Little Bits: : Journey Blooms and an Update

Well hello!!

I still have not been able to finish that video. The darn computer is still in the hospital, ICU I do believe. The latest verdict is a failing hard drive, fuses keep popping and now can't even muster enough energy to turn on. We decided that this demise is untimely, so there will be a resuscitation effort, thus we are awaiting a new circuit board from Apple, then off to surgery for the overhall. , After a good dusting and cleaning (D & C), new hard drive and circuit board, I will, hopefully, be up and going, ready to send the rest of the video to You Tube. Sorry for the medical humor, I just couldn't resist!!!

In the meantime, I have playing with the May Kit of the Month from Fun stampers Journey. I am trying to be more responsible and make each kit in the same month I receive it. I am hoping that I will not find a "stash of kits" when I next de-stash my craft room, or at least I hope not. To be sure I won't be de-stashing this kit, LOL. Bet you all know what I mean. So here is May Kit of the month. There is a total of 7 cards all using the same stamp set. I won't bother you with most of the details, but there are some interesting techniques I tried.

gold leaf and watercolors.

First card was a new technique I wanted to try. I had purchased a kit from Indigo Blu for gold leafing. So with kit in hand plus stamp, I gold leafed the image onto water color paper, Canson 140# cold press. Then I used Aqua Noir water color markers, scribbled onto an acrylic block to color the flowers. Seemed a bit dull. Not what I was hoping for. The flower receded into the background and the gold leafing did nothing to define the image. Maybe a background wash? So, I wet the paper and began to drop color onto the paper. Still not right, so I changed to a regular water color set, but still not enough "pop". I needed something vibrant and intense, but what? Then I remembered having purchased some Brusho crystals right before our move to Texas. But where were they? I scrounged around till I located them and sprinkled them onto the wet paper. I started spritzing with water to get them moving. Better, but I needed to enhance the shadow. So I added a little water to the Prussian Blue crystals and made a dark ink like paint to create and define the shadows. Finally it looked like I had imagined. Now to get it onto a card. I decided that a gold leaf layer would compliment the stamped image, I applied a line of liner tape to the edge of a scrap card stock and applied the gold leafing to the adhesive, burnishing it in well, then layers the two papers onto huckleberry fusion card stock. All that was needed to finish was a sentiment that I had heat embossed with Ranger Platinum embossing powder and a little bit of silver thread. Voila!! Almost a one layer card!!! Love how the Brusho crystals make it look like marbling. I might try adding a gold vein in next time.....

The next 2 cards are very similar, layering and colors are basically the only difference. Both were created with the Indigo Blu glue and gold leafing. But the image was applied onto Neenah Solar White Cardstock and colored with Copic Markers. The blue one was intended as a graduation card. So using a stitched die, kept moving and positioning, to create the "edge of a mortar board", Does not exactly look recognizable but it worked. Ruined my die in the process. Lesson: make sure your die isn't sticking out of the edges as you crank!!! OOPS, Bent, Oh well didn't use that end anyway.

The sentiment was embossed with a clear powder over VersaFine Black Onyx ink. Gold thread to simulate the end of tassels, a Starbucks Gift Card, Finished!!!

The yellow one was completed at the same time and added to my stash. Used yellow family of copics and shaded with the cool greys. Both of these cards were layered over gold Bazzil card stock.

The next 4 cards are my interpretation of the kits. I used the papers provided and the papers from the kit. the only exception was the purple and blue card. I had ruined the first stamping, so decided to watercolor the flowers. I did heat emboss all of the sentiments with Ranger Plantimum fine embossing powder, but otherwise they are almost identical to the Kit pictures. Not Bad!!!!