Focus on Faith: Seek Wisdom Wreath by Sara Furr

 Blessings my dear friends, and welcome to my second edition of "Focus on Faith" for the month of June. 

As many of you know, June is usually a time of graduation for children from high school, so I thought I would try to create a faith inspired card that could be used as a graduation card, so I dug out the two new "Wisdom" stamp sets. I didn't really have any idea of what I wanted to do, so I just pulled out the stamp set and decided to play around.

I started by creating a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" square out of Canson XL Bristol smooth cardstock. I placed the square into my MISTI stamping tool, and took out the florals from the "Wisdom set 1". I positioned them on my card stock in the top center, and decided I would try to create a wreath.  I inked them up with black Versafine ink and stamped them down. I then turned my cardstock 1/4 turn, and inked, and stamped them again. I did this 2 more times until I had created a circle wreath. I then positioned the owl from the same set, and the "SEEK wisdom" sentiment from the "Wisdom Set 2", in the center of my wreath. I inked them in the black Versafine ink and stamped them. I wanted the owl to be holding a "diploma", so I inked up just the very top of the large scroll from the "Wisdom set 1" with a very light gray dye ink marker. I stamped it so that the owl appeared to be sitting on or holding the scroll. 

 At this point, I still had no idea what I was going to use as my coloring medium. I had originally planned to watercolor it, but thought I would try a little experiment!  So,  I waited till the Verksafine ink was completely dry, and did a test sample to see if I could actually use my alcohol inks to color them. Now, they say that you can only use Memento black ink as your base medium for alcohol markers, but I found that the Versafine ink was fine, as long as it was completely dry. I just made sure to not touch the lines too much with my alcohol markers!  So, I went about coloring the florals with three shades of purple alcohol ink markers; a light, a medium, and a dark. I colored the whole flower in the lightest color of purple, then I added in the medium purple up to about the middle of the flower. Then, I went back in and added lines of the darkest purple with a light flicking motion. Lastly, I  went back in with the lightest purple to blend out all three. I proceeded to color the green leaves with two shades of green alcohol ink markers. I colored each leaf base in the light green, and then added in a dark green just in the center base of the leaf.  

At this point,  I decided that my wreath needed some filler so I added in the little berry sprigs from the "Wisdom set 1", here and there, randomly around my wreath with the black Versafine ink. I colored the berries with a very dark purple alcohol marker.  

My wreath still wasn't quite full enough, so I inked up just the very top of the leafy vine stamp from the same set with a dark green dye ink marker, and stamped it in three sets in each little section so I had a dark, medium, and light variation of color. I continued stamping this way all the way around the entire wreath inking the vine, and then stamping off three individual times to give me a nice full wreath.  I then decided to add some of those vines coming off from behind, and to the side of my owl and the scroll in the center of the wreath.  To blend things out a bit, and give a sort of watercolor look, I used two very light shades of green alcohol ink markers, and blended around the inside and outer edges of the florals.  I then took two shades of a very light greenish blue alcohol ink marker, and did the same around the very edges of the outside of the wreath where the vines are, to create a sort of watercolory sky.

I then worked on coloring my owl with alcohol markers in shades of tan, and brown, and bright green for his eyes. I felt that the owl and the flowers both needed a lot more detail, so I broke out my Polychromos colored pencils,  and I decided to add in all my details on my owl and in my florals and leaves.  For the flowers, I used a very sharp purple pencil to very gently draw in the leaf veins, and then I took a black pencil and darkened along the edges of each petal, and the very middle of the flower, leaving the centers of the flowers white. This added a lot of depth and shading to give my florals a lot more dimension.

I added gentle lines horizontally across my owl's chest and wings so that it resembled layers of feathers. While I had the pencils out,  I decided to add a couple more details in the center of my wreath where the vines are sprouting from behind the scroll, and I did more blending with the light green alcohol markers, and then added in more details with a light and darker green pencil. I then decided to take those two green pencils and add in more details on my leaves. I left the vine leaves alone.  I did not add any details to them at all. I very lightly colored the scroll with a soft tan to give it a vintage scroll look.  

When I was happy with my focal piece, I distressed the edges of it with the edge of a scissors.  I created a white mat for behind my focal piece, and distressed the edges of that as well. I then added foam tape behind that whole focal piece.

 I then created another white mat for my 6x6 card base that I embossed with a dotted circle motif embossing folder. This embossed detail helped bring my whole card together by adding more texture, and repeating the circle motif as from my wreath. I adhered that whole piece to my card base with my focal piece popped up in the center.  

To create the inside of my card, I cut two mats of a light and very dark purple for my center focal piece. I used another 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" square made from Canson XL Bristol smooth cardstock and placed it into my MISTI. I chose two sentiments, the jewels, and the two floral pieces , and positioned them in my MISTI to create a cross in the center of my focal piece. I only colored the florals. I followed the exact same coloring as previously described on the front.

 I thank you so much for joining me today! I hope that you liked my project, and got inspired to create some Faith inspiring artwork.

God bless you all my crafty friends,

Sara Furr- The Crafty Farm Chick

Art Impressions products 

6203- Wisdom set 1

6204- Wisdom set 2

Other products:

Canson XL Bristol Smooth cardstock

Versafine Black ink pad

Alcohol ink markers

Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils and a pencil sharpener

Green dye ink marker

Sand color dye ink marker

Scissors

Embossing folder

Die cutting machine

Paper cutter

MISTI stamping tool

Seek Wisdom by Sharon Caudle

 Hello AI Fans!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are getting a nice fresh start to a brand new week and month. Today I have created a small decoration that you can tuck anywhere to hopefully help inspire someone. This was so quick and easy to create! I started off by grabbing #5902 Mini Scalloped Frame. This is such a cute little frame and I love the added touch of the scallops. I learned that if you cut out the oval frame and turn it on it's side, the new Flower Border Sets (#6186 FG Tulip Border and #6187 FG Poppy Border), they fit perfectly. I wanted to add a small inspirational quote to it, so I reached for #6204 Wisdom Set 2. The beautiful paper is from #6205 Floral Shop PP. This also fits right in with the current "Yellow" Challenge that is still going on! I hope you've entered your creations for a chance to win a free prize! 

So that's it for me today! Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit and until next time - stay crafty!!

Seek Wisdom Card by Tasha

Happy Friday Art Impressions friends!

Tasha here sharing a card created with the new 6203-Wisdom Set 1 and 6204-Wisdom Set 2. These sets are perfect for so many different projects, and the images can be used on their own or combined for completely different looks.

As soon as I looked through the stamps in Wisdom Set 1, I was drawn to the owl and jewels and knew I wanted to create something featuring both images. To make this scene, I stamped the owl first and covered him with masking paper before stamping the jewels. I also masked the jewels before stamping the large banner so it would sit nicely in the background. Masking paper is definitely one of my favorite crafting tools!

I usually reach for bright colors with lots of pink and white, but this time I wanted to try something a little different. I used shades of brown inspired by the owl and blended Distress Oxide inks around the center panel to give the card a soft vintage feel. For a little extra detail, I added a piece of Art Impressions patterned paper that worked perfectly with the colors and overall theme of the card.

To finish everything off, I stamped two sentiments from Wisdom Set 2. The longer sentiment fit beautifully across the banner, and the larger “Seek Wisdom” greeting was layered with the same tan and brown cardstock used throughout the design.

I hope you enjoyed today’s project and are having a wonderful start to your weekend!

Focus on Faith: Tree of Knowledge card by Sara Furr

Blessings Crafty Friends, today I am sharing with you a card created using the new "Wisdom" Bible Journaling stamp sets.

I started by die cutting 3 Scalloped Ovals; the largest from a Teal colored 2 tone cardstock, the next largest from a piece of dsp from the "Bible Journaling S1 paper pack, and the smallest from Watercolor cardstock. After cutting the smallest scalloped Oval, I left the watercolor paper in the die and ink blended some blue at the top for sky, and some green at the bottom for grass. I then placed it in my MISTI stamping tool and lined up the tree of life stamp in the center of the oval, picked it up with the door, and inked it up with a brown marker, and stamped it onto the watercolor paper. (* Make sure you do not remove the stamp from the MISTI.)  I then pulled color from the lines with a damp brush, making sure to leave some white space in the center to make the tree appear round. I added in a bit more brown to the edges to darken them.  I then added 3 different shades of green "leaves" to the tree, working lightest to darkest, using a pouncing and smudging motion. I then added some more ground beneath the tree with a wash of light Grey and green. 

When that was all dry, I placed the oval back into my MISTI in the same position I had stamped it before, and inked up my stamp with Winsor Neuton gold paint and immediately stamped over top of the tree to give the outline of the tree a gold shimmer and make it appear "magical" as I imagine the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden must have appeared to Adam and Eve. This is very hard to capture in the photo, but in real life it shows up really well when you tilt it in the light!

Lastly, I stamped the sentiment "Seek Wisdom" from the "Wisdom set 2" with black Versafine ink. I popped that focal point up with foam tape and applied a nest of DMC gold metallic thread behind that focal piece before adding it to the dsp oval. I added more foam tape behind that oval before adding it to the largest oval. I then set that focal piece aside to work on my base.

 I created a 6x6 card base out of a 2 tone Teal cardstock. I used the square of the same cardstock that I had cut the largest Scallop Oval out of (that will be hidden behind my embossed panel and no one will know I took it! Waste not, want not!). I created a slightly smaller panel from white cardstock that I dry embossed with a Spellbinders embossing folder. I distressed the edges of both of those 2 panels and adhered them together. Before adding that to my base, I tied a crinkle bow, that I had hand dyed from seam binding and a Light purple reinker, around those 2 layers off to the right hand side, and then added it to my base. I then added my focal piece ovals off to the left side over the ribbon. As a final touch, I added some self adhesive gold pearls to draw your eye around the card.

For the inside, I used the piece of dsp that I had cut my dsp Scalloped Oval from ( again it will be hidden from view and no one will know I took it!) I followed that with another layer of the Teal dsp and a white oval cut with the largest Scalloped Oval die. I placed that into my MISTI and positioned the 2 florals from the Wisdom set 1 at the top and bottom and the sentiment from the Wisdom set 2 positioned in the middle. I picked them up with the door and then applied an antistatic powder to the oval so I could do some heat embossing.  I inked up the stamps with Versamark ink and stamped them. I applied gold embossing powder and heat set the images. When that was cooled I added it to the center of the inside.

I thought the gold embossing on the inside helped tie together the gold elements I used on the front.

That finishes my card for today, I hope you like it and that you got inspired to get these 2 wonderful sets to create some of your own Faith inspiring projects. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Many blessings to you all, 

Sara Furr- The Crafty Farm Chick

These are all the supplies I used:

Art Impressions products:

6204-Wisdom set 2

6203-Wisdom set 1

6046-Scalloped Ovals

 6082-Bible Journaling S1 paper pack

Winsor Neuton gold paint

Canson Watercolor cardstock

Other products used:

MISTI stamping tool

Paper cutter

Die cutting machine

Scissors for distressing edges of cardstock

Paint brush

Water

Antistatic powder

Versafine Onyx black ink

Versamark ink

Gold embossing powder

Heat tool

Embossing folder

DMC gold metallic thread

Gold pearls

Foam tape

Adhesive

Seam binding ribbon

Blending brushes

Dye ink markers

Blue and green ink pads