Power Poppy's Gerbera Daisies

A vintage look to one of my favorite flowers.  This card is for a special friend and fellow stamper who is recovering from a recent stroke.

Stampin' Up's Labels Collection largest die was used to cut out the daisies after coloring them with Copic markers.  The background around the daisies was sponged with Soft Sky and then spattered some blue and yellow reinker.  It was sponged around the edges with Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Ink. This was glued to the largest of the Spellbinders Art Deco Dies which was also colored with Copics and sponged around the edges. These were popped up on a 4-3/4" x 6-3/4" piece of white cardstock that was sponged with Scattered Straw and edged with the same colors as the others.  I also spattered this with the same reinkers.  The whole thing was glued to an A7 white card base. 

The leaves were cut using the Cottage Cuts Acanthus die as these looked the closest to daisy leaves that I had.  They were colored and sponged with the same colors as the rest of the piece, then glued down.  A few Stickles were added for a finishing touch.

Happy Fourth!
Thanks for stopping by.
Susan

Dance of the Butterflies

This wonderful butterfly garden piece, recently released by Penny Black Inc., is all one stamp. Perfect for making an elegant but quick card.

 

The "Butterfly Dance" stamp from Penny Black, Inc. is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink on GP110 white cardstock then colored with Copic markers.  I kept the color palette to mostly blue-greens with a contrast of coral-orange and a dash of green.  A few dabs of Star Dust Stickles were added that make it stand out more, although they are hard to see in the picture.

 

The main image is matted on Bermuda Bay cardstock then on the white card A7 card base. The sentiment is from the Stampin' Up! set "Simply Sketched" and is also stamped with a small portion of the large butterfly garden stamp.  It is also colored with Copics and matted on Bermuda Bay cardstock.  This is placed to match were it fits in the large picture of the garden stamp and popped up with dimensionals.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sue

 



Circle Color Burst

There is a burst of vibrant blues and greens with a tinge of purples in this colorful card with peacock feathers and a butterfly.

This card is made using an Outlines Stamps butterfly colored with Copics and cutout.  The Large and Small Circle Burst die cuts are from Memory Box, and the peacock feather dies are from Frantic Stamper and Impression Obsession.  The watercoloring behind the circle bursts is made using Ken Oliver's Color Burst and Brusho powder watercolor paints.

The feathers are also colored with Copics, then covered with VersaMark Ink and clear heat embossed. The large background is sponged with a variety of green, purple and blue Distress and Stampin' Up inks. Stickles were added to the Circle Bursts.  The watercolor background was outlined with a large black Sharpie permanent marker.  The Circle Burst piece was cut slightly smaller before gluing in place.

A lot of work, but a fun card to make.  I love all the vibrant colors that make it come alive.

Thanks for stopping by.

Susan

Beautiful Birthday Blossoms

A springtime birthday card in purples and greens.

Used Stampin' Up Birthday Blossoms to create a fresh springtime birthday card. The flowers and leaves were masked using a Post-It-Note while stamping.

Everything was colored with Copic markers including the background.  The cardstock mat is Gumball Green and Gable Green.  Purple Stickles were used for accents.

Happy Springtime - April Showers today.
Susan

Perfect Peacock in Copper

 

Another version with a different color palette of a card I did back in August of 2014.

 

http://susanshuler.blogspot.com/2014/08/perfect-peacock.html

 

This time the Stampin" Up "Perfect Peacock"  is colored using, coppery Earth and brownish orange YR Copic markers.  It is highlighted with a fine point gold Sharpie Paint Pen and copper Stickles.  The gold border is drawn with a wide tip Sharpie gold paint pen.  This is matted on black cardstock before matting on an A7 size piece of shimmer copper metallic cardstock. 

 

The feather die is from the Spellbinders Peacock Feather set.  The foliage is made from cut apart dies from Penny Black - Fresh Breeze and Memory Box - Fresh Foliage.  These were also colored with Copic markers.

 

Have a great rest of the day.

Susan

 

 

 

 

Always in My Heart

Another fun Valentine just playing around with the new Penny Black stamp sets Tweeting Love and Happy Hearts.  It turned out to be sort of a scenic collage  - something a little different for a Valentine.  The "Always" is from an old Stampin' Up! set - Always Elegant and the brick background is a Prima stamp.  The images were stamped with VersFine Onyx Black ink.  The brick background was stamped with Memento London Fog ink to give it a distant muted look.  The red is colored with Stampin' Up!'s Real Red marker and the clouds are sponged using a variety of Stampin' Up! blue-green inks and a punched scalloped circle.

The background and edges are sponged with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  The picture is matted on black cardstock, then on an A2 Bermuda Bay cardstock card base.

Thanks for looking.  Have a great rest of the week.
Susan

Field of Hearts

Just playing around with a new Penny Black stamp set Happy Hearts and an older Stampin' Up! set Valentine Defined.

Used Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp this A2 card.  Colored the images and background with Copics.  Then sponged the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink and added a few Stickles for accents.]

Thanks for stopping by.
Susan

SCACD Digital Stamps RELEASE!!!!

SCACD is celebrating 10 newly released exclusive digital stamps.  There are some new cute animal stacks - think kittens, puppies and birds, as well as some Steampunk additions and more!!!  So check out the collection as these are really cute, fun and unique.  SCACD artist Carmen Medlin and Susana collaborated on the images, and we are happy to be showcasing them to you now.

They are now available for purchase in the USA HERE.

All of our EU International Friends can purchase them HERE.

If you are a non-EU country you can purchase direct from SCACD HERE.

Today I am showcasing the fabulous new Steampunk Chrysalis digital stamp from SCACD.



 

 The image is printed on GP 110  cardstock cut to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and colored with Copic markers.   The background is also colored with Copic markers and matted first on a piece of black cardstock, then a rusty orange piece of cardstock and again a piece of black cardstock.  I used several SCACD dies to accent the piece - Dandelion Knoll Statement Corner Die, Classic Timepiece Die and Classic Corners Die set. The dies are heat embossed with a variety of metallic embossing powders and a few gears are added to the piece in keeping with the Steampunk theme for accents.  The piece was finished by framing it in a 8" x 10" plain black frame.

 

You should be going next to Roni's blog to see more of the fabulous new digital images just released at SCACD. 

 

If you want to make sure you saw all of the designers showcasing the stamps then head back to the SCACD store blog HERE for the list.

 

Please note SCACD is having a sale so check it out HERE.

 

I hope you enjoy the hop and all the great new digital images at SCACD.

Thanks for stopping by.

Susan

 

 



Feathery Owl

Love this cute little owl from Impression Obsession.  It's one of their new stamps that came out earlier this fall and one of my favs.  I made this card awhile ago and just now am getting around to posting it.

I stamped the owl, branch, wheat and moon with clouds by coloring them with SU markers and huffing on them for moisture before stamping. Then I colored in the rest with Copic Markers. Sponged the edges with Distress Walnut Stain and matted the piece on Early Espresso, Bermuda Bay and Apricot Appeal cardstock. Stickles were added to the wheat.  A few feathers were added in the upper left corner.

Stamps used:
Impression Obsession - Feathery Owl
Prickley Pear - wheat
Stampa Barbara - moon with clouds
Third Coast - tree branch

Thanks for stopping g by.
Sue

Butterfly Burst of Color

Tried using my Brusho paints for the first time.  They are fun to work and play with. 

A card for a friend.  I wanted it to be eye-catching, but also elegant with vibrant colors.

The dies are Memory Box Small and Large Circle Bursts.  Their background is Brusho on watercolor paper.  The Bamboo is from Art Impressions, stamped in Archival Black, then heat embossed with Black Sparkle and Copper embossing powder.  The bare tree is a Penny Black stamp with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink. 

The butterfly is from Outlines Rubber stamps. It is stamped in VersaFine black and colored with Copics to match the Brusho.  I fussy cut it out before popping it up with dimensionals.

The  yellow background is sponged with Rnger's Distress inks Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade and the new Fossilized Amber on the edges.

The Brusho background has a black line drawn around it with a Sharpie pen.  This was matted on Poppy Parade cardstock.  It is an A7 size card.

Have a great rest of the week.  It's the hottest day of the year so far here.  Hoping things cool off a bit.
Susan

SCACD Eclectic Sea Collection Angelfish and Coral Sunflowers

Below is the first piece I've created in sometime.  Time seems to have gotten away from me this spring and summer. 

Susana at SCACD (Susana's Custom Art and Card Design) has recently released a brand new and totally fabulous collection of red rubber stamps titled  the Eclectic Sea Collection.  The Eclectic Sea is a twist of sorts in how something land bound might be seen in the ocean, for example a Sunflower that is now a Coral Sea Flower and vice a versa. So check out the collection as these are really unique and elegant.  There are nine gorgeous stamps in the new set including the four I used below to create this fun 5" x 7" under-the-sea piece. 

The stamps I used from the collection are the Angelfish Trio set of three stamps and the smallest of the Coral Sunflower two stamp set.  Below are close-ups of the largest angelfish and part of the small coral sunflower.

 

 

The largest and midsized angelfish as well as the coral sunflowers were colored with Copic markers after stamping with VersaFine Onyx Black ink on GP110 cardstock. 

The smallest angelfish I colored directly on the stamp with different shades of brown water based markers and stamped after huffing on the stamp to moisten the ink.  I stamped it a second time without re-inking to give it a lighter tone for more dimension.  The coral sunflowers have accents of metallic gold gel pen added to them. 

The background was first colored with Copic markers, then also coloring with Copic markers, I used a new stencil I just purchased titled Wavy Stripes by Dutch Doobadoo.   The piece was finished by framing in a simple black frame.

Be sure to check out all the great new stamps at SCACD in the Eclectic Sea Collection.

Thanks for stopping by. 
Hope you have a wonderful week.
Susan

Published in RubberStampMadness - Artist Profile

Woo Hoo!!!  Exciting news!!!

The Spring 2015 Issue of RubberStampMadness arrived a few days ago.  I have been anxiously waiting for it's arrival, as there is a 5 page Artist Profile article in it with 5 of my pieces!!!

The author of the article, Melanie King, did a wonderful job conveying all of the detailed information included in it. 

 

"One of a Kind" is the featured piece in the article.

 

 

It's actually a good size piece at 8 1/2" x 6".  Fred Mullett's fabulous and fun "Swirl Fish" is stamped 3 times - the 2 outside images are popped up on either side of the center image.   Other stamps in the piece include Judikins - Funky Fish, Third Coast Rubber Stamps - coral, Inkadinkado/EkSuccess - shell swirl.  The lettering is hand drawn. 

 

Two of the pieces in the article are actually 4" x 6" postcards, so they are completely flat for mailing purposes.  They are little scenes - one of my favorite types of stamping - telling a mini story with stamps. 

 

At the Beach

 

I had fun with this piece and added a bit of subtle humor - the man in the chair looks like he's taking a nap, but he's actually checking out the pretty lady walking by.

 

"The Lady With Umbrella and Hat", the man - "Asleep on Brighton Beach", and the "Gang of Gulls" are a few of my favorite stamps from 100 Proof Press.  Other stamps used are: open umbrella, tiny grass - Art Impressions, sandpipers - Stampin' Up!, pilings with grass - Sunnyside Stamps,  sand hills and shoreline - The Stampin' Place, fence, distant gulls - Kitty Kits (Rubbernecker Stamps).

 

 Enchanted Fairy Hello

 

The focal point of this piece that I built the scene around is the cute little Elf with a flower hat from My Paper Moon Stamps.   The fairy door tree trunks are another of my favorite stamps from Lavinia  Stamps. I varied the placement of them in the back of the scene to add the feeling of depth and distance to the scene.  The other stamps used are: stone wall - Outlines Rubber Stamps, tiny pebbles - Kanban Crafts, strips of flowers - Stampendous!, grass with flowers - Magenta, larger stones - Art Impressions, all others - Crafty Secrets.

 

Up, Up and Away

 

A fun mini scene birthday card.  Love this limited edition Girlfriends Up, Up and Away stamp from Art Impressions.  The scenery, clouds and other hot air balloons are from the Stampendous! Air Scapes clear stamp set.  They work perfectly to complete the scene.

 

Last, but definitely not least is a Valentine using another of my favorite stamps from 100 Proof Press as the focal point.

 

 Comida D'Art Dancers

 

The Comida D'Art Dancers and the Small Heart Balloon stamps are both from 100 Proof Press.  The die cut heart is from Memory Box with a harlequin stencil sponged on it.  The tiny hearts embossing folder is from Stampin! Up! and the rays embossing folder is from Sizzix Tim Holtz.  The sentiments on the balloons are hand lettered and the balloon strings hand drawn.   The dancers and large heart are cut out using a technique called Images Beyond the Borders.  Stamp TV has a YouTube video explaining the technique.

 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Hope spring comes soon.  It was 20 below zero here this morning - but the springtime art work in the current Spring RubberStampMadness issue helps me to think spring till then.

Susan 

 



Holiday Village

A bit late, but I'm finally posting my Christmas card from this last December.

It's a fairly simple card to make.  The shimmer white cardstock makes it look quite elegant, but doesn't show up in the picture.

 ! used Tim Holtz On the Edge Tree Line die cut out in shimmer white cardstock and Cottage Cutz Holiday Village die in Night of Navy cardstock. These were popped up on a Night of Navy background with the Memory Box Star of Wonder also die cut in shimmer white. The rest of the stars were added with a white gel pen. Stickles were added for a finishing touch.

Thanks for stopping by.
Have a nice weekend.
Susan

Verdigris, Copper, Feathers and Flourish

A turquoise and copper card using a woodgrain background, feathers and a bit of flourish.

This card was actually made last December for a card exchange in a local stamping group I belong to, but I'm just now getting around to posting it.  It has sort of a Southwest flavor to it with the copper and turquoise color scheme.

The background is a Stampin' Up! stamp simply titled Woodgrain.  It is stamped in metallic gold Color Box ink on a piece of 3 3/8" x 5" white cardstock.. This was matted on a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of SU Bermauda Bay cardstock and finally on a 4 1/4" x 5" piece of dark brown shimmer cardstock. This was adhered to a white A2 card base.

The cross section uses Bermuda Bay, text weight metallic copper paper, then dark brown shimmer cardstock.  The button is die cut from a Stampin" Up Embosslit on metallic copper cardstock and the holes are threaded with a piece of brown twine.

The flourish die is Memory Box Gwyneth Flourish cut in copper cardstock.  It was heat embossed with copper embossing powder after randomly dabbing a VersaMark ink pad directly on the die cut.  The feathers are stamped and die cut from the Stampin' Up! Four Feather stamp set and matching Feathers Framelit dies using Bermuda Bay cardstock and copper text weight paper.  They were stamped in VersaMark ink and heat embossed in copper, Verdigris and Woven Tapestry embossing powder.

Have a great rest of the week.
Susan

Hearts and Hedgies Valentine

A Valentine filled with hearts and Penny Black Hedgies - one of my favorite Penny Black, Inc. little characters.

 

 

 

These cute little critters bringing hearts to a Valentine are from the Penny Black, Inc. transparent stamp set "every which way".  They were stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink, that was heat set, then colored with Copic markers.  A heart, cut from a Stampin' Up! embosslits die in Real Red cardstock was added at the bottom of the card.  Glossy accents was applied to all four hearts for a finishing touch.

The embossing folder is a Provo Craft Cuttlebug folder called Heart Blocks.  This was matted on Stampin' Up Real Red cardstock then on an A2 white cardstock card base.

Thanks for stopping by.
Susan

Autumn and Christmas Door Wreaths

Revised versions of a couple of door wreath cards I made a few years ago.

 

 

Memory Box Dies  - Bright Lanterns and Tiny Bow

Poppy Stamps Die - Grand Madison Door

 

Sizzix - Tim Holtz Alterations Bricked embossing folder

Martha Stewart Punches - Branch (pine) and Autumn Branch.

Misc. leaf punches, Candy Cane and Holly dollar punches

Metallic Brad and Stickles for accents

Bows and Autumn Lantern colored with Copics

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sue

Christmas Angel

A Christmas card using the Stampin' Up! colors Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay, and Cherry Cobbler.  Not your usual Christmas season color palette.  That was the challenge a while ago at our local stamping group.  This is a finalized version of what I designed.

 

 

 

As you can see in the close-up above, I used Ranger's Crackle Accents on the angel after fussy cutting her out.  She was stamped in Bermauda Bay with touches here and there of Cherry Cobbler Ink.  I also sponged Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges of her and added metallic gold where the white lines were, using a Sharpie Medium Metallic Gold Permanent Paint Pen.  She was popped up using dimensionals .

 

The background paper is Crumb Cake sponged around the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and edged with the Gold Metallic Sharpie Pen, then matted on Bermuda Bay 5 x 7 cardstock.

 

The stars are stamped in Color Box metallic gold ink and the grunge dots are Bermuda Bay Ink.

The sentiment was stamped the same way as the angel and then clear heat embossed.

 

 

Stamps used:

Stampin' Up!: Rejoicing With You - angel; Gorgeous Grunge - dots; The Sounding Joy - sentiment; Simply Stars - medium stars; Evergreen - small stars; Christmas Star - large star

PSX:  - star bottom right corner

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great day.

Susan

SCACD Steampunk Skull

This fun, very spooky Steampunk Skull is one of SCACD's (Susana's Custom Art and Card Design) fab digis Susana has for sale on her site. 

This eerie skull has a bit of a story about him.  I've been away at a semi annual scrapping/stamping retreat for four days at Trout Creek Condominiums Resort in Harbor Springs, Michigan.  A gorgeous place to stay with a fantastically friendly group and staff.  I had spent about four hours coloring all the fab details in this skull and was about to put all the pieces of the card together, when I couldn't find him anywhere.  I went through everything, the trash, stacks of paper piece by piece, all my cases of materials and my tool kit.  No sign of him anywhere. A couple of friends/fellow stampers helped me.  They also looked through everything.  I knew he had to be there, because I had just used him to measure for the piece.  After about an hour of looking, I was about to give up and start over coloring him.  All of a sudden there he was - he slid out from between two pieces of scrap paper.  Talk about eerie!! So now, after my first time at the retreat, I have a reputation for having lost my skull!

 The skull was colored with Copic markers before cutting out.  SCACD's Garden Corner dies were used in the top two corners.  SCACD's Alice's Clock die was used in the bottom left corner.  The large chain is an EK punch and the small chain is a Memory Box die.  All of the die cuts were heat embossed with gold, antique gold, brass, silver and copper embossing powders. 

The dies were glued on a scrap piece of design paper from my stash, before matting on black and then gold shimmer cardstock.  The Steampunk Skull was popped up in the center. The corners of the design paper and black cardstock were punched with a Stampin' Up ticket corner punch.

Have a great week.
Hugs,
Susan

Give Me the Chocolate!! SCACD Ecto Curiosities Digi

This cute little devilish character, Ecto, is one of SCACD's (Susana's Custom Art and Card Design) fun Curiosities Digis. 

 

 

 

Ecto was colored with Copic markers, then cut out, along with the cute sentiment that comes with this digi.  The sentiment was matted on black and bright yellow cardstock. 

I also die cut two of the SCACD Classic Corners dies and four of the SCACD Ornate Hinge dies.  The hinges made perfect flames at the base of the card.  The die cuts were also colored with Copics following the same color scheme.  The die cuts and the sentiment were all glued down on a piece of Haunted Hollow design paper I found in my stash.  Ecto was popped up so he was farther away from the background in the front, tapering to his tail, which was glued down directly on the design paper.  This gave a more dimensional effect. 

The piece was matted on black, bright yellow and orange cardstock.  Yellow Stickles were added to Ecto's spots for a finishing touch.

Have a great start to the week.
Thanks for stopping by for a look.
Susan

Reindeer Merry Christmas

A fun Christmas card using the Memory Box Grand Christmas die, some oval punches and a snowflake punch from Stampin' Up!

I used a couple of different sized oval punches and cut apart a snowflake punch to make the reindeer heads.  The noses are a regular sized hole punch in red and black with Black Enamel Accents from Ranger and Red Stickles.  I drew white lines on the black noses with a white gel pen.  The cute eye lash google eyes I found in my stash when I went hunting for the google eyes.  The design paper is from my scrap stash.  I sponged around the edges of the A2 card and the edges of the antlers with Walnut Stain Ranger Distress Ink.

Have a great rest of the day.
Thanks for stopping by.
Susan

Autumn Lanterns from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design

Fall, with it's fabulous colors, is such a wonderful time of the year for enjoying nature's bounty.  One of my favorite fall plants is the  Chinese Lantern.  The colors in the flowers are especially beautiful in the summer and the fall seed pods are such vibrant shades of orange.

Susana's Custom Art and Card Design (SCACD) has just recently posted some new digital images for sale.  There are several lovely flowers drawn by SCACD artist Carmen Medlin.   One of them is this gorgeous Chinese Lantern.

Below is a close up of the flower and seed pods.

 

 

 

 

Stamp used: SCACD Chinese Lantern digital stamp

Dies used: SCACD Nature's Tapestry Fan and Classic Corners

                  Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities - Grand Large Labels

Punch:  Stampin' Up! Ticket Corner punch



 

The image was colored with Copic markers after printing it on Georgia Pacific 110 lb. white cardstock.  After using the ticket corner punch, I sponged around the edges with Color Box Copper and Ranger Walnut Stain inks.  It was matted on a shimmer copper cardstock . 

 

A frame was created using the Grand Large Labels largest and third largest dies.  It was sponged with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Rainger Distress Ink, then popped up around the matted main image.

 

This was matted on to a piece of dark blue/green cardstock, then another piece of shimmer copper cardstock, a piece of unknown design paper in my stash and Early Espresso cardstock.

 

I used two of SCACD's dies in this piece that I thought finished it off perfectly.  I cut four of SCACD's Classic Corners and colored them with Copics E35 and E59 before gluing them in the corners.  I cut the fan from SCACD's Nature's Tapestry Fan die and also colored it with E35 and E59.  I glued this in place on the bottom corner of the frame I made.  I framed all of this in a black 8" x10" frame.

 

Be sure to go check out all the beautiful new flower and other fun digis over at SCACD.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great and color filled fall week. 

Susan