Relax!

Here's a fun camping themed card.

Supplies:
Stamps: The Great Outdoors (DoodleFactory), Flipping Out (PTI)
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Tuxedo Black
Paper: Happy Campers (We R Memory Keepers), Spring Moss, Soft Sky, White
Accessories, etc.: Baker's Twine, Copic markers

Some Love-Themed Christmas Cards

I know it's only mid-September, possibly too early for Christmas cards, but it'll be December before you know it! I was looking through some old files and found several cards I made for a magazine card several months ago. So I present to you some "rejects". I was actually really happy with these two cards. 

This first card is extremely simple. I die cut out this sprig from felt, tied some baker's twine around it and attached tiny red pearls all around it. I love this sort of design on a kraft card base with round corners. I don't know why, it just seems classic, but a little rustic.

I don't remember what the specific call was. I think one of the themes was to use non-holiday product for a Christmas card. So what did I do? Used various chipboard hearts and covered them with glitter and paired that with a Christmas sentiment.

Supplies:

Stamps: Love Lives Here: Holiday

Ink: Dark Chocolate

Paper: White, Kraft

Accessories, etc.: Winterberry die, Red Pearls, Baker's Twine, Chipboard hearts, glitter, corner rounder

Wishing you sunshine

Here's an almost one-layer card today. I love making flowers using these bloom builder dies!

Supplies:
Stamps: Turning a New Leaf, Blooming Button Bits
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Simply Chartreuse
Paper: Kraft, Lemon Tart
Accessories, etc.: Button, Bloom Builders #3

"Herd" it's your birthday!

Here's a punny birthday card.

Supplies:
Stamps: On the Farm
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, Harvest Gold, Pure Poppy
Paper: White, Kraft, Pure Poppy
Accessories, etc. Twill ribbon, Corner Rounder

You are my sunshine!

Here's a card I made a long while back that showcases an ombre background. I made use of glossy white paper and sponged inks across them. I also inked up the word sunshine using three different colours of ink to mirror the background.

 

Supplies: 

Stamps: Hello Sunshine

Ink: Terracotta Tile, Canyon Clay, Harvest Gold, Summer Sun, Lemon Tart

Paper: Summer Sunrise, Glossy White, Canyon Clay, White

What is this? A Christmas Card??

I know, it's September. Christmas isn't technically that far away... I just haven't felt like even thinking about holiday cards. However, I was perusing Pinterest and found this. I thought that it would be a good "warm-up" card. 

Do you ever have those days? You feeling like creating, but don't really know where to start. I like to find a good inspiration card to get me into the crafting groove. 

I had some awesome Chevron ribbon to use, so I thought this card would work well!

Supplies: Stamps: In the Meadow (PTI)
Ink: Fresh Snow, Dark Chocolate
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Kraft
Accessories, etc.: Cherry Cobbler Ribbon (SU!)

Vellum Leaves/Wooden Tri-Panels

This is one of those cards that was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest. I actually only used the basic idea of the tri-panel mask. To make the mask, was a bit of a process. I traced the die I wanted to use onto plain copy paper three times- I used this paper as my guide. The sandwich I used was the Spellbinders magnetic plate, the guide paper, the die (it easily stuck to the magnet through the copy paper), and then a 2nd piece of copy paper. I made sure to keep the top piece of paper the same size as my guide and kept them lined up throughout the process. I only had one die, so I did that three times until I had my mask ready to go!

I sponged on some Vintage Cream cardstock and then stamped over with a Woodgrain background image. Next, I stamped the leaves onto vellum, hurried the drying process with an embossing gun, and cut them out.

Supplies:

Stamps: Beyond Basic Borders, Leaf Prints (PTI), Woodgrain Background (SU!)

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise, Vintage Cream

Paper: Canyon Clay, Vintage Cream, Chocolate Chip, Vellum

Rainbow Make A Wish

I just can't get enough of watercolouring on this paper! For this one, I just starting playing with a rainbow palette of colours and then decided to actually use it on a card.

I don't have that many PTI reinkers, so I just used a larger clear block as my palette. I pressed the inkpads directly onto the clear block and used an aquapainter.

Supplies:
Stamps: Think Big Favorites #1, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday {the small stars}(PTI)
Ink: Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Spring Rain, Royal Velvet, Tuxedo Black
Paper: Basic Black, White, Cotton Paper

DIY Designer Paper

There's something about the Garden of Life stamp set that just makes me want to create my own patterned paper. For this one, I started with a very simple, monochromatic colour palette- Terracotta Tile, Melon Berry, and Vintage Cream. I chose three different flowers and started randomly stamping them. I started with the lightest dye ink (Melon Berry), then the darker dye ink (Terracotta Tile), and finally finished up with the pigment ink (Vintage Cream). I definitely recommend finishing with the opaque pigment ink.

Supplies: Stylish Sentiments: Birthday, Garden of Life (PTI)
Ink: Melon Berry, Terracotta Tile, Vintage Cream
Paper: Melon Berry, Terracotta Tile, Vintage Cream
Accessories, etc.: twine, button

Autumn Themed Birthday

It doesn't feel like autumn is completely here. The daily highs have still been in the 20s, the geese have only just starting rounding up, and the leaves are still quite green. But the nights are getting cooler, and the days grow shorter. 

Here's an autumn themed card. I love combining woodgrain patterns with leaves.

Supplies: 

Stamps: It's a Jungle Out There, Turning a New Leaf, Woodgrain (PTI)

Ink: Terracotta Tile, Canyon Clay, Dark Chocolate

Paper: Terracotta Tile, Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Rustic White

Accessories, etc.: Twine, Corner Rounder

Hexagon Quilt Birthday

I have all sorts of hexagon products, but I rarely use them... I had cut out the hexagon cover plate and had all these fun little hexagon shapes leftover. I also recently got the 2013-14 In Colors, and wanted to use those a bit more. This card just kind of came together!

Supplies:
Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes, Happy Hexagon (PTI)
Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, Baked Brown Sugar
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, White
Accessories, etc.: Hexagon Cover Plate (PTI)

New Addition!

This card is for a dear friend that is expecting in the next month or so. I've known her since we were both 5 years old, so it's very exciting to see her starting a family of her own. I didn't want something super cheesy/in-your-face cutesy, but I thought this set by WPlus9 had the right balance of cute.

 

Supplies:
Stamps: Heartfelt Mix (WP9D)
Ink: Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate
Paper: Vintage Cream, Berry Sorbet, Dark Chooclate

Apple + Banner

Just a sweet and very basic card tonight. This one is a cute 4-1/4 square. I got this adorable Doodlebug Designs paper pack the last time I was in the US. As awesome and bright as it is, I actually wanted to tone it down a bit for this card. I achieved that by placing vellum overtop.

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps: Fruitful, Birthday Basics (PTI)
Ink: Pure Poppy, New Leaf
Paper: White, Pure Poppy, Fruit Stand, Harvest Gold, Vellum
Accessories, etc. Banner dies (Simon Says

Artichoke Birthday?

Do you ever just see a set that you really want, you're not really sure why, and you don't even know what kind of projects you'd make with it? For me, that was how I felt about Vegetable Garden. I just really like the images and the two-step stamping options.

 

So when all else fails, make a birthday card right? I'm sure I can find someone that wouldn't mind an Artichoke birthday card!

 

For this one, I did some generational stamping to make my background paper. The vegetables were all stamped in the first step. The text images were stamped after stamping off once.

 

Supplies:
Stamps: Vegetable Garden, Reason to Smile (PTI)
Ink: Class Kraft, Certainly Celery, Old Olive
Paper: Certainly Celery, River Rock, Class Kraft, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
Accessories, etc.: Linen Thread

Feathers- Two Ways

 

There are some trends that I just cannot help but hop on board and go crazy for. I've been surprisingly restrained with this one, but I love all the feather images out there. This set is by Hero Arts. I have been eyeing the recent releases by Waltzing Mouse and WPlus9, but my budget says no :(

 

I made this card for Father's Day (it's not that I'm not actively making cards, I've just been really bad about getting motivation to post about them...). I remember seeing someone do the gold tipped feather, and I thought that was a neat idea. So that's exactly what I did. I stamped both feathers onto sturdier cardstock (with Versamark), then sprinkled the majority with Zing! powders (Aqua and Leaf). Then while the ink was still sticky, I sprinkled on some gold embossing powder and then heated it once. I did some extreme fussy cutting here and placed the 2 feathers onto a Rustic White background. I love banner dies too (there I go with trendy things again!), and so I had to make use of one here, with a touch more of gold embossing powder.

 

 

For this next one, I was reminded of how fun Pearl Ex powders can be.  They were one of those products that was almost over-used for a while, and then they kind of seemed forgotten. I think they're making a bit of a comeback! And what's great about them, is if you bought them the first time they were trendy, they are still good and they almost last forever!

 

For this one, I stamped the feather image on black cardstock with the versamark, and then just had fun blending a variety of powders. With Pearl Ex, you have to seal the image, so remember to give it a good spray of hair spray, or whatever you use for that sort of thing.

 

Supplies:
#1 Stamps: Hero Arts Feathers,  Men of Life,
Ink: Versamark,   Island Indigo
Paper: Rustic White, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay
Accessories, etc.: Zing! (Aqua, Leaf), Gold embossing powder, laced velvet ribbon (AC), Pearl Ex, Banner Die (Simon Says)

Supplies:
#2 Stamps: Hero Arts Feathers, Men of Life, Inside & Out: Birthday (PTI)
Ink: Versamark, Black, Island Indigo
Paper: Black, Shimmer Pack, White
Accessories, etc.: laced velvet ribbon (AC), Pearl Ex

Butterflies!

Hello!

 

Here are 2 vastly different cards that use butterfly punches as the common theme.

For the first one, I just started punching out butterflies and arranging them on a plain white card base with dimensional tape. I added a bit of extra sparkle with the tiny rhinestones. Very straight forward!

 

 

The second card was a bit more complex (it was for my Mom's birthday afterall). I added some leftover paper from when I had been playing with watercolour techniques. I decided to punch out several large and small butterflies. I liked the idea of putting them on circles, but I wanted extreme dimension. What I actually did here is punch out 1-1/4 circles on the Naturals cardstock. Then I adhered that the Garden Green cardstock and punched out 1-3/8 circles. I attached that to my Kraft card base, so the base is actually what the butterflies are directly attached to. A bit complicated, especially when you could probably achieve a similar look by just putting a kraft punch-out onto a green punch-out and placing that on the previus layers. However, the way I did it made the card not seem so bulky.

Supplies:
#1 Stamps: Reason to Smile (PTI)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, White, Strawberry Slush
Ink: Strawberry Sluch
Accessories, etc.: Butterfly Punches, Rhinestones

#2 Stamps: Stylish Sentiments: Birthday (PTI)
Paper: Kraft, Rustic Cream, Garden Green, Savoy Cotton
Ink: Garden Green (reinkers: Old Olive, Garden Green, Pool Party)
Accessories, etc.:Butterfly Punches, Rhinestones, Circle Punches (1-1/4, 1-3/8)

Gradient Backgrounds- One Layer Wonders

Here's a group of one layer cards. I was still on a water-colour blending kick on that luscious cotton paper. For the backgrounds, I free-handed the water-colouring, let them blend and then stamped overtop once everything was dry.

Supplies: Stamps: Harvest Berries, Through the Trees
Paper: Savoy Cotton- White and Natural
Ink: Pacific Point, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Crisp, Early Espresso

I wasn't as fond of the re-inker colours here. I used Curry, Pumpkin Pie, and Cranberry Crisp (an interesting food mix, haha). The curry was not quite the right colour, which is why I wanted to try jazz up the water-colour background a bit. I masked off the background and stamped words and then the leaves.

Supplies:
Stamps: Leaf Prints, Background Basics: Text Style, Autumn Abundance
Ink: Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Crisp, Early Espresson
Paper: Savoy Cotton- Naturals

Vellum Blooms

Good evening!

I hope you're ready for the posting frenzy to continue! I've seen this technique and have been wanting to try it for some time.

I stamped the flowers and leaves in white pigment ink on the vellum and then embossed them with white embossing powder. I flipped that over and starting blending Copics. The great thing about this technique is you don't have to be that precise with your blending. Once you turn the vellum back over, it looks great!

Supplies: Stamps: In Bloom, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday

Ink: Fresh Snow

Paper: Summer Sunrise, Terracotta Tile, Vellum

Accessories, etc: White Embossing Powder, Copics

Mixed Backgrounds

I've been having a lot of fun mixing re-inkers and making blended backgrounds. It's amazing what the right paper will do when you bring in a bit of "paint" and water. I love using 100% Cotton Card Stock - Savoy Bright White - 8.5 x 11 - 118lb Cover for watercolouring. It is absolutely luxurious to paint on and it makes a stunningly elegant card base.

For my first card, I mixed re-inkers on a piece of acetate, spritzed it with water and then dipped the cotton paper into it. It gave a delicate and pretty background. Next up, I die-cut a leaf from the same paper then stamped it. I wasn't thrilled with my stamping (I didn't press it down heard enough), but I was happy that I got the stamp lined up on the die-cut. So I carried on with the watercolour theme and went over the image with an aquapainter. I was thrilled with the result. No more patches of white were left shining through!

For my next card, I decided to do some free-hand water colouring directly on my card base. That's another wonderful thing about this paper- heavier colours do not bleed through and the paper does not distort easily. I mixed three different re-inkers and just mixed and blended them on the paper.

Once that was done, it needed some lightness- so onwards to vellum butterflies!

Supplies:

#1:
Stamps: Turning a New Leaf, Fillable Frames #4
Ink: Ripe Avocado
Reinkers: Soft Sky, Old Olive, Lucky Limeade
Paper: Savoy Cotton, Soft Sky
Accessories, etc.: Baker's Twine, Turning a New Leaf die

#2
Stamps: Stylish Sentiments: Birthday
Ink: Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Cranberry Crisp
Paper: Vellum, Savoy Cotton
Accessories, etc.: Gelly Gems, Butterfly Punches (both by SU!)

Stamp-A-Faire 2013

I had lots of fun participating in SAF2013. I didn't really play along last year since I had to work on the Saturday.

This year was totally different, I had the day off, and I had two crafty friends that joined me in celebrating!

As is typical, when the three of us get together, the fun increases, but the productivity goes down a little. We each still got between 3-6 challenges done. I think the group favorite was the salt/watercolour technique. We each made 2 of those!

I was so inspired and I really wanted to get all 10 challenges done, so I planned out the rest of my projects last night and got to work. I'm only posting the challenge and the cards. Any supply list/instruction can come later, if there's a demand for it.

Breakfast Bake & Take

"Tea"-Staining

Rolled Dough Designs

Mixing Mists:

Sprinkle of Salt:

Gallon: Quart: Pint

Custom Accents from the Oven:

Scent-Sational Cards

Limited Supplies Challenge:

Sugar Coated Embellishments

Poppies bring Sunshine!

Good evening!

Here's post #2 of several!

I've had this poppy background for some time and haven't really used it. Finally I just sat down, stamped it out and got to colouring. And once you spend all that time colouring something, you don't want to cut it apart or cover it up, so it became my background. I made use of some old hodgepodge and twill ribbon and called it a day!

One thing that I still do (and it's by no means a new technique) is outline Copic coloured images with a grey marker. I've always liked the little pop it gives.

Supplies:
Stamps: Pleasant Poppies (SU!), Hello Sunshine (PTI)
Ink: Bamboo Leaves (Memento)
Paper: Real Red, Ripe Avocado, Very Vanilla
Accessories, etc: Twill, Pewter Hardware and Brads, Copics

Happy Patterns

Good morning.

In honour of trying to get this blog up and running and back to being a bit more of a presence in the stamping community, I present the first of many posts to come. 

This card is ridiculously simple. I decided to make use of one of my favourite colour combinations (blue and orange) and a fun mix of patterns (polka dots and lines).

I cannot recommend enough- get the wide style Sookwang tape! It is perfect for cutting out die-cut letters. What I do is cut a strip of the paper that is just wider than the die, then I put a piece of the tape on the back and cut it out. Voila! Instant sticker. This is SO much easier than taping the letters after the fact. For this purpose alone, I would suggest keeping various sizes of double-sided tape (with backing) in your stash- if you don't already.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stylish Sentiments: Birthday
Ink: Orange Zest
Paper: Various retired SU! paper, White
Accessories, etc.: Headline Alphabet dies

Awesome Day



I made this card a while back. I was wanting a fun birthday card with a slightly retro vibe. I thought it'd be fun to use the patterns from Mama Elephant's sets Trifecta and Basic Borders with the retro feel of WPlus9Designs So 80s. I did a bit of fussy cutting on the star and the sentiments and placed those over the stamped patterns.

 





Supplies:

• Stamps: Trifecta, Basic Borders (Mama Elephant) So 80s (WPlus9 Design Studios)
• Ink: Classic Kraft, New Leaf, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Black Onyx
• Paper: White, Basic Black

Ombre Text

I was in the mood for something bold, ombre-styled, and simple. I went with traditional "masculine" colours, but I think it would be a lot of fun in almost any other colour combination!

 

This card started out with the alphabet stamps. I wanted to ink them up with 2 different shades. After I had that stamped, I just kind of kept going with mixing in other sentiments in other shades of orange. I was quite pleased with it. I almost left it without the button, but I didn't want a flat card.

 





Supplies:
Stamps: Headline Alphabet, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday, Inside & Out: Birthday, Think Big Favorites #1
Ink: Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, Canyon Clay, Terracotta Tile, Dark Chocolate
Paper: White, Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate
Accessories, etc.: button, baker's twine

It's been a while!

So to say that I've neglected this blog would be a bit of an understatement... This is the first post of 2013!

I was on a bit of a roll this weekend. I made 6 cards yesterday, some were for challenges,  some were for upcoming birthdays, but all were just for fun!! I saw this week's Tuesday Trigger and was inspired. I incorporated the butterfly, the touches of gold, and the ruffles into my card.

Since the image was also entitled Elegant Emerald, I was inspired to stick with an elegant style for you card. On the one butterfly that I popped up, I rocked it in the gold ink to give it a subtle glimmer.

Supplies:
Stamps: Beautiful Butterflies, Birds & Blooms (PTI)
Ink: Island Indigo, Versamark, Gold
Paper: Gold, Island Indigo
Accessories, etc.: Organza ribbon, gold cord, Island Indigo ruffled ribbon