And the Sisterhood says "K" is for KITTY!

Hello all my loyal blog followers and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  I love when Halloween falls on a weekend because you can stay up sooooo much later.  As well as being Halloween, today is also the beginning of another two-week challenge over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and this week the  Challenge is "K" is for Kitty!  

Here is my project featuring another of my favorite Suzi Blu stamps called "Witchy Ways" from the Unity Stamp Company and I picked this stamp because this is the ONLY kitty stamp I own!  In honour of it being Halloween I chose an orange, brown and black color pallette, and if you have ever owned a cat you know the sentiment is so TRUE!

Now for those of you who may be interested here is a bit of a photo-lesson on how this card came to be:

So why not come Plaaay! Smile... Just create something with a kitty/cat theme and link up your project before November 13th to the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Blog to be in the running to become either the Queen or Princess of Snark.  Winning this crown comes with all the badges and bragging rights that entails as well as a chance to be our Guest Designer for the next challenge right along side of us.  And don't forget, the more snarky or sarcastic your sentiment the better.   There is a winner every challenge and it is just TOO FUN!

So thanks for popping in to see what I am up to and please do leave me a comment if you like what you are seeing! 

PS:  Just for fun, I am adding my card to the Cat Lovers' Blog Hop that has been extended to November 1st over at Her Peaceful Garden. 

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera
for The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers (SoSS) 

Products used for this creation:
Ranger Archival Ink and Stickes and Liquid Pearls
Tsukineko Kaleidacolor Ink Pad (Cappuccino)

ColorBox Pigment Inks
Foam Pop Dots

Another Take on "Home"...

Happy DAAAY everyone!  I am happily here today to share with you one more take on what "Home" means to me for my Susan K. Weckesser design team post.  Here is my re-purposed CoffeeMate Tin Featuring Mr. Gnomey and his sentiment "Home is where you plant your Flower Seeds."  I LOVE THAT!

Now about my process:  To alter this coffeemate tin (which I LOVE to use because it is made from paper not tin) I start by embossing some scrap paper... the heavier weights work better because it will hold the texture better and not flatten out when you glue it down and apply gesso and paint overtop. 

Apply the paper to your tin using mod podge or a gel medium.  I like to use a matte gel medium or a matte mod podge because the matte surface takes other products much better than the glossy finishes.

After your embossed paper has dried apply a layer of gesso, as thick or as thin as you like, thinner lets more color show through, but since I am painting it I am only interested in the texture.  NOTE: this is a GREAT way to use up scrap paper.  Now you have a blank canvass to create whatever you like.

I started by stamping Susan K. Weckesser's Little Haven stamp on some Ideaology Tissue Wrap by Ranger using Stazon ink

and then using my gel medium I apply my images to the tin...

For this project I finally broke open my brand new stash of Silks Acrylic Glazes by Colour Arte and applied them in between my houses.  I was thinking gardens and sunrise/sunsets while I was painting.

Now these glazes are wonderful to work with and a little goes a long way.  I love the shimmery sheen they have after they dry and the way the colors layer when they are wet without mixing and turning to mud!

Now while my tin was drying I stamped an entire page of Susan K. Weckesser's "What's Up Gnomey" on white tissue paper and then I applied them all over the tin using matte gel medium. (I forgot to take a photo at this stage) When you apply them with a gel medium or modpodge the tissue disappears and it looks like you stamped the images right on the lumpy, bumpy tin without the "lumpy, bumpy" badly stamped effect.

I stamped Mr. Gnomey onto cardstock separately and painted and "Liquid Pearl-ed" him to created my very own home-made diecut, because I wanted him to really stand out.

After all this has dried is when the REAL fun begins for me... I used my waterproof pens to outline everything in black to make it really stand out.

But that was when I realized that the houses were just too white ...

...so I painted them using my Derwent Inktense Sticks because they act like a watercolor paint but dry to be waterproof and do not bleed or run when I add more wet stuff.

 The final touch for me is to accent, embellish and highlight using Ranger's Stickles and Liquid Pearls... Swoon!  (I also added some shading with my grey Copic markers to make some things pop.)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how happy this tin makes me feel and I really like how all that texture comes through without overpowering the images.

So THANK YOU for popping in to share my creativity and please do leave me comment if you like what you see!

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

for the Susan K. Weckesser Design Team

Product Used in the Project:
Susan K. Weckesser's "Little Haven"  and "What's Up Gnomey" Unity Stamps 
Ranger's Stickles, Liquid Pearls and "Ideaology" Tissue Wrap
Stazon Ink
Colour Arte Silks Acrylic Glazes
Sharpie Black Marker
Copic Markers in Neutral Greys
Liquitex Ultra Matte Medium
Derwent Inktense Blocks

It's a PINK Halloween!

Good Morning Blog Followers!  Today I am sharing one of my favorite new traditions... The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Pink Halloween Card Challenge... in honor of both Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Halloween!

I Love this challenge as much as I love this Group...you have two weeks to create a card or project showcasing Pink Halloween in any way you like and the snarky-er and more sarcastic the better... How fun is that? You can check out all the Awesome-ness my Sisters have created over at the SoSS blog HERE.  Now this is my little project... not a card but a 4x6 inch canvas showcasing one of my favorite artist's stamps from Unity, Suzi Blu and her Halloween set called "Witchy Ways" over top of a mixed media background which I muted with Gesso.  

I am showing you a close up so that you can see how I used my watercolors to paint her face, and how I paper pieced her clothes using my favorite Susan Weckesser paper line called "Live In Color".  Other things I used on this project:  Ranger Archival Ink in black; ColorBox pigment ink in Berry for the cats and sentiment; Ranger Super Fine Detail clear embossing powder and Ranger Star Dust Stickles and Liquid Pearls in Watermelon.  

I had a lot of fun creating this wee little Miss and I cannot wait to gift her to someone.  I hope you enjoyed my project and please do consider adding one of your own to our challenge this month, you have until October 30th and there is always a Queen of Snark and Princesses chosen and you too could be a guest designer right along side of us one month.

So Thanks for popping in... and please do leave me a comment if you like what you see, because I LOVE getting you comments!

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

Home Sweet Home...

Well HELLO you wonderful world of arty blog followers!  I am SO Excited to be sharing my first project for the Susan Weckesser design team! This month the theme is "Home Sweet Home" which is so very timely in my life right now as my hubby and I are in the process of selling our home in Alberta, Canada to move to British Columbia, Canada on the "next step" in the journey of our lives together.  So needless to say House and Home are much on my mind these days, and I have been trying to define what turns a House into a Home?  I have decided that, for me, it is Laughter and Love, and with those two thoughts resonating in my brain, here is the canvas I created...

It was the 6 x 20 inch canvas and my box of inky paper towels that inspired me to see a row of wobbly little houses running across it and I hope you enjoy the photo-heavy tutorial I have created to share my process of creation.

I started by gluing my inky paper towels to the canvas using Liquitex Matte Medium... I like to use a matte because it takes other mediums like pen and marker so well after it has dried.

Next I used my new TCW (The Crafters Workshop) stencil and a new-to-me product called Ferro by Viva Decor.  It is like a modelling paste full of very fine glittery sand, fine enough to use with my stencil and thick enough to make the words crisp and dimensional.... Swoon! 

Now for the stamping: I stamped my little houses from Susan's "Create Your Day" stamp set from Unity Stamps right onto pages in my dictionary.  I used Stayzon ink in Aqua and Red because it is fast drying and waterproof.  I picked up a dictionary in a secondhand store for $2.00 and I love using it for stamped images in my mixed media work because the paper does not dissolve when I wet it with paint and sprays and it stands up to the heat gun and dries fast.  I used my Dylusions sprays on some of my houses to color them up and I also stamped some images on tissue paper ... a technique I love because the background shows through the tissue paper when it dries. 

This sun I applied is from Susan's "Fly Away" collection from Unity Stamps.  Now I have a background for my main images... here it is in detail... you can see the texture from my inky paper towels and how the small houses have depth and texture also.

Now for the Fun stuff!  I cut out my clouds, sun, kite and stars from Susan's Paper Line and applied them over the background.  I stamped this house from the "Heartfelt Warmth" Unity Stamp set onto a piece of gesso'ed card stock and actually used my Dylusion sprays like paint... I LOVE the texture and subtlness of this technique.  This house I Popped off the canvas as well as the kite.

The final two steps were to outline and embellish my images with first some Sharpie markers (because they are waterproof and non-bleeding) and then with Ranger's Liquid Pearl and Stickles because it just needed to sparkle!!

This little canvas just makes me Happy and I think it will brighten up someones home very nicely.

Cheers from

Lynne Mizera