Card Tutorial: Distressed Journey

Hi there! Today I'd like to share a card I made for a friend.

Distressed Journey Card:
(Click any image to view it larger.)

To make this card, I stamped the Journey stamp twice onto cream colored paper using brown pigment ink and set it aside to dry. I made an A2 sized card base (4.25" x 5.5") from dark brown cardstock and used a corner rounder on the open corners.

Once the pigment ink was dry, I used sponge daubers to distress one of the stamped pieces of cream cardstock using Ranger Distress Ink in Tea Dye (brown). This gives the background some depth and makes it look aged. Then I colored in different elements using colored pencils, mostly on the other piece of cream cardstock.

I cut out some of the elements and arranged them over top of the base piece. Then I decided that the backgrounds on a couple of the elements would look better if they were distressed also, so I applied Tea Dye ink to them using the sponge daubers.

Detail view:

I used 1/16" and 1/8" foam squares to adhere the pieces to the base stamped image for dimension. Then I adhered the stamped piece to the dark brown card base. To finish the card, I added faux stitching using a brown Sharpie marker.

Materials used:

• cardstock: cream, brown


• Creative Memories Corner Rounder (the only one that works for me)


• EK Success 3D-Dots: 1/16" squares and 1/8" squares


• EK Success Cutter Bee scissors


• Hero Arts K4886 CardArt Journey wood stamp


• Prismacolor Premier colored pencils


• Ranger Distress Ink (dye ink): Tea Dye


• Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Permanent Marker: Brown


• Tsukineko sponge daubers


• Tsukineko Versafine pigment ink: Vintage Sepia

Tip: Having two thicknesses of foam allows you to give your cards and paper projects even more dimension. You can vary the heights and it really makes your projects pop!

Thanks for stopping by!

Smile Award

Hi there! Today I'd like to share an award given to me by my friend Susan McRae of Inky Fingers. Thank you so much, Susan!

Smile Award:

For this award, I am supposed to share 5 things about myself and pass it on to 5 other people who make me smile!

So here are 5 things about me:

1. Susan shared that her parents emigrated to Canada from Hungary. My great grandfather emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary and later sent for his wife and children (including my grandfather). The area where we are from is now part of Slovakia, but it was Hungary at the time and they spoke Hungarian.


2. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I think it is wonderful to take a moment out of our busy lives to think about all our blessings and all the things for which we are grateful.


3. I have reached perimenopause and it isn't being kind to me. It made my periods go from heavy to extreme and I have been searching for the right diagnosis for a while now. I may have finally found the right doctor for me, who has been able to identify what is and isn't the cause, and we have begun discussing treatment options. It may be another 6 months, including a couple procedures and possibly an outpatient surgery, but the good news is that relief is in my future. If you are experiencing heavy periods, there can be several different causes and several treatment options. Please see as many OB/GYNs as it takes for you to get the answers you need! It is treatable!


4. One of my favorite places to shop online for Hero Arts stamps is Stampin' Treasures. They are one of the first online outlets to get the newest Hero Arts stamps and they generally offer a discount and free shipping on orders of $50 or more. They also sell gift certificates, which would make great gifts for people who love Hero Arts stamps!


5. The 72-A set of Copic Markers is on my wishlist! I have always loved markers and ever since I first saw these being used with stamps, I have drooled and drooled over them! The Classic Rectangles Nesties, Classic Squares Nesties, and Classic Circles Nesties sets by Spellbinders Nestabilities are also on my wishlist!

As for passing along the award, this is the part that I always find so difficult. I have so many wonderful blogging friends that I enjoy visiting. I am so grateful to have met so many terrific artists, bloggers, and friends, and I love being part of the blogging community.

That being said, I also understand the value of awards to expose us to a few blogs that might be "new to us". So, in that spirit, here are the 5 bloggers I nominate for this award, in no particular order. Thank you ladies for making me smile!

• Paula: Pajalu's Papers & Fabric Addiction


• Dawn: Dawn's World


• Kelly: Lovin The Life I Color


• Candace: EyeCandy


• Mary: Working Projects

I hope you'll take a moment or two to stop by these blogs (including Susan's!) and leave a nice comment. It takes just a moment, but it is soooo nice to receive comments! :-)

Special thanks to all my blog readers, followers, and friends - even if you are not specifically mentioned here, I treasure you! I appreciate your continued friendship, support, and interest.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamptoberfest Creation #5

Hello! Today I'm sharing the last of my 5 creations from Stamptoberfest! This last creation was for Laura O'Donnell's Tag Challenge. This challenge was fairly simple: make a tag with stamping on it somewhere. I like flexible challenges like this one!

Friends Tag - Front View:
(Click any image to view it larger.)

To make the tag, I swirled Shabby Shutters (green) and Broken China (blue) Distress Ink onto the tag using Ranger's Inkssentials Blending Tool and Foam. I then stamped an Italian Poetry stamp overtop in London Fog (gray) Memento dye ink.

Next, I stamped the flower and sentiment using Turquoise pigment ink. Then I added turquoise Stickles glitter glue accents and set it aside to dry.

Friends Tag - Back View:

The back of the tag was made in a similar fashion. I wrapped the tag with an American Crafts ribbon called Boutique Bleu. It matches perfectly and adds a bit of sheen. I left room on the back of the tag to add a handwritten message.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamptoberfest Creation #4

Hello! Today I'm sharing another one of my Stamptoberfest creations! This card was created for Julie's Card Lift Challenge.

The goal of this challenge was to use someone else's card as inspiration for your own. I decided to lift this beautiful card by Lucy Abrams.

Butterfly Card Lift:
(Click the image to view it larger.)

Lucy's original card featured the Heart Winged Butterfly on a patterned background, with machine stitching and string, in a vertical orientation. I used slightly different colors and changed mine to a horizonal orientation. I used a different patterned background, thicker twine, and faux stitching. But I love how it turned out.

I didn't add a sentiment; I will add that to the inside of the card when I send it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamptoberfest Creation #3

Hello! Today I'm sharing another one of my Stamptoberfest creations! I made this card for Daria's Joseph's Coat Technique Challenge. She gave very good tips and instructions for making cards like this one in her challenge blog post.

Have A Great Day Card:
(Click any image to view it larger.)

To make this card, I started by brayering Kaleidacolor Pastel dye ink onto glossy cardstock. This is a rainbow ink pad that has orange, pink, purple, blue, and green stripes. Then I stamped the Stencil image over top using VersaMark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The next day, I rubbed Memento dye ink in Tuxedo Black over the glossy cardstock. This makes the embossed areas work as a resist as the black dye ink covers everything that wasn't embossed. I used a paper towel to buff the ink off of the embossed areas.

Detail view:

The background turned out so well that I didn't want to cover it up. So I decided upon a simple sentiment. I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap piece of glossy cardstock that had been brayered with Kaleidacolor ink. I trimmed it, raised it on foam dots, added a jeweled brad, and tied a ribbon around it to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamptoberfest Creation #2

Hello! Today I'm sharing another one of my Stamptoberfest creations!

Butterfly Thank You Card:
(Click the image to view it larger.)

I had originally intended the background of this card to be for Daria's Joseph's Coat Technique Challenge. I made a bunch of background using Kaleidacolor ink on glossy paper. And, while I had the glossy paper out, I made more backgrounds using alcohol inks, just for fun.

When I went to make this card, I grabbed one of the alcohol ink backgrounds by mistake. I stamped the leaf pattern with VersaMark and embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I realized that the only kind of ink that would stick to the alcohol ink would be a permanent ink - that would also stick to the embossing instead of making a resist! Oops!

So, I decided to just go with the flow and see what happened. I thought about what I could use instead of ink to bring out the texture of the embossed leaves. I wiped some white acrylic paint over the background very lightly, and wiped it off the embossing. And I was so pleased with the way it turned out! It was a happy accident, to be sure! I love happy accidents!

The butterfly with ferns, stamped in Brilliance gold pearlescent ink, allowed me to submit this card for Daria's Don't Color Me In Challenge. The challenge was to not color in a stamped image - but to give it color using some other method. I used tea dye distress ink to give the background for this stamp some texture and dimension.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamptoberfest Creation #1

Hi there! Stamptoberfest was a blast, but it is over for this year. I had so much fun seeing what everyone created. So many talented stampers and cardmakers participated!

I thought it would be fun to share my own Stamptoberfest creations with you. I completed a total of 5 projects which I plan to share with you over the next few days.

Lucky Friend Card:
(Click any image to view it larger.)

I made this card for Sara's To Be or Not To Be challenge, where the sentiment was supposed to be the focus of the card. The sentiment was created using new Zing! copper glitter embossing powder. The new Zing! glitter embossing powders are the shiniest, sparkliest embossing powders I've ever seen. I have two - the copper and a gorgeous blue.

Detail view showing sentiment:

This photo shows the shine of the embossing powder better. It is hard to capture in a photo, but it is gorgeous in real life!

Thanks for stopping by!