Spread Your Wings

Hi Bloggers, I am back this week with much to share.  Some of you may have wondered why I did not post last week.  Well, I was traveling for work and had limited access to the Internet. However, I did take the opportunity to spread my wings in the area of stamping techniques through the wonderful world of videos that I downloaded before I left.  I was so inspired when I returned home that I made 13 cards over two days and about 20 focal pieces for future cards. This "spread your wings and fly" card is an example of a few of the techniques I learned.  The flowers are created to give a "fog" or "frozen" feeling. Using pigment ink (because it takes longer to dry) and doing one color at a time, I stamped the flower and then immediately stamped over it again in pigment white.  Taking my finger, I blended the white ink into the colored ink to give it a hazy/foggy look.  This could be used to reflect temperature or winter scenes, morning dew, or provide a soft pastel.

For the butterfly, I practiced using distress inks as a painting media.  I had not realized that distress inks reacted so well with water.  I embossed the butterfly in black to hold the color in place. Then, I stamped distress ink onto a craft sheet and misted each color with a little water.  The water reacted on the ink like water color paint so I was able to use a paint brush and fill in the wings. It made a much more realistic look then when I use markers or even aqua pencils. To give the butterfly depth, I inked only the antennae and body of the stamp in black and stamped it near the red flower where I thought it would look best.  I then cut out the embossed and painted piece, bent up the wings, and glued on the body portion to the stamped image of the same area I had already made on the card. This gave the butterfly the illusion of fluttering on the flower. A neat way to add animation to a static image.  Finally, I stamped the verse especially for my daughter who is just loving her first months in college.

As I looked back on the days immersed in videos and card making, I realized that it was wonderful to spread my wings and try something new and creative.  As survivor, I thank God every day for the gift of life and I do not want to waste any of the extra precious moments given me. But, in my rush to make every moment count, sometimes I forget that filling up every minute is not the same as fulfilling every minute. Learning something fun and new was a happy reminder.  So, I encourage all of you to spread your wings and SOAR.  Blessings and thanksgiving,  Jeannette