Tuesday's Musings

   Here we are once again for another Tuesday to share our beverage of choice and anything else we want over at Altered Book Lover where Elizabeth hosts T Stands for Tuesday. I also want to wish

  A VERY HAPPY B"EARTH"DAY TO YOU, ELIZABETH !!!

  We had an absolutely GLORIOUS weekend!! The sun shone brightly and it reached 82 F Saturday. The gas grill was thoroughly scrubbed, the grass got cut for the first time this season, the garden plot got tilled, I sat in the sun for just over an hour browsing thru magazines, and we even sat out until late with music and wine:) I hope you all had wonderful weather where you live too.

 Last week my friend LuAnn and I got together for a day of fun that included a stop at Hobby Lobby (just got some watercolor cardstock and two stencils), lunch at Panera Bread, and then the rest of the afternoon stamping up a storm!
                                                                                               


One end of the table with my green tea

another view with LuAnn's lemonade

ready, set, stamp!

some of LuAnn's papers

some of my papers

this card has 4 layers of inks and stamping

I tried to capture the shimmer of the gold Pan Pastel we used on some of the cards.

 I just had to show this pattern-isn't it gorgeous??? This stamp belongs to LuAnn and it was my favorite! It's called Ornate Floral, and the stamped dots (done with gold Pan Pastel) is Scattered Dots. All of our new "Cover a Card " series of stamps are from Impression Obsession. I made two cards and listed more of the patterns here. We saw the demo at the stamp convention the other week and fell in love with the designs and technique! I did bring some of my older stamps but we never used them-the new ones were much more fun:)

 

 This is the easy technique:

 

 Stamp your first design onto card stock using a good juicy inkpad (the Fluid Chalk inks by Clearsnap are recommended and since I always buy reinkers with my stamp pads I reinked them all before stamping). Choose another pattern if you wish and stamp over the first one with another ink color. Lastly, stamp the last pattern (this pattern should be small in scale - like dots, or lines, a more open pattern if you will) using a Versamark inkpad (Tsukineko) over top. Sponge gold (or any color you prefer-but the metallic light gold is most versatile) Pan Pastel over the card and watch the magic! That's it. You certainly can use stamps you have on hand but these  large -about 5 3/4" x 5 3/4" stamps allow you to cover a piece of equally sized card stock. Perfect for creating quick custom designs in colors you wish to use on your cards.

 

 And my last artful offering today is this journal page:

 

                                                

                                                               "Spring in Provence"

 

 This is how it began:

 

 I had taken out the decorative napkin (seen in the finished page)) which I was planning on gluing to a blank page. I just happened to set it over my opened book and loved the way it looked over this gelli plate printed deli paper. The markings that showed through really added interest-and it made me think of a Spring rain in Provence. To bring out the imagery a bit more I used a fine point black Sharpie pen and lightly sketched over the shapes on the napkin. Ahh, to really be there in the springtime...

 

 Linking to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #11 for the theme of "April Showers", and to Mix It Monthly for the theme of "city/village" .

 

 

 Have a great day, and a happy Earth Day Wednesday!

 

 " Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."      Rachel Carson