Funky Birthday Card

I'm posting (while rolling my eyes) for Eureka today. This is a totally unplanned card.  The odd squiggly-lined panel started out as just a place to clean off my brushes as I pained another card with opalite inks.  But as I started "stroking off" the paint of a third color, I decided it looked kind of fun, and proceeded to cover the whole scrap.  So, of course, I had to make a card.  :-)

The Baroque background is black embossed on black; the baroque corner and Happy Birthday text are also embossed in black.

Yesterday I posted leaf cards for Eureka, so today I am posting leaf cards for Biblical Impressions.  I love how different techniques can create a completely different look for the same image!

This first card is just a nice, simple monochromatic card, a quick and easy card for a no-frills recipient.

For these leaves, I used gold leaf.  I am happy with the look, though I think I could have gotten the same effect with metallic/mica powders; gold leaf is shown to best effect with stamps that have thicker lines/images.

Mosaic leaves!

It's challenge time again at the Eureka Challenge Blog! The theme this week is "Fall Fun;" please show us your creativity, and get a chance to win free images from Eureka!

I love Eureka's mosaic stamps!  In addition to the leaves and background images shown  here, there is a pumpkin as well, with which I made a card last fall.

For this card, I used Eureka's gold leaf.  I love how beautiful the gold leaf looks, it totally changes the look of the image!

  This card was made with metallic/mica powders, another fun medium that adds a sparkle to the image!

I'm posting today for Eureka.  I was looking at my comforter just before going to bed one evening, and thought, "What a pretty card background this would make!"   Of course, then I couldn't sleep for awhile thinking about which stamps I would use!  I wonder if any other cardmakers have that problem?  I knew that I would definitely want to use Eureka's Baroque Background stamp, so I started with that in the morning.  I ended up also using the peacock feather and in samples below,  the Mosaic background stamp.  The background was created using faux batik technique, and sponging brilliance ink dew drop-shaped pads directly onto the cardstock.

This is the comforter:

Here are a few of the other backgrounds I made trying to catch the look.  I couldn't get a decent photo of two of them, so included one of all four together.

 

I stopped before adding black to this one because I liked how it looked at this point:

 

Ladybug!

 

Today I am posting from Biblical Impressions.  This is actually "take two" of a card I made for my daughter who likes butteflies and ladybugs.   Somehow, I managed to send her the card without photographing it.  I borrowed it back from her to take a picture ... but somehow managed to lose it!  So, I made this card, a different design, but with the same way of doing the ladybug, with microbeads.  I had first tried stamping the ladybug image and putting black microbeads on the image, but the look was too messy.  So I decided to just cover the entire ladybug, after trimming off the antenae and legs.  By creating a "tail" on the cutout, I gave myself an easy way to cover the bug with versamark ink without having any uneven edges by doing it before cutting it out, and then giving myself  something to hold on to while heating the sticky embossing powder.  After I did that, I sprinkled some clear embossing powder over it and melted that to ensure a firm hold on the microbeads.  I then stamped the image again, with black ink and powder to give texture to the antennae and legs, then glued the microbeaded ladybug on top.  I couple of weeks ago I made something else with microbeads, and it suddenly occured to me that I could try gently pushing the microbeads that were just a bit over the edge, into the design for a neater look.  If you do a close-up look at the bug, you can see a few clear beads overhanging the image.  Now I know to just gently push in those strays for a much cleaner look!

I almost didn't post this card, because it really did not turn out as I had hoped.  (I also didn't sponge my sky on dark enough to see in the photograph!)  I realized in retrospect that hot, humid days are not good days for sticky embossing!  But as I appreciate learning from people's mistake, I'm passing on what I learned with this!  If you click on the picture for a larger image, you can see with the flower that a number of excess microbeads are layered, giving a messy look to the flower.  The butteflies turned out much better, but I also had problems with them.  Just too much moisture in the air!  I embossed the grass and flower stem, and colored in the leaves with marker so that the stem would stand out from the grass.

All the images can be purchased seperately, or you can get the full sheets Flower Blocks and/or Dragonflies.  I have made a number of cards with these adorable images!

Praise the name of the Lord!

It's challenge time again at the Eureka Challenge Blog! The theme this week is "anything goes;" so please show us your creativity, and get a chance to win free images from Eureka!

I absolutely love Eureka's scripture stamps! They're a large size, which is great when you want the scripture to be the dominant part of a card! Psalm 133:3 is a great encouragement that it is always time to praise the Lord! I chose this bookmark image as a great reminder of the beatiful world He created that we can thank him for!

I used colored pencils to color the bookmark image.  I rarely choose stamp images that need coloring because  I don't have a natural ability for it, and so it easy for me to ruin an image, and if I have to "ground" it or anything, I'm really lost!  But this image is not to large, and detailed enough (small spaces) so there is not a lot of guesswork or difficulty in achieving a "smooth" coloring job as there is when a large space is being filled in.  (Have I ever mentioned I got kicked out of a summer art class???)

I often stamp several of the same image, in case I ruin one in the process of turning it into a card.  I absolutely love this rose from Impression Obsession; it's beautiful, and it's great for making a quick card like this one!