Sparkly Rainbows and Fancy Flamingos

I decided to make a few more cards for the Superstar Challenge over at the MFT blog.  

For the first one, I featured a sparkly rainbow. I've been wanting to make a glitter rainbow for some time now. This die really makes it easy to do this. I applied some scor-tape to one side of some white cardstock, then ran it through the cuttlebug. When I took it out of the die, each arch was cut, but the whole item was still somewhat fused together. I applied tape to the back to ensure that it would stay together. Then I simply removed each arch at a time and added my glitter one colour at a time! Love the effect!

I completed the card by making a sky scene on some Cool Caribbean cardstock and adding in a few clouds. The sentiment comes from Tickled Pink. I separated the greeting so I could have it say exactly what I wanted instead of the original "Anything is possible with sunshine and a little pink".

My next card is a bit of a step outside the usual for me. It actually started the other night. I made a background by starting with the pretty little flower from the Penguins in Paradise set. I stamped it with Versamark onto some glossy white paper. Next I sponged some tropical colours over (colours here are PTI's Tropical Teal, Hawaiian Shores, Limeade Ice, Harvest Gold, and Orange Zest).

I was really struggling with what to put with the background. I kept looking to the other images in the Penguins in Paradise stamp set, but when I coloured and cut them out they just didn't have that POP that I wanted. So finally today I thought, why not flamingos! I die cut a pair out and decided to show them in love.

I thought this sentiment from Tickled Pink was a cute punny one to go with the scene.

The hearts were also cut from some glossy paper. I sponged some Raspberry Fizz onto glossy white and then die cut them out and placed them into the scene.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stars and Wishes

When I saw that My Favorite Things was having a Card Design Super Star contest, I knew I had to participate! I'm realizing now that it's a happy coincidence that I used stars!

 I really wanted to feature a rainbow colour scheme on my card. I started by watercolouring a mix of colours onto some cotton paper. Next I die cut the "wish" word and then clear embossed it.

For the background I sponged the same inks onto some white card stock and then stamped the stars in the same inks and in white ink. I didn't want the greeting to get washed out so I applied a vellum overlay. The final touch was a few of the the sketch stars that I applied glitter to.

For my next card, I still had another sponged background with stars that I wanted to use. For that one, I stuck with a white die cut word. I clear embossed it for an extra pop.

MFT Supplies: Stars & Wishes Dies, Count the Stars stamp set, Lucky Stars Dies
Other Supplies: White Cardstock, Cotton Paper, Distress Inks, Pigment White Ink, Archive Black Ink

A few WPlus9 cards!

I saw that it was time for another Throwback challenge over at the WPlus 9 blog. I think the So 80s set was also one of my first Wplus 9 sets. I really liked what Maureen had done with it so I made my own version. I stamped the dotty background image with versamark onto black cardstock and then embossed it with clear. It gives kind of a cool vinyl-esque texture. I decided to pair that with some blues and grey (Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Smokey Shadow) for the various splatters. I changed up the sentiment as well. 

This next card wasn't so much inspired by the specific cards in the Throwback post, but I had seen this awesome card by Kelly. She made it for a recent sketch challenge. When I set out to make my own version, I hadn't realized that she had used the ink splats for her background. I made a similar background using a loose watercolour technique. I wet the paper first and then slowly kind of poked colour into the water and let it spread and blend.

I really liked the look of the Freshcut Florals overtop of the gradient background using the same colours.

I used PTI inks on this one for the stamping and the watercolouring (Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Spring Moss, and Terracotta Tile)

One with Nature!

I decided to have a bit of fun watercolouring these leaves/trees from the newly released One With Nature. I went with atypical colours for leaves because that seemed fun at the time (Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive, Seedless Preserves and Peacock Feather if you're curious). I also decided to go with a more fun sentiment- this one is from Ice Cream Dream.

I had the hexagon embossed cardstock on my stash from a failed card attempt from the previous date. It worked on this card, especially with the colours I had already selected. I dug into my ribbon stash for some cute matching ribbon and that was that!

And even better, the card completely works for this week's Simon Says Wednesday Challenge! The challenge this week was to feature Simon Says Exclusive Product and the theme was Anything Goes!

Mists+Stamps

When I saw this week's Simon Says Monday Challenge: Stamps+ Mist, I knew I wanted to give it a go. Of course, I use stamping as one of my main tools for card-marking. However, although I have made mists a few times, I have rarely managed to use them on a card to my liking. I really wanted to try my hand at using mists and actually liking the end product.

Here's the first card- I made my own mist using few different blue reinkers and water. I taped down the Ledger Drop stencil onto some watercolour paper and got to misting. Once I was relatively happy with how it turned out, I stamped the greeting from Many Thanks. Finally, the final touches were a few vellum flowers attached with blue brads and a few blue rhinestones. I was feeling just "ok" about the card but decided to move.

The next day as a bit of a warm up, I got out the Zig Zag stencil and didn't even tape it down- I just placed it on top of some watercolour paper and started misting. I used 3 different colours of mist I had made- the blue one from yesterday, a yellow/gold one and a brown one. Well, was I ever surprised when I actually liked the messy, chaotic look to it! I picked out the lace next thinking that would pair well. Finally, I decided on Spring Blooms. I used the colours of the misted background as a guide for the ink colours. I went with all Stampin' Up inks here- Baked Brown Sugar, Hello Honey, and Lost Lagoon. The greeting is from Fanciful Feathers. I was definitely more satisfied with this card.

Overall, I was really glad I went for the challenge and stepped a tiny bit out of my comfort zone. It's good to try different techniques and products!

Leafy Father's Day

I know Father's Day was last weekend, but my dad was out of town, so he's not getting the card until this upcoming weekend.  Although, you could also easily apply these techniques and layout to a different sentiment.

I was feeling really inspired by all of the cards I saw using the newly released One with Nature. Being in Canada, I knew that even if I ordered that set (which I have), I wouldn't be receiving it for at least a week. When you feel that inspired, sometimes you need to see what you can do with what you have.

I pulled out this oldie, but goodie Stampin' Up! set (All the Best) and decided to ink them up with distress inks. I have the spots, so I just kind of inked up randomly with several different colours, ensuring that I covered the whole stamp. I stamped that onto my favorite cotton paper. Once they were all stamped, I went over the images with a fine, wet brush to blend and smooth the colours.

After all that work, I didn't want to hide my background, so I decided on a bold and clear embossed die cut "happy" with a small sentiment strip.

Supplies:

Stamps: All The Best (SU), Men of Life (PTI)

Ink: Various Distress Inks, Ripe Avocado

Paper: Cotton Paper (Savoy), Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, Meadow Moss

Accessories, etc.: Happy die (happy trio- WP9), clear embossing powder

Cool Treats!

After seeing the recent Simon Says Stamp Color of Fun Blog Hop and then the Wednesday Challenge, I was feeling very inspired! I decided to focus on two of my favorite techniques- Heat Embossings and Watercolouring and one of my favorite products- Distress Inks.

The watercolored ice cream card by Yoonsun Hur was especially inspiring! I don't have any of the products from the new release yet so I decided to see what I could make with the stamps in my stash.  I pulled out the Ice Cream Dream stamp set. What's great about this set is it's line art, which makes for easy watercolouring!

I stamped various ice cream treats and popsicles on the cotton paper with versamark and then clear embossed them. Then I started to paint each image using Distress Inks. I really love the vibrant look you can achieve with these inks as watercolours!

Finally I needed a sentiment on there, I decided to die cut the word happy out of black cardstock and then I stamped the word birthday (from the Birthday Balloons set) on a small strip of paper.

I have to say I really like how the card turned out!

Stars & Watercolour

Here is the anniversary card I made for my husband this year. I bought this set when it first came out because I love all things starry and also because I thought the sentiments were sweet. I had yet to make a card for my husband and when he read the sentiments, he may have teased me a bit at the cheese factor. So because of that I decided I had to use it on his card. I'm cheeky like that :)

For this background, I worked in sections, wetting the paper and then dabbing the inked up paintbrush into the water, letting the ink blend and move with the water as it pleased. I really like this look and you can make it as light or as bold as you like. If you want more colour, you can go back in with more ink, or use slightly less water.

Once I was happy with the background, I decided on my sentiment placement, then started adding in the stars.

The final step was the embossed, popped up star. I don't dark blue embossing powder or craft ink, so I did the old stamp in Versamark first and then into your dye ink trick. Doing this doesn't damage the dye ink pad and it gives the image enough stickiness for embossing powder to stick to!

Supplies:

Stamps: Super Stars (PTI)

Ink: Tumbled Glass, Chipped Sapphire, Broken China (Distress Inks), Versamark, Black Onyx, Enchanted Evening

Paper: Enchanted Evening, Brushed Silver, Savoy Cotton 118lb

I know the price point may seem a bit steep for a 25 pack, but I have to say, I absolutely love this paper for watercolouring! I initially bought it to use with my letterpress kits, and it really does press quite well. However, I happened upon watercolouring onto it by happy accident and now I almost always pull it out for that. I have both the bright white and the natural white. I love it since it's a smooth surface. I've always disliked the extremely textured watercolour papers. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stencilled Backgrounds

On Saturday, I picked up these fun Bo Bunny stencils to try out. I didn't have any cards in mind, I just wanted to see how well they did. The next day I came back to the backgrounds and decided to make a few cards.

I have to say it was nice not to have to tape down the stencil. Also, since these are mildly intricate designs, it was great not having to worry about them shifting or popping up mid-sponge.

First up, I wanted a cheerful card. The colours I used were PTI's Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, and Terracotta Tile.  Next I die cut 3 layers of the WPlus9 hand lettered hello from some Basic Grey cardstock. I adhered those together to make it dimensional. Last few steps were stamping the word "sunshine", and then getting my layers altogether and finishing it off with some satin ribbon.

This card features the first stencil from the pack I used. If you know me well, you may know that I like stars, quite a lot! So this stencil definitely "spoke" to me! I wanted a rainbow look, so I decided on PTI's Hawaiian Shores, Limeade Ice, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, and Berry Sorbet. Since I had the background already cut as a square, I decided to make a 5.5x5.5 card. I die cut a few stars, and sponged them. For added pop, I also clear embossed them. The "happy" was die cut three times and made to be another dimensional sticker. I paired that with one of the birthday greetings from the Whole Lotta Happy set.

For my final background, I had gone with blue tones. I wanted a bit of an ombre look, although I foresee myself using a rainbow colour scheme in the near future...

I went with PTI inks once again- Enchanted Evening, Blueberry Sky, and Spring Rain. Ever since I got the reinkers for these, I have been quite happy with how they sponge using the mini blending tool. Whatever ink you decide to use with blending or sponging techniques, I highly recommend keeping the associated reinkers. I definitely plan on getting the reinkers for the distress inks eventually, as I use those quite a bit for watercolouring and blending.

Anyway, back to the card, with this background, I wanted something a bit different from the first two. I decided that Spring Blooms would go nicely. I wanted something to contrast with the blues so I decided on yellows (Harvest Gold and Summer Sunrise). The green was a bit trickier to decide. I found that most of the PTI greens were too yellow heavy for this card and the one that's not was too vibrant. I ended up going with Stampin' Up!'s Pistachio Pudding. It had a nice softness that stood out enough from the blue background, but still coordinated with the yellow flowers.

I stamped the flowers and leaves and fussy cut those out. The sentiment comes from Strictly Sentiments 1.

I would definitely recommend these stencils for ink blending. I had no issues with them getting stuck to or damaging the paper. They cleaned very easily, almost even seemed to repel the ink a bit. I'm not sure how they will do with texture paste. I may give the final stencil (the heart one) a go, as I am not as attached to that one!

Thanks for stopping by.

TBT Challenge

I saw the throwback challenge over on Dawn's blog and thought it would be fun to play along. I loved the use of the Fanciful Feathers in the post and thought I would use that set too, since it had been too long!

For the large feather I inked up with the dark blue first, then went over with the lighter ink and made sure they blended before stamping on the paper. I like doing this a lot with similar coloured inks. It makes a nice ombre effect!

I also thought I'd share this card that I made several weeks ago. I only shared it on Instagram, but really liked how it turned out! I stamped the flowers using various Distress Inks and then applied water to give them a painted look. The hello die was stamped with the sparkly versamark and then clear embossed.

Supplies:

Card 1- Stamps- Fanciful Feathers

Card 2- Stamps- Spring Blooms, Hand Lettered Hello Dies-Hello Die

A few recent cards

I thought it was long overdue to share a few non-sketch cards!

First up, a technique that I haven't done in years- wax paper resist. The technique is pretty easy, crumple up a piece of wax paper, and then flatten it against your card stock. Next use an iron to transfer the wax to the cardstock. Be sure to layer another piece of paper between the wax paper and the iron so none transfers to the iron.

Next is the fun part, seeing exactly how the pattern transferred. To do this, choose your ink colours and start sponging them.

The rest is pretty straightforward- die cut inlay.

Next up is a card that I made quite a while ago. I can't remember the exact challenge that my husband presented me, but this was my take on it- a very fruity card! I have to say I love the use of the clear foam tape here. I used it top pop up my velum greeting.

Lastly, I have a relatively quick card. I cut out the word hugs 3 times and layered them all together to make a dimensional greeting. Next I stamped my aqua background using aqua mist, hawaiian shores, and fresh snow on aqua mist paper. The sending banner is one of the stamps in the hugs set, so I thought I would trim that out and pop it up. Easy peasy!

All cards featuring primarily Papertrey Ink.

Rainbow Smooshing!

If you haven't heard of smooshing, you must go here and check out the "queen of smooshing", Laura Bassen. She also has an easy to follow video so that you can try too!

I've done this technique before, but it had been a while, and now that I have so many more Distress Inks, I thought that I ought to try it again. Now you don't have to use Distress Inks, but they really do react so nicely with water. I have also used Papertrey Ink's Inks (lol, that was awkward to type) and they work pretty good too!

For my card, I started with some of my favorite cotton paper. I bought this paper years ago when I intended to do a bit more letterpressing with the Lifestyles Craft Letterpress kit. However, as much as I loved doing that, I found that this paper is amazing for watercolour techniques!

I stamped and embossed the triangles from Mama Elephant's Trifecta. Once that was set up, I chose my colour scheme and starting smooshing (apply ink directly to an acrylic block, spritz with water and stamp directly to the paper)

Once that was done, I die cut a Happy Birthday sentiment and added a few black sequins and rhinestones.

For my colours I used Fired Brick, Orange Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Broken China, Crushed Preserves

A few more challenge cards!

I found a little bit of time to play along with the rest of the Papertrey Ink 8th anniversary challenges.

First up, the metallic and neutrals challenge- This one was very inspired by Danielle's card set. I masked off a thin stripe and used Versamark directly to paper and then applied gold embossing powder. I also embossed the dots with gold.

The next one is for the ombre challenge. I had much higher hopes for this card, but was feeling the pressure of a time constraint. Oh well, it got done!

A few cards

Hello!

Over the past few months I've been busy making cards, but have been somewhat inconsistent with blogging them. I have a few reasons- my card reader on my laptop is working poorly, my hard drive was mostly full (this has since been rectified!), I've felt more like creating than writing about creating, and the list goes one. I know they are just excuses, I guess I just need to make the effort to get back to regular blogging! I certainly have enough projects that I could be sharing!

It's February, and that brings out the Papertrey Ink anniversary contests! I've been playing along with all of the challenges so far!

Here are my cards for the first 5 challenges.

#1 Colour Combination/Sketch
I used the colour combo of Melon Berry, Blueberry Sky, Fine Linen, Classic Kraft, and Aqua Mist. I was really drawn to this combination and didn't think I'd ever put these colours all together before.

#2 Inspired by Maile
Really, who hasn't been inspired by Maile at some time? I drew some inspiration from this post. I really liked the idea of using a coverplate over a colourful background. I don't have the star cover plate, so I did some selective die cutting, being careful to leave an un-cut panel. I also wanted a more blended background so I sponged by background instead. I suppose with the rainbow look, you could say I was a little inspired by Laura Bassen as well.

#3 Make a Tag and Matching Gift Bag
I always like using the bold flowers from Beautiful Blooms 2 and thought they would work well for a gift-giving duo. Here's a look at the tag:

And here's the full project:

#4 Bouquet using Multiple Stamp Sets
I think this might be my favourite challenge so far. It was so fun going through all my stamp sets and figuring out which flower images might go well together. On the car I used flowers from Green Thumb, Everyday Classics, and Rosie Posie. I really wanted them to look like they could have come from the same stamp set. I stamped the images onto some natural cotton paper. Once I had my bouquet arranged to my liking, I went over with a fine paintbrush and water and blended the images to create a more painted look. I also added a few free-hand stems and then tied a silver bow around the whole thing. It was surprisingly enjoyable to do this with my stamps, as I am a little guilty of refusing to combine stamp sets with different design styles.

#5 Use a stamp set that hasn't been used in a while.
I've used In Bloom and the Year of Flower sets in the past, but it's kind of been a long while since I've used either. I also had it in my mind that the card was supposed to be Spring themed, so I went with a Spring type colour combination.

For this one, I first decided on a colour palette- Winter Wisteria (lol the irony!), Spring Rain, Spring Moss, Lemon Tart, and Sweet Blush. Next, I knew I wanted to try to split panel type of layout and I also knew that I wanted a spring-ish sentiment.

That's all I've made for the challenges so far! I am looking forward to the next 5 days!