Stay Frosty

A Muse Studio has a stamp set called seasonal branch which screamed "Buy Me!" from the pages of the catalog the minute I saw it.  Why?  because it is a bare branch that can be stamped at almost any angle (or even straight up and down, to be a sapling), and it comes with various small stamps with which to complete it, like leaves, blossoms, berries, and even snowflakes.  It is the snowflake (3 snowflakes, actually) in particular that I needed for this card - most snowflake stamps are too big to scale with other images.

I first stamped it with embossing ink on watercolor paper, then used an iridescent powder to create my snowflakes.  I then used a watercolor wash on the background.  I like the irregular edge!  The sentiment was diecut from a Tim Holtz alpha, and the penguin is an old sticker that I got in a pack from Michaels last year or maybe the year before.  My 17yo liked it so much he asked to have it (and he has NEVER asked for one of my cards before!)

Challenges:



Juliet Arrighi

Woven Words Winter card

The challenge this week at Blessings Ink is to make a card using text as a background, and I will say that amuse studio sells some of the best text paper I've seen, but I did not happen to have any of the Christmas paper handy, and I wanted to stamp, so I practiced stamping small phrases in patterns.  I wasn't getting the results I wanted, so I ended up cutting the phrases into strips and weaving them.
The patterned paper is from a double-sided stack I bought at Michaels; the tree paper is actually the back of the background paper.  A bling star on top and a tiny touch of glitter pen on the holly added just enough to appease my need to make it sparkle.

Challenges:


 Juliet Arrighi

Fight like a girl

These cards were so fast, fun, and easy to make, and used up lots of pink scraps.

The top one is a straight herringbone technique, and the second one is a twist on a washi tape card I did recently.  Amuse studio has wonderful printed monochromatic papers, like the chevrons and petit polka dots, but others of the papers used here are simply stamped on white scraps.  The sentiments used are all from the FREE breast Cancer Awareness stamp set sold by amuse studio in October.  In addition to a lot of great sentiments, it has a ribbon stamp that also has a matching die available.  Check it out!

Juliet Arrighi

Poe Arch

This is not so different from the Poe Heart that I did a little while ago.  I was still interested in the  technique, but wondered how it would look with more distressing.
Everything except the picture of Poe is stamped with the nevermore stamp set from amuse studio.  I love the varieties of text in this stamp set.  I'm certain that I can use the stacked books and clock in other projects that aren't so spooky.  In fact I could probably use the printed text as well, if I don't think anyone with read it closely (all the text is from the poem).  Red and green are usually Christmas colors, but here they look like blood and mold.  The gothic arch form is not my favorite to work with, but it seems right for this particular subject.


Juliet Arrighi

Three Raven ATCs

The nevermore stamp set from amuse studio has a lot of dark victorian images plus 5 different text images (not really sentiments, unless you think a line from "The Raven" would make a good sentiment for a card), and they combine well together.  Case in point is this raven and this stack of books.
I like the way the raven looks on the books, but these are not the type of images that need coloring, so I thought I would give a shot to coloring outside the images.  The first one shown was colored with Twinkling H2Os, the second with acrylic paint, and the third one is done with copic markers. A tiny dot of red marks the raven's eye.

These are single layer ATCs, which is really hard to commit to if you know the stamping community.  I love making ATCs, because the goal with an ATC is to create art, not stationery.  I already have plans to swap them.

Challenges:


Juliet Arrighi


Stamping (and coloring) on black

I love the sharp contrast of stamping on black. A dark background really makes the colors pop.
Unfortunately, the colors popped so much, I went a little crazy with the background papers.  I don't think I did myself any favors with the dayglo color palette.  However, it was fun using some techniques that I haven't used in a  while - dry embossing, watermark stamping, punching a border all around the image (I wish I had remembered the easy way before I started, it looks a little chewed up now, I think), and I don't think I've applied a strip of ribbon without a bow in forever  (I wanted a bow, but the black bow with the black cardstock was too heavy, and other colors just didn't look right).

Are you wondering how I got those bright colors on the black?  I embossed silhouette stamps with white, then colored them in with copics.  I then added little dots of color with my souffle pens.  The stamps are all amuse studio;  The challenge there this week is, of course, stamping on black.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:


Juliet Arrighi