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I have a tutorial featured on the Sizzix blog today, featuring the Matchbook Notebook die, and lots of cute critters!
Check it out!
Supplies
Stamps: Whipper Snapper Designs, Cosmo Cricket, Stampin' Up!
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Distress Inks
Paper: Fabriano 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor paper, Cosmo Cricket
Dies: Sizzix Matchbook Notebook
Other: Brads, Twine, Albrecht Durer 120 Watercolor Pencil Set, Niji Waterbrush, Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils, Tombow Markers
It's Tuesday, and time for a new High Hopes blog challenge! Ribbon and/or Twine is our theme this week, so pull out your High Hopes images, and join us!
For my card I chose to make a cute summery scene, with a simple button/twine embellishment. The Fishing Friends image is stamped in black StazOn ink and watercolored with Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils. I love the dog in this image! So cute! The patterned paper is from the On the Go line from The Paper Loft.
Find all the details of this week's challenge on the High Hopes blog. I hope you join us!
Supplies
Stamp: Fishing Friends from High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Ink: StazOn Black
Paper: The Paper Loft "On the Go"; Fabriano 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor paper
Other: Albrecht Durer 120 Watercolor Pencil Set, Tracing Wheel, Tombow Mono Multi Glue, foam adhesive, Niji Waterbrush, button, Orange Divine Twine
Today was 79 degrees and it rained almost 2". To celebrate such a wonderful day 2 of summer, I picked some of the sunflowers from the garden for the kitchen window. They make me smile!
And, I made 12 quarts of pickles! Yummmm!
I have this fun card featured on the Sizzix blog today! Check it out!
There's even a fun element of motion .... look at that bee go!
Supplies
Dies: Big Ticket, Bee Triplit, Flower Triplit (Sizzix)
Paper: Fabriano 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor paper, Pebbles, Neenah
Ink: Distress Paint in Frayed Burlap
ShinHan Touch Twin markers
Other: Action Wobble, brads, tracing wheel
A new challenge is being shared today on the Impression Obsession Blog, and I hope you join the fun! The challenge is Are We There Yet (Travel Themed). Pull out your creativity, and join us! I chose to create a beachy card, since the beach is one of my favorite places to go.
Find all the details on how to enter the challenge on the Impression Obsession Blog. A random challenge entry will be selected to showcase on the IO blog and you can to enter to win a $25 gift certificate to IO just by playing!
Now, get ready for a wonderful dose of inspiration and check out what the other team members created for the challenge. Have fun!!
Anna Wight (that's me!)
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett
Impression Obsession Blog
Supplies
Dies: Clouds, Sea Birds, Square Shaker Frame, Border Duo 2, and Small Grass Border from Impression Obsession
Paper: The Paper Loft, Neenah, Bazzill
Other: Kids Camp Sea Star Gem, Flat-Back Pearls
In this post from earlier this month, I mentioned that Chatter had an issue with her wings called Angel Wing. Instead of the wing feathers all folding up nice and neat against her body, the tips of her wings dropped away from her body, leaving her wing feathers poking out to her sides. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)
In this photo, you can see Chatter (front/left) and Spruce (middle/left). See how Spruce's wings tuck up nicely, where Chatter's wings fall away from her body, out to her sides.
I have been working with her to correct it, and thought I'd share an update!
For 10 days, Chatter's wings were lightly wrapped with athletic tape, so that the tips of her wings were held in the correct position. She's still young, and she hasn't finished growing yet -- treating her early will allow the bones and muscles to be corrected. Her left wing was more severe than the other, so it took a little extra support to keep it in place. She didn't seem to mind the wraps. She could still stretch her wings out from her body, but the wraps kept the tips of her wings in the correct position once she relaxed them against her body.
After 10 days of having the wraps in place, I'm thrilled with the results! Her right wing is nearly perfect. Her long flight feathers tuck nicely in place now, and it looks great! It no longer drops away from her body, and the feathers fall into place just right. Her left wing still needs a bit more support before it's in such perfect condition. Now, instead of falling completely away from her body, it points straight back and still doesn't want to fold under the rest of her wing. But I am confident that it will, eventually!
For now, I put another wrap in place only on her left wing. I'll remove the wrap and check it again in a week and see how it's progressing! *Happy Farmgirl!*
It's Tuesday, and time for a new High Hopes blog challenge! Water is our theme this week, so pull out your High Hopes images, and join us!
For my card I chose to use Caseys Catch, which made for a cute little summery scene. The image is stamped in Memento ink and colored with ShinHan Touch Twin markers. The patterned paper is from the Little Yellow Bicycle Fern & Forest 6x6 paper pack. I used The Stamps of Life cloud, sun, and wave dies to complete the scene.
Find all the details of this week's challenge on the High Hopes blog. I hope you join us!
Supplies
Stamp: Caseys Catch from High Hopes Rubber Stamps; Sentiment from the Everyday Sentiments cling mount set from Whipper Snapper Designs
Ink: Memento Black
Paper: Neenah, Little Yellow Bicycle, Bazzill, Paper Accents
ShinHan Touch Twin markers: YR26, YR27, YR29, PB144, PB183, BR100, BR102, BR103, BR115, B261, CG1, CG5, R10, R14, R139, GY235, G43, YR24, YR23
Dies: Clouds, Sun, and Waves from The Stamps of Life
Other: Tracing Wheel, Tombow Mono Multi Glue, foam adhesive
Happy Father's Day, to my Dad! Thank you for everything! I love this fun family photo!
I'm delighted to be this week's featured designer for Tombow, and to celebrate we're having a blog hop! (Hop list below.) You should also know that along with the hop, Tombow has a prize offering. Be sure to leave a note on each designer's blog for your chance to win!
Now, for the details of my card... I stamped Fishin' with Dad on watercolor paper using black StazOn ink. I then used Tombow dual-brush markers and a waterbrush to color the image. To get a soft watercolor look, I scribbled the markers onto the Tombow blending palette and picked up the color with my waterbrush. This allowed me to apply the colors much like traditional watercolors.
Once the image was colored and die cut, I applied a thin bead of Aqua Liquid Glue to the edge of the panel and smeared it a bit with my fingertip. Then I used a spoon to add an ultra fine dry glitter to the wet glue, and tapped off the excess glitter. I also applied Aqua Liquid Glue to the fishing net, and applied glitter the same way.
The background of my card was made using the fishy-fishy line image from the Lure the Best cling mount set. I stamped the fish over the entire panel with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with Stampendous Kaleidoscope embossing powder. I then randomly colored some of the fish with various light blue Tombow dual-brush markers, to give a little more visual interest to the panel.
Now, get ready for a wonderful dose of inspiration and check out what the other designers created for the hop. Have fun!!
Here is this week’s line-up:
Tombow Blog
Debbie Fisher
Melissa Cash
Jennie Garcia
Marie Browning
Anna Wight {that's me!}
I hope you enjoy the hop! Don't forget to leave comments as you go to be sure you're entered for the prize package! Tombow will announce the winner on their blog, on Monday June 16th at 3:30 P.M. EST.
Xtreme Adhesive
MONO Adhesive Removable
MONO Aqua Liquid Glue
In other news!
There's a new Mix-Ability Challenge posted in the challenge forum at SplitCoastStampers! The challenge is called Some Like It Hot (Mix72), and it's hosted by me! The challenge calls for you to pull out your heat tool and use heat reactive mediums on your project.
I heat embossed Stampendous Kaleidoscope powder on my fishy-fishy background. I love how the blues, greens, and purples in the embossing powder really sparkle and shine!
The idea behind the Mix-Ability Challenge is to make mixed media simple and approachable, and to let you experiment using things you already have. Each Friday a new challenge is hosted, but there is no time limit, so you can participate whenever you'd like on each challenge. Join us, won't you!?
Supplies
Stamps: Fishin' with Dad and Lure the Best from Whipper Snapper Designs
Tombow: Dual-Brush Markers; MONO Aqua Liquid Glue; MONO Multi Liquid Glue; Xtreme Adhesive; Blending Palette
Ink: Jet Black StazOn; VersaMark
Dies: Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities Oval; Back To Basics Tags
Paper: Fabriano 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor paper;
Other: Stampendous Kaleidoscope Embossing Powder; SEI Pearl Brad; Ultra Fine Glitter; Niji Waterbrush
Good morning! I'm happy to be the featured designer for Impression Obsession today, and have a watercolor card to share with you.
For my card, I chose to use the Small and Large Leaf die sets, along with the Music Cover-a-Card background stamp. I die cut the leaves out of watercolor paper, and using my favorite "smooshy" watercolor technique, colored the leaves with various colors of Distress Ink. Once dry, I stamped the leaves with the Music stamp.
To create the background, I cut a piece of watercolor paper to size. On my craft sheet, I smeared various colors of blue and linen Distress Ink, and "smooshed" the watercolor paper into the colors. Once dry, I inked the Music stamp with the same colors of ink that were used for the background, and stamped the watercolor paper with the inked stamp. I love the imperfect impression this technique gives. So fun for adding a bit of nice detail to a background. Finally, I wrapped the watercolored panel with twine and a button and adhered it to a card base using foam adhesive.
Thanks for stopping by to say hi! Wishing you a beautiful day!
Supplies
Stamps and Dies: Impression Obsession
Ink: Distress Inks
Paper: Fabriano 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor paper, Paper Accents
Other: Hemp Twine, button
It's Tuesday, and time for a new High Hopes blog challenge! Patterned Paper (use 2 prints) is our theme this week, so pull out any High Hopes images you have, and join us!
For my card I chose to use Choppers Chilaxin' and Small Sunnie, which made for a cute little summery scene. The images are stamped in StazOn ink and colored with Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils. I added a bit of glitter to the ice, lemon wedge, and sunglasses for a bit of sparkle and shine. The patterned papers I chose are from the Simple Stories Homespun 6x6 paper pad. Super cute, and I love the colors!
Find all the details of this week's challenge on the High Hopes blog. I hope you join us!
Supplies
Stamp: Choppers Chilaxin' and Sm. Sunnie from High Hopes Rubber Stamps
Ink: StazOn Black
Paper: Fabriano 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor paper, Neenah, Simple Stories
Albrecht Durer 120 Watercolor Pencil Set
Other: Niji Waterbrush, Studio G Glitter Glue, Baker's Twine, tracing wheel, Spellbinders Circle and Scalloped Circle dies
I've had several requests for updated photos of the three baby Toulouse geese, so here ya go! They don't really look like babies anymore, do they!? (Don't forget, you can click on the photos for a pop-up of a larger view of the image.)
Tally (the oldest of the three) is on the right. And while she (?) looks to be almost fully feathered, there's still some growing to be done.
Chatter (one of the younger two) is on the left side of the feeder, and towards the back of this photo is Spruce, the second of the younger two. Admiral (the big rooster) is watching them enjoy a snack at one of the feeders.
Albert, Einstein, and Rocky are enjoying some time perched on the log I have in their yard. Albert and Einstein are while Silkie roosters. Rocky is a black frizzled Cochin. Silkies and frizzles aren't really known for perching on high perches, but they do enjoy a nice place elevated just enough for a different view on the world. The log provides that place for them. They were keeping a keen eye on the garden!
Here's another photo showing the geese. Chatter is the one closest, followed by Spruce, and finally Tally. You can see the baby fuzz still on the necks of Chatter and Spruce. Tally has lost almost all of her little down tufts now. Looks like Albert and Einstein are grabbing a snack, too... one on each side of the feeder.
Albert and Einstein are back on the log, facing opposite directions this time.
This is Tally, the oldest of the three geese.
Spruce and Chatter waiting their turn while some of the girls, and Albert and Einstein grab another snack.
This is Spruce. Notice the baby fuzz still visible on the neck!
This is Chatter. Notice the wingtips pointing outwards... that's called Angel Wing. The tips of her (?) wings don't naturally tuck under the rest of her wings, so I am working to correct it. While her feathers are still growing and before her bones stop growing, I have her wingtips lightly wrapped in the correct wing position (not in this photo, though). Hopefully with the wrapping, the muscles and bones will learn the correct placement, and her wings will look "correct" again.
Tally is very social, and always wants to know what I have in my hands. Looks like she'd been playing in the mud before she came to say hi.
Hope you've enjoyed this little update on the geese, and a few of their friends! I always love sitting out in the chicken yard catching up on the daily gossip. There was lots of it going around today!
We got a bit of rain this morning -- total surprise! So I decided to snap a few photos of the garden, which has been growing gangbusters! You might notice that I hadn't opened up the coop doors yet, either.
This is the "random" squash bed, which is doing great this year! You can probably even see some yellow squash in there that are just about ready for picking. Yay!
The bed in this photo with the long reaching vines coming out of it (front/center) is a bit of a surprise. The plants are actually producing what look like acorn squash, and not patty pan (scallop) squash. I guess the seeds in the packet were wrong, because I don't think I even have acorn squash seeds. Who knows.... maybe I do, and I just wrote down on my planting map incorrectly. That wouldn't surprise me, actually.... *grin* At least the plants are doing ok. I don't typically have good luck w/ acorn squash. The plants tend to wilt down in the heat, but so far they've been able to perk back up by morning. Here's hoping they continue to do well.
This is the bed I put in most recently. This bed didn't have the best growing results last year, so this year I really took time to replenish the soil with good, rich growing soil. So far, so good! Yesterday I put up the wire trellis for the cucumbers to grow on. It arches over and attaches to the top edge of the chicken yard, so it should be a nice support for the plants. I am happy to see that the zucchini plants at the front of the bed are coming along nicely. In the distance, you can see my bed of radish and spinach. Yum!!
This bed is mostly cucumbers, but there is a tomato on the other side of the trellis, and yellow squash on two corners. The tomato and squash were planted after seeing that the cucumbers weren't coming up well in those areas, so I made use of the space with other plants.
The new coop is proving the be a wonderful wind break for the garden, which makes me very happy! Having a larger area where I can grow taller plants (like tomato and giant squash plants), is awesome! We've already been enjoying harvest from the garden. That makes all the work putting the garden in worth it!
A new challenge is being shared today on the Impression Obsession Blog, and I hope you join the fun! The challenge is Masculine Cards! Pull out your creativity, and join us!
For my card, I chose to use the Feather 1 die, along with the Script Cover-a-Card stamp. To create the background, I did a smooshy and splattered watercolor background using Distress inks, and then stamped the Script stamp over top of the watercolored background, using the same inks.
I die cut the feathers from another piece of watercolor paper that I did the same smooshy watercolor technique on, only in shades of blue/green, and blue/purple. A mother of pearl button from my stash is embellished with hemp cord.
Find all the details on how to enter the challenge on the Impression Obsession Blog. A random challenge entry will be selected to showcase on the IO blog and you can to enter to win a $25 gift certificate to IO just by playing!
Now, get ready for a wonderful dose of inspiration and check out what the other team members created for the challenge. Have fun!!
Anna Wight (that's me!)
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett
Impression Obsession Blog
I shared what was left of my lunch with the flock. Yum!
If you're a stamper and you like challenges, or you're new to the idea of challenges and want to give one a whirl, I invite you to participate with The Challenge Chicks! We're a small group of friends and stampers hosting monthly challenges. Won't you join us?!
Our challenge for June 2014 has been issued by Lydia! The challenge topic is Catching Fireflies, or Light. I most often capture light on my projects by the use of highlights and shadows, like on this colored Penny Black image.
By using various intensity of colors, even on white areas, you can really give the impression of light. Or sunlight, as I've chosen for this image.
Now, get yourself a good dose of inspiration and check out the rest of The Challenge Chicks projects:
Diane Zechman
Lydia Fiedler
Jeanne Streiff
Kelli Hull
Kelly Schirmer
Anna Wight (that's me!)
You'll find this month's challenge gallery on SplitCoastStampers using keyword CHXJUN14. We invite you to play along! Upload your project to your SplitCoastStampers gallery, add the keyword above, and your project will be automatically added to the gallery. Or join us on Facebook!
We look forward to seeing your projects!
