Tim Holtz Summer of Creative Chemistry 2016 Weeks 1 -3

Hello my creative friends!  I took Creative Chemistry 101 with Tim Holtz about four years ago and I’m getting a refresher this summer.  Here are the tags I created for the challenges.

Week One

Friends, you just have to take this class.  It covered so many things you need to know about Tim Holtz products – it was amazing!

  Day 1 –  Tim is a wonderful teacher; he discussed the characteristics and properties of the products; dye vs. pigment inks, translucent vs. opaque, solvent, oil, or water based vehicles and porous vs non-porous materials.

Day 2 – This day we learned techniques for blending, stamping, and layering with Distress Ink.  Also, the wonderful way they react to water.  It was fun going back and create these tags, but with some of the colors from the 2015 releases.

Challenge #1

Blended Spritz & Flick

Brushless Watercolor

Wrinkle-free Distress

I think I went a little crazy applying all the different colors and got the tag too wet; but it is wrinkle free!!

 Week Two

Day 4 – We learned techniques for coloring backgrounds using re-inkers and how to store our ink creations.

Day 5 – Tim showed us some wonderful techniques for creating background, stamping, and using stains for marbling effects.

Day 6 –  The techniques Tim shared with us for coloring and stamping with distress markers were awesome!!  He also discussed the features of the markers and why they are different to other markers, but I didn’t have time to make the tags.

Challenge #2

After going over days 4, 5 & 6, our challenge was to make tags using the techniques we learned.

Day 4

 Watercoloring with Reinkers

Layered Misting

Creating a Custom Pad

Day 5

Stained Kraft Resist

Stamping With Stains

Marbled Stains

We skipped a few days and went on to

Challenge #3

  This week’s challenge was to make tags using Perfect Pearls and Distress Inks or Stains.

Day 8 – We made some awesome distress crackle objects and paints and learned how they react.

Day 9 – All about Perfect pearls and Pearl mists we made ourselves.

Day 8

Paint Dabber Resist

 

Crackle Paint Resist

Shattered Stains Technique

 I also made a card for the Unity Stamps Masculine Challenge

Day 9

Perfect Distress Mist

 

Perfect Distress Technique

Perfect Splatter Distress

That is it for now, my friends, Thanks for sticking with me until now.

Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to make something awesome!!

Happy crafting,

Carmen

 

It’s Graduation Time!!

Here are some graduation cards I’ve made in recent days.  I helped some friends to make some too, but I forgot to take pictures!

 First off is for a young man – masculine card

His school colors are purple and gold, but he also went to a magnet school with blue so ci added them to the sentiment.  The circle stamps are Tim Holtz, and the 2016 are Unity Stamps.  I also added some gold sequins.

I also a Unity Stamp for the inside quote.

This one is for a girl.  Her school colors are red and blue.  I cut the balloons out with my circle dies added some yarn and the black cap with the a red tassel.

I got my inspiration for this card from a card I saw at  My Creative Time blog hop.  I  used a torn piece of paper in the shape of clouds and using a sponge, I colored them with Broken China distress ink.  I then added the embellishments on the base.  The Celebrate stamp is an older Stamp’n Up stamp.  I also added yarn for the balloons’ strings.  I also stamped inside the balloons.

On the inside I stamped this new stamp by Unity Stamps.  I received the set just in time to make my cards!

This one is for a young lady who is graduating from college.

I used a Julie Nuttig doll stamp and a brand new face stamp to fit these girls from Peachy Keen.  It firs perfectly!  I used watercolor paper I then colored the face with watercolor pencils, and pieced together her dress  and shoes to match the background.  Her aunt said she likes purple, so I made purple the accent color.  I then added a small ribbon around the waist and a graduation cap.

Close up of the graduate.

The face

the sentiment along with her diploma.

Last, but not least, the card I made for my grandson.  It had to be special!

I used black and gold because those were the colors on his Graduation Announcement and the invitations.  The stamp on the left is a Unity stamp.  I didn’t have anymore graduation paper so I stamped the diploma, caps, words, and stars on white cardstock with gray ink.

I got this quote from Scapbooks.com and added it to the inside of the card.

As a gag gift, I enclosed a small envelope with some graduation embellishments  I found at JoAnn’s.  It had a small driver’s license and a set of keys in heavy cardstock.  I glued them on a piece of cardstock and glued a miniaturized graduation picture of him.

Then I put it inside another small envelope with gold chipboard sentiments and stars.

I’m waiting to see how he reacts to it.  I also added on the back of the small envelope under the flap:  “Patience is a virtue.”  Just saying!

Looks like I’m caught up with all my graduation cards!!

Thanks for coming by and until next time,

happy crafting!

Carmen

Unity Stamps Challenges

Hello again friends!!

Last week I entered two challenges at Unity Stamps.

The Color Challenge April 14 – 21

 

Using teal and green combination, I made this card for baby. Earlier in the day I made a card for my sister who was going to a baby shower but I didn’t take a picture of it.  So I made this one using a Sizzix die I found on sale at Hobby Lobby, by Stephanie Barnard,  Triple Circle Flip-its.  I couldn’t find teal cardtock so I took white cardstock and my acrylic paints and made some!  Easy peasy!

When  you open it, it reveals another sentiment.

These cards are hard to photograph, but I did the best I could.  I used the Hello Little One kit.  I first stamped the animals on gray cardstock using black ink, I cut them out and added the small hearts in red.   I added the black, gray, and white cord for added texture.

The second card is very similar, but instead of using the die, I just made an old fashion 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card using coordinating papers from a 6×6 stack.

I just happened to have some googly eyes in my stash small enough for these elephants.  Aren’t they cute!!  I also added three hearts in three different sizes.

Here’s a close up of the elephants.

Anything Goes Challenge – April 21 – 28

This time, I didn’t have to spend time making a card, because I created a card for my cousin’s daughter when she got married in Phoenix two weeks ago.

I used the Cherished Moments kit by Angie Blom.  You can see more on this card in one of my previous post here: 

Lastly, Angela Magnuson, the owner of Unity Stamps made a video on the Face Book  Unity Stamps Show and Tell group  and challenged us to “RE-CREATE a card like Angela made (using any UNITY stamp) and post it in the comments below for your chance to win a grab bag of {100 stamps/sentiments!!!}”

Wow! I want to win 100 stamps!!

So this quick card was created in less than five minutes!

I used a feather from the  Beautiful is Never Perfect kit by Angie Blom.  I so love the detail!!

Angela stamped her feathers one on top of the other one, but I just randomly stamped mine so the details could be seen.  I used three different colors of distressed inks, and “wallah!”

I also used one of the sentiments that comes with it inside double stamping it for a shadow effect.

So much fun playing in my craft room!

I just finished reorganizing my craft room and I found so many things I don’t use any more.  I will be posting what I have for sale here and my FB page.  There will be stamps, stamps, and more stamps, as well as a “never used – new” Making Memories Slice machine with design cards and accessories, Cricut cartridges, embossing folders,  a gypsy, two Jukeboxes that hold six Cricut cartridges each for designing or combaning your own images, and lots more!

Until next time, you have yourselves a great week and keep on creating!!

Carmen

 

Unity Stamps Photo Challenge April 7 – 14.

Since I didn’t have to make a project for this week’s Life Book 2016, I spent my time making cards for a couple of challenges.   I hope you read my previous post about the projects I created for Club Scrap.

This week’s photo is open to interpretation as you can see by the image.  I’ve seen a few of the cards people have made for this challenge and many involve rain drops.

I chose to concentrate on the colors instead of the raindrops.

I went to Hobby Lobby and found a Spellbinders Stained Glass die cut on clearance.  I think this was an excellent purchase and will make great use of it.

I used the You do This stamp which has several words you can insert in the banner.  I chose “amaze.”  I then cut out the letters and the banner individually so the “stained glass” wouldn’t be obscured.  I used silver cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot.

I die cut another piece using white cardstock and used it as a mask, then used inks, colored pencils, and markers to add the colors on the photo.

Here’s a close-up

I really enjoyed making this card although had to take my time to color each segment of the “stained glass” and fuzzy-cut each letter.

I hope you enjoyed your visit here, and until next time,

make some art!

Carmen

Two Cards and Two Inking Techniques

Hello, my stamping friends.  Today I want to share a technique I learned at Club Scrap hop to introduce their new stamp kit Dahlias.

I made two cards to enter into the Unity Stamp sketch challenge, but I missed the deadline.

Card Number One

 I went ahead and shared it with the group and I had someone ask how I did the inking on this card.

First, I stamped the flower from the Everything Joyful & Beautiful kit on specialty paper, but you can use any nice card stock available. I used Ranger Archival Ink.   I then created a rectangular mask using  low tac masking paper.  I used the grid on my cutting pad to align the rectangle so it would come out perfectly centered on the paper.  Then, using four different colors of distress ink and a sponge, I dabbed the colors making sure the paper stayed in place.

Once you remove the masking paper, you are left with a beautiful frame. Then I stamped the sentiment and the three hearts that came in the kit.  I then stamped the three hearts on white cardstock and used the same inks and used a circle punch.

I matted it with violet card stock and popped it up on top as well as the three circles to follow the sketch.

Next time, I’ll take pictures as I go along.

Card Number Two

This card was also inspired by the Dahlias post at Club Scrap.

They showed cased a card stamped with white ink on black cardstock.  It is not exactly the same because I added hearts instead of buttons.

I used  the Remembering You blooms kit  using only the flower which I stamped several times with Dew Drop Brilliance fast-drying pigment ink in Platinum Planet, and added some silver drops and a butterfly punched out of patterned paper.  The layered hearts are from my stash.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and the links for more information.  Stay tuned or the next challenge!

Thanks for stopping by!

Carmen

A Family Wedding and a Couple of Cards

Hello, my sweet crafty friends!  Get a cup of coffee because this turned out to be a loooong post.  Last week we attended a family wedding in Phoenix.  We were invited to two back to back, but were only able to attend my nephew’s.

My nephew is a DPS officer  with a very funny sense of humor.  He wanted the wedding to be laid back and very informal.  He made all the arrangements for the wedding. He ordered the invitations, which were decorated with a ball and chain; set up the venue, at the Hardley-Davison’s of Scottsdale; engaged the bride’s daughter-in-law to be the photographer; and asked my daughter, Zonia, to officiate at the wedding at the Chapel at the dealership. Seems odd, but it worked out perfectly.

The ceremony involved the immediate family and used Native American customs, as well as Catholic traditions.  My daughter used a prayer that her grandma Chefa used to say for the family, Prayer To St. Joseph, as a guide. She thought it would be perfect because according to Catholic tradition, St. Joseph personifies the perfect family head.

She asked my nephew’s dad and his two uncles to take part in the ceremony.  Instead of the traditional wedding lasso in the Catholic ceremony; they gave the bride and groom a necklace and his dad used a feather to bless them in the Native American tradition.

She had her aunt give them the Blessing for the Journey, which his grandma used to give all of the children each time they embarked on a new journey.

And here are  Mr. and Mrs. David and Cindy Lucero, and granddaughter!  It was so cute, she didn’t want to leave her grandma, so she was also part of the ceremony.  When they exchanged rings, Cindy gave her a little ring too

That’s my daughter, Zonia, in the background.

Their first dance – so sweet!

This is the whole family enjoying the festivities.

The bride’s son and the awesome photographer!

Wedding Card Number One

Making the wedding card  was so fun.  Since Dave used a ball and chain for the invitation, I used the theme together with his law enforcement background.

I made a tri-fold card with the yellow tape and hand cuffs.

The band comes off to reveal the inside of the card.

I used a couple of Unity Stamps, George and Scarlett the couple and the sentiment from the November Kit Love is a Magical Thing.

Inside the tri-fold.

I drew the ball and chain  for each one and a pair of handcuffs for the groom.

Wedding Card Number Two

Since we weren’t able to attend my cousin’s wedding, I made them a very special card using a Unity Stamp called Cherished Moments and the sentiment from the same kit as above. I’m going to enter this in a future challenge.

The last time I was at Hobby Lobby, I saw some Joleen’s stickers for a wedding, so that was my inspiration for this card.

I colored the couple with watercolors on watercolor paper.  I bought some satin fabric and cut out each segment of the dress and pieced it together.  I added a piece of tulle and glued some gems on it as well as her hair and dress, then added the bow.  I also added stickles to each fold of the dress.

OK, folks, I hope you enjoyed a bit of family fun and pictures.

Until next time!

Thanks for visiting!

Carmen

Unity Stamps Anything Goes Challenge

This week’s challenge over at the Unity Show and Tell Facebook page is to use any Unity girl stamps to create a card, scrapbook page, mixed media project or anything else, using Unity Stamps only.

I love mixed media so I took the opportunity to play with Donna Downey’s stamp Kit, Calliope.  The girl’s image is 5×7.

This is an 8×11 canvas board that I primed with clear gesso so I could work on the face.  I first worked on the background and left a space for the image.  I used several Unity Stamps after laying down three different colors of Deco Art media fluid acrylics in Pthalo Blue, Hansa Yellow Light, and Liquitex heavy body acrylic in Payne’s Gray.

After the acrylic colors dried, I started stamping randomly using Unity Stamps Numbers, Etc.; the script from the Let it GO & Focus set; Donna Downey’s Peony and She; and Layers of Life kit Paper Hearts.

 I also added some doodles with my white Signo pen.

Then I went to work on the girl’s face and body.  I first stamped her on Rice paper so I could get a good impression then glued her with matt medium.  Some of the colors I used on the face were Americana acrylic in Fresh Tone, Golden Brown, Natural Buff, White and Liquitex Basics in Light Portrait Pink. For the lips, and cheeks, I used  the Tombow Art markers.

While that was drying, I used Donna’s stencil and applied gold and green Art (C) molding paste I found on clearance at Michael’s.  Great stuff, by the way!  It came in three small containers with three different colors – enough to try out!

I used one of Heidi Swapp’s stencils and her glittery silk screen molding paste here…

…and here.  It was the first time I used it and was very impressed with the creaminess and the shine – just like her glimmer mists!

after everything was dried, I stamped the She stamp on regular printing paper so it would have a good impression, cut it out, and glued it on the canvas with matt medium.

Then I worked on her hair, glasses, and dress. I used three different colors of Tombow pencils and ArtDeco Interference to make it shine.  I also added shading to her face and body using Pitt Markers.

I added glossy accents on the glasses and a few white lines to make it appear as the glare on the glass.

Thanks for stopping by to see my project and leave me some love in the comments.

Happy creating you all!

Carmen

Unity Stamps Color Challenge

Coincidently, this week I made two cards for some friends and they matched the colors of the challenge at Unity Stamps, yay!

I was actually going to make them for the picture challenge, but I ran out of time.  When I went to the challenge page, the information for the next challenge was already up so I went with what I already had!

I made a banner and added some butterflies and a flower group.  I used the Wish With Your Heart Sentiment Kit which just happens to be on sale this week!  I stamped the wish sticks on a doily also and the round circle in orange and black.

This one is for a friend who is a little under the weather. I used the same stamp kit, but stamped the wish sticks in black only.

This week I’m working on a baby mixed media project and I’ll post that one soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Carmen

Unity Stamps Sketch Challenge

This week the challenge at Unity Stamps is to make a card using this sketch:

I decided to make a sympathy card for a dear friend who just lost her mother last week.  She is loved by many people so this sentiment is perfect for her.

I used watercolor paper because I wanted to use my Brushos color crystals.  They are intense paint powder that is water-based. The colors are brilliant and transparent.  They’re mainly for impressionistic work, but I love the way they run on water color paper when I use the wet-on-wet technique.  You can also do sprinkling, spritzing, and other techniques.  I’m still getting used to the intensity, and at first I was getting mud.  I’m getting closer to liking them much more now that I can control them better.

I started out by brushing gesso on the paper and after it was dry I then used a stencil and modeling paste with this awesome stencil.  I let it dry, then I used the Brush powder adding a little water on my palette and coloring the branches.  Then I just spritzed the paper with water and threw a miniscule amount of the crystals on the background.

I used a Unity Stamp that came with one of the Kit of the Month collection, What Lies Within Us.  I wanted the girl to be walking in a field of grass so I masked the stenciled branches and stamped her directly on the watercolor paper using Memento ink.  I also used the Brusho crystals.  I then went back and used a pen to outline the scarf, the branches, and the hair.

For the sentiment, I used printed vellum and outlined the edge to make it stand out, then I aded a few sequins.  If you look closely at the vellum, you can see it has faint leaves all over.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my sympathy card.  I want to give it to my friend personally, but she leaves on the west side and there is construction going on, so I’ll mail it.  Be sure and stop by the Unity Stamp store this week, they are having a FUNtastic sale!

Until next time,

Create something awesome today!

Carmen

Teaching My Friends To Make Cards

Good morning my friends!

I’ve been making cards for several years and I love to give them out to people.  Some have said they wish hey could make cards, but find it too difficult.  So I decided to give card classes for them using a variety of stamps.

I started in the summer and I find that not only are we making cards, but we’re also getting to know each other better and enjoying a creative form of entertainment.

 For this week’s lesson, I set up all the materials for them and will show them how to put them together.

I had so much fun making this one – lots of layers and dimension, but it will take some time to put it together.

I used the Now And Always stamp kit (an oldie) from Unity Stamps.  I love this kit because it has flowers that can be stamped on different colors of cardstock, and be cut apart to stack them and give them dimension.

I saw this type of card online and since I don’t have a beautiful butterly die like the one they used, I chose an older dragonfly from Spellbinders.

And, used this kit with that has many different sentiments and fonts!

Finally, this is my favorite.

I used Poppy Pattern Penny Black background stamp for this one, and the sentiment from this kit:

One of the friends that comes to take classes prefers 6×6 cards and I usually make 5 1/2 by 4 1/4,  and so I’ve been trying to accomodate her, but the background stamps are usually 5 1/2 by 4 1/4.  I guess I’ll have to use single stamps to make the background, but it will be more time consuming.

So, if you’re in the area and want to learn how to make stamps in two hours, leave me a message on my Facebook page.

Have a wonderful day!

Carmen