SCACD Eclectic Sea Rubber Stamp Release Hop

SCACD celebrated today a newly released, exclusive rubber stamp set called Eclectic Sea which consists of nine rubber stamps.  The Eclectic Sea is a twist of sorts in how something land bound might be seen in the ocean; for example a Sunflower that is now a Coral Sea Flower and vice-versa.  So check out the collection as these are really unique and elegant.  SCACD Artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images and we are so happy to be showcasing them to you now.

Now available to purchase in the USA for the Eclectic Seas Collection.  Be sure to visit the store to see all of the amazing stamps in this collection!  They are all absolutely stunning!

**International Friends, if interested, can please email Susana.**

I was really excited to get to play with the large and small Coral Sunflowers stamps.  And, the best part for me was challenging myself to use them in different ways, especially on a mixed-media project and in my art journal.  Plus, I love making ATCs (artist trading cards) so I knew that I had to make one of those as well. ;-)

A mixed-media canvas -  Large Coral Sunflowers stamp colored in with Copic Markers.

An Artist Trading Card - Small Coral Sunflowers stamp colored in with Copic Markers.

Art Journal page - Large and Small Coral Sunflowers stamp colored with Tim Holtz Distress Stains.

You should be going next to visit Cheryl to see the fabulous creations she has made.  If you are lost then just head back to the SCACD store blog here for the hop list.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that you enjoyed the projects that I created with these beautiful stamps!  Be sure to visit the SCACD site to see all of the amazing stamps that Susana has to offer!

Take care!

Dianne

SCACD Brave Hearts and Eclectic 2 Rubber Stamp Realase :-)

Hello everyone! Welcome to the SCACD CELEBRATION HOP!

SCACD BRAVE HEARTS AND ECLECTIC 2 RUBBER STAMP REALASE

Susana's Custom Art and Card Design (SCACD) celebrates today the two recently released, NEW exclusive rubber stamps sets.  They are the Brave Hearts (a group of four empowered gals) as well as the Eclectic Collection 2 (a combo of six steampunk and ethereal stamps).  With the Eclectic 2 collection, if you buy the entire set you get FOUR FREE date stamp words.  SCACD Artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images and we are so happy to be showcasing them to you now.

Now available for purchase in the USA here the Brave Hearts and Eclectic 2 sets! 

Our International Friends can purchase SCACD rubber stamps at Quixotic Paperie here.

SCACD Digital images for the USA and International can always be found here. 


Susana from SCACD asked me to create some projects using some of her new stamps and I was thrilled to do so! I was so inspired that I actually made four different projects!

Be sure to go to the end of this post to find the link, so that you can travel onto the next artist in this celebration blog hop! 

ENLIGHTENMENT - Collage Journal Page

SCACD stamp used:

Butterfly Chrysalis - Change

When I saw this stamp I immediately knew that I needed to use it on a page in my beloved collage journal.  The detail in it is so amazing and I LOVE all of the SCACD steampunk images!  They are stunning! 

I stamped the image onto white card stock and colored it in with Copic Markers and then adhered it onto the page in my collage journal.   

STUNNING - Artist Trading Card

SCACD stamp used: 

Blank Canvas Lotus - Small

The realized that the smaller-sized Lotus flower fits perfectly on an ATC, so of course I had to make a card using it!  

I stamped the image onto 140-lb cold press watercolor paper and then colored it in with Letraset Aqua markers, some LuminArt Silks and outlined the image with a glitter gel pen.

 ESSENTIALS - A DASHBOARD FOR MY PLANNER

SCACD stamp used:

Blank Canvas Lotus - Large

I love using my faux-Midori Travelers Notebook and thought that it would be really fun to make a dashboard for it using the large Lotus!

I stamped the image onto 140 lb cold-press watercolor paperand used Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils to color it in.Then I wrote words on the petals.  It would also be neat todo some doodling on those petals or even zentangles!

TRUST - A Set of mixed-media canvases

SCACD images used:

Blank Canvas Lotus - Pair

Lots of painty goodness went onto this set of 6-inch square canvases, including acrylic paints, color sprays, stencils, Gelatos and some collage as the first layer. I stamped the images onto card stock and colored them in with LuminArt Silks. Just for fun, I used some pink, acrylic dots at the top of the flower stamens.  

Please note that the yellow background really threw off the colors of the stamped images so they appear to not be stamped well.  These stamps are great quality, finely detailed and stamp wonderfully! :-)  

Now here's the really fun part!  Click here to jump on board to the next amazing artist in this celebration! If you're lost, or want to start at the very beginning, click here to return to the SCACD store where you can see a complete list of the blog hop participants.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy visiting everyone while we celebrate the release of these beautiful stamps!

Take care,
Dianne

SCACD New Rubber Stamps and Digital Releases Hop!!! :-)

Hi everyone!  I was asked by Susana from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design to create some mixed media art using some of her new stamps that are being released today!  I'm so excited to share these projects with you and to be a part of this blog hop with some other amazing artist. I will share their blog links below.  Be sure to visit their sites and if you get lost along the way just click here to return to the store blog for a complete list of the other participants.

Today Susana Loves Stamps is releasing another new round of these unique, fresh and edgy rubber stamps due to the response from the premier MechAnimals stamps.  Along with the new MechAnimals there are some fabulous new Far East and floral inspired rubber stamps being released today as well.

SCACD Digital is also releasing today a fun little gaggle of digital ghoulies that scream fun and sweetness!  You can check them out HERE! 

First up is this awesome, steampunk praying mantis....we've been seeing lots of praying mantis here, so I was really tickled to get to work with this new design.  

SCACD Stamps Used:

Eye on the Prize - Praying Mantis and Sentiment

Perfect Poppy Pods

This is an 8x10 inch canvas that I first covered with some wrinkled up deli paper to give it that good textured background.  The flowers were made by layering several pieces of book paper that I cut into different sizes of circles and sprayed with color spray.

My second project using SCACD items is an art journal page that I created on a piece of mixed media paper.

SCACD Stamps Used:

Sugar Zen Skull with Sentiment and embellishment for the eye sockets
~Please note that you must purchase both the
Sugar Zen Skull and the Sugar Floral Skull
in order to receive the "Remember When" Sentiment~

Other items available at SCACD:

 Dies by SCACD - Sun and Moon Statement Corner

 Crafters Workshop - Susana's Arrows Stencil

I colored the image in with Copic markers.  I created the background by first collaging on some old papers and then used the stencil with some modeling paste.  After it was dry, I sprayed it with several color sprays and some liquid watercolors.  I used the die cut on a piece of book paper that I then sprayed with color sprays before adhering it to my page.

Now, be sure to go visit the other artist that are participating in this blog hop:

You should have come from Kathi's Blog - Kat's Tales of Stamping & Scrapping

You are here ---> Dianne aka Packer Di of YouTube - Country Life in the Big City

Now head on over to Suzanne's Blog - Scrapbitz

Again, you can find all of the NEW rubber stamps- MechAnimls, Far East and Floral Stamps - HERE.  If you are looking for the latest Digi's, like Sweet Goulies and others, then check them out - HERE.  

 International friends can get these new rubber stamps at Quixotic Paperie-http://www.quixoticpaperie.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=12_104  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy your ride along the SCACD Blog Hop!

Take care,

Dianne

A Gathering Apron

I am part of an amazing group of ladies who meets once a month and back in March, we drew names for an apron swap.  As soon as I drew the name of who I was going to sew an apron for,  I knew exactly what I was going to make for her.   I remembered that I had stumbled upon a tutorial for a gathering apron at The Cottage at Frog Creek during some late-night blog browsing and it was just perfect for my friend!  She is an organic farmer and also has over 100 chickens that she raises that lay the most beautiful eggs that I have ever seen.

The apron came together very quickly and I was given the opportunity to practice my button hole making skills....there are 4 botton holes along the bottom of the skirt.   

I chose a darker fabric that would hide stains and usage, because I wanted her use this apron, not keep it hanging up in her kitchen. 

To gather the skirt up, you simply thread the ribbon through the botton holes along the hem of the skirt, pull up the fabric and then tie the ribbon.  This holds the skirt in place and creates a large pocket to collect produce from your garden or fresh eggs.....well, anything that you want to collect really. ;-)

The only change that I made was that I used red, dot fabric for the lining.  The tutorial uses muslin.  The only reason why I made this change is because I bought the wrong width of muslin and I didn't have time to run to the fabric store to buy more.  Luckily, I had a large enough piece of fabric that matched in my stash!  I'm actually really glad that this happened, because I love having the lining red. :-)

Here is the matching tag that I made to go on the gift bag~

This was the first thing that I have sewn for quiet awhile!  Having a new baby has really cut into my sewing time.  It's a lot easier for me to work on my art journal right now, because I can leave everything out in my studio and work on it throughout the day.  I can't do that with a sewing project, because I sew at our dinner table.  It sure did feel good to be sewing again though!  I didn't realize how much I'd been missing it.  :-)

I'm finishing up a journal page about the Joplin tornado today and I will share it soon.....

Happy Friday everyone and I hope you have time to be creative today!

God Bless!

di

Practical Scrappers Card Sketch

The current card sketch at Practical Scrappers is just awesome! I really enjoyed making this Thank You card.....(I need to mail it! I keep forgetting!). Be sure to go here to see the sketch and all of the other amazing cards that have been made following this sketch.

For my card, I chose to use a small doily for the main circle. I'm not sure if you noticed, but the scalloped-rectangle piece of paper is a scrap left over from the paper that I used on the layout I shared a few days ago. The title is stamped.....I'm embarrassed to say that I have had that Stampin'Up! stamp set for probably 8 years and I just now cut that stamp out to use on this card. For the flower, I punched out 4 different sized flowers and curled up the edges with a small, wooden skewer. Then I added fine glitter to the edges with some liquid glue and added a small rhinestone in the center. I am really having fun making these 3-dimensional flowers!

I hope you all have a wonderful, crafty day!

The Joy of the Lord......card

I made this card last month and I forgot to share it with you all. This was for a dear aunt of mine who lost her mother, who was a wonderful lady indeed.

For this card, I stamped the verse in an olive green and then I went over each letter with a blender pen that I rubbed in some olive green marker. I don't have one of those neat paper edge de-stresser tools, so I carefully rubbed an Exact-O knife along the edge of the paper and the green mat. Oh, I stamped the verse on water color paper and don't tell my husband about my dangerous use of that Exact-O knife! It scares him to watch me cut an apple, because I hold it in my hand, like my mom always did. Anyway. ;-) I used a Versamark pad and stamped the small flowers on the base of the card.

Now for the fun part. The flowers! At first I had this great idea to use my flower punch, but punches and tissue paper DO NOT MIX! lol So, I used my Big Shot and a flower die and cut out several flowers and that worked well. I did have to use my tweezers to pull the separate flowers apart, because I ran several layers through my die-cutter at once. This takes a very light hand, because the flowers are very fragile. (Does anyone else say "fra-gee-lay" when they type "fragile"? lol) After I had each flower laying out on my table, I used a liquid glue pen and carefully glued each punched flower on top of each other until the flower was a many layers as I wanted. I used my tweezers for this part, too. I made two different sized flowers, but each flower is made up of the same sized flower, if that makes any sense. ;-) I added a rhinestone in the center of each flower to finish them off.

The leaves are punched from green card stock. Then, I placed them on top of a piece of craft foam and used my embossing tool to burnish the center of the leave and to shape each leaf so that it looked more real and dimensional. I'm not sure if I can describe what I did.....maybe I should do a tutorial for you some time! I added some ribbon, because I love ribbon and this one matched my card perfectly, so I had to use it. ;-)

I've been making a lot of cards lately and it's been a great way for me to do some creative therapy.....now to work on some layouts!

Take care!

Flowers challenge at Practical Scrappers

This weeks challenge at Practical Scrappers is to use flowers! I'm really sick, but wanted to quickly share two projects where I have used flowers.......

For my layout I punched out several flowers and added them around my journaling....

For my card, I added a crochet flower that I had accidentally made while trying to make a round dish cloth. lol I really messed up following the directions, but ended up with this and I knew that I had to use it on a card or layout. Silly, I know, but I think it looks kinda cute!

I hope you all are doing well......I started feeling sick yesterday and it hit me fast and hard. I tried to get some sleep tonight but just couldn't, so here I sit at 1:38 a.m. Ugh......I hate bad, head colds! Take care........ :-)

Card Sketch at Practical Scrappers

Here is this weeks card sketch at Practical Scrappers!

And here is what I did with it......

I stamped the title and colored it in w/ a blender pen and markers. I hand-cut the hearts from some scraps of felt and then did a simple stitch around the edges with brown DMC floss. Kinda fun, huh? lol I think I'll try making some other shapes from felt, too.....like flowers!

We would love for you to play along and show us your creations using this sketch, so be sure to go to Practical Scrappers and post a link to your card on the Mr. Blinkie for this weeks card sketch.....you will have to scroll down a bit to get there!

Valentine's Day Card - crystal glaze hearts

Well, this photo sure doesn't do this card justice. lol I had actually stamped these hearts to use on the card with the colored brads, but it just wasn't working out how I wanted it to, so I set them aside and ended up with that card done totally different then I had planned. I really didn't like how these stamped hearts looked. My ink is starting to get a little dry and they just weren't rich, red hearts like I wanted. But, I just can't throw anything away! Yes, I have it that bad. I was determined to use those hearts because there was no way I was going to toss them. So, I ended up getting my markers out and I went to work coloring. I rubbed the brush tip of my marker on one of my acrylic blocks for my unmounted stamps. Then, I took my blender pen and picked up some ink and colored in the white areas in each heart. After that, I went around the edges with red and tried to shade the bottom of each heart in a bit. For some reason, I decided to cover each heart with some crystal glaze to make them stand out a bit. And, since I've been a glitter freak lately, I sprinkled each heart with some fine glitter. Like I said, this photo does not do this card justice! It's hard to see the areas that I colored in and the glaze looks cloudy. We actually have sunshine coming in our windows today and it's causing quite a glare on my hearts! I can't complain either because we have had almost no sunshine since the beginning December. All of these cloudy, gloomy days have really gotten me down. It is so wonderful to see blue skies right now!

Valentine's Day Card - coloring your brads

Here's a card that I made for the brad challenge at Practical Scrappers. It's funny, because this card isn't anything like what my original idea was! I actually used the images that I had stamped for this card to make another card with. Crazy how that happens! lol

I have some alcohol inks that I hadn't ever used and I honestly don't know anything about them or all that they can do. But, I wanted to color my brads red! My embossing gun broke, so I couldn't cover them w/ embossing powder......I tapped them in some red Ancient Page ink, but I didn't know if that would every dry.....so then I remembered my alcohol inks! Luckily, I had some red, so I put a couple of drops on a metal lid and dipped the tops of the brads in the ink until they were covered. Then I stuck the ends in a piece of thick foam and let them dry over-night. I was so happy that it worked! lol Like I said, I don't know a think about all that these inks can do and I'm sure that a lot of you already knew that this would work. I really need to do some research on these, because I know that they are a great tool just sitting in my drawer unused. The stamped image is colored in with my Stampin'Up! markers and a blender pen.

An easy card for one of my special Valentine's!!!!! ;-)