TAWS post #83 New Release Blog Hop - Rain or Shine

Hello Alley Way friends!  So glad you're hopping with us today for our latest new release! You should have arrived here via my fellow TAW teammate Marina's blog!

Today I'm featuring a set called Rain or Shine.  It's an adorable set filled with lots of images and sentiments.  Today I started by creating a background with my Kurtake Gansai Tambi watercolors.  The background is painted in the most beautiful silver paint.  It's near impossible to catch in photos but the entire background is intensely shimmery.  It's beautiful IRL.

I then stamped the background clouds with Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink and added the frontmost clouds popped up on foam dots.  I stamped them onto basic white cardstock and hand trimmed them out.  I also added the little birdies scattered around the card through the grey sky.

I added some beautiful sequins that were in an older Studio Calico kit scattered around and tucked my sentiment on the left hand side.  I took a waterproof black pen and added the ... and the . after my sentiment to ground it a little bit and not make it look as though it were dangling in the middle of space.

I matted it with black cardstock to make it pop and added it to the front of a white notecard.

Thanks so much for coming by today!  Off you go to N@Ali's blog!!

TAWS post #82 Peek Day 3 - Wispy Wishes

Hi Friends!  Meredith here bringing you my sneak peek of a gorgeous set called Wispy Wishes.  This set has beautiful flower and leaf sets that would be perfect for backgrounds or focal points depending on the colors and techniques that you would use.  Today I've been super inspired by the amazing Jennifer McGuire to create a card using seed beads.  I used a variety of Hero Arts dye inks and masked the flowers over each other.  You'll notice that I messed up on the center one but I liked how it looked so I left it.

I then took my Claudine Hellmuth Studio Matte Multi-Medium and put little dots of the glue all over my project.  I then poured some beautiful seed beads that I've had for ages all of the front of the card and let it dry overnight.  The effect is quite beautiful in real life.  I added my sentiment and a strip of glitter cardstock to ground the entire piece.  I matted it on black cardstock to make everything pop and attached the panel to a white note card.

Thanks so much for coming by today!!  I'll see you tomorrow for the new release blog hop!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #81 - For You

Hi Friends!  Popping in today using the newly released set Sweet Thing, I tried my hand at the "ink smooshing" technique once again.

I'm finding that it's definitely something that takes a little practice but it's fun each and every time.  The results are ever shifting so I struggle a bit with that.  I like to perfect a technique and know I can do it will.

This is a bit tricky but I had some new Distress Inks to play with (Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon and Abandoned Coral (swoon!)  ) so I tried again and again until I got a pattern that I liked.

I love how quick and easy a card like this can come together!

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #80 - Thinking of You

Hi Friends!  Meredith here with a VERY simple card inspired by the wonderful Jennifer McGuire.  I coated my Neenah cardstock with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.  I then took one of the awesome images from the Flower Doodles set and spritzed it a few times with my mini mister bottle which has Perfect Pearls mixed with water.  It creates a shimmery water.

I then stamped direct onto the paper with nothing but the water.  Because the Distress Inks react with water the image that's left is shimmery and subtle.  It's truly beautiful in real life as it's hard to see the shimmer in the photos.

 I then stamped my sentiment front and center from the Jibber Jabber set and added the pop of color with the heart bubble from the Spellcheck set.

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #79 - A Little Sparkle!

Good Morning Alley Way Friends!  Meredith here with a sparkly creation featuring an oh so adorable set called Tootharina.  I was in the mood to color so I pulled out a few Copic markers and set to coloring the adorable fairy.  It's been a LONG time since I've used my Copics so my technique is very basic but I like how bright and happy she looks.  

I used my Wink of Stella clear pen to give her wings and dress some subtle sparkly shine.  I used the sentiments in the set to create a focal point for my tone on tone background and on the other side of my background I used a Swiss dot embossing folder from Cuttlebug to create the texture.  I fussy cut my fairy and added her to the card using 3D foam dots.  

I added some pink enamel hearts and dots and I put a big fluffy bow as a final touch using ribbon I found at Target, of all places!!  I love that the fairy looks as though she's about to fly off of the card!  

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #78 - Make A Wish!

Hi Alley Way Friends!!  I'm here today with a funky birthday creation using one of the newest Alley Way set called Sweet Thing.  I heat embossed my sentiment using black, sparkly, rainbow embossing powder onto my patterned paper.  I then added the side sentiment using red dye ink to complete the sentiment of "make a wish". 

 My background paper is simply kraft cardstock that I've run through my Big Shot with an embossing folder.  I hand cut a bunch of flags and added them to the bottom with a couple of rows of stitching.  

I added a strip of red cardstock at the top of my sentiment panel and tucked a few fun bits of cardstock behind to add more visual interest.  As a lasting touch I added some enamel stars sprinkled around.

Thanks so much for coming by today!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith  

TAWS post #77 - Tweetastic!!

 Hi Alley Way friends!  I'm so glad you've popped in today!  I'm here today with a quick and simple creation for you today using one of our newly released sets called Flap Happy.  It has the CUTEST bird sentiments and images!

 I used my Copics to color this sweet little bird image.  I masked over it and used my Heidi Swapp spray mister in Gold.  I did not use the spray nozzle however, I took the top off and used the straw on the inside of the mister to flick some color directly onto my project.

I let it dry over night and I love the shimmery effect these drops give!

I plan on making a whole rainbow set of these to give as gifts!  Stay tuned!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #76 - Love You!

Hi Friends! I'm here with a creation I made using a recently released Alley Way set called Big Time.  I stamped my sentiment in Pale Tomato ink from Hero Arts onto the center of the postage stamp die from MFT.

I then added the You and if you look closely you'll see the background is full of the XO stamp.  I used a very light blue dye ink for the background to give it visual interest but not to distract from the main sentiment.

 I added lots of fun papers from Maggie Holmes/Crate Paper 'Style Board' pack that I recently purchased.  I added some fun sticker embellishments and some glitter hearts cut using an Impression Obsession die.

I stitched around the perimeter for some added texture.

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #75 - Hello!

Happy Monday!!  Meredith here with a water colored creation using Peguins on Parade and Words to Live By.  I watercolored the adorable music listening penguin with my Kurtake paints.

I stamped my sentiment using Hero Arts black ink and I used Hero Arts cornflower ink for the stamped image below.  I used a plethora of scrap papers that I had in my stash, a chalkboard sticker, some music washi tape, a wood veneer banner flag, some faceted self-adhesive embellishments and some beautiful grosgrain ribbon to finish everything off with a nice tidy bow!

I slightly distressed the edges of my layers to give it a very subtle vintage feel.

Thanks so much for coming by today!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

TAWS post #74 - Party Time!

Hi TAWS friends!!  Meredith here with a birthday creation that I made for my daughter's upcoming 11th bday!  I used one of the newly released sets called Sweet Thing and another awesome and versatile set called Yappy.  I created the background with a few words from the Yappy set using Black, Pale Tomato and Pool inks from Hero Arts.

I then cut some leaves from a Tim Holtz die using my favorite glitter paper from the open stock area at Michael's.  I used a Polaroid style die to anchor it all.  I hand cut a banner flag and used that to put my focal sentiment on which I heat embossed using black sparkly embossing powder.  I stitched along one edge for a bit of texture and added a Heidi Swapp embellishment for the interior along with the number 11.

I can't wait to give this to her!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith