21st Century Pillow Book

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!! It's the greatest day of the year! I can't believe we have made it to the end. Thank you so much to everyone that has left me such wonderful comments. I have been more of a lurker this year, but I am going to try to go back and leave you guys some love now that the month is over. For my last 31 Days of Halloween project for the year, I have one last tag. I broke out an older stencil called the Leafless Tree from Stampendous (originally from Dreamweaver Stencils). This is a HUGE stencil, but I used just a tiny piece on this tag. I sprayed it with a few colors like purple, black, and deep blue, and then flipped it over on to my tag. I pulled out some Inkadinkado stamps from years ago and applied them with Onyx Black VersaFine ink, and then I heat embossed them with Detail Black Embossing Powder . I wanted to add something else and I toyed with the idea of splattering red, but I didn't want to do that. Then I thought that I could add some whit...

Greetings my spooktacular fiends! It's Day 30 of the 31 Days of Halloween. Eek! It's almost the end. Today I am sharing a card that uses a stencil I used in the beginning of the month, but in a totally different way. I know that some folks are a little intimated by stencils, so my goal was to show you a simple way to use them that gives a cool effect. I used the Broom Flight stencil from Stampendous. All the possible colors that can be used and some of the smaller spaces may get some people a little anxious. But by simply spraying one side of the stencil and pressing it in to watercolor paper, you can achieve fast look. I used Cut Grass and Crushed Grape Dylusions Spray, with a teensy bit of Metallic Orange Memories Mist for a bit of a shine. My card base, which is black, has Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Gold brushed around the border. On the stenciled layer, I also dripped some Tuxedo Black Fireworks! Spray. But, I wanted some dimension and an added surprise of glow. I hav...

Hello! The 31 Days of Halloween are nearing it's completion, but at least we still have a couple more days left. Today is Day 29, and I have a card to share. Spider webs at night look really cool when the moonlight hits them, especially if there is some dew on it. That's what I was trying to recreate here. Supplies: Stampendous : DWLJ816 : Spider Web Stencil DWLS28 : Spider Stencil DP101 : Detail Silver Embossing Powder DP111 : Detail Black Embossing Powder MPW811: Mixed Media White Paper Other : Imagine : Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Frost, VersaMark Ink, Ink Sweeper Ranger: Distress Oxides in Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Spiced Marmalade, and Black Soot, Ink Blending Tools Scrapbook Adhesives: EZ Roller, Foam Squares Kraft and Gray Cardstock Directions: 1. Using Mixed Media White Paper and Ink Blending Tools, apply Wilted Violet in the center of a 5 1/4" x 3 3/4" rectangle in a circular motion. 2. Apply Seedless Preserves to the bottom of...

Hello! It is Day 28 of the 31 Days of Halloween. Today I have a tag for you that features and image from Stampendous' Halloween Labels Stamps and Die Set . I started off with a simple manila tag from the office supply store. I sprayed it with Cut Grass Dylusions spray as well as metallic orange Memories Mist. While that was drying, I stamped out my image with VersaFine Ink in Onyx Black on to Canson's Mixed Media paper and colored it in with Zig Clean Color Markers. Then I die cut it. I love that the dies actually come with the stamps. I then rubbed VersaMark ink around the edges of the tag and sprinkled on Aged Black embossing powder. I heated it from underneath because I kept the powder thick, and not all of it would adhere to the VersaMark. I also added some teeny bats from the Spooky Wishes set. I also added some orange chiffon ribbon from Creative Impressions, which added a bit more shimmer to the tag. I have been making so many tags lately, that I think it wo...

Greetings! Today I am participating in Janis Woolbright's Cat Lover's Blog Hop . If you are looking for my 31 Days of Halloween post, please click HERE . I am definitely a cat lover, as I have 2 black cats of my own. But my project for this hop has a very brightly colored cat from Laurel Burch on it. You can get the Laurel Burch stamps through Stampendous. The full instructions on how to make this tag are below. Supplies: Stampendous : LBV008: A Happy Heart SSCL104 : Laurel Burch Fish Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamps DP111 : Detail Black Embossing Powder Other : Ranger: Distress Oxide Inks in Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron Imagine: VersaFine Ink in Onyx Black Sizzix: Framelets #658784 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers: 025, 027, 033, 036, 041, 042, 051, 050 Canson: Mixed Media Paper Strathmore: Smooth Bristol Paper Scrapbook Adhesives: Tape Roller Creative Impressions: Purple Chiffon Ribbon Anti-Static Powder Tool Dire...

Hello! It's Day 27 of the 31 Days of Halloween. Today I am sharing a card with another alcohol ink background. I shared a couple of those last week, but you'll see that this background looks different from the others, as you really ca't make 2 exactly the same. I used Ranger's alcohol inks in Stonewashed, Eggplant, Cornflower, and Pitch Black. The stamped image is from Stampendous, though this particular stamp is no longer offered on their web site. Sometimes you just need to break out some of the older stuff, right? This is a much bigger image that the little coffins I heat embossed on my first alcohol ink background card. I want to remind you that there are pretty strong fumes emitted when you heat the dry alcohol ink, so please be very careful, or try another technique altogether. But as I heated this (I used VersaMark with Detail White Embossing Powder), the background actually started to crack. This was really more due to the Glossy Photo paper I used, rather...

Hello! Today is Day 26 of the 31 Days of Halloween. My card today features the Haunted Tree stamp from Stampendous, cardstock, and not much else. You can get a cool card without a lot of "stuff" depending on how you use the basics, which in this case is cardstock. Below is my full tutorial on how to make this card. Supplies: Stampendous : R295 : Haunted Tree Other : My Colors Cardstock: Velvet Night, Plum, Evergreen, Grasshopper Imagine: VersaFine Ink in Onyx Black Zig Clean Color Markers: 035, 043, 044, 062, 065, 068, 075, 083, 091, 093, 096, 901 Kraft Cardstock Water Brush Heidi Swapp: Edge Distresser Canson Mixed Media Paper Scotch ATG Gun Directions: 1. Stamp the Haunted Tree with Onyx Black VersaFine on to Mixed Media Paper. 2. Color the image using the listed Zig Clean Color Markers listed. Use the water brush as desired. 3. Crop the image. 4. Use the Edge Distresser to tear up the edge of the colored image. 5. Create the card base out ...

Hello! Thanks to many of you that reached out yesterday with kind words about the loss of our cat. It is much appreciated. Today I have a card that features the Cheeky Fairy digi from The Greeting Farm. I've had her for a long time and I love using her. I colored her in September for The Daily Marker's 30 Day Coloring Challenge, so I am happy I am getting to use her now. She was colored on Mixed Media Paper with Zig Clean Color Markers. I dug out a really old foam stamp of a bat from Heidi Swapp and stamped it several times with Black Shimmer Delicata ink on my Kraft card base. Then I added droplets of Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Gold, plus irRESISTable Spray in Love Letter and Tuxedo Black. I think the fairy is afraid of those bats. Please be sure to visit the rest of the Wicked Bloggers, all listed below. Thanks for stopping by. Have a spooktacular day! Terra Black Dragon Susan LeighSBDesigns Lyneen Stampendous Stamps Lost Coast Designs/Carmen's Ve...

Hello! Today is the 24th day of the 31 Days of Halloween. Today's post isn't going to be very long, as to be honest...my heart hurts. One of my mom's cats passed yesterday, and I am taking it pretty badly. I have been writing many of my posts well before hand, but today's I didn't, and my heart just isn't in it. I used the Rose Skull Stencil from Stampendous to pull together a quick card. I sprayed (rather vigorously) the one side of the stencil with Metallic Orange Memories Mist, with Rose Bud, Lilac Posies, and a touch of Tuxedo Black Fireworks! Spray from Imagine. Then I flipped it over on to my Mixed Media Paper and pressed it down. You can see the shimmer in the photo above. After it was dry (even though I smudged a part by one of the eyes), I tore the edges around the image. Then I flicked it with a Black Mister from DecoArt Media to get the droplets. I added some beautiful washi tape from Queen & Co. by adhering it to a black card base. Then ...

Greetings! It's time for Day 23 of the 31 Days of Halloween. Today, I am sharing a card that uses a beautiful moon stamp from Altenew , and a fabulous tree stencil from Stampendous. I started off by stamping the layers of the moon on to my white cardstock. I used Cement VersaColor , London Fog Memento , and Gray Flannel Memento ; all from Imagine. I then cut out a mask of the moon and temporarily adhered it directly on top of the stamped moon. Using Faded Jeans, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet, and Seedless Preserves Distress Oxides, I inked the entire background with my Ink Blending Tools. Next I took the Bare Trees Stencil and I sprayed it thoroughly with Sheer Shimmer Frost. I felt that it didn't have quite the effect that I wanted because it was light, so I then sprayed the stencil again with Tuxedo Black Fireworks! Spray . I verrrrrry carefully placed the stencil back down on to my cardstock and let it sit for a minute. I really liked the end result this time, as some of...

Greetings, my Ghouls! Today is the 22nd day of the 31 Days of Halloween. I've got a tag to share, using Stampendous' Halloween Labels Cling and Die Set . I used a manila tag and inked it with some Black Shimmer and Champagne Delicata Inks . The skeleton tag was colored with Zig Clean Color Markers. The sentiment is from the same Halloween Labels set. I really wanted some texture on the tag, so I used some Hot Lime Fragments , adhered with On Point Glue from Imagine . I also added some Nuvo Crystal Drops in Crushed Grape. It added just enough shine to go with the shimmer of the Delicata Inks. A whole lot of twine was the finishing touch. Please be sure to visit the rest of the Wicked Bloggers, all listed below. Thanks for stopping by. Have a creeptastic day! Terra Black Dragon Susan LeighSBDesigns Lyneen Stampendous Stamps Lost Coast Designs/Carmen's Veranda Tee Alison  (that's me!) Sarah Nan Airless Chambers Jessica Kat Shel...

Greetings! Can you believe there are only 10 days left to the 31 Days of Halloween? Today I've got another card with an alcohol ink background. Admittedly, I made a whole bunch of these at once, so I will have one more of these backgrounds to share at a later date. What I love about them is how very different they can look from each other, even if you are using the same colors. I thought this particular background looked very much like a sky, so I really wanted to use this older stamp from Stampendous . It's not available on the Stampendous web site any longer, but they do offer lots of other stamps that you can use to get a look similar to this one. As in my post yesterday, I used Ranger's Alcohol Inks to create this background. I used Stonewashed, Eggplant, Cornflower, and Pitch Black on Epson Glossy Photo Paper. I blended the colors with Ranger's Blending Solution. Forgive the glare of my light in the photo above, but I wanted you to see the magnificent shimm...

Hello! It's Day 20 of the 31 Days of Halloween. My card today was inspired by Jennifer McGuire. Do you watch her YouTube videos? She is just so clever and inspiring. So she posted a video the other day about using alcohol inks as backgrounds for cards. I've done this before, but not for some time so I was excited to do it again. I created this background on Glossy Photo Paper from Epson. I used alcohol inks from Ranger in the colors Black Soot, Eggplant, Cornflower and     . I dripped the colors on the paper and used Ranger's Blending Solution to move the color around. After that, I broke out a coffin from Bombshell Stamps and inked it up with VersaMark ink. I used Detail White Embossing Powder on the coffins. If you try this yourself, I highly recommend using small images that can melt quickly. You don't want to heat up those inks....they emit quite an odor that I am sure isn't very good to breathe in. I used one of Stampendous' new border dies on the...