Morning Walk - Herons

I occasionally share pictures I take on my morning walks and I couldn't resist blogging these! I visited a new place last week - an Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, which is just a five minute drive from my house.

I was over the moon when I across a pond/swamp with 5 nesting Herons. I've only ever seen these birds flying or wading, but never sitting in their nests. I'm not sure if they're Blue Herons or not, but they are really impressive birds. This is the best picture I could get.

Here's one of the many beautiful streams leading down to the pond.

Oh, and we mustn't forget the beavers.

Each day I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world. Thanks for letting me share it with you!

Ali

Lucky Me & the Color Challenge

I couldn't believe my luck the other day when I won Lynn Steven's blog candy. When it arrived in the mail, I just about fell over in surprise. It was all so beautifully packaged, it seemed a shame to open it. But I did and everything inside the box was exquisite. As many of you know, Lynn is such a generous and sweet person - thanks Lynn!


I'll be offering some of my own blog candy soon and will include some of Lynn's as a way of paying it forward. Keep a look out.....

I hosted the Color Challenge on Gingersnaps today. This month's colors are burgundy, ivory and black. Here's the card I made for it.


To create the pink, speckled background, I used a technique called Spritzed Stone (TJ newsletter Dec 09/Jan 10). It involves scribbling Copic markers on acetate, spritzing them with alcohol and pressing a piece of c/stock onto it. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right strength alcohol, so I used the liquid refill for the Copic blender pen instead. I think it turned out pretty much the same, but when I buy the alcohol I'll compare the results.

Here's a look - the woman at the top looks like she has measles (LOL)!

Head over to Gingersnap Creations to see the awesome work created by the rest of the Design Team.

Happy Stamping!

Ali


Supplies:

• Stamps: Non Sequitur, Stamp Camp (word)
• Paper: Fabriano watercolor card base, bravo burgundy & very vanilla c/stock
• Ink: Memento black, Copic Markers, Copic blender pen solution
• Accessories: Embroidery floss,
• Tools: Jewelry tag punch (SU), spritz bottle

Book Page Backgrounds

I had a lot of fun writing a tutorial called Book Page Backgrounds on Gingernsnap Creations this week. Here are the cards I created for it.

This is my favorite because I love how the text peeks through behind the silhouette image.


You can see it more closely here:

This flower is made from Grunge Board. I created one of the book page backgrounds on a sheet of GB and ran it through the Big Shot with one of the new Tim Holtz dies. I also made some birds, which I can't wait to find a use for. I inked around the edge of the flower to give some definition.


Finally, this card uses one of my favorite Technique Junkie techniques - Herringbone (Dec 09/Jan10). I used up left over scraps from the different sheets I made to create this herringbone effect.

If you like the look of these backgrounds, head to Gingersnaps for the full tutorial.

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day!

Rock n Roll Pear

Susan's One-Layer challenge this week is to create a one-layer card that includes ribbon. And I'm really getting in under the wire with this one!

Believe it or not, I made the card last Wednesday, but for the life of me couldn't get a decent photograph of it. Even now I'm not happy with how the picture turned out, but sometimes you've got to let things go, right?

I combined this simple card with one of the very first stamping techniques I learned - Rock n Roll. I thoroughly inked the stamp with yellow ink (SU's Summer Sun) and then gently rolled the edges on a green ink pad (SU's Kiwi Kiss). Lastly, I dabbed a little brown ink on the stalk.

You've got to love one-layer cards!


Supplies

• Stamps: Pear (Stampers Anonymous), Thank You Kindly (Stampin' Up!)
• Ink: Summer Sun, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip (SU)
• Paper: PTI
• Accessories: sheer ivory ribbon

Robin Inchie Card

I love grids! I think that's why inchies and cards made with inchies make me smile!

I created a sheet of faux designer paper (TJ technique Dec 08/Jan 09) using Birds of a Feather by Artistic Outpost. The large script/egg image was clear embossed on cream c/stock and covered with blue and brown inks. It was over stamped with robin image and the embossing powder ironed off.

I followed my own Inchie Collage technique and created this inchie card. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.


Happy stamping!

Ali

Happy Mail

I've received some beautiful handmade cards over the last couple of weeks and figured I'd share the love -- thank you everyone!

Created by Susan Raihala

Created by Sue Oliveira

Created by Sharon Briss

Created by Hannah (my cute kid!)

Created by Claire Pryce

Created by Helene Shaw (my wonderful Sister-in-law)

Created by Christyann & Chrissy

And check out this awesome memo board made using the Big Shot - this just blew me away!

Created by Christyann & Chrissy

Have a happy Friday!

Pencil Challenge

I'm the host for the Gingersnaps Spicy Supply challenge and this month's supply is pencils. I chose this lilac image because my yard is filled with fragrant purple, white and pink lilacs - they're so beautiful! This card is a friend who I know loves lilacs too.

For this card, I dug out my Prisma pencils and gamasol to color this lilac from I Brake for Stamps. I'm not a huge fan of Prisma pencils because they're so soft and break all the time, but I do like the look you can achieve and blending them with Gamasol or odorless mineral spirits is so easy.

The blue background was created by covering bashful blue c/stock with a thin layer of gesso, running it through an embossing folder and gently sanding . The technique is called Sanded Whitewash and is from the TJ August/September 09 newsletter.

Check out the challenge and all the inspiring artwork our design team came up with!

Pears

I was able to play in my stamp room at the weekend and created some faux designer papers (TJ technique Dec 08/Jan 09 newsletter). Here's one of a few that I created:


I heat embossed the solid pear image on cream c/stock and sponged different shades of ink all over the piece. I over stamped with some script and another pear image, then ironed off the embossing powder to create a smooth surface. To create the card, I cut the panel into three strips and sponged around each edge.

Thank you for stopping by!

Ali


Stamps:
Field Notes from Oxford Impressions; Stampers Anonymous; Hero Arts

One Layer Cards

I have to tell you that one layer cards are HARD! They might look easy to create, but I'm telling you they are tough. The problem is that there's no wiggle room. If the image isn't straight or you smudge something, then the whole card is ruined. But I still love the challenge and love the look.

Enough whining....Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge this week is to create a card that includes punctuation and no embellishments. I think I stretched the challenge a bit because the only punctuation on this card is a colon.


I used one of my favorite stamp sets from Cornish Heritage called On The Desk. And while I was making one card, I figured I'd made two more. Their finished size is 3.5" x 5".

To add a little texture, I spritzed marker on two of them.

To make the images a little more interesting, I colored them with a white charcoal pencil.


Why not try making a one-layer card? It's challenging but fun!

Ali

Notecards for Teacher

For Teacher Appreciation week, I made Hannah's fourth grade teacher a set of six note cards. And Hannah picked a bunch of beautiful lilacs from our yard, which smelled divine.

This another one of my new stamps from Crafty Individuals and I used the Washed Color technique described in the previous post.

The card bases are, as always, Fabriano Watercolor cards and the watercolor paper is also by Fabriano. I'm such a huge fan of these - I buy big boxes of them from Dick Blick, so that I never run out!



I'm not sure if you can see it, but I highlighted the images with a sprinkle of glitter:

Have a splendid weekend!

Ali

Clean and Simple Thistles

Can you believe I've had Crafty Individuals stamps for several weeks now and haven't used them? It's a crime! I cracked them open today and made some thank you cards.

The first is for my blogging friend, Susan's new challenge One Layer Wednesday. If you like clean and simple designs, her blog will blow you away!

This is super super simple, but I like it anyway. The image was stamped with Versamark onto cream c/stock, colored with chalks and highlighted with some glitter. The photo doesn't show the glitter well, but it's on the top of the thistles and I applied it with a glue pen.


The next set of cards uses the same stamps and were created using a TJ technique called Washed Colors. You apply several different colors of watercolor paint to a piece of c/stock and run the colors together. Quick, simple and so easy.


Thanks for stopping by!