Make a Watercolor Background

Hi everybody,

It's my day to play in the Cottage--and oh boy! Belinda left out some watercolor paper for me to "borrow". (tee hee) So I grabbed (oops--"borrowed") some Blingz paints to make a piece of background paper. I wet the paper and then painted stripes of 4 different colors of paint:




I was going for the look of an empty snowy field in winter when there are yellows and pinks on the horizon. Can you see it? So of course I wanted to use some snow people stamps from Sparkles © Holiday Music.


I ended up with a Christmas card! If you go to my blog, you can see two more Christmas cards that I made using the same technique, except I used dye ink pads instead of paint.

Thanks for looking!

Your Friend,

Lisa

playing digital...

Hah! nearly clean fingers.... almost ;)



Been sneaking around on Belinda's computer again and I found some amazing images on there. I'm sure she won't mind if I play with them a bit! Once you make yourself a nice "card front" from several different elements you have a quick and easy card sitting on your computer that only needs to be printed out and slapped on a base card, very convenient.
While I am not too fond of printing out images and using them as "stamps" I really do like manipulating digital images and putting them together to my liking. Scrapbookers have done this for a long time already, why not for cards?
Here is a screen shot of my computer with all the files open that I used:


I am using Photoshop Elements 4 (I know, ancient, but works..), click on the image to enlarge.

My composition uses the following elements on different layers:
1) The book with peony flowers
2) The words Happy and Birthday
3) A pretty background that I found on Bel's computer (top of image)
4) A woodgrain brush (bottom of image/table)

A closeup of the resulting image gives you a bit more of an idea of manipulations of the initial images:



All coloring except the peony flower heads was done in photoshop elements:

1) filled flowers with "white" for optional hand coloring
2) added different colors and filter treatments for the books
3) filled leaves with green
4) the final image has a gradient applied over the two background layers to fade out towards the top right corner

At normal card size you can open a new document in 8.5 by 11 size and copy your final image to this 4 times and print out 4 card tops per page. I used thin white card stock for printing. Since my printer has not offered to tell me WHICH color print head is funky, I got a slight striping on my images... which thankfully is not too disturbing in this case.

I left one card as is and colored the flower heads on the other two. One was colored with spica glitter pens:



and the other was colored with Sakura Soufflee pens:



Both pens worked great with coloring and did not smear the printed lines. They give very different effects, the soufflee looks a bit shinier in this picture than in real life, those colors are more matte.

So, do you "digi"??

If you're not, you may want to grab this opportunity to hop on over to the Special Sales Page at the store. Nine stamp sets are reduced in price from $10.95 to $6.49 for a little while, don't miss this!!

It's All About the Bag

I have been doing the Eccentric thing--laying awake again at night...this time I was wondering about all those lovely bags that things come in. You know, the onions, the white ones, the yellow ones and what about potatoes. For me texture is everything. Feel the texture of those bags some small plastic diamonds some large plastic diamonds. The potato bags are made of a type of string--more texture. So I have been collecting them and came up with an idea for background designs.

Cut the bags to form a flat piece, using whatever size you desire. Lay over a piece of cardstock and using a sponge or a stipple brush add ink. Pouncing as you go, trying not to move the bag. Add scotch tape to hold the bag in place,when finished carefully remove the tape and the bag. What do you have? Make several of these designs in different sizes shape and colors.

Here are a few samples that I created. The first one is a potato bag using 3 different colors of ink.


My next sample uses a bag that contained Tomatoes on the Vine. See the different pattern?


The last pattern is an onion bag. Don't you think it somewhat appears as a snake skin pattern?


My card was made using another onion bag for the green background. I used our A Crimson Christmas set to add the cardinal as the focal point.

Try this technique and share with us what you have created.! Enjoy!

Nancy Leimer

In the Studio with Jeanne

Happy Monday!
I've been looking for some gift-giving ideas, and came across a great site that inspired me to put together this beautiful stationery set.

This set holds the three cute Inchie note cards from the current Cottage Rumble in the inside, plus a note pad,and custom pen. The front of the holder has room for four A2 cards.
Stationery Time was used to create this fun project.


Start with base color of cardstock cut:
7" x 5
7" x 6 1/2"
7" x 2" scoring at 1/2" on both long sides


Apply sticky strip to the scored 1/2" edges of the center piece and adhere to the bottom of the two pieces that will now be the stationery holder.

I attached a piece of designer paper to the inside to cover up the inside seams.

Pockets:
1. Front- 7 3/4" x 2 3/4"
2. Inside- 3 x 5"
Score each pocket on three sides only, two short sides and one long side @ 1/4" and 1/2".
3. Cut out the corners (all 4 little squares) and apply sticky strip to the outermost edges of the three sides. I have dressed up the front pocket using designer paper, and stickers and buttons for embellishments.
4. Peel sticky strip and attach pocket to the front and inside.

Inside:
1. Pen is a RSVP pen by Pentel. Unscrew the bottom of the pen and pull it out, roll a piece of dp (3 1/8" x 1") around the pen (ink part) very tightly and insert back into the barrel of the pen, place the pen part back into it and screw it back together.

2. My notepad is a scratch pad from Office Max 4" x 6". Any pad will work for this project. I stamped the front with the Stationery Time Just a Note.

3. Cut a piece of cardstock 3" x 3/4" for the pen holder. Roll it around the pen and sticky strip it to the front and back of the cardboard backing of the notepad.

Velcro sticky dots are attached to the back for easy removal.


The instruction for the pocket cards are on my blog.
Be sure to check out the Cottage Rumble post for info on the inside note cards in this project, and while you're there join us in the rumble challenge and play along!

~Jeanne

It is all in the Bright and Happy Stars

Happy Friday and welcome to the cottage today. Lots of exciting stuff going on at the Cottage over the next few weeks. Or at least I think so... the team had a secret locked door meeting yesterday and no matter how hard I knocked on the door they wouldn't let me in! But as everyone left the room I heard whispers about A Sparkles Bright and Happy Holiday stamp set so I ran to my desk to make some cards.

The team played a little trick on me and took my patterned paper. So I decided to make my own backgrounds using the stamp images from the set. The set has 2 sizes of patterned stars which are perfect for backgrounds. For each background, I stamped the stars multiple times with black Memento ink.

For the card above I kept is very simple- black ink on kraft colored paper. I think the snowman image (also from A Sparkles Bright and Happy Holiday stamp set) pops off the paper.

For the card above I colored the stars with two light shades of Copic Marker. It still looked a little bland so I added some trios of dots. Years ago I read a tip that said dots work better in sets of three so that is how I have done it ever since. Experiment with your backgrounds- add lines, dots, doodles- anything you like for a unique background.

Thanks for visiting the Cottage today!

In the studio - making napkin rings

I know people who don't scrapbook, but buy scrapbook paper. Why? They use it as placemats on their table. The logic being they can get beautiful patterns, and realize they're one use, but at $0.85 a sheet who can go wrong?

This inspired me to create other things for table settings, such as napkin rings. Below I created my napkin ring by doing the following:

Using a border punch I created a band of cardstock that is about 1.5" x 6". I glued it end to end

I used alochol inks on the acrylic.
I inked some white cardstock with purple ink and stamped it with what's becoming my favorite set: Whispers of Dreams.
I cut it out, matted it on matching cardstock and added some pearls.
Glossy accents is holding the whole thing together.

Button Up for Winter!

With the approach of winter, it's time to break out the snowpeople stamps. Here in Minnesota, winters are often very cold with lots of snow, chilly winds and long dark nights. (Brrr! I'm cold just thinking about it!) I'm not a big fan of winter.

However, I am a big fan of stamping snowpeople! Instead of using blues and grays typically depicting winter, I like to use softer, lighter colors.

This snowman from the Sparkles Let It Snow set seemed perfect for making my pink "Let it Snow" card and matching ATC! I used cream colored cardstock to stamp the snowman with brown ink. To give a little antique look, I distressed all the edges of the card with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I embellished with a few brown buttons and ribbon.

Rumble 18: Inchies and Twinchies

Artwork is shrinking! The latest craze is Inchies (1 x 1) and Twinchies (2 x 2). These tiny pieces can stand alone or be used on cards and other artwork as accents.Some even trade them like ATC's in swaps. I was surprised that a lot of art and embellishments can fit on a 1 inch square. The flower from the In A Peaceful Glade Stamp Set (Now retired) . It was colored with Shimmerz and popped up for a 3D look. The butterfly is from the Delicate Moments set. It was colored with Glitter Markers.

The dragonfly and Mouse are Twinchies. (2 x 2) I used marker on part of the large stamp in the Dragonfly Dreams set. Then stamped the small dragonfly in black on a scrap piece of white cardstock. It was colored with glitter markers, cut out and applied to the Twinchie with 3D foam tape.

The mouse from the Autumn Memories Set is busy carrying a special inchie of Marie Antoinette. The background is from an old calendar. Marie was punched out to inchie size from a collage sheet. The mouse was colored with Copic Markers and popped up with 3D Foam tape.

Inchies make great accents on anything including ATC's. I used a collage image as an inchie accent with the Shadows of Memories stamp set. For the snowy ATC, I punched out three white cardstock inchies and stamped them with images from the new Sparkles Let It Snow set.

Our Design Team has made a variety of incredible projects. These little squares have a huge impact on all sorts of artwork!

Lisa has made some beautiful place cards.

Lisa said:

I used the inchie challenge to make placecards for my Thanksgiving table. We always have turkey and all the trimmings, even though there are only 5 of us! I took a 1 inch square of paperboard and painted it brown. Then I heat embossed the leaf stamp from Smiles and Rainbows with gold powder and added touches of gold glitter paint. I placed one inchie on each person's placecard next to their name.

Nancy created a Fun Inchie Covered Tablet

Nancy wrote:

Inchie’s are new to me so I was somewhat hesitant to do this project. Now, I think I might be addicted to Inchie’s.

First I painted a piece of watercolor paper with my watercolors in a random design and allowed to dry. Then using my StazOn black stamp pad I random stamped the dried watercolor paper. I painted the stamped images with a Stargazers Watercolor Palette.
After the images were dry I cut the paper into 1” pieces. The stamp sets I used are Whispers in the Woods (Retired) and Garden Beauty. Paint the outside of the tablet and add paper. Now you are ready to add the Inchie’s in a random design. The stamped saying came from the stamp set Whispers of Dreams. You must try it just once!

Wendi used a wonderul sponging technique to create this beautiful Thanksgiving card.

Wendi commented:
When I was given this challenge, I was a bit confused. I have never done an "inchie" card. So I put on my creativity hat, and got to work. It was actually a fun thing to do.

Besides making my first inchie card, I wanted to try something different with my sponging. I used a napkin and dabbed it in the ink all over the card. For this card, I used Autumn Memories.

It was actually a fun card to do, and I will be making more in the near future. I would love to see what you came up with.

Etha used her Inchie to make a fabulous Card.

She said:
I seated my inchie on top of it's little brothers :) The bear (Friends are Forever) was stamped in several layers of increasing size and mounted with an inchie on top.

All stamping was done with Coffee Bean Brilliance ink and clear embossed, coloring with copics. Additional stamps are from a retired set.

Jeanne used her inchies in a Beautiful Stationery Set.

Jeanne commented:

Stationery Time was the perfect set to play with for this inchie theme. I created the note cards with Linen Paper measuring 6 3/4" x 5 1/4" for a final measurement of 3 3/8" x 5 1/4" This size fits into a standard 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" envelope. The picture really doesn't do justice to the Linen cardstock - it truly makes these cards look very rich and elegant. The hardest part of these cards was keeping the clean paper from getting smudged up. I should have been wearing gloves to work on them;-) The background Shimmer Paper was scored/embossed to give some interest. The images were colored with Prisma pencil and oms, and for the fine detail I used Prisma's new brush tip markers. These markers are wonderful, as they allow a very intense, permanent color to be added in for detail work. Using a very light hand, I intensified the center of the butterfly with the blue marker which made the colors really pop off the page! I think Belinda's Stationery Time created a perfect marriage for these quick little note cards, and I have to say I think working with inchies could be quite addicting!!!

The Challenge for this Rumble is to come up with something creative with Inchies. Beware! Like the designers have said, "Inchies could be quite addicting!"

Post a comment with a link to your project.

One winner will be randomly selected to receive the very cute That's My Boy Stamp Set shown here.

Thanksgiving Elegance

Wow it's hard to believe it is already November..where has the time gone. While I was in the studio I decided to play along with latest Autumn Memories. Some of you might have the Autumn Treats set which carries these stamps too.

I decided to make a few things for Thanksgiving with this one set.

The first thing was a card/invitation for the Big Thanksgiving Dinner.

I wanted it too look rich, so I stuck with gold. I embossed both the pumkin with saying and the little leaves in the corner. The leave border down the side was done with Martha Stewart punch. I then tied it with some gold cord.

Next I decided to stamp on a napkin. I stamped with a brown ink. (I just hope if someone uses the napkin they don't get ink on their face..hehe ). I then used another MS punch and made a ring to go around it. Very simple but will make the table look pretty. Sorry for the bad photo..hard to get white on white.lol

Lastly with this set, I made a placecard. What a nice addition to the table to let your family know you are thankful for them all.

Did you know??

November is the beginning of Clear Artistic Stamps Third Year in business!
We will be celebrating so be sure to check our blogs and the store !

Thanks for stopping.

Wendi