A New Year filled with Creative Potential!

Happy New Year, Bloggin' Buddies!

I hope that all of your holidays were filled with loving memories and that you are once again ready to get inky! I thrive on my "normal" routine, so I am READY.

Here is a little gem to start the year with a sparkle. I made this card for a dear friend who shares my love of mermaids. The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti's "Shine from Within" set. Love it!

The mermaid is an older stamp from Unity designed by Suzi Blu called "Elena Seaside". I watercolored her in an ombre style with Zig Clear Color Markers and a water brush and I added lots of Wink of Stella and Stickles for extra sparkle. Super-artsy, eh? She is mounted on a panel that was watercolored using an emboss-resist technique for which the Impression Obsession "Shells" background stamp was used. Cold press watercolor paper was used for stamping both pieces.

I think this card represents a perfect tone for my New Year - I plan to try to keep it in mind every single day.

Thanks for the visit and welcome to 2018,

I know, right???

It has been far too long since I've posted. It appears that my blog layout and settings have disappeared. Reestablishing them will be for another day (maybe!)

I was having so much trouble with finding the right photo set-up in our new house (where we have now lived for 3 years!) that I kind of gave up. I just used my phone in my craft room for this one. Sorry.

Also, while I am making lots of cards, my focus has been more on techniques rather than products and challenges. I love all the new things - the Fuse Tool, inter-active cards, Oxide Inks, the layering stamp sets, etc.

For the past couple of days I've been playing with the Distress oxide Inks. I am so crazy about them that I'm hardly sleeping! Here is a background that I made which I used for a card for a sweet Mermaid friend of mine.

She is colored with Copics, the wave is heat embossed on vellum with comic coloring behind and I've used Wink of Stella. Very straight-forward.

Stamps and dies: Neat and Tangled, Mermazing; PTI, What the Doodle - Waves.

Thanks for the visit - keep crafting!

Uninspired

Hi, Bloggin' Buddies!

Yep, that is how I've been feeling lately. When that happens I try to pull out some easy things, such as using  some backgrounds that I previously prepared or coloring up some some ready-made images.

Here are some cards that I recently made using Suzy's Sizzling Series Watercolor Paintable Prints from Simon Says Stamp. I used my trusty Zig Clean Color Markers (I so love them!).

I took some real liberties with the one on the right side. I removed the bottom sentiment (it just wasn't "me") and added a mermaid (from Clear Art Stamps, 2010) for a focal point of interest.

Lots of Wink of Stella, Wink of Luna and Stickles here, also!

The photos is a bit blurry because I used my phone (uninspired again).

Hope you've been having a great August. Thanks for the kind visit,