Flamingos in the Tropics

Hey, Crafty Friends!! 

Boy, is it HOT! I don't know where Spring went but it's long gone and hiding!

My kids are already out for summer break and they are enjoying all the sunshine. swimming, running, lots of screaming laughter... that's what we're down for in these next couple of months. All of which reminds me of my of my childhood days growing up in Hawaii. Tropical weather and visits to the zoo where at the foot of the entrance gates flamingoes await visitors. Yup, those were the days. They were a bit stinky but those flamingos sure were pretty! Lots of these majestic birds standing on one leg or rubbing beaks, occasionally spreading their wings for a stretch. How I want to share memories like those with my children.

So, when Blank Page Muse released my good friend Pam Bray's newest stamp set, it brought back all kinds of feels! I immediately fell in love with these stamps!! And when Kim (owner of Blank Page Muse) and  Pam asked if I would like to create with these stamps, I literally squealed!! I've always loved Pam's designs and of course, I had to jump at the opportunity! What's even better is that all of these stamps are made of deeply etched red rubber! So I know the impression is gonna be amazingly crisp and clear! And boy, was I right! It makes a HUGE difference, especially with detailed stamps such as these!

And in the spirit of my childhood memories, I created this #10 sized Tropical Flamingo Card.

Supplies Used 

Pam Bray Flamingo Row (Blank Page Muse)

Tim Holtz Tropical Dies (Sizzix)
Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals (Sizzix)
Tim Holtz Labels (Sizzix)

Mixed Media Paper (Strathmore)

Sun Drenched (Paper House)

Chalkboard Stack (DCWV)

Cardstock- Light Green, Orange

Vellum

VersaFine (Tsukineko/ Imagine Crafts)

Tim Holtz Distress Markers- Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Hickory Smoke (Ranger)
Clean Color Real Brush Marker- No. 052 Bright Yellow, No. 023 Scarlet Rd (Zig/ Kuretake)

Eileen Hull Blends- Leaf, Frog, Melon (Clearsnap)

MISTI Stamping Tool (My Sweet Petunia)

Hemp Twine

Mixed Media Glue

Foam Adhesive
Aqua Brush (Pentel)
Stylus

I started by stamping my faves from the set... FLAMINGOS!! I stamped them onto mixed media paper using Versafine Onyx Black ink.  Then colored in m images using my Tim Holtz Distress Markers. First coloring most of the bird with Worn Lipstick. I blended out the color using a water brush then went back in to add a second layer using Picked Raspberry to add more depth. Then colored the beaks with Hickory Smoke.

Once I was satisfied with my coloring and the images were completely dried, I cut out both flamingos by hand with scissors.

I die cut monstera leaves out of light green cardstock using Tim Holtz's Tropical Dies by Sizzix. I cut 3 leaves altogether.

Then shaded around the edges using Eileen Hull's Blends inks in Leaf, then in Frog.

After the ink was completely dried, I used a ball stylus to add dimension and shape the leaves.

Using the leftover scraps from my flamingoes, I stamped these little stemmed flowers using more Versafine ink. I didn't need the stems so stamping the entire stamp perfectly wasn't necessary. As long as all the flowers were intact I was good to go!

I colored these dainty flowers using, my Zigs in Bright Yellow, blended out toward the center with a water brush, then added Scarlet Red in the centers and blended outward with the water brush.

Once the flowers were all dried, I fussy cut them out, then creased each petal down the center to give them more dimension.

For the hibiscuses... again used dies from the Tropical set, and die cut from orange cardstock. I shaded along the edges using the Melon Blends ink.

I separated each petal from the flower and creased and folded them, then re-attached them to the cut-out centers with glue.

Disassembling them then re-assembling them gave them a whole lot more dimension.

For the card base, I cut patterned paper from PaperHouse's Sundrenched collection
to measure 3-3/4" x 9".

I used my Xyron Mega Runner to mount it onto a 4-1/8" x 9- 1/4" card base made from 110 lb white cardstock.

I  wanted a center focal point that wouldn't block out all that gorgeous ocean scenery. So, I die cut an oval out of vellum using Tim Holtz's Stitched Ovals. I ran the oval through my Xyron Crative Station with a 5" permanent refill cartritdge. Then adhered it to the card front.

I anchored the oval with a palm tree cut from black chalkboard paper die using the palm tree die from the same Tropical die set.

I attached foam adhesive sheets to the back of the flamingos and attached them to the oval then arranged the flowers and leaves and tucked in loops made from hemp twine.

I thought the "I'll stand by you... Today, Tomorrow, Always" sentiment went perfectly with this pretty pink couple. So I stamped it onto more mixed media paper and die cut it out using a label from the Tim Holtz Labels die set and shaded the edges with Eileen Hull's Sunshine blends ink.

And at the very last minute, I decided to re-mount the card front with a black mat mad with more of that deep black chalkboard paper. It gives a nice balance of black throughout the card, don't you think?!

And here is my finished card...

CLOSE-UPS

I hope you enjoyed this card tutorial and definitely take a peek on over to Blank Page Muse!! Pam Bray has so many more amazing stamps sets you need to check out!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Until next time...

HAPPY CRAFTING!!

~Mitsyana

Journey Flower Card

Happy Manic Monday Crafty Peeps!!

Today I have a project that was once considered a coloring "FAIL". Yup, this was a FAIL!! Let me explain...

If you look closely at the first pic below, you will see where my pen had fell out of my hand and left a smudge smack dab in the middle of the card.

My immediate reaction... "AAAAAGGHHHHH"!! What was I gonna do now?? I had been coloring for a while and didn't want all my hard work to go to waste.

In the second pic (top right), I blended out the colors with my water brush. Including the color from the infamous "smudge". It seemed to help. YAY!!

Third pic (lower left), Went over with another layer of color. It's getting better!! Still a little visible... don't give up! It seems to be working!

Third layer... BOOM, ALL GONE!! What smudge??!!

But for an even extra measure of precaution I went ahead and gave it yet another layer!! Yes, FOUR LAYERS OF COLOR!!  This Final layer gave the picture an extra POP!! It made the colors so much more vibrant!! (see pics below)

Once I was satisfied with how it my card turned out I told myself I had to make something out of it... It was to pretty to just tuck away after all. I put a lot of sweat and tears into coloring that bad boy!

So, I ran my card through my Xyron Sticker maker, gave it a good burnishing, and adhered it to a this bright piece of patterned cardstock I cut from DCWV's Bright Patterns Cardstock Stack. I used this AWESOME pennant die from Lynda Kanase's Photo Banner die set. It's supposed to hold little instant photos but incidentally makes the perfect background mat for these sized cards (3"x4").

Once the coloring was adhered to the pennant, I ran it through my sticker maker for a second time. Then adhered it to the front of my card base. The card is made from DCWV's Natural Corrugate Stack and is a standard A2 (4.25"x5.5"- when folded) card.

I used more green paper from the Bright Patterns Stack to cut the leaves (also from Lynda Kanase Photo Banner set). This paper is double sided so the solid green that you see in the picture above is actually the same paper as the patterned green that was used for the pennant but just the opposite side.

I also cut a whole lot of orange leaves... yes, leaves (you'll see why), and a small  and large brown flower. All these dies are also included in the Photo Banner die set.

Then I used little dabs of liquid adhesive (aka Glossy Accents) to adhere the leaves slightly under my pennant.

Ok, wanted to show you something cool... here is where those leaves come into play. Remember in the main picture there was a rather LARGE orange flower... Go ahead and scroll back up and look, I'll wait. Yeah, that one! Well, this is how I made that flower...

To make that flower I started by first inking all my leaves (I mean "FLOWER PETALS"). I used a total of 21. 

Then I used my water brush to make them slight damp. Then curved my leaves, criss crossing the bottom ends of the leaves (I mean flower petals) then heat setting them while still crossed to hold the shape. Each should have a nice curved and STIFF shape.

Then I got the large brown scalloped flower and glued down a "flower petal" to each of the scalloped edges. The first outer row consisted of eight "petals". Then I made another row on the inside of that row, setting them between the petals of the previous row... and so on till you have three rows of flowers.

For the center, I used the smaller scalloped brown flower and completely covered it in Glossy Accents. While it was still wet I covered it in brown seed beads and left it to dry. Once dry I glued it to the center of all the "petals". Then lastly I attached my awesome flower to the corner of my card centering the leaves and attached a cute little wood veneer embellishment and multi-looped twine bow.

And here is my finished project...

I absolutely LOOOOVE how this card turned out!! Especially how I was able to transform my "oopsie" into a "wowza"! Sometimes I really surprise myself. I am in no way , shape, or form a professional colorist. I've never even had coloring lessons and am pretty much self taught everything. So to me, I was really quite shocked that I was able to do such a great cover-up job. 

YAY!!

**SQUEAL**

 **pats self on back**

Supplies Used

Lynda Kanase's Succulent Art Journal Coloring Book (Sizzix- May/ June Release)

Lynda Kanase's Photo Banner 9pk Thinlits Dies (Sizzix)

Tim Holtz Distress Markers- ripe persimmon, carved pumpkin, spiced marmalade, wild honey, crushed olive, mowed lawn, tumbled glass, forest moss, vintage photo (Ranger)

Natural Corrugate Stack (DCWV)

Bright Patterns Cardstock Stack (DCWV)

3" Disposable Sticker Maker (Xyron)

Wood Embellishment (Momenta)

Aquash Water Brush (Pentel)

Seed Beads- Brown

Hemp Twine

Glossy Accents (Ranger)

I hope you all enjoyed this project as much as I did!

I know it's a simple and sweet card, but as you can see it took a lot time and patience to get here.

Thank you for joining me in my little journey to get here!

Hope you all have a great day

AND 

Until next time...

HAPPY CRAFTING!!

~Mitsy

Mahalo... Hawaiian Thank You Card

Hello again, Crafty Friends!!

Welcome to Friend Friday!!

I am here today with Team DCWV & Chameleon Markers! For the first 3 Fridays of October we will be sharing awesome projects from both design teams during our DCWV & Chameleon Blog Hop!! 

And we are kicking off Week #2 of our hop with some exciting projects!! Please make sure to stop by each of my design sisters' blogs for more inspirational creations!!

For my project today, I will be using Chameleon's Skin Tone Pens with my fabulous DCWV papers!!

Supplies Used

Skin Tones (Chameleon)

Color & Create Projects- Globetrotter (DCWV)

Gold Thread Burlap Paper Pad (DCWV)

Natural Corrugate Stack (DCWV)

Chalk Paper Pad (DCWV)

Black, White, Cream Stack (DCWV)

Neutral Stack (DCWV)

Creative Station Lite w/ 5" Permanent Refill Cartridge (Xyron)

Tim Holtz Tropical Thinlits (Sizzix)

Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Mahalo Stamp (Rubber Stamp Plantation)

VersaFine Onyx Black Ink (Imagine Crafts/ Tsukineko)

VersaMagic Jumbo Java (Imagine Crafts/ Tsukineko)

Cutter Bee Scissors (EK Success)

Pinking Scissors

Hemp Twine

Button

I have to start off saying how much I love these Chameleon Pens! Specifically their ability to get a multitude of shade from one pen! 

To activate the pen, take the cover off whichever tip you wish to use (they're dual tipped) and insert it into the barrel with the white nib (with the white nibbed barrel on top and colored tip marker on bottom), hold in place for a count of at least 10 seconds. 

Then start coloring where you. Start in an area where you wish to place down the light color/ highlights down first. The color will automatically darken as you continue to color.

Repeat as necessary.

I used only the color BR4 to color this entire card... and yet it looks like I used 3 or 4.

The color variants you get in each pen is simply amazing!! 

For my card front, I trimmed my coloring page down to 5-3/8" x 3- 3/8" and cut a piece of Gold Thread Burlap measuring 5-1/2" x 4" to mat.

I wrapped hemp twine, horizontally, around my colored piece. and then tied a bow and bottom on to it. 

Once I got my twine tied and measured exactly, I slid the twine off and set it aside. Then ran my colored cardstock through my Xyron Creative Station. I put the twine back on, then attached my card to then attached it to my burlap.

I die-cut out this little "tiki guy" out of brown cardstock. Then, I used the die as a template to make a shadow from corrugated cardstock.

 I layered the pieces and attached with Glossy Accents. 

I used more Glossy Accents to add more dimension to the surface of the tiki.

Once dried a sponged down with Jumbo Java ink over the edges and onto the raised areas.

 I stamped the word "mahalo" (which means thank you- in Hawaiian) onto Kraft cardstock with Onyx Black ink.

I die-cut 6 monstera leaves (3 from brown cardstock, and 3 from chalkboard paper).

I inked the brown leaves with more Jumbo Java ink, then attached the brown leaves to the black ones. I used the black ones as shadows.

Next, I attached my leaves to my card front then layered my tiki mask and mahalo tag atop of that.

Finally, I attached my card front to an A2 sized (5-1/2" x 4-1/4") card base made from black glossy cardstock.

And here is my finished card...

I love the neutral yet bold tones the brown marker was able to give me. These color work well with a Fall / Thanksgiving theme or for masculine projects as well!

Thank you very much for stopping by!

Or as we like to say in Hawaii...

Mahalo nui loa!!

~Mitsy

Good Morning Gorgeous!!

Hello,Crafty Friends!! 

Sometimes, after a good night of sleep, I wake up feeling refreshed!! Whenever I feel this good I just want to spread that energy and sunshine with everyone!! I made this card just for that very reason!! I'm one of those people who love doing for others and especially when they least expect it! So why not make cards just because?? Right?!

I used Pink and Main's NEW Wild About You stamp set for the stylish boho fox.

I stamped my image with Momento Tuxedo Black Ink onto Neenah Solar White Cardstock. Then colored with Spectrum Noir Color Pencils and blended with blending stumps and odorless mineral spirits.

Then cut this cutie out using the matching Wild About You Dies.

I used the Stitched Rounded Rectangles Dies to cut out rectangles from DCWV's Boho Style Stack.

 Stamped my sentiment from the Believe Script stamp set, in more Tuxedo Black ink onto the smaller rectangle. Then attached my mats onto my card front using my Xyron Mega Runner.

Finally, I used clear adhesive to attach a hemp twine bow and mulberry flowers. I used enamel dots, flatback pearls, and seed beads as different flower centers.

Supplies Used

 Wild About You (Pink and Main)

Wild About You Dies (Pink and Main)

Believe Script (Pink and Main)

Stitched Rounded Rectangles Dies (Pink and Main)

Big Shot (Sizzix)

Boho Style Stack (DCWV Inc.)

Mega Runner (Xyron)

Color Pencils(Spectrum Noir)

Odorless Mineral Spirits

Flowers (Prima Marketing)

3D Dots (EK Success)

Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Hemp Twine

Enamel Dots

Flatback Pearls

Seed Beads

Button

Hope you enjoy my quick card for today!

Have a super stampy day!!

~Mitsy

Dream Tag

Happy Monday, Crafty Friends!!

I'm back starting off a new week with the Cut'n'boss Team. This week the team we will be featuring the Teresa Collins A6 Embossing Folders!! And for today's project I used the Teresa Collins Alpha Folder (from the Decor & Alpha Pack) to make this bright and cheerful tag.

I

Decor Circles & Alpha

Other Supplies Used

Cut'n'boss (Craftwell)

Assorted Teresa Collins Pocket Dies (Craftwell)

Autumn Leaves Mini Stack (DCWV)

Mega Runner (Xyron)

Distress Tool (Tonic)

Crop-a-dile (We R Memory Keepers)

Jumbo Java (Imagine Crafts)

Ink Sweeper (Imagine Crafts

Glue Pen (EK Success)

Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Paper Trimmer (Fiskars)

Scissors (EK Success)

Scuffers (Lasting Impressions)

 First, I started by creating a tag. I used paper from the Autumn Leaves Mini Stack. I wanted to make it a relatively large take but didn't have a tag die big enough. I thought of an easy solution... create my own. I measured a piece of cardstock to 4"x6". 

I snipped a corner of one side of the tag. Placed the cut off piece face down onto the opposite side. Then I used that piece as a guide and cut off the other corner. Doing this helps to make both sides even.

I used a distressing tool to rough up the edges. 

Then, inked the distressed edges with Jumbo Java and an Ink Sweeper.

Then, in coordinating paper, I cut a piece of cardstock measuring 3"x 3-1/8"; and another measuring 4"x 4-1/8".

I embossed the 3"x 3-1/8" using the Teresa Collins Alpha Embossing Folder and ran it through my Cut'n'boss machine.

To emboss with the Cut'n'boss, I used the following platform combination:

From Bottom to Top

D PLATE

A PLATE 

EMBOSSING FOLDER & PAPER

A PLATE

One my paper was embossed, I opened my folder and sanded the top layer off the raised impression to make the embossing stand out more. I leave my paper in place on the folder while doing this. This helps keep the raised image from being smashed down.

Then I used left over pieces of cardstock from my previous cuts to die cut leaves and flowers. The great thing about using my scraps is that the paper I used not only coordinates with each other but they also are double-sided. All I did was flip my paper over to give the appearance of different paper, without waste.

After die cutting my leaves and flowers I inked all the die-cuts with more Jumbo Java.

I stacked my flowers biggest to smallest. Then fastened them together with an eyelet.

I folded each flower petal in half and toward the center to make it more dimensional.

Using my Mega Runner, I matted my embossed cardstock onto the 4"x4-1/8" piece. Then attached that piece to the tag base.

I used a glue pen to attach my die-cut leaves.

Then, used glossy accents to attach my flower.

Next, I die cut just the word "DREAM" from the Teresa Collins Frame Die (Noteworthy Set) and trimmed off the ends of the word. 

Then, adhered it to the tag in an arch.

Finally, I punched a whole in the tag, tied hemp twine into a multi-loop bow and fastened it.

And, here is my finished tag...

I hope you enjoyed my project for today!!

Hope to see you next time!

~Mitsy