Masking Meets Mojo 301

Hi everyone!  I have been playing with some new CTMH supplies this week and giving a few sneak peeks at the Autum/Winter products from Close to My Heart.  Are you ready to see some more?  Super!  :)

Today I am linking up to the Masking July Challenge at Heart 2 Heart Challenges and the Mojo Monday 301 sketch.  I used the brand spanking new C1559 Always Grateful My Acrylix set that will be available starting August 1st on my website! 

Here is the Mojo sketch (which I turned on it's side.)

I usually follow a sketch pretty much to the "T."  I must have been in an ornery mood yesterday though, because I translated the two parallel rectangles in a bit of a different layout because, quite frankly,  I just didn't want them staggered. That is the beauty of a sketch, though, and Mojo Monday always has fantastic sketches!  :)

I used the Love Doily My Acrylix for the beautiful Ruby colored rounded shape.  See that button bling?  It is from the soon to be released Rosewood Mini-Medley Accents from CTMH.  I adore the hint of rose in the metals and bling in this set!  

This sentiment box that I matted with our super-sparkly Black Glitter Paper is where my masking technique comes into play.  The words "always thankful" don't look like this without a bit of manipulating.  Let me show you how I did it.  

First, I stamped this image from the Buzz and Bumble Scrapbook WOTG (retired) onto White Daisy CS.

Next, I carefully cut out the "YOU are my HAPPY" sentiment.

I placed that cut-out sentiment on the CS I want to use for my card, lined up the words from the image, and stamped it right on top.  You can only do this with clear acrylic stamps and that is one reason why I LOVE Close to My Heart's!

It didn't come out totally clean since the words were so close to the skinny lines, so I decided to try it a second way.

For this second masking technique, I placed the paper ONTO the stamp itself before inking.

Then I inked it all up carefully, removed the CS mask, and stamped again.  This time it was a clearer image, and I had just a tiny dot of black to fill in.  :)

Finally, I used the "always grateful" sentiment to go in the middle of that image.  Here it is on the carrier sheet. 

You can see it is all in one line on the actual stamp.  I wanted it to fill the space on the image I had already stamped, so I used another masking technique.  This one is super easy.  I simply inked up one word at a time to stamp.  You must be careful to remove all the ink from the stamp in between for this method.  ;)

Sometimes, you can even accidentally try masking like I did with this foam square backing!  LOL!!!  This happens to me all the time when I don't clean up in between projects! 

Have you ever tried masking?  Why not give it a shot?  There are a lot of examples of great masking techniques over at H2H right now, so have a look and give it a try!  You have all month to link your project up with us over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges.  You could win Top Chick for participating!  :)

Photo Inspiration Newbie!

Happy Saturday!

Today I am linking up to another Heart 2 Heart June Challenge.  This one is all about a little photo inspiration.  Believe it or not, I have never made anything based on this type of inspiration, so I was super-excited to jump in head first.  I even rescheduled the rest of my weekly blogs to squeeze it in here today!

Here is the gorgeous photo H2H provided us with:

...and here is my take on it!

As soon as I saw the inspiration photo, I KNEW where to go...my drawer with all the leftover Art Philosophy and Artiste Cricut cuts.  I knew there was not only a bird, branches, and flowers, but also this fantastic doily shape.  The base of the card didn't jump right out at me, so I browsed my sample papers...but not for long!  This little sheet from the retired Florentine Paper Packet was IT.

I have two weddings coming up this summer, and that is what the photo made me think of, so I decided to break out my Love Doily My Acrylix and use this beautiful sentiment on the card.

Now, for the flowers...the FLOWERS!  I just adore them.  I scattered some Color Ready Trinket Wooden Shapes and paper flower cuts on the branches, then filled the spaces with the rest of the  beautiful blooms.  The opaques in the center of each brings out the delicate feel of the photo.  These flowers I used are actually from the Just Blooms Petals Paper Flowers pack that is currently only $1.50 on CLEARANCE in limited supply on my website!  (Um, yeah...you better run!  Just click on the link in the name up above and I will wait, I promise.)   *whistles  ;)

I colored the flowers while they were still all stacked up like they came in the package with my Sorbet (*cough, cough) Alcohol Ink Marker.  You might remember that Sorbet is not my favorite color in our Close to My Heart pallet.  BUT...this could be a game changer!  I LOVE these flowers with the delicate little shading differences due to the blending and spreading of the alcohol ink!  When I took the stack apart, this is what I saw...soooooo beautiful!

I kept the white on white for the bird and the doily because that is the feel I get from the picture.  I want to be IN that picture!  So tranquil and peaceful there.  Sigh....oh, ahem, sorry!  Got a little lost in thought there!  So anyhooo, I hope you are as inspired by this photo as I am!  :)