Good morning!

One of my favorite techniques uses shaving cream.

It's very easy to do and can make your paper smell yummy!


I use a disposable dish for this.

• I squirt a layer of shaving cream into the dish. You need a dish large enough to put your paper in without bending it. 
• Then I put a few drops of re-inkers on top of the shaving cream and swirl it around a bit.  Don't swirl too much or the colors will get muddy.  In the above example I used a gray, a coral and a gold.  
• Lay your cardstock face down onto the shaving cream.  Pull it up and you can either wipe away or shaving cream concoction or you can put another piece of cardstock face down on the first.  At any rate, pull them apart and remove the shaving cream.  I use a spatula for this.  
• You can add re-inkers and do more, but eventually the shaving cream will get too muddy to use.  At that time, you can dispose of it and use other colors.

Then I stamped the swirls and bird on the paper and cut it out.  


Hope you have enjoyed this stroll down memory lane.  Let me know what other techniques you would like to see, or other things in your stash that you haven't used in awhile.


Have a colorful day...

Good morning!

Today, I want to show you how to use bingo markers to make a background.

• I dabbed the bingo markers on the inside of a page protector.  
• Then I spritzed with a little water and smooshed it together to blend the colors.  
• Then I opened the page protector and put two pieces of glossy cardstock (backs together) inside and closed the page protector.  
• I smooshed it with my fingers and pulled the page protector open and removed the cardstock. 
• I let dry (it will lighten a bit), and cut into the background shape. 

 I love the look of this.  Fossil stone is one of my favorite techniques.  


For those of you who don't know what bingo markers are, they are the liquid dabbers you buy at the store to mark your bingo numbers.  The other technique using them on this blog is called Bingo Blast.  You can search for that.

Good morning!  Today we will use those little holeless marbles you have in your stash.

When you are finished with the card, there is room to open the flap and write a note to the recipient.

I hope I have inspired you to create something this week. If you do, please post a link in the comment section. Happy Crafting!

Good morning and welcome to another Over the Moon Monday. Did you have a good week? The weekend was great...too short, but great. I am having computer issues, and it's driving me nuts. For the last year I have used both McAfee Virus Scan and Webroot Spysweeper together with no problems. I had to renew my McAfee and now I learn they are not compatible, so I have to decide which one to use. I like them both. If you have any experience with either one, please email me or leave me a comment on why you like it.

Today I want to give you some tips on sponging. It's a very simple technique, but can give you lots of interesting results. In the card sample below, I have used a couple of different sponging techniques.

I sponged a light blue onto the background cardstock (with the swirls). I sponged the sky and also the grass. I used a green marker to draw in the distinct blades of grass.

Types of sponges:

• cosmetic/facial sponges
• porous everyday sponges
• natural sponges
• bathtoy sponges

Methods of use:

• cut or tear sponges to get different textures.
• use sponges either dry or slightly dampened with water.
• use different amounts of pressure to get darker or lighter effects
• tapping, smudging, smearing and circular motions are all ways to get different effects and textures.

Stamping tips:

• sponge around paper masks which you have cut or torn to create cloud-filled vistas. Then sponge on a bit of light blue, pink or violet to accent clouds.
• sponge through paper doilies, lace, or netting for a delicate Victorial look. You can also make borders using sponging and masks.
• for beautiful grass, sponge on shadings to lay down base colors of greens, blues and yellows. Then use a grass stamp for distinct blades (or use a marker to make blades). Stamp it over and over without re-inking to add depth.
• sponge over nautical designs to give them the impression of being under water, in fog, etc.
• use the full width of the sponge for large areas or backgrounds or cut your sponge into your own design, such as a star or heart. For example, you can create a brick wall by using a small rectangular piece of dry sponge.
• use your sponges slightly damp instead of dry, for a softer, more blended look.

I hope you can use some of these tips. You can leave a link under the comment section on this blog.

Have a great week!

Good morning! I hope this finds you well and crafting. I have been busy this week and unable to blog. It was my first week back to work from vacation, and I had a lot to catch up on.


One of the techniques from the Technique Junkies newsletter was a stencil technique. This is my take on that technique. The background was made from re-inkers smooshed between a page protector then smooshed onto glossy cardstock. The daisy was stenciled using white Brilliance ink, and the flourishes were stamped with Palette Noir ink. I ran a gold leafing pen around the outside of the cardstock and layered onto a deep red cardstock.

I have another one to post later. It's a variation on this technique, and I like the way it turned out, too.

Gotta run for now....hope you have a wonderful day!

Becky

Good afternoon! I'm still on vacation and enjoying it. I haven't stamped much the last couple of weeks, I've been way too busy. But I did make time to play a little bit. Here is the result:

This is a technique from the Technique Junkies newsletter called a Bandanna technique. I made the background paper with alcohol inks on glossy cardstock, then ran it through the cuttlebug embossing folder. I hit the embossed parts with a purple dye inkpad and allowed it to dry. Then I took a white Jelly Roll Glaze pen and put dots around all the embossed parts. It looks really cool in real life.

I spent the morning at the community pool with my youngest granddaughter. She's been so good and is so excited for school to start. She has been a pure joy and one of the reasons I haven't stamped much.

We are due for our afternoon thunderstorm, so I will sign off for now. Hope you are getting some crafting done, and we'll talk again later.

Becky

A group I belong to is having word challenges. This is my card for the word "My":

This was a fun card to make. I like the sun through the window, and I like the zig-zag stitching (it was done with white ink, so it's very faint in the scan) on the card.

I have been thinking about my next craft purchase. I'm leaning heavily towards the Cuttlebug. I love the texture plates, and I can't wait to get the Cuttlebug and try it out. It sounds like it will do everything I want it to do. If you have one and want to email me with the pros and cons, I'd appreciate it.

I also want to get some beeswax and play. I have done encaustic wax techniques with crayons, and that was fun, but there is so much more you can do with beeswax.

I would like to share more techniques here, so please let me know what you would like to see.

As a side note, my New Years Resolution was to stop smoking. I have been successful for 25 days now. There are still times when I have that craving, but they are few and far between now, and I think I have this thing licked.

Have a great weekend, and TGIF!