Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Gettin' Inky!

Would you believe I sat down with a piece of plain white cardstock? Well, it was Papertrey Ink's white cardstock, so it was thick enough to hold up to some heavy inking and a little paint! But, just look how colorful white can be!

I cannot tell you just how much I love getting inky. I've been asked how I get so much on my hands or would I like gloves on more than one occasion, but truth be told, I want the ink and the paint on my hands! Looking down and seeing colorful fingers reminds me that I found time to play. And like the rush that I get when zooming down Splash Mountain, landing with giddy fits of laughter or whizzing around inside Space Mountain at Disneyland, feeling the air rush through my hair, grinning ear to ear the whole ride, I feel like a kidlet at play seeing the colors marking my hands. So, ink on, I say!!!

Now, back to how I obtained those inky & painted hands! Starting with a piece of white cardstock, I inked it up, first with the yellow, blending in the red, then two shades of purple. A light wash of yellow pearlescent paint went over the bottom yellow portion for just a hint of glimmer. Next, I moved to my tree. I grabbed some sheets of Grungeboard that the fantastic Tim Holtz has given us, drew (I so cannot draw, so I did my best!) a shape on the back of the sheet, and cut it out. Did you know that Stampin' Up!'s Craft & Rubber scissors cut grungeboard easy as pie!!! Large chunks, small slivers, it really doesn't matter. Now that we're not using them for rubber so much, its nice to know they won't sit neglected and lonely in my tool bag! Okay, back to the tree....when I achieved the shape I wanted, I painted on a coat of silver pearlescent paint, then a coat of black acrylic paint. I began sanding the grungeboard and did not love the effect I was getting, so I backed off to a really light sand and liked the amount of the silver pearlescent paint that was showing through. With one more really light coat of the silver, following with a clean, slightly damp brush (to make sure the final coat was indeed light and allowing a lot of the black to show through) my tree was finished and back to my background, I went.

Using India Ink, I inked the edges, all the way around in black. Next I stamped some swirls up in the night sky and some foliage on the ground below. A night sky is in need of some sparkling stars to twinkle and shine above, so on they went. I used a combination of my ATG and Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive to glue my tree to my background and then matted it on Pure Poppy cardstock before putting the whole thing on to a True Black card base. And voila!


My little Princess, who is oh so girly, but can keep up with almost any boy is starting to get into all kinds of crafty goodness..................and I love it! She has a coloring printout of Disney Princess Jasmine that she has colored and intensely worked on cutting into the edges of it with my neglected decorative scissors and every time she sits down to work on it, she says, "Mama, I'm going to work on my 'Project'." It doesn't look like much when I read it in text here, but I hear her oh so cute voice saying it that just tickles me to no end!

When I inked up the cardstock with the yellow, red, and purples, she got so excited. She obviously had great plans. "Mama, you can put some pink on it and see?! Glitter!!", she says as she picks up the industrial sized Martha Stewart garnet glitter off of my table. When she got up the next morning, there was utter disappointment on her face and in her voice when she saw the black, inked on the edges. "Do you like it?", I asked. "Um, no." She doesn't hold back, "You can put pink on it! Mama, I tawt you were gonna put sparkle on it?!" Its more of a demand than a question. She's mildly satisfied with my end product, but does insist that the stars should be on the tree, rather than in the sky.

My craft desk is in our bedroom (thank you kind, tolerant hubby!), but I've been crafting in the living room lately (again, thank you kind, tolerant hubby!). Consequently, my creative process almost always involves my kidlets. So, I suppose my daughter would really appreciate seeing something sparkly and pink soon and my son would love it if those Star Trek stamps that I have from fifteen years ago would come out and make their way on to something for him. But, first I better get my act together and make some Father's Day cards....asap!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy, True Black - Papertrey Ink
Ink: YoYo Yellow, Real Red, Lovely Lilac, Elegant Eggplant Classic Inks - Stampin' Up!; India Ink Black - Stewart Superior
Stamps: Bronc Buster, Pocket Silhouettes - Stampin' Up!
Paints: Black - Delta Ceramcoat; Yellow & Silver Pealescent Paints - Yasutomo
Embellishments: Grungeboard - Tim Holtz; Clear bling - Bling It On by Lisa Bearnson

25 comments:

  1. Me LOVES an inky Karen! An inky Karen is a happy Karen and a HAPPY KAREN is fun! I LOVE this, little girl! Victoria is just going to have to let you have YOUR creative side and SHE can have hers! Tee Hee This ROCKS! Great to see that TH tree put to such fabulous use! GREAT, GREAT inky job!

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  2. Absolutely stunning! I love your description of the process and your daughter is priceless. I agree with you that there's nothing like whipping around space mountain and I adore paint and ink on my hands. The way you made that tree out of a hunk of grungeboard is fantastic. You draw very well.

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  3. LOVE this project! It's gorgeous! I bet your daughter is tons of fun. Maybe you can post one of her projects soon...

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  4. Hi, Karen! I like getting my fingers all inky and painty, too. It is so satisfying! This card is beautiful! I love the sunset effect, the swirls in the sky, and the shining stars. Gorgeous! :-)

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  5. omg Karen, this looks like something I would buy in a boutique. It's beautiful! Inks and me, noooo way!!! You've definitely got some talent girl!!!!!!!!! xoxo

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  6. awesome!! bravo! I love it!! your background rocks, the whole project does. It was a joy to read your description, just like reading a story.
    :)

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  7. Ohhh! So dramatic with the tree and the color background and of course I am drawn to your swirly and sparkley night sky! This looks like a fun time was had!! Love your multi-layered grungeboard distressing on your FABULOUS tree!

    and totally giggling about your little V's need for pink sparkle on pretty much everything! :)

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  8. Hi Karen! Gotta tell ya, Girl, I did a double take when I saw this. It is amazing! I am such an artist at heart...not so much with the artistic talent...and this is FAB-U-LOUS!!! Can't believe you created that with ink! And I LOVE that your little princess is following in Mommy's foot steps! How awesome! Thanks for stopping by and saying hi! It was great seeing that I had a new visitor! I love getting to meet new blog friends so I will be following your from here on out! :)

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  9. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog ;o) You have some beautifil creations on here and I love the latest with the black tree against all those gorgeous colours! xx

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  10. Wow, I love the effect of this inky background you've created.

    Thanks for the lovely comment you left on my blog.

    Hugs
    Penni
    X

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  11. Wow love that! what a lovely sunset look. Do you submit your stuff for publication? VSN has a call for brayerd background and you can email photos too. here are the details on the call: http://www.vampstampnews.com/art.html look on the right hand sidebar. They will mail you a free copy of the mag and a small um stamp if it is picked. PS take the card off your blog before you submit it;) I will be making a card for this call as well!
    Best,
    Lindsay

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  12. Hi Karen!
    Thanks for visiting me today. I loved reading all about your inky hands(I totally agree with you on that one!) and your card is beautiful. Your daughter sounds so sweet-it made me laugh to read about her comments on Mummy's work! Go on-make a pink sparkly one and a star trek one for your son!

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  13. OMGosh
    this is super cute and
    creative !!!
    the colors blend so nicely
    and i like the addition of sparkly things
    :)
    beautiful!

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  14. This came out just amazing! I love the colors and the feel of it. So nice to hear how much you enjoy including your kids:) Thanks for visiting my blog too! Hope you come back:)

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  15. Yes, you sure did get inky! What a beautiful background! I never would have thought to use swirls in the sky! Love the bling, too!

    Now, get busy with some pink and glitter! LOL You DD is so cute!

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  16. very striking colors! i agree with you on getting your hands dirty -it's so much fun and you really feel like you are creating something - nice work!

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  17. Thanks for visiting me at fra(a)iing! I love your fairy tree and how your little girl gets involved in your art. Kids know exactly what they want, don't they? And they are not afraid to state their demands! (PS Crocheting is so easy - just look up a lesson on the Net. I've started sewing my scarf together tonight, but it is going sloooowly and I'm so impatient!)

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  18. Wow! This is an awesome creation. Gorgeous background and what a fresh, fun design.

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  19. This is beautiful!
    Blessings, peace, and love to you,
    ~Tonya

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  20. Hey Karen.....I came to your blog this morning to THANK YOU for your very sweet comments on my blog!!!! I MUST say however...GIRL, your card is GOOOOOOORRRRGGGEEEOOOOUUUUSSSSS....glitter or NOT...LOL You've done a phenominal job on this card and isn't it fun getting our fingers inky!!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SWEET COMMENTS on my blog, btw!!! Have a blessed day...Penny Duncan

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  21. What incredibly vibrant colors you acheived with your background.

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  22. Ooh so you have the inky bug too!!
    This is AMAZING Karen, the colours are all blended to perfection and WOW have you chosen some beautiful colours!
    A work of art, I just love it,
    Love Sarita xx

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  23. I love this card! All the stamping and bright colors and stars are so happy! I'm sure you're daughter will get into it just like you all in time! :)

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  24. Really amazing, Karen!

    Thank you for visiting my blog. I'm happy to discover yours! :-)

    Karen, The little white circles on my layout are done with Uniball Signo gel pen.

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