VanGoghChica Studio

It's that time of year where we bring out all that shimmers and delights. With this simple card, I used iridescent textured foil for a white to pinkish moon glow of snow. (The photo does not do the iridescent shimmer justice.) I then framed it with evergreen branches and a holiday sentiment. Supplies Altenew Festive Tree layering stamp set   Altenew fresh dye inks in Evergreen and Olive Altenew pigment ink in Permanent Black and White Cloud Altenew scissors Altenew Solar White Card Stock Altenew Black Card Stock Glue Textured iridescent foil Create two A2  (4.25"X5.5") fold-over cards from your card stock. Use the Festive Trees layering stamp set to stamp five trees framing the bottom half of the front (see the photo). Cut out and glue the textured foil to front of one of your A2 fold over cards. Cut out the frame of trees from the front of the white card stock-only card. Align and glue the frame of stamped trees to the bottom of the card with the foil front. Cut a 5...

Are you interested in junk journaling? What is the difference between junk journaling and scrapbooking? Click here to watch my video discussing this very question. I also go through some of my journal pages.

This is my third card that I have made to illustrate how I use vellum (tracing paper) in my die cutting machines for an airy effect on my cards. And what better imagery than a hot air balloon for airiness. In my last post, I addressed the mistake of not having a strong focal point with my design. Wouldn't you know it, I made the same mistake with my second card. D'oh! In an effort to correct it,  I colored in my sentiment with marker, as well as as my vellum cut out butterflies. But the look was muddled up close. So, onto card number three. My sailing balloon theme is perfect for incorporating vellum. the sheer paper brings to life the balloon's fabric. Supplies Altenew's Up and Away bundle of stamp, dies and stencils Altenew's fresh dye inks in aqualicious , caramel toffee , mocha ,  crimson  and ultramarine Altenew's  white card stock   Altenew's white embossing powder Embossing ink Heat tool Vellum or tracing paper Die cutting machine Glue  Cut an A2...

I achingly remember the crisp autumn colors of Fall in Louisville (my home town). Living in San Francisco for 13 years and now South Florida since 2000; I have long missed that foilage. As well as bonfires, frosty breath and well worn boots. That was my favorite season. So, I was eager to use my leaves cover die. I have several leaf themed dies. It's only natural as I am such a tree lover. I conjured up the feeling of dry, jewel toned leaves by preparing card stock ahead of time. The night before, I sprayed them with vibrant Fall pigments by Lindy's Gang. This paper would be for the central two leaves on my cover. For a video on this whole process, check out my video here . I also painted swathes of Autumn colored Dylusian paints onto another card stock sheet. My thinking was that the Dylusian colors would shine through the die cut windows around the perimeter of my card front.  Then, I individually tiled the leave's tiny components into the two central leaf windows. I  th...

  A favorite past time for adults to relax with is coloring. In this tutorial, I will show you how to use your stamping ink pad to paint watercolor on your cards. And it is just like coloring in that you can easily brush on washes of color with three simple tools - a paintbrush, a paper towel and water. If you would like to see the accompanying video on how to achieve this look, click here .  Supplies Altenew's Nostalgic Florals stamp  and die set White and light orange card stock Altenew's Satin Gold Sequins Altenew's Summer Afternoon fresh dye ink mini set Altenew's Coffee Break fresh dye ink mini set Altenew's Fresh Dye Ink in Grass Field   Altenew's Crisp Inks in  Parrot Altenew's gluetape Liquid glue Altenew's watercolor brush Paper towels Water spritzer Stamp a 4"X5.25" card stock rectangle with your flower image and sentiment. Cut a 4.25"X5.5" yellow card stockout rectangle. Glue the yellow card stock to the front of your A2 si...

  September 19th is the one year anniversary of my emergency hospitalization for cervical myelopathy that resulted in cervical surgery (corpectomy and fusions). Three months after that on December 27th, I again had an emergency hospitalization and that resulted in thoracic spinal sugery (T9-12) You see, my entire spine has sustained a lot of damage over time; to the point that the spinal compression was severe enough for paralysis and fatality. I ended up having two complicated neurosugeries  (cervical and thoracic) over three months.  I am coming up on my one year anniversary of my first emergency hospitalization/surgery. I want to share with you two different art journal entries I created this year about my recoveries. To hear a much more detailed story with visuals, check out my  You Tube video here.  This first page was made five months post op from my cervical surgery. As you can see, I felt stuck, angry and sad. This was most optimistic...

  While those of us who love, love, love Halloween are already crafting cards for our holiday, my topic of masks today does  not refer to those kinds of masks we hide behind at Halloween. I am talking about masks in card making, which conceal a portion of your card so that ink or blending done over that area does not take to the portion covered. This creates depth and a natural look to your composition.  When crafting a mask, you can use specialty masking paper, masking fluid or even a stencil. But I chose to simply stamp and cut out the image I wanted to cover from a post-it. Here, you can see I stamped a monstera leaf, then I stamped and cut out the same image  from a post-it and placed that post-it over my initially stamped image. My next stamped image will overlap the first one and appear partially hidden, under the first stamped image.   Now, do not be scared by my supplies list. I used quite a bit for this card, mainly different inks. You can streaml...