A Touch of Grace

Better late than never applies for this post.  I had intended to have this design posted last Friday, but as I worked, it grew and grew.  What started out to be a card for the Friday Stamp Simply heat it up (embossing) challenge developed into a wall hanging.  Okay, now for those of you who are familiar with the Stamp Simply challenges, you may be asking, “what’s simple about that?”  Well, I want to clarify that the stamping and embossing are “simple”, it’s the painting that’s a little more challenging . . . LOL!  And, this IS relaxing for me AND I do enjoy it so much.  And, if one were crafty, one could also use this post in ssnotime78, keeping it white, the front and back panels are white, with a few gold dots .  .  . ahem  .  .  . does that count?

In the photograph above the panels appear to get larger toward the bottom.  They’re not, it’s the angle of the shot, a perfect perspective illustration.  The wall hanging measures 22 inches in length and was very difficult to get in a good shot.  I have taken several close up photographs of each panel and am posting them for those of you who are interested in a closer view.

My husband’s already found a perfect place for the hanging, it will be placed on a wall in our guest bathroom.  Our guest bathroom is decorated in the true southern fashion of palms and southern plants, making it the ideal place for the design.  I’ll edit and include a photograph once I get it hung on the wall.

This is the top panel, the verse is so beautiful, Trust in the Lord . . . Amen!  I apologize for the darkness of this picture.  When I tried to lighten it up, I blew out the color.  I placed the panels on a stand for these shots.  Doesn’t the magnolia look so beautiful!  I can just smell it’s sweet fragrance.  I especially love this piece, I was thrilled with the dimension I was able to achieve in painting the magnolias, they appear so lifelike.

This is the middle panel, Delight yourself in the Lord . . . Absolutely!  We have ferns in our backyard so I just had to include some ferns.  Okay, I’m seriously in love with this panel, the magnolia looks fresh picked from the tree in my front yard.  There’s so much dimension in this flower.  It looks like I placed the flower on dimensionals and placed it on top of the leaves, but I didn’t. The petals themselves look like they are on dimensionals.  Not so, the only parts I did pop up were the four tiny petals in the center of the bloom and the stamen, the rest was painted. The darker values in the petals give the flower a three dimensional realistic appearance.

The last panel, I can do all things . . .  can I get a big AMEN!  These verses are tied together in this piece.  I Trust and I am Delighted and Strengthened in my Trust.  Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing, power and majesty, praise to the King!  When the world seems like it’s spinning out of control, I can turn to Him and know He’s in command and everything will be okay.

I took additional photographs of the panels laying flat against white taffeta.

I posted these last three photographs so that you can see a close up of the buttery soft yellow silk ribbon connecting the panels together. I made a half inch gap between each panel.

The top panel has a loop to hang the panel on a wall or doorknob.  I wasn’t sure when I was making it whether I was going to hang it on a wall or doorknob.  My husband made the choice when he saw it for the first time last evening.  I think he’s become my biggest fan.  The silk ribbons hang three inches from the bottom.  I’m not sure if the ribbon is silk, it may be nylon, it looks and feels like silk, casting a beautiful sheen.

• Stamps:  Me & Carrie Lou, Verve (Bible Verses)
• Paper:  Canson cold pressed 140 lbs. water color paper, Gold Shimmer paper from Papertrey, Ink, DP from The Paper Company (JoAnn’s)
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Blender Pen, Tombow Markers, water color brush,  Ranger Gold/Gold Tinsel EP, heating tool, Dazzling Diamonds, Kaiser pearls, Nesties, craft knife, self-healing mat, ruler, Krylon gold pen, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Therm O Web dimensionals, Martha Stewart ribbon, Zip Dry adhesive

Hi everyone, today is day three for the purse series I’m featuring this week.  Today’s purse is a chintz purse that I designed using the chintz background stamp.  I’m including in this post a picture of the stamps used to create the purse so that you can see the size of the stamps as well as providing the stamp numbers below in blue.

The chintz purse was designed using the chintz background stamp.  After stamping the purse frame, I stamped the chintz background stamp and embossed it.  I stamped it again on a separate piece of water color paper. I painted the purse and the stamped image.  I let the image dry overnight and then cut out the flowers and leaves using a craft knife.  Several layers of Crystal Effects were applied, drying thoroughly between each application.  I attached the enameled flowers to the purse using dimensionals.  To make the leaf clasps, I stamped the Daisy stamp that I featured yesterday several times and cut out the same leaf four times, I painted them and let them dry overnight.  I applied several layers of Crystal effect to the leaves, letting it dry thoroughly between coats.  In real life the leaves look like emeralds, the entire purse has an enameled jewel tone effect, it doesn’t show up as pretty in the picture as it does in real life.  I used Stampin’ Up!’s More Mustard for the background wash.  I have found that Crystal Effects, if applied thinly, in several layers, dries clearer than clear embossing power and looks more like enamel.  I’ve tried using UTEE and it either turns cloudy or tints a yellowish color and sometimes has small bubbles in it.  It’s also messier to work with and the edges get a little chunky.  I have much more control with Crystal Effects and a much prettier effect.

I apologize for the poor quality of this picture, it’s very blurred and dark.  I normally take more time and get several shots, but the National Championship game is getting ready to start and I’ve got to put my priorities in order folks. Go Gators!

As you can see, these are the stamps I used for the Chintz purse.  Not included is the Daisy Border stamp that I featured yesterday and the Stampin’ Up! sentiment.  Please check back in tomorrow for the last purse in the series.

• Stamps:   Stampin’ Up!
• Paper:  Canson 140 lbs. cold-pressed water color paper, White Mulberry Paper
• Ink:  Versamark; Versapen
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blending pen, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Crystal Effects; pearl beads, dimensionals, craft knife, self-healing cutting mat, More Mustard Reinker

Hi everyone, today is day two for the purse series I’m featuring this week.  This is my favorite purse in the series.  As I did yesterday, I’m including in this post a picture of the stamps used to create the purse so that you can see the size of these stamps as well as the stamp numbers.   This week I’m going to be featuring four purses that I have made and, you guessed it, these purses are going to CHA with me so that all of you who attend can see them in person.

This is my daisy purse.  It consists of six stamps, three of which are shown in this picture.  The two flower clasps were stamped from the Violet Border stamp I featured yesterday on the violet purse.  They were water colored, cut out and left to dry over night.  The following morning I applied Crystal Effects and let that dry for a couple of hours.  I did that three times to build depth without it getting cloudy.  The tip is to apply Crystal Effects in thin layers several times allowing it to dry thoroughly between each layer.  The mesh you see in the middle of the purse is a mesh background stamp, shown below.  The purse stamp itself is the outline of the purse, also shown below.  In this series, I’ve tried to provide backgrounds that enhance the designs and colors of the purses.  The blurred images are almost like a water color itself!  I love the splash of gold on the left side, it brings out the gold in the bottom of the purse.  Looking closely at this image, you can see Kaiser pearls in clusters just above the flowers. Joan’s Garden’s sells these beautiful pearls.

This photograph is a picture of the inside of the purse.  To make the purse I first stamped the purse outline on water color paper and embossed it, I then cut a piece of white mulberry paper for the lining to be placed on the inside of the purse.  I used the stamp that I used on the lower portion of the front of the purse to stamp the daisies on the Mulberry paper.  Mulberry paper is sheer, like a very thin cotton and so beautiful.  I used it on the inside of the purse to give the appearance of a sheer cotton lining like you would see in a formal clutch purse.  I stamped the Mulberry paper with Versamark, embossed it and then water colored it.

To give you pictures with a little more detail I’m including the upper and lower portions of the inside of the purse in two separate pictures.

The colors came out beautifully vivid on the Mulberry paper, I was very pleased with the results.

Here are the stamps minus the sentiment from Stampin’ Up!.  You can substitute any sentiment stamp you want, I used this verse because I felt this is a beautiful gift to give someone who may be ill or feeling down.

When I return from CHA, I will be featuring a tutorial on how to make this purse from start to finish with pictures as well as written instructions.  We’ll start with embossing, I’ll show you how to mask the front of the purse to make it appear as  just one stamp has been used.  We’ll emboss it and then I’ll show you how to make the actual shape of the purse.  We’ll then size and cut the Mulberry paper and I’ll show you how to emboss that as well.  I’ll show you step-by-step how to paint the leaves, the flowers, and background on the front of the purse, as well as the Mulberry paper on the inside of the purse, I’ll provide a list of the Tombow markers that we’ll use.  I’ll also provide a list of all the supplies you’ll need to complete and assemble the purse once you’ve completed the watercoloring.  I’ll show you how to attach the Mulberry paper to the inside of the purse and to emboss the outer edges, and lastly we’ll adhere our floral clasps, as well as our beaded purse strap to complete our design.  Does it sound like fun?  You’ll be amazed at how beautiful your design will be.  Today is day two of the four day series.  When you’re ready to give it a try, you’ll have four different designs to choose from, or you can make up your own design with any stamp of your choosing.  Look at the picture above, do you see the stamp in the lower right corner with the daisies?  That stamp was made specifically to fit within the purse.  Two of the purses I’ll be featuring this week were designed with stamps that were made for the purse.  The fourth purse was designed with a background stamp that I chose and I’ll explain how I did that as well.

If you like this design, you’ll want to check back tomorrow for design three in this series.

• Stamps:  Stampin’ Up!
• Paper:  Canson 140 lbs. cold-pressed water color paper, White Mulberry Paper
• Ink:  Versamark; Versapen
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blending pen, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Crystal Effects; pearl beads, dimensionals, Pearl Ex Pearl White Powder, Gum Arabic, craft knife, self-healing cutting mat, Dazzling Diamonds,Kaiser Pearls

I just love this purse!  It’s one of my favorites to play with.   What I love most about the purse stamp is how versatile it is.  I can design any purse I want.  This week I’m going to be featuring four purses that I have made and, you guessed it, these purses are going to CHA with me so that all of you who attend can see them in person.

This is my violet purse.  It consists of four stamps, three of which are shown in this picture.  I’m featuring it first because my grandmother’s name was Violet and while I didn’t appreciate such a beautiful name when I was a child, I’m now crazy about it. The two flower clasps were stamped from the stamp used along the bottom of the purse shown in the picture at the bottom of this post, they were water colored, cut out and left to dry over night.  The following morning I applied Crystal Effects and let that dry for a couple of hours.  I did that three times to build depth without it getting cloudy.  The tip is to apply Crystal Effects in thin layers several times allowing it to dry thoroughly between each layer.  The mesh you see in the middle of the purse is a mesh background stamp, shown below.  The purse stamp itself is the outline of the purse, also shown below.  Isn’t the background so lovely in this picture, it’s almost like a water color itself!

This photograph is a picture of the upper portion of the inside of the purse, I wanted to give you a shot with a little more detail.  The butterfly is the fourth stamp used in the design.  I water colored it, cut it out, and adhered it to the inside of the purse.  To make the purse I first stamped the purse outline on water color paper and embossed it, I then cut a piece of white mulberry paper for the lining to be placed on the inside of the purse.  I used the stamp that I used on the lower side of the front of the purse to stamp the violets on the Mulberry paper.  Mulberry paper is sheer, like a very thin cotton and so beautiful.  I used it on the inside of the purse to give the appearance of a sheer cotton lining like you would see in a formal clutch purse.  I stamped the Mulberry paper with Versamark, embossed it and then water colored it.

This photograph is a picture of the upper and lower portions of the inside of the purse.  I apologize for the darkness of it, I didn’t have the benefit of sunlight and my OTT light wasn’t strong enough to function as a flash .  .  . LOL.   Looking at this picture, I now see that I actually used five stamps.  A stamp from Stampin’ Up!’s Elegant Inspirations was used for the verse.  Do you see the gold outline going around the edge of the purse?  I used a Versapen to draw that line and then sprinkled embossing powder on the outer edge and embossed it, being careful not to overheat and burn the embossing previously done on the flowers.

If you like this design, you’ll want to check back tomorrow for the next design in this series.

• Stamps:   Stampin’ Up!
• Paper:  Canson 140 lbs. cold-pressed water color paper, White Mulberry Paper
• Ink:  Versamark; Versapen
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blending pen, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Crystal Effects; pearl beads, dimensionals, Pearl Ex Pearl White Powder, Gum Arabic, craft knife, self-healing cutting mat

I’m taking a few minutes away from the packing today to post this thank you card that I watercolored for a lovely person I recently met that has been very kind and generous to me.  I snuck in a little time a few days ago to make it and have been trying to get a good photo of it and finally the sunshine came out this morning and shared its glorious rays long enough for me to get this shot. 

Last month I designed a set of luggage and had so much fun in the design work that I decided to try it again.  I changed the colors, the handle, the monogram, and the clasp and came up with a slightly altered design.  I watercolored several tulips from the Thank You stamp simply tulip set by Flourishes using a combination of Yarka paints and Tombow markers.  Dimensionals were utilized to pop up the two larger tulips for added dimension.  I used the small monogrammer from JustRite Stampers for the initial “K”.  The decorative design and initial were colored with Stampin’ Up! markers direct to rubber and topped off with Dazzling Diamonds, although it’s a bit difficult to see the sparkle in the photo.  The faux stitching was done using a white gel pen from Sakura. 

• Stamps: Thank You (Flourishes), JustRite Stampers
• Paper:  Rose Red, Watercolor, Basic Grey (Perhaps)
• Ink:  Versamark, Rose Red
• Accessories:  Mat Pack, Sakura white gel pen, gold brad, dimensionals, paper piercer, Coluzzle, oval punch, corner punch, craft knife, Tombow markers, Yarka watercolor paints, watercolor brush, heating tool, Ranger gold embossing powder, Stampin’ Up! markers, Fiskars embossing plate, embossing stylus, nestibilities

Hello everyone!  I haven’t had a chance to post for a few days, it’s been incredibly hectic with all the shopping and packing for Stephen.  We still have a few more items to pick up and then the serious packing begins!

Since I haven’t posted in a few days, I’m posting several photographs of one of my favorite ensembles that I designed in February.  This vintage ensemble makes such a beautiful gift to give to a mom, grandmother, mother-in-law, favorite aunt, etc.  The purse is one of my favorite stamps because it’s so versatile.  To date, I’ve made four purses and will eventually post the other designs.  This purse has roses on it, the other purse designs include pansies, daisies, and a multitude of flowers.  I have an idea to design a Christmas purse with poinsettias on it, please stay stuned for future designs using this magnificent stamp.   

This first picture is of the entire ensemble.  The shiny glow you see on the perfume bottles is a mixture of Gum Arabic with Pearl Ex powders. 

I embossed and watercolored the perfume bottles.  It’s hard to see the Dazzling Diamonds on the lids and around the floral areas on the bottles in this picture. They are about four inches in height and about 2 1/2 inches across.

I opened the purse in this photo to show the detail on the inside.  I embossed and watercolored white mulberry paper and trimmed it to fit inside the purse.  I stamped the bible verse with a stamp from SU’s Elegant Inspirations set.  I adhered the mulberry paper to the inside of the purse using Crystal Effects.  Once that was dry I adhered an embossed piece of vellum over the upper portion of the inside of the purse creating a pocket.  I used a Versamarker to trace around the outside edges of the purse and embossed the edges with Ranger gold embossing powder.  I love seeing the watercolored mulberry paper through the vellum.  The white mulberry paper makes a beautiful lining inside the purse, in real life it looks like watercolored batiste.

It was a joy watercoloring these items.  The compact and lipstick tubes fit perfectly inside the pocket of the purse.  The lipstick tubes were painted with a mixture of Gum Arabic and Pearl Ex, as well as the center of the compact.  The compact opens and has a mirror on the inside. 

This is a close-up of the outside of the purse.  I embossed the center of the purse with white embossing powder and painted inside the floral areas with the Gum Arabic and Pearl Ex mixture.  The two little flowers at the top of the purse were painted and cut out.  I used several layers of Crystal Effects to give them an enamel appearance.  I cut them with a craft knife and adhered them to the pearl strap of the purse.

These vintage gloves are so adorable.  I painted them with a mixture of Gum Arabic and Pearl Ex.  I have several different mixtures of Gum Arabic and Pearl Ex.  In this project I used two different mixtures.  The mixture used on the purse is Pearl Pearl Ex and the mixture used on the gloves, lipstick tubes, perfume bottles, and compact is Iridescent Gold Pearl Ex.  I placed Swarovski crystals in a beautiful green shade across the top of the gloves, they measure about three inches in length and about one and a half inches in width.  They also fit adorably into the pocket of the purse.

And finally, one last picture taken at a different angle to show the inside of the purse with the compact and lipstick tubes.  I love the pearls on the compact.  All of these extra touches really add a lot to this project.  

I hope you’ve enjoyed my vintage ensemble.  As I stated above, it’s a wonderful gift for a mom, grandmother, etc.  Personally, I think Mother’s Day is the perfect occasion for a gift such as this. 

• Stamps:   Elegant Inspirations (Stampin’ Up!)
• Paper:  Canson watercolor paper cold pressed 140 lbs., card stock vellum, white mulberry paper
• Ink:  Versamark, Versamarker
• Accessories:  More Mustard marker, Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blender pen, SU white embossing powder, Ranger gold embossing powder, pearl adhesives, Swarovsky crystals, pearl chain, Dazzling Diamonds, Pearl Ex, Gum Arabic, craft knife, stamp-a-ma-jig

Today I’m posting the first in a two part series of a Floral and Aviary ensemble I designed back in February.  There are four cards to this series that go in a portfolio that I designed and watercolored to hold the cards.  I gave the fuchsia and hummingbird card to my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day and the blue bird and rose card was given as a sympathy card.  The cards were embossed on Fabriano Medioevalis folded cards and then watercolored. Tomorrow I’ll post the other two cards in the series, together with the portfolio that I kept them in.

Thank you for stopping by, I wish you a wonderful day!

• Paper:  Fabriano Medioevalis Folded Cards
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, Ranger gold EP, watercolor brush, craft knife, dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds

• Stamps:  Elegant Inspirations (SU)
• Paper: Fabriano Medioevalis Folded Cards
• Ink: Versamark,
• Accessories: Tombow markers, heating tool, Ranger gold EP, watercolor brush, Versamarker, Nestibilities Small Ovals