Celebrate card

I was inspired by the June 30 Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge and decided to join in and make a red, white and blue card.  I looked through my craft supplies and pulled out products and tools to get creative.  

I used three coordinated colors of scrapbook paper by My Mind's Eye.  I used the bold pattern for the background panel and layered it onto white card stock.  I cut the red and lighter blue papers along with a piece of white card stock using the Papertrey Ink rick rack die.  I used a scalloped circle punch to cut the red paper to layer with the candles.  I used white card stock and die cut the candles using the Sizzix candles #2 die.  I colored the candles with colored pencils and added a bit of shimmer with Recollections glitter glue.  The sentiment is an image from a $1 dollar stamp set from Michaels - remember those mini stamp sets, lol!  I used Memento Lady Bug ink to stamp the word, and I was surprised that the ink wasn't dry - I'm sure I've had it for over 10 years!  I cut a piece of enchanted evening card stock, by Papertrey Ink, for the card base and adhered all elements together to finish a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card.

Happy crafting!

Birthday Wishes roses card

It's been a while since I've done any paper crafting but I made this card a few weeks ago.  Earlier in the summer, I decided to practice watercoloring and the perfect solution for me was to use an image out of the Simon Says Stamp Suzy's Flower Sentiments watercolor prints.  The images are printed on watercolor paper, come in a variety of themes and are about 4 1/4" x 5 1/2", great for card making.  This makes it a nice alternative to stamping an image onto watercolor paper which can be challenging due to the rough texture of it although, not impossible.  I colored this beautiful image using Fantasia watercolor pencils.  

I used two colors, a light and dark shade, both for the roses and the leaves.  After I used a wet paint brush to water down the pencil color, I did go back in to add more of the darker color for shading.  It may be hard to tell but that's why I'm practicing 😊!  

To turn the print into a card, I adhered a piece of light purple card stock to the back for a mat and applied that panel to a card based covered in a piece of printed art collage card stock by Die Cuts With a View.  I was going to leave it at that but it needed a little embellishment so I added the yellow ribbon and bow and some sparkle with a Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.  It's hard to capture the sparkle but I think it can be seen in this next picture.

 Happy crafting!

 

Celebrate in April

This is my first card of the year that I made last month.  I was short on time and needed a card quick because I waited too long to make but came up with this design the evening before mailing.

I cut a piece of Die Cuts With a View patterned paper and adhered to a strip of pink cardstock with a scallop edge design, and glued to the card front.  I inked up three white flowers, from a Gina K. Designs card kit, using Copic markers, and added a brads and rhinestone to their centers for some embellishment.  I stamped the sentiment using VersaFine vintage sepia ink and added a butterfly cutout, from a Brenda Walton paper pack, to add to the design.  I used a Wink of Stella glitter brush to add shimmer to the flowers and butterfly to jazz up this simple card.

Let It Snow

In the last few weeks, I've added to my distress ink collection and bought several of the mini distress ink pad sets to practice ink blending (yes now, but it's better late than never, right, LOL).  I say collection because I've had the several of the larger ink pads for quite a while but barely used.  But with all the new colors, I really want to get crafty and try out the different techniques I've seen in various videos.  Well, I was inspired recently especially because I purchased a new stamp set several months ago and this video by Ashley Tucker gave me the mojo to create a blended background for this card.

I used the same distress ink colors, spun sugar, abandoned coral and seedless preserves, and sponged/blended onto Strathmore mixed media paper to be used as the backdrop for the stamped images.  I then used Spellbinders circle dies to cut out the circle panels.  The penguin and snowflake images are from the Art Impressions Snow Much Fun stamp set.  I colored the penguin with Bic Mark-It markers colors tuxedo black, cloud nine grey and moonstone yellow and added shimmery chalk for the cheeks.  For the hat and bow tie, I added some spun sugar to an acrylic block and picked up the ink with a water brush for coloring.  For embellishment, I added rhinestones to the snowflake centers and added sparkle to the penguin's hat and bow tie with a Wink of Stella glitter brush and shimmer to it's body with a black glitter brush by Art-C. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions' Home Sweet Home stamp set.

Cozy Christmas

Merry Christmas!  I got my mojo up and made this cute card a few days ago for some holiday spirit!  The penguin and cold noses warm hearts sentiment is from Art Impressions' Snow Much Fun stamp set.  I bought this stamp set a few months ago because it came with a few dies to cut out the stamped images, a trend that seems to be hot.  Although, of the two images, I discovered there's only one penguin die and the other will need to be cut freehand but that shouldn't be difficult because it's a quite simple image! Also, I don't usually use animal images but the penguins were so cute and fun and something different to add to my stamp stash!

I stamped the penguin on Strathmore marker paper and colored it with a few markers from the Tombow dual brush pens muted palette and the Pre by Nicole watercolor markers brilliant palette.

Other details about the card; I used patterned paper from Crate Paper's Snowy Day 6x6 paper pad as the background layer, I cut snow banks from white card stock and stamped the wishing you a cozy Christmas sentiment from Taylored Expressions' Home Sweet Home stamp set.  The finishing touches were a few foam snowflakes and I added some sparkle to he penguin's hat and bow tie with a Wink of Stella glitter brush pen!

Birthday Ranunculus

I made this card a few days ago and pleased with how it turned out!  The floral image is a stamp by WPlus9 called Beautiful Bouquet: Ranunculus.  I stamped it onto 100% cotton water color paper from the Bee Company using Bic Marking markers (I got these markers I think from Target a few years ago; I thought they were the Bic Mark-its but looking at the package the other night it's Bic Marking--but I think they're the same.)  I purchased them because although I have some Copic markers, I hadn't been thrilled with the results; still need to practice.  Anywho, the markers I used to color the image were:  flowers-Fandango Pink, Pink Flamingo & Yellow Blaze; berries-Desert Rose, and the leaves-Lemon Bliss & Margarita Green.  I used Papertrey Ink card stock and embossed the card base front with Darice's Damask embossing folding.  I found a piece of PTI card stock,  previously edged with an EK Success scalloped edge punch; the color went perfectly with the colored berries in the image.  I used it to cut a window using Spellbinders' Nestabilities circle dies to frame the image and layered the circle with a pink circle cut out.  The sentiment is by Anita's stamps (from a Michaels' dollar bin years ago); it says Happy Birthday but I blocked out the one word and stamped onto more of the cotton water color paper.  Lastly, I embellished the card with Martha Stewart self adhesive pearls, ribbon from my stash and some shimmer from a Wink of Stella glitter pen.

 

Stamping Bella

Oh wow, remember Stamping Bella?  I received this image in a swap from oh...about eons ago (and I have a few more other images too)!  I'm happy to finally use one on a card!  I haven't had much crafty time in a while but I searched and they are still in existence!  I thought these images were cute and fun back then but check out their current inventory...bigger images with more surface area to color and such cuteness! I used Primsacolor pencils to color the image, a Spellbinders die to cut the background panel for the image, a Prima flower and brad for embellishment.  The image is placed atop some My Mind's Eye patterned paper and a Papertrey Ink rickrack border die cut.  The sentiment is from Cleary Besotted's Sweet Rose stamp set.

August birthday cards

The most recent cards I made were last month for two birthdays.

For this first card, I found in my stash of practice watercolored pages, this dog image which is from The Stamps of Life's birthday4Cookie stamp set.  I cut it out along with a white mat panel using the Coluzzle tool.  I decided not to put a sentiment on the front but rather use some my Prima flowers that I've had for quite a while.  A piece of patterned paper, rick rack ribbon and rhinestones for the flower centers finishes the card.  

I'm happy about this second card that I made for my son.  I finally tried a technique and made a galaxy background.  I painted Koi watercolors onto water color paper and once dried, I splattered the background with white acrylic paint that I watered down.  I double matted the background panel onto black and then white card stock.  I used several colors of Stampin Up! card stock with a Sizzix die to cut out the candles.  I stamped the sentiment from Fiskars' Birthday Cheer stamp set using Versamark ink and heat embossed it using white embossing powder.

  

May birthday cards

To celebrate a few birthdays this past May, I created these two cards.  Both floral images are from Stampin Up's Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set. 

The first one has a split front panel design which didn't come out the way I wanted.  I came across this video here by Cards and Coffee Time and tried to case it from memory, yikes, LOL!  I colored the flowers with markers (can't remember but it was either Copics or Bic Mark-Its) and added some shimmer to the centers with my Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.  It was my first time using the brush (glad I had bought it) because it adds that something special to liven up a card!   The sentiment is from Fiskars' Birthday Cheer stamp set and to finish off the card front, I added a few adhesive pearls.

For the next card, I needed to make something quick (to get in the mail) and when I saw the card (love it!) in this video by Justine Hovey, it inspired me to create that last minute card!  I made a mask of the floral image and stamped it along the right side of a piece of white card stock for the front panel.  I colored the flowers with Bic Mark-It markers.  Again I had to use the Wink of Stella glitter brush pen to add some glittery shine!  To finish off the panel, I stamped the sentiment from the Fiskars' Birthday Cheer stamp set and added some brads and adhered the panel to the card front.

 

Tablet, blog posting and cards

 I'm finally feeling motivated to share a few cards that I've made so far this year by posting from my HP 10" tablet.  I couldn't resist the deal on this tablet when I came upon the presentation of it on HSN,  so I purchased it so I could have my own means to check email and the internet.  I usually use my son's computer but I hate to interrupt him so the tablet will suffice until I can purchase a laptop.  I didn't think I could manage posting from a tablet but so far it hasn't been too bad even though I'm using a stylus.  I did try typing a few words with the tablet's onscreen keyboard but I hate the finger smudges on the screen so I'm sticking with the stylus.

  Now on to my projects.  These photos were taken with my tablet and taking pictures is quite basic but I'm still figuring out the saving and editing functions.  Please excuse any horrible photos but I think I have a few good shots to share.  First, these hydrangea cards were for Mother's Day for my mom, aunts and cousins.  There's nothing like waiting until the last minute especially with a lack of motivation!  I was able to mass produce and whip these up using various colors of  Stampin Up card stock and ink.  The hydrangea image is from Wendy Vecchi's Hydrangea Stencil and Rubber Cling Stamp set by Stampers Anonymous.  The words on the card front are from the Lovely Shelf stamp set by Gina K. Designs.  The sentiment on the interior is an Inkadinkado stamp.  I framed it with an image from the Polka Dot Greetings stamp set by MFT Stamps.

Next are two birthday cards.   On this first card, I decorated the card front with a Prima flower and a polka dot brad for the flower center.  The sentiment is a Studio G stamp. 

On this last card, I stamped the cake image from JustRite's Topsy Turvy Cakes stamp set in Versamark on the card base.  I then colored the same image and framed it using Spellbinders square dies.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts' Decorate It! Message stamps set.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's a little project I whipped up the other night; a mini card and a gable box.  I filled the box with candy and gave this ensemble to my son for Valentine's Day.  To make these items, in my craft stash I found a piece of red card stock embossed with hearts.  I've had it for several years from a craft swap so I finally put it to use.  I used a paper punch to cut out the heart shapes to decorate the box.  Looking at the left over piece with the negative heart shape, I decided it would be a great decoration for a card front. I also found a piece of small card stock that I made into a mini card.  (Sometimes saving scraps is a good thing, LOL!)  I adhered the embossed card stock piece to the card front but it was a bit plain so I stamped in three hearts to finish the look.  Another fun and quick treat holder, I used the instructions I have in my file of tutorials, to make the gable box.  I used a sheet of Stampin Up's ruby red card stock for the gable box.  There is also a video tutorial by Splitcoaststampers for the gable box which can be found on their channel here.  Have a nice day!