....a poem as lovely as a tree (pt 2)

Friday I mentioned I had another card to post and show how it was made. It is a tree and I used the tree stamp from Great Impressions but in a different way. Most of the items I used will probably be in your stash. The tool called Inscriblio you may not have. It engraves and for the life of me I can't remember why I originally bought it. But I just had to have it. And then it sat unused for years. Then along came Spellbinder dies and I decided to engrave the set number on the back of the dies. I decided doing that would keep the correct die with its right family. 

Not too long ago, I saw a technique that called for acrylic sheets and an engraver and I immediately thought of the Inscriblio. So I brought it out and tried the technique out and I fell in love with the look. So I thought you might like it as well. This group of pic's just shows how to get the image onto the acrylic sheet. So here is the finished card:

Here are the products/tools I used:

Stamp - Great Impressions, adirondack acrylic paint - lettuce, Adirondack paint dabber -  pitch black, acrylic sheet - 10 mil, Inscriblio - EK Success.

First position the acrylic sheet over the stamp image and engrave the acrylic using the image as your guide. When complete your image should look like the index of the stamp.(Sorry for the glare on the etched image)

 

Next, apply the pitch black onto the etched image, and then rub off with a paper towel. Don't wait to long, you want the black paint to still be wet as you are wiping it off. After you have wiped off the paint, you will be left with an etched image of the tree with black paint in it. Looks great doesn't it!! Just like the stamp.

      

Next  turn the acrylic sheet over, you will be applying the lettuce colored acrylic paint on the non etched side of the acrylic sheet. I used a swirl motion to apply the acrylic paint and the thin tipped nozzle makes it easy to achieve the swirly look. Cover the whole tree area where the leaves would normally be.

   

Now set it aside to dry completely, about 30 minutes.

After it is dry you will want to trim your acrylic sheet down to the size needed for your project.

When I finished and prepared the sheet for my card,I actually used the side that shows the etched side up.This lets the tree trunk and branches show more, but the other side is nice as well. You be the judge.

This is the completed image with the etched side down.

This is the other side. The etched side up, I preferred this side but you may like the other side up better.

This is how I made the tree using an etching tool and some paints on acrylic sheets. Easy and fun to do.
 
 Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Barbara
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

.... a poem lovely as a tree

I love trees. I really don't know why, but I do. I like real trees, stamped trees, and of course leaves.

Recently a friend who works for American Greetings was changing out the cards in a store and she came across some cards that would have been destroyed so she saved a few card fronts. The card front that she gave me made me think of a couple of stamps I own and thought I could make a similar card. It's amazing what one image can spark in someone.

This is the store bought card front.

I pulled out 3 stamps, one from Great Impressions one from Hero Arts and one from I have no idea where the stamp is from. After I stamped the card using the three stamps, here is what my card looked like.

Kind of similar, don't you think?

The tree trunk (Great Impressions) was stamped in Black India Ink and I then used the small peg-like (unknown stamp company) stamp to make the foliage. The long inked image under the tree is a stamp from Hero Arts.

I have another tree card that I made tonight and I will post it tomorrow on the blog. I think you will find how this was done quite unique. Just a little info for tomorrows card post, I used the tree trunk stamp(Great Impressions) from this post in tomorrows card.

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Barbara

Flower Cards make me long for springtime

I just looked at the weather for the latest update in the greater Cincinnati area and we are getting more snow. I can't wait. (Just kidding:) ) This has been the snowiest winter in a long time. However as a kid in grade school and early high school I remember winters like this one. We used to go ice skating on the local ponds at night and to keep warm we built bonfires. I loved to skate and and go sledding and loved the winters.

Since I have gotten older I really don't enjoy the cold anymore. I will be so happy to see spring come along, unfortunately it just isn't getting here fast enough. So I thought I'd make a few cards with flowers to see if that might entice spring to get here sooner.

Maybe we need a spring dance, you know, like a rain dance. Now, if only I can find someone to teach me that dance.

In the meantime, here are the cards I made today. Hope these help you thru the winter blahs.

The flower on the first card is one I made using newspaper and spraying the newspaper using glimmer mist. I cut the paper into 4" circles and made flowers. These are so pretty and easy to make. I also used one of my Spellbinder Pendent dies to add more interest to the card. Next I used my Scor-Pal to score the card and wella, the card is done.

The second card is similar to the first card using the scoring technique. But the flower is another Spellbinder die. I really love their dies and use them on a lot of my card projects.

  

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Stay warm

Barbara  

  

Happy 50th to Robin.

Saturday Jan. 30 a birthday party for my friend Robin, was hosted by her mother and sister-in-law Nancy. It was attended by a lot of her friends, some of which, I hadn't seen in a long time. It was great to get together and remember times gone by.

I remember I met Robin 23 years ago, at a birthday party for a group of her friends, whose birthdays were either at the end of January or coming up in February.(Most of those friends were at this party too.) Since my birthday is also in February, her friends included me in their celebration and that began our friendship. A lot has happened in the 23 years since we became friends.

Since I needed to make something special for this momentous occasion, I decided to make a pocket card. These have been around for a long time but I had a design in mind and thought it would be really nice to open a box and see this elaborate card. So here is the design I came up with for the 50th birthday party:

The flowers in the pocket card are all handmade, and, with the exception of the one in the front (the $50.00 fan), they are made from lowly newspaper.Its amazing what a little Glimmer Mist and a few circle cut newspapers can turn into. The flowers turned out really beautiful. Robin was "over the moon" with this card. Hope you like it as much as she did.

Oh, here are a few pics of the party, make sure you check out the one of the cake:

These are just a few pic's that I took that night. Nancy's home was packed with friends that came to celebrate Robin's 50th. It was a blast!!!

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon

Barbara