MFT Camp Create

I've always meant to join in the fun of MFT Stamps Camp Create. So this session I made a point to actually follow through!

The first challenge was Monochromatic Magic. For some reason this was a struggle. Maybe I was feeling the time crunch? I don't know, it just seems like whenever I make a card with no limiting criteria I make monochromatic ones all the time. But as soon as I feel limited, I just struggle, ha, go figure. So here is my first card:


Looking back, I think I would make this much simpler. I have an idea of what I would do instead, but that will have to wait for another time. I used the leaves from the Large Desert Bouquet set. My photo is a bit shadowed, but I used all greens on there (PTI Pinefeather, New Leaf, Vintage Jadeite) I layered the leaves in different colours for my background. The greeting is from Pretty Poppies and is stamped on vellum since I didn't want to bring a 4th green into the mix.

Next up Awesome Ombre! See, here's a card that didn't have to be monochromatic, but it ended up that way. I started by blending a few blues onto some white card stock. I cut out the hello die from that. I decided to add in some more ombre elements. I used some of the flowers from Large Desert Bouquet and did some rock and roll stamping to achieve the blended effect. I didn't like how the hello looked onto of the flowers so I die-cut the panel and added it as an inlay. I popped that panel up since I love the look of white on white. It still seemed a touch too plain so I added a few sequins.

Next up- Remarkable Resist. This was my last card of the night so I can't claim that I was feeling at my most creative. I started by stamping the stars from Count the Stars in versamark onto white cotton paper and then embossing them with white powder. I did a quick wet wash over the stars and then used a rainbow palette of distress ink. I stamped a greeting from count the stars onto a small strip of black cardstock and paired that with a die-cut "Stars" word. I placed my watercoloured panel onto a black card base and then added some stickles to the big word since it seemed like it needed a touch of glitter!

Onto the 4th challenge- Divine Dry Embossing. In the past, I've used stencils as embossing plates, so I thought I would give that a go with this Cascading Scallop stencil. It took a few tries to get the shims thick enough, but once it worked, it was a truly stunning effect!

I jazzed it up with some die cut and stamped Fall Florals as well as some sequins and a greeting from Rainbow of Happiness. I am also totally in love with this colour palette (PTI colours: Melon Berry, Dark Chocolate, Lemon Tart, Spring Moss, and Kraft)

Now for the Bonus Bonfire Challenge- Single Layer Savvy! This was actually my second attempt. I had originally used the same poppies and watercoloured them. However, in my impatience, I stamped my greeting before waiting for my background to dry- it was blurred and unsalvageable. Given that I had about 2 more hours to try and get everything done, I decided that attempt #2 would be stamping only. I inked up the poppies using PTI's Pure Poppy and Scarlet Jewel using a roll technique to get the shading. I did a similar technique with the leaves using PTI's Simply Chartreuse and Ripe Avocado. I added my greeting using Dark Chocolate. I felt like it wasn't sharp enough for a one layer card, so I created masks for the poppies and stamped the word background in a light tea ink over the whole card. In case you were wondering, I used a copic marker to colour the poppy centres. The greeting came from the other poppy set- Delicate Pretty Poppies.

Now for the last, and maybe my favorite for the Stunning Shadow Stamping challenge. I love how easy this technique and it makes for such a sharp card! I stamped several flowers from Large Desert Bouquet in white and then again, slightly offset using PTI's tropical teal. I added the hello die, cut out from black and then added in a few black rhinestones.

And here's everything on my desk amongst the mess I made!

Lots of Cards! SAF2016!

This first card is one I made back on July 14. I made a recent PTI order and was itching to use the rainbow stencil. I had a lot of fun with blending and water splattering here.

Now onto the Stamp-a-Faire 2016 challenges!

Card #1- Colour Challenge.

Bright Buttercup, Aqua Mist, New Leaf, Green Parakeet, Vintage Jadeite 

I really liked these colours together. I used Leave It Be and the Keep it Simple Happy Birthday greetings II.

Next up, Starry Night. I'm all about background blending, watercolouring, and splattering lately, so I enjoyed this card (even though it took way to long to make!). I used Memento reinker for the foreground painting which worked surprisingly well! Stamps are from Wet Paint I. I used an assortment of PTI and distress inks for the background. 

3rd challenge- Gilded in Gold. I really love all the gold I have seen on other people's projects but I always struggle making it work. This one started with just winging it and then using some suggestions from my Stamp-a-faire buddy, Fran (she suggested the splatters). I used the Sparkle & Shine dies and stamp set as well as the Random Lines set.

Next up- The Impressionist challenge. Wow did we ever struggle with this one. I think if I owned the stamp set that Melissa used for her sample, it would've been easier. Between Fran and I, we couldn't decide on a stamp set that worked, and we kept not really liking the looks we created. I ended up making this one this morning. I didn't follow the steps exactly, but I did embossing with watercolouring so I'm counting it!. The main greeting was cut of Stormy Sea. The "happy" was clear embossed- amazing how that darkens the colour so much! Stamps on here are Pretty Peonies, Woodgrain Background, and Keep it Simple Wedding.

Now for the Inspiration Challenge. I really simplicity and colours of the Matisse, so I went with that and made a simplistic card using the Brushed Off and Congratulations sets.

Time for more splatters! I was actually prepared for this one, I lay down papertowel and wore gloves and got messy. My string transfer isn't as obvious since I watered down my ink a bit much, but it still works well as one of the layers of the background. The rest was pretty standard ink dropping. For the big drops I used my biggest brush and soaked it with the ink and then wrung it out high above the paper so it would make a big splat. Lots of fun! Stamp is from Wet Paint II. The die is from the Good Times set.

Now for some Pointillism.  I liked Heather's sample, but wanted to try something different. I made die cut the butterfly out of thin printer paper and used the negative as a stencil. I used several dot stamps and started stamping various shades of pink and a few black dots. I really like how it turned out! The dots were mostly from Polka Dot Basics and the sentiment is from Life is Beautiful.

Even though I had already done painting throughout my projects, it was time for more! I went pretty simple here and made a rainbow wash background. I topped that with some dew drops and some embossed popsicles and a greeting from the Summer Sweetness set.

The last challenge was Colour Blocking. I was thinking that I would really struggle with it, but once I found a set that would work, it went very smoothly. I decided to do a long panel of 3 instead of the square panel of 4. I wanted to be a little different! Stamps are from the Flipping Out set.

And finally, here's one of Fran and I with the first cards we completed last night- the Starry Night challenge.

PTI Anniversary Challenges- Part 2

I'm a little bit last minute, but I got all the rest of the PTI anniversary challenges done!

This first card was a colour challenge. Using a "fortune teller" type paper toy, I got the colours Hibiscus Burst, New Leaf, and Ripe Avocado. The challenge also allowed the use of neutrals, so I also used black, white, and vellum on here. Stamps are from Beautiful Blooms II and Big Hugs. 

Next up is the 9 square challenge. I pulled out almost all my background sets for this one (sorry not going to list them all!). I sponged ink onto white squares and then stamped the background image in the same colour ink. It still feels a bit incomplete, but I just didn't know what kind of sentiment or other details I wanted to put on there, so it will stay as this for now!

Here's a close up of some of the background details

Next up is a thank you card for the PTI Warehouse staff. I pulled out an old set- First Fruits. Pineapples seem to be trendy again, so I felt like using that image. I used the background image first to make stamp. To soften it, I placed vellum over top which I adhered with brads. The pineapple was cut out and then I die cut "thanks" from the Wet Paint die collection. Although it's hard to tell, both that and the card base are Dark Chocolate. I added some glossy accents onto the die cut word for some added dimension!

And here it is up close!

Next up is the 5 minutes to gather supplies challenge. This one is a bit tricky, 5 minutes can be a lot of time to grab stuff. I didn't grab too much, I just knew that I wanted to use some Soft Stone cardstock and the Feather Finery set and a die from there, as well as a scripted sentiment from Birds & Blooms. I grabbed a few inks too (Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, Harvest Gold, Lime Ice and Simply Chartreuse). I got like how it turned out!

Finally, here is the challenge from today. This one was fun, as there was a product or technique listed with every letter of the alphabet. You were to find the corresponding items to your name. For my name, I used the letters N,A,T,S, and H. You didn't need to duplicate any letters that you have more than one of. 

N- Use a new product

A- add a border

T- tie on some twine

S- Stitching

H- Heat Embossing

I pulled out Scribbled Sentiment since that is one of my newest PTI sets and I've only used it once, I heat embossed that in silver. I then added some twine stitching and also tied the button on using twine. The border I added is the scalloped rectangle.

A few PTI cards

It's February, which means it's time to play along with Papertrey Ink's anniversary festivities. I always like the festivities as I find at this time of year my creativity wanes. The challenges and contests are great for sparking some inspiration.

The first card I made was inspired by Danielle's colour choices (Dark Chocolate, Scarlet Jewel, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Classic Kraft)

I decided to warm up with a one layer card. I used the Birds and Blooms sets. I added a tiny bit of dimension by adding some liquid pearls to some of the flower centers.

The next challenge I participated in was the fashion inspired one. I have always loved the pattern of this apron, so I decided it was high time to make a card.

I pulled out the Fruitful stamp set and my best matching PTI colour palette (New Leaf, Pure Poppy, Tropical Teal, Harvest Gold, Dark Chocolate)

The card is pretty straightforward- I stamped the background and then added an embossed greeting from Scent-imentals on vellum.

Embossed Flowers

It's been a while since I shared a card here. I got Fall Florals a while back and keep meaning to use the set. I initially started playing around with some die cut flowers, but I just wasn't feeling it. So I decided to take a totally different direction. I stamped the flowers onto watercolour paper using versamark and embossed them with clear powder. Next I really wanted to use my newly acquired distress colours (wilted violet, mermaid lagoon, abandoned coral), so I just started loosely painting over the embossed flowers. I added a greeting from Pretty Poppies. It wasn't feeling quite complete so I found some sequins and added those. 

I dug into my old stash of card stock and used Stampin' Up's Tempting Turquoise and the long retired Orchid Opulence.

Sparkly Rainbows and Fancy Flamingos

I decided to make a few more cards for the Superstar Challenge over at the MFT blog.  

For the first one, I featured a sparkly rainbow. I've been wanting to make a glitter rainbow for some time now. This die really makes it easy to do this. I applied some scor-tape to one side of some white cardstock, then ran it through the cuttlebug. When I took it out of the die, each arch was cut, but the whole item was still somewhat fused together. I applied tape to the back to ensure that it would stay together. Then I simply removed each arch at a time and added my glitter one colour at a time! Love the effect!

I completed the card by making a sky scene on some Cool Caribbean cardstock and adding in a few clouds. The sentiment comes from Tickled Pink. I separated the greeting so I could have it say exactly what I wanted instead of the original "Anything is possible with sunshine and a little pink".

My next card is a bit of a step outside the usual for me. It actually started the other night. I made a background by starting with the pretty little flower from the Penguins in Paradise set. I stamped it with Versamark onto some glossy white paper. Next I sponged some tropical colours over (colours here are PTI's Tropical Teal, Hawaiian Shores, Limeade Ice, Harvest Gold, and Orange Zest).

I was really struggling with what to put with the background. I kept looking to the other images in the Penguins in Paradise stamp set, but when I coloured and cut them out they just didn't have that POP that I wanted. So finally today I thought, why not flamingos! I die cut a pair out and decided to show them in love.

I thought this sentiment from Tickled Pink was a cute punny one to go with the scene.

The hearts were also cut from some glossy paper. I sponged some Raspberry Fizz onto glossy white and then die cut them out and placed them into the scene.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stars and Wishes

When I saw that My Favorite Things was having a Card Design Super Star contest, I knew I had to participate! I'm realizing now that it's a happy coincidence that I used stars!

 I really wanted to feature a rainbow colour scheme on my card. I started by watercolouring a mix of colours onto some cotton paper. Next I die cut the "wish" word and then clear embossed it.

For the background I sponged the same inks onto some white card stock and then stamped the stars in the same inks and in white ink. I didn't want the greeting to get washed out so I applied a vellum overlay. The final touch was a few of the the sketch stars that I applied glitter to.

For my next card, I still had another sponged background with stars that I wanted to use. For that one, I stuck with a white die cut word. I clear embossed it for an extra pop.

MFT Supplies: Stars & Wishes Dies, Count the Stars stamp set, Lucky Stars Dies
Other Supplies: White Cardstock, Cotton Paper, Distress Inks, Pigment White Ink, Archive Black Ink

A few WPlus9 cards!

I saw that it was time for another Throwback challenge over at the WPlus 9 blog. I think the So 80s set was also one of my first Wplus 9 sets. I really liked what Maureen had done with it so I made my own version. I stamped the dotty background image with versamark onto black cardstock and then embossed it with clear. It gives kind of a cool vinyl-esque texture. I decided to pair that with some blues and grey (Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Smokey Shadow) for the various splatters. I changed up the sentiment as well. 

This next card wasn't so much inspired by the specific cards in the Throwback post, but I had seen this awesome card by Kelly. She made it for a recent sketch challenge. When I set out to make my own version, I hadn't realized that she had used the ink splats for her background. I made a similar background using a loose watercolour technique. I wet the paper first and then slowly kind of poked colour into the water and let it spread and blend.

I really liked the look of the Freshcut Florals overtop of the gradient background using the same colours.

I used PTI inks on this one for the stamping and the watercolouring (Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Spring Moss, and Terracotta Tile)

One with Nature!

I decided to have a bit of fun watercolouring these leaves/trees from the newly released One With Nature. I went with atypical colours for leaves because that seemed fun at the time (Spiced Marmalade, Crushed Olive, Seedless Preserves and Peacock Feather if you're curious). I also decided to go with a more fun sentiment- this one is from Ice Cream Dream.

I had the hexagon embossed cardstock on my stash from a failed card attempt from the previous date. It worked on this card, especially with the colours I had already selected. I dug into my ribbon stash for some cute matching ribbon and that was that!

And even better, the card completely works for this week's Simon Says Wednesday Challenge! The challenge this week was to feature Simon Says Exclusive Product and the theme was Anything Goes!

Mists+Stamps

When I saw this week's Simon Says Monday Challenge: Stamps+ Mist, I knew I wanted to give it a go. Of course, I use stamping as one of my main tools for card-marking. However, although I have made mists a few times, I have rarely managed to use them on a card to my liking. I really wanted to try my hand at using mists and actually liking the end product.

Here's the first card- I made my own mist using few different blue reinkers and water. I taped down the Ledger Drop stencil onto some watercolour paper and got to misting. Once I was relatively happy with how it turned out, I stamped the greeting from Many Thanks. Finally, the final touches were a few vellum flowers attached with blue brads and a few blue rhinestones. I was feeling just "ok" about the card but decided to move.

The next day as a bit of a warm up, I got out the Zig Zag stencil and didn't even tape it down- I just placed it on top of some watercolour paper and started misting. I used 3 different colours of mist I had made- the blue one from yesterday, a yellow/gold one and a brown one. Well, was I ever surprised when I actually liked the messy, chaotic look to it! I picked out the lace next thinking that would pair well. Finally, I decided on Spring Blooms. I used the colours of the misted background as a guide for the ink colours. I went with all Stampin' Up inks here- Baked Brown Sugar, Hello Honey, and Lost Lagoon. The greeting is from Fanciful Feathers. I was definitely more satisfied with this card.

Overall, I was really glad I went for the challenge and stepped a tiny bit out of my comfort zone. It's good to try different techniques and products!

Leafy Father's Day

I know Father's Day was last weekend, but my dad was out of town, so he's not getting the card until this upcoming weekend.  Although, you could also easily apply these techniques and layout to a different sentiment.

I was feeling really inspired by all of the cards I saw using the newly released One with Nature. Being in Canada, I knew that even if I ordered that set (which I have), I wouldn't be receiving it for at least a week. When you feel that inspired, sometimes you need to see what you can do with what you have.

I pulled out this oldie, but goodie Stampin' Up! set (All the Best) and decided to ink them up with distress inks. I have the spots, so I just kind of inked up randomly with several different colours, ensuring that I covered the whole stamp. I stamped that onto my favorite cotton paper. Once they were all stamped, I went over the images with a fine, wet brush to blend and smooth the colours.

After all that work, I didn't want to hide my background, so I decided on a bold and clear embossed die cut "happy" with a small sentiment strip.

Supplies:

Stamps: All The Best (SU), Men of Life (PTI)

Ink: Various Distress Inks, Ripe Avocado

Paper: Cotton Paper (Savoy), Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, Meadow Moss

Accessories, etc.: Happy die (happy trio- WP9), clear embossing powder

Cool Treats!

After seeing the recent Simon Says Stamp Color of Fun Blog Hop and then the Wednesday Challenge, I was feeling very inspired! I decided to focus on two of my favorite techniques- Heat Embossings and Watercolouring and one of my favorite products- Distress Inks.

The watercolored ice cream card by Yoonsun Hur was especially inspiring! I don't have any of the products from the new release yet so I decided to see what I could make with the stamps in my stash.  I pulled out the Ice Cream Dream stamp set. What's great about this set is it's line art, which makes for easy watercolouring!

I stamped various ice cream treats and popsicles on the cotton paper with versamark and then clear embossed them. Then I started to paint each image using Distress Inks. I really love the vibrant look you can achieve with these inks as watercolours!

Finally I needed a sentiment on there, I decided to die cut the word happy out of black cardstock and then I stamped the word birthday (from the Birthday Balloons set) on a small strip of paper.

I have to say I really like how the card turned out!

Stars & Watercolour

Here is the anniversary card I made for my husband this year. I bought this set when it first came out because I love all things starry and also because I thought the sentiments were sweet. I had yet to make a card for my husband and when he read the sentiments, he may have teased me a bit at the cheese factor. So because of that I decided I had to use it on his card. I'm cheeky like that :)

For this background, I worked in sections, wetting the paper and then dabbing the inked up paintbrush into the water, letting the ink blend and move with the water as it pleased. I really like this look and you can make it as light or as bold as you like. If you want more colour, you can go back in with more ink, or use slightly less water.

Once I was happy with the background, I decided on my sentiment placement, then started adding in the stars.

The final step was the embossed, popped up star. I don't dark blue embossing powder or craft ink, so I did the old stamp in Versamark first and then into your dye ink trick. Doing this doesn't damage the dye ink pad and it gives the image enough stickiness for embossing powder to stick to!

Supplies:

Stamps: Super Stars (PTI)

Ink: Tumbled Glass, Chipped Sapphire, Broken China (Distress Inks), Versamark, Black Onyx, Enchanted Evening

Paper: Enchanted Evening, Brushed Silver, Savoy Cotton 118lb

I know the price point may seem a bit steep for a 25 pack, but I have to say, I absolutely love this paper for watercolouring! I initially bought it to use with my letterpress kits, and it really does press quite well. However, I happened upon watercolouring onto it by happy accident and now I almost always pull it out for that. I have both the bright white and the natural white. I love it since it's a smooth surface. I've always disliked the extremely textured watercolour papers. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stencilled Backgrounds

On Saturday, I picked up these fun Bo Bunny stencils to try out. I didn't have any cards in mind, I just wanted to see how well they did. The next day I came back to the backgrounds and decided to make a few cards.

I have to say it was nice not to have to tape down the stencil. Also, since these are mildly intricate designs, it was great not having to worry about them shifting or popping up mid-sponge.

First up, I wanted a cheerful card. The colours I used were PTI's Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, and Terracotta Tile.  Next I die cut 3 layers of the WPlus9 hand lettered hello from some Basic Grey cardstock. I adhered those together to make it dimensional. Last few steps were stamping the word "sunshine", and then getting my layers altogether and finishing it off with some satin ribbon.

This card features the first stencil from the pack I used. If you know me well, you may know that I like stars, quite a lot! So this stencil definitely "spoke" to me! I wanted a rainbow look, so I decided on PTI's Hawaiian Shores, Limeade Ice, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, and Berry Sorbet. Since I had the background already cut as a square, I decided to make a 5.5x5.5 card. I die cut a few stars, and sponged them. For added pop, I also clear embossed them. The "happy" was die cut three times and made to be another dimensional sticker. I paired that with one of the birthday greetings from the Whole Lotta Happy set.

For my final background, I had gone with blue tones. I wanted a bit of an ombre look, although I foresee myself using a rainbow colour scheme in the near future...

I went with PTI inks once again- Enchanted Evening, Blueberry Sky, and Spring Rain. Ever since I got the reinkers for these, I have been quite happy with how they sponge using the mini blending tool. Whatever ink you decide to use with blending or sponging techniques, I highly recommend keeping the associated reinkers. I definitely plan on getting the reinkers for the distress inks eventually, as I use those quite a bit for watercolouring and blending.

Anyway, back to the card, with this background, I wanted something a bit different from the first two. I decided that Spring Blooms would go nicely. I wanted something to contrast with the blues so I decided on yellows (Harvest Gold and Summer Sunrise). The green was a bit trickier to decide. I found that most of the PTI greens were too yellow heavy for this card and the one that's not was too vibrant. I ended up going with Stampin' Up!'s Pistachio Pudding. It had a nice softness that stood out enough from the blue background, but still coordinated with the yellow flowers.

I stamped the flowers and leaves and fussy cut those out. The sentiment comes from Strictly Sentiments 1.

I would definitely recommend these stencils for ink blending. I had no issues with them getting stuck to or damaging the paper. They cleaned very easily, almost even seemed to repel the ink a bit. I'm not sure how they will do with texture paste. I may give the final stencil (the heart one) a go, as I am not as attached to that one!

Thanks for stopping by.