Sponged Embossing

In cardmaking, new products and techniques abound.  When I first saw a Cricut demonstrated on TV years ago, I admit, I scoffed at the very idea.  I'm not laughing now

Four years ago, I tried to talk myself out of wanting a Cuttlebug.  I eventually gave in.  Now I use both that and a Sizzix Big Shot and can't imagine doing without them.  

I do my share of die-cutting these days, but I was first looking for a good embossed image for sponging.  Recently I played with sponging again.  It takes on a new look on kraft paper.

Here I embossed a piece with the Poppy Fields folder from Darice.

I trimmed this and sponging it with Rich Cocoa dye ink.

With pastel pencils, I added color to the poppies and a few of the tall flowers and leaves...

...smoothing and filling it in with a cotton swab.

I used:

Cardstock:  kraft (Hobby Lobby, Inc.), Watercolor Paper stack (Making Memories)

Embossing folder:  Poppy Field (Darice)

Stamps:  Hot Air Balloon Framelits w/stamps set #660690 (Sizzix)

Dye Ink:  Rich Cocoa Memento Dew Drop (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts)

Dies:  Puffy Cloud Borders (Lawn Fawn)

Chalk Pastel Pencils:  light blue, sap green, orange (General’s)

Sponge dauber (Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts)

Die-cutting/embossing machine (Sizzix)

Brads:  4 copper (Hobby Lobby, Inc.)

Glue dots

Cotton swab

Embossed Iris

Like many newspapers, I'm sure, our local rag doesn't publish much of a society page any more.  They'e even shifted the obituaries to the back of an insert!

I take it these new editors have never watched The Andy Griffith Show.  They don't know (or maybe don't really care) what sections of the paper we head to first.  Maybe they've never heard of sitting down with the paper at breakfast, rather than scanning it in the car on a tablet.

But anyway...

...this one 50th anniversary picture on the back of the paper happened to be someone I know.  Immediately, I had an idea in mind, and I thought it would fit in with the latest

 Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  

I love, love, LOVE this Penny Black iris.  Usually, I stamp it with watercolor pencils.  Here, I thought I'd do that on a leftover scrap of watercolor paper and then add a vellum overlay, which has an embossed iris.  I sometimes worry about vellum overheating and curling up when I use embossing powders, but it's never happened yet.  I stamp with watermark ink, sprinkle on the gold embossing powder and heat carefully, making sure not to stay in one spot too long.  

Isn't this pad of watercolor cardstock from Momenta absolutely scrumptious?  I cut a square of the green hue and attached the stamped layers with gold brads.  

The sentiment was stamped and embossed on another scrap of watercolor paper (I guess there are some benefits from making mistakes on my calligraphy!).  I attached that to the card with adhesive foam squares.

I'm so pleased, I think I'll make a few more as birthday cards...and maybe a get-well.

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Clearsnap Color Challenge

Hello!  It's been a long time.  I didn't realize just how long, until I was skimming through here last week.  I haven't posted since February?  Really?  Ouch.  

Well, I can't say everything's quite back to normal, but I am trying to get back bit by bit--back to calligraphy (I dived in with a fun piece I designed for a wedding gift), back to smocking (with thre projects going at once!), back to cardmaking.  Cardmaking! I'd better get back, because my mother's stash is getting mighty low,...and we've still got more birthdays coming up.

While perusing some of my old haunts, I discovered the Clearsnap blog, and with it their Color Challenge. Since I use a lot of Clearsnap inks, I thought I'd like to enter the

June Color Challenge

I've had this poppy embossing folder I've been wanting to use since Christmas time, but I just never had a good idea for it before.  I used it to emboss a scrap of white cardstock, then sponged this with Yellow Ochre blending into Caliente in the lower right corner, and Ice Blue blending into Surf in the opposite corner.  I attached this to the front of a pre-folded white card and added a tag for my message.  Done!  Fast and fun.

Materials:

pre-folded white card; white cardstock

Poppy Field embossing folder from Darice, Inc.

Ice Blue, Surf, Yellow Ochre and Caliente inks from Clearsnap

Stitched Tags die set from Pretty Pink Posh
sentiment is in an old set from Printworks

I've missed you.  Let me know what you've been up to!

Backgrounds

I'd been searching for just the right background for this hollyhock (one of my newest favorite stamps from Serendipity Stamps)  I stamped with watercolor pencils, and today I decided to emboss a pink piece of cardstock and lightly distress it with sandpaper, sponge those edges with brown chalk ink and mount it all on a square celery card. 

I know this isn't an autumn card, but it's hard to think autumn when it's still so sunny and hot here!  Looks like the forecast might be changing pretty soon, though.  Hooray!

I'm entering this in the Serendipity Stamps Challenge #47, which is all about creating your own background.  

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Christmas Red

Here are two new cards to add to my Mother's stash.  I made them both the other morning, using a pre-folded kraft card, plain white cardstock, and this antiqued red from The Paper Studio's Christmas on Amesberry Street stack.  I wanted to keep that typewriter as the focal point of the first card.

My Merry Christmas stamp is several years old, from an unknown set.  I stamped only the Merry on the first card, in black dye ink.  For the second card, I embossed it instead and punched three snowflakes to show off the white underneath.  

Now it's time for a cup of chai.

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Come back soon!