Altered Dominoes

I made a few altered dominoes to add to RAKs. They're really fun to make.
The colors are actually brighter than seen in the photos.

Ingredients:
Dominoes
Ranger's Alcohol ink in various colors, regular and metallic
Alcohol Blending Solution
Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator
StazOn ink - Black Jet, Saddle Brown
Tim Holtz clear and cling stamps: French Market (ART, swirl), Tattered Sparrow (bird)
Ranger's Glossy Accents

I started by coloring the dominoes with Ranger's Alcohol ink in various colors, regular and metallic.
I stamped TH stamps on the colored dominoes with black StazOn ink and covered them with a thick layer of Glossy Accents to create a transparent glazing.
I gave the sides of the dominoes a Vintage look using Saddle Brown StazOn ink.

(You can enlarge each photo by clicking on it)
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Spring Is In The Air CD

This is the 5th project I made this week as Card Captain of the enjoyMichaelStrongstamps Yahoo Group.
Today's project is a Spring CD with transparent motifs.
Like spring, it is light and transparent, colorful yet elusive, to remind us that flowers and butterflies are nature's masterpieces.

Ingredients:
Transparent CD, found at the top of a regular CD box
Ranger's Alcohol ink in various colors, regular and metallic
Alcohol Blending Solution
Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator
A transparency sheet
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Butterfly stamp (large)
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower stamp (large)
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Leaves stamp (small)
Stazon ink - Black Jet
TH scissors
Turquoise blings in various sizes
Ranger's Glossy Accents

I started by coloring the transparent CD with Ranger's Alcohol ink in various colors, regular and metallic.
You can see a tutorial demonstrating how to use Ranger's Alcohol ink here.
I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonné Butterfly, Flower and Leaves on a transparency sheet with Black Stazon ink.
I cut them carefully using TH scissors.
I adhered the transparent stamped images on the colored CD using just a few drops of Glossy Accents.
I wanted the transparent stamped images to be in contrast with the colored CD, so I stamped them with black ink and left them uncolored, yet they seem colorful with the CD for their background.
I left the butterfly half flying in the air, not attached to anything, as a symbol of freedom - and also to remind you that some days are still colorless… spring isn't here yet.
I added turquoise blings all over for extra glam.

Transparent items are tricky when it comes to taking their photos, as they tend to reflect the light.
I hope you can still see the colors well, and even the butterfly's shade on the white background underneath it.

(You can enlarge each photo by clicking on it)
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

The Secret Of Life Gothic Arch

As this is the 4th day this week as Card Captain of the enjoyMichaelStrongstamps Yahoo Group and it's Technique Thursday, I decided not to show you a card but something rather different.
I hope you'll find it inspiring.
I made this Gothic Arch using quite a few techniques and incorporating several products, including recycled items.
It's a multi-stage project, so there are many details and photos.

Ingredients:
Cardboard
Patterned paper - Far East by DCWV
Original Chinese newspaper (recycled)
Mod Podge
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - turquoise
Blue pigment ink
Plain turquoise paper
Black marker
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Butterfly stamp (large)
StazOn ink - Black Jet
Transparency sheet
Canvas textured black CS
Embossing ink
Mixed colors EP
Tim Holtz clear stamps: Flights of Fancy (bird, butterflies), Urban Grunge (crown), Life's Possibilities (word stamp)
Double sided tape
Crop-A-Dile
Satin ribbons – turquoise and black

The outer side
First, I cut the Gothic Arch out of cardboard. You can find the template here.
I cut 2 Gothic Arches, one was left as it is (that's unit 1) and the other one was cut vertically into 2 wins (that's unit 2).
I adhered the DCWV Far East CS on the front side of unit 2 and on the back side of unit 1, and cut off the CS so it was exactly the cardboard's size.
I used Mod Podge for adhering it.
I distressed all the edges of these parts with blue pigment ink.

The inner side
For the inside's background I used a recycled original Chinese newspaper to create a collage of pieces, words and photos all mixed together.
After I covered all the inner parts with the newspaper, using Mod Podge underneath and also on top of the paper pieces, I sprayed it randomly with turquoise Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and let it drip a bit for a messy look.
I wrote the text The Secret of Life Is… Trying to Find Inner Peace on plain turquoise paper, cut it with scissors into pieces and glued each word separately, inside and outside.

I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonné Butterfly stamp on black textured CS (for contrast), then heat embossed it with mixed EP.
I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonné Butterfly stamp again, this time with black StazOn ink on a transparency sheet.
I cut both butterflies carefully using TH scissors (yes, the antennas too).
I glued the embossed butterfly on the back side.
I glued the transparent butterfly inside, using double sided tape to adhere only the butterfly's body. You can see me holding its wings, as they aren't attached to anything.

I stamped TH stamps with black StazOn ink wherever they seemed to fit, trying not to overload my project with images.

I punched holes on both sides using the Crop-A-Dile.
I tied turquoise and black satin ribbons to attach all the units together.

You can see the Gothic Arch vertically, too, back and front.
You can (and I think you should) enlarge each photo by clicking on it.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Michael Strong 15 Challenge Card & a Giveaway Alert

Here is my card for the 15 challenge at enjoyMichaelStrongstamps Yahoo Group
The challenge requires to create a card with exactly 15 elements - no more, no less - and to use any Michael Strong's stamp (the card's basis doesn't count as one of the 15 elements).
When I read the challenge's requirements, the idea popped into my head right away.
I just love Michael Strong's stamps, as you could have noticed.
And what's the symbol of love? A heart, of course.
So I created the main motif - a heart made of flowers.
There are 14 flowers, and the heart itself is the 15th element.
It may seem very simple but it required some work.
I like its minimalist, clean look, as it enables to focus on the main motif.
Don't forget, sometimes less is more…

Ingredients:
Light blue leather textured CS for the card's basis
Red leather textured CS
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower Stamp (small)
Stazon ink - Black
Double sided foam tape

The heart
I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower on red leather textured CS with black Stazon ink, 14 times.
I cut out 14 identical flowers, using TH scissors.
I arranged the flowers in a heart shape, and glued them one by one directly onto the card's basis.
I glued them 3D, using double sided foam tape, for extra dimension.

Tomorrow, April 1st, is my birthday, so I'm having a little Giveaway for my readers. Stay tuned…

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed.
Have a creative day! Dorly

Gatefold Card With Inner Money Pocket

Here's the 4th card I made for this week as Card Captain of the enjoyMichaelStrongstamps Yahoo Group.
Today is Technique Thursday, so I'm going to explain how to make this card.
When creating this card I was inspired by an Israeli scrapbooking friend from Eilat. Her name is Tal Solomons (she doesn't have a blog…yet) and the basic card was her idea. I upgraded it by adding the inner money pocket.
You can put a tag in this pocket instead of money. I left enough space inside the card for writing wishes.
This card was minimally decorated, and it's also suitable for men.
It took me more time to write the explanation than to make the card… it's easy and fun to make.
You're welcome to try it. I'd be happy to see what you created.

Ingredients:
Cream leather textured CS for the card's basis (A4 size)
Basic Grey patterned paper - Boxer
Red and cream leather textured CS
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower stamp (small)
Stazon ink - Black
Clear and red blings
Double sided adhesion tape

I used one A4 sheet of cream leather textured CS to make the card's basis.
I cut it to the size of 28.5x15 cms.
I made creases and folded it into 3 exactly identical panels. The folds should be at 9.5 cms and 19 cms.
I made a diagonal cut on the right panel, starting at 4.3 cms from the top and ending at 4.7 cms from the bottom (be exact, as both panels should match).
I saved the cut-out piece to be used later as the money pocket.
Then, flapping the right panel on the left panel, I used a pencil to draw the exact line for cutting the left panel.
I cut the left panel along the line and checked that both panels flap to a nice closure.
Then I used double sided adhesion tape to attach the inner pocket (left from cutting the right panel, remember?) to the inner side of the left panel.

Here the pocket was made of the same CS as the card's basis, so it seems like an integral part of the card. To make the pocket more visible, use another paper or decorate this CS as shown on the outer panels.

I decorated the card's outer panels using Basic Grey patterned paper (Boxer), which I cut diagonally and a bit smaller than the flapping panels.
I punched regular and scalloped circles in 2 sizes (2 of each) out of red and cream leather textured CS.
I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower stamp on red leather textured CS using Stazon black ink, and cut the stamped images with scissors.
I glued the stamped flower on the circle and then on the scalloped circle twice, creating 2 identical motifs.
I attached one motif to the inner money pocket for decoration.
I attached the other motif to the outer side of the card on its right panel. It was glued in the middle of the lower diagonally cut side, only half glued to the panel and half not glued (this will close the card nicely).
Finally, I added clear and red blings for extra glam.

(You can enlarge each photo by clicking on it)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Transparent Flowers Card

Here's the 3rd card I made for this week as Card Captain of the enjoyMichaelStrongstamps Yahoo Group.

Ingredients:
Cream leather textured CS for the card's basis
Black canvas textured CS
Martha Stewart's Quilted edger punch
CI patterned paper
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower stamp (small)
Transparency sheet
Stazon ink
Velvet covered brads

I punched the black canvas textured CS using the Quilted Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page Edger (I used only the border punch).
I punched circles in 2 sizes out of the cream leather textured CS and the black canvas textured CS.
I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower stamp on a transparency sheet with Stazon ink: Teal Blue, Royal Purple and Blazing Red.
I cut each flower and attached it asymmetrically to the CS circles with velvet covered brads, each brad in the color different than the flower's.
The circles with the flowers were glued 3D for extra dimension.
(You can enlarge each photo by clicking on it)
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Spring Card

Here's the 2nd card I made for this week as Card Captain of the enjoyMichaelStrongstamps Yahoo Group.

Ingredients:
Cream CS for the card's basis
Turquoise CS, punched using Martha Stewart's Garden Trellis deep edge punch
Basic Grey patterned paper - Pheobe
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Butterfly stamp (large)
Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower stamp (large)
Black Stazon ink
Clear and red blings

I used Michael Strong's Cloisonné Butterfly stamp and Cloisonné Flower stamp, stamped each one of them with Black Stazon ink. The flower and the butterfly were hand-cut with TH scissors and glued 3D for extra dimension.

I added red and clear blings all over.

(You can enlarge each photo by clicking on it)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

NOSTALGIA Deco

Here's a new deco I made, the theme is Nostalgia and anything related goes well with it.
There are 6 empty pages in the deco and its size is 14x10 cms, small enough to be sent in a regular envelope.
Six artists are going to work in it, one page per each, and I'm sure it will look adorable when all the pages are done.
I'm going to make a few more new decos in different subjects soon, so if you're interested in working in any of them, please let me know.

For this deco's front cover I used:
A recycled photo from an advertisement
A velvet and satin checkered ribbon in shades of brown
A stamp saying "Home is where your story begins" by IO
Tim Holtz Vintage Market letters, stamped with a vintage script stamp (in Saddle Brown Stazon ink) and covered with Glossy Accents in Sepia colour for the antique looking glazing.
For this deco's back cover I used:
A large Flourish stamp by IO (in black Stazon ink)
A piece of the advertisement's paper
My personal details (covered with a piece of brown CS) were printed on the back cover, to make sure everybody knows where it should be returned to.
You can read more about Decos here

(You can enlarge each photo by clicking on it)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Oriental Fans Card

Ingredients:
canvas textured black CS
original Japanese newspaper
leather textured red CS
Michael Strong's Cloisonné small fan stamp
black Stazon ink
clear blings
Martha Stewart's border punch
Chinese metal coin
red ribbons

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Happy New Year - Spirella Card

Here's a card in bright colors, made with green and bright yellow CS, yellow and green PP from my stash, all distressed with Stazon ink, TH flourish and brads.

The main motif is a spirella with embroidery threads and the greeting says Shana Tova (Happy New Year in Hebrew), both were glued 3D for extra dimension.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Primary Colors Card

Here's a cheerful card with primary colors.
The central flower was made of folded patterned paper - the same pattern used for the background - punched out with a scalloped circle punch. Each petal was folded 4 times.

After folding all the petals I glued them to each other.

I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower stamp with Stazon ink on textured red CS for the center, and on a piece of transparency (clear acetate sheet) separately, and carefully cut them with nail scissors.
The whole flower was glued 3D for extra dimension on bright yellow textured CS.

I also used red and white CS punched with Martha Stewart's border punch, and a few brads.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

One More Seahorse Card

Here's another card with my seahorse stamp, for someone who liked it (I'm not telling who…)

I used turquoise CS, cream CS embossed through the Cuttlebug and colored with Ranger's distress ink (China Blue), and the same cream CS border punched as a wave.

I used my new I.O. seahorse stamp. The stems were colored with a light green pen and the borders were distressed using Stazon ink.

The matting paper is light gold.

The seahorse was glued 3D for extra dimension.

I added clear blings, shiny and clear as cool water drops.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Seahorse Card

I made a thank you card for my swimming coach who's leaving.
She loves anything water-related, and she has a seahorse tattoo on the back of her neck.
So I used CS in shades of blue, embossed through the Cuttlebug and colored with Ranger's distress ink (China Blue).
I used my new I.O. seahorse stamp. The stems were colored with a green pen and the borders were distressed using Stazon ink.
The Bubbles were colored using a pearly gel pen.
Both the seahorse and the Thanks pieces were glued 3D for extra dimension.
I added clear blings, which also reminded me of cool water drops.
She loved it!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Folded Card For June Card Challenge

I made this card for the Michael Strong's Yahoo group Folded Card challenge.

You can enlarge each photo by clicking on it.

The central flower was made of old book pages (a nice way to re-use them), punched out with a scalloped circle punch. Each petal was folded 4 times.

After folding all the petals I glued them to each other.

I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonné Flower stamp with Stazon ink on a transparency sheet, and carefully cut it with nail scissors.

I attached the transparent flower to the folded flower with a flocked brad.

The whole flower was glued 3D for extra dimension.

To decorate the corners I added 2 pairs of flourish die cuts made of black textured CS.

Each one of them was set in an opposite direction to create a double-flourish corner embellishment, accented with a pearl.

The purple ribbon was inserted into a piece of black CS which was punched with a simple office binder.

I also used light blue CS, a patterned paper with script from my stash, and pearls all over.

Now go figure out how many folds there are in one flower…

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly

Magnum Card For The Summer Vacation

It's my son's last summer vacation.
He's about to finish his final highschool exams (with excellent grades!) and will soon be drafted to the army.
I made him a Magnum ice cream pop card to wish him a cool vacation (well, it's very hot in Israel.)
I sent my kids to buy and eat Magnums so I can use the sticks, all in the name of art. They didn't complain at all...
Ingredients:
White, brown and kraft CS, brown Stazon ink (2 colors), VersaMark ink, TH Vintage Photo distress ink, clear EP, Cuttlebug bubbles embossing folder, Spellbinder Nestabilities Classic Scalloped Circles, a Magnum stick and a ribbon.
The stamp inside is Michael Strong's Cloisonné Circle, stamped and heat embossed with black EP. I left enough space inside for hand written wishes.

The flourishes on the back side and on the coordinating envelope are TH die cuts, distressed with ink and accented with a brown pen.
I glued the stick and the top part of the card 3D so it seems like a real ice cream pop. Looking from the side you can see the chocolate glazing.

Yummy... somebody already took a bite!
You can find the Magnum card tutorial here
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed. Have a creative day! Dorly