There were so many techniques taught at the online card class I am way behind.  Oh heck, I am always way behind in making my cards.   LOL

The first technique I learned was Ink Blending.   Here are my creations!!!

Supplies:

Papertrey Ink Chinatown Cover Plate
Papertrey Ink Keep It Simple Thinking of You Stamp Set
My Favorite Things Black Licorice Cardstock
Versafine Black Tuxedo Ink
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder

When I made this card background, I knew I would use these Tim Holtz Cityscape Stamps.   I like the sun peeking up from behind the city.   I did want to make the sentiment in black, but darn it, I accidently used versamark instead of black ink and I did not have black embossing powder.  Shame on me.

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Cityscapes Stamps
My FAvorite Things Black Licorice Card Stock
Versafine Tuxedo Black Ink Pad
Versamark Ink Pad
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
Ranger Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder
Papertrey Ink Lighten Up Sentiments

This bear stamp set by Mama Elephant is just soooooo cute.

Supplies:

Mama Elephant Bear Hugs Stamp Set
My Favorite Things Lush Lagoon Card Stock
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad
Copics:  RV11, E35, E43, E47

The kittens are really cute…  Dang Mama Elephant sure can make cute critters

Supplies:

Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist Card Stock
Mama Elephant Purrfect Pair Stamp
Versafine Black Ink Pad
Copics: W1, W3, W5, YR18 YR12, R83, BG000

Thanks for checking out my Creations!!!!

Day 20 – The Highest Love Is Grace

“Love is such a deep gratitude. When you are truly in love with life, every breath you take is gratitude.” ― Bryant McGill

Today’s meditation shows us how to harness the power of gratitude to guide our spiritual transformation. We are used to relying on our ego mind to make major life choices, but the vision and guidance of our separate self is always constrained by our past and our limited understanding that sees the world in terms of differences. The guiding grace of our higher self is not restricted by the past or our limited knowledge. Grace sees the differences in the world as integrated parts of one wholeness.

We feel this grace personally as a kind of divine love. This loving state of grace connects us, fulfills us, delights us, transforms us, and awakens us to that elevated state of divine consciousness.

My Notes:

The highest love is Grace.   The purest energy is Love.  Starts with gratitude and falls into grace.  You are loved, you are essential to the overall plan.   You have the most enduring love.  If you can connect with that love, you can dip into that well and have an abundance of love.  We love life, and life loves us back.

AS the path unfolds you have to make decisions.  When you are guided by ego, it is all about thinking, feeling and doing.  You try to make good instead of bad choices.  Transformation choices are relying to gratitude.  It does not use the tools that the ego uses.   Grace comes to us in human ways.   When love flows from our true self to the true self of another it is true love.  It is the most complete love you will feel.  This is the key to transformation.  This kind of love is more than emotion it is the state of awareness.  True and eternal.  This is love.   You are loved for simply being.

I allow love to come to my aid!!!!

Day 19 – The Path to Total Transformation

“It is only through thanksgiving that I can become myself.” ― Kallistos Ware

In today’s meditation, we provide the necessary tools of transformation on the path to grace. As we navigate the ups and downs of daily life, with the mix of positive and negative situations at work and home, we need two tools to help us turn our practice of gratitude into a real state of grace: knowledge and experience. Knowledge provides the understanding and vision of how grace manifests, and direct experience gives us the personal validation that makes it real in our lives.

Using the tools knowledge and experience with our practice of gratitude ensures that our path to grace is real and practical. These tools allow us to transmute all of our life experiences, positive or negative, into a genuine life of grace.

My Notes

Any experience can be changed for the good.  The path to transformation leads to a wonderful promise.  But this takes inner growth and this takes time.  It is easy to be grateful when all is well, but not all days are like that. To get thru trying moments we need to be prepared.  WE need to have knowledge and experience; knowledge gives you the bigger picture; Experience lets you know that it is true.  In life there are light and dark aspects in all things.  Everything has both and you need to stop struggling against the darkness and accept it in its whole.  Only then can you appreciate the experience.   My Inner Light is guiding me!!!!

Day 18 – The Rewards of the Higher Self

“You will never accept gratitude as a solution to your problems, until you have reached acceptance.” ― Shannon L. Alder

In today’s meditation, we explore the benefits of living from your higher self. Living from your higher self means your sense of identity is rooted in your inner awareness rather than your separate self, or ego, which is oriented toward objects of perception.

The higher self is who we are. It is our self-awareness and so it is always with us. The reward of the higher self is a life liberated from the demands, fears, and limitations of the separate self or ego mind. Practicing gratitude and appreciation helps to keep awareness aligned to the higher self because we remain focused on the unifying and uplifting qualities of consciousness, instead of allowing attention to get trapped in differences.

My Notes:

Use gratitude as a portal to our higher self.  The higher self and the true self are the same.  Some call it the soul.  How are we to contact the higher self and take advantage of its power?   The ego and the higher self are connected.  Depending on what you thoughts are…  I me, mine, are thoughts of ego.  The higher self looks for love, grace, truth.   The connection is blocked by lack of knowledge.   Everyone journey goes from doubt to certainly.  Each step guided by what you know and what you have experienced.  You are building a life story.  My higher self is with me all the time.

Resist

Jennifer showed us three technique from the tried and true resist ink stamping technique.

1. Embossed resist with ombre ink blending.
2. Embossed resist over patterned paper.
3. Traditional resist over background stamping.

My first card is the embossed resist with ombre ink blending.  It is hard to see the real beauty of this card and the embossed pattern.   I used my iphone to take photos versus my camera.  It never takes a great picture. at least not like my SLR camera.

Supplies:

Neenah Solar White Card Stock
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad Mermaid Lagoon
Hero Arts Basic Grey Fresh Cuts Tiny Triangles Stamp
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
Versamark Ink Pad

My next card is the resist technique over patterned paper.   I thought this came out interesting.  I had recently bought a new jar of clear embossing powder but it appears it did not really seal everything up and the black ink was tinting the embossed area or got underneath and changed the color.  I took a picture next to the newspaper print so you can see the original print.  In the light it looks silver which still makes a pretty look to the card.  It looks like velvet. whcih looks all Victorian!  Love it.

Supplies:

Authentic Classic Beauty Newspaper Print Paper
Hero Arts Black Ink Pad
Penny Black Blissful Background Stamp
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
Versamark Ink Pad

The final card is the traditional resist card technique.   I really liked this one.  I struggled and struggled to find a matching pair of stamps and I thought, camping and wood grain, why not?   I really like it!  I have big ideas for this background.   LOL,  well at least I will try!!!

Supplies:

Glossy Paper by Ranger
Simon Says Stamp Ink Pad:  Fern and Cobblestone
My Favorite Things In the Wilderness Background Stamp
My Favorite Things Woodgrain Background Stamp

Thank you for looking at my creative endeavors!!!

Dye & Pigment Ink Stamping

There were three new techniques that Kristina taught us!  I actually only did the first two.

1. Pigment ink + dye ink offset stamping.
2. Dye ink + pigment ink random stamping.
3. Dye ink + dye ink ombré repeated stamping.

The first card is the offset stamping technique.  I liked the way this card looks.  I probably should have used the whip cream ink pad instead of the butter cream.  It looked too close to the card stock to really stand out.

Supplies:

Bazzill Butter Mint Card Stock
My Favorite Things Argyle Backdrops Stamp
Stamper Journey Butter Cream Ink Pad
Simon Says Stamp Ink Pads: Coral Reef, Hot Mama, Willow, Sunshine

The next card is the dye ink and pigment ink random stamping techniques.

Supplies:

Bazzill Butter Mint Cardstock
My Favorite Things Bokeh Builder STamp Set
Stampers Journey Whip Cream Ink Pad
Hero Arts Gold Ink Pad
Simon Says Stamp Ink Pad Coral Reef, Spring Ring, Scuba, Audrey Blue

Thanks for looking!!!!

Plaid Stamping

Laura Bassen is teaching this technique.  I LOVE her plaid patterns.   But I do agree with her that there needs to be a wider stamp for making plaids.   I just need the wider stamps at the moment.  It was hard to create the overall look at an angle.

1. Cover and layer inks for a complete plaid pattern.
2. Ink blending over plaid stamping.
3. Using masking and ink blending in plaid patterns, including dye and pigment ink.

Up first is the cover and layer inks for a complete plaid pattern.  LOL, only after finished I realized I forgot one color in the order of ink.  yikes.  At least I did not even notice until a day later so it cannot be that bad.

Supplies:

Neenah Solar White Cardstock
Avery Elle Ink Pads (sorry forgot to write it down)

Next is the ink blending over plaid stamping

It ended up being a little distressed because of the short stamps.  Dang I need those longer stamps from Papertrey Ink.  LOL

Supplies:

Neenah Solar White Card Stock
Simon Says Stamp Ink Pads: Cobblestone, Fog
My Favorite Things Plaid Background Builder
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads: Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac, Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick

Finally the last plaid technique is using masking and ink blending in plaid patterns.  Ok, no masking done here, but I get how to do it.

Supplies:

My Favorite Things Plaid Background Builder
Mama Elephant Basic Border Stamp Set
Papertrey Ink Pads: True Black, Orange Zest, Tropical Teal, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise

Thanks for much for looking at my creations.

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