I made this card yesterday for a Masking technique challenge on OWSE. I stamped the butterfly (Unity Stamp), then stamped it again on scrap paper and placed it over the original stamped butterfly  to allow me to then stamp the word background (SU stamp) without it getting on the butterfly. I used distress ink (wild honey) all over the white cardstock.

Thanks for looking!

Anyway, here are the two cards I made. Both the same except different colours. I hope you like them.
Oh the Happy Birthday stamp is not part of the Unity Stamp set. It was from another set that I got, that was attached to a Magazine I bought.

Anyway go and check out the tutorial and let me know if you make any! I’d love to see them.

I made some very basic coasters yesterday with the Graphic 45 Wizard of OZ Paper. I bought the coasters (MDF) from ETC – Kaiser Craft Shop the other day – 12 for $2.

Anyway I was playing around, and probably not new to anyone, but anyway, I wanted to use distress inks on a project but now know that adding gel medium over the top, even when heat set, it smears/runs.

So I thought, now how can I get a distress ink look without using distress inks LOL

So I got out one of the distress pads that you use with the ink tool. I dabbed that in acrylic paint and sort of swished it around (trying to pretend it was ink!), then I dabbed the other end of the foam pad in water and went over that in the same way and it came out looking like it had been distressed with ink.

I’m thinking of connecting them with wire and just using them as a wall hanging in my craft room, just to brighten the place up a bit.

It’s been a little while since I made something. Last night I tried this Origami card that I saw featured on Stampers Quest website. At first I thought I must be Origami challenged because I couldn’t figure it out. Anyway walked away for 5 mins, came back and presto, it worked LOL.
Anyway, once you make one the next one can be whipped up in a matter of a minute, then just embellish. The diamond on the left is left open to act as a little pocket to pop the top part of the card into, like an envelope, kind of.

Thank you to Lynn, Nancie and Robyn. Have a look at these beauties!! All the detail and work put into these are really appreciated, ladies. Thank YOU!

Here’s the finished product :- My Art Journal Cover – Yes I had made a cover before, but I decided I liked this better. It has a LOT of weight in it!!

Here are the steps to arrive at it. Collage on your canvas, add tissue paper over the top, stencils with modelling paste: -

Next was the painting and some sanding: -

Next was the crackle paint, painting with bubble wrap, sanding and more sanding, adding leaves, gessoing, adding some bits of ephemera: -

Finally, I had to paint on wax paper (I had none, so used heavy tracing paper, what a mess!!) and doodle into the paint and glaze and then flip it over onto the page and burnish it in (hence the colour changes), then sand some more, add metal paint over the page and decorate how you like. I don’t think there is enough on the page as far as embellishing but here it is for now. I tend to keep playing with things and then totally mess it up. So I think I will leave it for now. You would not believe how many layers of paint, paper, glaze, gesso, gel medium etc are on this page LOL!

Anyway, as you can see in the previous post I collaged, gel mediumed, tissue papered, more gel medium.
Stenciled with molding paste. Now we are up to the next part (finally some colour!) I got to paint the canvas yellow ( I used sunflower yellow as the base)

This next stage had me puzzled because of the ingredients called for.. Anyway I glazed over the canvas (the book said drizzle, so I drizzled) with diamond glaze, then added the glaze to the acrylic paints and striped them over the page.
At this stage I can tell you I am still loving the molding paste with the stencil. WOW, it really adds texture to a page! Yes, it is kind of bright and stripey right now, but there is more to do.
Here it is so far

I’ve started working on the AJ page from the first project (I think it is the first project) in Art the speed of life book.
Anyway collage is not my strong point. I can’t just stick papers everywhere. I guess that is the pedantic part of me when it comes to art. I had lots of bits of paper all torn up and was spending way too much time trying to lay them out, so instead I grabbed a piece of different pictures paper and stuck it down, overlapping some, so it looked like I at least tried to collage a little LOL… Anyway, I guess as part of this project the collage doesn’t even get seen at the end.So I figured why was I fussing over paper placement?? Cause I always do fuss…sighs

Anyway laid down some tissue paper over it all and gel medium again. Then got out an old Club Scrap stencil and slathered on the molding paste. I now LOVE molding paste!! It then says to lift it up and place the other side of the stencil (the flipside) down on the rest of the page (hence you can see splats of it on the rest of the page) but I love how the flowers came out. Can’t wait til it dries. No idea how long it takes to dry!! The molding paste adds texture etc to the page before you start painting and glazing and all those things.

I posted last night on the Outlaw Women Yahoo group a question about what people would like to see in the store. Well one reply that caught my eye was the Crafter’s Workshop Templates 12″X12″. I had not heard of them but I am sure going to be buying some now. Of course, I wanted to see how they worked, what people did with them etc and good old You Tube comes to the rescue. Sally on the Yahoo group had sent me a link, then I clicked on another etc and WOW, the one I found just blew me away. I never knew how versatile these templates could be. I will be uploading them to the store over the weekend. You can also get 6×6 templates too.
In the meantime let me know if you are interested in them! Here’s a great video on different ways/techniques to use with them.