Warmest Birthday Wishes

I thought I'd better pop in with these cards I made back in July before summer disappears! They are super simple, but they use the darling Summer Vibes stamp set that was a must-have for me! I got it when it was first released and there it sat, unused! Boo! I decided that I'd just do some simple ink blending and coloring to create some quick birthday cards!

I used the fabulous Cloud Mix-ables Stencil for the sky and some Scattered Straw Distress Oxide ink for the sand portion. I used my color spritzing tool (photo of this near the bottom of the post) to create some sandy specks at the bottom of the panel.

I die cut the panel using the Diagonal Stitched Rectangle dies to give this simple card some extra detail. After that was done, I stamped all of the images in black and then colored them with Copic markers. I don't do nearly as much coloring as I used to and I forget how therapeutic it is! I used the Sunny Vibes Die-Namics to die cut all of the colored images. I arranged them on the card here and there for a beach-y scene! This is my favorite of the two because it has a bit more depth to the scene.

This one is a little bit more plain, but I just adore that sweet little bunny working on her sandcastle! The shell and sun both have a coating of Nuvo Crystal Glaze over the top. After I had photographed the cards, I decided that the umbrellas need some glaze as well, so they are shiny now, too!  I added a trio of White Nuvo Drops to the centers of the palm trees as well as some sparkling clear sequins. The sentiment is stamped onto a strip of white cardstock and added to the panel using foam squares. 

For those of you who have asked about the color spritzing tool....this is it! It is from my SU! days and I still have all of the markers that fit with it. This is how I add a lot of the ink splatter to many of my designs.

This little kitty is just the cutest, don't you think? I added it to the inside of the card using foam squares. The sunglasses also have a layer of glaze for some realistic shine. I thought this SENTIMENT was the perfect touch to accent this bibliophile kitty! ha ha! I gave one of these cards to my son for his August birthday and the other will be heading to one of the kiddos from church in the next day or two! 

I'm glad I got these cuties inked up, but guess what? I still have MORE summer stamps that I haven't used at all! Those might have to wait until next year! So sad! Summer goes by way too fast! Anyway, thanks for fluttering by!

 

Let's be Mermaids!!!

 How fabulous is this new Mermaid's Tail stamp set?!?! I am completely IN LOVE! I have been absolutely enjoying making bright, fun, and summery cards! As soon as the mailman rang my doorbell with my package from Ellen Hutson I had to play... immediately! Like it says; I'm done adulting...especially with new stamps to play with! ha ha! I shared a sneak peek of this card on Instagram yesterday and I mentioned that it was proving difficult to photograph.

I FINALLY ended up with the best pictures I could get around 6:40 in the evening, which seemed late to get the best light, but it was the best I had all day. I have taken a boat load of pictures of this card!

 To begin, I stamped the mermaid's tail in Versamark ink onto Hawaiian Shores cardstock and heat embossed it using gold powder. After that was done, I used the coordinating designer dies to cut it out. I set that aside so that I could work on a few more elements that I had in mind for this design. I realized after I placed my order, that the stamp set didn't come with any aquatic sea plant images. I don't have anything that would work very well either. I decided to create my own seaweed-esque plants myself. 

 I used a piece of 140 lb cold pressed watercolor paper and painted both sides of it green using the fabulous (and addicting) Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi pearl watercolors. I painted enough of the paper so that I could cut strips in varying sizes to create the seaweed. I twisted the strips while the paper was still wet from the watercolors so that I could manipulate it into the desired shape. Once they were the right size, I snipped the tips at a sharp angle to make them look a little more realistic.

 I set those aside to dry and got to work on the background. I had watched a video on Jennifer McGuire's blog on water stamping with distress oxide inks and since I just got some, I was dying to try. I used the Glorious Petals stencil from Hero Arts for the actual "water stenciling". I made a card a few days ago using the same technique and the image came out much crisper. I actually didn't mind in this particular case because I didn't want it to compete with the fabulous design on the Mermaid's tail. After that had dried a bit, I added a spritz of shimmer spray like Jennifer had done in her video. The result is spectacular!

 I ended up adding a few more colors of pearl watercolors to the piece of watercolor paper I had been using for the seaweed. I used the seashell die cuts to make an assortment of shells. Because they had the pearl shine, I decided to add some Glossy Accents like I did on THIS card because I liked the effect so well. Once all of my bits and bobs had been created, it was time for the fun part; assembling it all.

 Originally, I had planned on having the mermaid's tail splashing off of the card horizontally, so I heat embossed the sentiment accordingly. I then changed my mind and decided I liked it vertically; as though the mermaid was taking a dive into that glorious ocean. I really liked how the rainbow background ended up looking like a sunset with a deep ocean underneath. I love surprises like that! So...the sentiment is a little off, but I like it anyway!

 I used Tombow Mono Multi to glue the paper seaweed down as well as a few mini glue dots as it would allow. I used a few heavy things around my desk to place on the seaweed so that the glue would dry without is springing back off of the card. The funnest part was adding in all of the seashells, sequins and dew drops. I just HAD to get the mermaid mix sequins! They are INCREDIBLE and they are limited edition, so grab 'em while you can! I also added a light layer of wink of stella to the tail as well! I "may" have been singing "I'm so shiny" from Moana while I was putting this all together! LOL!

To finish it off, I just COULD NOT resist making a little shrinky dink tail! Can you blame me? I mean, look at this cute little thing! LOL! I stamped it in black Palette ink onto the shrinky dink sheet, colored it in a rainbow pattern using Copic markers and then let the heat tool work it's magic! I glued it to the inside of the card with the "just keep swimming" sentiment as well as a few sequins (of course). I also gave the inside a generous spritz of shimmer spray as well. (that's why it appears like the sentiment is grainy, but it's not) I created this card for a friend who has had a particularly bad week and I am certain this will cheer her up! That's what I love about this crazy business!!! Thanks for fluttering by!

The Challenge #91 Sending you Sunshine!

I am so excited to finally jump on the Oxide ink bandwagon and get inky! Today's new sketch for The Challenge made it possible for me to show off a fabulous oxidized background! I love the result! I can see why these inks are so addictive! I only bought a handful of colors because my birthday is in a few weeks and I wanted to give people ideas of what to get me! Ha ha! Today's design was made using this week's challenge for The Challenge. You can check it out HERE. You can also see the other designers below.                                  
     

Anita Madden

Claire Broadwater

Kim Heggins

Lee Ann Barret

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

I started my design by cutting a 4 by 5 1/4 inch piece of Stamper's Select White cardstock. I used two colors of oxide inks to blend onto the paper; Spiced Marmalade and Fossilized Amber. After I had it blended like I wanted, I stamped a few of the images from the Hello Sunshine onto the background using a combination of water and more ink for a nice layered effect. I also spritzed the entire piece with some water for extra oxidization.

The sunshine sentiment is die cut 4 times out of black cardstock using the Sunshine die and then glued together. Once that was done, I set it aside to dry while I worked on the rest of the card. I cut a piece of white cardstock that would fit the beginning of the sentiment as well as the die cut sunshine portion. I stamped "sending you" in Palette Black ink. The white piece was adhered to a strip of yellow and vellum cardstock for some added interest and to fit the parameters of the sketch. I used my Wink of Stella pen to add sparkle and I also added some Glossy Accents over the entire "sunshine" piece for a fabulous shine! It looks so amazing on the card. I realized mid way through my die cutting that I had forgotten to save the dot for the "i" so I used a drop of ebony black Nuvo drops which was the perfect touch to fix my mistake. It added just the right amount of dimension and shine. I added the entire focal piece to an A2 black card base.

The finishing touches include the two "hello" and "hiya" sentiments stamped and heat embossed added to the card. I usually like to do something clever or unexpected when there is a little detail like this on a sketch challenge. While it isn't super clever, it does add an extra element of whimsy. I also spritzed the sentiment panel with a few markers for some "scattered sunshine" if you will! Ha Ha! A trio of gold sequins finish the design! Thanks for fluttering by!

Beautiful YOU

Hello! I'm popping in today with a sweet little design for my darling daughter. She is headed to Girls Camp with our church youth group this week and the parents were asked to write a letter to their daughter. I couldn't resist using the awesome Beautiful You set of dies for today's design.

To begin, I sponged an assortment of inks onto a piece of 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper. After that was done, I spritzed some water onto the paper using a spray bottle. I did tack it down to some paper board using washi tape so it wouldn't buckle too badly. I wasn't sure how much water I would be adding to achieve the desired look, so I did it just in case.

While the watercolor paper was drying,I got to work creating the heart embellishments. The heart is included in the die set. I don't actually own the coordinating stamp set, so I created the entire design just using the dies. Each heart was die cut 5 times and then glued on top of each other. After they were glued, I applied a generous helping of Glossy Accents for some glossy shine. I guess I just couldn't resist adding it since I skipped it on my Father's Day cards! LOL! Don't they look so perfectly juicy?!?

After the paper was dry, I die cut the "beautiful" portion from the watercolor piece. I placed it so I would have enough room to die cut the "YOU" sentiment as well, but I didn't die cut that at this time. I placed the watercolor piece onto a rectangle of pink card stock that coordinated with the ink and hearts. 

After that was done, I die cut the "YOU" portion and created a little shaker using hot pink sequins. Just a little touch, but super fun for a teenage girl.I placed the watercolor cut out of "beautiful back into the recessed portion. I was planning on just leaving it like that, but after photographing the card it looked flat, so I decided to die cut an additional piece using white card stock...it was just what the design needed. I left it slightly askew so that you could still see the watercolor portion as well.

I might have had a little too much fun adding the heart embellishments, sequins and Nuvo Drops but I really tried to keep them balanced. The hearts were attached using liquid glue as well as the sequins.

I added drops of clear and gold Nuvo Drops in varying sizes for extra interest. The finishing touch is a strip of gold washi tape along the bottom. I hope she likes it. She kept asking me while I was making it who it was for and I just said a friend who could use it! Ha ha! Won't she be surprised when she opens it up at Camp? Thanks for fluttering by! 

P.S. Join me Thursday for this week's The Challenge challenge. It's a fun one! I had a lot of fun working on my design!