Spellbinders cards...

 Hello!  Hope you are having a wonderful day!   The stormy weather that we have had the last few days seems to have cleared up and the upcoming week is supposed to be really nice!  That is fall in the Pacific Northwest!  I have two cards to share that I made using Spellbinders products.  First up is a card that I made using the newly released Jane Davenport for Spellbinders stamp set called Beautiful Dreamer.  I was immediately drawn to this stamp set because I took ballet for many years when I was younger and the image of the dancer reminds me of that time in my life!  I started by determining exactly where my dancer would go and then stamping her tutu.  I created a mask for the tutu, placed it on top of the stamped image and then stamped my dancer.   Originally I was just going to do the stamping as indicated, but decided to stamp the tutu a second time on vellum using watermark ink and gold embossing powder.  This was then trimmed out to be placed on the stamped image.  Colored the image very simply with Faber-Castell polychromos pencils and then adhered the vellum tutu.  I real life you see a hint of the pink tutu through the vellum overlay.   I stamped the sentiment and colored it with one of the pinks I used to color the dancer.   I was going to stop there, but she was looking a little plain so I stamped one of the crown images that came in the set on vellum with the same gold embossing powder, trimmed it out and popped it up.  The set also includes a pair of toe shoes.  Next time I ink up this little dancer I'm going to give her some pink toe shoes!

The second card was made using the September Spellbinders small die kit.  The die set is so very pretty, but also very delicate.  I used the color combo from Fab Friday so I will be posting my card over there.  I die cut the frame from light blue cardstock and then all the little flowers from navy blue and yellow cardstocks.  They were all layered on and then I adhered the frame to a white cardstock base.  I will admit that my diamond is not completely squared up!   Next time I use this die set I will make sure to line things up better!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!  Some affiliate links used in this blog post.  Please know that I really appreciate it if you use my affiliate links to shop!

foiled cards...

And I didn't use my Glimmer foil system!  I think about 2 years ago I purchased a Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit that included some Gina K. Designs Foil Mates sheets.  They were fall inspired and exclusive to the Simon Says Stamp card kit so there is not information about them.  At the time I did not have anyway of foiling the images (that I didn't know about) so I set them and the foil sheets I received aside for a later date.  Finally about a year ago I decided that I needed to figure out how to foil the sheets and make something with them.  So I got on the internet and started searching and found a couple of blog posts (don't remember the blogs... sorry!) and learned that it is possible to use an iron to do the foiling.  I gave it a try and it worked!   It wasn't easy to foil using the iron, but the end result was actually pretty darn good.  Once I was done I die cut each of them with a rectangle die and then promptly set them aside!   Recently I was going through my little box of scrap pieces and found them, again.  This time I was determined to turn them into cards and I did with two of the pieces.  Before turning them into cards I decided to color the images as I had seen someone else coloring foiled images.  I think that person (I'm not sure who it was) used Copic markers, but I decided to use color pencils to be on the safe side.   The first card is this pretty daisy like image and sentiment that I foiled using a deep red foil that was in the card kit.  I used two shades of red Polychromos pencils to color the flowers and then added a little bit of shadow with a dark brown.  The leaves were colored with just one shade of red.  I adhered the panel to a dark red cardstock base.  I'm going to add this one to the September Gina K. monthly mix challenge.   Here is a close up of the foiling.

With the second card I was able to use three different colors of foil to foil the falling leaves and then an foil with a fun pattern to foil the sentiment.  I colored the leaves using the some of the colors from the current Color Throwdown.  To bring in the brown from the combo I mounted the panel on a dark brown card base.   The top and bottom leaves were colored with several different Polychromos colored pencils to create the color blends.   I did this so that one leaf was more yellow in color and the other was more orange in color, but still a blend of the two colors.  I think they turned out pretty well.  The middle leaf was obviously colored red (same colors of pencils that I used on the daisy image.  I'm also including a close up of the foiling.   While it was fun learning that you can foil with an iron I'm glad that I now have a laminator that I can use to foil should I get additional Gina K. foil mates sheets.   May enter this one in the monthly mix challenge, too.

I hope my cards inspire you to try an unconventional approach to your crafting!  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

guesting at color throwdown!

Hey there!  Super excited to be guesting at one of my very favorite challenges:  Color Throwdown!  I love me a good color challenge and CTD has been the top color challenge out there for 601 challenges!   For my card today I used a lovely image from the Pinkfresh Studio Hanging Florals stamp set.  I decided that I wanted to use the image to create a wreath.  I stamped the image on smooth bristol cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR ink twice and let them dry.   After I had colored each image and cut one out with the matching die I realized that I should have die cut my pieces first and then stamped them.  I ended up ruining one of the colored images and had to start over.  Live and learn, right?   The images were colored with my ZIG markers and Polychromos color pencils.  I trimmed off the ends of the image that I did not need and then arranged the pieces on my die cut panel.   I used a sentiment from the Pinkfresh Studio Believe in Yourself stamp set and heat embossed it in black on vellum.  The vellum was trimmed into a strip and wrapped around the panel.   I'm also going to add this to the July Pinkfresh Studio inspiration challenge.  The challenge this month is summer and I think my brightly colored wreath just says summer!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

it's a party...

Hello!  Since just like everyone out there I have a lot of time on my hands I decided to try making a slimline card.  Slimline cards are kind of the rage right now and there are tons of fabulous ones out there.  I made this card over the course of two days.   I'm right handed and several years ago I had surgery on my right shoulder.  Most of the issues have been resolved, but I still have to take it a bit easy when it comes to things like coloring or ink blending.  I have to do that sort of thing in stages.  Anyway... I stamped almost all the images from the MFT/Stacey Yacula Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes stamp set in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then let them dry.  Once they were dry I colored everything with my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils and water.  I let everything dry and then die cut them with the matching dies.  That all occurred over the course of the day on Saturday.  I finished up the card on Sunday morning.  I did the ink blending using Antique Linen distress oxide ink leaving the very center without any ink.  I then positioned all my little images so I could determine placement of the sentiment.  At first I was going to have it on the bottom, but then decided to place it in the area I did not ink, but slightly off center.  I stamped it in the same Nocturne ink and then adhered the banners and the little attendees to my little party.  Isn't that turtle just too darn cute?! The image panel was then adhered to my card base with foam tape.  It was a lot of work, but I'm pretty darn pleased with how it turned out!   I'm going to send this card off to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge since it is anything goes.  I just noticed that this would fit the challenge over at the Card Concept as it is full of critters.  I guess my card would be clean and layered.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe!

hello...

Hello... hope everyone is doing well and keeping busy while at home!  In that regard I have been trying to make some projects.  I finished up a card that was pretty labor intensive, but won't be sharing for awhile, only to start on another labor intensive card that I'm sharing today.  This card is for someone who will really not be expecting it, but I hope that it makes their day!  The card is heading to the following challenges:  Altenew March Inspiration challenge and Fusion.  Even though I used the Altenew Mega Succulent stamp set for my Altenew February Inspiration challenge card when I saw the inspiration photo I just had to use it again!  I stamped it on watercolor paper with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then on white cardstock with same ink.  The one stamped on watercolor paper was then colored with my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils in a minty green, light blue and purple.  The blue sort of got lost between the minty green and purple, but you can just barely see it in person.  After it was dry I added a little shimmer using my Altenew Metallic watercolor paints.  That was done the previous night and left to dry.  Today I did the part of the card that turned a little labor intensive, but in the end I like how it turned out.  I used a die to cut my strips from the watercolor piece, trimmed down the image stamped on white cardstock and then lined up the watercolor strips.  I adhered them with foam tape.  Because the blue got a little lost I added it back in with my hello from the Altenew Half-Tone Hello set that I stamped using Altenew Sea Breeze ink.  The finished panel was adhered to a white cardstock base.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Flowers!

Hey there!  I'm popping in to share a couple of featuring flowers.  First up is a card that I made this afternoon using the beautiful Simon Says Stamp Stronger Together stamp set from the SSS March card kit.  When I sat down to start this card I saw a piece of Simon Says Stamp fog cardstock and decided to use that to do some coloring with my Polychromos pencils.  I stamped the image from the set using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then picked out a nice purply-blue to color the flowers and two shades of green for the leaves. I laid down a layer of white before adding the colors and then blended out the purply-blue with additional white to tone down the color.  I did the same thing with the leaves.  Once I was done with the coloring I positioned sentiment and stamped it with the Nocturne ink, as well.  The layout for my card is based on the CTS layout and so I added some scoring to frame out the stronger together portion of the sentiment.   The piece was then die cut with an AJVD stitched dot rectangle and adhered to a white cardstock base with foam tape.  Finished with various different jewels in blue, silver and white.  Also going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge because what is more feminine then flowers?

This next card was made using one of the floral prints from Suzy Plantamura that were included in the SSS March kit.  This one I colored with Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.  I had tried watercoloring with pencils several years ago and was never really happy with how things turned out.  Thankfully I have learned alot since then and I gave my watercolor pencils another try.   To color the daisies I used a combination of a bright yellow and a yellow that bordered on orange.  I colored on the two colors at the base of the petal and then blended out with water making sure to leave the center of each petal with a highlight area.  I colored the center of the flowers with two shades of brown and the stems with one shade of green.  Once I was done I die cut the piece with an AJVD stitched dot rectangle die and then I used the little hello die from the kit to die cut it out of the panel.  I placed some washi tape on the back and then filled in the opening with two additional hellos that I cut from scrap cardstock.  I finished off with the original die cut.  I then stamped one of the small label sentiments on white cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne, trimmed it out and them popped it up with foam tape.  This one will also be going to the SSS flickr challenge to use dies.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

two cards... one image...

Hello!  Well I seem to be in a cardmaking lately!  I'm trying to use all of the stam

ps and dies that I purchased in November and December.   Today is the day to share two cards that I made using one image.  In either November or December I purchased the beautiful My Favorite Things Floral Focus stamp and die set.  This set consists of a large floral image and different words that can be put together to create sentiments.  The die is one large die that cuts the entire image.  However, the way the image was design there is a way to cut the image apart thus creating two separate pieces.  I stamped the image on watercolor paper and then stamped the image using VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink.  I watercolored the image using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors in the MFT color challenge combo.  I'm really fascinated with using gray to color images and even though I had already created a card using that color combo I really wanted to use it again.  Once the image was dry I added some additional color with my Polychromos color pencils and I then carefully die cut it.  The die is solid and so I had to die cut it first from scrap paper to create a template, arrange the template over the stamped image, fit the die into place and then run it through my die cutter.  It took a little bit of patience to do that, but it worked like a charm. I cut the piece apart and then I created my first card using the layout from CAS(E) this Sketch.  I will also be posting this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge and the MFT color challenge.

The second card uses the layout from Mojo Monday.  I'm going to try to play along with Mojo Monday more often this year.  We will see how it goes.  I left the ribbon element off my card for a more clean and simple design.  Going to post this one to Simon Says Stamp, as well.  No need to explain the process as I already did that for the first card! With this card you can see more of my coloring as on the first card I partially covered that up with my sentiment strip.  I must say that  even though I had to cut the image into two separate pieces I'm really pleased with how well my coloring turned out.  I have been watching lots of videos on watercoloring and learning lots.  Now I have to put it into practice!  I'm looking forward to coloring this image again and using the full image on one card!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

magnolia thanks...

Hello!  Hope your week is off to a great start.  I have a card to share that I made with a gorgeous stamp and die set from Stampin Up!  When I saw the Good Morning Magnolia stamp set and the matching Magnolia Memories die set in the Stampin Up! catalog I knew I had to get it.  I finally made it mine in December!   I will be posting this card to the following challenges:  Sunday Stamps (a gorgeous neutral palette that I have been dying to use!), CAS(E) this Sketch, the Paper Players and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  The challenge at the Paper Players is to use something new, as is the challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   So obviously the stamps and dies are my something new.  I stamped the flowers in VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist, did some simple coloring with my Polychromos pencils in shades of gray and then die cut them with the matching dies.  The sentiment is also from the set and was stamped on vellum with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed with WOW! embossing powder in black.   The large flower was adhered to dark gray cardstock that I die cut with a rectangle die.  The sentiment was trimmed down and adhered over the top of the flower.  I added the smaller flower and some sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.   Super happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a wonderful week!

flowers and leaves...

I have been pretty busy lately making cards.  Not sure what happened other than maybe I got some inspiration because normally I only make about two cards per week.  In the last two weeks I have made about 10 cards and a lot of them have involved coloring.  More specifically watercoloring.  Today I have another card that I created using the beautiful MFT Fresh Cut Flowers background stamp (which is on sale right now for 20% off).  I did some practicing of my no line watercoloring and while there were a couple of areas that didn't go so well overall I'm pleased with how the image turned out.  I used the layout from Freshly Made Sketches for my card so I will be posting it there.  I stamped the image on Canson watercolor paper using Antique Linen distress ink and then colored the smaller flowers with Worn Lipstick distress ink and the bigger flowers with Festive Berries distress ink.   The leaves were colored with a combination of Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint distress inks. When I was done I did try to add a little bit more shadow using Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on just the flowers.  I used a red and a pink for this.  I die cut the image with a rectangle die and then foam mounted it on a light gray cardstock base.  The sentiment is from an older MFT set called Amazing.  I heat embossed it in white on vellum and then die cut it with the MFT Slanted Sentiment Strips die (these are no longer available as a two die set like I have, but you can get them in a set of 3 dies set.).  I adhered that with Nuvo Deluxe adhesive to the card front.  When I saw the new Time Out challenge I thought this card would work so I will be posting it there.

The second card is all about die cutting.  When I originally started the first card I had thought I would die cut the large Thank You word die that I had gotten from MFT from the center of the flower, but after spending all that time coloring the image (I worked on it when I had a free moment so it took two days!) I decided that I didn't want to die cut it after all.  But I still wanted to use that die as I had never used it before.  So I went the patterned paper route and pulled out the pretty Fall Market pad from Carta Bell.  I did the inlaid die cutting technique for this card using two different patterns from the pad.  Once I had that done I thought the card needed something more so I added the little leaves that I die cut from the scraps using the AJVD Leaves and Petal die set.   I'm posting this to this week's Paper Players challenge to make the sentiment the focus of your card, but now with the leaves I'm wondering if it distracts too much from the sentiment.  You be the judge.  I'm also going to add it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use fall colors.  Die cutting done with my Gemini Jr. and my Big Shot Plus.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.  

Happy Stamptember!!

Hello everyone and welcome to the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember 2019 blog celebration!  This isn't a traditional blog hop, but an opportunity for you to find lots and lots of inspiration and ways to use all of the newly released Stamptember products.  The complete list of all participants can be found on the Simon Says Stamp blog.   Each blog will also be offering a special code that you can use to get something fun from Simon Says Stamp!  The code is found in the banner on my blog and only good until August 34rd at 11:59 pm EDT so make sure you place your order by then if you want the free item!  Simon sent me the School Days Grow stamp set to create with and I just fell in love with the sweet little flower images in the set.  They have tiny faces.... so cute!!

My first card uses those sweet little flowers for a clean and simple design based on the sketch from Fab Friday so I will be posting my card there, as well as with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  I stamped the flowers in a row using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then colored them very simply with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils using the colors from Color Throwdown.  I think there is just enough time for me to add my card to their gallery, as well.   I then trimmed down my panel to fit my cardstock base.  I stamped the sentiment on SSS fog cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then trimmed it down.  The polka dot strip is some patterned paper from Moda Scrap that came in a Simon Says Stamp card kit that I purchased several months ago (apologies, but I don't remember which month!).  I layered those on per the sketch and then added the little twine bow.  The panel was then adhered with foam dimensionals to the cardstock base.   Super clean and simple!

The second card is also pretty clean and simple.  This time I used another piece of Moda Scrap patterned paper (all the papers were just so beautiful and made creating my cards so easy!) that I trimmed down and die cut with the SSS Flower Cluster die. I have had the Flower Cluster die for quite sometime, but this is the first time I have used it!    I adhered the die cut patterned paper to a light pink cardstock base and stamped the sentiment using Memento Bamboo ink.   The flower cluster was die cut two more times from white cardstock, all the little bits removed and then placed back inside the negative space finishing with the patterned paper die cut on top.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Please make sure to check out all the blogs participating in this celebration and pick up some of the newly released products.  You can find all of them here.

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  MFT white, SSS fog; Patterned paper:  Moda Scrap; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Inks:  VersaFine CLAIR; Coloring medium:  Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils

Card #2:  Cardstock:  Reverse Confetti pink; Patterned paper:  Moda Scrap; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Die:  Simon Says Stamp; Ink: Memento Bamboo

more floral cards...

Hey there!  I have two more floral cards to share.  This time I did some coloring.  One card features coloring with ZIG clean color real brush makers and the other with Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils.  First up is the card I colored with the ZIGs.   This card is for the MFT sketch and color challenges and uses the Flowers in Bloom stamp set from the MFT June card kit.  I haven't used the custom blended Color Burst powders that came in the kit yet, but hope to give them a try soon!  I stamped the image on Strathmore smooth bristol cardstock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then colored the images with the ZIG markers giving each flower a different color.  To deepen the shadows I used a little bit of dark brown on each flower as well as in the center of each flower.  I also used a little bit a very light green to color the stems.  I finished off the design by coloring around the flowers with a light blue ZIG and blending it out with water.  I die cut the panel and then added the sentiment by stamping the word thanks in VersaMark watermark ink one vellum and heat setting with white embossing powder.  I adhered the vellum strip using my Glue Sponge and I must say that it worked really well!  (Compensated affiliate links listed below where possible.)

The second card is for the Sunday Stamps challenge that closes in just a few hours. Thank you to the team at Sunday Stamps for picking my entry in their previous challenge for an honorable mention!   I actually colored this image from Technique Tuesday with my Polychromos pencils several months ago, but never found a project to use it on.  I realized that it would work well for the Sunday Stamps challenge and so it finally made it onto a card!  I did turn the sketch on its side to make it work better for me.  A few weeks ago when I was down in Vancouver, WA visiting my friend, Greta, we spent sometime at a Craft Warehouse store and while there both of us picked up a pad of 6x6 pads with a fun linen like texture on them.  I used two of those papers for the bottom strip as well as the mat for my colored image.  Simply layered everything up and I was done.  (Compensated affiliate links listed below where possible.)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Supplies:

Stamps:  My Favorite Things
Dies:  My Favorite Things
           A Jillian Vance Design
Inks:  VersaFine Onyx Black
           VersaMark watermark ink
Coloring Mediums:  Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils
                                 ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers
Cardstock:  Simon Says Stamp Fog
                   PaperTrey Ink rustic white, vellum
                   Strathmore Smooth Bristol
Embossing powder:  Hero Arts white

i just miss you...

Hey there!  Hope your September is off to a good start.   I'm popping in with a card that I made today.  I actually stamped and colored earlier last week, but never had a chance to turn into a card.  When I saw that the new Flower challenge is an anything goes challenge I thought I would finally turned the image I colored into a card and enter their challenge.   The image I used is from a limited edition stamp set from Stampin Up! called Blended Seasons and I stamped it in VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink on light gray cardstock.  I then colored the image with my polychromos color pencils and then added the sentiment using the same gray ink.  I simply die cut the image with the largest AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die and then adhered it to a white cardstock base.  I will be adding this to the Flower challenge, as well as to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use stamping on your card.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT white, SSS fog; Stamps:  Stampin Up!; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Ink:  VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist; Color medium:  Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils

a couple cards to share...

Hello! As my title indicates I have a couple of cards to share.  The other day I found a new to me art supply store in town.  When I got the chance to be back in the area I went in and asked if they carried Faber-Castell polychromos pencils.   To my delight they do... so picked up some!   As soon as I got home I wanted to try them out and remembered that when I got my Honey Bee Stamps order over a month ago one of the things in the package was a little postcard with a floral image stamped on it.  So I colored it up and I am in love with my new color pencils!  I made the piece into a card that I have shared on Instagram.   Today I colored up some of the flowers from the Honey Bee Stamps set Spring Blossoms using my pencils and turned it into a card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  After everything was colored I die cut them with the matching dies.   The sentiment is from the Honey Bee Stamps set called Donut Worry.  I stamped the words in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and then die cut them with matching dies from the set.   The I layered everything up.  Threw in a little bit of sparkle with my strip of silver glitter cardstock.

The second card is for Color Throwdown and Where Creativity Meets C9.  This will be my third entry for the WCMC9 challenge.   I used the one C9 turnabout stamp set that I have (Wreath Turnabout) to create my card.   I stamped the wreath using all the colors and then stamped the sentiment in the center with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink (yes... I LOVE that ink, lol!).  I added three little hearts using the eggplant, aqua and lime green inks and then added a little twine bow that I made using white and dark green baker's twine.   Super clean and simple... my favorite kind of card!

 

Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  White, light blue and silver glitter; Stamps:  Honey Bee Stamps, Concord & 9th; Dies:  Honey Bee Stamps and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up!, VersaFine CLAIR; Coloring medium:  Faber-Castell polychromos color pencils