Color Burst Butterflies

Not everything is bad about this crisis. Hear me out. 

All over the world, people are coming together in unique ways. Zoom rooms, Skype chats, FaceTime - people of all ages are getting in on a real technological revolution. And we're finding out just how many of those meetings could have been emails after all. 

I'm so pleased to say that tonight, the technological revolution allowed me to "meet" one of my bloggy idols, Lauren Bergold of ...all the GOOD blog names were taken. I've followed her for years and gushed over all her amazing cards. Her instagram account is my absolute favorite because she's just a one-woman explorer of all things colorful. 

As I said on my last blog post, I've been playing along with some of the challenges Paper Anthology has released on their Facebook page. And they also also do nightly Zoom calls! So this North Dakota girl had fun crafting away in isolation, while getting to chat with some amazing crafters from New Jersey. 

I decided to play along with the You're not the Emboss of me challenge. 

Since I was feeling especially Springy (even though it definitely snowed today *facepalm*), I pulled out these gorgeous butterflies from the STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies 2 set along with some classy gold embossing powder. 

I used mixed media paper with the sole intention of breaking out the vivid loveliness of Ken Oliver Color Bursts. 

I dipped my paintbrush into the water and wet the paper before sprinkling on the powders. 

Then I used a damp paintbrush to spread the powders. In order to create a gradient with watercolors, I rinsed out the paintbrush and then pulled out the color along the edge. Repeat the rinsing, and continue to pull the color out by running a wet brush along the edge. 

These are the colors I used for my creation and I think they're lovely. I was just going to use one, but the owner of Paper Anthology, Elizabeth, told me to use at least two colors, probably three. Boy, was she ever right. See? The magic of technology at work. 

I stamped the butterflies again on some vellum so I could do an overlay and add a little bit of dimension. 

Ta-daaaa! I finished this little lovely with a gold border and an embossed sentiment from Verve (now retired, sadly). 

I'm going to end this bliggity blog with a little PSA - support your local stamp and papercraft store right now because they absolutely need it in order to survive! Paper Anthology is a prime example. They are currently shut down now due to shelter in place mandates, and that has cut off all source of income. They've created some classes in a kit that they will mail right to you! 

Also linking this up to the current STAMPlorations Theme and Sketch Challenge, where I used their theme of Stamps and Flight. 

Snarky and Funny Valentine's Day Card

When it comes to Valentine's Day, we all know I'm a huge fan. First of all - glitter can be strewn about with abundance and second of all, I get to use all the heart-shaped, kissy image things I want with no repercussions. 

That's why I'm thrilled to be hopping along in STAMPlorations Love Hop and Linky Party. 

 

Rather than getting all mushy gushy, I decided to go with a very non-traditional snark to my card. Last year, I designed this A Funny Kinda Love stamp set for STAMPlorations. Yes it's got all the options to make a cheesy, eye-watering lovey dovey card - but it's also got all the elements and sentiments to add a little cheek to the undertones of amore. 

You're not going to want to miss out on all the fun at STAMPlorations Love Hop & Linky Party. There's three FREE digi stamps for anyone who wants to snag them, and there's a ton of fun prizes! Go leave some comments and get some inspiration as you start your V-day preparations! 

PSSsSSsst - If you're looking to add to your love-themed stamp sets, make sure to use code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout for 20% off your whole order in the STAMPstore. 

Rainbow Paintbrush Watercolor Card

Paint ALL the things!! I'm popping in with a quick post today to let you know I'm up on the STAMPlorations blog with a step-by-step for this card.

If you wanna know how to do stunning, easy-peasy watercolor that's actually semi-controllable, you're going to want to go check it out! Cheers!

Watercolor Autumn Leaves Card

CHALLENGES ARE BAAAACK!!!
At STAMPlorations that is. We may have taken a little summer hiatus, but we are back and better than ever!. 

This month our theme is Stamps & Two Colors and here's the sketch: 

 

If you want to play along, we make it easy peasy. You can use either the theme or the sketch OR both. And you can also use stamps from any company you want!

I chose to use the theme this go-round.

I also wanted to take part in the first birthday shindig for CAS Watercolour Challenge. So I stamped and clear embossed some leaves from the Trendy Leaves stamp set and used my Kuretake Gansai watercolors to add a splash of vibrant color.

 I've loved playing along in this challenge throughout the year. Happiest of birthdays! 

Their theme this month is watercolours and fall leaves.

I finished my card by stamping a sentiment from the Holiday Expressions: Thankful For Autumn onto a thin strip of vellum. I splashed the leaves with some red Distress Spray Stain and added a little bit of glimmer using some clear sequins. 

There's so much gorgeous inspiration over on the STAMPlorations blog so pop over and have a peek!

Seize the Birthday Guest - Text Background

I'm kicking it old school with the ladies at Seize the Birthday challenge as their surprise party guest and I had so much fun playing along in their latest challenge.

I love a good card with an old-timey vintagey feel to it, so when I read that the new challenge was to use a text/script background I was all sorts of happy. 

I stamped some gorgeous poppies from a Penny Black stamp set and watercolored it in using some Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks. 

I used some black and tan damask paper as well as some vintagey text paper for my background.

My card was also inspired by the sketch challenge going on at The Paper Players right now. 

I'm also going to play along in:
Craft Rocket Challenges - Something beginning with "F" (flower)


There is some gorgeous inspiration up at the Seize the Birthday blog and you all should go check it out!! 

Growing in Unity Day 5 + PRIZES

All good things must come to an end. It's my last day as a guest designer for Unity Stamp Co. as a Growing in Unity Gal. *cue violin* music.

I've had a blast exploring watercoloring mediums with you all week, and am SO grateful for the new bloggy friends I've made! Thank you for helping me get to 300 blog followers. YOU ROCK! Here's to 400. :) 

Today, I've got a super CAS design to share using one last watercolor-esque technique: gelatos. 

I've discussed tons of different ways to use gelatos on my blog (if you want to see more, just click on the little "gelatos" tag at the bottom of this posting) but I definitely like watercoloring with them. 

If you haven't worked with gelatos in the past, they are waxy crayons that react with water. They are perfect for smudging, too! 

I scribbled some bright green onto my craft mat...

...then picked up the pigment using a wet paintbrush. 

As you can see, it made a lovely little wash for my grass. This sweet bicycle and sentiment is from the For the Guys stamp set. 

Thank you all for tuning in this week! I hope you had as much fun as I did. Don't forget to leave a comment below for your chance to win some sweet Unity swag. I'll be doing drawings sometime tomorrow!

Oh Deer! Growing in Unity + Prizes

WATERCOLOR ALL THE THINGSSSSS!!!

When I devised my Growing in Unity plan, the above statement was not a part of it. But then after two days of watercoloring with different mediums, I said "hey self! This could make a cool week-long exploratory series." My self agreed with my self and thus, the past week has been spent in splishy splashy bliss.

On the docket for today's watercolor medium: Ken Oliver Colorburst Crystals. 

If you want to talk about creating gorgeous, vibrant, unexpected backgrounds or watercolored images, these Colorburst crystals are INSANE! My bloggy friend Lauren Bergold's instagram feed is all full of Colorburst examples and I finally had to break down and buy all the colors. No Ragrats!

Also, I wanted to play along with The City Crafter's latest challenge, which is to mimic one of these splashes as a background on your card. 

Obviously, you can tell that I chose the green splatter for my design. 

Here's how I made this background.  

Step One: 

Use a wet paintbrush and apply water around your stamped image.
P.S. this deer comes from Unity's Woodland Deer stamp set.
Be careful not to get the water inside of your image.

Step 2
Add a teeeeny bit of Ken Oliver Colorburst Crystals.
Seriously. A teeeeny bit. A little of these babies goes a LONG way. 

Step 3
Cry a little bit, restamp your image and repeat steps one and two because you added too many crystals.

Step 4

Use a damp paintbrush to move around the color, carefully

Step 5:
Oooooh and aaah over your final creation.
So stunning without even trying! 

I love how this little card turned out. It's CAS but packs a wallop of intensity. I also really like that it's appropriate for the fellas because I have SUCH a hard time not going all frilly on things. 

If you're interested in getting some of your very own Color Burst Powders, Amazon has sets of them for a decent price. (ps - I use affiliate links to help support my blog)

 

I'm also going to enter this into
As You Like it - Flora or Fauna (I like fauna better because you never know what you should expect from animals)

Cardz 4 Guys - Something Beginning with "D" (Deer!)

Also - thank you to those of you who followed my blog yesterday! I'm just >>ONE<< measly follower short of my 300 goal. Can you help a girl out?!?!

Don't forget to leave a comment down below because Unity is giving two lucky commenters some pretty sweet swag!

Growing in Unity + Card Concept + Prizes

Today, I'm combining both my Growing in Unity post PLUS announcing the return of The Card Concept Challenge! So ya'll get a double huzzah!!

My card today is brought to you by the new inspiration image up at The Card Concept challenge, which is back from its summer hiatus. 

Look at all that lovely texture, woodgrain, and pretty florals - there are so many different things you could be inspired by and we would LOVE to have you come play along. 

I guess this week I have been unintentionally exploring different watercoloring mediums. 

Yesterday, I showed you how to use traditional watercolors to make a splashy card and on Day 1 of my Growing in Unity posts, I showed you how to watercolor with Distress Inks. 

Today, I'm going to talk about my latest watercolor effect medium obsession: Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks.

People. People. 

If you want to talk about the easiest way to watercolor EVER,
These. Are. It.

Like their name implies, you just scribble around with them. Originally I thought these would be like gelatos or Tim Holtz Distress Crayons but they are far from it. The scribble stick is hardened and if I was going to compare it to anything, it would be a watercolor pencil (although these are MUCH more vibrant). 

Once you have a little bit of scribbled color down, take a damp brush and just pull out from the center of the color. Easy peasy gradient that looks oh-so-lovely! 

If you're wondering where that big ol' beautiful flower came from, it's a design by Donna Downey for Unity Stamp Company called Wild & Free. This set is PERFECT for dramatic cards and is large enough for mixed media canvases or art journaling, too! 

Once I had my poppy all watercolored, I added a teeny bit of texture to the center with some white acrylic paint. 

I wanted to incorporate the burlappy (that's a word if I say it is) texture from the inspiration photo, so I used some burlap cardstock from DCWV. I embossed a lovely sentiment from the same kit and viola! 

This card is also going to go play along at Craft Stamper Take it Make it Challenge and Artistic Inspirations Anything Goes Challenge. 

PSSSTTT... check out my followers section in my right sidebar. Do you see that I am only >>SIX<< bloggy friends away from hitting 300!? Can you help a girl out and help me hit that milestone? I'd be ever so obliged! I love making new bloggy friends!

Growing in Unity - Day 2 + Prizes

What did the fox say?!

Ever since I designed this card for my second day of Growing in Unity guest designer posts, I've had that little earworm playing on repeat in my head. 

How fleepin' cute are these fleepin' foxes? Fleepin' cute. That's how cute. 

When I saw them in the Warmth of Winter Kit of the Month, I'm pretty sure I actually let out a little bit of squeeeeal before immediately inking them up. 


I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to paint it up and added some splashy colors to my winter scene. If you haven't invested in a set of watercolors, I would HIGHLY recommend these because they're so vibrant! The trees also came from the same kit. 

I didn't want to add any sentiment to muddy up the card, so I just left it blank. I think it's a perfect design for an anniversary, Valentine's Day or just an all-around general lovey-dovey card. 

I'm going to play along at
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything goes featuring a critter
Simon Says Stamp - Stamp It

If you're feeling like leaving some extra bloggy love today go check out my fellow GIU gal for the week: Rebecca Wong Pui Yee.

Make sure you leave a comment down below because Unity is giving away two stamp sets to those of you who are kind enough to drop some lines! 

Inspirational Cards - Typografia Motivate Release

Inspiration comes in all forms - including stamps. I absolutely adore motivational sayings. I'm one of those weirdos that has them hanging in her office and her bedroom and... well basically anywhere with a little bit of empty wall space. 

That's why I was SOOOO excited when STAMPlorations announced they were coming out with a line of inspirational typography stamps. These stamps are one-man shows and perfect for making quick, impactful cards. 

I played around with two of the stamps from the line. 

This one uses the Beautiful Destinations stamp.

Yep! That is all one stamp! I stamped it twice - once in blue and once in red so I could cut out the van and give it a little POP. 

I wanted to play along with the current challenge at Just Us Girls so I used some fun designer papers  from Bo Bunny and a couple of cute enamel arrows. 

Next up, I used the Doubts stamp to create this little number.

What I love about these stamps is that they speak for themselves. A little splash of watercolor and some background stamping with the In Bloom: Floral Bliss Trio and voila! A card was born. 

Today we are showcasing 13 of the 33 new Typografia Motivate stamps over on the STAMPlorations blog and we're giving some away, too! Go check it out! 

Pssssttt... for my bloggy readers, you can get 20% off anything in the STAMPlorations shop by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. Happy shopping!

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 3

One thing I didn't expect about making Christmas cards in August is the penchant for my brain to repeat Christmas carols over and over and over again in my head. 

If this is your first time over to my blog this week, there's a big holiday stamp release going on over at STAMPlorations with TONS of fun prizes. 

Just look at all those lovely new stamp sets & die cuts! 

Today, we are showcasing The Bee's Knees two new stamp sets, Christmas Elf and Three Kings

I specifically got to play around with Three Kings (hence why I now have Christmas carols stuck in my head). 

I did a little bit of scene building with this stamp set and created my own village and starry night sky. I watercolored and sponged with some distress inks and this is what happened. :) 

Make sure you head on over the STAMPlorations blog because you're not going to want to miss this week-long party. Just look at all these prizes!!

Prizes:

**Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMP blog and participating designers blogs

- THREE (3) winners of a $10 gift certificate to the store

- ONE (1) winner of her choice of 1 stamp set and 1 CUTplorations die from the new release

- ONE (1) winner of a $25 gift certificate to the store

**Extra prizes:

- TWO (2) winners of their choice of 1 CUTplorations die from the new release -- drawn from our Facebook page (for commenting, sharing, and tagging a friend)

- ONE (1) winner of her choice of 1 stamp set from the new release -- drawn from our Instagram post (commenting, liking, tagging a friend)

So what are you waiting for? Get to hopping already!  

Oh and double PPPSSSSTTT: You can get 20% off any stamp set in the STAMP shop by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. Happy shopping! 

Splatters & Distress Ink Watercolor

I don't know if you know this, but I love sparkles. And glitter. And anything shiny. So the card I made for today made my shimmer-loving heart oh-so-happy. 

Just look at that shimmer! 

I designed this card inspired by the latest Fusion Challenge. 

If you haven't played along at Fusion before, you can use either the sketch or the inspiration image, ooooooor you can mash 'em up and create a Fusion. 

 

I used an embossing folder on some shimmer pearl cardstock. Then I pressed some Cracked Pistachio and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks onto my craft mat and picked it up with a wet paint brush. 

I also wanted to play along in Seize the Birthday's latest Splatter challenge. 

I rubbed some InkaGold onto a craft mat and then added some water. I used it to create a shimmery splatter all over the card.

I used the CUTplorations Celebrate Word Die to cut a sentiment out of some gold foiled paper to complete my look. 

Taaaadaaaa! Can I just say that it was a BEAR to photograph this? Shiny things are nice in real life, but the camera hates them!