Stamplorations Love Always Card with Salt Colored background

Posted on February 1, 2019 by dannscraftingwhims

Hi there! Welcome back to another crafty whim! This time I’m experimenting with a ‘digi’ and watercoloring with salt. Because a printed ‘digi’ (digital image) from my printer often smears, I decided to do the background FIRST and then print on top of it. I really wanted to play with this nifty technique I’d seen on Betsy Veldman’s blog (HERE). She had a cool variation of the salt technique — where you sprinkle salt on your watercolor and let it dry for some interesting patterns. She COLORED her salt and sprinkled it around for some really cool effects! I especially liked her aqua border with flowers, so decided to try something similar. I guestimated where the orchid and lily would fall and tried to get the yellows and pinks more in those areas. Since I wasn’t going to do much until I was sure I could get similar results, I colored up 1/4-1/2 tsp of coarse salt.

The handiest colors I had on hand were distress inks and spray stains. It only took 2 drops of the ink, but about 6 of the spray stain to color up the salt. I didn’t have a purple, so mixed Mermaid Lagoon with Abandoned Coral until I got the color I wanted. By the time I sprinkled my salt down, the paper was dryer than I’d’ve liked, so I gently spritzed a bit of water across the top. Let dry and brushed off the salt:

Sherry Russ at Stamplorations kindly made available these lovely free digis over on their blog (HERE):

You know I rarely use digis, but I decided to give this lovely one a whirl. First, I had to size the digi. Another reminder of why I prefer stamps. Sure you can resize digis easier, but getting them exactly right is a bit of trial and error (for ME, at least!)

Not bad, but I thought it could use a little more. When Betsy was done with the salt, she went back and added some more watercolor. I was afraid to re-wet the surface as these were distress inks and would react with the water, so I chose to use some Copic markers to make the leaves and a few details stand out, then added a bit of sparkle…

In the end, it turned out nifty, but not near as cool as Betsy’s projects. Some day I will have to come back and revisit this, experimenting with different watercolors and inks.

Supplies used:

Stamplorations framed Love Always digi (Free HERE)
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor cardstock
Yasutomo Metallic Watercolors
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink – fossilized amber
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain – abandoned coral & mermaid lagoon
Costco Kirkland Mediterranean Sea Salt
Copic markers: C3; G24, 82; RV17; V6; YG17, 61; YR2, 4
Spectrum Noir by Crafter’s Companion Sparkle pen – clear
Scotch adhesive runner
Core’dinations Parisian Nights card base

I’m playing along with the following challenges – click on any one of them for more information on how you can join the fun:

Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your comments!

~D.Ann

p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Hello Pumpkin Spice Season Zen Cup and Shaker Card

Posted on December 5, 2018 by dannscraftingwhims

Hello crafty peeps and Hello Pumpkin Spice Season! Ahhh…. PSL (Pumpkin Spice Lattes)… my favorite treat of the year! So much so, that I got a great Black Friday deal on a coffee maker and a bunch of decaf pumpkin spice pods so I can have it year round without having to pay mega BUCK$ at that place that ends in ‘BUCKS’ (in just 6 cups I will have recuperated my investment). But we’re not here to talk economics. The Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Hop continues…

I received a Happy Harvest Fall Kit from Queen & Company (THANKS!). It includes the stamps, dies, and pre-cut adhesive foam and clear shaker covers, fall papers and cook shaker beads and gems:

I did a little bit of surgery to the stamps with a scissors to get the sentiment I wanted, added the fabulous Zen cup from Stamplorations and a card base and, violá:

To get the dimension on the pumpkins, I added some score lines and then hit them with a bit of darker ink on my finger (too lazy to go get a dauber. lol!). The unused inner piece of adhesive foam was perfect to cut up and use for popping up the sentiment. (I’m thinking I should have popped up the cup, too. 20/20 hindsight!) I ran yellow and orange markers along the edges of the foam that would show so they weren’t stark white.

There is something satisfying about hearing a shaker… It must take us back to our childhood and the comforting sound of a rattle

Supplies used:

Queen & Company Happy Harvest Fall Kit (stamps, dies, foam, clear plastic, papers and beads)
Stamplorations Zen Coffee Cup Layering Dies – CUTplorations
DCWV card base
Tsukineko Memento Potter’s Clay dye ink
Core’dinations orange cardstock
Tombow Xtreme adhesive runner
Simply Defined ‘Stay Put’ adhesive glue
Misc yellow and orange pens

I am playing along with the following hops and challenges. Be sure to click on them for more information on how you can play along and enter for prizes:

2018 Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Hop
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: B is for ? Beads
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Wrap it Up Beads wrapped in a pumpkin shaker

Thank you so much for stopping by and for your encouraging comments! I read and appreciate them all!! Happy hopping!

~D.Ann

p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Sparkling Mixed Media Coffee/Tea Calendar

Posted on December 13, 2017 by dannscraftingwhims

Hi, all!

It’s been a rough few weeks with a nasty relapse, but I’m back briefly to post this sparkling mixed media coffee/tea calendar that I made as a gift for a friend. (and for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and the December Stamplorations Mixed Media Challenge)

As you probably know, it’s also time for the winter Coffee Lovers Hop. Winter in Florida doesn’t mean snow, it just means different flowers and perhaps a few more hot beverages, but there are enough warm days for a nice cold frap, too! There is the RARE frost this far south, so I really frosted everything up on this.

That frosting goes well with MarkerPoP’s day 10 theme: Sparkle. I love the various sparkling products used, like the Stickles on the cups and feathers, the Extreme Peacock embossing powder on the feathers and the copper glitter paste on the stenciled background. The flowers have Flower Soft centers

That fab musicalbutterfly just sparkles and shines! You can’t hardly tell in the pics, but a layer of Glossy Accents over the fraps looks just like the plastic cups they come in.

Even the whipped topping on the fraps have some frosty sparkle in them!

Materials used:

Stamplorations stamps: Coffee & Dog Roses, Trendy Feathers, Trendy Feathes 2, Trendy Butterflies, Tea Cup Row, Always Time for Tea
Stamplorations ARTplorations stencil: Swirly Blooms
DoCrafts 2018 calendar tabs
KaiserCraft Bracket Album (just one ‘page’)
Plaid Apple Barrel Jet Black acrylic paint
Tsukineko Memento dye inks: Bamboo Leaves, Tuxedo Black
Core’dinations paper: white, lilac, gray
Tsukineko Versamark ink
Recollections gold detail embossing powder
Judikins Extreme Peacock Embossing Powder
Copic Markers:B24; G24, 99; R20; V04, 09, 15, 17; Y15, 17, 35; YG61, 63, 67
Sakura Gelly Roll pen – white 08
BoBunny glitter paste: Copper
Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents
Ranger Stickles: Lavender, Rose Gold, Seafoam, Star Dust, Turquoise
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Stickles: Dusty Concord
Ranger Ice Stickles: Silver Ice
Nuvo Crystal Drops: Copper Penny, Gloss Dandelion Yellow, Gloss White
Flower Soft: Daffodil (the flower centers)
Misc. Vellum
Recollections Floral Embellishments
Simply Defined ‘Stay Put’ liquid adhesive
Scotch adhesive dots – medium

I’m playing along with the following challenges and hops. Click on any of them for more information on how you can join the fun:

Stamplorations December Mixed Media Challenge

Stamplorations Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge

2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Hop

MarkerPoP Day 10 Challenge: Sparkle

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Gift It

CropStop December Challenge Linky Party #35 (Core’dinations, Flower Soft, Plaid, Ranger, Scotch, Tsukineko)

Repeat Impressions DCC126 – Glitter

I have a couple of additional projects that I already made for the Coffee Lovers Hop… If I can manage to get them posted, you’ll be hearing from me again real soon, so stay tuned!

I’m glad you stopped by today and, as always, I appreciate your comments!

~D.Ann

p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Winter Cup of Tea Card

Posted on December 15, 2016 by dannscraftingwhims

Welcome back on this perfect day for a nice cup of tea! Here’s the card I made:

Yeah, I know you can’t hardly see the card in this picture… that’s because I wanted to show off my cute little teapot again! Lol! : ) The sentiment says: There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea. So true!

I took a label from a tea I got from Tuesday Morning to put in the middle of that Ironworks die cut that looks a lot like a snowflake. I believe I will go get some more of that tea and use this as a gift card to go along with it as a soothing gift for one of my dear friends.

The inspiration for this came from Stamplorations CUTplorations challenge this month:

My takeaways were: the color blue (different shade), the snow (also in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge), and the gallon/quart/pint balance.

The inside is also decorated with a faint, second generation stamped teacup.

Supplies used:

Spellbinders dies: Card Creator 5×7 Reflective Moment, Card Creatior A2 Valiant Honor, Ironwork Motifs
Stamplorations Teacup Row and Always Tea Time stamps
Memento dye inks: Bahama Blue and Summer Sky
DCWV Bright Metallic cardstock pack & Glitzy Glitter cardstock stack
Core’dinations white cardstock
Misc. adhesives & tea jar label

I’m playing along with the following hops and challenges… click on any one of them for more information on how you can join the fun!

2016 Winter Coffee Lovers Hop

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – Let There Be Snow
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Gift It
Crop Stop December Challenge Linky Party #23 – Anything Goes (Spellbinders and Memento)
- Edited to add: Tickled pink to be the January winner at CropStop!

~D.Ann

p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Bookmark & MISTI

Posted on March 18, 2016 by dannscraftingwhims

Hello and welcome! Today is the first day of the Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

In last Winter’s hop there were over 600 projects linked up. This time there are over 50 Super Sponsors offering some terrific prizes, so come join the fun!

I’m starting out with a crazy bookmark:

You may remember THIS POST, where I did some watercolor painting with Glimmer Mists and made some mosaic tiles from eggshells…

When I was done, I took a manila tag and sopped up the leftover ink and had a pretty SPRING GREEN background waiting to be stamped and embellished. I then took my favorite tool – the MISTI (Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented) and went to work.

I love the MISTI because you can lay out your stamps and embellishments exactly where you want them, then close the lid and it picks up the stamp so you can ink it and put it right back down and stamp exactly where you wanted it.

Another reason I love the MISTI is when you don’t get a clean impression the first time ’round – you just re-stamp until you’re satisfied. I can’t tell you how many projects got this far before I had my MISTI and I’d try my best to align the stamp, but it would be off, giving me a double impression and making me have to start over. That was SO frustrating! But NO more!!

It’s also great for mass-producing cards and getting perfect images on every one. (If you don’t have one yet, you might want to check out SoSuzyStamps – she’s even giving away a Mini Misti on her blog! (She’s also one of our Super Sponsors, thanks!))

Here’s a close-up of this crazy cat and you can see a bit of the shimmer on the tag. So is the feather her super cape? Did she down ALL those cups of coffee and then try to catch the family bird? That feather between her toes IS rather suspicious! I love that adorable stack of cups from STAMPlorations- Another of our Super Sponsors – thanks! That much coffee would also explain why her eyes are bugging out. lol!

The coffee ‘beans’ were a thick application of Liquid Pearls. Before they were dry I just ran a fingernail down the center.

Materials used:

STAMPlorations COFFEE HAPPY stamp set
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Crazy Cats stamp set
Sizzix Framelits Tim Holtz Crazy Cats dies
Darice embossing stencil Cat (paw print)
MISTI stamping tool
Ranger Inkssentials Craft Tags – Manila #5 size
Neenah Astroparche cardstock
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists: Crushed Shells, Fairway, Forest Green, Gold, and Mustard Seed
Tim Holtz Idea-ology tissue tape – butterflies
Copic Markers: E13, 23, 33, 74, 79; R32; RV04; Y13; YG17
Pigma Micron pen 01 black
Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents
Ranger Liquid Pearls – dark chocolate
Art-C molding paste – black
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Gathered Twigs
Kuretake Zig Wink of Luna – Gold & Green
Kuretake Zig Wink of Stella – clear
Aleene’s Tacky Glue
Misc. feathers and ribbon

Goodness… the list is longer than the tag itself! Haha! Or, ask the Brazilians say: ‘kkk!’ Which is an onomatopoeia for a little snicker sound… try it! Kkk!!

Onomatopoeia – ˌä-nə-ˌmä-tə-ˈpē-ə – the formation of a word from the vocal imitation of the sound associated with it. Like buzz or hiss.

I’m playing along in the following hops and challenges, in case you’d like to join the fun, just click on the name for the link:

STAMPlorations March mixed-media challenge (paw print is stencilled)

Simon Says Stamp Wdenesday Challenge: Cute & Cuddly (even Crazy cats are cute & need cuddling!)
DL.Art March Linky Challenge (Another Super Sponsor of the hop – thanks!)
A Colorful Journey – Let’s Play!
CropStop Linky Party #14

I’m so glad you could stop by today. I hope to be able to get at lease one post a day during this hop if my health permits, so I hope to see you back real soon!

Have a wonderful day!!

-D.Ann

p.s. Any ads you may see are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

The Daily Grind – Most Days Require Lots of Caffeine Card

Posted on December 18, 2015 by dannscraftingwhims

Well, the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop has topped 600 entries already… before the day is done we’ll probably pass our all-time record.

Here is my final card for this hop. The daily grind of ups and downs. It can be for any of the three beverages: Coffee, Tea or Cocoa – you decide!

It’s definitely a short winter’s day on the timeline! Here’s the inside:

Before I finished, I decided it needed just a pinch of chalks to highlight the clouds and inside die cut.

Materials used:

Simon Says Stamp Rockin Roller Coaster die
STAMPlorations ARTplorations Clouds stencil
Coffee Mugs fonts from fonts.com
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress inks:
Sakura Pigma Micon pen 05
Pebbles, Inc. Pearlescent Chalks Jewel Tones
Core’dinations white cardstock
Spellbinders Divine Eloquence die
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L adhesive sheet & EZ Runner
Misc.silver glitter cardstock

I am participating in the following hops and challenges:

Coffee Lovers 2015 Winter Blog Hop: http://wp.me/p5K3PQ-4w
Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: Just a Pinch (of chalk) http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=3303
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Die Crazy http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-die-crazy-3/
Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #34 All about dies http://www.flickr.com/groups/simonsaysstamp/discuss/72157661698145770/

I hope you enjoyed this week’s projects! Now I’m off to clean up the craftermath!! I hope to see you again soon.

-D.Ann

p.s. Any ads you may see are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart! Zenspirations Mixed Media Coloring Page

Posted on August 2, 2015 by dannscraftingwhims

Today I have something that I did just for fun. Joanne Fink had a couple of free downloads of coloring pages from her Zenspirations coloring books and is offering a prize for coloring them. You can find the details HERE. Coincidentally, today is National Coloring Book day… who knew?! Adult coloring books are very popular right now. They provide a relaxing outlet for creativity and are often recommended by health professionals.

The pages are springboards to jump start your imagination and for you to doodle, Zentangle, and color. Here is the one I chose.

And here is what I did with it: (You can click on any of the pictures to make them larger.)

The hearts and strings reminded me of the song, so I made that the title and then went to town doodling and coloring. It is VERY relaxing! I couldn’t resist adding some multi-media bling to it. There’s some iridescent Creative Medium used with stencils, lots of glitter, sequins, perfect pearls and more…

It’s not perfect and there are several oopsies – my hands aren’t as steady as they once were. One big problem I HAD to fix meant cutting out the main two hearts from the first page I’d started… I was using markers and the cardstock fibers were gumming up. I had so much work in on the hearts I decided to save them… mistakes are opportunities and I like the popped up look of the hearts on the finished project. I love how the Creative medium – on the hearts and under the butterfly – shines against a black background as you turn it in the light! Didja see the piano keys? They were inspired by another artist’s submission. (Kathryn Leonard – Thanks!) And, OF COURSE, there are kitty pawprints and a butterfly, too! >^.^<

Supplies used:

Page from Joanne Fink’s Zenspirations® Abstract & Geometric Designs (HERE)
STAMPlorations ARTplorations Hearts All Over stencil
Spellbinders: die – Les Papillions 2, Impressabilities – Floral & Stone
Prismacolor colored pencils
Derwent Metallic colored pencils
Sakura Pigma Micron pens .005 Red & black, .01 and 1 Black
Sanford Uniball Impact Gold gel pen
Gelly Roll pen – white
Imagine Crafts Iridescent Creative Medium: Chartreuse & Pink
Ranger Inkssentials black embossing pen
Recollections Ebony Detail Embossing powder
Martha Stewart Crafts Essential Glitter: Garnet, Tourmaline, Kunzite
Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents
Ranger Stickles – Aqua, Fruit Punch; Distress Stickles – Concord Grape;Ice Sticles – Crystal Ice
Ranger Liquid Pearls – Dark Chocolate, Lavender; Adirondack Dimensional Pearls – Eggplant
Recollections gemstone stickers and faux pearls
K & Company nature gems
Nicole Spangles flower sequins
Art Minds flower cap sequins
Misc. adhesives, glue, sequins