/* */ Beulah Bee

September 12, 2021

More Sunshine Flowers

This image (from Simon's Sunshine Flowers set) was stamped on hot press 140 lb. watercolor paper and then fussy-cut. The flowers were tinted with dollar-store markers and water. I added some Liquid Pearls to embellish. The die-cut text was layered using three stacks.

I'm linking to Simon's Monday challenge, this week's theme is "stamp it."

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.


September 09, 2021

Sunshine Flowers

 

Simon says "stamp it" this week (no digi images) and it would be nice to use Simon's exclusive products. So that's just what I did.

The stamp set is called Sunshine Flowers and it was part of their monthly kit this month which I decided to splurge on.

I stamped the flower jar on preprinted paper by Lavinia (Scene Scapes Summer Meadow) then cut it out. This way, my flowers and the jar were already tinted.

The background is from who know's where (I've had it for ages); I did some trimming and layering (a portion covered by tissue paper) to create a suitable background for the jar. A bit of a shadow was added to the jar's base.

I didn't feel confident aligning the text (comes with the set) so I stamped it on tissue paper first then cut and pasted it on.

I used the Liquid Pearls that came with the kit to embellish the borders.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

September 05, 2021

Glimmersmitz

greeting card

A head start on Christmas cards? Maybe. But a call to create with "glimmer and sparkle" at the Simon Monday challenge was really the push for making this one. What's Christmas without some shiny bits--am I right?

I used Pink ombré paper (Martha Stewart) covered with Tissue Wrap (Holtz) trimmed to fit around Poinsetta Pieces die-cuts (Holtz) that were cut from a bronze metallic envelope.

Copper Liquid Pearls, some Stickles, and white Scribbles provided the glitz. I heat embossed the white text and outlined one side of the letters with an extra-fine black marker to create a 3D effect.

greeting card

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

August 28, 2021

Little Things

 

This greeting card was made for Simon's "spritz and splatter" challenge. I have never enjoyed splattering a project with ink or paint when it's in its final stages because I get nervous that it won't go well. So I took the easy way out this week and used paper that was already splattered for me.

It's made by Lavinia Stamps, the collection is called Scene Scapes and I really like it. The one I used for this card is called Garden Dance.

The birds were cut from a page of Stamperia's Oriental Garden scrapbook paper, the text is a Clipping Sticker from Tim Holtz as are the remaining papers.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

August 21, 2021

Divertimento

Divertimento is a musical genre with most examples from the 18th century. The mood is lighthearted and generally composed for a small ensemble. It was the style of music I listened to (Mozart) while crafting this tag (hence the name of my post) and it seems to suit this fashionable lady.

The style of her "leg of mutton" sleeves dates from the 1840's and some were so large it was necessary to turn sideways to get through a door. If you'd like to see more examples, here's a link.


The background for the tag was made from an ivory sheet of mulberry paper that was dry embossed (Roses) and tinted with inks and paint. The fence and flowers are die-cuts (Gothic Gate and Flower Jar).

I cut the flowers from multi-color paper (Lavinia Garden Dance) and stamped them with gray archival ink. The lady's flowers and dress were tinted with Pitt brush pens.

I'm linking up to Simon this week, dry emboss is the challenge.

And as always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

August 15, 2021

Glitter Gone Wild



Gitter gone wild is the name of this post for obvious reasons--I used it to embellish this birthday card for my niece. (If you click on the photo to view it in the light box feature you'll see the glitter in more detail.)

I began by stamping (Simon's Delicate Flowers and a Martha Stewart butterfly) on watercolor paper with clear embossing ink and UTEE. Remember this stuff? UTEE stands for ultra thick embossing powder and I guess it fell out of favor because I seldom see anyone using it anymore.

After applying watercolors for tint, I ironed off the embossing. When you do, the weight of the iron spreads the embossing out and you end up with slightly thicker lines that also act as a resist. If you'd like to know more about this technique here's a link to a popular post for the particulars.

I thought I needed more contrast so I outlined the images with a fine-tip black marker. Still not happy, I dug out my glitter (Stickles) and the extra color and sparkle seemed to do the trick.

I used a stencil (Simon's Tiny Dots) with white texture paste, a Simon die-cut for the sentiment and machine-stitched it to the card base using white thread.

Simon Says use heat embossing this week so I'm linking up to the Monday challenge.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

July 23, 2021

Fudge

Manila Tag

Simon's challenge this week is Food and/or Drink so I rummaged through my great Aunt Esther's recipe box. I found a yellowed slip of paper written with pen and ink (obviously quite old, she was born in 1893) and it prompted me to Google the history of fudge.

Unlike many of your other favorite candies and treats, fudge is a relatively new product, dating back to just the 1880s. In fact, one of the first recorded mentions of fudge was in a letter written by Emelyn Battersby Hartridge, a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1886.

The exact origin and inventor of this delicious confection are hotly debated. However, many believe the first batch of fudge was created by accident when American bakers “fudged” a batch of caramels. Hence the name “fudge.” (Wockenfuss Candies)

I used her recipe in the background for this tag along with some Tim Holtz paper. The "ingenue" was an image transfer and I clipped the text from an old book.

My aunt's recipe is really basic and oh-so-similiar to the earliest versions and, since a portion was covered up, here is the transcription if you'd like to try it. ☺

Melt one cup of milk with two squares of chocolate or four tbsp. cocoa. Add two and a half cups sugar and one heaping tbsp. of butter. Boil eight minutes until it forms a ball when dropped into water. Add one tsp. vanilla and beat.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

July 21, 2021

Just Because

Greeting Card

This greeting card features the Mondo Succulent Pot stamp by Ellen Hutson. Back in January, I posted a similar card using this stamp with watercolors (link) and say again how much fun it is to color.

Large stamps make quick work of card making but this time I used a less conventional technique so it took longer. Here's what I did.

The background? It's a print off a Gelli Plate using Simon's Tiny Dots stencil. I "zhuzhed" it up a bit with Distress inks, water and some sanding.

My stamp impression wasn't that great (some lines were too light) so I went over all of them using India ink and a pen nib. It was a good save. ☺

I filled it in with diluted white paint to knock-back the background then used watercolor pencils, inks and regular colored pencils.

I mounted it on dark mulberry cardstock and trimmed it with Liquid Pearls. The text was embossed.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

July 14, 2021

Possibilities

Journal Page

I created a journal page using some new supplies--Carabelle Studio's Stitched Mixed Media Background, Simon's Floral Garden stamp and their Tiny Dots stencil.

I stamped the background first, stamped the flowers on top, then used white paint to fill-in the flowers and a watered down version of paint to knock-back the background. The color came from water-soluble oil pastels, inks and colored pencils.

The snail was stamped (Carabelle), cut-out, pasted on, filled-in with paint and tinted with inks. The text is from Tim Holtz (I peel the thick cardboard off the back). The border was hand drawn with a black fine-tip marker.

Journal Page
 

I'm linking up to Simon for this week's theme, Lazy Days of Summer.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

July 10, 2021

Cielito

Greeting Card

Until last year, I always struggled to find dark-toned printed scrapbook paper (it seems to me that, generally, most papers tend to be on the lighter side). Then Tim Holtz released an 8" x 8" Paper Stash called Abandoned and it's become an all-time favorite.

The background for this card was made with a page from the collection.

Greeting Card

The flowers were stamped (Simon Delicate Flowers) on Tim Holtz printed collage paper (Typography) then fussy-cut and tinted with colored pencils. The border was made with Nuvo Vintage Drops.

When I make a greeting card, I like to add the sentiment later depending on the occasion for giving. The dark magenta color gives this one a somber vibe so maybe a sympathy card? It also would make a good Valentine.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

June 27, 2021

A Little Story

Browsing the British Library's Flicker account (where they have digitized a tremendous amount of their collection), I came across this image which inspired me to make a card.
 
After printing the image on plain white copy paper I knew cutting it out would be a challenge given the thin streaming lines. So I covered the image with a wide strip of clear packaging tape, sanded over the top of it to remove the sheen and then cut it out. The tape helps to reinforce the paper while cutting and makes it more durable for pasting, etc.

It was placed over a scrap of deli wrap that was painted using a gelli plate and stamped with archival ink.


I framed the image on thin, dark, warm gray paper and pasted it over some Tim Holtz scrap. It was mounted on heavy white card stock to form a card. The text is a Remnant Rub.

My apologies as the photos lack sharp focus (they look better in the lightbox feature). It's been a struggle to get good images indoors, we've been over 110° for several weeks now so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it ☺.

I'm linking up to Simon this week, the challenge was to use something clear and my packaging tape technique should qualify.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

June 18, 2021

cresc. a poco.

 

Making some delicate floral book paper die cuts was the starting point for this tag, they were pasted over a scrap of printed tissue paper using a background of polka dots.

The bird image (which would make a fine stamp) was found at the British Library (here's the link) and sits on another scrap of tissue paper in the foreground.

I adjusted the values using Distress ink and colored pencils to provide stronger contrast and depth and the text is from some vintage sheet music.

I'm linking up with Simon's Monday challenge, the theme this week is "Beautiful Flowers."

For those of you who get my posts via email, I've changed the service that delivers them so please let me know if you have any issues. There's a new subscription box in the side bar for anyone new who might wish to receive them this way.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

June 01, 2021

Plain Jane

Greeting Card

Describing how I made this card will be a challenge but you might like to try it yourself so here goes.

I used two designs from a coordinated set of 6" square printed paper, one was a solid green brocade, the other two were matching pages with stripes and handwriting.

One non-solid became the background. One non-solid was stamped with the flowers (avoiding the green section). The solid sheet (all green) was also stamped with the same image.

All the stamping was fussy-cut, I removed the leaves from the non-solid piece and pasted it one top of the all green sheet lining up the images.

I darkened the blossoms with a tiny bit of Distress ink and left the leaves as is. I framed it with solid papers and Nuvo Crystal drops. 


As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.