Masking Magic, Day Five

Hi! Happy Sunday!

Well, I did it. I did all five days of the Online Card Class Mask-erade in five days! I haven't been able to do homework yet for every video, but I made two cards for each of the five days which is the best way for me to have the lessons stick to the diminishing velcro lining my brain walls. And I had a lot of fun doing it! 

Okay, well, maybe I didn't prezackly make two cards every day. After class yesterday, I made one good card and then I came down with a migraine and had a lie down. While I slept Hammy made the second card. And because I need him to be happy, I'm letting him show you his card first. 

Hammy loves the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy stamps and has been dying to use this one. Don't tell Tim, but Hammy took a little bit of artistic license and made this bird a girlie bird with long eyelashes and lips. She is supposed to be Ravone (Hammy's latest crush) and he has her standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Or rather, with her back to the ocean. Okay.

It's good, right? He forgot to color the balloons before he embossed them, but there are white balloons, right? Do tell him it's good or there will be no living with him. Thank you!

In the interest of fairness, the NBUS balloons are from both Uniko's "Balloon Bash" and PTI's "Birthday Style." The vertical birthday is from Stamps by Judith.

My card.

I used a NBUS Memory Box die called "Cottage Leaf" for my embossed mask which I watercolored and splattered around, wearing my dark navy 14-year-old stained t-shirt. The "hope" sediment is die-cut from a WPlus9 die.

Challenges

• The Paper Players: Tic Tac Toe (Die Cut, Embossing, Sequins).
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

That's it. I'll take a coupla days off to give you a break, put my houses in order, and catch up on my visiting and commenting.

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I'd like to thank the very talented ladies of the Online Classes for providing clear verbal and visual communication in their outstanding video lessons. Remember, you can sign up any time and I highly recommend it!

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Enjoy your day, whatever you're doing! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor!

*Life is too short!

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Masking Magic, Day Four

Hey, hey, hey! I'm baaaaaaaack!

Yesterday we talked about briskets, so it's only natural that today we should talk about freezer paper. You knew when you bought that big roast that you were going to freeze part of it for another day. And since you tore off more than you needed for wrapping, how about we die cut some masks with it and see if that's a go.

Do you think that was the thought process of the first craftician who came up with this bright idea? I always go through that "what were they thinking" wonderment process, followed quickly by "why dinnit I think of that!"

So in yesterday's fabulous Online Card Class Mask-erade, we made masks using freezer paper. I pretty much stole CASEd the teacher's cards, except for different words and shapes and schtuff. 

Here you go:

The NBUS hugs die is from PTI. Everything else is self-exploratory. 

Except, PS, and this is true. If you've been following me for a while, you know that covering up all that white space with spritz and smatters and whacks is not my usual style. But it was really fun, so I let it fly. That's when I noticed I had on my brand new LL Bean white summer tee. That's right. Oh, yes I did. It doesn't look half bad in all these pretty colors, but it was a major brain fart on my part!

~~~

My second card (sans flicking):

I got the watercolor paper pretty wet before I added my watercolors and the masks held up great! The conversation bubble dies are from Simon Says Stamp. The NBUS sediments are from Paper Smooches (Metropolis and Word Salad) and The Alley Way Stamps (Words to Live By). The glittered enamel dots were brads, but I snipped their legs off because I didn't find them until after I'd attached the panel.

~~~

In cards, as in life, we all have fails along with successeses. Here's a panel that I heavily misted without success. I love the jewel tones, but when I did The Big Reveal, I discovered major seepage had happened under my mask.

This paper won't be a complete loss. I'll use it to make pretty word die cuts.

~~~

O Key Dough Key, off to my last day of class. Remember, it's never too late to "attend" any of the dozens of classes offered by the mega-talented ladies of the Online Card Classes! See you tamale!

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor!

*Life is too short!

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Masking Magic, Day Three

Hello!

Are you getting tired of me yet? Thank you all for your wonderful compliments on my class homework, which just encourages me to keep on creating and posting so, really, it's not my fault, it's your fault. Convulsionary logic at its best!

But, seriously, it's nice to be able to have a free week to take the class and do my homework the same day. That hasn't happened in the past, and I have found it hard to disciple myself to go back and do it at a later date. 

So, well. We really swam into the deep end of the masking pool yesterday at the Online Card Class: MASK-erade course when we tackled liquid masks. After a lunch of brisket, we used our frisket. Sorry, these things just come out of my fingertips.

First:

I realize now, looking at the monitor, that this wasn't a very good stamp to use for this masking technique because I could have just sponged my sky and then stamped the cone flowers over it in black ink. Geesh. All that work of applying the liquid mask and waiting for it to dry ... sigh.

I used bumpy watercolor paper so you can tell by the uninked white areas of the flowers that I did, in fact, use a mask or the sponged blue inks would have colored in those uninked areas of the flowers. It was good practice and I think I picked a better image for the concept on my second card.

Anywhizzle, for this card, the pretty metallic raspberry paper is from a DCWV pack. The cone flower is from SU ("Inspired by Nature") inked in Archival black on Ranger watercolor paper and the background was sponged with DIs. Water droplets were smattered about. Although it doesn't show well, I also sprayed a fine white mist all over.

In the masked area, I stamped the NBUS sediment from The Stamps of Life "Umbrella4you" set. I covered the cone flower with Modge Podge and added some rain stones to complete the front.

It kinda looks like creepy fingers in the closeup to show you the sparkle. You'll have to use that awesome imagination of yours to add some creepy dramatic music right now.

Here is the inside with the continuation of the sediment:

Challenges

• Shopping Our Stash: Play misty for me.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes.

~~~

Speaking of friends, I'd like to wish my friend Ardyth (of "Maskerade!") a very happy birthday today and many, many more!

Enjoy your special day!! MWAH!

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My second card:

This card gives you a better idea of how amazing liquid masks can be for doing watercolor washes across the whole front of your card in smooth stroke lines, rather than painting up to and around an image. Not to mention that a paper mask would get soaked and allow for seepage. Ew, seepage.

Again I spattered water and white. You can better see the white droplets on this card. The stamp is "Jumbo Poinsettia" by Stampendous. The "Vertical Merry Christmas" is by Paper Inspirations. You may not be able to see that the center pips of the poinsettia are plumped up with Modge Podge.

Challenges

• Rudolph Day Challenge: Anything goes, Christmas.
• Christmas Card Challenges: Anything goes, Christmas.

~~~

I'm off to class, skipping to "a tiskit, a brisket, a green and yellow frisket!"

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor!


*Life is too short!

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Masking Magic, Day Two

Hi Ladies and Gentlemens!

Sorry I'm late. I had a dentist appointment and just couldn't get my photos finished before I had to leaf. Here is my homework from yesterday's Mask-erade class, which was AWEmazing. 

First:

I cut a mask using one of the feather dies in the Papertrey Ink "Feather Finery" set. In the negative space I stamped and heat embossed the SU background script stamp "En Francais" in white. Putting the positive mask back over the embossed feather, I sponged the background with DIs.

I finished the design by attaching a smaller feather from the set, a "love" die cut from Winnie & Walter, and some sequints. Shazambam!

The timing for this inspiration was perfect as I needed a wedding card for my friend Judy. She is getting married for the very first time after reconnecting with a classmate at their 50th high school reunion! He has never married either! I'm really tickled pink for them! They are going all out with "blushing bride" pink colors and the groom has arranged to have swans on the lake at the Country Club because she is the "feather in his cap!" (It's a bit quaint since woman no longer want to be bagged like prey, which is the origin of the expression, but we'll just keep that between us.) 

Challenges

• City Crafters: Sequins.
• Pixie's Snippets Playground
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

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My second card:

Can you see that for the mask on this card, I used a butterfly die from My Favorite Things? In the negative space, I stamped a series of small flowers and leaves from Rubber Stamping Tapestry. I really love the concept of this, especially when it comes to keeping a card to one or two layers.

I attached a lilac doily which was a gift from my friend Taunya (thank you!), ribbon from SU, and a NBUS sediment from Neat and Tangled called "Kindness Matters."

Challenges

• Butterfly Spot Challenge: D is for Doily.
• Inkspirational: Color challenge: Purple.
• Neat & Tangled Little Tangles Challenge: Clean and simple.
• Uniko Studio: Flowers.

The challenge links will provide you with details on rules, sponsors, and prizes.

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

Thank you for your positive thoughts yesterday. The car window motor was replaced and the new dryer is being delivered on Friday. No third shoe has dropped here yet!

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor!


*Life is too short!

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Masking Magic, Day One

Hi there! It's so lovely to see you all here today!

I've signed up for another online class, this one call "Maskerade." (Which always makes me think that my friend Ardyth is the teacher!) I recommend these classes and I always learn a lot. It's not too late to check it out and sign up.

For the first class, where we learned the basic idea of masking, I created two cards. First:

For this card, I used one of the dies from PTI's "Frilly Flowers" to create the center flower mask around which I stamped Miss Elaine Eous small flower stamps. After wards, I splattered some of my daffodil and cabana inks (watered down refill inks). The sediment is from Avery Elle, "All Squared Up." For added interest, I added score lines and I topped it off with an awesome hummingbird brad that I've been sleeping with hoarding.

Challenges

• ColourQ: Colors.
• Freshly Made Sketches: Sketch #188
• Less is More: Use Some Metal.
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes.

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Second:

I made a mask of two different size NBUS bunny stamps from October Afternoon called "Woodland Park" and inked them in the ColourQ colors since the pads were all out on my desk. I embossed the Paper Smooches hill with a Cuttlebug "branches" e/f. The sediment panel is cut from a PTI angled label die and the NBUS sediment is from Technique Tuesday. 

I wasn't sure what the heck sediment would work with this, um, interesting design so I just looked through a few of my nonbirthday/getwell/thankyou stamps until Hammy squealed and did a somersault right across the open strawberry slush ink pad. This is one of those times when I wish he wasn't invisible so you, too, could see how well that color suits him! 

Anywaze, I think he's right about the sediment since the colorful bunnies are all looking at each other and each side thinks they are brighter than the other side. The competitive nature of bunnies is only just now being studied and recognized by the Faunalogical Society.

Challenges

• Addicted to CAS
• Addicted to Stamps and More: Anything goes and DT call.
• Clean and Simple Stamping: Sketch FTL13
• ColourQ: Colors.

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So. Over the weekend, we had the heating element on the dryer crap out which, of course, I didn't know about until I went to fold the first load with another load in the queue. There I was with two loads of wets to figure out how to dry. Weren't we just talking about outdoor clothes lines the other day and how I don't have one?

And then the driver's side window in my car decided to drop down inside the door. The Mister put some plastic up to keep out the elements and critters until our appointment day. I was away at lunch at the time and he couldn't find what he was looking for, so this was his "creative" solution!

We are still waiting for the third shoe to drop since these things do tend to happen in threes!

~~~

I'm off to my second day of class. See you tomorrow!

Enjoy your day!
No, seriously, enjoy!
LITS!*

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor!

*Life is too short!

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