Flirty Flamingo

Sweet Happy Birthday

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

This recycled kit was originally a valentines card with all kinds of little die cuts and stamping.  Real big difference and I am totally in love with it.  It is so sweet, and I came across a stamping technique that it going to be used again and again.  It isn’t new I am sure, but new to me, so it counts.

4-2

I love this particular balloon stamp set.  The outline images and then the fill stamp to give it a little interest and fun.  My first thought for the card front involved several free floating balloons with hand drawn strings.  Those strings just didn’t do it for me, they were distracting from the pretty balloons.  So I tried again using the bouquet of strings for the balloons.  That worked much better for me.  I then adhered punched out balloons over the top of the stamping using a glue dot at the base of each balloon.  It was enough to hold it in place and I don’t even mind that you can see the adhesive, totally worth it.

4-2 (2)

I had to add some on the inside as well.  Giving the interest I love without a lot of bulk. Don’t get me wrong, when it is time to pile it on I go for it, but sometimes it is nice to not worry about putting something through the mail.

The tag was fun to add.  The stitched framelits are adorable.  They give a lovely finished edge so easily.  I wanted to use the ribbon from the kit but I didn’t want to interrupt the lines of the balloons, so I kept the ribbon to the tag.  I thought that worked out nicely.

While I love the look of a clean and simple card, the tag had a burst of color and it left the balloons out of balance.  So I went back to the stamp set looking for some help. There are these two little dandelion flower guys that I thought could work.  I placed them on the same block and stamped them across the bottom of the card in a bit of an upward angle.  I thought it looked like the breeze was blowing them gently up into the air.  The tag looked a bit bleak, so I gave it the same treatment.  For me, the new technique was to carry the look of motion, or the flowers blowing, across the front of the tag.  So fun!

4-2 (3)

Taking these old kits and putting them to work in a different way has been so much fun. Only two more days of sharing this little series, but I think it will change how I work. I always want to have kits on hand to play with.

Have a creative day!

Moana

You Deserve a Happy Birthday!

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Here we go with day two of this little seven day adventure.  Use up my extra kits and make them look different.  Some parts I like better than others, but here it is just the same.

3-30

The background cardstock had some floral stamping from the flower shop stamp set and then was run through the big shot with the lovely lace embossing folder.  The patterns might not have gone the best, but I stuck with it.  When I continued the stamping on the sentiment layer I wasn’t sure again.  I thought black wording would look too similar to the night of navy so I went with flirty flamingo.  Wouldn’t you know it that one of the words got hidden in a flower. So I stamped the sentiment again offset with versamark and then sprinkled on copper embossing powder.  It coordinates nicely with the foiled pattern on the designer series paper.

3-30 (4)

It did give it a bit of a 3-D look, but you could read it easier.  I still wasn’t sure about all of the patterns going on here.  It seems like they are fighting for attention.  I don’t think I could tell you who won, but I kept on with it anyway.  I tilted the card a bit for this photo trying to show the foiled paper and matching embossing, you get the idea I think.

3-30 (3)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Golden Garden in Bloom

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Distracted, distracted, distracted.  That would be my theme for the last several days. Sometimes we complain when we get stuck in a run, other times we stress out looking for that comfortable rut.  I think mine was on another planet all together.  Still looking, but getting closer for sure.  This lovely project has waited on my desk for four days to be shared. Worth it though, it is so pretty.

3-7

I sat down, picked out five different colors and began a water color background. That has to be one of my favorite activities, just making soft blending colors.  Almost soothing. When it was dried I added the huge floral stamp from the garden in bloom set. Some images were stamped full strength and others stamped off once. I wasn’t quite happy there, so I took it up a notch. I have these awesome guilding flakes that give a really cool embossed look. You brush on glue from a pen, set them on the glue and swirl a stipple brush over that to get rid of the excess.  This time I brushed the glue directly on the stamp, stamped a glue image and then put the flakes on.  It worked out so great!  Can’t wait to do it again.

The tag was simply created with water color paper.  I stamped the image, rounded the corners and sponged the edges.  It was a bit stark so I took a light wash of color right over the top.  It blurred the sentiment a bit, but not too much.  A touch of ribbon on the side anchored with metallic thread and I was ready to go.

3-7 (1)

The inside got a bit of echo stamping of course. I nearly always put that in place.  It just ties it all together so nicely.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sending Love and Lots of Hugs!

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

This little trickster made me so cranky last Friday.  I had this vision, I was pretty sure I could make it work, I hated my water coloring but loved the stamping.  I do dislike wasting, so I set it aside and decided to come back to fix it later.  I love the fix, a lot.  I am looking forward to making this kind of fixed mistake again.  With better water coloring of course.

2-28

A simple shaker card is what I had in mind.  I stamped these little monsters three times.  I even used my stamp-a-ma-jig for oh so tidy placement.  Then I did what I thought would be a quick water color moment.  It turned out too quick and I thought sloppy.  No problem, put a layer of velum cardstock up on some foam adhesive strips and make a fun shaker card. I was so unhappy with the painting that I just walked away.  I couldn’t see through my error.  Saturday night helped me through though.

I had the thought that the foam strips would look like a white border, and they did kind of, but I didn’t like how that looked. So I ran some glue around the edges, placed some guilding flakes on the glue and brushed them in place.  That covered that problem quite well.  I punched out plenty of hearts using the hearts border punch, adorable of course. Added in some glitter, which really wanted out the corners I might add.

2-28-1

I was going to leave it with the ribbon and be happy, but I wasn’t.  It needed a sentiment, but I was already committed to the velum and didn’t want to hide the opaqued monsters. What to do? I found this adorable tag die in the window box thinlits die set, grabbed a tiny sweet sentiment from the sealed with love stamp set and attached it with some silver metallic thread. Then the basic rhinestones finished it off.  Phew!  Several days of work on that one, that was supposed to be a quick project.  Right.  Either way, now I have a fun way to put all of these products to use and send out the love!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Hello Love

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

If you know me well, you know I absolutely adore tiny things.  This little number took longer to finish because I was having so much fun playing with the tiny elements.  Seriously, they are so adorable!

1-17

The card base was done in flirty flamingo along with the card front matte, the die cut envelopes and the coordinating ribbon.  The tiny little cards were cut in blushing bride surrounding tiny precious stamps stamped in the same color.  I added a second stamp to two of the tiny cards in flirty flamingo as well as accent stamping and sponging .  The heart stamping on the card front was done in pink pirouette with the main sentiment in flirty flamingo.

I wasn’t sure if this was too much of a card to do for my workshop ladies, but it is was so much fun we just might need to.  I can’t wait!  I almost forgot the edge of the card.  All of the die cutting done on this card came from the same set of framelits.  This edge of dimensional hearts is so fantastic.  It totally works for Valentine’s Day, but I can see wedding cards and then some going on here.

1-17-1

Have a creative day!

Moana

Fear Not My Friend…

~ moanaj ~ 2 Comments

When I am wanting to convey more emotion in a card, I go directly to water coloring.  The softness it creates is perfect.  And with this card, I literally poured my heart into it.

8-20

I wanted more space to work with so I created a larger card than normal.  This one measures 5″ x 6.5″.  Big, but not too big.  I also created my inside writing panel at the same time.  This card wasn’t going to just get a blank insert, or even a nicely stamped one. Besides, I love writing on water color paper, so very satisfying.

I stamped my floral image and sentiment first so I could control the strength of color where they were.  Then I brushed the papers with clean water to allow plenty of color movement. I kept the background light and tried to keep mixing to a minimum.  The colors I choose don’t always blend nicely, but that doesn’t stop me.  I dried, distressed a bit, and dried until I was happy.

I painted the flowers with strong color, allowed them to dry clean.  Then worked them over properly.  This included adding, dobbing, and adding color on the flower petals for a bit.  I centered the flowers with a strong yellow, but kept the color from the edge of the flower center.  Then I hit that area with a water spritzer and watched the flower bloom all over again.  The color moved nicely and then was dobbed some more.  Gold wink of stella was brushed into the petals and blended with water again.  The overall effect was lovely.

A special card for a very special friend.  She is far more brave than I can imagine.

8-20 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Touches of Texture

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

Where has the time gone?  Always rushing away, but I managed to sneak a few extra minutes to play with some water coloring.  During the summer I thought nothing of spending a good hour or so creating a project.  Well…maybe that will have to be a weekend thing now that school is back in session and schedules have changed.  It still felt good, even if it was a quick one.

8-19

I masked my paper around the edges and applied a wash of clean water.  From there I just started to make stripes.  First with the blue and then the pink.  However, I applied the blue in stripes tipping the project so the ink could flow down a bit.  Then I flipped it around and applied the pink, also tipping the project, this time so the pink could flow into the blue. There was hardly any blending on my part.

The stamps were all from the same set, Touch of Texture.  That is a big set.  Definitely wants time to sit down and really play with the layering options.  I stuck with basic black with a little stamping off too.  Then I distressed with water droplets and called it.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to be done or not, but the clock said yes.  So there it is!

8-19 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Wishing You Brighter Days…

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Some days can be filled more struggles than others and it can be difficult to find the bright spots.  Being creative each day certainly does bring a lovely balance into my life.  It allows me to grow, share kindness and even teach a few people along the way.  Very nice indeed.

7-22

I tried a different product.  If I am honest, I have had it on my shelf for some time, but hesitated to use it.  I typically am Stampin’Up! exclusive, but was given a gift from my oldest daughter.  Some Ranger distress inks.  So, they are very lovely to water color with. Luckily I have a few to play with, otherwise I might be tempted to get into those.  They react differently than the inks I work with.

These umbrellas though, how adorable!  I have seen images like these for so long, often with the one umbrella being red.  Flirty flamingo works nicely here as a nice contrast to the black.  I created six black umbrellas and a fancy one for the front.  The basic rhinestones come in a few sizes as well as three strings that are connected by adhesive.  One string was just long enough to travel along the bottom of the umbrella leaving two left over that I placed on the top.  The umbrella framelits have so many fun options to make one creative look after another.  It was kind of tricky to choose, but I managed.

7-22 (1)

I layered these guys around for a while before I committed to their positioning.  The back ones were adhered directly to the water color paper with the front umbrellas being raised up on dimensionals.  What a lovely card to share with someone needing a little lift.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Your Generosity and Fabulosity

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

This is another one of last weekends workshop projects.  A very simple but lovely card. There are so many things that I love about it, but especially how they all work together.

6-23

The layering design is all about showing off the designer series paper.  The embossing folder draws attention to it and the sentiment accents it.  In this pack of paper there are several two sided patterned pieces, but two sheets of gold foil designer series paper.  This pattern is one of the two and I love it!

I accented the sentiment with the layered square framelits and some of the awesome new mini striped ribbon.  It might have been a bit over sized, but it is what I wanted so I did it. A touch of echo stamping on the inside to tie it to the designer paper and I was good.  Another great project that will find its way to another fabulous person.

6-23 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Artistically Asian

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

New stamps, new stamps, new stamps!  I love having new stamps!  This particular one caught my eye right away on my first browse through this seasons catalog.  I could easily get lost exploring the possibilities, there are so many.

6-17

But, I am totally in the mood for water coloring, so what else would I turn to just now?  I thought some of the new in-colors combined with gold would compliment the Asian feel of the stamp set.  And, I absolutely agree with myself.  Good thing too…

Flirty flamingo is the card base and the main color I painted with.  These colors go so very well together.  I used a lot of water and kept the color light building the intensity but not overdoing it.  Experimenting with this kind of painting is really something you just need to sit down and do it.  I have learned some things that work better for me, and of course there are tons of very talented people online that generously share their techniques to learn from.

I did stamp over the floral image again with both flirty flamingo and gold encore ink.  I wasn’t looking for a particular effect, just more of the image itself.  Then I hit it pretty hard with the gold wink of stella brush pen.  I accented the image quite a bit then followed along some of the water mark lines.  They ended up giving me a bit of a mound for the plant to rest on and maybe an interesting mountain or two in the background?  That wasn’t the intention, but I keep seeing that when I look at it.  Judge for yourself.

6-17 (1)

Have a creative day!

Moana

Perfectly Wrapped Flirty Flamingo

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

It couldn’t get any easier than this little number.  Two stamps, one punch and a bit of ribbon and here you go!  It is a tiny little box, but still big enough to hold a small gift or plenty of tiny treats.  How about a yummy truffle?

101_1422

I had punched several banners to make samples bookmarks for my club ladies which left me with an odd piece of cardstock.  Instead of making another tall card, I just made two of those this week, I though I would work out a carton box instead.

The stamping was very simple, tone on tone.  This color is awesome, don’t you think?  I spaced out the stripe stamping to make kind of a pattern.  I didn’t stress out about the exactness of the spaces and it turned out great.  And of course, I had to use some of my new favorite ribbon!  What a fun project!

101_1423

Have a creative day!

Moana