Windmills

While out and about on the back roads of the Nebraska Panhandle I came across this windmill with the old stone building in the background. Combining a black and white photo with a B&J's Art Stamps image.

The photo has the edges sponged with black ink and it is layered onto a crackle background that has been stamped with Soot Black Distressed Ink by Ranger. I heavily misted it after stamping, causing the ink to spread out. After the photo was attached to the crackle background, a border was cut, it was then again layered onto black cardstock and a narrow border was cut.

The card base had the edges sponged with black ink as well.

A Vintage Lady

Isn't she lovely? The vintage lady is a stamp by Magenta, which happens to be one of my all time favorite stamp companies. She was stamped with black pigment ink and fine line black embossing powder was then applied. The image has been lightly colored with pencils. I carefully cut it out with a scissors, applied 3-D double stick foam to the back and attached to the card.

The background was stamped with a crackle image using Distressed Inks by Ranger, Straw. The outer edges of the card had Distressed Ink by Ranger, Burlap, applied with a piece of Cut N' Dry foam in a swirling motion to achieve the faded misty effect. The final touch was a light sponging of Distressed Ink Black Soot to give the illusion of a burned edge.

The flourishes were stamped in Distressed Ink, Walnut. I think the flourish stamps are by Basic Grey, but could not find them on their website, so, I have no clue who made them. BUT aren't they just luscious????

Vintage Friends

When I make up a background like this one, I make at least ten of them, often more. Why? They are messy, they are addictive and I like to have them on hand. I am a lot more likely to use something like this if I have it on hand. This particular background is a time-consuming pain to make, but I really, really like the finished product.

I stamped the friends by Art Impressions in black pigment ink and used black fineline embossing powder.

The texture was created by dragging Distressed Ink pads across the paper and the flourishes where stamped using stamps from various companies. Then a light mist with water to create the faded vintage look. The edge of the card was sponged with medium brown ink followed by a very narrow edging of black ink, again sponged on.

Why I Sponge Edges

This is the same card. The one on the left is before I sponged and the the card on the right is after sponging (also called distressing). The difference is dramatic.

Sponging or distressing is one of my favorite techniques. It adds depth and interest to a project.

The beautiful cowboy stamp is by Ink Blocks which is now a part of I Brake For Stamps. It can be found in their southwestern and Indian division. Ink Blocks has some of the most unusual and striking native American stamps I have ever seen and they are well worth the effort to find them. I only have a small portion of this amazing art work in rubber. Now I will have to get some of them stamped up and on the blog for you all to see.

The barbwire stamp is from Sutter Enterprises. The Howdy greeting stamp is unknown. The background crackle stamp is also unknown. The greeting, cowboy and barbwire are stamped with black pigment followed by finline black embossing powder. The crackle is one of the lighter brown Distressed Inks by Ranger.

God Bless, Shelly

Butterfly and Flourishes In Green

This is one of my favorite designs.

Every once in a while you have a design that turns out

exactly like the vision in your head.

Since I did it in oranges, I had to try it in other colors too.

Here is the green version. It's yummy!

Cari's Card

My daughter moved to Denver this past spring

to follow her dream.

She is now the charge nurse at the

University of Colorado Medical Center

Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic.

While I miss her terribly, I am

thrilled that she has been able to advance

in a profession that she has wanted since she was 5 years old.

I send Cari cards because I love her.

Her dedication to high nursing standards

inspires me to be all that I can be as an artist.

To not settle for just good enough,

but to strive continually for the absolute best.

This card was placed in the mail box this morning

and is on it's way to brighten Cari's day and remind her

that we love her and miss her.

The butterfly (Whispers, Sugarloaf Productions)

is embossed in fineline gold and painted

with Twinkling H2o's.

The fine floral flourish is stamped in black,

while the two bolder flourishes are stamped in

various Distressed Inks (Ranger).

I then swirled the orange, yellow and

mahogany Distressed Inks

around the edges, getting darker towards the outer portion.

The final touch was a "burn" of black sponged on the

the very very outer edge.