Bucket List: Hot Air Balloon

Today, I have a page from my travel journal to share with you. 

I recently visited Albuquerque, New Mexico with my youngest daughter, Allie, and her son.  She wanted to ride a hot air balloon and check it off her bucket list. I grew up in Albuquerque and was on a hot air baloon team for a year.  She had heard lots and lots of stories  about hot air balloon adventures from me, and she was always amazed that I was afraid of heights but still able to fly.  I told her she needed to go up and the she would see why.  

On her flight, she met a popular travel blogger and they hit it off very well.  The blogger was doing unique videos, interviews, and pictures and enlisted Allie's help. They did some fun pictures and videos from inside the balloon as it was inflating.  This is a picture of Allie inside playing around. 

Here is my travel journal page.

I made the main panel printing out my journaling words, cutting down the paper, then dipping it in an ink mixture of Southwestern colors.  I wasn't happy with it so I took my ink pads and swipped them across the page until it looked better.  Then I put in my pictures and added three balloons from the 4 in 1 In The Sky image. 

I love how this came out and, suprizingly, she did too.  Isn't it fun how one stamp can make a page turn out really well?

Hope your week is going well.

Hugz

Read more...

Balloon Races

by Julie Warner - The Write Stuff

Happy Friday!

I hope your week has gone well! Is it HOT HOT HOT where you are? Pretty warm around here. Temps aren't too terrible (upper 80's) but the humidity is awful! To make it worse, our AC decided to take a little vacay. Of all the nerve! I almost couldn't finish this card..it was 80 degrees inside! Thank goodness the repair men were able to fix it the next afternoon. 

My card today is a mix match of leftover watercolor backgrounds. I only had a small section left of the pink/orangey mix..just enough for all the hot air balloons. After I fussy cut them, I added just a little white pencil on the zigzag lines. The green/yellow bg was one of those that didn't really work when I made it. So I tried a technique where you take a fine line pen & outline all of the watercolor sections. I was surprised how much it improved the look of it & how I liked it behind the balloons. You just never know when a "fail" will work out in the future. 

Here's the inside.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great weekend! 

Supplies:

stamps:DRS Designs:  4 in 1 In the Sky, Hot Air Balloon, Another Year Flies  (inside: Sunny Day Birthday Greeting  )

paper:  Staples 110# white, watercolor

ink: Memento tuxedo black, (Kaliedacolor birthstone used on inside)

accessories: Rubbernecker Square Stitch  dies, white Prismacolor pencil, watercolors

4 in 1 In the Sky 952D	Hot Air Balloon –583F	Another Year Flies –489F	Sunny Day Birthday Greeting 592G	Memento Inks
Watercolor pan set	Staples 110# White Card Stock	Water Color Paper	RN Square Stitch dies 5005D	Kaliedacolor ink pads

Read more...

Water and Sky!

Happy Monday Everyone. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. I'm in Virginia for the week. I get to babysit a couple of my grandkids while their parents go to the beach to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. Fun!!! for them and us!

I have a couple of cards to share with you today. The first has a hot air balloon popped up with an Action Wobbler. I think those wobblers are so fun for the recipient to open.

I started with a piece of white CS and sponged on some SU Bashful Blue ink with a homemade cloud border to create the sky. Once that dried I stamped the greeting and two tiny balloons. The larger balloon was stamped onto white CS, colored with Altenew Artist Markers, fussy cut and added to the panel with the Action Wobbler.

My next card was inspired by fellow DT member, Robin. She shared a card a couple of weeks ago with a fish bowl she had created and it reminded me I have a fish bowl die, so I had to use it.

I die cut the fish bowl out of light blue CS, stamped the plants with Memento Bamboo ink, colored them with Copics and sponged some blue ink along the edges for definition. The light house and little fish were stamped onto white CS, colored with Copics and fussy cut. I added a piece of kraft CS for the sandy bottom, but now wish I had just used my copics to color it ink. Anyway, I added everything to the fish bowl, stamped the fish bubbles and added the bowl to the die cut banners along with the greeting and put the card together. I kept looking at it and thinking something isn't right about this. And then I realized I hadn't put any water in the bowl! Those poor fish!! So I used the water, snow line image and stamped the water line using a mask since I'd already attached the bowl to the card. Lastly I added some Nuvo clear drops to the fish bubbles. My family loves fish tanks and fish bowls so this is a card, I'll probably do more than once.

Thanks for stopping by today.

blessings,
shelia

Read more...

Floating on a Breeze

Good morning!

I borrowed this sentiment from my graduation stamps, actually this card could

be a graduation card but today it is just an encouragement card for anyone making a change or just starting out on a new job etc.

I used the balloon from past releases plus the new 4 in 1 stamp balloon new this month.

4 in 1 Sky, Go Confidently Graduation, and Hot Air Balloon

I used MFTs stitched frames die set and popped up the frames then finished with 

some purple rhinestones in the corners.

I loved Nancy's card where Leonard had the sunglasses on so I had to add them to Leonard here
as well!  He is just too cool isn't he?  So Leonard is out flying a kite again only this time he is out in a big ol' field.

Leonard Pig Flies a Kite,  Broken Flower Fence and Hogs and Kisses.

Well, it is definitely feeling like summer now!!  

The weather is hot and the roads are crazy!!  That is what

happens when you live on the way to 2 big destination spots,

one of which is Yosemite National Park.  Something like 6 million visitors 

a year and most of those during summer months.

I can't wait till Labor Day!!! LOL!

Thanks for visiting today!

Robin

Read more...

Your Dreams Will Inspire Your Future

Hi Everyone,

DRS Designs has recently released a wonderful new graduation sentiment Dreams Inspire Future.  I feel like it's a lofty greeting, so I wanted to incorporate the concept of height on my card.  

After stamping, heat embossing, die cutting and matting my greeting, I set it aside and worked on the backgournd.  I simply dry embossed the card stock with clouds and added a few die cut ones as well.

I picked the bottom corner for the placement of the sentiment, so I thought I would add a couple of dreamy Hot Air Balloons. I stamped, colored and fussy cut them, adding them with some dimensional foam tape to finish off the card.

I made a second card using the same Dreams Inspire Future Greeting along with the same layout.  

I stamped the greeting right onto the cardstock and embellished it with markers in rainbow colors.

Then I simply stamped the Bee Trail and added rainbow colored butterflies that were embellished with matching gems.  

Wishing you and inspired week full of craftiness!

Karin

Read more...

Albuquerque Memories

Today I am sharing some fond memories of the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM.  I grew up in Albuquerque and the balloon fiesta was a time full of beautiful and magical skies.  There would be so many balloons in the sky you couldn't take it all in.  Night glows were gorgeous too.  I was lucky enough to be on a chase team in my early 20s and that was one of the most exciting years of my life.

My card today is a reflection of those days.

I stamped the Hot Air Balloon to times in light Distress ink and watercolored the balloons multicolors.  I changed up the zigzag in one of them.  The rest of the balloons and the reflection in the water were all watercolored.  I did I add a bit of white acrylic paint on the balloons and the water.  To finish it off, I added the 1 line Small Happy Birthday sentiment with my Misti so I could stamp it several times.

Hope your week is going well.

Hugz,

Nancy

Read more...

Graduation Cards

Hi Everyone,

I'm in graduation card making mode right now and I have a couple of my most recent makes to share with you.  Since they both have the same layout, I tried to be a little creative in the stamps that I used.

A new sentiment from DRS Designs is Let the Adventure Begin and instead of pairing it with a traditional graduation image on the front, I used the Hot Air Balloon.  I colored up and fussy cut three of them, and attached them with dimensional foam tape to and embossed cloud background.  The sentiment was heat embossed, although I don't think it shows up in the photo.

I carried the Hot Air Balloons inside along with the Successful Future Grad Greeting.

I couldn't resist making another card using the adorable Graduation Pig!  He's definitely a new favorite of mine :)

I created some patterned paper using the Easy Dot Background and the Splatter Background stamp in green and yellow ink.  I punched out 3 holes and framed them out in black, and stamped and colored up the pig three times.  I added them behind the windows in fun positons, attaching the top one using a "Wobble".  It's a plastic spiral that gives him dimension, so it looks like he's bursting out.  And if you flick him with your finger, he moves back and forth.

I finished up the card using the perfect sentiment, Go Hog Wild!

Be sure to visit DRS Designs for all of these stamps and much more too!

Have a great day :)
Karin

Read more...

Piggy Grad

Happy Friday!

I hope your week has gone well! It's getting to be that time of year..time for the Pomp & Circumstance march across the stage. I remember it well...mainly because I was in the band & played it for a lot of graduating classes! In the graduation spirit, I have a fun grad card today.

Normally, this pig image has a party hat along w/ a balloon but since I fussy cut him, I cut off the party hat. The small balloon was stamped again w/ lt blue ink, colored & fussy cut. All the other balloons were made by die cutting 2 sizes of balloons in a piece of copy paper & using the negative as a stencil. After I sponged the Distress inks thru the stencil I added some Wink of Stella to some of them. 

The greeting was stamped at the bottom & I used Copics to make the shadow underneath. A few grad caps & some drawn balloon strings & I was done!

Here's a look at the inside & below it are the Copics I used.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Supplies:

stamps: DRS Designs - Birthday Party Pig, Dream Big (inside- Brush Mortarboard, Bright Graduation Greeting)

paper: Staples 110# white, black

ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Distress inks tumbled glass, broken china, cracked pistachio, spun sugar, shaded lilac, twisted citron, squeezed lemonade

accessories: Copic markers,  Spellbinders A2 modern stationery dies  Misti, small grad cap punch, ODBD Balloon dies (used as a stencil), Wink of Stella

Birthday Party Pig 354G	Dream Big 041F	Bright Graduation Greeting 780F	Brush Mortarboard 287G
Staples 110# white card stock	MISTI	Memento Inks	Recollections Cardstock
Distress Inks	Balloons & Streamers dies	Happy Birthday Die	Spellbinders A2 Modern Stationery dies S5-219
EK Success small grad cap punch	Copic Sketch Markers	Wink of Stella

Read more...

Hello Fall - My Favorite of All

I just love this new sentiment - Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall Greeting.  I grew up in Albuquerque and the International Balloon Fiesta was my favorite Fall event - it always signaled the end of Summer to me.  The event starts October 7th, 2017.  I so wish I could go - I still remember all the gorgeous balloons.

I made some balloons I thought would look pretty in the fiesta.  I stamped them with the new Pumpkin Filigree stamp. I stamped the image with Distress Oxides and then I stamped it with Versamark and heat embossed with clear EP (I used my MISTI).  Then I sponged over the balloons with a touch of the ink.  My bg is also made with Distress Oxides splashed with water to get a cloudy look.

I finished it off with an MFT Stitched Rectangle Frame and some foliage (Tim Holtz die).

Hope your week is going well.

Hugz,

Nancy

Read more...

Follow Your Dreams!

Hello Everyone! My card today features our new Follow Your Dreams sign post with some hot air balloons. I think this new sign post image is great for both retirement and grad cards. Don't you?

I started with white CS, sponged on TH Distress inks for the grass and sky, then I stamped the sign post and colored it with Copic markers. The balloons were also stamped on white CS, colored with Copics and fussy cut. The yellow and pink ones were glued onto the panel and the purple one is attached with foam adhesive for some dimension. I die cut a kraft colored frame using SB rectangle dies and then attached everything to a white card base.

Thanks for stopping by today!

blessings,
shelia

Read more...

Swing

Good morning!

Here is a little sneak peek at one or two of the stamps from the upcoming release!!

My first card uses the cute little Jazz dancer and one of the new sentiment stamps.
The sentiment is one stamp I just did it in two parts.
I used 2 background stamps for this card as well.
I colored using colored pencils this time...Something I don't do very often but I need the practice!

DRS stamps: New-191D Ain't Got That Swing, Jazz Dancer 018G, Interlocking Stars 819H, and Polka Dots 688P

Good morning!

This next card is colored with colored pencils too then blended with some Turpenoid and paper stump.

I used My Favorite Things frame die to make a purple frame  and popped it up then used some photo turns and brads to "hold down" the map.

Our other new stamp is the sign post "Follow Your Dreams"...isn't that cute?  I love it! I popped it up on the frame.

I popped up the hot air balloon with foam tape as well.

DRS stamps: Wold Map 572P, New-Follow Your Heart 137G, Hot Air Balloon 583F

Thank you for visiting today!
Hope you do something crafty!
Robin

Read more...