If you missed the party last night over on Split Coast Stampers in Gina K. Designs Forum you missed a great new stamp release party.  There were tons of sneak peeks and contests.

This is a sneak peek card I did for the party last night using Melanie Muenchinger’s “Jumping for Joy” set.  You can see all of the new stamp sets today at Gina K. Designs, just following this link:  http://www.ginakdesigns.com/

I think I have been permanently trained now to take photos whenever I am stamping a card out, lol.  Imagine, here I was in a hurry to get a card done for the party and I’m stopping to take photos.  Yep, I’ve been trained to do tutorials for every card created!  Hey, it only took 56 tutorials to make it a habit, lol.  Old dogs and new tricks!

Anyhoo, here is the tutorial for this one.

Supplies:

Started off by stamping this sweet bear (love his expression) on a piece of Creamy Caramel cardstock with Palette Noir Black ink.  Note:  I used this ink because it doesn’t smear when using Prismacolor markers.

Colored the Bear with a Prismacolor Sand Marker.  I did not color his muzzle or his inner ears.   I also did a second swipe of color with the same marker to create shadows under his arms, feet, behind and chin.

Continued with the shadowing on him with yet a darker marker, Prismacolor Walnut on his under arms, feet, behind and chin.

I used scissors to cut him out.  He has pretty easy curves to maneuver around with scissors.

Ripped a cliff shape from a piece of River Rock card stock.

Heavily sponged River Rock ink on the right side of the cliff.  Leaving the left side bare because I’m imagining that my sun is shining on the front of the cliff. 🙂

Heavily sponged Old Olive ink on the top of the cliff for grass and lightly sponged on some Chocolate Chip ink at the right side of the cliff, not covering the River Rock ink entirely.

Now for the background, brayered on Soft Sky ink at the top 2/3rds of a piece of Whisper White card stock.

Brayered on Brilliant Blue ink at the top of the card stock, not covering the Soft Sky ink entirely.

Placed Post it Notes, sticky end where I wanted my horizon line to be and to mask the sky area.

Brayered on Cool Caribbean ink at the bottom of the card stock.

Sponged Taken with Teal ink at the Post it Note edge to make a dark line for the horizon.  Also using a swiping motion from left to right I sponged on Taken With Teal in the water area getting heavier towards the bottom of the card stock.

Took a piece of Old Olive card stock and tore the top edge of it off.  This will be the ground area.

Swiped the bottom and top of the torn card stock over the Old Olive ink pad.

Assembled main image panel.

Sponged Night of Navy ink at the top of the card stock.

Assembled card and here it is finished measuring 4″x 8.5″.

Hope your day gives you an expression like the one this bear is wearing!

Until my next post. . . . . ..

Michelle

The Color Challenge on Split Coast Stampers was one that reminded me of Northern Lights, so I did a very quick card this morning and tried to create it.

If you would like to do the Color Challenge here is a link:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=349309

Supplies:

Sponged Certainly Celery ink on Whisper White card stock.

Sponged Blue Bayou ink at the top of the card stock leaving a white showing between the it and the Certainly Celery ink.

Sponged Soft Sky Ink over the top part of the Certainly Celery ink.

Stamped trees with Basic Black ink.

Sponged Basic Black ink at the base of the trees.

Assembled card and here it is finished measuring 5″ x 6.5″.

Hope your day is filled with beautiful skies.

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle

You can tell the days when I have had a stressful day at work.  I come home and retreat to my own little stamping world where all is good, lol.  Yesterday was such a day.  Like I’ve said before, stamping is my therapy.

Last night I needed to lose myself so decided I would try to create an underwater scene.  I’ve not did this before and here is the result.  What do you think?

These cute Hippos are from the “Just So Hippy!” and “Hip-hop accessories” sets by Melanie Muenchinger and manufactured by Gina K. Designs.  Here is a link:  http://www.shop.ginakdesigns.com/main.sc

Come along with me today on this underwater tutorial adventure. 🙂

Supplies:

Stamped Large hippo on Whisper White card stock and again on a scrap piece of paper.

Cut the hippo out that I stamp on the scrap paper and used it as a mask for the one on the card stock.

Stamped small hippo so he is standing on the large hippo.  Then removed mask from Large hippo.

Used a Prismacolor buff marker on the shadowed areas of the hippos.

Colored the Hippos in with a Prismacolor Cool Grey 10% marker.

Colored over the middle of the hippos with a Prismacolor Cool Grey 30% marker.

Colored the undersides of their bottoms and jowl line with a Prismacolor Cool Grey 50% marker to try to create a roundness to their bottoms.  🙂

Masked the sky area with Post it notes.  Stuck them on with the sticky side at the horizon line.

Brayered Aqua ink in the unmasked area.

Sponged some Aqua ink on in the swiping motion from left to right to create lines in the water.

Sponged Cool Caribbean ink with a circular motion at the post it note edge.  Also used a swiping motion and put some Cool Caribbean ink at the bottom of the card stock.

I wanted to get a little darker yet at the horizon line so I sponge on a little Taken with Teal ink right at the post it note edge.  Then I removed the post it note mask.

Stamped small hippo on a scrap piece of paper and cut it out.  Note:  when you cut out a mask for something, you want to cut inside the lines of the image to make it just a fraction smaller.  If your mask is the same size as the image you will end up with a halo of white around the image when your project is completed.  This does not look good, lol.

Now I covered my small hippo with his mask and put post it notes on to mask the water area.  It is time to put in the sky.

Brayered on Butterscotch ink in the sky area.

Brayered on Terra Cotta ink at the top of the card stock, not covering the Butterscotch ink completely.

Brayered on Ginger ink at the top of the card stock, not covering the Terra Cotta ink completely.

Removed mask.

I could have stopped here, but I needed more therapy.  🙂

Tore a piece of Creamy Caramel card stock to use as the bottom and sides of the pond.

Using a circular motion, sponged Creamy Caramel ink on the torn card stock, leaving the torn edge un-inked.

Using a circular motion, sponged on Chocolate Chip ink, not covering the Creamy Caramel ink completely.

Using a circular motion, sponged on black ink at the very bottom and corners.

I wanted it to take on a blue green tint so I brayered over it with Taken with Teal ink and then sponged the torn edge with the same ink.

Heavily sponged on Old Olive ink at the top sides of the torn card stock to give it a grassy appearance.

Assembled card and highlighted the hippos teeth and whites of their eyes with a white gel pen.

Here it is the complete creation that measures 5″ x 6.5″.

Hope you enjoyed this underwater adventure.

May your day be filled with orange skies and smiling hippos.  🙂

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle

This was created using the sketch challenge from Split Coast Stampers SC176.  These sketch challenges really get my mind racing.  Here is the link if you would like to play along too:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=347754

Supplies:

Stamped Butterfly with Palette Noir Black ink on Whisper White card stock.

Colored the butterfly wings in with a Prismacolor Deco Peach marker.

Colored the tops and bottom of the wings with a Prismacolor Blush Pink marker.

Colored the very tops and bottom of the wings with a Prismacolor Magenta marker.

Colored the butterfly’s body in with a Prismacolor Buff marker.

The black in the butterfly’s wings was look dual so I darkened them with a black marker.

Being careful to stay in the lines, colored over the butterfly with a Versamark marker and heat embossed it using clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Over stamped the Butterfly with the leaf stamp by first loading the stamp with Versamark and then Lettuce ink before stamping.

Heat embossed leaf with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Sponge Butterscotch ink on the card stock using a circular motion.

Stamped Side “A” of the marble texture cube with Mountain Rose ink.  I missed taking a picture of it, but I sponged some of the Mountain Rose ink on the card stock after the cube stamp ink had dried some.  (Sorry, but it is very early in the morning when I create these tutorial, lol)

Sponged some Ginger ink around the outer edges using a pouncing motion.

Getting darker yet by sponging some Espresso ink around the outside edges, not covering the Ginger ink completely.

Getting even more darker, sponged black ink at the corners.

Stamped side “C” of the marble texture cube around edges with Espresso ink.

After ink has dried for a few moments I took an old rag and wiped the ink from the embossed images.

Punched 2 window punches from Chocolate Chip card stock and drug the ends of them across a black ink pad.

Oops!  Sorry you had to look at my grungy stamping pad in the last picture,  lol.  Really keeping it real this morning!

Assembled card front and stamped the sentiment in Espresso ink.

Here is the finished creation measuring 5″ x 6.5″. 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and will give it a try!

Hope your day is filled with beautiful sun shine and Spring weather!

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle

When I seen this stamp set Going Places from My Favorite Things I just had to have it for no other reason than I had to have the buildings stamp.  My mind just started working the minute I ordered it.  Well it came in the mail last night and here is my first piece with it.

My stuff usually looks quite country, but today we are going to the City. 

 Supplies:

Used my Mirror Image Stamp by Rubber Stampede to stamp a reverse image of the buildings on Whisper White card stock using black ink.

Note:  to use the mirror image stamp, stamp your image on to the mirror image stamp and then stamp your mirror image stamp on the card stock.

Stamped the building stamp with Black ink being careful to line up the buildings with the mirror image.

Colored some of the mirror image buildings with an Apricot Appeal marker and the matching building above it with a Pumpkin Pie marker.  I’m using a lighter shade on the mirror images so it is not so strong in appearance.

Colored some of the mirror image buildings with an Almost Amethyst marker and the matching buildings above them with a Lovely Lilac marker.

Colored the rest of the mirror image buildings with a Gable Green marker and the matching buildings above them with a Green Galore marker.

I wanted to create a bit of shadow on the right sides of the main building images, so I took the matching marker and colored just the right sides of the buildings with it. 

Colored in the space between the mirror image and the main image with a gray maker.  I also darkened the windows on the main image buildings with the same marker.

Colored over the main image buildings only with a Versamark Marker and then heat embossed the buildings with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Note:  I did not heat emboss the mirror images.

Sponged Soft Sky ink over the entire card stock.  In the water area I used a streaking motion from left to right across the card stock to simulate water.  In the sky area I used a circular motion.

Sponged Not Quite Navy ink on the sky and water areas using the same motions with the sponge as I did with the Soft Sky ink.  I did not cover the Soft Sky ink completely.

Sponged Night of Navy ink in the same way as I did the Not Quite Navy ink.  I did not cover the Not Quite Ink completely.

Used post it notes to mask the sky and main building area.

Sponged Night of Navy at the post it note edge.

Added a hint of black sponging at the bottom and top of the card stock.

Assembled the card and here it is finished.  This card measures 5.25″ x 5.25″ completed.

Wow, I had a bit of computer issues today uploading this.  Yeah!  I finally got it to upload.

Thanks so much for following along with me to the city.

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle

Winter has seemed to hang around way to long this year.  I was so very happy to see a butterfly flying around in my garden Saturday and the humming birds have returned to enjoy the feeders I have put out for them.  I assume that means warm weather is here to stay. 🙂

To celebrate I have created this butterfly tutorial for you.  Let’s get started.

Supplies:

Stamped the Butterfly image on Whisper White card stock using Palette Noir Black Hybrid Ink.

Note:  This is a very good ink to use with Prismacolor Markers.  It doesn’t smear with the alcohol based markers.

Sorry for the first 3 pictures being blurry.  I changed my camera setting and forgot to change it back, yikes!

Anyway, I colored the image with a Yellow Orange Prismacolor Marker.

Colored the inside and outside edges of the wings with an Orange Prismacolor marker.

Colored the body of the butterfly with a Goldenrod Prismacolor marker.

Felt I wanted the color to me more intense so I went over the entire butterfly again with the Yellow Orange marker. 

Here we go the camera is in focus again.  🙂

Also, went over the inside and outside of the wings with the Orange marker once more.  Yep, that is much better! 

Being careful to stay within the lines of the image I colored in the butterfly with a Versamark marker and then heat embossed it using clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Wow, that makes this butterfly pop!

Sponged on Lettuce ink using a streaking motion with the sponge to get some grass texture started.

To continue getting texture I used the narrow end of the Butterscotch ink pad and did direct to paper with it.  Using a streaking motion.

Note:  It’s a good idea to try this out on your scrap paper first to get a feel for how much presser you want to put on the stamp pad.

For direct to paper techniques I like to use these Adirondack pads because the pad sits up more on the base giving you access to the edges of the pad.

Using the narrow edge of the Ginger ink pad I made lines to simulate grasses by just touching it to the paper at an angle.

I also did a bit of sponging with the Ginger ink at the bottom of the card stock.

Using a circular motion, sponged Aqua ink in the sky area.

Stamped side “A” of the Marble Texture Cube with Stone Washed ink in the top of the sky area.

Sponged side “B” of the Marble Texture Cube with Not Quite Navy ink over the Stonewashed ink.

Sponged some Not Quite Navy ink at the top of the card stock.

Sponged some Denim ink at the top of the card stock to make the sky really dramatic.

Applied Peeled Paint ink at the horizon line, by using the edge of the ink pad and pulling down.

Created a shadow for the butterfly by sponging in a circular motion around the side edge and bottom edge of the butterfly with Not Quite Navy ink.  I keep most of the sponge on the butterfly and barely go onto the background to get the shadow.

I think I need more grasses so I put some in with the edge of a Rust ink pad.

Assembled card and here it is finished measuring 5 x 6.5.

Thank you for coming along on this celebration of warmer weather.

Just a note:  I have added a new tab at the top of this blog in which I answer the most frequently asked questions.  I will be updating this from time to time so you may want to check it out occassionally if you have questions.  🙂

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle

The combination of embossed Creamy Caramel & Brayered Chocolate Chip ink reminds me of tooled leather so that is why I’m naming it Faux Tool Leather, lol.  Oh, the Power one has on their own blog 🙂

I’m also using the set from Gina K. Designs, Comfort & Peace.  You can get this set from http://www.shop.ginakdesigns.com/main.sc

or you may be the lucky winner of this set from yesterdays blog candy, which I will announce at the end of this tutorial.

Ready for todays tutorial?  Let’s give it a go.

Supplies:

Started out with a piece of Creamy Caramel card stock that measures 5″ x 5″,  used a ruler to find the center of it.  I put a little dot in the center with a creamy caramel marker so it wouldn’t show up later in the finished piece.

Stamped the larger floral image on my Stamp-a-ma-jig plastic with basic black ink.

Using my Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement I stamped the floral image using Versamark and lining the stem end up with the center dot and the leaf point with the corner.

Heat embossed image with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Repeated the last two steps again 3 more times, embossing each image as I stamped it.

Colored the un-embossed centers of the flowers with a Tempting Turquoise marker.

Went over the Tempting Turquoise with a Versamark marker and heat embossed using clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Heavily brayered on Chocolate Chip ink over the entire piece of card stock, turning the card stock different directions to get good coverage over the entire piece. 

Note:  The ink will look almost black, but as it dries it lightens up a whole lot.

Let it dry a few moments and then wipe the Chocolate Chip ink off of the embossed images with a paper towel.

Using the smaller floral stamp in the set, I colored just part of the image on the stamp with a Chocolate Chip marker and then stamped it on my Stamp-a-ma-jig plastic.

Used my Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement.

Colored the same particle part of the stamp I did before, I colored it in with a Chocolate Chip Marker.  Stamped it on the card stock four times, coloring the same part of the stamp between stampings and huffing my breath on it to get the color moist.

Let the images dry for a few moments and then wiped the ink off of the embossed images again with a paper towel.

Stamped large floral stamp around the edge of the card stock with black ink.

Let the black ink dry a few moments and then wiped the ink from the embossed images again with a paper towel.

Used a Sharpie Gold Paint Pen and drug it along the outside edge of the card stock on all sides.  This creates the look of a gold layer with out the bulk or cost of gold card stock.

Note:  Hold the tip of the Paint Pen half on the card stock and half on your scrap paper and drag it straight down the edge.  It’s easier than it looks to get a nice straight line. 🙂

Punched a small flower from Tempting Turquoise card stock and a large flower from Creamy Caramel card stock.

Adhered them to the center of the layered card front.  Poked a hole in the center of the flowers and each corner with my piercing tool.

Added gold brads and here you have it, the finished card that measures 5.25″ x 5.25″. 

Yesterday I offered as blog candy this great set from Gina K. Designs. 

But first, I want to thank everyone who left a comment.  You all are the most wonderfully supportive group of stampers ever!  I received so many good suggests for things to added to this blog.  Thanks again.

Well my Husband, Russ selected a number and we have a winner, Charmaine!  Charmaine left this comment:

Have a super Saturday!

Until my next post. . . . . . .

Michelle

Before I started my blog, I would start each day by doing one of the challenges on Split Coast Stampers.  The challenges really helped me grow as a stamper and come out of my secure little box.

I decided to do my favorite SCS challenge, the sketch challenge.  Here is a link to the challenge:    http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=346067

Supplies:

Stamped fisherman with Black ink, using a Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement.  Note:  I used Classic Black dye ink to stamp on the plastic sheet of the Stamp-a-ma-jig, not the Palette Hybrid ink.  The Palette Hybrid ink is very hard to get off of the plastic, if you can get it off at all.

Decided to use my Prismacolor markers to color with today.  I store them on their sides and I have them cataloged in my binder since I am a visual person.  This way I can instantly see what color I would like to use and how it will look when it is dry.

Colored his pants with Blondwood.

Colored the creases & knees of his pants with Light tan.

Also colored his hat with Light Tan.

Colored his face and hands with Eggshell.

Colored his jacket with Limepeel.

Colored the creases of his jacket with Light Olive Green.

Colored over the fisher man with a Versamark marker and then heat embossed him with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Brayered Soft Sky ink on the sky area of the card stock.

Brayered Not Quite Navy at the top of the card stock not completely covering the Soft Sky ink.

Brayered Not Quite Navy ink on the water area of the card stock.

Used my curvy cutter to cut a circle from Soft Sky card stock.  Cut the circle in half.   Stamped the lures with Black ink on each half.

Colored Lures with Limepeel marker.

Added White Gel Pen highlights on his gills and on the hooks.

Added some stripes of Mediterranean Blue on the lures.

Sponged on Soft Sky ink on the curved part of each half circle.  Ooops, missed taking a picture of this but I also, sponged on Not Quite Navy ink on the outer most part of the circles and under the lures.

Sponged on Old Olive around the edges the Soft Sky card stock panel.

Added some Not Quite Navy sponging around the edge of the panel too.

Used a distressing tool and distressed the half circles, main image panel and Soft Sky panel edges.  Drug each distressed edge across a Night of Navy ink pad to make the white edges dark.

Assembled card front.

Used my piercing tools to pierce holes in the upper left and bottom right corners of the card front.

Used a Not Quite Navy Marker and created faux stitching by running the marker from one hole to another.

Here is the completed 5″ x 6.5″ card.

Hope your day is filled with creative challenges that will bring growth to your crafting!

Until next post. . . . . .

Michelle