A HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOUQUET

Hello everyone, 

I wanted to jump in on the birthday celebration over at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Happy Birthday" this week - Simon Says Stamps is celebrating an awesome 8 years!  Congratulations Simon Says Stamps!!!! 

and CAS Watercolor Cards (new to me) Challenge "Pink and Green".

My card uses Altenew "Dahlia Blossoms".  As most of you know, Altenew has so many florals, but this one jumped out of the shop and into my cart the second I saw it.  
I used Tim Holtz watercolor paper, Distress Inks and an aqua brush to color my flowers. After drying them, I embossed the flowers with gold embossing powder.  

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you grab some crafting time this weekend!  

DESIGNER'S CHOICE CHALLENGE AT THE HOUSE

Hello blog friends!!! 

It's time for a designer's choice challenge at The House That Stamps Built and this month, it's the fabulous Rock Star, Joy Hadden who has this challenge.  Her challenge is to use a die on your card/project.  

Great challenge, as most of us have dies and love using them.  

 My card uses a rectangle die that I used to cut into the main panel of my image and pop it up and use all the parts to make it dimensional.  

I love the stamp RI#4306-N "Pussy Willows", it's so cute....and says "spring" to me.  I colored them with Copic Markers.  The sentiment is RI#1304-J "Beauty of Springtime" and I only used the main sentiment for the outside of the card.  

This is such an easy challenge, I hope we'll see lots of participants join us.  All the details to enter the challenge can be found at The House.  

Check out these amazingly talented blogs for more inspiration for Joy's challenge.  

Deonna - Donna - Heather - Joy - Laurie - Patti J - Shirley 

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget, if you can't wait to win some awesome RI Stamps, you can shop and get a full 10% off your order by using the code RR10CW.

Have a great week and happy stamping!!!! 

TECHNIQUE STRIPS AND PULLED COLOR

Hello Junkies!  

A while back, I posted a card I created using the "Pulled Color" techqnique from August/September 2012 Technique Junkies Newsletter.  I'm combining that technique with another one called "Technique Strips" from the June/July 2012 Newsletter here.  
I loved the idea of the "Technique Strips" tutorial because it's an opportunity to use up some scraps or pieces of technique experiments that didn't come out just right. It's an opportunity to create something new from the leftovers or rejects.  (Those rejects happen to me a lot!) 

The strips in this card were those rejects from my "Pulled Color" experiments from my March 7 blog post.  I'm glad I didn't chuck them out...I do that sometimes and then I wished I hadn't.  

The stamp "Growing Wild" is one I've used before.  I love it's versatility.  You can grab this stamp and any other's you'd like from the TJ store, (excluding clearance and Distress Oxide Inks/Reinkers) and get 10% off by using the code TJ10Cheri at checkout.  

And there's more!  All of the APRIL RELEASE stamps are available at 15% off until April 8.  No code needed for that, it's automatically applied at checkout.

Technique Junkies has a new FaceBook Page too.  Please come on over and join us. We'd love to have you join the chatter and show off your creations.  

So glad you stopped by today and I hope you try these techniques and then post them on our FB page.  

Here's to an inky day!

APRIL 2017 BLOG HOP AND NEW RELEASE FOR TECHNIQUE JUNKIES STAMPS

Hello Junkies!!!! 

It's the first of the month and an exciting time for Technique Junkies fans...there's always a new release blog hop to introduce the new stamps at the first of every month!  

Great news! From now through April 8th, you will receive 15% off the NEW April Release stamps -- PLUS you can receive 10% off anything else you order using this code:TJ10Cheri (excludes clearance and Distress Oxide Inks/Reinkers). The April stamp discount will automatically be added at checkout. We can all use a bit of savings, right?

If you arrived here from the incredibly talented Lanette Erickson's blog, you're in the right place.  If not, and you want to take the entire blog hop you can begin HERE at the TJ Blog.  Lanette's cards were awesome, weren't they?  

I've got 5 cards to show you so here we go:

For this card I used the adorable stamp "Row of Birds" and "Art of God" for a sentiment.  The background was created with a watercolor wash and then just dropping in watercolors and letting the wash move the paint.  The birds were colored with watercolor but without a wash.  

When I first saw this stamp "Flower Square" I knew I wanted to try creating a cyanotype look.  It's such a dramatic look and this stamped look like the perfect one to use it on.  I used Blueprint Distress Ink and my Misti to get the right depth of color.  The sentiment "In My Prayers"  (10% off if you use my discount code TJ10Cheri) is an older stamp and not from this release.

From the June/July 2012 Technique Junkies Newletter, I used the technique "Ombre Watercolor Resist" tutorial.  Distress Ink reinkers Candied Apple, Barn Door and Worn Lipstick were used to create the bg.  The stamp "Watercolor Flowers" is fabulous for this technique. The sentiment is from the set "Road Trip" (10% off if you use my discount code TJ10Cheri) an older set and I heat embossed it on a piece of vellumn so as not to hide the great bg.  

I stamped the new "Flowers and Feathers Collage" in a dark brown ink against a panel I had scored to look like barn board.  I liked the vintage feel of this in brown, but felt it needed some interest, so I stamped just the bird from the stamp and colored it with inks.  After fussy cutting it, I then used a double heat embossing technique to put a glaze on the bird and aligned it over the original stamping.  

Once again, using the "Watercolor Flowers" stamp I did a partial embossing on a white panel using clear embossing powder, then sponged some soft Distress Ink colors over it to achieve a resist.  I stamped the new "How Blessed I Am"  sentiment in the center where I'd removed the embossing ink.  

So glad you stopped by, and don't forget the 15% discount on all the new April Release Stamps (you'll see them all used as you hop through each blog) and a 10% discount using TJ10Cheri on all other stamps (excluding clearance and Distress Oxide inks and reinkers).  You will have to enter the TJ10Cheri code in at checkout.  

Now, on to my friend, and the super incredibly talented, Kathy Stacy's blog where you will find incredible inspiration.  

Happy Hopping!!! 

SKETCH CHALLENGE MARCH 2017 FOR THE HOUSE THAT STAMPS BUILT

Hello,

There's a 5th Wednesday this month, so Wendy from Repeat Impressions and The House That Stamps Built is offering a sketch challenge and a 5th chance to enter in the month's challenges and win $25 worth of RI Stamps.  

Here's the sketch....I know a lot of you crafters like them...I find them a REAL challenge.  That said, here's the challenge.

Lordy, was this a tough one for me!  It's an interesting design in layers, and after I  completed my project I thought of other things I might have used and done with this sketch.  Crazy, huh?  

To create the bg, where the squares and rectangle are on the example, I used acrylic stamping blocks smooshed in watered Distress Inks, making blocks of color one at a time.  The bunny image, RI#2605-P "Ode to Spring", was stamped on white cs and colored with Copics before being die cut with an oval die.  I fussy cut the letters from the "9800 Happy" set to use as the dots around the focal image.  I stamped only the word "springtime" from RI#1304-J "Beauty of Springtime".  I also did some ghost stamping with RI #10205-E "Flower Cluster Outline" against the left hand panels of color.    

Now check out these awesome creations using this sketch

Deonna - Donna - Heather - Joy - Laurie - Patti J - Shirley 

For all the details on how to enter this challenge check it out at THE HOUSE.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.