Arden's Blog - The Aartvark Studio: 2017

Sunday, September 3, 2017

Anything But the Holidays

Joining a Blog Hop today with this special card!

When I saw the black gate in the Halloween part of the catalog - I LOVED it! But I could also envision Garden Gates, and Pearly Gates! Here's my version of a Pearly Gate:

I could envision it for a wedding or even a sympathy card.

So you may have noticed that I cut the bottom off the gate - it fit better on my card.

It's a subtle thing, but I used Shimmery White for the gate. It's for more than just watercoloring!

I added little flowers from the Tree Builder Punch and trimmed them in pearls, of course. I also added a flourish, which I cut in two parts. This was really fun! I have to make some more now!

By the way, this was a Splitcoast Stamper Weekly Winner!

Here's my list of products:

Detailed Gate Thinlits Dies
$30.00

Flourish Thinlits Dies
$29.00

Move Me Thinlits Dies
$29.00

Tree Builder Punch
$18.00

Pansy Punch
$16.00

Clear Faceted Gems
$5.00

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$9.00

Shimmery White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock
$7.00

Pearl Basic Jewels
$5.00

Thanks for stopping by!

This month's theme is: Anything but the Holidays!

1.	Janet Wakeland
2.	Janet Wakeland
3.	Annette Sullivan
4.	Melody Tess Rollins
5.	Pip Todman (UK)
6.	Jan Musselman
7.	Lea Denton - UK
8.	Debbie Dutchess
9.	Joanne Cantrell - USA
10.	Georgia Gaydos
11.	Carly Middleton
12.	Betty Bickford
13.	Liz Holloway (CANADA)
14.	Susan Timchack aka Stampin Sue Creates
15.	Rachael Rife Rachthestamper
16.	Cindy Fodor
17.	Debbie Henderson
18.	Sandra Collett
19.	Angélique Nederpel/Stempelkeuken - Netherlands
20.	Dawn Thomas (USA)
21.	Hannah McCurley - UK
22.	Rick Adkins
23.	Arden Dougan
24.	Tamra Davis - USA
25.	Stamp-Patty's - Patty Chenail - USA
26.	Ginger Rabesa - Stamping the Cape
27.	Tricia Butts - Tricia's Stamping Creations U.S.A.
28.	Chris Slogar (USA)
29.	Susan Murphy - Susan's Craft Room
30.	Fiona Stanton
31.	Maria Pane (USA)
32.	Claudine Delaunay (Canada)
33.	Jackie Noble - CreativeJax (New Zealand)
34.	Nature Gibner
35.	Sara Levin
36.	Karie Beglau
37.	Sarah Cade
38.	Claudia Perry
39.	Katherine Cartwright
40.	Sue Craig
41.	Beth McCullough
42.	Lisa Pretto
43.	Stesha Bloodhart
44.	Amanda Dickson
45.	Nichole Loe
46.	Sherry Roth - Canada
47.	Sharon Jacobs
48.	Frances Wagner
49.	Candice Fields
50.	Jen Tribue - Stamptastical.com
51.	Michele Reynolds
52.	Christina Walker USA
53.	Candy Ford
54.	Diana Eichfeld
55.	Geschtempelt - Gesche Preißler
56.	Sue Patrsyk - InkandSparkleStamping.com

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Daisies!

Getting pumped up for the new catalog?

Here's a big hint:

Sunday, April 16, 2017

RemARKably Creative Blog Tour - April: Underground Suite

Welcome to our Blog Tour! The theme is the Underground Suite. To me that means GUY CARDS!

For my card I used the Stamp Set, "Urban District". Unfortunately, it was announced this week that it was retiring! I really fell in love with the Where is Waldo-like pictures on the letters. For the background, I used the Brick Wall embossing folder. I used a Tarnished Foil technique that really gives the bricks some texture!

For the tarnished foil method, I embossed silver foil through the Big Shot with the Brick Wall folder. Run a little test sample through to make sure you have the brick side "out". Ask me how I know.

Then I smooshed some Black Stazon ink (also retiring!) on it and let it dry. I added spots of Versamark and then copper embossing powder and heated. I repeated the last step with black and gold embossing powder.

I colored some of the items in with my Stampin' Write markers. I think Dad will enjoy it!

This month's theme is: Underground Suite!

1.	janet wakeland
2.	Debbie Henderson
3.	Candy Rattray
4.	Arden Dougan
5.	Annette Sullivan
6.	Jen Tribue
7.	Narelle Fasulo
8.	Maria Pane
9.	Debra Byrd
10.	Susan Murphy
11.	Gloria Plunkett
12.	Kim Vogel
13.	Mary Dredge
14.	Katrina Wolfe
15.	Valgerdur Rodriguez
16.	Candice Fields
17.	Cara-Lauren

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Sunday, March 19, 2017

RemARKably Creative Blog Tour for March - Party!

Hi! Welcome to this month's blog tour - this month's theme is Party Animals!

I used the color palette: Emerald Envy, Crushed Curry and Tangerine Tango for my card.

On the top part of the card, I used Stampin' Write markers and colored directly on the rubber stamp. I then spritzed it and put it on watercolor paper. I also splattered a little of the Tangerine Tango.

On the bottom part, I put the ink directly on the block, then spritzed it and pressed it on the paper

. So now, I showed it to my husband and of course he thinks it looks better upside down. What do you think?

I hate it when he's right.

Check out all the other blogs on our tour:

Nancy Amato .

Melissa Bolinger

Arden Dougan < -- That's me!

Linda Moore

And the products I used are here:

Floral Phrases Clear-Mount Stamp Set
$18.00

So Detailed Thinlits Dies
$33.00

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
$6.50

Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad
$6.50

Fine-Tip Glue Pen
$7.00

Tangerine Tango 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

Emerald Envy 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

2016-2018 In Color Stampin' Write Markers
$15.00

Brights Stampin' Write Markers
$29.00

Regals Stampin' Write Markers
$29.00

Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad
$6.50

Watercolor Paper
$5.00

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Succulent Gardens II

Welcome to the February RemARKably Creative Blog Tour. This month's theme is succulents.

I found this little driftwood flower holder at M's, stuck some of that green foam in (is there a technical term for that stuff?), and put some moss on top. And finally, I added flowers, in two sizes.

First, the artistic rendering:

If you don't have the app "Waterlogue", you need it! It is so fun!

I made three colors of flowers: Rich Razzleberry, Wild Wasabi and Smoky Slate. I added a lot of flower layers to give the succulents more dimension. I used a sponge dauber to add color to each of the leaves. The Rich Razzleberry flower was sponges with Chocolate Chip. The other two were sponged with Sahara Sand and Rich Razzleberry.

I especially loved the comments I've gotten from my kids - like "What are you going to do with that?" "Why?" and the cat thinks the moss is quite edible.