my creative mojo.  I'm not sure where it went but I'm determined to find it!!  I just can't seem to please myself with any of my creations. Whether it's colouring or layouts, it's been kind of tough.

So, I pulled out a new stamp/die set from Honey Bee Stamps.  I used the Not Too Shabby stamp and die bundle, which happens to be on sale this month!!  It's a super sweet set.

REWIND:  I should mention that I started with a different stamp.  I thought I would use the To You With Love set from Clearly Besotted.  I started to colour the image with my Derwent ColourSoft Pencils...I just wasn't feeling it...

BACK TO THE PRESENT:  I started by creating a background panel with white cardstock cut with Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles.  Then I took out some white embossing paste.  I thought the lid would be stuck on since I haven't used it in a VERY LONG TIME!!  I used a small triangle stencil to add a bit of dimension to one side of the panel.  To spruce it up a bit, I sprinkled some fine iridescent glitter over the paste while it was still wet.

I stamped and die cut the bouquet image and coloured it with alcohol markers. I also stamped, coloured and die cut the small wreath and bow image.  I placed everything in the bottom right corner of my white, embossed panel.

And in true Laurie fashion, I didn't think about the sentiment.  This set has very small sentiment so that worked in my favour.  I die cut a circle that would fit the sentiment, but it just blended into the background.  So I die cut another one out of kraft cardstock and layered them together to make it stand out a bit better.

Here is the final result:

A fairly clean and simple design and I'm happy with the way it turned out.  Hopefully, I can keep this going, hahaha!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, its SO appreciated :)

Hugs,

Laurie

Exciting News!!

Hi everyone!!  I just wanted to quickly pop in to tell you that I've filmed my FIRST YOU TUBE VIDEO!!!  OMG!!!
I have wanted to try this for so long.  I've been super intimidated. Didn't think I had the right equipment or technologically advanced enough :)

Well, on the technical side, there is a lot to learn!! My first video is basically not edited at all. What I filmed is what I published...with the addition of a little music and some titles.  I have no idea how to slice, cut, fast forward etc etc.  But I will learn, hopefully.

I will warn you, there are no techniques here. No stamping, colouring or die cutting. What may you ask will I be doing??? Fussy cutting of course. And babbling...  By the way, I had no idea I sounded like that!!!  So strange to listen to my voice.

Anyway, here's a link if you're so inclined to have a look!!

MY FIRST VIDEO

Thank you in advance for watching!!

Laurie

Wplus9 Lacey Layers Card

Hello everyone!!  I'm here to show you another card I created during the 30 Day Coloring Challenge hosted by Kathy Racoosin from The Daily Marker.  I have to admit I have missed, I think, two days.  Better than the last challenge, though!!

Today's inspiration/idea came from Julia from Just One More Card. I have never tried this technique before and I have decided, I absolutely love it!!  It's colouring on kraft cardstock using alcohol based markers.

I picked up some fairly inexpensive alcohol markers at Michaels.

Pretty Colors

Bullet nib and Extra fine tip

The stamp set I chose was  Lacey Layers from WPlus9.  I love Dawn's products so much!!  Anyway, on to the coloring!  I first found a scrap of kraft cardstock, which happened to be Neenah Desert Storm 80lb.  I stamped a few images and started to experiment with a few colors.

The die cut will come into play in a bit!

I decided on the green and pink and the orange and turquoise.  I then stamped by panel and started colouring.  I alternated the colors on each layer.

After I finished the panel, and of course not planning where the sentiment would be, that's when I die cut the above layer out.  I hadn't done any inlaid die cutting in awhile so I thought this would be a cool way for the sentiment to be noticeable on the card.

I stamped the "perfect" word greeting from the That Is All stamp set and cut it out with the co-ordinating die.  I also positioned the die in the already cut layer and ran that through my Big Shot.

I then, simply flipped the image over and adhered the two pieces together with Scotch Tape.

I foam mounted the sentiment on top of my panel, then stamped the "I think you're" onto a scrap of white cardstock, which I didn't like so ended up using more kraft.  I added some sparkle using my Crafter's Companion Glitter pens to the centres of each lacey layer and to the "perfect".

And here is the finished card!!!

I hope you enjoyed! And I hope whoever is involved in this colouring challenge is loving it like I am!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Laurie

Coloring on Adhesive Fabric

Hello everyone!!  In the spirit of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge hosted by the uber fabulous Kathy Rac from The Daily Marker,  I thought I would share my latest colouring project!!

I had this 6x6 Adhesive Fabric Paper pad for sometime now and was never quite sure how to use it.  Today, I decided to experiment a bit.

I chose a stamp set from The Ton Stamps called Happiest of Peonies.  It's a beautiful image.  I used my MISTI for the stamping because of the texture of the fabric.  I used Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink because I wasn't sure what medium I was going to use or rather, what medium was going to work!

I used a small corner to test a few mediums out..

The red mark is an alcohol marker (quite a bit of bleeding), the light green is a watercolour pencil with water (again, some bleeding) and the dark green is 3 different shades of green watercolour pencil blended with water.  Of course, I knew there was going to be some bleeding, it is fabric after all!!  I decided not to use water at all, just pencils.  I stuck with the watercolour pencils because I already had them out!

First of all, pencils blend fabulously on this!! No multiple layers needed.  I used medium to hard pressure with one layer.  As you turn the image to color, you get different textures as the fibres of the material start to pull, it is so cool!!

I chose purple as my other color.

To make the image pop a little bit, I added a grey outline, then used the white pencil to blend it out...which worked amazingly!!

Now here is where things went awry :)  It all started when I die cut the image.

As you can see, it did not cut all the way through, with two passes.  This was really not a big deal to me.  I just used a craft knife to cut away any spots that were not completely cut.  I had already die cut a panel for me to place this image on, so I removed the release paper and...Wow, is this stuff thin!!  Which why am I surprised, it's FABRIC!!  So my advice to you, is if this is for a card, do not remove the adhesive backing!!

Oh, how I tried to adhere this toilet paper thin piece of material straight, it just did not work, at all.  So,  I die cut a frame to fit over my image and decided to adhere that on top. Well, as I had already removed the release paper, my fabric was wanting to stick to everything. Now add a layer of liquid glue to the front and I had one sticky mess. But I persevered. And thankfully so.

I love the way this coloring looks on this fabric.  It really is quite artsy-looking. Also very vintage looking.

I do want to try this with both alcohol markers and watercolour, but I'm guessing I won't get these kind of results on the first try:)

Thank you for stopping by and reading my extra long story today!  I truly appreciate it!

Laurie

Waffle Flower-A Bunch

Hello everyone and welcome back!!  I'm here today to share a card using Waffle Flower stamps and dies.  I had always had my eye on the A Bunch stamps and dies.  I thought they were super cute but I never seemed to add it to my cart.  But I finally bit the bullet and purchased it.  And am I ever glad I did!!  It's a cute, whimsical set with many possibilities.  I used it in the most basic way today, though. Good 'ol simple stamping and die cutting!!

I started by stamping the outline of the flowers in Tuxedo Black Memento ink. I used my mini Misti for this as it was the first time I used this set and thought that a double stamp might be needed.  I was wrong!!  It stamped perfectly the first time.

 Now the solid images for the leaves and flowers is actually all one piece.  But the images are spaced far enough apart that you can ink with mini ink cubes (masking might be necessary with full size ink pads).  I used inks from Plus9 and Simon Says Stamp. Again, no double stamping needed!!!

 (the flower centres are separate stamps)

I die cut the flowers with the co-ordinating die. Now this is an interested die.  It's all one piece but it die cuts the flowers separately!  There are also separate flower dies if you want to layer over the main stamped image...it is a very unique set!!

I then die cut the Doily Circle Die out of a light grey cardstock.  I used the Sizzix Precision Baseplate for this and ran it through my Big Shot a couple of times.  It is a very detailed die.  It cut well using this sandwich.  I adhered a section of the doily on one corner of the card and trimmed off the excess.  Then used another portion for the opposite corner.  I used Multi Medium in Matte.

I stamped the sentiment also with Memento Black ink on white cardstock and trimmed it out.  I adhered the flowers with a mixture of liquid glue and foam adhesive.

And finally, a few sparkling clear sequins and some Glossy Accents finish this card!!  

Here are the Waffle Products I used:

A Bunch Stamp Set

A Bunch Die Set

Doily Circle Die

Thank you so, so much for stopping by!! 

Laurie

Paper Smooches July Challenge

Hello everyone and welcome back!!  I've made a card for one of my favourite stamp company challenges...Paper Smooches!!!  This month's challenge is SUMMER.

My original idea consisted of a bright, striped die cut background and an Ice Cream Cone die.  I actually made the background panel and coloured the ice cream cone. Those will be another project because the gears totally changed!!  This is a challenge, right??  And although a striped background and ice cream cone SCREAM summer, I wanted to think outside of the box.  So I picked out a couple of summer themed stamp sets and one Christmas one.  Can you see where I'm going with this??

Here's a peek of the images all coloured in:

Yes. A tropical card with a snowman and a bird wearing a santa hat!!  And a sentiment that ties everything together :)

Here is my finished project. I hope you like it because I had a ton of fun creating it!!

Thank you for stopping by!!

Laurie

Here are all the supplies I used:

Summer Lovin

Swanky Snow Dudes

Frame 1 Dies

Rainbow World!

Hello everyone!! I'm finally back with a post!  Today I used one of my favourite stamp sets of ALL TIME...Origami Map from Neat and Tangled.  This is such a unique stamp set and I had one particular idea in mind.  No line watercolour with my Derwent Inktense Pencils.  It is such a shame, but I haven't used them in awhile :(

I first stamped the image in Antique Linen Distress Ink onto some Strathmore Watercolor Paper.  I chose the following colours:  Mustard, Violet, Sun Yellow, Iris Blue, Apple Green, Fuchsia and Teal Green.

Behind the pencils, is the coloured and die cut image..sorry I didn't get an "in progress" shot!  I was in the colouring zone and totally forgot.

Here is a closer view:

I ended up spritzing the map with a mixture of water and Perfect Pearls to give it some shimmer.  It looked ok but didn't really "wow" me.  So I remembered a technique that Yana Smakula showed on her blog.  It was using embossing ink and clear embossing powder over your entire image to make it POP.  And it worked!!

It's hard to see in the photo, but it is super shiny and has locked all the shimmer underneath!

I used the die cut on a piece of black fun foam and adhered the image on top with Tombow Mono Multi Glue. 

 I cut a panel using a stitched frame die from My Favourite Things in the same color as my card base and a scalloped oval die (also, MFT) out of a piece of grey cardstock (Stampin'Up).  

I cut one of the sentiments from the set and manipulated them to arc around the oval..my Mini Misty worked great for this!!

And here is the final result...

I wish I could capture the sparkle and shine on camera, but take my word for it, it's there!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed!

Hugs!

Laurie