Sunday, September 29, 2019

Guest Designer with Brutus Monroe ~ Fluttering Butterflies

Hello again, friends!

Bobbie Sue here. I am so excited to be guest designing with Brutus Monroe this month.

I've made a couple of cards showcasing Brutus Monroe's gorgeous "Flutter" stamp! I recently received this stamp and am so impressed with the amazing detail of the butterflies! When you have detail this crisp you can create without color and still get that WOW factor!

I love big cards! And I can not lie. It's true! 4 x 9.25 cards are beautiful! (They use a #10 envelope.)

I am crazy about this card! I know. I used color. But only to splatter with! Look how gorgeous those butterflies are in black and white!





Stamping the butterflies was very tricky as there are only 3 per side. I wanted them to trail along the entire length of my card, so lots of finagling was had! Since all the ends of the butterflies are cut off I knew I would have to do some added drawing for the butterflies to line up as one continuous stamp. It worked out much easier than I had thought!

Steps to create this card:
  1. First I cut a 4 x 9.25 panel using Bristol Smooth.
  2. Then, I stamped a side of the stamp that would easily flow with another side of the stamp and masking of parts I didn't want to ink. Now I needed to line up another side and mask off parts of the image I didn't want to ink. I left a small gap between the end of my first line of butterflies and the beginning of my second. This allowed me to draw the missing parts so that it would flow.
  3. Once my butterfly trail was stamped and connected, I added a shadow around each one using a medium gray Zig marker blending out to fade with a Zig clear blending pen.
  4. Next, I stamped the Hello from Sharon's Script stamp set directly to my card panel.
  5. Then, I placed the hello stamp back over the sentiment so that when I splattered my copper/gold the color would not get on or directly around word. I did, however, remove it when I splattered the black.
  6. Once dried I attached the panel to the #10 card base, made from black cardstock, using Tombow permanent adhesive. Cutting approximately an 1/8 in from around the panel so that it would have a slight black border.
This card proved to be a challenge, but I learned some things along the way and I love the result!

*************************************************************************

On this next card I stamped 1/4 of the stamp on one side and 1/4 of the stamp on the other. The full image measures 5.5 x 5.5, but I wanted my card to be 4.75 x 5. I was not concerned with the middle part not lining up since I was adding the sentiment on a strip in the middle. The top middle panel is popped up with Brutus Monroe foam tape. This tape gives the perfect height when wanting dimension from one layer to the other.


I absolutely love this gold on black embossed panel! I love Brutus Monroe's Gilded embossing powder. It is the most gorgeous gold!


If you have not purchased this background stamp, I encourage you to. There are so many creative possibilities in using it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the techniques I used! Which card is your favorite? Mine is definitely the first card!

Thanks for spending this time with me, looking at my makes and enjoying my blog!


I would truly love to connect with you! You can find me on Facebook here, Instagram here and my blog here.

See you soon, friends!

Be blessed,

Bobbie Sue



Monday, September 23, 2019

Guest Designer with Brutus Monroe ~ Paper Cranes take flight.


Hello, friends!

Bobbie Sue, here! I am so happy to be with you as a guest designer with Brutus Monroe.

I'm incredibly excited to share todays card with you. The stamp set I used is one of the most delicate and beautiful images I have ever worked with. As a matter of fact, this stamp set is so versatile it can be used for ANY occasion.

The card below showcases the beautiful Paper Cranes stamp set. I am just smitten with this entire stamp design! I would love to see your makes using this set.

When I first received this set I had so many thoughts of how to use these amazing cranes. I am quite happy with this layout and eager to create using this set again!

This card was so quick to make that I plan to make a few more to have in my stash.


Here are the steps in making this card:
  1. I double stamped the cluster of cranes onto a beautifully colored piece of DSP cut slightly smaller than an A2 panel.
  2. Then, I stamped the 4 single cranes onto a scrap piece of Canson XL watercolor paper and colored them with a Zig marker in beige. I love blending out color with a lighter version of the main color. In this case, I blended out the beige with a Zig marker in vanilla.
  3. Again, I let my trusty Scan n Cut do the fussy cutting for me. (I've not the patience nor the skill to fussy cut small images.) I popped up the cut out cranes on the panel using foam squares.
  4. Next, I attached the panel to an A2 card base using Brutus Monroe's mega roll of white foam tape.
  5. Lastly, I stamped the Miss You sentiment (from Sharon's Script) onto a scrap piece of white cardstock and attached it using foam strips.
Long after I finished this card I decided it was missing something that would give it more life. So, I covered the peeking panel, 2 of the cranes & the sentiment and splattered gold paint. I absolutely love the finished look this gave!


Look closely and you can see the shadow I added to the cranes using a Zig marker in light gray. I love how it gives the "in flight" effect. 



I am so happy to have had the opportunity to spend this day with you on the Brutus Monroe blog! I would love to hear your thoughts on this card and stamp set. Please, comment below. I read each comment with a smile.
I would truly love to connect with you! You can find me on Facebook here, Instagram here and my blog here.

See you again soon, friends!

Be blessed,

Bobbie Sue


Saturday, September 7, 2019

September Friends of Unity Blog Hop ~ Autumn Colors

Hello, friends! And welcome to our Friends of Unity September Blog Hop!

This months cue is all about Autumn Colors. There is something so magical about all the various colors of Autumn. So rich and vibrant! So enchanting and inviting! I am ready, as I know you are!

I thought pumpkin and leaves would be perfect for this months cards. If we were living at our Arkansas farm I would have pumpkins everywhere and I would never rake my leaves. Unless, of course it was for the grandbabies to jump in. :)


Help us in warmly welcoming Dawn Bryson and Alaine Tanner to our FOU faimly! So so happy and excited to have them as part of our team!

This first card is using Angie Blom's Pumpkin Patch Border. I truly stretched my coloring on this one by using a light blue on some of the pumpkins. I absolutely love the result! I honestly think this is one of my absolute favorite colorings I've ever done.




I used Stampin Up's Stampin Write brush pens. A friend from church graciously gave them to me and Oh how I love them! There is a beautiful blue grey that I colored the blue pumpkins with. Often I will use that color to shade also. Do you shade around your images to make them pop? I especially love to on all of the cluster borders that Angie creates.


 This next card was honestly a last minute decision. And by last minute I mean, last night. Ha.
It wasn't the vision I had, but I like it. The corner cut was inspired by a card Julissa had made recently. (What an amazing talent she is.)

 This leaf, from the set Obsessively GratefuI, is perfect for repeat stamping. I love everything Graciellie Designs creates and this one is no exception.

 I love all the colors of fall, but green is definitely my favorite. Especially olive green like the paper under the panel.


I'm obsessed with all the splatters! It is so fun to splatter various colors and see how they'll fall. My husband was changing the bulb in my ceiling fan and noticed my splatter box. He was clueless and quite confused about what I have been doing. Haha. I think he assumes I'm a messy painter. Lol

 We all need to share photos of our splatter boxes! Oh my gosh that would be awesome!

 Here are the details in creating this card:

  1. First, I repeat stamped the leaf onto an A2 size piece of Bristol Smooth and loosely watercolored them with Altenew watercolors.
  2.  After the watercolor dried I splattered the panel with various Picket Fence liquid watercolors drying with my heat gun after each color.
  3. Once the splatters dried I ran the panel through my Gemini with a scallop edge border die from MFT. I also had a piece of the olive green cardstock underneath so that I could use the cut off as shown.
  4. The sentiment from the set Sweetness is heat embossed in black onto a piece of vellum. (Although it looks brown in this light photo.) I wrapped it around the top panel securing to the back with scotch tape.
  5. I popped the panel up onto an A2 card base using an 1/8 in foam tape by Brutus Monroe. The green cardstock is also popped up, but using the smaller 1/16 in foam tape, also by Brutus Monroe.

When I held my last card class I made up several of these heat embossed sentiments on vellum. It is so nice to have them in my stash when I am pressed for time!

Do you see the beautifully embossed floral in the green cardstock? I bought this paper pack long ago from Michaels and absolutely love the different designs on each piece. I wish I could recall the name of the pack. I've not been able to find it since.

If I may, I'd love to invite you to follow my blog.
There is a "follow" button up a bit and to the right. --->
Not the follow by email, it's up just a bit from it. Thank you so much!
It brings me so much joy sharing my thoughts and creations with all of you!

As always~

Thanks for spending time with me today!

Until next time~

Be blessed, friends!

Bobbie Sue

I hope you have a chance to visit each blog. I know they are all equally as wonderful and unique!  If you've not, please see the blog hop list at the bottom of this post and prepare to be inspired!

There are some pretty awesome giveaways with this hop! Including one from myself! Be sure you comment on EACH blog post to be entered in the drawing.
Speaking of winners! Congratulations to Cindy Trudeau from my August blog! Cindy, thank you for such a sweet comment. :) Please contact me within 2 weeks for your wonderful prize!

 This months winners will be announced during next months blog hop!
(I have a feeling you will comment anyway as a way of support and admiration to the artists.)

Friends, please know that our hops are not sponsored. (Although, I know Unity Stamp Co. lovingly approves) Because your support is so valuable and so appreciated, prizes are given from the creators own private stash of Unity stamps.
The hop started with
Robyn
Dawn B.
Alaine
Kim
Dawn F.
Joyce
Jeanie
You are here! 
ME
I'm the final blog on the hop, but I hope you'll go back and visit all you may have missed!

Forgive any grammar mistakes you may find. However, I am always open to friendly and constructive criticism or correction. Please know, I write my blog out of absolute enjoyment and do not stress over possible minor errors within. I appreciate you, friends!