Early Espresso

Woodland Scene

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

The awesome techniques used in making this card certainly aren’t new, but I finally got around to trying it myself.  I have always wanted to, and last weekend I had the perfect opportunity.  Interestingly enough, I spend enough time preparing to teach others, I often neglect teaching myself.  Thank you YouTube!  And of course all of those terribly creative crafters who share their videos.

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This project didn’t take too long to create in its basic form, but I did spend a good amount of time water coloring it.  The truck stamp was stamped with versafine ink on the recessed side of the embossing folder.  Then the paper was placed and those pieces were run through the big shot machine.  This gave me the embossed trees and the stamped truck. A brayer was inked up with crumb cake and gently rolled over the embossed trees. That is how they became colored so tidily.

After that, it all came down to painting.  Some parts went quickly, like the sky and grass, but I took my time on the truck.  I went over areas several times to get the tones I liked and fix the creative moments I might not have wanted to happen.  When I finished the painting it looked a bit too crisp for the setting, so I sponged over all the the card front and then heavily around the edges.  That worked.

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I did make a tag with the stitched framelits that says happy birthday.  I just couldn’t bring myself to place it on the front.  I didn’t want to cover up any of the picture.  It ended up being placed inside.  It isn’t like me to have a layered sentiment inside of a card, but today ended up being that day.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Blooms & Wishes Gone Wild

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Using a stamp set different than intended can lead to some lovely results.  The main image here is a flower base and the sentiment does come from the same set.  However, when you change it up some, and maybe create a silly creature instead, that same sentiment remains tender, but also very silly.  That kind of sums me up I guess.

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The background took some time, and I nearly tossed it when I was sure it was wrecked. Since I make myself walk away sometimes and return with a new perspective, I kept on. The colors came together nicely and I wish I could repeat it.  Sadly, I think this will be a one of a kind for sure.

The flower creature was stamped in black, leaving plenty of room for those little legs. He got a heavy brushing with gold wink of stella and a couple of google eyes.  I tried a mouth, kind of, but let it go.  It will just have to remain a mystery.

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The inside got some echo stamping with a smaller flower from the same set and that was all it needed. What an adorable card if I do say so myself, and I do.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Kudos

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When you have a little more time than usual to create, things get really fun.  Being home all week due to evacuation stress hasn’t been relaxing of course, but this does help so much. This vulture makes me laugh, a lot, right ahead of that tiny fly.  Seriously, who doesn’t need a fly stamp in their stash.  I have a toilet paper one along with a plunger.  I will use those another time.

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I know I should be more precise with layering like this, but I usually just wing it.  The rocks and grass went down first and I eyeballed the post and it worked out.  Made me happy.  I did try to mask part of the sign to give my vulture claws a spot to be, but then forgot about the post top.  To be honest, it all worked out really well.  Then I got a bunch of distress inks out and played and played.  I hit the point when you have to stop and felt satisfied.

The card front was just placed single layer on top of some early espresso cardstock and I didn’t even put one extra thing on top.  Not my easiest task to accomplish that is for sure. Now I just have to decide who needs this card.  Not everyone likes being called an old buzzard, but it really makes me laugh.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

First Time I Saw You

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Too adorable for words.  How can you make a masculine card adorable?  Just like this.  The catalog shows this product more in line with Father’s Day, but I seriously couldn’t wait.  I felt like making the die cut pieces and just playing with them, how silly.

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The background paper was stamped with the saw image in delightful dijon in a random but still kind of organized way.  I then layered that piece on a slightly larger piece of coordinating card stock.

The saw and sentiment were stamped on water color paper so I could paint on them without warping.  I used the same delightful dijon on the saw blade and went with a wash of early espresso for the handle.  I did go over the screws on both the saw and the sentiment with gold wink of stella.  Subtle, yet just enough.  You can’t do too much on a masculine card, kind of defeats the purpose.

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I touched each side of the sentiment tag in the ink to give a strong edge and still washed the rest of it in yellow.  It worked out nicely.  I tried to stamp the sentiment in early espresso, but my water coloring over made it too light.  I went back to my standby of black stazon. That is just my favorite!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Thank You Very Much

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

Holiday weekends offer a lot if you are willing to enjoy.  I love the extra time to sort through all of life’s adventures and endless “to do” lists.  But it is also a time to pace yourself and reflect.  This project offered me that time.

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I started with the idea of more precise painting, but quickly learned that it had other things in mind.  Since I have such a hard time waiting for much of anything, my colors couldn’t stay still.  So I went with it and created a much more fluid and dreamy look.  You can tell from the warp of the side of the paper just how much water went into this project.  I had fun though, and it was truly relaxing.

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The sentiment was stamped on very vanilla and cut out using one of the dies from the Bunch of Banners framelits set.  I love the crisp edges of a die cut.  The inside stamp was another image from the same stamp set.  This particular set isn’t available for regular purchase, but at a reduced price when you host a workshop.  Sounds like a win win to me!

Have a creative day!

Moana

I’m Here For You

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Don’t you just love these two?  I am not one to fall for whimsy stamps, especially cutsie animal ones.  But these guys got me.  The whole set is that way and I have used it so much. It is only a host set, so you can’t just buy it, but need to host a workshop to get to it. Totally worth it though.  Who doesn’t love a fun creative workshop though, right?

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I was actually able to put to use an old workshop kit for this project.  It was a sympathy card with a totally different look, but it worked great for this one too.  I sometimes put leftover workshop kits back into my supplies, but sometimes I just keep those kits separate.  They have come in handy more than once, so I keep a small stash on hand.

Simple stamping and light sponging across the embossed folders was really all there was here.  I did run the linen thread across a bone folder to help get the kinks out and give the ends a curl as well.  I didn’t paint or sponge these two, amazing for me really, but I managed.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Enjoy the Little Things

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

Yesterday was a very thoughtful day.  I was able to enjoy a day all to myself, which is quite rare in itself.  I had grand plans, a bit too grand, but decided to change them all around and enjoy it differently. This was one of my moments spent, a very indulgent chunk of time working ink all over this lovely card.

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I was given some new paper and brushes for my birthday, so of course I had to get to work using them.  I took this beautiful paper to the brink of maximum absorption.  Sometimes it just takes more time to get the colors just the way you want them.  If you were to smooth your hand over the top of this card you would feel the difference in texture.  The edges of course kept their very smooth surface, but the inked area is actually raised up.  Cool, right?

I did start with the embossed phrase first.  Then I worked around the edges and started in with all of the color mixing.  This copper embossing powder is so fantastic, I absolutely love the color.  It gives a much more masculine feel and goes better with my kind of color pallet ideas for sure.  So, I basically just embossed my sentiment and then went to town on the ink til I was happy.  And I am so happy, so very happy with this one.  I tend to do my best work when I am creating for someone in particular, especially when that someone is my husband.  What more can I say?

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Country Livin’ Rocks!

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Living in the country has its perks, and wouldn’t this be just one of them?  I unfortunately do not have an adorable old truck like this, but it sure would be wonderful!  I will have to settle for the stamp and my imagination.

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This image was stamped with black stazon ink on water color paper and then adorned with a whole bunch of ink colors.  I started with a pallet of six colors, but it didn’t stay there.  I ended up with ten, but it called for it.  That doesn’t include the colors that emerged from simple blending and colors flowing together.  This kind of work is my favorite.  No real rules, just lots of distressing.

The perfect companion to the card is the new copper metallic thread.  It almost reminded me of barbed wire or old fence wire.  I like a little of embellishment, but don’t want any distractions when I water color.  The thread works for me.  There was a touch of stamping on the inside panel.  The splat image from the perpetual calendar set with cherry cobbler stamped off once.  Yummy!   I do think it would be interesting to try and paint this stamp with flames and metallic chrome.  I will have to see on that.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Lots of Love

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I had this little treasure ready for yesterday, but never got to share it.  I guess that is what happens when you are this close to throwing a reception for your child. And yes, that would be today.  I was obviously thinking about them and how sweet they are together.

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This focal image is taken from a new host set called Love You Lots.  I am not usually one to go for whimsical images, but this set was way too cute.  I stamped these guys on water color paper and proceeded to take my time.  The background went through phases, several of them, then I finally just had to stop.  My girls were happy with how it turned out, but I am still a bit unsure.  Either way, here you go.

I wish I could just sit at my desk and water color my day away, but this household has a list of many last minute things to be done.  Some were pushed from other to do lists, but the day of the big event has things that can’t be done any earlier.  These are tasks of joy though, absolute joy.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

God is Love

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A quick stroll through my scrap pile kits and I found this treasure.  I swapped out the embossing folder and stamp sets and came up with something wonderful.  Before it was a different nature scene with a sympathy sentiment.  I like this one too.

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The Trust God stamp set has finally reached retirement.  I cannot tell you how many times I have used this particular set.  This, along with yesterday’s Swallowtail, will join the special shelving unit of stay with me stamps.  I couldn’t part with it.  The new catalog has a couple of sets that are very nice, but in my opinion, won’t be replacing this one.

The tree was stamped in the center with early espresso and sponged with crumb cake.  That is the same treatment for the sentiment, which was punched with the also retiring extra large oval punch.  Dang, I am going to miss that one too.   I do enjoy trying new things, especially when it challenges my crafting.  Plenty of dimensionals and a touch of basic pearls finished this card off.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Sandlot Inspired Card

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

What sandlot do you think I am referring to?  Well, the awesome kids movie about baseball and friendship of course.  This movie was just watched in the P.E. classes at the school I work at and I thought of a card to go with it.  New for me, a movie inspired card.  It was sure a lot of fun to create.

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The card base and the fence is made from soft suede.  I stamped the hardwood image in early espresso and sponged the planks as well.  I also punched out a knot in the wood with the 1/4″ hand held punch to make a spot for a peephole.  So cute!  The grass is from a strip of garden green, snipped with the fringe scissors and sponged with early espresso as well.

The light paper is water color as well as the tiny little baseball in the grass.  It was a bit tricky to get the fence in the right place to let the boys peek over, but I did okay.  The interesting part was stamping an image to let a boy peek through the hold in the fence.  I think it would have been easier to just draw with a pen instead of trying to adjust my stamp, but I ended up having to do both anyway.

I glued the grass in place with tombo and placed the baseball in the grass with half a dimensional.  I did water color the ball a bit and sponge it too.  I had to hold it with tweezers during the sponging, such a small piece.  I totally had to fussy cut that one out. The 1/2″ circle punch was just too big, bummer.  I did some water coloring with soft sky on the background, pink pirouette on their faces and used markers to color in the rest.  It was a bit of work, but it turned out great.  I think it would be a great card to give along with the movie, don’t you think?

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Have an Adventure

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This is a break from the seemingly endless lines of Christmas cards.  But you know what, people have birthdays during the holiday season too and they need to be remembered as well.

Have an Adventure

This adventurous card is headed to someone who is just about adventurous as I can imagine.  Some stamp sets you look at and wonder when you will use it, but then you have just the thing.  This little mountaineering guy has been waiting for just that moment.  He comes from a set that has long since retired, but found a friend in the World Map background stamp for sure.

Have an Adventure

I really do love this combination.  I can see many more coming together with other masculine images to accent the world map.  Kind of a fun change from holiday colors as well.  Good for all I guess, especially the birthday boy!

Have an Adventure

Have a creative day!

Moana

Joyful Season

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

This little red cardinal has eluded me a few times over, but today was my lucky day.  I wasn’t sure just which bird I wanted to create, but decided to stick with the cardinal.  Call it Christmas whimsy.

Joyful Season

The red inside was stamped first and then I added the outline in black.  It was easier for me that way.  I tried to do the outline first and then the inside, but wasn’t happy with my efforts.  I managed to get the extra front stamp pretty good giving the darker black around the face and I even got the beak color in the right spot.  Woo hoo!

 Joyful Season

The oval framelits worked nicely to frame the image.  I decided to frame it in early espresso to match the branch.  Again, nice results for sure.  These were layered up with dimensionals over another layer of real red.  That layer was put through the softly falling snow embossing folder and sanded a bit to add interest to the flakes.  A simple bow with a snowflake embellishment and the card was done.  How nice is that?

Joyful Season

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sparkly Seasons Pumpkin Patch

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

It may not look very busy, but these little pumpkins almost did me in.  I nearly got to the point of just showing you how frustrated I was and that there was not much to show for it.  Then I thought about iridescent ice, and the world came together.

Sparkly Seasons Pumpkin Patch

I love that stuff.  It can make the most simple things look almost magical.  I used three different framelits for my pumpkins and got to work.  I used a large stylus to create grooves and texture to the surface, but from the back side.  It really broke down the fibers a lot.  Then I began to water color streaks to give dimension.  That didn’t do a whole lot.  Then I spritzed water and swiped ink on with my finger.  It got better.  Then I sponged with pumpkin pie and added early espresso too.  At that point they looked okay, but still kind of sad.

Sparkly Seasons Pumpkin Patch

That is when I tried the iridescent ice.  I daubed the whole surface with versamark and sprinkled on the powder.  I only used one coating and thought that would be enough.  It was just right.  I did sponge a bit more with early espresso afterwards.  I layered the pumpkins together using dimensionals, with the stems too, and wrapped them all in linen thread.  I wanted to leave it then, but decided on a simple word phrase.  And there you go!

Sparkly Seasons Pumpkin Patch

Have a creative day!

Moana

Treats for My Boys

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

More little thank you treats for my wonderful TA’s.  They put up with a lot, even getting bored when I make them just sit and do homework when things are caught up.  Who doesn’t like a little treat now and again, right?

Treats for My Boys

I absolutely love this embossing folder with the retired coordinations paper.  I think they missed their calling together.  I have a ton of the early espresso coordinations paper from when it was retired and put into the clearance rack.  I think I will just make lots of fun things with these two products.

Treats for My Boys

Funny little floating heads, or moons, or pumpkins or whatever you want to call them.  They are adorable and they look great.  I really think these bags are great.  They came together really quick with scoring, folding, and sponging.  Just my kind of fun.

Treats for My Boys

Have a creative day!

Moana

Death By Chocolate

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Another card with this wonderful set.  How much fun is a stamp that says, ‘Death by Chocolate’.  I am sure many would agree that is more than a fun idea.

Death By Chocolate

I did think it would be nice to make it with non-traditional coloring though.  When I think of chocolate, these are the colors I come up with.  A pretty gold wrapper with something dark and rich inside.  Sounds like a winner!

Death By Chocolate

Stamping perfectly isn’t always my strength, so when I make a background like this I stamp off center on purpose just to take the stress off.  Has to be fun, right?  And this card was.  Some simple layering with a few embellishments to spruce it up.  I applied the ribbon in kind of a caution tape fashion giving the hint of Halloween, but not right out saying it.  Maybe a gift card from a candy store should go inside for the perfect grown up Halloween treat?  I like it!

Death By Chocolate

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sweet Hauntings

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I was pretty darn excited to get this stamp set and even more to put it to work.  These bottles, they really make me laugh!  I normally don’t purchase Halloween sets because of the limits of use.  This one, I know I will be having fun with it all year long.

Sweet Hauntings

Picking the color pallet was the easy part, some of my favorites for sure.  I love fall and all of the colors that live there.  Creating my own patterns for background paper is one of my favorite parts.  I would love this in whole sheets.  Hmmmmm, perhaps that will be a fun activity later on.  I stamped each bottle again so they could be fussy cut and layered up.  Those fun little bottles, love them!

 Sweet Hauntings

Lots of sponging on the vanilla paper.  Early espresso gives a great vintage look, which is just what I needed.  I sponged everything, lots, even the ribbon.  It gave it  a great grungy look.  I did echo stamping on the inside as well, can’t get enough of these bottles.  Did you notice the tiny little rhinestones I put on the skull bottle stopper?  Way beyond fun!

Sweet Hauntings

Have a creative day!

Moana

If the Broom Fits

~ moanaj ~ 3 Comments

I love halloween!  Well, all of the fun decorations and cuteness that can go along with it.  Orange is also my favorite color, so that makes sense too.  You would think that I make lots of halloween cards from the collection I have to work with, but, not so much.  Same goes for Christmas though.  I am a stamper, and I love stamps!

If the Broom Fits

So, the irony of today’s card is that today is my 25th wedding anniversary.  I don’t think this particularly applies to me directly, but the phrasing of it surely does make me laugh.  Well, giggle actually.  I do have someone I can give it to.  I don’t know if she would laugh or not, but I think she will.

If the Broom Fits

It was a very simple card to create.  One big stamp cut out with the largest smooth oval framleit.  I sponged the edges up and added it to the scalloped layer I cut out with the largest framelit from the same set.   It nearly didn’t fit on the card front.  I did do background stamping on the card base and sponged the edges as well.  A lovely little ribbon between layers to tie in the early espresso ink and it was nearly done.

If the Broom Fits

I managed to use the edge of the stamp to sneak one broom on the inside.  This lovely stamp is another image available in the coming catalog that goes live on September 1st.  Fun little sneak peeks!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sending Good Thoughts

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday quite simply just ran away from me.  Sometimes there are too many things to get done, too many people to help, and one too many places to go.  So, this was for yesterday.

Sending Good Thoughts

How about a nice masculine all occasion card?  Nice combination if you ask me.  When you have a great background stamp like Hardwood, the card almost finishes itself.  The front was stamped in early espresso and sponged lightly until I liked the look.  I tried something a little different for my inside stamping.  I just used this huge stamp at an angle and stamped opposite corners.  It worked out pretty good.

Sending Good Thoughts

I had to stamp my sentiment a few times though,  I wasn’t being very patient and then it didn’t look straight.  It doesn’t have to be perfect to make me happy, but maybe not look all wonky either.  A quick trip to the banner triple punch and my front layering was done.  How easy is that?

Sending Good Thoughts

 

I did layer the banner element up on dimensionals and accessorized lightly with two silver mini-brads.  That is all it needed.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Trust God

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So much has happened during the last week, even as I write in advance for this blog, I know my heart is both heavy and full at the same time.

Trust God

Taking yet another child to university is so exciting, but reminds me of how little time we actually have with these children and how soon they grow up and leave home.  Luckily, I still have a few more years with my youngest.

Trust God

Then partnering that event with a demanding and fulfilling pioneer trek has surely put me over the edge.  But in a good way.  Even though it was surely to be physically and emotionally difficult, I have complete faith that I loved it and will treasure it always.

Trust God

I created this set knowing how I would be feeling, and knew there would be a lot on my mind.  The flowering flourishes has been one of my favorite stamp sets for a very long time.  The results it gives are always different and very beautiful.  This color combination is soft yet ornate at the same time.  I wasn’t sure about layering the stamps over each other, but these colors allowed it.  I hope you have enjoyed it as I did.

Have a beautiful, and very creative day.

Moana