Water & Ink

Kristina is showing us these techniques.  I did not do the last two, but I think you get the idea.

1. Paper-to-surface ink smooshing background.
2. Acetate ink smooshing background.
3. Variation on acetate ink smooshing background.
4. Watercolor background.

First up is the Paper-to-surface ink smooshing background.  I think next time I will do the smooth side of the watercolor paper.

Supplies:

Ranger Watercolor Paper
Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Salty Ocean

The next card is technique #2 which is using a piece of acetate to smoosh the paint on the paper.  I can clearly see the difference on using this technique.  This feels more like watercolor.  I can see doing this technique to create a nebula look from the sky!!!!

Supplies:

Ranger Water Color Paper
Tim Holtz Distress Ink:  Seedless Preserves, Abandoned Coral, Ripe Persimmon, Wild Honey

Thanks for checking my blog out!!!!

Ink Reactions

The wonderful Jennifer McGuire taught us the next three techniques about Ink Reactions

1. Distress inked background and stamping with water on top.
2. Distress inked background and using a baby wipe over a stencil on top.
3. Dye inked background and stamping with Versamark on top.

The first up was the distress ink Background with stamping with perfect pearls instead of water!

Supplies:

Neenah Solar White Card Stock
My Favorite Things Garden Flourish Background Stamp
Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Forest Moss, Mowed Lawn, Crushed Olive, Cracked Pistachio, Shabby Shutters
Perfect Pearls – Pearl White

The next card was using distress inks with a baby white over a stencil and then embossing.   Yikes, that is a mouth full.  I wanted a sort of Moroccan style look, with warm colors and circular style.  The print did not really pop until embossed the card with the stencil.  I have never done that before and I like the look.

Supplies:

Neenah White Solar White Card Stock
Distress Inks:  Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick
Tim Holtz Stencil: #19 Latticework

The next card is using dye ink and using versamark ink.  I really like this one.  Came out cute and I have idea for the final card!!!  Love the ocean look!!!!

Supplies:

Neenah White Card Stock
Simon Says Stamp Ink Pad:  Fern, blue Jay, High Dive
Versamark Ink
Hero Arts/Basic Grey Fish Background

Thank for looking at my creations!!!!

Here I am again, doing another Online Card Class.  If you have never taken one, I suggest you go out there and get a class or two.

This class is a good one.   Making great backgrounds for cards.  Full of lots of techniques.   I learned a lot.  Since my blog was down for a bit, I am now just rushing to get the posts in.

The first part of day one was taught by Laura Bassen

Ink Blending

1. Basic ink blending of dye inks.

2. Masking with ink blending of pigment inks.

3. Ink blending from the center of a background.

First up is the Basic Ink Blending of Dye Inks.

Supplies:

Neenah Solar White Card Stock
Simon Says Stamp Ink Pads:  Duckling, Scuba, Island Blue, Jellybean

Next up is the Masking with Ink Blending of pigment inks

Supplies:

Neenah Solar White Card Stock
Mama Elephant Ink Pads:  Buttercup, Tutti Fruitti, Piggy Bank, Apricot, Fresh Mint, Pacific Blue, Stargazer

And finally is the ink blending from the center of the background.   I did find that this left some marks from the sponge.  I think it is because the inks need to be reinked.     I actually did two of these hoping that I could control it more.  You can see the marks from the sponge.  But I will try reinking the pads and try again later.

Supplies:

Neenah Solar White Card Stock
Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Fossilized Amber, Cracked Pistachio, Abandoned Coral, Mermaid Lagoon

Stay tuned to see the cards made from these backgrounds.

Thanks for looking

So I have a few Tim Holtz Sizzix Framelits and I decided to use them for some cards I needed to make.  I like using them especially the ones with multiple layers.

I have the Big Top and the Compass sets.

On both of these cards I used distress inks to color the backgrounds.  I love distress inks.   Everything looks so colorful!

I love the nautical look and was so excited to get this kit in the mail.   Since I had to make cards quickly for my consignment shop, I grabbed this kit.  After looking at everyone’s inspiration, started cutting paper and designing.

I wanted the lifesaver to have some pop so I used Glossy Accents to make it more visible. This card screams nautical to me!!

I wanted the look of the ship sailing away in the stars. Reminds me of Peter Pan.

I love the coral paper in the background. A simple design so the beautiful paper is not lost in stuff.

My annual swim pool party was quickly approaching and I decided to make two quilts to toss on the chairs in case it got cold.   This year we are having a movie outdoors and I was thinking it might get a bit chilly.

My back yard has shades of blue and some green.

But the wonderful Target got smart and decided to sell some sassy Orange/Coral chairs and accents.   So I added them to the mix and now this fabric from Moda is perfect.

I decided to do a chevron quilt and divide the fabrics in half, making one blue tones and the other one orange.   I did fine on the blue side, but the orange became orange/teal/some blue fabrics.   But it did work out

Here is the layout for the blue quilt.  I wish I had a larger table.

Here is the orange one completed.  as you can see, there is some blue pieces in it.   oh well.

The completed quilts.  I decided to do the quilting in a wavy ocean sort of pattern.  I took an awesome class from Craftsy.com that was quilting by using your walking foot.   It was super easy and I loved how it came out.

Here it is on the chair.   I redid the chair pads with this awesome blue print from joann.com (HGTV print) and the pillow came from Target.   Love how it all ties in together.

Just so you know, here is the ugly fabric on my chair before I redid the cushions.

Short of prepping for the party, the quilts were done and now off to decorate!!!

Yikes, was I ever so behind on my quilting.  I had my annual Summer Pool Splash Party and I got so behind.  I sewed two quilts to use on the patio and that took all my time, plus decorating, making pillows, getting a movie screen, etc.   Good time had by all, but heck I am so behind.   So here is a crash update on my Vintage Farm Girl Quilt Squares!!!!

Baking Day Block

 

 

Butter Churn Block

 

 

Canning Season Block

 

Chicken Foot Block

 

 

Churn Dash Block

 

 

Cool Threads Block

Here is the next one!!!!

Corn and Tomatoes Block

I really liked this block, easy and cute!

#CornAndTomatoesBlock
#FarmGirlVintage
#FarmGirlFridays

Continuing onto this block

Country Crossroads Block

Not so sure about the pale pink color, but once the quilt is put together it will be fine.

#ScrappyCrossroadsBlock
#FarmGirlVintage
#FarmGirlFridays

This one was a sewing disaster

Crops Bloc+

 

Egg Basket Block

 

Farm Fresh Flower Block

Farmhouse Block

 

Feed and Seed Block

Fresh Pears Block

Furrows Block

 

 

Gingham Block

Was trying to use the new Papertrey Ink Beer stamp stamp and die set.   This darn card took me all day.  LOL, I guess everything does not go smoothly.

I decided to try to make some condensation on the card, just like the Make it Monday cards.   Please note that this is a shaker card with little micro beads in the glass to be the illusion of bubbles.  Sigh!  I could explain everything that went wrong doing this card, but instead I think I will just enjoy the cuteness of the card.

Enjoy!

Thanks for looking!

I love Lori Holt, her fabric, her designs.   Nothing is more wonderful that quilts, sewing, farm girls, fresh veggies from the garden and all things wholesome and good.

My family comes from a long line of farmers.  Hard working farmers who survived from digging in the ground and planting seeds.

My Great Grandfather Charles Ray in 1930 on his farm.  This was probably Missouri but I do not know for sure

Lyle Ray, my Great Uncle (son of Charles Ray) in 1931

Delbert and Martha (Blackwelder) Whitten, My Great Great Grandparents!  Probably in Wichita Kansas.

In fact my farming roots go way back to the early history of America.   However something went amiss in my genetic code, I cannot grow a thing to save my life.  My Grandmother could take a stick and put it in dirt and grow a plant.  I kill cactus.   Just a fact.   To make up for it, I love the concept of farming.   So I guess I will quilt, sew, make jam, cook and be a wanna be!

So back to the sew along.

I checked out Lori’s Blog and was thrilled to see a new sew a long was happening as well as a new book.   AWESOME!!!  Perfect timing

Her awesome book…look at all that quilting yumminess!!!

Luckily I was able to get her fabric bundle.

I  got her fabric bundle, plus I decided to pull a variety of charm packs of 1930’ish type fabric.

Of course I keep finding little charm packs here and there in my stash, so more will be added.   The wonderful thing with a charm pack is the size is perfect for these smaller blocks

But on to the quilting.

The first one is APRONSTRINGS

My 2nd one is AUTUMN STAR

My third square is BABY CHICK

Off to make the new quilt squares!!!!

So spring is in the air, and my head turns towards gardens, outdoors and pretty things placed in my backyard!!!

I had seen on pinterest, many watering cans with jewels coming out of the spout and I wanted to make my own!   I must have been thinking about this for 8 months.  Today I sat down to do it and it only took me less than hour and it was super easy.    8 months planning.  1 hour to make.   LOL, isnt that always the way it happens.

To start with I searched for a watering can.   My neighborhood is Southern California is definitely not a rustic antique, flea market kind of town.  Goodwill charges a fortune for basic junk, and finding any gems is basically impossible.  So I resort to Amazon!   Amazon will find me a watering can.   I first searched for a rustic galvanized watering can but then decided to go with a enamel coated watering can is an assortment of colors.   The trick of this purchase is you could not guarantee which color you would get.   Lucky for me I got the color I wanted, a nice cool aqua.

To find your can, check out Amazon here.

There are 5 delicious candy colors available, but it is random so keep an open mind.  Of course if you live in a wonderful place with fun junk or awesome flea markets go for it!

Make sure you get a watering can that the spout head comes off either by screwing it off, or prying it off with tools.  Just make sure you can get it back on.

GATHER SUPPLIES

I found crystals and acrylic crystals at a variety of places, JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels, Amazon and Hobby Lobby.  I think they even have beads at Wal-Mart.   I just grabbed beads that were clear or blue (so it looked like water).  I had wanted to have some drop crystals for the end so I actually used some crystals that I had from QVC (Valerie Parr Hill).

I also got some 30 gauge wire.   Definitely can buy that at the places I mentioned above.

I doubled my wire and either did a small bead at the end of the jewell to keep my jewels from falling off

or if the jewels were chained, I just ran the wire thru the top and added more crystals.

I then just created different strands with a variety of jewels.  Some were all clear, some mixed with blue.  What ever tickled my fancy.

I really used no tools except my fingers.  I just placed each bead on the wire and then added another until I was satisfied with the look and length of the strand.

Taking one strand, I inserted into the sprout hole and pushed it thru until it went out the back opening.

I did this with each strand mainly focusing on the inter circle of dots on the spout.  However you can choose to use all the holes or focus on the outside holes with the one middle hole.  Really it is up to you.

I decided to stop at 6 strands because some of my beads were very bulky.  If you are doing many small beads you may want to do more

Once I had all the strands into the spout.   I decided to twist the stands together and tie it into a knot.  Then I twisted some more to tighten up the strands to the base of the spout and then I bent it onto itself to keep it from coming apart.  At this point I forced it back into the spout opening.

Now I twisted the spout head back onto the can

And now I am finished.   Oh my goodness it was so fast and easy.  Have no idea why I dragged my feet so long to make this project.

I had gotten a shepherd hook from JoAnn Fabric for 50% off to hang my can off of.  The weight of the jewels automatically tilted the can so it looked like it was watering.  Cool.

Here I am watering my rock….LOL, only kidding.

This is where my flower plate garden is going.  So far I only have one flower plate, but have the supplies to make several more.

In this pic you can see my lone flower plate.  No I did not make this one.  I bought it off Etsy.   You can also see my solar cattails that glow at night.

As soon as I get my flower plates done, I will share with you the process!

Thanks for looking!!!