Sunny Sensational Saturday...

   What a lovely day...another blue sky sunny day and a great day for crafting.  I am feeling so much better and that's such a joy!  I'm also super excited about the Girl's Getaway Weekend and all the fun events that are now falling into place.   Special thanks again to Colleen Holmes and The Outlawz Group for putting together this fun weekend.  If you would like to join us, please head on over to the group for all the details.

     Although I did not post yesterday, I sure did have a great time in my craft room and have lots of fun new projects to share!  My first fun little news is that I was one of the very lucky winners of the Scavenger Hunt that we played in our brand new Mixed-Media Group over the Color Me Creative Classroom.   Marti, our teacher, came up with some fun questions from the stores that were sponsoring the hunt.   One of the questions had us over at the LuminArte (Dreaming in color) web-store and I was drooling at all the wonderful products they sell.  I  was immediately drawn to these cool new 'Silk Acyrlic Glazes' and will be ordering some for my stash next week.  Imagine my surprise to fined out that I was one of the Scavenger Hunt Winners and my prize is a Goodie Bag from this awesome store!!!  WOOHOO!!   I'll be sure to post some pictures once my goodies arrive, so please stay turned!   My thanks to Leslie at LuminArte for the prize and to Marti for putting together our fun little hunt.  I also want to say Congratulations to the other winners in our group (Jennifer and Joy)!

    If would would like to join the FREE group, you are welcome - simply hop on over to the Color Me Creative Classroom sign up for a Free Membership and then join the Mix-it up - Mixed Media Group.  We are currently working on a new challenge which runs through March 4th and is open to ALL!!   You'll want to create any type of Mixed Media project, with the requirement of using some type of Book Print.  The Challenge will be be chose by random drawing and will receive a $20 gift certificate to Susana's Custom Art and Card Design!
 
   I decided to make a tag and started by pulling out some book pages I had brought at a craft fair, last Summer.  I bought a package of assorted vintage pages, maps and illustrations and pulled out one of these cool looking 'Sonnet' papers for my tag.  I added a bit more Distress Ink (Vintage Photo) and adhered it to my tag with Glossy Accents, after tearing it into a few diffident pieces.  I then added on some black mini pom pom trim, and stamped on a vintage heart in red pigment ink.  I found a distressed flower and added that with an old button and finished it off with a grommet and ribbon and some Stickles.   This is my first try, so I hope I'm going in the right direction, since this is all new to me!!

    I have to admit that I'm really enjoying playing with inks and trying out all kinds of fun techniques that I have learned in a variety of classes.   I made quite a few cards in the past couple of days and many of them include a variety of inks, distressing, embossing and even some different techniques in the way I used the inks.
   These first few cards were inspired from the class I had taken on Tuesday.  The first card was also created for two new challenges.  The first was this week's Twisted Thursday Challenge at The Outlawz and the second is this week's Heat Embossing Challenge over at Crafting By Designs.  

 
  This technique is one that I really LOVE and it's actually very easy, yet it makes a great design.  You simply start with a piece of Watercolor Paper (or white cardstock, but watercolor is best) and you'll then want to take a large background stamp along with Versamark and stamp it onto the paper.  Next, cover it with embossing powder, and heat emboss it.  I used white for this card, but other colors also work.  Once it cools, you then want to pick a variety of colors of Distress Inks and stamp the inks onto your craft mat.  Then you simply use your finger tips, (or a mini dauber) and paint the colors on the embossed image, in any design you choose.  It makes a fabulous background for any card and can be done in any colors and with any stamps.  In this case I used one of the new Hero Arts (Italy) background stamps and a choose colors that went with a green card base.  I then added the matching twine and a flower which is actual fabric trim, that my store sell.  You simply cut off the bottom lace part and it makes a super easy and fun flower.  

    My next few cards were all created with Spring Fever on my mind and also incorporate a 'Stamp Kissing' technique, which I originally learned from Jennifer McGuire.   The first card was also created specifically for the new Kissing Challenge being hosted this week at Lily Pad.  I also used many of the goodies in my newest (March Card Kit) which was created by Kristina Werner for Simon Says Stamp.   (Love these kits)!! 

    Once I had that card done, I made second one, which I am also going to submit to the Lily Pad Challenge as well as the new CAS Challenge being hosted at Crafting By Designs.

   And here is one more card done in totally different colors, but again created with the Kissing Technique along with some of my favorite Hero Arts Background Stamps.

   And then we have this card which goes back to the idea of using multiple ink colors and for this one, I stamped a variety of Distress Inks, directly to another background stamp.  Once the colors were all on, I sprayed it very lightly with Perfect Pearls Mist and then stamped it directly onto my card base.  When it was dry it cut it down 1/8" on all sides and adhered it onto a matching card base and added a strip of contrasting cardstock and a ribbon and flower.

    I have one last card to share and it was one I also created based on a recipe from Tuesday's class.  What's unique and fun about this card is that we actually cut about 1" of the open side of the actual card base and then added a strip of Patterned Paper for a new edge.  The inside of the card was done with a contrasting paper and it was also added to the front of the card to match the colored image.   The background of this card is another another Hero Arts stamp and was stamped with one of the new Mid-tone Inks to give it a tone on tone look.  Although I'm not a big fan of the floral papers, we used, I do love the idea and the polka dot paper with the Kraft card base.   I do love the idea and I'm sure it's something I use again. 

    And now I am off to work on another fun project for today's new Paper a la Mode Challenge over at The Outlawz Group.   Our challenge this week is called Flower Power and all you need to do is create any type of NEW paper craft projects that has any type of flower on your project!!  Perfect and the theme goes along so well with everything I've been creating lately.  Seems like we ALL shave SPRING on our minds!!