So, what is YOUR favorite product to work with?

All artists have their favorite product to use.  Mine is shared on the Imagine Crafts blog today.  It's no secret that I'm in love with several of the IC/T products but I've been using this one a lot lately.  What's yours?  I'd love to hear about it.

Check out their site if you want to see not only what my favorite product is but also the other AIRs have shared their faves and have posted some wonderful projects to show how to use products you might not be familiar with.
I hope this finds you all well, I'm still unpacking here in South Carolina.  The weatherman said today that Fall was in the air......temperatures are dropping into the low 80's next week.  Can you see the big smile on my face?  Hugs ~ Renee

Stampotique Designers Challenge ~ Budget Stamping ::SDC 205

This is the fourth challenge for July on the Stampotique Designers Challenge and Arwen is our host.  Arwen wants us to: "Stamp a background with things from the budget.  For example, sponges, foil, cutlery or the like."  That should be simple enough, we all have things like that around the house.  

I used gesso on the watercolor paper, this was scraped on with an old credit card.  Next I sprayed Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Pewter through a stencil. 

 I started really bringing out the household items at this point; paper clips, some twine covered in black ink, bottle caps and lids from cans of hairspray, etc.  The lids and caps make great circles on the background.  All that needs to be done is to coat them carefully with some black ink or paint, lightly press or even twist the design onto the background.  Another phrase stencil was brought in and I sprayed Sheer Shimmer in Pewter on top of the other textures and dried it.  I added color with a small amount of StazOn Studio Glaze in Orange Zest pushed through a stencil.   Here is my finished background.

Now it is time to pick the design for the card.  There are lots of different types of textures at this time, rough, smooth, shimmery and flat.  I chose to put a little more pattern on a black 3" square by using a stencil and some Sheer Shimmer Spritz in Copper.  Just spray and allow to dry.  I have stamped a Kate Crane image onto a "Twinchie" piece of paper and colored it in with Memento markers.  The edges are also inked to create depth.  I glued these together, then adhered them to the center of the card.

The final step is to glue this panel to a kraft colored blank card.  

I added the phrase "sing me a song" to a small scrap of white paper and glued it above the upper center of the card.

I hope you'll take on this challenge and share your results with us on the Stampotique blog!  There is a chance for you to win a $30 gift certificate for Stampotique Stamps.  Have fun ~ hugs ~ Renee

Stampotique Challenge ~ SDC # 198

There is a challenge going on this week over at Stampotique.  If you want to enter it is simple:  go to their site, read the rules/follow them, show your image off.  The Challenge is from Gez Butterworth and it is a simple one, use your favorite stamp.  My favorite stamp is usually my newest stamp.  This one is by Kate Crane called Angel Squared.

To make this I started with a postcard piece of watercolor paper, 6" by 4", that had a layer of gesso on it.  I do sheets of watercolor paper with an application of gesso on them, let them dry and then set them aside for future creations.  I applied StazOn Studio glaze on the paper with a baby wipe for the background, using Orange Zest and Spiced Chai to tone it down.  When this was dry I stamped off some other stamps randomly and then stamped my angel image with StazOn Jet Black ink and Kate's stamp.  I heat set this with my heat gun and then started coloring in areas with a Memento marker called Angel Pink.

The wings, shoelaces, band on the robe & the heart are edged with Bronze irRESISTible Pico Embellisher and allowed to dry.  For the gold dots, heart and shoes I used Gold StazOn Studio Glaze directly to the image and allowed it to dry.  I love the way the Studio Glaze can be watered down or used for a 3D effect.

When everything had dried completely I used a couple of Artistcellar stencils and some gesso to add more texture on top of everything.  Finally I edged the card with  Jet Black StazOn ink.

This could be used as a postcard or matted on some black cardstock and used for whatever.

Thanks for stopping by today, I really appreciate your visits and comments during this difficult transition period for me.  It looks like it will still be a couple of months before we're actually moved in and settled in our new location.  But it's okay, I travel with all sorts of art supplies!  Take care ~ hugs to you all~ Renee