This is a project I started in a class at Impress Cards & Crafts in Tukwila. Carla Zarkos taught a class using alcohol inks. While much of it was a review for me, there were new techniques that I learned. I also decided it was time to step out of my box because I tend to use the brighter colors. She asked us to select only one color and that's all we would work with. I chose Teakwood as my one color. On Yupo, I blew through a straw with each drop of color. I also just dropped

Where does the time fly to? What seems like a nano-second, an adopted "niece and nephew" of ours celebrated their daughter's 21st birthday yesterday, unbeknownst to me. She has excelled and is due to graduate from college this spring with amazing grades each year. A quick and last-minute birthday card was in order and I just happened to have this stamp on my work desk. I love Laurel Burch and her colorful designs; I have for over 30 years! I stamped with VersaMark onto white

I know I don't use my Magenta Stamps as often as I'd like to. Every one of their stamps is beautifully and artfully designed; and the quality of the rubber is the best. I'm so fortunate to have been introduced to Magenta's line of stamps and other art supplies in my beginning days of stamping. Birthday card 5" wide & 6.5 high This is a Christmas poinsettia stamp that I used as a non-seasonal flower. All of the watercoloring is done on Strathmore 140 lb. hot press watercolor p

It's the Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend. We've enjoyed a blessed day with some of our family. I've avoided the Black Friday store rush, although I do admit I did a little on-line shopping. And I continue to work on my holiday cards and class projects I've brought home. I recently joined a Yahoo group, Oriental Stamp Art. They offered up a card exchange. So, here are the two cards; we send a card to the 2 people following our name on the exchange list. Great idea! This c

My nephew is expecting his second son any day, any hour. His wife is going to the doctor tomorrow and they may find themselves with a new addition to the family before they return home . . . who knows! All I know is I cannot wait to meet Reed when he chooses to make his debut. Reed also has a big brother, Jack, who is 5 years old and is quite anxious for everything to happen. While I've been waiting to hear, I made this card. When I saw this stamp in the current Stampin' Up!

While working the Elizabeth Craft Designs' booth at the Scrapbook Expo in Puyallup last weekend, I was totally taken with a card that was on display. The die design is from Joset van de Burgt and the card stock is ECD's new Soft Finish Card Stock. This card stock has such a subtle texture to it; when Distress Inks are applied, the paper takes on a velvet-looking finish. Of course, I had to buy the die and the card stock. The Soft Finish Card Stock comes in two weights. Using

I pulled out my Zig Clean Color Real Brush water-based pens to use with the Penny Black "Bouquets" Clear stamp set. It became a little addictive, I couldn't stop! You'll see another card tomorrow using another one of the bouquets in the stamp set. Today's card will go to a friend who celebrates her 70th birthday with a drop-in reception later this afternoon. Using the MISTI, I stamped the image onto 140 lb. cold press watercolor card stock with archival ink. I left the stamp

I finally finished the card samples for the Local King Card Class at Art 'n Soul. Hopefully we'll be able to set the class date tomorrow. This is a die that I've been wanting to use for many months. I used several colors of card stock to run through the machine so I would have multiple colors to work with. Cut the Abstract Cover-Up die using various colors of card stock. Decide which colors you want for the outside frame, the inside frame, and the colored pieces. Adhere all o

It's been a fun and a dramatic weekend. With two of my high school girlfriends, we saw Motown, The Musical, in Seattle . . . fabulous music, even more fabulous singing talent. Then I drove to Olympia/Tumwater for my 45th high school reunion; it's true, you see them as you remember them in school and not what they look like now. Sunday started out slowly and then I was horrified to see the television news about the mass shooting in Orlando. And I continued my ongoing prayers f

It's been such a short time since I remember Els first demo'ing at CHA with the micro fine glitter and Shimmer Sheetz! Both her son, Mark, and her daughter, Josette, were there helping out and seemed so young. Now, the Elizabeth Craft Designs product line is extensive and quite popular. I bought a few things at the consumer show I attended in Anaheim, and I've just now taken some of the ECD goodness out of the bag! Adhered adhesive sheet 3.5" X 3.5" to the same size piece of

I'm loving the five new colors in the Nuance watercolor powders from Magenta. I've posted a card previously using the new colors, and I've made another card using only the new colors and one of the new Magenta stamp designs. My cousin, who is like a sister to me, celebrated her birthday the other day; unfortunately, she was quite under the weather and is just coming back to life. I hope this will brighten her day. Stamped with VersaMark and embossed with gold embossing powder

It's been a busy two days. I hosted a home jewelry dinner party last night. I reluctantly signed up for this duty at a friend's party last fall; it was a weak emotional moment I'm sure. And then I was going to prepare a birthday lunch for my sister-in-law today but the number attending kept growing, so we met at a restaurant instead. All I had to do was bring the cake . . . Costco cheesecake with huge fresh blackberries. Ta dah! We leave for Las Vegas at o'dark thirty Saturda

In my reorganizing, I came across this stamp set from Impression Obsession. I had never used it yet because I needed to brush up on using a stamp positioner (the old-fashion ones). Along comes the MISTI stamp positioner and I want to immediately work with it. On white card stock, stamped each peony stamp in the set with Distress Inks. After it was dry, I made a watercolor palette with 3 of the green Distress inks. With a small watercolor brush, I colored around the peony. The

It IS a wonderful world. I can even say that on a Monday! The sun was out in full glory today . . . our thermometer read 88 degrees this afternoon. Its too early in the year to enjoy that kind of summer day on a regular basis, so we'll take it when it shows up. It was our nephew's 47th birthday too. I spent the day making potato salad and homemade apple pie for the family celebration. My card today was inspired by Penny Ward; she's always creating beautiful cards. She posted

It's a Magenta kind of day. After Dianne Johnson's Nuance class yesterday at Art 'n Soul, I couldn't resist purchasing Magenta stamps from their latest summer 2016 release. Mixing it up, I made this card as a result of looking at the "Freshly Made Sketches 232" challenge. On linen cardstock, lightly applied Bright Yellow & Turquoise Nuance watercolors. Once dry, stamped flower image over it with VersaFine. Colored with Copic alcohol markers. Fussy cut image and applied to a s

So far, I'm just flittering around. To concentrate on just one thing is a challenge. I've been multi-tasking all day long, unintentionally! I also kept flittering through stamps and ideas, and finally dove in. This is an older stamp from Magenta, perhaps new to you. Because it's more of a shadow stamp, I decided to bring out the Distressed Inks. Applied Distress Inks to completely cover stamp image. Stamped onto card stock; allowed to dry. Used Spica glitter pens to follow th

This afternoon the stamp club I belong to enjoyed a play day. We brought our MISTI's and stamped away. We're all learning that the MISTI is a must-have tool for many reasons. I not only love it for the repeated impressions that can be made; I also love it because it allows me to stamp sentiments exactly where I want them and in a straight line! I've been wanting to use this Penny Black stamp for a long time. I had tried it without the MISTI and I wasn't very successful. With

The term "black gold" is one used quite often by asphalt producers. They lay down millions of miles of black asphalt on our roadways every year. It's black and they make money. My card today is a "thank you" card to an asphalt paving company who invited us to their annual employee awards and recognition breakfast last month. All employees from all over Washington State and northwest Oregon are invited to attend; there must have been 3-400 people. Everyone is like family; this

Wow! March is a blink in the rearview mirror and it's already April. This month is so busy I don't think it will vanish with a complete blink. Yikes! And 15 years has gone by in less than 2 full blinks! Today is our sweet Hannah's 15th birthday. This little Bichon Frise has been the petite princess in our household since she flew to Seattle from Oklahoma 15 years ago. Everything revolves around those 4 paws of hers. We've enjoyed every single moment. Both of us think that she

Yesterday's Easter celebration with family was a wonderful time spent. My 2 year-old great granddaughter provided us with lots of love and loads of entertainment. The food was yummy, too! Easter has always been filled with children; in addition to my great-granddaughter, we had 4 other small ones to prepare an Easter "basket" for. On Saturday, I discovered the sweetest stencil from Echo Park Paper Co. I had to purchase it because it was perfect to make Easter cards for the li