Soft Suede

Blooms & Wishes Gone Wild

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

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

Thanks For Always Building Me Up

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I love tiny things, also terribly over sized things, but tiny things are my favorite.  Die cutting these tiny tools, painting them, and placing them in a tiny jar really made me giggle. Making a masculine card usually doesn’t elicit giggles, but this one sure did.

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The tools were stamped on water color paper, painted and then die cut.  I tried to keep the tools in color scheme similar to real ones which was really kind of boring.  The screwdriver is my favorite. The tiny screws and nuts are so adorable though.  I used foil paper for those and thought they looked great. They all got a bit of sponging with soft suede to kind of grunge them up a bit.

The background paper got a light water coloring with the same colors I painted the tools with, sponged as well and then I ran it through the big shot using the hexagon dynamic texture embossing folder.  So very cool, love that folder.

The jar was stamped on water color paper and lightly painted with a very light blue.  I then die cut it as well as a piece of velum card stock.  Some of the screws and nuts were glued to the bottom and the tools placed on as well.  I glued the velum jar over the top to make the glass look happen.  I hid some adhesive under the tag, allowed some to show on the screws at the bottom, then reinforced the top wrapping it in gold metallic thread. Good deal!

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Simple Distressing

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I love it when a card looks more complicated to make than it really was.  This is a great example of that process.  This is probably as close to clean and simple as I get while staying comfortable with the end product.

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I began with a piece of water color paper.  Normally I mask it to a board and apply ink to the surface.  This time I took some distress inks, rubbed them onto a craft surface, spritzed them with water and began to lay the paper into the ink.  I moved it around until I was happy with the coverage and dried it completely.  I sprinkled water with a wet brush to give the light spots.

One large stamp is all I wanted.  I sponged all around the edges to darken it a bit then decided to sponge the flowers themselves.  A simple task, but a lovely look. I left it at that, no other embellishments and I was good with it.  I did repeat it on the inside and loved it.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Comfort & Healing to You…

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

There are so many talented people out there that love to share their projects like I do. Sometimes one will come along that I not only enjoy, but have to give it a try.  This project is a mix of a couple of different ideas with my own twist.  I do love how it turned out.

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One of the projects I studied had the card base smooth, which was lovely, and no extra layers, just the circle tag.  The other had the same layers I used with a different embossing folder, but I didn’t want to use that one.  I decided on the brick wall folder, but thought it still looked a bit plain.  After it got a good sponging and distressing I was much happier.  I even sponged the die cut piece because it just didn’t match the rest.  A healthy dose of basic pearls finished everything off.

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The inside of a card almost always gets a whisper white or very vanilla piece, but I went with the card front color of so saffron like another example showed.  The color is light enough to be written and stamped on equally well.  A very nice touch.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Country Livin’

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There is something so calm about a nice long water coloring session.  When I found myself needing a break from putting away yet more wedding reception decorations I looked for this stamp set.  When I saw these boots. I knew I would love creating with it.  I was right.

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I honestly stamped just the boots in the lower right hand corner of the water color paper and started to layer color and distress it like crazy.  I can’t tell you how satisfying this card was to make.  I thought about putting a sentiment to it, but couldn’t find something that I thought worked well enough.  So I decided to leave it as an all occasion card.  I have adorable country girl friends that would enjoy this card just as much as any man.  And it is always great to have a great masculine card on hand, especially an all occasion one.

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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

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

Beautiful Ride for Newlyweds

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It may be hard to tell, but there are an absolute ton of colors going on here.  I had a blast working on this set.  When I finally finished I was a bit surprised to see how late it got, but it was worth it for sure.  I love making wedding cards just for special people in your life. This one is no different.

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I worked the colors to create a sunrise look and I think it turned out really nice.  I was having a chocolate craving last night, so I settled for chocolate chip paper.  Not quite delicious, but it still worked out.  That led me to marina mist for the car color. From there everything else just came together.

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I wanted a gift bag to go along with the card to give the gift card something to go in.  I think I will put a tiny selection of rich chocolates around it, wouldn’t you like to get a treat too? Opening gifts can be exhausting for a newlywed couple, so they deserve a sugar boost along the way.

The details in this set are really busy and probably hard to notice.  I think a project like this should look simple even if you know better.  Not everyone knows how much work goes into a tiny work of art like this, but that doesn’t stop me from sharing them.  Just a few more weeks and this card will find its way to the deserving adorable couple.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Vintage Butterfly Basics

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This project started out as something entirely different, but I love where it ended up.  Would you believe I thought I was going to make something dark and dreary with a Halloween theme?  Well…like I said, it ended up lovely.

Vintage Butterfly Basics

The floral images were stamped in black and water colored with blackberry bliss and mossy meadow.  The ferns were also stamped in blackberry bliss.  Then the soft suede ink was put to work.  Lots of sponging and swirling and edging went into image.  I ended up with something that look almost tea dyed.  Just what I wanted.

Vintage Butterfly Basics

A double layer of blackberry bliss became the frame for the card front.  Linen thread was pulled through my blackberry bliss sponge to give it a tint to coordinate.  The tan color it comes in didn’t quite go with the soft suede.  Extra attention went into dimensionals to give  lots of height.

Vintage Butterfly Basics

A narrow boardered piece of soft suede card was embossed with the brick wall embossing folder and then sponged to give additional detail to the embossing.  All together, these elements created something lovely, just lovely.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Awesomely Artistic at last!

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I have made it through my June adventures and have finally been able to sit down with a long awaited stamp set and designer series paper.  I am still way beyond tired after completing a sixteen mile handcart trek, so it took me longer than normal to get going, but I did it.  It kind of feels a bit vintage and a strong nature theme.  So pretty.

Awesomely Artistic at last!

I learned my lesson with the last designer series paper that I loved too much to use for way too long.  I opened this pack up, took out my favorite pattern, and cut it for the card front.  Quite brave if you ask me.

Awesomely Artistic at last!

I stamped inside with two of the stamps from the set using night of navy and soft suede.  I have a hard time leaving the inside blank.

Awesomely Artistic at last!

I used a piece of water color paper to stamp the dragonfly a few times.  I started with black stazon, water colored with night of navy on the wings, then used some two way glue to attach dazzeling diamonds glitter to the wing edges.  I absolutely love dragonflies.  They are my signature mark and have been for some time.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Age Awareness Vintage Style

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By now, I should have made it back from Utah, survived running all over the place, crying several times, and collapsing after a long drive.

Age Awareness Vintage Style

I am writing this ahead, because this morning I should be up to my eyeballs in getting the last things together for our pioneer trek experience!  I put everything together I could before we went to Utah, but there are always last minute things ready to get in the way.

 Age Awareness Vintage Style

I haven’t used soft suede for a really long time and thought it would go with the theme here.  I also just got the oval framelits and put them to work for the first time.  These stamp sets go together quite nicely, don’t you think?  I used the banner punch for the very vanilla strips and finished up the soft suede layered banner with the side of the hexagon punch.  It makes great banner ends.  Who knew!

Age Awareness Vintage Style

Here I go again making my own background paper.  It is a fun challenge that keeps my brain fresh and lets me use more of my fun stamps!  We have a special birthday coming up next month for someone getting up there in years.  He has a great sense of humor and will just love this!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sheltering Tree

~ moanaj ~ 1 Comment

Spring is in the air and blossoms are all over my fruit trees.  I thought I would try to re-create that with my maiden voyage of this beautiful stamp set.  It worked.

Sheltering Tree

I tried  to add more interest with white stazon flowers in the trees, but my color pallet was too light and they were kind of lost.  Seeing them in person makes it easier that through a photo.  I thought I could color with some blendabilities over the stazon parts, but decided against it.

Sheltering Tree

The card base is wild wasabi with whisper white and blushing bride layers.  To keep the boarders nice and tidy I adhered them with tombo multipurpose glue so I could wiggle them in just the right place.  I love the skinny boarders, but they can be a bit tricky.

Sheltering Tree

It needed some kind of embellishment, but it had to be subtle.  The linen thread became the perfect choice and finished it off perfectly.

Sheltering Tree

Now, with these cards looking so happy and ready to go, I wish I had a bunch more to send to all my dear friends.

Have a creative day!

Moana