Early Happy Halloween

I wanted to make this post a fun one since it is my last post as a CI design team member. I decided to get a head start on October and do a Halloween piece. I created a shadowbox scene with lots of CI paint on it and a bit of  Resplendence Gold glitter.
I started with an old corrugated box which I cut down to size. I covered it with newsprint paper and sprayed it with Halloween colors. Then I covered the inside with black cardstock. The rickety house, tree, raven, cat, pumpkin, fence and zigzag are all made with grungeboard and diecut from one of Tim Holtz's dies. That's where the CI paints came in. All of these items were painted with CI paints. I also cut a cardstock backing for the house which was painted with canary yellow to show through the windows. Those of you who read my posts on a regular basis know that I always like to try experimenting with the paint. this time I thought I would try putting a coat of picket fence distress ink on the grungeboard to act as a base coat. I wanted the CI paints to show brightly and I thought that they might soak into the grungeboard. Well, the effect was a little different than I planned. I forgot that the distress inks react to water and since CI paints are waterbased there was a reaction on the part of the distress ink. However, this oops did work out well. To keep the distress ink from moving around, I pounced the CI ink on the distress inked grungeboard house and tree instead of brushing it on. The result was a cool texture, perfect for brick or bark. On the other pieces of distress inked grungeboard, I sprayed Workable Fixative over the distress ink and then painted with CI paints. It worked great. I used Resplendence Gold Glitter on the moon. The adorable little witch leaning against the pumpkin is a digital image from Digital Delights. Although you can't see it in the above photo, she is attached to the pumpkin with a Wobble spring so she wobbles if you touch her.
Here are the colors I used on my art piece: onyx, coal, pumpkin, rustic red, canary chocolate, winter frost, royal purple, sage, turquoise.
As I sign off for now, I want to thank the many of you who left those wonderful comments on my post over the past many months. Hopefully, you'll also visit me on my blog in the future. I may be leaving the design team, but I'll continue using my CI paints in my work. See you around in blogland.
Barbara Washington -- designer

ATC's

Happy Tuesday! Today I'm sharing some atc's I made. As you know, I like to experiment to see how CI paints work in different situations. This time I pulled out my Gelli Arts plate to monoprint my backgrounds. I knew that regular acrylics made great backgrounds, but I wanted to see if CI paints worked on the Gelli plate and if they kept their shimmer. Well, the answer to both questions is definitely YES. I tried different colors (rustic red, plum, sage, citrus, lavender, and buttercup) alone and in combination. After coloring the backgrounds, I went over them with distress stains. I just love how they turned out. The shimmer makes for a gorgeous background. With a few exceptions, all of the stamps, embellishments, and die cuts, and word stickers are from one of Tim Holtz's lines. The cat image is from Stampa Rosa and the sentiment is from Club Scrap. The "Be Happy" sentiment is from a Spellbinders die.
Barbara Washington -- designer

Happy Birthday

Today I'm sharing a masculine birthday card with quite a bit of glam. My image is a stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms. I stamped the image on a piece of white cardstock. I wanted to add a light bit of color. I took a CI paint jar of sky blue paint which was almost empty and filled the jar with water. I mixed the remaining paint and water until I had a nice, thin wash of color. It was perfect to add over the image. I still got lots of shimmer, a pretty wash of color, and the image came through clear and sharp. If there is a film of paint along the sides or bottom of the jar, don't throw it away. Add  water, mix thoroughly, and you'll have a beautiful, shimmery color wash.
After finishing the image, I cut a window into the front panel of my card base using a Cheery Lynn die. I then cut the top, filigree part of the window again from double-sided adhesive. I carefuly applied the adhesive cut over the top of the window. I poured CI Resplendence gold glitter over the adhesive. Wow, what an elegant window!
The image panel was then adhered behind the window. To finish the card I added four gold outline sticker corners and the birthday greeting.
Barbara Washington - designer

Stars 'n Stripes

Tomorrow is the 4th of July holiday (Independence Day) in the USA. So  I thought that a 4th of July card would be appropriate to feature today. Besides this week's CI blog challenge is Independence Day.
My card layout is based on the challenge this week at Mojo Monday. The flag background panel is an Our Daily Bread Designs background stamp. In order to color it the way I wanted, I stamped it in Memento London Fog. Then I brought out my denim, garnet, and winter frost CI paints and painted the flag. I dry embossed the dark blue core'dinations panel with a Cuttlebug folder, sanded the stars, and then went over the stars with fairy dust paint. The center oval was a bit of an experiment. I spread gel medium on my nonstick mat and placed the stamp in the glue. Then I stamped the fireworks (Northwoods) on a piece of white cardstock. I quickly added Resplendence (CI glitter) emerald, regal red, and gold. This made some very sparkly fireworks. (It's important to wash the stamp off immediately before the gel dries.) The 4 is from Tim Holtz's Idea-ology line. I painted it with garnet paint and quickly sprinkled it with Resplendence regal red. The glitter stuck to the paint like it was glued. I think this card celebrates the 4th quite effectively with all of its sparkle and shimmer.
Barbara Washington - Designer

Enchanted Rose Garden

Today I decided to use CI products to make an elegant card, even more elegant.  I used Cheery Lynn dies for the fairy, the roses, and the leaves. The roses were highlighted with rose quartz CI paints and on the fairy wings I used, what else, fairy dust. On the moon and wand I added jeweled inspirations for the additional bling. With all of the bling and shimmer, this definitely is an enchanted rose garden.
Barbara Washington - designer

Butterflies and Beauty

This week's card started as a bit of an experiment. I used the Cheery Lynn French lattice large die and cut the design from a sheet of two sided adhesive. I adhered the die cut adhesive to the aqua cardstock and removed the top cover sheet. I covered the adhesive with CI Resplendence (glitter) angel dust. The result was a beautiful, sparkly design on the background paper. Then I stamped my image from Great Impressions on white cardstock. I painted the image with CI paints: spring green, emerald, turquoise, ivory, caramel, burnt sienna, coal, peach, and canary. I die cut the image using a Spellbinder's die (Label 23) and cut a corresponding layering panel which I highlighted with peach CI paint to add shimmer. The flower was die cut (Cheery Lynn miniature rose die) using crepe paper layers with canary CI paint highlights. The butterflies (Cheery Lynn dies) were cut using yellow and orange cardstock. I then used canary and peach CI paints for highlight and shimmer. I love how this card turned out with all the shimmer and sparkle.

Angels

Since the theme this week is inspired by Mother's Day, what better to show than a family card. These Stampotique angels make a wonderful family grouping.
I really wanted to show this card on the CI blog because it demonstrates one of my favorite things about CI paints, besides the color and shimmer of course. I love that you can see what you stamped through the colors and yet the colors are strong. You can paint over black ink and get a great color. Colors used on my card include sunshine yellow, gold, plum, royal blue, onyx, garnet, burnt sienna, autumn wheat, and blue ice.
Barbara Washington - designer

Be as a Bird

This week in honor of the weekly challenge, Inspired by Flowers, I thought I would share this card.  To make this card, I started with my green cardstock and die cut a circle window in the front. I adhered a white panel to the inside of the card. Using stamps from Great Impressions, I stamped the Bird in Roses on the white panel to show through the window. The sentiment was also stamped on white cardstock, die cut, and outlined with gold marker. I dry embossed the front of the card with an embossing folder, added lace tape, adhered the sentiment,  and added the paper flowers and the bow. The image was painted with CI paints -- sky blue, tutu pink, pumpkin, sage and canary. All of the paper flowers were painted with canary and pumpkin. This gave the dull look of the flowers a nice shimmer and also helped them to match the bow.
Barbara Washington -- Designer

Tra-la-la spring is Here

This week I chose to use the stamp Children Skipping from our sponsor Sweet Stampsas my focal image. Our Creative Inspirations Paints challenge is Inspired by Spring. Skipping children and spring colors combine to create a picture of spring for me.
My background is CI paints on sticky back canvas. I sprayed the canvas with water and then swiped on various spring colors of CI paints:sky blue, mellow yellow, peach, light purple, tutu pink and spring green. I stamped and painted the image with CI paints (rose quartz, beige, denim, onyx, autumn wheat, antique copper, buttercup, turquoise, raw sienna, blush), cut it out, and layered it on a die cut a Cheery Lynn doily. The butterfly was cut from Shimmer Sheets and the body was painted with onyx. The sentiment is an outline sticker.
Barbara Washington--designer

Spring Bouquet

Oh how I love spring flowers! I fell in love with this stamp, Millie's Teapot Arrangement, from Sweet Stamps the minute I saw it. This month we have teamed up with Sweet Stamps,, so I wanted to share a card using this wonderful stamp. To create my card, I started with a Kraft cardstock base. I sponged green olive CI paints over the base. It's barely visible on the scan above, but it's cool in real life. I then used the lace die cut from Heartfelt Creations/spellbinders to layer. I stamped the image on Cryogen cardsock and used the outside the Nestie technique to cut it out. Then I brought out my CI paints and had fun painting the image. I used lots of colors: sage, emerald, evergreen, orange, buttercup, canary, autumn wheat, caramel, lavender, blush, tutu pink, and rose quartz. I sponged around the edges with green olive. to finish off my card I used a row of green rhinestones along each side of the card. Shimmer and bling and spring flowers make a great match.
Barbara Washington -- designer

Gatefold Card

My card today is a fancy gatefold card. I used dies from Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders for the fancy scalloped tops. The first image shows the card closed. The sentiment panel has flowers and ferns from Rogue Redhead Designs stamped using mint and peach CI paints. The inside stamps and sentiment are also from Rogue Redhead Designs. All of the filigree at the top of the card was painted with fairy dust to give a luscious shimmer. Then I added clear Jeweled Inspirations for additional bling.
Barbara Washington -- Designer

All Things Bright and Beautiful

I was playing around with this beautiful doily die from Cheery Lynn and it hit me that this gorgeous die cut would be fabulous painted with the shimmery CI paints. To create the effect I used buttercup, onyx, and pumpking paints. For fun I cut a circular base card from kraft paper. The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs. Believe me, this card really shimmers.
Barbara Washington -- Designer

Shimmer and Glitz

Yes, it's true that there's no place like home; but it's also true that there's nothing like a bit of shimmer and glitz to spice up a card. My image and sentiment are from Artistic Outpost. The shoes were stamped in red and then heat embossed using Deliquesce Clear embossing powder. Wow, the ruby slippers never sparkled as much. The background paper is from the Graphics45 Oz collection. I added fairy dust paint to the poppies and now they are really popping. I love spicing up background paper with the shimmery CI paints. It's easy and quick, but it really adds a wow factor.
Barbara Washington--Designer

Alter It

This week I thought I'd experiment with my paints again. There is a technique at Technique Junkies called smooched cork. I thought I'd try using CI paints instead on the cork. I had purchased a bunch of cork hot pads at IKEA some time ago. I thought I try using the paints on the cork. I stamped the images (all Stampotique) on the pad with Jet Black Archival ink. I used a water pen with the paints to color the images. I used a sponge with sky blue paint to sponge color on the sides and around the edges. The paints worked quite well on the cork and the images really shimmer. Now, I can use the cork mat as a wall hanging or to hold hot pots.
Barbara Washington - designer

With Love

My card is a little different for me this week. There is only one stamp and no paint. No paint, you say! No, this week I wanted to showcase the beautiful new products from CI. My image is stamped with pigment ink and then embossed with Deliquesce black embossing powder. The embossing is so rich and shiny. The hearts are colored using the new Resplendence regal red glitter. Such a deep, rich, gorgeous color and so glittery. The new Deliquesce embossing powders and the Resplendence glitters are amazing.

Post Christmas Inspiration

I first heard the words of my sentiment at a concert sung by the Chicago A Cappella a few weeks ago. These words made an impression on me and I knew I wanted to create a card around them. It was the perfect sentiment for the beginning of a new year. The words were printed on the computer.
The frame around the card is die cut using a Cheery Lynn die. I painted it using CI antique copper paint. The pointsettia and leaves are die cut using Spellbinders dies. I used garnet, sage, evergreen and buttercup paints. I just love the shimmer from the paints. It makes plain, inexpensive cardstock look so classy. I used a few jeweled inspirations to add the final touch of bling.
Barbara Washington--designer

Promises to Keep

As Christmas approaches, I knew I had to go to one of my favorite stamp sets, Snowy Woods by Artistic Outpost. I just love the look of the vintage Santas. On this card I stamped my image in coffee on Kraft cardstock. Using a sea sponge, I sponged winter white CI paint around the snowy areas of the card. Then I sponged tan over the card to get a vintage look. I stamped Santa a second time, cut him out, painted him with fairy dust, and attached him with pop dots over the original Santa.
I layered the image on a black panel. The background panel was created from glassine paper which I crumpled, painted with turquoise CI paint, and highlighted with broken china distress ink. Everything was layerd onto a turquoise card base. The result is a very shimmery, vintage Santa card.
Wishing everyone a very wonderful holiday season.
Barbara Washington - Designer.

Wish

With Tim Holtz doing the 12 Tags of Christmas again this year, I think I was a little bit influenced when I made this card. The dies, the rose ribbon, and the embossing folder all come fom his line. The ornament and holly leaves are cut from grungepaper. I actually didn't know how the CI paints would react to the grungepaper, but they worked beautifully. As you probably know, grungepaper is a dull gray color and has the consistency of leathery felt. Not any more, the ornament (painted with garnet and a little gold for the top) and the leaves (painted with evergreen) now have the deepest, shimmery color. The roses are also painted with garnet. I used a piece of glittery paper under the ornament and some pearl flourishes to finish the card. Hooray, I have another Christmas card done.
Barbara Washington--designer

Thankful

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only a little over a week away! In honor of Thanksgiving , I pulled out my favorite turkey stamp from Kitchen Sink Stamps. I love him because he is very realistic and detailed. Kitchen Sink Stamps are multi-step stamps and the stamping is the coloring. I used a wash of Creative Inspirations tan paint to give him a wonderful shimmer. The banner running across the top was cut from white vellum. I painted a coat of mango on the banner again for the wonderful shimmer. My embellishments are a raffia bow and two German scrap leaves. The image is layered on a Spellbinders diecut label which was painted with the mango paint along the edge for definition and more shimmer.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Barbara Washington -- Designer

Pretty in Pink

Today is the first day of a new month, but I thought I would show one more card in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month which just ended. After all, there should never be an end to awareness. The flower stamp is from Outlines Rubber Stamps. I used blush and tutu pink for the flower. These paints are great for painting open areas of a stamp. The shimmer makes for beautiful flower petals. My image is layered over several panels of pretty design paper.
Barbara Washington -- designer