A Whole Lotta Watercolouring!

I've got lots of projects to share this evening.

The first 3 cards feature watercolour background techniques. The first one involved an ink direct to block technique.

These next two cards featured misting an inked background stamp.

The next one features watercolouring a stamped image. So basically, I stamped the flowers and then added water with a fine brush.

This card features watercolouring an embossed background image. For this one, I embossed the image, then coloured tiny bits of colour into each shape. I finished that off with a fine brush and water.

Here's a close up look of that effect:

This last card features a DIY twinkling watercolours of sorts. I once again embossed the image, then added very small bits of colour with Stampin' Up! markers. Then I mixed in some white Pearl Ex powder into my water, and voila, instant sparkle!

I've included a close-up to try and illustrate the effect a bit better.

Wished Upon a Star

I was inspired by the Make it Monday from a week or so back featuring watercolour splats. I didn't actually end up doing the technique on the first card. I just couldn't bring myself to potentially ruining my nicely blended background. (A little bit of background info here, I made several blended pieces, added the splats and was quite unimpressed with the results, so I was a bit leery to adding the water to one that I was really happy with)

Anyway- I added a swash of stars, embossed them with white embossing powder and added my sentiment in two parts (the you was die-cut from the Wonderful Words collection) and then I chose a nice sentiment from the Simply You.

For this one, I ended up using Distress inks to make my blended background. The water reacted much better than my previous results with other inks. I die-cut the happy from the same die set as above and added a sentiment from Stylish Sentiments- Birthday.

Old meets new

I mentioned a few weeks ago how my fiance likes to give me creative challenges. The challenge last night was to use my oldest set with my newest.

I no longer have my oldest set (Stampin' Up!'s Quick and Cute). I looked through my Splitcoaststampers gallery to confirm which set might be my oldest and I'm pretty sure it's All the Best. I still have this set easily accessible. I think despite it being over 10 years old, it's actually quite classic and it still works well with today's trends and techniques. 

For my newest set, I had quite a few options. My latest PTI order came yesterday (love it when it actually arrives on a Friday so I have the weekend to play!) and there were about 6 new sets in that order. I really liked how the mix of fonts in Wet Paint looked with the leaves.

Although not part of the challenge specifically, I ended up using some old paper (anyone remember Gable Green) and one of my newest embellishments (Studio Calico sequins).

I was really happy with how it turned out! I hope it inspires you to mix up your old and new products. We get so hung up on having the latest and greatest and those old products that we "had to have" sometimes get forgotten.

Supplies:

Stamps: All the Best, Wet Paint

Ink: New Leaf, Cottage Ivy, New Sprout, Black Onyx

Paper: New Leaf, Gable Green, White, Vellum

Accessories, etc,: Sequins

Watercolour Balloons

So yesterday I was checking out the latest online card class and I was totally inspired by one of the sneak peek images on the sign-up page. I saw the balloons and thought, hey, I should try that.

To achieve the look, I stamped my balloons in a Fine Linen ink (stamped off twice), so I would have just the faintest of guidelines. Next I outlined that in pencil, and also drew my little balloon strings. Then I just got to watercolouring using Reeves watercolour paints and an assortment of brushes. I was quite happy with the result!

Supplies:

Stamps:Birthday Balloons (SSS), Birthday Basics (PTI)

Ink: Black, Fine Linen

Paper: Savoy- Natural White (a cotton paper that works very well for watercolouring), Soft Sky, Smokey Shadow

Accessories, etc.: Reeves watercolour paints

A Whole Lotta Happy!

Good evening! I have been having so much fun with the Whole Lotta Happy set. This one came together very quickly!

Supplies:
Stamps: A Whole Lotta Happy, Strictly Sentiments 1
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Smokey Shadow, Pool Party
Ink: Smokey Shadow, Pool Party
Accessories, etc.: Happy Trio die, sequins

Inspiration Mash-Up #1!

So I was feeling a tad uninspired the other day so I asked my fiance for a challenge. Every so often he'll give me a random challenge. A previous one for instance was to use complimentary colours and feature an animal.

For this particular challenge, he decided to pick 2 cards that I've previously made and I was to get inspiration from both and make a mash-up of sorts. I keep all my cards that I haven't used in a box in the craft room. He closed his eyes and randomly chose two

Here they are!

And here's what I ended up doing! I took the products from the first card and the layout from the second.

So if you're feeling uninspired, I urge you to do something similar. We all have cards lying around, close your eyes, randomly select two cards, and see how you can pull inspiration from both and make a mash-up! 

Sushi Birthday!

I've had my eye on this Lawn Fawn set, Let's Roll for some time. I love all things sushi! So when I was passing the time checking out the new products at my local scrapbook store, I couldn't resist!

I love that the set comes with the faces separate. So if you feel like making something cutesy, you can; or if you'd rather, you can keep it face-free.  I had lots of fun putting together and colouring the sushi platter!

Supplies:
Stamps: Let's Roll (Lawn Fawn), Birthday Balloons (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper: White
Ink: Tuxedo Black
Accessories, etc. Copic markers, dimensional tape

A Whole Lotta Happy

I've been having lots of fun with the Wplus9 Designs Whole Lotta Happy and the coordinating dies. These first two are the same card, just different colour palettes. I really liked the look of offsetting the happy dies to create a shadow.

Next up is a fun and vibrant card. I liked the pop of the happy in black.

And finally, a one layer card. I was in the mood for something a bit different from the first. I embossed the stars, added sequins, and die-cut happy in gold.

A few cards!

Good evening! I keep procrastinating updating over here, but I still have been busy making cards for more than just the clean and simple stamping blog.

The first two cards are ones I made for the PTI blog hop about using glossy accents. I didn't end up getting to blog them in time for the hop, but here they are now!

For the first card, I wanted to feature bright rubber boots- I used several layers of ultra thick embossing powder to make them ultra glossy. I was kind of on polka dot kick, and added a polka dot umbrella, used a swiss embossing plate, and finished it with ribbon!

For my next card, I wanted something that was a bit more "me". So I went with a much simpler layout. On this one, the umbrella was glossified using Ranger Glossy Accents.

Next up, I just got some new WPlus9 Studio stamps, including Fresh Cut Florals and Strictly Sentiments 1, so I've been having fun playing around!

First up, a very simple card using some nice, bright colours!

This one was a touch more complex. I used the coordinating dies and a chevron embossing plate. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use the Fresh Cut Florals. The images line up so easily on the die-cuts. There's just the right amount of wiggle room to get a centered impression!

Stretching

When I first saw this week's WPlus9 challenge, I was a little stumped. There's not much that I haven't tried as far as techniques go, and my style has evolved so much throughout the years as well. Then I started playing around in my craft room and I remembered seeing someone make their own embossing folder a few weeks ago. I found some scrap chipboard and starting cutting out clouds. I attached those to a piece of card stock and than ran it through my Cuttlebug using a rubber mat and a cardboard shim. It worked even better than I anticipated.

Supplies: Heartfelt Mix, Hearts & Clouds dies

Ink: Blueberry Sky, Enchanted Evening, Spring Rain, Dark Chocolate

Paper: White, Spring Rain, Chipboard

Trend Watch challenge

I decided to make a few cards for this week's WPlus9 challenge: Trend Watch.

Card #1 features metallic watercolours (Twinkling H2Os), gold, and peacock feathers. Feathers, although not the newest trend, are still quite prevalent in the crafting and fashion industry.

The card itself was quite simple. I used a few twinkling H2Os and blended a nice shimmery background. I also stamped and embossed a feather and painted it to match a peacock feather. I completed the card off with a little bit of gold card stock and a gold embossed sentiment.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fanciful Feathers

Ink: Versamark, Gold

Paper: White, Cotton White, Gold

Accessories, etc.: twinkling H2Os, white and gold embossing powders

This next card features a few trendy items- grunge look, rainbows, 80s themed. Again, they aren't the newest trends, but they are still quite prevalent in both the fashion and craft industry. 

This card was also quite simple. I chose my colour palette, then staggered the starry paint swipe image. I completed it was embossing the word "Awesome" in white and popped up the "you're so". All that was popped up on a white card base.

Supplies:

Stamps: So 80s

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Black

Paper: White

Accessories, etc.: White embossing powder

Superstar!

Here's my card for today's challenge over at PTI.  The challenge was to make a card and a matching decorated envelope. I stamped star clusters all over gold card stock. I stamped and embossed the larger gold star and then added my sentiment. For the envelope, I decided because my card was vertically oriented, I'd make my envelope that way too. I stamped a starry border, another greeting, and a popped up star.

Supplies:

Stamps: Superstars, Star Prints, Inside & Out: Baby

Paper: Gold Card stock, White, Black

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Gold

Accessories, etc.: Gold embossing powder, star punch

More challenge cards!

I really wanted to get two cards made tonight, one for the PTI challenge and one for WPlus9.

Here's my PTI card. I really liked this challenge. Basically, there were 9 lists that consisted of 6 items. I used a random number generator and got the following items:
Colours: Enchanted Evening, Hawaiian Shores, Spring Moss and Kraft as my neutral
Embellishments: Baker's Twine (Fiber), Glitter
Technique: Heat Embossing
Theme: Anniversary
Sketch #6

I was really happy with me selections, although I was a bit unsure about the colour combination. It worked out though! For my stamps, I chose Rosie Posie and Beautiful Butterflies. I combined my glitter and embossing elements as one. I used Pearly Sparkle embossing powder.

From the straight-on shot, you don't get the full impact of the glitter. Here's a slightly different angle to show just how this glittery embossing powder picks up the light!

The WPlus9 Designs challenge was all about dimension. It was called Step it Up! I was inspired by the fact that tomorrow is Valentine's Day and figured I should make a card for my fiance. Here's an angle that really shows how popped up these hearts are:

And here's the front view. So first, I die cut the hearts, one at a time. I layered dot-embossed paper behind that, then popped up the stamped little hearts. Very simple, but a nice impact I think!

Supplies: Stamps: Heartfelt Mix

Ink: Black Onyx, Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Soft Stone, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Smokey Shadow

Accessories, etc. Hearts & Clouds dies, swiss dot embossing folder

More PTI Anniversary Cards

Here are two recent cards I made for some of the Papertrey Ink anniversary contests.

This first one was for the birthday card challenge. I really love using the notched flower die and I wanted a matching notched leaf. I drew out a few freehand leaves on cardstock and then cut them out with a few notches. I sponged ink around the edges of the flower and leaves to give it a bit more pop.

Here's my card for the stripes challenge. I really like using Faux Ribbon to make patterned paper. I decided on 4 colours and 4 line images and just started stamping. Two of my colours were Melon Mambo and Old Olive, which made me think watermelon- so I pulled out this image from Scent-imentals.

ATC

Here's a quick ATC I made this morning. I wanted to keep with the whole scrapbooking theme and make something that you could easily fit into a layout (instead of something that specifically screamed card/sentiment).

Supplies:
Stamps: Beautiful Blooms II, Simply You, Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf,  Fresh Snow
Paper: Kraft, New Leaf, Aqua Mist
Accessories, etc.; banner die (SSS), sequins, 1/2inch circle punch

Festivities!

Here are two cards I made for the PTI 7th anniversary celebration.

The first I did was for the limited supply challenge. I chose my 7 supplies (white card stock, 5 ink colours, and 1 stamp set) within 7 minutes. And then I completed my card in under 17 minutes (I actually took only 8 minutes!).

Supplies:

Stamps: Happy Trails

Ink: New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Orange Zest, Berry Sorbet

Cardstock: White

For my second card, I used one of the sketches and colour combinations from here (I went with New Leaf, Ripe Avocado, Aqua Mist, Kraft, and Hawaiian Shores).

Stamps:Year of Flowers:Marigold, Bloomin' Button Bits
Ink: Ripe Avocado
Paper: New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Kraft, Aqua Mist
Accessories, etc.: Copic markers, brads

Feathers on the line!

Here's a card for WPlus9's "Comfort Zone" challenge. What makes this a "comfortable" card for me?

-The use of two of my favorite Wplus9 stamp sets

-Mix of bright and earthy colours

-Minimal layers (2)

Supplies:

Stamps: Fanciful Feathers, Heartfelt Mix (WPlus9 Design Studio)

Ink: Terracotta Tile, Harvest Gold, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink), Island Indigo (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: White, Island Indigo (Stampin' Up!)

An old classic.

Sometimes it's fun to go digging through the old stash of stamps and see what one finds! I stamped a few of these cheerful sealife images onto some basic card stock, coloured them with copic markers and then a quick swash of twinkling h2os overtop that.

Supplies:
Stamps: Silly Sealife, Fishy Friends, Whale Wishes, Medallion
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Tempting Turquoise
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Winter Wisteria, White
Accessories, etc.: Copic Markers, twinkling H2Os

Happy Cupcakes!

Today was a bit of a snowy, overcast day. What's a good solution for that? Rainbow cupcakes!!

I really like the look of simple, bold outlined images in a range of colours just in a cascade down one side.

Supplies:
Stamps: Sweets & Treats 
Ink: Summer Sun, Only Orange, Tempting Turquoise, Limeade ice, Raspberry Fizz, Black
Paper: Raspberry Fizz, Black, White

Happy Birthday Flowers

I was cutting out several purple flowers the other day, and liked how the card stock looked with negative cutouts. I adhered that over a piece of acetate and then placed that over some shimmery purple paper. I finished that off with a few baubles and a sentiment strip and called it a day!

Supplies:

Stamps: Stylish Sentiments: Birthday

Ink: Royal Velvet

Paper: Royal Velvet, Coastal Cabana, Certainly Celery, White, Shimmery Purple, Acetate

Accessories, etc.: gems, button, twine, blooms dies

Happy Happy Happy!

Good afternoon!

Today I have a delightful little cupcake card. I was in the mood for a one-layer card with a little "pop".

I die-cut the word birthday and placed that on the card. Whenever I am die-cutting letters or words, I placed some scor-tape on the reverse side of the card stock to make an instant sticker. I keep a roll of 1 inch wide scor-tape for this purpose alone.

Sometimes when I'm using cupcake stamps I feel like being bright and whimsical. This time, however, I felt like using traditional cupcake colours- chocolate browns and light pink frosting. Yum!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sweets & Treats, Sweets & Treats Fillers
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Cherry Cobbler, Sweet Blush
Paper: Real Red, White
Accessories, etc.: Birthday Trio Die collection

Happy New Year!

Happy 2014!

Here are two quick birthday cards I made as part of a gift set. Although the leaves are traditionally masculine and the flowers, feminine, both could be used for anyone!

Supplies:

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms II, Stylish Sentiment: Birthday (PTI), Shapes and Shadows (SU!)

Ink: Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar

Paper: Kraft, Dark Chocolate, White, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush

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