Thanks for Everything Watercolor Card

Happy September, Stamping Friends! I'm looking forward to slightly more crafting time once the littles head back to school tomorrow morning... Sure I'll miss them, but I've been missing my stamp room a lot last month! For example, today was the first day I managed to crack open my new Rose embossing folder, which I brought home from Convention in July. It's a travesty of crafting.

Anyhoo, I embossed some of the new Basic Fundamentals in a subdued burlap pattern. Then I lightly sponged that embossed patterned paper with Mink ink. I was working off the new Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for this week, and I grabbed a few more patterns from the Basic Fundamentals packet to fill in the sketch. The glittery heart border came from the Inspire Complements. I added some sparkles and bitty sparkles that I turned purple using a Shin Han alcohol marker. The sentiments came from the September SOTM.

The floral image came from an AdornIt paintables card. I love the weight of the watercolor paper on those! I colored the card with my Zig Clean Color pens, and topped the jar with Liquid Glass sprinkled with just a pinch of super fine glitter. I tucked in a few extra sprays of leaves and florals that I stamped and watercolored from this month's From the Heart National Stamping Month promotion set.  I just stamped them in a light color of ink and went over the images with watercolor paint. I hope you'll pop over to Atlantic Hearts and play along with this week's adorable sketch!

ADORNit It Girl Makes Chalkboard Paint

I can't believe that my reign as an ADORNit It Girl is coming to a close. I didn't get to make NEARLY enough pretty things, so you'll probably still see me blogging with more ADORNit goodies, especially since I just scored this bit of fabulousness when I was on Amazon today. 

One of the things I loved most in my Swag Bag of Awesomeness were these plain MDF shapes. I made my own DIY Chalkboard Paint to make this lovely thing. You mix a couple big spoonfuls of cornstarch into plain old acrylic paint (of any color) and go to town with your foam brush. Let it dry completely between coats. I sanded mine with a fine sandpaper between coats, and put on a good four coats because apparently I'm an over-painter as well as an over-gluer. I used E-6000 to glue this gorgeous ADORNit necklace to my chalkboard as the hanger for my project. I love the idea of jewelry, but I don't often wear it, so this seemed a better solution than letting pretty things hang out all alone in my closet! Then I seasoned the chalkboard with a piece of chalk by rubbing a piece of my kids chalkboard chalk over the whole shebang before trying to hand letter this sign. You should buy the good chalk to letter a sign. Cheap dollar store chalk is not the most fun to work with, but I'm still please with my first attempt. I still love my sign, and plan to letter on new quotes when I buy me some better chalk!

I have so enjoyed my time with ADORNit, and my swag bag of goodies too. I've made a ton of adorable projects, and a bunch of my CTMH peeps even went with me on a field trip to visit the Logan store and warehouse while we were in Utah last month. If you are ever in Utah, go - it's seriously more cuteness than any store should be allowed to carry. Perhaps applying to be an It Girl and then deciding to move two weeks later (and commencing trying to make said move a week later amid five weeks of the worst Portland snow I've evah experienced) wasn't the wisest idea, but it sure was a blast. ADORNit is now taking applications for a new It Girl team, and I highly encourage you to apply. 

  

Smile You Are Loved Card

As much as I love being at CTMH Convention, it's always nice to come home and settle back into family life...and have access to my stamp studio again! For this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge I dug out an oldie but goodie, the September Word Puzzle stamp set. The Word Puzzles (one for each month) are part of a special set of retired stamps CTMH is re-releasing for this month's Stampaganza special.

I started with an oval-ish watercolor card from the ADORNit Floral Frames Paintables sheet. I colored it using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens. I stamped the SMILE sentiment onto the dried and fussy cut image. Then I popped up the "you are loved" sentiment onto a little banner and added some outlining with a journaling pen. The papers are from the Prickly Pear papers. 

I added glitter gel to the flower centers and a few glitter gems and tiny sequins scattered about the card. I also went over the letters of SMILE with shimmer pen and outlined them with my journaling pen as well. All of the stamps on my website are Buy 2 Get 1 Free this month with Stampaganza, including the limited time release stamps like the word puzzle I used on this card. If you love a deal, that ought to put a smile on your face. Hop over and grab your Stampaganza deals before the end of July!

Be Gentle Friendship Card

Today I was beating myself up for not getting more done. As though I hadn't just spent a week in my bed too sick to function. As though I could just decide that I was well enough to return to my normal top speed get everything done mode. I have to do lists! I WROTE IT DOWN!! 

Today there is also a new sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. So I grabbed one of my AdornIt Paintables sheets and did a quick watercolor on one of the frames. I added a sweet sentiment that I clearly need to take heed of myself, and attached it to some Green Chevron double sided paper. I grounded the design with a strip of washi tape instead of a sentiment, since I already had a lot of sentiment going on at the top.

I added some thick grey twine as a wrap to the Paintables element, but I wanted to add something to the bow/knots. I tried flowers and buttons galore, until I found this little cat hanging out in my random cool buttons jar. I snipped off his backing and popped him up on some foam tape. I may have needed this sentiment, but with the addition of the cat I know just who needs to receive this card now. I hope it helps her take a step back into self care as it did for me. Be kind to yourselves, Stampin' Friends. We are all doing the best we can. 

You're the Sweetest Card

Yesterday I sat down to play with the new sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. That made for a really fun morning!

I had hoped to link this card up to the Color Throwdown, but I forgot to get it blogged in time since I rushed off to fit in Costco before the repairman showed up. It was that color combo that inspired me to break out some of my new AdornIt papers, combining a little Blender Basics with the Flamingo papers. I used my Basic Heart Thin Cuts to cut out that sweet pineapple heart I layered over a mini doily. I added the little hearts to the Polka Dot paper using Blossom ink.

How sweet are these little love birds from the April Stamp of the Month? I stamped them with Canary ink on White Daisy cardstock and then layered them onto my pineapple heart. I snagged the sweetest sentiment from the Sugar Rush - Cardmaking set. I finished off the card with some organdy ribbon tied with a baker's twine bow. Hope you'll hop over to Atlantic Hearts to add a little sweetness of your own this week, Stampin' Friends!

So Thankful Card

Today I am so thankful to share with you that I've been chosen as an AdornIt It Girl. I've been buying adorable clothes from AdornIT for years, and now I got a big box of AdornIt swag to create with and share with y'all. I get to do this for three whole months, and I'm so excited to get started. 

Today I'm working with the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. I combined a watercolor panel from an AdornIT Art Play Coloring Book with Sugar Rush sprinkle paper. That sprinkle is my favorite page in that whole sweet line. I added a sentiment to the bottom using the Sugar Rush cardmaking set.

I colored the panel with watercolor pencils and blended everything with a fine tipped water brush. Then when the panel was dry I stamped over the painting with hearts using Blossom ink (and black for her t-short heart). Finally I blended a bit more using my clear shimmer brush to soften and add sparkle. You can check out all the AdornIt goodies in my Swag Box on my Unboxing Flipagram. 

Now I'm thankful to be off to Seattle for the CTMH Expressions launch this weekend. Happy stamping, Stampin' Friends!

Choose Happy Watercolor Card

I know I've been MIA lately. I've been working hard on the unexpected last minute move that's taking fooooorev-aaaah  since all the Portland Snowpocalypses kept derailing our plans. I miss y'all, and I promise as soon as my new stamp room is unpacked you'll see a whole lot more fun stuff over here. In the meantime, it's Monday, which means a new sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, PLUS I just got a package of amazing goodies from ADORNit (I won it participating in their fabulous Coloring Party - seriously go watch the videos before they are gone. Thank you so much, ADORNit!!), and I think that calls for a stopping of all move related activities for a quick watercolor card! Just don't tell John...

I'd apologize for the awesome photography, but as you can see from the background my stamp room is in pieces, in boxes, in piles, and in bags, so I was quite literally lucky to find a space to make this project, never mind find my Shot Box. I used a sweet watercolor card panel I got from ADORNit, colored with watercolor pencils and blended with water brushes. I used a technique where I blended the pencils onto the back of my hand with a bit of water and then painted the color onto the panel with a fine tipped water brush. I trimmed the painted panel, letting the floral sprays hang over the edges, and mounted it onto some yellow Fundamentals stripe before adding it to a new Dreamin' Big pocket Scrapbooking card. 

I added some sparkly touches to the sentiment and the lightning bugs using a shimmer gel pen. Then I trimmed a tiny ladybug out of a scrap of that PML card background to tuck into the jar. A few outlines with a fine tipped journaling pen and my first project in a month was done! Oh my golly that felt good...I clearly need to get this room unpacked ASAP, 'cause I'm in craft withdrawal! I'll have a post on the new space coming soon. Miss you bunches, Stampin' Friends!

P.S. You've only got a couple more days to snag this amazing paper wreath kit that I totally didn't tell you about since I've been moving. I'd post a pic of mine, but I'd need a compass, a shovel, and a week of snacks to find it in this mess! Check out a fun video for this project and the details on how to make it yours right HERE. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner...but I'll be hosting a crop in the new space on February 26th if you need a place to craft this or any other project that makes your heart go pitter pat. Save the date!