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Friday, April 29, 2016

embossing powder + glue

today is the last day of my copper inspiration week but i have a feeling it won't be the last time my cards shimmer with copper, lol! 

for the last card i tried a technique with embossing powder that is both a little messy and so much fun! here's my card:
i started by stamping the mama elephant organic blooms in versamark and embossing with wow embossing powder in pixie. yes this is the same set from yesterday, i have a big stamp crush.
next i used a paint brush to spread ppa glue on my card, around my flower. i sprinkled more pixie powder on the glue and heat set. this technique provides lots of fun texture. i tried pretty much all my liquid glues with this technique and ppa was the clear winner. ppa moves but not too much and maintains the color of the heat set powder.


i repeated the glue and embossing powder step with two more colors of embossing powder, copper & turkish nights.
then i applied a little pale green to my flower with a clean color marker.
i colored the head of a pearl pin with copper alcohol ink
i stamped a sentiment from the organic blooms set in versafine, cut it out and foam mounted it to my card over the pin.
thanks for joining me this week and all of the sweet encouragement!

xo,
carly

Thursday, April 28, 2016

a little copper string art

it's day 4 of copper week and i'm over in the classroom at ellen hutson llc for a little #throwbackthursdays string art inspired by one of ellen's cute tags!
come on by!

xo,
carly

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

clear, metallic & masculine

there are a couple birthdays coming up on my calendar, including some of the special guys in my life. i know they can appreciate my flowery cards but i thought it might be nice to create something a little more masculine. here's what i came up with:


on a 2-1/2 square of woodgrain cardstock, i applied masking paper to half and then inked with hickory smoke ink.

to the corner i applied a triangle piece of be creative tape. 
after removing the tape liner, i applied copper embossing powder and heated.
for the inside, i cut 2 more 2-1/2 squares of woodgrain cardstock and 1 solar white square. on the solar white square, i stamped my sentiment and did a inky copper watercolor wash over the middle.
i adhered my squares in matching positions on an acetate card. and i finished with a few copper alcohol ink splatters.

have a great day!
carly


Tuesday, April 26, 2016

alcohol ink painting

today's card was completely inspired (some might say lovingly imitated, lol) from the amazing artistry that is tae eun. if you are not reading her blog and following her on instagram, go and do it! seriously, go, i'll wait.

so as i was saying, i love all of tae eun's work but i have been especially smitten with her recent cards with alcohol ink (here & here). i'm also pretty enamored with the concord & 9th wildflower set and here's my attempt at being "tae eun cool":
i stamped and embossed my flowers in copper, being careful not to touch the paper too much (finger smudges disrupt the flow of the alcohol ink).
then i just added drops of alcohol ink to my flowers, letting the ink flow.
sometimes i was messy but i just added the green background to hide it. no mistakes, just opportunities for creativity right?!

finally when the ink was dry, i added some metallic copper alcohol ink on top.

thanks again for coming by and i'll see you tomorrow for more coppery goodness!

xo,
carly

p.s. alcohol ink also makes awesome dandelions!