Group of Seven ~ Stencil Monoprints

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing well! I'm sorry I wasn't here last Monday as planned. All of the week before, I had both computer woes and migraine woes. Layering that onto jet lag made things very, um, trying. 

But it's all good and I got my cicada rhythm back, too. Wait. What? I think I mean Canadian. No, stop. It's circadian. What is? Nevermind. 

Thanks to the Group of Seven Cardmakers, I managed to have some creative fun and I've lots of photos to share with you. For this month, we used our stencils and concentrated on making monoprints. The technique works best with open stencils which are inked using your choice of watercolor medium. After inking and spritzing, the stencil is flipped over onto watercolor paper as many times as the ink will last and gives you a useable image. 

1.

I used a sunflower stencil from Technique Tuesday and Lindy Magicals. 

For the technique reference, I should have first shown you this photo of all four of the monoprints I got. 

And below are the other three cards I made: 

2.

3.

4. This last one is very faint, but I liked it anyway.

I think you will enjoy trying this with your powdered inks, distress inks, watercolors, or sprays. For more incredible design inspiration, please check out the Go7 website where you will also find more instructions and video information! Group of Seven Cardmakers.

But wait, there's more ...

I went to clean off my stencil and when I started swiping with a baby wipe, I noticed a cool design was transferring onto my scratch paper. I stopped and grabbed three more panels of Tim Holtz watercolor paper and made these patterns, just swiping across the stencil with my baby wipe, cleaning more of the ink off each time:

I wasn't able to get a very good photo because it was evening, but in person each one is really cool. So cool that I didn't want to cover them up, so I made these very simple matted cards with foiled sediments which I've had in my stash:

5.

6.

7.

Such a fun bonus!

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Enjoy your weekend! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!* Unless something unforeseen comes up, I hope to be back Monday with more stencil designs per my fifth Monday I.D.E.A.S. schedule. And I'm also hoping to finally share some of our vacation photos!

Thank you for your patience and your forgiveness for my lack of visiting. Next month is going to be another busy month with visitors first one week and then the next. And then it will be full on Christmas cards!

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! 

*Life is too short!

Challenges

1. Colorful Options: Be bold.

2. Beautiful Blossoms: A/G Floral w/ optional mood board.

3. Triple B: Birds, Blooms, and Butterflies.

4. Simply Clean and Simple: Signs of fall.

5. Cardz 4 Galz: Any coloring medium.

6. Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: A is for Autumn.

        

Embossibilities!

Hello Stamplings!

How are you this fine Monday? I hope you had a nice weekend! I can tell a lot of you are on holiday this month because I can hear the crickets in the evening and normally the crafty chatter drowns them out. Wherever you are, have fun making memories!

For the rest of us, I have a few embossed designs to share with you for the third week of the I.D.E.A.S. schedule.

Onefer

This is an example of double-embossing. First, I used a regular (unmarked) embossing folder and then I ran that embossed panel through a second time using a 3D embossing folder. The NBUS 3D folder used here is "Leaf Bundle" from Simon Says. You might be able to see that Hammy and Stanley used a few of the leaves as scratching posts which left a bit of a distressed look here and there. 

The beautiful Memory Box "Serene Bird" was cut using patterned paper. A gold-embossed sediment from Memory Box and gold bling finished the QACAS design.

Twofer

The embossing folder featured in this design is from Park Lane (Michael's) called, "Holly Berry." Stanley tried his luck at using a red pogo stick to highlight the berries! (Even Hammy had to admit that the youngster has agility and good eyesight on his side!) 

Using a NBUS die from Spellbinders called, "Stylish Merry Christmas," I used the cut-out letters only for the bold sediment. I backed it with a candy cane striped vellum and then attached it to a card base.

Threefer

This design features a NBUS evergreen embossing folder from Simon Says called, "Delicate Pine Branches." For this card, I thought the debossed side of the branches looked more interesting. 

I used the other portion of the "Stylish Merry Christmas" die, so you can see what the whole die looks like. This time, I cut it from a panel in my stash that was made by spritzing ink over an evergreen stencil. I left out the inside letters of the words. Next, I stamped off an evergreen stamp and stamped it lightly here and there over the panel. I lost the little paper piece that fit inside the R, so the lads searched through my bling and found a beautiful aquamarine bead.

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Sturgeon Full Moon Tonight!

Tonight's full moon is known as the "Sturgeon Moon" because sturgeon fish were once abundant in August in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain region, according to the Almanac. The prehistoric-looking fish are thought to have existed around 200 million years ago. Today there are sturgeon farms all around the world, raising sturgeon in tanks for their prized caviar.

Other names for the Sturgeon Moon are "Dispute Moon," "Lynx Moon," "Lightning Moon," and "Grain Moon." 

I'm not sure how that happens. The names seem so random and why are there so many? I picture a group of Almanac executives who hold their annual August conference in Tampa Bay. After dinner and a few too many tiddlies, they sit around the club house pool gazing up at the full moon and tossing around ideas for the next Almanac edition. "Goose!" "Ambush!" "Upholstery!"

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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! 

*Life is too short!

Challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure? A/G E/F 

Cardz 4 Galz: Birds

Triple B: Birds, Butterflies, and Blooms

Word Power: Focal sentiment

I.D.E.A.S. Die-Cut Day!

Hello Stamplings!

Welcome and good day to ya! I'm feeling okay and I'll feel even better once I get off the shingles meds. Thank you for all your wonderful birthday and get well wishes and prayers! You're the best!❤

I have my usual twofer for you. One is a card I made a coupla weeks ago and one I managed during the week.

Onefer

The beautiful vellum butterfly image is from a company called Stamp On It. I attached it to a stitched and scalloped pink square and then attached that to a sheet of vellum, which was attached to the card front with a fold over the top. I then added the die-cut thanks from poppystamps and the sequints.

Before I added the vellum to the card base, I thought a layer of text on the card front would look lovely under the vellum crinoline, so I used my old SU En Francais stamp:

Twofer

A simple W-O-W Christmas card on hammered cardstock to kick-start what will hopefully be weekly Christmas card makes from now on. Tick-tock, tick-tock! I love pure white-on-white cards, but when I go to make them, I usually end up adding a bit of color, a touch of gold embossing, a little bling, something. I'm pickled tink that I managed to restrain myself for once! (It helped that the lads are away at summer camp right now!)

The corner die is actually NBUS and it's from 2015. I mean, seriously? I really am a bad offender of not using my schtuff, aren't I?! And I have a set of these, Christmas and non-Christmas dies. Slap! Never mind, better late than never as I always tell you with your NBUS!

Sorry, I digested. The ornament is ancient (but often used) from Spellbinders, called, "2011 Heirloom Ornaments." The sediment has escaped its packaging. I'm imagining you imagining the die ripping apart the thin cellophane envelope and flinging itself into the drawer. 

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The Mails and The Mister

I have one of those first-of-the-month birthdays that are a surprise when you turn the calendar, so I'm fortunate to get cards for many days after wards. I have to say that this year the mails have been extraordinary! I have received many cards from England and Canada in less than a week! Bravo!!

But then, this:

It is so sad to see a lovely handmade card mangled, especially when there was nothing on the card which should have caught in machinery.😢 On a positive note, I am happy that the mail personnel didn't just throw it away! 

❤❤❤   

Per tradition, The Mister made me a copier paper handmade birthday card, which I treasure each year. He is not usually one for quips, but he really made me laugh out loud when he wrote this in the card:

Happy 75th Birthday!

If you were a building,

this would be quite

an accomplishment.

And you still have all your shingles!

😂😂😂

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Enjoy your week! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! 

*Life is too short!

Challenges:

Triple B: July 

Shopping Our Stash: NBUS!

Peace On Earth: A/G Christmas.

Die-Cuts, Darlink!

Hello Stamplings!

How's things? I hope you're doing well! We've had several days of company, which was lovely, but it kept me off the grid and unable to email or comment. I hope to mustard some energy and ketchup today and tomorrow. Groan! That was a bad one. (Worse, I've prolly used it before!)

I wanted to keep up with my I.D.E.A.S. schedule, however, so before the company arrived I made a coupla QACAS cards to share:

Onefer

I used a hammered front panel for this one. (Some day I will share a video of my two wee hamsters with their little tiny hammers gleefully pounding divots into the paper! As you may have guessed, Hammy really appreciates having the help of a much younger feller with this task!) I scored three lines along the sides and added the panel to a card base.

The color inspiration came from the Color Hues challenge where the talented Karen has chosen blue and yellow. You can see that I got frisky with the sediment from Creative Expressions and added the same blue and yellow Hughs.

The flower is from Tim Holtz's wildflower dies. I think they've been around for a while, but they are NBUS to me. I recently ordered them after seeing a card on FB or Pinterest. (I lost my note.)

It was fun sponging with my CP inks, so I did the same with a number of the other wildflower dies. They will hopefully be made into cards soon and not loiter in my bits box!

I'm also playing in the Cut It Up A/G and NBUS challenges.

Twofer

This card features another die-cut from the wildflowers set. When I had my overhaul the first of the year, I came across a few sheets of this beautiful printed acetate. I think it was from SU a hunnert years ago. 

For the die-cut spider mum, I found a piece of pp that worked perfectly. This gives a better idea of the printed acetate:

To attach the acetate to the card base, I first glued the flower to the acetate and then added glue to the back of the acetate behind the flower. I also added a drop of glue to the acetate where the sediment is. 

I'm linking to the Simply Clean and Simple and the Triple B A/G challenges.

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Short and sweet! Enjoy your week! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks for taking the time to join as a follower! 

*Life is too short!

Go7: Elegant Writer Pens and S = Stencils

Hello Stamplings!

Lovely to see you! I like your hair today. Mine looks like it had a fright, but I might not have bothered to brush it. That reminds me of a saying a friend recently saw on a shirt: 

"It's a shock to realize I'm the same age as old people!" 

You might wonder why I'm here on a Sunday when I normally work the Monday shift. It's because my other fun playtime gig with the Group of Seven Cardmakers goes live on the 28th of every month and rather than do back-to-back posts, my Monday I.D.E.A.S. post is down below.🠷 (Grab your chair and your veberage, this is a longer one.)

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This month the Go7 played with Elegant Writers. They are calligraphy pens with magical qualities when the ink gets wet. 

1.

Note: You can buy Elegant Writers in just black or a pack of black, plus four colors. I stamped this image from Purple Onion in Vintage Photo DI and then I used the Elegant Writers to add touches of ink. Then I drew out those touches with water and a paintbrush. I love the soft colors that happen when you then blot the areas with a dry paper towel.

It's a bit hard to describe the magic, so the best thing is for you to click over to the Go7 blog and check out the videos and the stah-unning examples from the other ladies. I've had my pens for years, so I loved finally using them, but if I'm honest, I think the end result is not that different from other forms of watercolor appliances I have, like Ziggies and watercolor pencils.

Here are two more results:

2.

And for Christmas:

3.

The above stamp from the Colorado Craft Company is NBUS and I bought it in an actual brick 'n mortar stamp store on my recent trip to Portland. It was a blast being able to see the products and touch them! I also met two dear friends for the shopping adventure and for lunch afters!

Linda, me, Colleen

I.D.E.A.S. Week Five (S = Stencils)

4.

Because my I.D.E.A.S. stencil make was going to be included in this post, I used my black Elegant Writer pen to outline this floral stencil. You know, killing two rocks with one stick. (You understand I can't use the one about killing birds, so I had to make up my own.) 

After I outlined the stencil with the EW, I used a small paintbrush with water to draw the colors out from the black outlines. It was cool, but not really dramatic, so I whistled for my little helpers.

This turned out to be a good opportunity for Stanley to practice his spritzing alongside Hammy. After they got the panel quite wet, I laid a paper towel over the top, covered it with a large acrylic block and let it sit for several minutes. I like how the water and then the towel spread the ink and left small areas of the towel pattern on the card panel. You'll have to take my word for that last bit.

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Enjoy your week! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! Please let me know if you play with your stencils for this rare fifth week of I.D.E.A.S.! 📌

*Life is too short!

1.  Addicted to Stamps and More (Make Your Mark); SSS Wednesday (A/G).

2.  Alphabet Challenge (B is for Birds); Triple B (Birds).

3.  Christmas Cards All Year Round (Santa); Christmas Kickstart (Santa); Jingle Belles (The Man With the Bag); Rudolph Days April (A/G Christmas).

4.  Just Us Girls (A/G Stencil); Stencil Fun (Spring/Flowers).