SusieQueue Creates
I'm super excited!
For the next two months, I will be a guest designer for From the Heart Stamps. Because it's December and there is always too much to do in the weeks before Christmas, I have been busy in November making cards using the fabulous illustrations by artist, Faith Skrdla. I hope you will visit the FTHS Community and Challenge Blog and see what's up.
09 December 2013 - Guest Designer Week #2
FTHS Sketch #46 - A real "Birdbrain"
FTHS Sketch #45 - Fixing booboos
Here's my interpretation of this week's sketch (#45) using Peace, Joy, Love.
When I had almost finished coloring this image with my Copics markers, one of the colors I was using dumped a bunch of ink on the image and ruined it. Since I sometimes (usually) spend a ridiculous amount of time coloring, I decided to try and save the image. To do this, I got out my white Gesso and a paint brush and painted over the blob of ink. Then I reprinted the image of the "Love" snowman and re-colored only this part of the image. When I was finished, I cut out the snowman and pasted it over the original image. If you look at the close-up, you can barely see where the gesso ends and you can just tell that one of the snowmen is an overlay. I'm happy to report that the fixes don't detract from the original card.
Why don't you try out this sketch - if you post your result, you'll get a code for $1 off a great digital image from the FTHS store.
02 December 2013 - FTHS Guest Designer
This card, based on From The Heart Stamps Sketch #46, uses my favorite image of "Birdbrain Chick": "What's Up ChicK". I made this card for a belated celebration of my nephew's birthday. On the front it says, "I'm a real birdbrain" and on the inside, "For missing your birthday. Hope it was happy!" I used a Martha Stewart Punch all over the Page punch to make the vertical mosaic and paper from my scrapbooking stash. Hope it inspires to join in the fun.
Doe a Deer - Christmas Cards
I have some fabulous images of deer and trees that I used to create a couple of Christmas cards. The first uses:
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A Shimmer Sheet background
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Hero Arts Cling Stamp "Winter Trees" stamped and embossed in white on navy cardstock
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Impression Obession dies: the bird from "Birch Trees" colored with Copic spica pen in turquoise and the deer from "Deer Trio" cut from silver mirror cardstock
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Warm Wishes from Just Rite "Large Fancy Holiday Sentiments"
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The holly was punched with a very old punch.
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The pink accents are pink holographic paper and bling from a mesh sheet.
The second card features:
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Papers: Bazzill Basics Kraft Wrap "Believe" and Authentique "Scatter Joy" with a few scraps from my stash. The word "Joy" is in the paper design
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The trees are from Tim Holtz "Holiday Joy" Framelits Die with Stamp Set
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The deer are from an Impression Obession die: "Deer Trio"
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The paper with text is from an old dictionary that I antiqued.
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The mistletoe sprig was also part of the paper design that I cut around to creat an accent.
16 December 2013 - Guest Designer Week #3
From The Heart Stamps - Moonlight Snowman
This week's card features "Moonlight Snowman", a digital stamp by From The Heart Stamps. The papers I used are from a 6x6 pad by The Paper Studio (don't you love Hobby Lobby?) called Santa and Friends. The little Christmas tree die is a from Cuttlebug. The horizontal strip is red dotted washi tape on a strip of white cardstock. And the lovely soft, semi-translucent white paper behind the snowman circle is white mulberry paper (see detail). I painted a circle with water using the red mat from for the snow man as a guide and then, just pulled the paper apart at the line.
The "at Christmas" stamp is from a miniature clear stamp set that came out of a $1 bin at a craft store.
The snow man is colored with my copics markers. Normally I use G0000, B0000 and a touch of B000 for snow but since I used those for the snowman, I colored the snow with dots of these colors combined with two light shades of neutral gray. When I cut him out I used a circle die that was too small to include the moon. I kept the die from cutting the moon by putting a thin piece of rubber under the blade, then hand cut around the moon. You could get the same effect by stamping the moon twice, cutting out the second moon and pop-dotting it over the edge of the circle.
From the Heart Stamps has a wonder community/blog that you can visit by clicking on the card above or here. I visit every week either for the sketch challenge or for inspiration or just to see what new images Faith Skurdla has come up with that often include bonus sentiments like this one...
23 December 2013 - Merry Christmas
Christmas is "For the Birds" too...
This week's card features "For the Birds", a digital stamp available at From The Heart Stamps. This is a blatant "card-lift" from Jennifer McGuire who has inspired me since she was a Garden Girls on TwoPeasinaBucket.com and her name was Jennifer Ditz. Anyway, she did this card with Purple Onion Stamps. You can check it out here.
I wish you could actually see the card because I could not get a photo that does it justice. I made the template for the snowflake background using a Martha Stewart "Punch All Over The Page" punch and then used opaque white embossing paste and crystal snow. It sparkles! It sorta shows in the detail shot below.
The image is colored with Copics markers and fussy-cut...and I do mean fussy. I put it on pop-dots (see the nice shadows in the image). I drew the background snow to mimic the snow on the snowman stamp. The little sign is a die from Taylored Impressions "Birch Tree Accessories" and the holly is made using a die from Impression Obssesion.
For those who are wondering about coloring snow, I used B0000, G0000, and BG000 for the snow in this image.
This post marks the end of my first month as a guest designer for "From the Heart Stamps". I have had so much fun using their images and am excited to work with their design team for one more month.
I will not be posting next week...it's going to be very busy here at the lake for the next couple weeks. I know that not everyone out there has had a fantastic year but no matter what life has dished out, the wonderful thing about this time of year is that it is a time of hope. My hope for you is that your holidays and the year ahead will be filled with joy and peace no matter what your circumstances. Every day, but especially during the holidays....
...text image by bhart from ""peaceful reflections"