Mar 14, 2024

The Creative Crew Tackles National Poultry Day!

 Carol is our host for the March Creative Crew Challenge. She informed us that March has a National Poultry Day on the 19th.  Who knew? Not me!

She gave us the "Rustic Rooster" image by Stampin' Up and designer papers from The Paper Studio's "Country Road" pack.



I really like the papers from Carol's kit.  The brick paper was especially realistic.



The papers are mounted on Close To Cocoa card stock by Stampin' Up.  Probably my all time favorite color!  


I embellished with some brown gems and blue ribbon from my stash.




The image is colored with Castle Premium Soft Touch pencils and leftover inks on yellow and green blending brushes were used for the background.  The edge of the die cut has a bit of brown applied with a blender brush.


Here's a closer look at the brick paper and the rooster.


Carol, thanks so much for a great kit this month! The card really seemed to come together easily (once I looked up how to color the rooster, hahaha)


Please drop by the blogs and galleries of the whole Creative Crew gang. Here are their links:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie

Mar 12, 2024

Hot Mess = Success in March

On the 12th of the month a group of friends and I have a "Hot Mess" Challenge.  We are to make any sort of card we like, as long as a mess is made in the process. 

I decided to play with a variation on a card made in last weekend's virtual card classes during Stamp Joy, which is hosted by Taylored Expressions.  Here are my first and third attempts.



















Ink is applied directly to white card stock using ink pads. I really like this technique because it yields rich colors faster than blending brushes. 









Then I used Gold Glitter Glaze by Brutus Monroe and a dot stencil by Taylored Expressions for card #1.

The paper is saturated from the ink so the Glitter Glaze took a really long time to dry. Despite using my heat gun on the reverse side of the panel.  I just left it overnight to dry throughly.





Time for the 3rd attempt.  This time, using the same stencil I used Slippery When Wet (gold) Lunar Paste by Simon Hurley. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! 

I left it to dry overnight also.  

Both cards feature sentiments that were included in Taylored Expressions Stamp Joy kit. They're stamped onto a small piece of white with the same inks blended on to it. They are cut with a couple of dies from my stash.

These are flat, easy to mail cards.  Currently I am going back to flat cards so it's easy to pop one into the mail.

What happened to my 2nd attempt, you ask?   Well...let's just say it went wrong in so many ways. I wanted black polka dots on my blended panel.  But I also wanted some shine. So I dug out some Raven (black) embossing powder by Brutus Monroe that also has glitter in it.  

Now...I know better, but was in denial I guess 😂  When you ink blend a panel, the powder has a wicked preference of sticking to the paper, even though it's treated with a duster to prevent that issue. 

When I lifted the stencil, there was so much black glitter everywhere on the panel that I just put it in the trash. While attempting to knock some of the powder off by flicking the backside of the panel, I sent the panel across my desk, and right through the loose black glitter/powder.  HOT MESS.


I actually had to tell myself to remain calm. Glitter gives me anxiety under the best circumstances...heavy sigh.

Later, after the mess had been cleaned up I was laughing to my friends at my rookie mistakes and subsequent panic attack.

This morning, Amazon dropped off this little Lady!  (It's a small vacuum).  Thank you Barb!!  Her name is Nelle, short for Coccinelle, which is French for Ladybug.  Nelle should save me during future Hot Mess card making!

Be sure to stop by the Hot Mess Team and admire their creations!  Here are their links: