I'm making this font larger because this is BIG NEWS!

As of today, I have been posting on this blog for 9 full years - with posts every single day. 

I have reached a point now where I feel like I am creating art just to 'feed the blog' and therefore making projects that I am not really passionate about just to have something to post.

I'm not sure how many people even read the blog as nobody ever comments on the postings. Maybe I'm just posting for myself at this point.

Since I have reached this milestone, I've decided that now is a good time to make some changes.

Henceforth, I will create art as I am inspired to and post whenever I have something to show. That might be weekly, monthly or even daily on occasion.

This will allow me time to work on long-term projects like updating my website, learning how to use video on the blog, training myself on my electronic die-cutting machine, learning how to use my embroidery machine, and investigating new materials and techniques without the goal of producing a finished piece.

I'd like to also investigate publishing some of my original designs.

So, I'll see you when I see you. Rest assured, I will be creating something, somewhere, and when that 'something' is done you'll see it here.

As you hear on Sewing With Nancy, "Bye for now!"

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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The challenge for week 3 of this month on the papercrafting list was 'oriental'.

I actually have a drawer in the studio where I keep all supplies with an Asian theme. From that drawer, I pulled a dyed geometric paper with a little bit of glitz, a picture of an oriental landscape painting, a black and white drawing of a lady and a cocktail umbrella.

I colored the lady with Distress markers in colors that would coordinate with the umbrella and the backgrounds. Then I used a craft knife to trim her away from the background.

I layered both backgrounds and the lady. Then I trimmed the cocktail umbrella to create a fan and mounted that with a nailhead sticker at the base.

I used an Asian stamp on the geometric paper.

A red folded base card serves as a border for the illustrations.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I joined in a challenge on one of my groups to use a daimond shape on a card.

I pulled two designer cardstocks that were printed with diamonds and was glad to note that they were the same angles. I cut the grey one to create an aperture and aligned the lattice piece underneath before trimming both to the same size.

Then I scored and folded a long piece of cardstock into three sections - two at 4.25" and one at 1". With the 1" on the left I closed the right panel and added the lattice piece over it. Then I closed the 1" strip and mounted the grey piece, making sure to line it up with the edges of the lattice.

I found a piece of printed vellum and mounted it to the inside of the grey panel. This also got a scroll-y silver peel-off border.

When you view through the vellum you can see the two rose stickers that are placed on the lattice. That layer also got silver peel-off corners.

When the lattice layer is opened it reveals a silver peel-off greeting and more rose stickers.

This is the front view:

This is the lattice layer:

And the inner layer:

This is getting saved for a wedding card which I will need in a few months.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Throughout 2015 Ranger Industries released a new color of Distress ink every month. Tim Holtz introduced them and showed comparisons with similar color families alteady in the Distress line.

I did not pick up any of these 12 new colors until this month, when I found 8 of them in the mini-sized ink pads (they come with 4 colors in a pack).

I decided to do some playing with four of the pads and here is what I did.

First, I chose Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron, Abandoned Coral and Fossilized Amber. I started with a coated paper and pressed the inkpads directly on it in a grid.

These blocks of color stayed very wet so I decided to blot off some of the color using a piece of watercolor paper. I just pressed it straight down onto the color and held it there for a while so the color could soak into the watercolor paper.

This picked up a lot of color and I wanted to blend it a bit so I misted it with water and let the colors bleed. To move the color even more, I pressed the piece onto a non-stick craft sheet. Then I dried it with a heat tool.

There were a lot of colored droplets on the craft sheet so I pressed the dried sheet back into it several times and dried it again.

The color on the original piece was still wet so I pressed a piece of regular white cardstock onto it, picking up more of the ink. I misted the new piece with water to activate the ink and dried it with a heat tool.

The original piece was still a little damp so I just hit it with the heat tool.

With all these pieces I used them as backgrounds for card fronts.

This is the original piece - pressed direct-to-paper on coated paper. 

I added some vellum stickers of tulips and a cardstock sticker of another floral which had a teal border. I copied that border as a layer under the block piece and mounted the whole thing on a white base card.

This is the piece contact-transfered to watercolor paper:

I added a large vinyl sticker to the center and a second sticker off to the side. I used a bright yellow base card to go with the central flower.

This last pressing onto standard white cardstock did not pick up much color:

I reinforced the grid by using a heavy black marker. Then I chose a red and a green fine line marker to add inner borders to those colors. I added a cardstock floral sticker and a pre-stamped sentiment. A coral base card picks up the color of the floral and one of the inks.

I still have 4 new colors to play with but probably won't repeat this method of experiment with them.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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On average, a manicure lasts me about 2 weeks. By that time the base of the nail is growing out and leaving a gap. Then, too, some little chips may be appearing along the edges of the tips.

Lately, every time I do my manicure I expect it to only be a few days until a nail breaks. When one goes, I cannot leave them alone and have to clip them all back to the same as the shortest one.

Well, they survived another two week span so I did a new manicure to see how long it will hold out.

I used a base coat, two coats of copper, one of sheer gold glitter, silver glitter dots, and a topcoat.

Glitter is hard to capture in a still photo so I took pictures in sunlight and in shade to see if one was better than the other.

Not better, just different.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I dug back into the papers my friend sent in a dry embossing swap and caame up with a great image of watches on yellow cardstock.

I sponged on Distress Ink to the raised surfaces, with more concentrated color in the lower right and fading up to the upper left.

Three of the clock elements got gears attached using tiny brads.

I selected a brown card base and then needed some contrasting element. I came up with the black and white striped paper and mounted it to the card base with mitered corners. I think it gives sort of a steampunk vibe without being overt about it.

A pre-stamped sentiment was bordered with black showing fine white lines and this was popped up on foam tape.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I did not do ANY dry embossing on this card! Really! All of the embossing was done by a friend and sent to me in a swap.

I chose different textures she embossed on the same color of yellow cardstock along with one strip of red. By lining them all up on a card base I got a very tactile background.

I trimmed down a framing element also on the yellow and backed it with a piece of the same red. A cat sticker takes center stage in to red circle.

By chance, I had a sentiment pre-stamped on a similar yellow and I bordered it with more of the red before mounting it on foam tape.

I used some fine line red marker to outline the big areas of yellow to give them some separation.

I still like the concept even though the reality is not as neat as I had hoped.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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That nativity card I made almost two weeks ago used a diecut from corrugated cardstock. I kept the cutout piece of the barn for later use and, guess what, its later!

I also had some red checked paper which just screamed 'country' to me so that had to be included.

I backed the barn with some woodgrain and cut the base for dimensionality. Then I drew in some lines to represent the back wall.

I used some Distress Ink (sponged) on the surface of the barn piece and then glued the whole thing onto the red paper.

I added a couple of animal stickers from my stash to 'make sense' of the barn.

A pre-stamped sentiment was cut into separate words to adhere on the card.

OK - it's not high class or fancy but it will make a suitable card for a young child someday.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Here we are at the end of the card fronts made from my scrap bin full of strips of design papers.

Seven cards have passed by the screen and we have only the brown one left.

This time there were fewer strips in the color range and they were a lot longer. This allowed me to use a vertical format for the card.

By chance, a scripture printed on vellum fit perfectly as an overlay to the lace paper. I ran it through the Xyron for a full coverage of adhesive, which does not show through the vellum.

I had some very fine silver corner stickers which I used sparingly - just on the left side.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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On the downhill stretch with my little scrap bin full of strips of design papers. I did a little sorting and combining to make card fronts from them.

Having seen the pink, orange, red + teal, green, tan + blue, and yellow + gray, we've just got a teal one and a brown one to go.

Today we'll look at the teal card.

I actually started with a square doily print on tan. I built out from this with two strips of teal on each the left and the right. Then I split a couple of long strip lengthwise and stacked them at the top and bottom.

This left one shorter strip which I cut in half to make some crossbars upper left and lower right.

I had some colored peel-off border stickers that made a nice framing element on the top and bottom.

A pre-stamped sentiment on teal green suited perfectly.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Very close to done with the card fronts made with my little scrap bin full of strips of design papers.

This blog has displayed ones in pink, orange, red + teal, green, and tan + blue. Just the yellow + gray, teal, and browns are left.

The sliced and arranged strips were glued down on card fronts and decorated with text blocks, stickers and rubons.

Today we'll look at the yellow and grey card.

There isn't a lot of yellow in the mix on this card but I did get some from the floral piece. I added a short strip of yellow crosswise at the botto and bordered a stamped scripture in yellow before popping it up on foam tape.

A rummage in the sticker bin revealed the scrolls in colors found in the floral paper.

Awesome!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Yay - more card fronts from the scrap bin of strips.

We've viewed those in pink, orange, red + teal, and green. There's just the tan + blue, yellow + gray, teal, and browns left.

Strips were sorted and glued down on the card fronts and decorated with text blocks, stickers and rubons.

Today we'll look at the tan and blue card.

I had several tan strips (including one of corrugated card) but only one with some blue in it. I wanted to use it and needed to find ways to bring that blue into the rest of the card.

I decided to use a blue card base as a starting point. Then I added that same border color to the stamped scripture block which was popped up on foam tape.

In my sticker file I found these sweet floral corners - a perfect finish.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Still churning out card fronts from my scrap bin.

I've already shown those made in pink, orange, and red + teal.

Today's green will be followed up with tan + blue, yellow + gray, teal, and browns.

Strips arranged in an attractive fashion were glued down on the card fronts and decorated with text blocks, stickers and rubons.

Today we'll look at the green card.

This was pretty straightforward to the point of looking very boring. So I added a scalloped border to the bottom of the stamped text block.

I selected gold peel-off stickers for corners around the text block and borders up the left and right edges.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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More sorting and combining to make card fronts with my little scrap bin full of strips of design papers.

I ended up making ones in pink, orange (both already shown), red + teal, green, tan + blue, yellow + gray, teal, and browns.

The card fronts with the sliced and arranged strips glued down were  decorated with text blocks, stickers and rubons.

Today we'll look at the red and teal card.

The strip that combines both colors was the starting place for the selection of other papers. I had that one tiny strip that wasn't long enough to fit on the card vertically so I swung it around to the bottom right.

This made a great place for a prestamped sentiment, in white to match the base card.

Yep, I had even more of the 'stitching' rubons to use.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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With my little scrap bin full of strips of design papers I did a little sorting and combining to make card fronts.

I ended up making ones in pink (shown yesterday), orange, red + teal, green, tan + blue, yellow + gray, teal, and browns.

I sliced and arranged the strips in an attractive fashion and them glued down on the card fronts and decorated them with text blocks, stickers and rubons.

Today we'll look at the orange card.

Two of the papers had leaves printed on them and I kept them together on the arrangement. 

Then I had one paper that was a rectangle instead of a strip so that made a perfect place to drop a pre-stamped - a perfect choice.

More of those 'stitching' rubons in the 'perfect colors' make their appearance here.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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My little scrap bin was full of strips of design papers after recent projects so I decided to do a little sorting and combining to make card fronts.

I ended up making ones in pink, orange, red + teal, green, tan + blue, yellow + gray, teal, and browns.

After slicing and arranging the strips in an attractive fashion they were glued down on the card front and decorated with text blocks, stickers and rubons.

Today we'll look at the pink card.

I started arranging the strips vertically to create a horizontal card and then saw that one of them had text running lengthwise so I placed it at the top.

I bordered a pre-stamped scripture with some raspberry cardstock to go with the sketchy ferns in the largest paper.

When I went looking for border stickers I came across some forgotten 'stitching' rubons. These flower sprigs were the perfect color and came out looking great.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Round 2 of the May 12 Tags of 2016 is up today. As a reminder, here are the tags Tim Holtzgot his techniques from:

And here is the tag he challenged us with using those techniques:

I didn't use all of the techniques Tim did as my stamps really didn't lend themselves to florals. But these are the steps I used on my project

- Select multiple stamps to use

- Apply tissue tape to selected areas where featured stamps will be used

- Stamp featured stamps over tissue tape using Archival black ink (I used fish)

- Stamp other images to cardstock as background (I used coral and seaweed)

- Use a palette knife to apply clear texture paste through a stencil in selected areas (I used medium dots)

- Let dry completely

- Colorize surface wiith Distress stains (go lightly)

- Mist with water to blend

- Dry completely

- Blend on Distress inks to highlight

- Buff to remove excess ink from tissue tape and stenciled areas

- Mask off tissue tape areas

- Spritz with gold metallic paint

- Trim to card size

- Border with black cardstock

- Mount on colored base card

Here is the bottom half of the finished piece that I used for the second card:

Now that I'm caught up with these challenges, we won't see another '12 Tags' project until June.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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Yep, back with another in the 12 tags series. In this case I actually made a single piece and then cut it in two to make separate cards.

Here are the tags that Tim combined this month:

And here is the project he created with that combination:

These are the steps I used on my project

- Select multiple stamps to use

- Apply tissue tape to selected areas where featured stamps will be used

- Stamp featured stamps over tissue tape using Archival black ink (I used fish)

- Stamp other images to cardstock as background (I used coral and seaweed)

- Use a palette knife to apply clear texture paste through a stencil in selected areas (I used medium dots)

- Let dry completely

- Colorize surface wiith Distress stains (go lightly)

- Mist with water to blend

- Dry completely

- Blend on Distress inks to highlight

- Buff to remove excess ink from tissue tape and stenciled areas

- Mask off tissue tape areas

- Spritz with gold metallic paint

- Trim to card size

- Border with black cardstock

- Mount on colored base card

Here is the top of the finished piece that I used for the first card:

Tomorrow, I'll show the bottom half - also made into a card.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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This is SO not a tag!

Tim Holtz works on tags to demonstrate his techniques but I rarely do. I mean, what do you do with a tag you've decorated? Tim recognizes that not everyone wants to work on tags but he is really just teaching technique ans encourages people to make the project their own.

Here are the two tags he selected to combine in April:

And the tag he made with these techniques:

Here are the steps I used to create my project:

- Selected a shaped container with a removable metal lid

- Stir some sand into a little modeling paste.

- Apply a layer to the top surface of the box with a palette knife. Smooth out

- Allow to dry completely

- Cut decorative papers into mosaic shapes with rounded corners

- Glue shapes to box top using matte medium, leaving a small space between shapes

- Top coat with matte medium

- Allow to dry completely

- Top each shape with Glossy Accents

- Allow to dry completely

- Sponge Distress ink to tint the 'grout'

- Buff the tiles to remove ink

- Use matte medium as glue to attach trim to sides of lid

- Coat trim with matte medium

- Allow to dry completely

- Sponge Distress ink on trim to tint

- Place lid back on the container and mark where the lid stops

- Remove lid

- Use Distress Paint on upper part of the box base (above the marked line)

- When dry, add printed cardstock to the area below the line using Xyron ahesive for good adhesion

- Allow to dry completely

- Use finger to cover paint and paper with Microglaze (to protect the box from grime)

- Buff off extra Microglaze with a paper towel

- Place lid on box and admire your work!

Ready for the big reveal?

See? REALLY not a tag!

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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I'm kind of in 'catch-up' mode on these Tim Holtz-inspired projects. So, right on the heels of the February one, we're on to March.

Here are the two techniques that Tim mixed:

And this is the new tag he created with the techniques:

Here are the steps I used to create my card:

- Use a shaped die to cut a void in corrugated cardstock (I used a nativity on buff)

- Add white distress stain to surface. dry

- Add distress inks to shade

- Set aside

- On non-stick craft sheet, sponge three Distress paints

- Mist with water

- Swipe cardstock through it

- Dry with heat tool

- Tap into leftover paint on the craft sheet

- Dry again

- Use glue stick or tape runner to apply random glue (not much)

- Lay foil sheet over glue and burnish. Peel up to leave foiling

- Mount diecut corrugated piece over top

- Use alcohol marker to draw in drop shadows

- Trim bottom edge at 3/4 inch

- Use letter diecuts to cut phrase from scrap of background cardstock

- Back cutout letters with cardstock to match drop shadows

- Trim to width of corrugated piece

- Lay three pieces together and tape/tack together

- Use strong adhesive to mount combined pieces to folded card base.

And here is my finished card:

Thiis is a larger card as the size was dictated by the original diecut.

Ddd

Posted by studio3d@ccgmail.net at 12:01 AM PDT

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