A happy little note

 - is what the text strip announces. I was inspired to use colors from the current Color Throwdown challenge. My papers are most likely to be gelli printed, and this is what I used.

 

I stamped each tree onto a different color, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder and cut it out and arranged onto a card.

As this fits into several fall themed challenges I will be entering it into these:

More Mixed media: AG with optional orange - I am using this option

Mixed Media Lovers: #6 Challenge

Uniko Challenge: #67 AG with twist of autumn colors

Make My Monday: #158 Embossing - either

Color Throwdown: keyword #ctd663

Mandala with a twist

 I have an old Jane Davenport mandala-style stamp set which I have been using for backgrounds.  I suddenly realized that they in fact mesh very well in size and design with Martha Stewart lace style stamps. So I connected the two.

I stamped all of them in bright colors, then cut out and reassembled. I also build up height by adding layers with foam bits. Background was made with the help of a stencil, I mushed Old Paper Distress Oxide rather irregularly through the holes.

I then added some Liquid pearl drops as accents and an indigo frame (left over from a cyanotype project that didn't turn out well) and called it a day. 

Entering in:

Three Room Studio: #49 Use polkadots, stripes or plaid - I used polkadots

Challenge Up Your Life: #138 Circles

More Mixed Media: AG / optional brights - this is using Brights

More than Words: Zen / Mandala

Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Anything goes

Blooms according to rrch162

 There are several challenges going on at the moment that coincide and complement each other nicely.  It's almost like playing tic-tac-toe or bingo. The row reads: blooms - watercolor- pastel, all done according to a sketch. How fun is that!

I needed a greeting card. I started by stamping the background. This is one of my few background stamps, Baroque Blooms by Chocolate Baroque. I must have purchased it 2016 or 2017, and now it was time to put it to use.

I stamped with Rangers translucent permanent ink, I thought green would stay in the background. Then I colored it with watercolors, trying to keep it pastel-ly.

For the focal point I used a stamp that I purchased at the last fall 2019 trade show before the COVID closedown madness the following spring. It is a printing process stamp, it has separate stamps for all CMYK colors. 

 

 Stamp them on one another and the result is wonderfully achronistic. I have seen late 1800's picture books done with similar dotted color fields. You'll see the close-up at the end.

 

Of course there is no need to go the yellow-blue-red-black route if you crave something else- The left were started with the colors in the upper row: pale blue, pink, plum and purple (but then I added yellow and grey, too). The ones on the left were done with yellow, red, turquoise and flannel grey, as I didn't want a very contrasty flower.

 Then it was time to put it all together according to the sketch rrch162:

Here's the promised close-up:

Entering in:

We Love Chocolate Baroque: Beautiful Blooms

613 Avenue Create: Anything goes / optional Watercolor

More Mixed Media: Anything goes / optional Pastel

Retro Rubber Challenge: #162 Sketches!

Thinking of you

 I needed a card for a dear friend. She is a poetry lover, so the text is taken from a poem.

"The wind threw the petals into air

like snow falling from low to high"

First I painted the background in acrylics. I started with pure turquoise and mixed it with more and more white towards the top to give it an ombre look. When it was dry I glued Tim Holtz tissue on it. Next came black gesso through a flourish stencil. Then I stamped my beloved cherry bough stamp (Paper Source) both onto the card and white copy paper so I could color in the blossoms and cut them out. 

entering in:

A Place to Start: June 2021 / Make your own challenge

More Mixed Media: Anything goes with optional purple

Happy happy

KK-vintagen uusimpaan haasteeseen tehty inspiraatiokortti. Pohjassa käytetty melkein kaikkea mitä löytyi: akryylivärejä, krakeluurimaalia ja kimalletta. Hyvää syntymäpäivää sinulle, elokuun lapsi!

Happy birthday!
Background done with crackle paint, acrylics, spray mist and glitter.

entering in:
SimonSays Wednesday: Midsommer blues
More Mixed media Challenge: Anything goes w/ optional bright

More games

Making my own backgrounds is something I have done since the beginning of this blog (back in 2007). The possibilities are endless and the results are never the same.

This week, prompted by a challenge that asked to use playing cards, I started by glueing playing cards onto card bases. Next I dabbed white chalk paint through a stencil. It dried matte white over a somewhat shiny yellowed base - a very nice look I thought.

I decorated along the edges with matching red and black tissue tapes, then adhered the stamped, fussy cut images.
As you can notice I chose playing cards with spades, clubs and diamonds - no hearts, because they would come to play a part in each one.

Heart is always trump - that's the message here.
Lastly there's a sprinkling of white paint.

entering in:
TJK: viikot 45-46, käytä pelikortteja.
SimonSays Monday: Make your own background.
More Mixed Media challenge: Anything goes with optional black.

Mellow

Fall brings out the saturated colors: yellows, oranges and browns and inky blue night skies.

I made a group of mixed media atc's. They all started as cereal boxes which were cut to size and sandpapered. The first one received butterfly and swirl diecuts. Then I painted everything over with light acrylic and treated with stamping, stenciling and so forth.

The others were just stenciled and then treated like the first, with a focal image on separate paper, stamped with tiny text, post mark and swirls, microbeads and a piece of thread. The text comes from 7 Dots Studios.

I am entering this into following challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Stamp it on
That's Crafty: Forever Autumn
More Mixed Media: Anything goes with optional brown

Fluttery love

- this time with some mixed media. I purchased some Marabou texture paste just a while ago. It comes tinted, pink, lavender and aqua and it has an incredible chalky airy texture.

 First I prepared my background with some notebook paper. Some light letter stamping and pink spray through a stencil went on.

Then I pressed the texture paste through a very baroque stencil. When it was dry I colored it in a bit and added everything else.

This is sweet and airy, keeping with the theme of fluttery falling in love. Happy Valentine's to you!

entering in:
More Mixed Media Challenge: Anything goes, optional red
Moo-mania: Music
SimonSays Wednesday: Cute