Mixed Media Vintage Love Card

Hello...Kathy here today with a fun mixed-media resist technique using products and supplies from Itsy Bitsy for you to try in your paper crafting and card making. I started my project out with the gorgeous Retro Style paper pack, the White Cards pack and a tag die. I cut the tags in white and trimmed my papers to layer on the card front. The base layer is really elegant looking because those black squares are embossed and shiny. There are actually quite a good bit of embossed elements included within the papers of this pack...both glossy black and some metallic elements!

Using the Acrylic Matte Medium and a palette knife, I applied the medium through the Lattice Stencil  onto my patterned paper after taping it to my craft mat. It takes a little while to dry and the time it takes does depend on how thick of a layer you apply. So I removed the stencil and washed it off right away -then I set the piece aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the card.

To decorate the tags, I stamped them using the Hand Carved Flourishes Printing Block and Black Chalk Ink. Now because there is no cushion, as this is carved from wood, I found that I got the best impression by placing my tag on top of a thin piece of foam first and applying a good bit of pressure using the heel of my hand.

The sentiments are also embossed and were hand trimmed from one of the patterned papers and some edges were torn before I inked them with the Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I tied the Crochet Lace at the top of both tags for added interest.

Once the stenciled matte medium was completely dry, it was ready to be used as a resist. So I blended  Vintage Photo ink all over it and then immediately wiped it off the top of the medium using a wet baby wipe. (this is a bit messy -I ended up with brown, ink stained fingers during the process, so don't say I didn't warn you, lol!) Using this technique, the stencil pattern gets a bit of raised texture to it with a clear, matte finish and the negative stencil parts soak up the brown ink to show the contrast nicely.

Using lots of foam dots, I adhered the layers to my card front and wrapped it with some of the lace too...so pretty! The last step was using a thin lined black marking pen to write in the additions to the sentiments..."best" on the front and "of my life" on the inside.

Using the ink that was left on the blending tool, I did a bit of stenciling on the inside of the card too. I love showcasing what a good stencil can do!

That's it for me today -thanks for sticking with me to the end and I hope this will inspire you to try something new in your card making. Until next time~ Happy Crafting with Itsy Bitsy!

Hey Honey!

Hello there - just checking in today to share a design project for the August challenge showcasing "Paper Piecing" over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog that was inspired by the sketch challenge @ Fab Friday. I will be entering it in the "Anything Goes" Wednesday challenge @ Simon Says Stamp and the Less is More "Piercing" challenge. This will also be the second card that the group from my library will be making at our September card making class.

So, the first thing I knew I wanted to do with this A2 size card was emboss the honeycomb pattern onto white cardstock, but I also knew that I didn't want it to cover the entire panel...so I got out my circle diffuser...mine came in a Tim Holtz set from Sizzix. If you are new to using an embossing diffuser, here is a quick video guide from Jennifer McGuire that should give you a nice intro to them. They are easy to do -basically just take the place of one of your cutting plates in your embossing sandwich and even work in the Texture Boutique, as you can see here! I then brushed the Raw Sienna ink gently over the raised design on the panel to add some additional accent color. (used the direct to paper method here)

For the paper piecing of the bee hive and stand, I stamped the image from the Fun Stamper's Journey stamp set in black ink two times -once each on two different kinds of patterned paper -a yellow dot pattern for the top hive part and a wood grain pattern for the bottom stand part. Then I fussy cut them out very close to the line. Once that was complete, I went over the edges with a black permanent marker to cover any white edges that were sticking out and taped the two pieces together on the back to complete the image.

Following the sketch, I punched a white circle, stamped the "Hey Honey" sentiment in the middle and sponged Raw Sienna ink around the edges. The black glitter paper was trimmed into a narrow strip for the accent under the sentiment circle.

My plan was to adhere the paper pieced  hive image to the blank white space on the partially embossed and inked panel. Rather than add the large circle element from the sketch as another layer, I used a paper piercing needle and a circle template to pierce the circle pattern around the hive instead. I also tied the mustard ribbon around the left side of the panel before attaching it to the front of a mustard yellow card base.

The last step to completing the card front was to adhere 3 gold sequins around the hive and on the sentiment circle in a triangle pattern to pull the eye through the card front. If you look closely, you'll notice that I put the "rule of thirds" to good use in several ways when designing this card. That's something that I don't even think about anymore -I have been doing this for so long now that it just comes to me naturally and it always helps to balance my designs  and make them pleasing to the eye of the beholder.

Since I will be giving this card to my hubby, I chose the Marvin Gaye quote for the inside and accented it with a single bee stamp.

Until next time~

Paper Piecing Birthday Balloon How To

Today's card was inspired by me finding this Balloon stamp set on clearance @ ACMoore about a month ago...can you believe it was marked down to only $1.49??? Sooo, I just had to buy it...lol! I will be entering it in the "Anything Goes Masculine challenge" @ Watercooler Wednesday and the "Anything Goes Birthday challenge" @ Seize the Birthday.

My first step was to stamp the large and small balloon images in black ink on scraps of white cardstock. Next I trimmed a piece of cloudy sky patterned paper to fit the front of my A2 top folding card, stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in black in the bottom left corner. Then I stamped the large balloon again on several different scraps of patterned paper for my paper piecing elements. Using my stamp positioner made this job simple and fast.  I then trimmed out the separate balloon sections and set them aside.

The "thinking of you" was then embossed in black inside the banner. Coloring of both balloon pieces was done with various Spectrum Noir markers. On the smaller (stand-alone) balloon I also went back in and used the clear blender marker to add tiny dots for subtle texture and to break up the bold colors a bit before fussy cutting it out, spraying it with glimmer mist and gluing on the 3 orange sequins.

The trimmed pieces of patterned paper were glued onto the main image like putting together a puzzle and once it was completely dry, I outlined the clouds with Crystal Lacquer and added clear Prismaglitter to it.

I trimmed the large balloon piece and adhered it to my card front with my ATG gun and used foam pop dots to adhere the smaller balloon for more dimension.

The inside I kept clean and simple, trimming and adhering a thin piece of the cloud paper to the left and double stamping the large (retired-TAC) "Happy Birthday" stamp in black using my stamp positioner, again, to get the color crisp and bold. This card is now all ready to go out in the mail for my Father-in-Law later in May.

Until next time~

Thanks a (mer)lot!

Today's card was made as a thank you that I gave to good neighbors who reward snowblowing their driveway out with delicious wine they make themselves in their winecellar...we always tell them that it's not necessary -but they insist! So this year, I insisted on giving them a "thank you" card for their "thank you" gift, lol. I used my interpretation of the inspiration photo @ Just Add Ink, added a bow for the Shopping Our Stash: "Tie One On" challenge and will apply it for the "Just For Fun" challenge on our new Mix It Up Technique Challenge Blog ( I am still over the moon excited about having been invited to be a "Mixed Up Girl" DT member here!!!)  using paper piecing and liquid glass techniques + using patterned paper for Craftyhazelnut's Challenge + "Anything Goes" @ PDF Linky Party.

For this card, I dug out a large wooden stamp called "Red Wine Cellar" from Stamps Happen Inc. that I bought somewhere many years ago, but find I hardly use because of it's size -it pretty much covers the front of an entire A2 sized card. I really love the way it looks on a card and on a shelf too, lol...it's so pretty with the colored label! The Old World paper fit the vintage vibe I was going for, so I reached for it again once more and chose a muted green this time. The card base is an ivory side fold trimmed just slightly bigger than an A2 so that I could layer for a small border.

I knew I wanted to paper piece and keep the colors on the muted side, so I stamped in grey instead of black ink and decided to color with watercolor pencils, a blender pen and Wink of Stella pens (gold and silver).

I stamped twice...once directly on the green patterned paper for the background and once on ivory cardstock. I also stamped the retired TAC "thanks for everything" in black directly on the background to the right of the wine glass.  Before I colored, I fussy cut the ivory wine bottle and glass in one large piece as you can see pictured below.

Popping the large focal piece up with foam dots gave a nice bit of dimension to the front of the card and set it apart from the background perfectly.

After adding a large ribbon bow to the left side spine of the card, I covered the green wine bottle with the Gold Wink of Stella glimmer pen, the grey foil wrapper with the Silver Wink of Stella and the Wine glass with the Crystal Lacquer to get the look of glassware. I just love the additional feeling of depth it accomplished. And my neighbor friend loved it so much that she texted me right after opening her mailbox that day to say "thanks" for the thank you's thank you...LOL!