scottie and yolanda birthday wishes

I started working on this birthday card by splattering and dripping silks acrylic glaze (fuzzy peach) onto heavy white cardstock and then highlighting and transforming some of the splatters into little precious flowers with my gelly roll pen (black). 

I added Yolanda (dressed up Deep Red), my little Scottie, two adorable clotheslines and old bits of heart cardstock leftover from Valentine's Day to the shimmered background to create a simple and sweet card for my friend's daughter who turned eight.

I just returned from a stamping retreat.  Fifty-three hours of demos, cropping and laughter surrounded by some of the most talented women I have ever met.  I was guaranteed to walk away with a new idea and mucho money spent on all the new supplies I will need to buy to recreate what projects I saw this weekend.  I can already hear the cash registers ringing across the city.  I had a lot of commitments to complete this weekend: forty-two information postcards to share with my stamping club in honour of our fifteenth year, ten quirky tags, ten fairy tale tags, one birthday card (I have many more but I finished one up) and two Mother's Day cards so there was little time to play, however, I did manage to pull out and paint-up my new Gelli plate.  I also learned a brilliant way to clean off the paint once I was done.  Brilliant.  I will show you the outcome and technique one day soon.

I really cannot wait to share it all with all of you.  Keep an eye out for the many posts.

I am entering this card into Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge this week. 

a touch of colour and a birthday wish

I cannot believe it has been almost a month since my last post.  The family was "trapped" in the Caribbean with very limited WiFi making any communication back home difficult.  I know it was a sacrifice but I admit I would willing sign up for this type of sacrifice again without hesitation.

It was my mom's birthday and I wanted to create a card which had light, colour and some whimsy.  With the exception of the butterflies scattered around the card, the only area of colour is centralized near the Scottie.  Mom loves dogs and sadly her Chewbaca, an energetic and adorable Fox Terrier and Belgium Sheep-hound mix, has died recently.  The little Scottie is an adorable reminder of great puppy times.

I gave a Julie Nutting page a bit of a white-wash with Gesso to draw attention to the centre of the page and stamped it with blades of grass, Stampendous dandelions and butterflies black&white style.  I coloured the lower half of Yolanda (dressed up Deep Red)and Yolanda's eyes and lips as well as the blades of grass behind her creating a centralized area of pigment.  The punch-cut butterflies add pockets of colour throughout the front of the card.

May will mark my first year bloggiversary.  I have some ideas for how I would like to shape this upcoming year including the start of an Etsy Shop in the Fall and different monthly highlights.  Stay tuned friends!  And thank you for making my first year so amazing and special.  I have truly enjoyed.

 Chewbaca 2000 - 2014

shabby freya chic

Shabby chic Freya (Octopode Factory) was submitted into February's Inked Stamper 10-tag swap.  I'm pretty sure that if I demonstrated no restraint that Freya would become my go-to gal for all of my creations over the next little while.  And I must admit I love digi-stamps.  I love the choice in sizing and I really adore the consistency in the image lines especially when you are producing en mass.

The tag base was a large Julie Nutting tag.  These tags make a great foundation to any tag design.  Made with heavy cardstock and printed with a non-intruding image you get a great base for your work.  

I distressed the sides of the tag with vintage photo and haphazardly stenciled on some hearts using a soft pink acrylic paint.  I gave the hearts some definition and grounded them onto the tag by outlining them in Dina Wakley style with gelly roll black.

I stapled lace ribbon into place at the bottom of the tag and added two eyelets on either side so that I could suspend a bit of chain.

I used Bo Bunny Pincushion cardstock as a backdrop for Freya and highlighted each strip by distressing the edges with vintage photo.  Freya  was coloured in with a mix of media.  Hair, skin and grey bits were done with coloured pencils.  Green and black items coloured in with markers.  Freya's lips have been brought to you today with gelly roll red.  The three dots (bottom right) were added with Viva Pearl Pen (red).

I added my domestic washi to the side of the tag.  Still loving the tutu-looking one the best, however, I have a vintage stamp that worked out amazingly well for this shabby chic challenge (see top and middle pieces).

I really love how this tag turned out.  Simple yet interesting and dynamic.  And Freya knocked it out the park with her chic-atude. 

Thank you for stopping in.

lil monster layout

It has been a while since my last layout, however, Dawn (Inked Stamper: Design Challenge #2 Bo Bunny Lil Monster) and Kreative Koncepts Sketch Challenge #23 provided the right motivation.  I have been planning to create a layout for these photos of Alex in his monster towel for over four years (my little monkey was six months old when the photos were taken).

I used the Bo Bunny Lil Monster cardstock as the foundation for my layout.  I love the black and white stripes and you'll get a better look at the little monsters and stars peering over the lines in the photos below.  I circled some of them in the layout to highlight their adorableness. And creepiness; thank you Alex for the correction.  Monsters are not adorable, they're creepy.  Backseat blogger. 

I splattered the background with Dylusions Ink Spray (calypso teal)and green acrylic paint before adding the layers of other stuff.

My favourite part of the layout, if I had to choose one other than my adorable monkey, is the top right corner with the mismatched eyes peering out of the ripped page.  I haphazardly tore shapes on the top right of the page and on the bottom right of the page and layered corrugated cardboard behind both openings.  On the top opening I stapled the cardstock to the cardboard, added embellishments from the Bo Bunny Ephemera pack (pompom string, buttons and google eyes) and two thin bark shavings.  Alex has a genuine interest in nature, particularly rocks (harder to scrapbook), and he picked up a couple of bark shavings under one of the trees outside of his daycare one day.  I thought the authentic bark played nicely with the campy feel of the Bo Bunny adventure sign, treeline and the memory box die cut birch trees on the bottom of the page.  It tied the page together and gave it balance.

Notice the five-eyed monster peeking out in the photo below?  Bo Bunny is one of my ultimate favourite designers.  Somehow, for me, they always seem to get it right.  I'm pretty sure if I took account of my stash I would find Bo Bunny tips the scales in what I own.

While I'm praising Bo Bunny for their designs let me also mention that the Ephemera pack is LOADED with stuff.  No seriously.  It is loaded.  Paper, playing card, ribbons, eyes, brads, buttons, dimensional stick-ons (see the teal one under the pom-pom?) and much much much more.  Loaded in one little pack.

 

I love the little yellow monster peeking out from behind the tree.  I added some definition to the memory box birch tree die cuts with my black gelly roll pen and my Viva Pearl Pen (ice white and red). 

There is something fantastic about the adventure post and the treeline part of the Bo Bunny cardstock and I played for a bit before deciding to use it as a frame for the two smaller photos of my monkey-monster.  I added Alex's initials to the post as part of a everythingshetouches family tradition of sign carving. 

Mr. everythingshetouches and I traveled to Banff one summer and took the photo below.  I have an absolute fascination with the mountains and love to take bazillions of photos whenever we get a chance to get to the Banff or Jasper.  On this trip we made a few stops along the roadside and I captured the Mt. Kitchener sign in one of my many (bazillions I assure you) photos.  Mr. everythingshetouches digitally added our names to the signage and now keep the photo framed in our living room.

I created a collage out of old magazines and an old tattered anime book and used the Bo Bunny monster shape for a template.  I then highlighted the monster in Dina Wakley style with my black gelly roll to ground the image onto the page.  Have I mentioned that I will be attending a Dina Wakley class this summer at the Inked Stamper?  I am so fabtastically excited.  Already have my Art Journal Freedom ready by the door to bring for signage.  Geek. 

I added texture with gel medium, the memory box mesh stencil and Viva 3D Stamp-Paint (moss green - metallic) under the photos for a little sparkle and pop.

Feels great to be able to squeeze a layout into my crafting (still working on the journal).  I'm close to a year in the blogosphere and my (largely self-imposed) craft obligations are soaring.  I had another idea in the car earlier for an Etsy Shop product.  Did I mention that building an Etsy Shop is on my to-do list?  I would love to get it up and running by the end of October. 

And on a more personal side note, I just selected Alex's K - 6 school.  Hard to believe looking back on these photos that my monkey is ready for Kindergarten.  Hmm.  I should try to schedule that layout for October or November so it doesn't take another five years before I craft his first day at Kindergarten.

my little hoo's birthday

It's my little monkey's birthday and I thought Stampotique captured my sentiment best with their monster and little hoo-hoo stamp.  With a stamp this fantastic you don't need much else going on and so I kept it simple (I apologize to my friends for the lack of advance warning; I promise the next project will be messier).

I'm entering this perfect pair into Stampotique Designers Challenge: SDC #134 Perfect Pairs.

I covered the Impression Obsession cover-a-card distressed brick stamp with antique linen distress ink and clear embossed it to create the card background.  Have I told you how much I love Tim Holtz's distress inks?  I might have once or twice.  They are my go-to product for colour and the card below is a somewhat good example and I'll elaborate:   

1. The brick was created by directly applying distress ink colour to the stamp
2. The lettering was individually hand stamped with archival black onto watercolour paper which was initially run through watered down weathered wood, peeled paint and vintage photo (the definition and texture is astounding) but that's not all; you can:
3. Use the distress inks as watercolours
4. Remove colour 
5. Emboss it and, but not limited to,
6. Use distress inks with as many tools as you have in your repertoire including stencils, embossing folders and stamps to get a whole variety of outcomes especially when you play with different types of papers like watercolour, grunge and glossy

No shares bought, just an honest enthusiasm for an amazing and diverse product.

Monster was coloured in with coloured pencils and markers.  Little hoo-hoo was coloured in with markers.  And both were highlighted with Viva Pearl Pen (ice white) and black Sakura Gelly Roll.

The hearts were punch cut and the entire thing was mounted on green cardstock which is Alex's favourite colour.

I have a special evening planned for my amazing little man with all of his favourite things (secretly determined in advance; aren't moms great that way?) and dinner out at the restaurant of his choice (secretly wishing it is not one of the more popular children's restaurant/playpark in the area which I will not name).

Still reeling from a great long weekend and cutting out ten bazillion creature power activators (handmade) for Alex's Wild Kratt birthday party scheduled later on in the month.  How did you spend your weekend?  Was it crafty?

valentine's day tags 42 over 2 posts part 2

Part two of the 42 tag valentine day adventure begins with cupid (you can see part one here).  The tag background was prepared with peeled paint and worn lipstick distress inks, covered and heat set with Viva Croco crackling color (silver).  The Croco crackling effect was new to me and decidedly delightful.  Crackling color gave the crackle a less invasive finish than the homemade version which has an entirely different texture.  I adore both and I love having them both in my technique bag of goodies.  

Behind Cupid I added Stampotique hanging hearts and set her above a Octopode Factory cupcake wrapped in love.

The heart on her crown was embellished with Viva Pearl Pen (red).  I cannot say it enough: I love the Pearl Pens.  So much greatness in one container.

It appears that cupid was successful.  The raining hearts were punch cut from glitter cardstock.

 

And my final tag was a cityscape (Memory Box die cut) filled with love.

Peeled paint, tea dye and worn lipstick distress inks make up the background.  I misted it with water before heat setting to add texture.

The ribbon, which I found at Michaels craft store, was a bit of unexpected fun.  The hearts have a bit of a dimension and rubbery feel to them.  A wonderful little treat.

mr. everythingshetouches isn't a fan of the commercial exploits of the holiday, however, I still got a dozen roses (I have a whole other post about the roses situation in our household almost ready for posting) and a very adorably funny note.  Breakfast with the man, dinner with both my guys and wonderful friends and an evening of stamping madness made for an incredible valentines day.  

And the love continued into yesterday: dinner with two incredible friends (super yum) and a big thank you to mr. click! print! scrapbook! for the mini seashells.  I have the perfect idea for its use in mind.

I hope that you all had as much love and fun on your valentine's day and for all of my Canadian friends celebrating a statutory holiday this weekend: enjoy!  I would love to hear how you "observed" the holiday either in the comment section below or by email.

valentine's day tags 42 over 2 posts

Forty-two tags, five designs over two posts.  All of the stamped images over the two posts are digital stamps bought from the very talented Lily Chilvers' Octopode Factory and I absolutely adore each and every one of her designs.  I decided to colour sad bear in (and the others) with pencil crayons.  The tag background was layered with peeled paint, tea dye and worn lipstick distress inks.  Misted with water and heat set.  The technique gave the tag an extra sad tear-stained look.

Although sad bear captures the negative essence of valentine's day, he has a sweetness that I couldn't resist.  I love his stick legs and heart palms.

The jar of hearts is a memory box die-cut; the bottom layer was cut out of pink cardstock, the top layer out of pink vellum.  The hearts were punch cut out red glitter paper.

Freda is simply fantastic and I see great diverse potential for her.  I layered scottie masking tape, found at Michaels, as Freda's backdrop.

The heart glasses are stellar.

I lined the tag with some homemade washi tape.  To see how to make your own washi tape take a peek at this post.

The mad hatter makes up the last tag of this post.  The tag background was painted with white acrylic and erratically modge podged with torn pieces of vintage valentine paper.  Once dried, I highlighted the hearts and added decorative dots with silks acrylic paint (carmen and fuzzy peach) and then added Stampotique hanging hearts.

Mad Hatter's hat patch and bow tie were highlighted with viva pearl pen (red).  Love the pearl pens.  I'm slowing building a collection of every colour.

I'm entering the trio of tags in Anything But a Card's Challenge #32 TIC .. TAC .. LOVE! two ways:  3 (glitter), 5 (heart) and 7 ribbons and twine and 4 (bling it on!), 5 (heart) and 6 (sprays and mists).

Stay tuned for the second valentine's day post of tags four and five coming later in the week. 

goggles and tophats: a steampunk january

Dawn, mistress of The Inked Stamper, organized a January 10-tag swap.  Theme: steampunk.  The talent that makes up our tag swap team is astounding and, in some ways, frightening.  We have our new tag assignment for February: shabby chic and I will admit, the level of creative aptitude in the group has given me a good swift kick in the pants to step up my tag-designing game. 

I built my January tags around a steampunk owl die-cut (a cherished Christmas gift) and a steampunk blueprint image.  The embossed gears sizzix texture trades embossing folder) were lightly painted  with taupe, green and metallic copper to give the tag a worn oxidized metal composition.  I highlighted some of the gears in silver metallic markers to add some contrast. The owl was embossed with black embossing powder and I added graphic 45 cling stamp wings to give him a bit of flight.

Owl is perched on a memory box tree die cut which I also embossed using the sizzix texture trades embossing folder.  The two utility lights (craftsman #2 cling stamp) in the corner were stamped onto white tissue paper (bottom layer) and vintage white cardstock and highlighted with copper and gold metallic markers.

Mr. everythingshetouches was adamant that every good steampunk character needs a tophat and goggles.  I hand-cut the tophat(dylusions couture clear stamps) out of grey cardstock and highlighted it with silver metallic marker.  The goggles were punch-cut circles on green cardstock and I dipped the top of a screw into black and silver ink and paint and pressed it onto the circles.  Owl's eye was embellished with a bolt from a stash of IKEA findings.  I desperately hope that the findings are extras included in the packaging in the event of loss and not bits missed in the instructions and required to hold our IKEA furniture together.

Coming soon:  5 templates for 42 Valentine's Day tags.  I'm finishing up the last of the fifth template and cannot wait to share them with you.  I truly enjoyed the process for both the steampunk and Valentine's Day swap.  I have grown accustomed to designing very little and reproducing mass quantities of each component.  It feels strange and exhilarating to have to go back to the table with a fresh slate and design new templates.

Remember you can follow along on my journey by adding everythingshetouchespamk to your favourite blog feeder.  If you would like for me to follow you, in return, let me know in the comments below.  Your talent inspires me.

another prima birthday

I designed and crafted this card for my sister-in-law's birthday with a few self-inflicted "had-to-includes".  The card had to include Prima.  If I had to redesign the Prima Doll to better reflect my sister-in-law and her personality I would replace the stilettos with soccer cleats.  Beautiful, elegant and tough.

It had to include my first new find:  Marvy Uchida snow marker.  The snow marker is like a hedonists' chia-pet dream.  Add heat and watch grow in far less time than it takes to grow a grassy critter.  I highlighted the ruffle on Prima's skirt with the snow marker for a little whimsy.

The banners on the right were distressed in with vintage photo Distress Ink.  The popped-up dots accent the corner.

The card had to include my second new find: Viva Decor Inka Gold paint.  The texture alone is enough to keep me in crafting bliss.  Messy, intimate.  Good, good fun.

It had to include the Silhouette vintage old chair.  The chair was mine as soon as I discovered it.  No stops to the wishlist, no hesitation, didn't pass Go.  In the checkout before you can say vintage old chair.

I cut the chair out of grunge paper, distressed it with Distress Ink vintage photo and highlighted the edges with gold
Viva Decor Inka paint.

The chair cushions are part of the Silhouette chair design which I also cut out of grunge paper, covered with cardstock taken from the Recollections: Tattered and Worn paper pad and gently curved to give it a more 3D effect.

 

The new year has kicked off a crafting frenzy so stay tuned for the outcomes.  I have been informed that I must create 42 Valentine's Day cards/tags for a card/tag exchange (I love you regardless and I will not disappoint in terms of effort) and asked to join the Inked Stamper's Steampunk 10-tag swap.  Over 50 tags between now and the beginning of February is a challenge, preparing for Alex's birthday party and crafting 50 tags is a venture. But I cannot wait to share them all with you.  

Sneak-peak preview: I purchased some Octopode Factory stamps and I joined a Junk Journal group which means, yes, there is junk in the tag and I have a growing stack of pieces that need some upcycling.  Follow me on your favourite RSS feed application and you won't miss any exciting updates.

an owl in the forest holiday tag

I whipped up two of these tags to add to cookie jars filled with pumpkin cookies I had baked for some friends.  Creating is so easy when you have a good foundation or background.  I adore the over-sized Prima tags.  They have great weight, interesting detail and the perfect hue for a non-interfering background.  

Creating is also easy when you have great product to play with.  I pulled out my brand new marvy snow marker pen and Tim Holtz layering Holly Bough stencil both of which really pulled the tag together.  I sponged on peeled paint distress ink and watercolour painted the owl with weathered wood.  The berries were coloured in with red marker and highlighted with picket fence distress marker.

I stained vintage ribbon with festive berries distress ink in part giving it a messy candy cane appearance.

I'm off to have cocoa and marshmallows.  Stay warm fellow crafters (if you're in the northern hemisphere) and keep popping in.