February Tag of 2015

Once again Tim Holtz inspired us with his Tag of February.  For my tag February Tag of 2015- I improvised a "home" picture instead of the stitched felt heart. I'm still really liking the shadow effect on the edges of ephemera covered with glue and seal and accented with smudged black distress marker. I also used metal lace stickers instead of fabric lace. "Hoping" for boundlessness and ultimate home. Home/hearth a place of love and ultimate acceptance and belonging.  I accentuated the home ephemera with picked raspberry distress ink on the sky to draw the eye.  To have a heart element, I used a new die cut from Memory Box called Loving Heart Arch which I cut into two pieces for accents.  To make the hearts pop, I colored them with distress marker and then filled the space with glossy accents.  

Variations on a Valentine

I fell in love with the Memory Box Heart die.  I chose to create variations on a theme for my valentines this year. Each person had an individualized color and paper scheme to their personality or likings.  Here are two examples.  I forgot to take photos when I was finished with the others so I could get them in the mail (doh).  I might add some bling to the card for some added dimension and sparkle-- but otherwise I'm very pleased with how these turned out.  

Online Card Classes- Clean and Simple Cards 4- Day 3

Day 3-Inked Backgrounds 

My favorite technique this day was Velveteen Stamping by Karolyn Loncon.  In this technique you use   white pigment ink with a large background stamp and use a dye ink or hybrid ink to stamp over it. To accent my cards I used Elizabeth Craft Designs glitter to accent colors used on the borders and add a bit of sparkle.

Online Card Classes- Clean & Simple Card Making 4- Day 1

Online Card Classes Clean & Simple Card Making 4 ~
Day 1~ Heat Embossing Techniques

No matter how many craft supplies I get it always seems like I'm missing items and I discover which ones they are when I take a class.  Clean & Simple Cards 4 was no exception.

Techniques on Day one focused on heat embossing.  Of all the techniques I felt most successful doing the Faux Ceramic Tile.  I didn't have the mat board- so I used card stock instead.  Next time around I will probably add a layer of fun foam to get the depth or get the mat board material.  For these cards, I had to emboss my die rather than die cut into a non-cuttable surface.  I was still able to do the multiple layers of super fine embossing powder.  I was limited on small 2x2 size dies- but I was able to use my Spellbinders Bird Sanctuary die. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp/Mama Elephant Summer Garden "Thinking of You."