This was a simple card to make for 2 reasons. First, the background was pre-made. Months ago I had played around with some Stampin' Up! reinkers (Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, and Crushed Curry) on watercolor paper. I ended up with this vivid, almost symmetrical background. Second, Poppystamps Birthday Wishes Moonlight Script die set is the ideal size and shape on any card to make it look great. I trimmed my watercolor panel to 4" x 5.25" and matted it onto a Bermuda Bay cardbase that matched the watercolor. Next, I die cut the script saying from Bermuda Bay cardstock. Then, I cut the shadow from watercolor cardstock to match the background.
This was a simple card to make for 2 reasons. First, the background was pre-made. Months ago I had played around with some Stampin' Up! reinkers (Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, and Crushed Curry) on watercolor paper. I ended up with this vivid, almost symmetrical background. Second, Poppystamps Birthday Wishes Moonlight Script die set is the ideal size and shape on any card to make it look great. I trimmed my watercolor panel to 4" x 5.25" and matted it onto a Bermuda Bay cardbase that matched the watercolor. Next, I die cut the script saying from Bermuda Bay cardstock. Then, I cut the shadow from watercolor cardstock to match the background.
With Mother's Day fast approaching, I wanted to put Tim Holtz's Floral Outlines stamp set by Stampers Anonymous to the test. I was eager to combine this with some Lindy's Magicals I had just recently received.
I first used four 4.5 x 6" panels of Canson XL watercolor paper and sprinkled it with 1-2 colors of Lindy's Magical Powders (if you haven't tried these yet, you are *truly* missing something). I used combinations including Cape Cod Coral, Salt Water Taffy, and Clam Bake Beige all from the Nantucket Shimmer Magicals set of 5. I also used Rizzo's Rowdy Red from the Go Greased Lightnin' set of Flat Magicals (no shimmer, but plenty of magic) by itself on one card. After the powder was on the card, I spritzed it with water and let the colors do their thing mixing around on the paper. In a couple of cases, I added a bit more powder.
I sprinkled 1-2 magicals onto my watercolor paper with a dry paintbrush, then spritzed with water to make them come alive. When I had the colors the way I liked them on each of my 4 panels, I dried them with my Ranger Heat Tool. I absolutely love the line art that is the Tim Holtz Floral Outlines stamp set. After my panels were dry, I brushed on anti-static powder (happy this did not dull my watercolor) and stamped this trio of stamps onto my paper with Versamark. For the three pink backgrounds, I used Inkon3's Gold Rush Ultra Fine Embossing Powder to heat emboss with. For the red background, I used Taylored Expression's White Fine Detail Embossing Powder.
With Mother's Day fast approaching, I wanted to put Tim Holtz's Floral Outlines stamp set by Stampers Anonymous to the test. I was eager to combine this with some Lindy's Magicals I had just recently received.
I first used four 4.5 x 6" panels of Canson XL watercolor paper and sprinkled it with 1-2 colors of Lindy's Magical Powders (if you haven't tried these yet, you are *truly* missing something). I used combinations including Cape Cod Coral, Salt Water Taffy, and Clam Bake Beige all from the Nantucket Shimmer Magicals set of 5. I also used Rizzo's Rowdy Red from the Go Greased Lightnin' set of Flat Magicals (no shimmer, but plenty of magic) by itself on one card. After the powder was on the card, I spritzed it with water and let the colors do their thing mixing around on the paper. In a couple of cases, I added a bit more powder.
I sprinkled 1-2 magicals onto my watercolor paper with a dry paintbrush, then spritzed with water to make them come alive. When I had the colors the way I liked them on each of my 4 panels, I dried them with my Ranger Heat Tool. I absolutely love the line art that is the Tim Holtz Floral Outlines stamp set. After my panels were dry, I brushed on anti-static powder (happy this did not dull my watercolor) and stamped this trio of stamps onto my paper with Versamark. For the three pink backgrounds, I used Inkon3's Gold Rush Ultra Fine Embossing Powder to heat emboss with. For the red background, I used Taylored Expression's White Fine Detail Embossing Powder.
Like many, I am a huge Tim Holtz fan. I wanted to make a TH themed St. Patrick's Day card using just his products, with the four-leaf clover from the Sizzix Lucky Love Impresslit. I am not a natural at mixed media. I have to experiment, think, study Pinterest, and more, to come up with a mixed media piece I really like. I found a wonderful card by a Finnish artist named Riikka Kovasin here that I loved. Her layout and her use of some of the embellishments inspired me most.
Like many, I am a huge Tim Holtz fan. I wanted to make a TH themed St. Patrick's Day card using just his products, with the four-leaf clover from the Sizzix Lucky Love Impresslit. I am not a natural at mixed media. I have to experiment, think, study Pinterest, and more, to come up with a mixed media piece I really like. I found a wonderful card by a Finnish artist named Riikka Kovasin here that I loved. Her layout and her use of some of the embellishments inspired me most.
Today's your lucky day! Even though it's Friday, the 13th, I'm serving up this colorful, glittery Valentine's card. I started with Poppystamps' new Vintage Scalloped Heart die set. I love that this comes with 2 dies: the heart with the 'sunburst' slits in it, and the bigger scalloped heart background.
I cut the heart from fine, red glitter paper by Core 'dinations, and contrasted that with a brushed gold cardstock for the scalloped shadow.
I wanted something different for the background so I turned to my trusty Distress Spray Stains and created a background on watercolor paper with Speckled Egg, Salvaged Patina, and Frayed Burlap. For a final touch, and to tie in the brushed gold look, I spritzed my paper with Tarnished Brass Distress Mica Spray. I cut that piece down just a bit and matted it on the piece of brushed gold cardstock I used to cut the scalloped heart from - yay for no waste. I glued this onto a Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla card base.
Today's your lucky day! Even though it's Friday, the 13th, I'm serving up this colorful, glittery Valentine's card. I started with Poppystamps' new Vintage Scalloped Heart die set. I love that this comes with 2 dies: the heart with the 'sunburst' slits in it, and the bigger scalloped heart background.
I cut the heart from fine, red glitter paper by Core 'dinations, and contrasted that with a brushed gold cardstock for the scalloped shadow.
I wanted something different for the background so I turned to my trusty Distress Spray Stains and created a background on watercolor paper with Speckled Egg, Salvaged Patina, and Frayed Burlap. For a final touch, and to tie in the brushed gold look, I spritzed my paper with Tarnished Brass Distress Mica Spray. I cut that piece down just a bit and matted it on the piece of brushed gold cardstock I used to cut the scalloped heart from - yay for no waste. I glued this onto a Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla card base.
I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with an extra large scoop of die cutting. The Grand Whittle Ice Cream Cone die is full of great etched detail as well as a cute stitched look on the edges. It cries out for a slimline card to stack up the scoops.
I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with an extra large scoop of die cutting. The Grand Whittle Ice Cream Cone die is full of great etched detail as well as a cute stitched look on the edges. It cries out for a slimline card to stack up the scoops.
Texture is the name of the game for the April Poppystamps challenge, so I decided to try something different. I used a die to create a stencil and applied Distress Crackle paste to showcase the die's design.
I started with watercolor paper and liberally applied Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain to create a mottled blue "wash" over the paper. I dried this with a heat gun and set it aside. Next, I used the Poppystamps Gilded Plate die to cut out a paper stencil from lightweight cardstock. I taped down the die cut on my watercolor paper and spread a thin layer of the crackle paste over it. I quickly lifted the paper stencil as soon as I was done. Making a stencil from paper or cardstock means it is one use only. There's no way to clean it and use it again.
Texture is the name of the game for the April Poppystamps challenge, so I decided to try something different. I used a die to create a stencil and applied Distress Crackle paste to showcase the die's design.
I started with watercolor paper and liberally applied Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain to create a mottled blue "wash" over the paper. I dried this with a heat gun and set it aside. Next, I used the Poppystamps Gilded Plate die to cut out a paper stencil from lightweight cardstock. I taped down the die cut on my watercolor paper and spread a thin layer of the crackle paste over it. I quickly lifted the paper stencil as soon as I was done. Making a stencil from paper or cardstock means it is one use only. There's no way to clean it and use it again.
Does your family like leftovers? My husband and I do. Leftovers can often be even better in cardmaking than in the fridge. I had made a colorful watercolored tag with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral and Spiced Marmalade. As Tim has taught over and over, when you have leftover ink on your glass mat, mist it with water and pick it up on a piece of watercolor paper. I did just that.
Later I used this same piece to test out a glimmery spray I had. This made this little 4x6 piece of cardstock ideal to try out my new Sizzix Garden Greens dies. I was making this card for several different card challenges that called for dies. I also used the dies to cut Neenah 110lb Solar White cardstock, Stampin' Up!'s Pink Pirouette and Calypso Coral cardstock, and Memory Box metallic gold cardstock from their 6x6 Rainbow Reflections Mirror Pad. I die cut one of the Paper Roses Stitched Rectangle dies from white cardstock and a Stampin' Up! circle from their Stitched Shapes dies.
I also used Calypso Coral to cut out Wishes from Spellbinders Simply Perfect Mix & Match Sentiments. And I used the word Best from Tim Holtz Metallic Quotation Stickers. Before I adhered everything down, I splattered the rectangle with a watercolor brush dipped in Stampin' Up!'s Flirty Flamingo ink mixed with water. Sometimes my splatters turn out disastrously, but this didn't.
I'm entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge to use a die cut (hah, I used 12!) and the Little Red Wagon Challenge #643 and the Fab 'n Funky Challenge #546.
Does your family like leftovers? My husband and I do. Leftovers can often be even better in cardmaking than in the fridge. I had made a colorful watercolored tag with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral and Spiced Marmalade. As Tim has taught over and over, when you have leftover ink on your glass mat, mist it with water and pick it up on a piece of watercolor paper. I did just that.
Later I used this same piece to test out a glimmery spray I had. This made this little 4x6 piece of cardstock ideal to try out my new Sizzix Garden Greens dies. I was making this card for several different card challenges that called for dies. I also used the dies to cut Neenah 110lb Solar White cardstock, Stampin' Up!'s Pink Pirouette and Calypso Coral cardstock, and Memory Box metallic gold cardstock from their 6x6 Rainbow Reflections Mirror Pad. I die cut one of the Paper Roses Stitched Rectangle dies from white cardstock and a Stampin' Up! circle from their Stitched Shapes dies.
I also used Calypso Coral to cut out Wishes from Spellbinders Simply Perfect Mix & Match Sentiments. And I used the word Best from Tim Holtz Metallic Quotation Stickers. Before I adhered everything down, I splattered the rectangle with a watercolor brush dipped in Stampin' Up!'s Flirty Flamingo ink mixed with water. Sometimes my splatters turn out disastrously, but this didn't.
I'm entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge to use a die cut (hah, I used 12!) and the Little Red Wagon Challenge #643 and the Fab 'n Funky Challenge #546.
Do you ever just throw everything you have at a card hoping something will work? That's what I did here, and I'm actually pleased with the way it turned out. I was inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #524 (FMS524). I started out with one of my favorite digital stamps ever, a Hero Arts digital stamp of a butterfly. It is colored with pale blue, pale green, and brown Copic markers and then highlighted with Glossy Accents. Sadly, the shine from the GA doesn't show up in the photo.
I created a 2" square watercolor background using a Stampin' Up! Crushed Curry ink refill as the paint. I had a nice watercolor texture, but them covered it up with Wild Honey Distress Oxide ink through the Tim Holtz Ringer stencil. I had a precut film strip from my Silhouette and used Stampin' Up! Island Indigo and Broken China Distress Ink to color it. The color was a little bright and competed with the butterfly, so I knocked it down a bit by using a Bo Bunny Terrific Textures stamp in black ink on top of it. I wanted a little more black and chose a circle-pattern stamp from one of my favorite Stampin' Up! sets, Kinda Eclectic to stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black at the top of the square.
Yep, it still needed more. I added two pieces of greenery die cut from the Tim Holtz Sizzix set Garden Greens (just got this the other day and I love it). I used a piece of Kiwi Metallic Cover stock from the Paper Company that I've had in my stash for a long time. I finished off my little square by adhering three clear Fairy Drops by Poppystamps with Nuvo Crystal Drops. I mounted the square on Gina K's 110lb Pure Luxury white cardstock embossed with one of my favorite embossing folders, Tim Holtz Texture Fades Blueprint. Finally, to follow the sketch, I added my sentiment. For You was cut (2 cuts stacked for each word) with Spellbinders Simply Perfect Mix and Match Sentiments.
Frankly, I'm amazed at all the products I used. I've been in a bit of a creative rut lately and entering challenges is a great way to get out of them. Sometimes, throwing everything you have at something is just the ticket.
I am entering this at Freshly Made Sketches #524, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, and Passion For Markers Week 629 (Things with Wings), Hero Arts Challenge
Do you ever just throw everything you have at a card hoping something will work? That's what I did here, and I'm actually pleased with the way it turned out. I was inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #524 (FMS524). I started out with one of my favorite digital stamps ever, a Hero Arts digital stamp of a butterfly. It is colored with pale blue, pale green, and brown Copic markers and then highlighted with Glossy Accents. Sadly, the shine from the GA doesn't show up in the photo.
I created a 2" square watercolor background using a Stampin' Up! Crushed Curry ink refill as the paint. I had a nice watercolor texture, but them covered it up with Wild Honey Distress Oxide ink through the Tim Holtz Ringer stencil. I had a precut film strip from my Silhouette and used Stampin' Up! Island Indigo and Broken China Distress Ink to color it. The color was a little bright and competed with the butterfly, so I knocked it down a bit by using a Bo Bunny Terrific Textures stamp in black ink on top of it. I wanted a little more black and chose a circle-pattern stamp from one of my favorite Stampin' Up! sets, Kinda Eclectic to stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black at the top of the square.
Yep, it still needed more. I added two pieces of greenery die cut from the Tim Holtz Sizzix set Garden Greens (just got this the other day and I love it). I used a piece of Kiwi Metallic Cover stock from the Paper Company that I've had in my stash for a long time. I finished off my little square by adhering three clear Fairy Drops by Poppystamps with Nuvo Crystal Drops. I mounted the square on Gina K's 110lb Pure Luxury white cardstock embossed with one of my favorite embossing folders, Tim Holtz Texture Fades Blueprint. Finally, to follow the sketch, I added my sentiment. For You was cut (2 cuts stacked for each word) with Spellbinders Simply Perfect Mix and Match Sentiments.
Frankly, I'm amazed at all the products I used. I've been in a bit of a creative rut lately and entering challenges is a great way to get out of them. Sometimes, throwing everything you have at something is just the ticket.
I am entering this at Freshly Made Sketches #524, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, and Passion For Markers Week 629 (Things with Wings), Hero Arts Challenge
As much as I enjoy the traditional red, green, silver and gold of Christmas, I get a big kick out of color twists on this festive season. A pastel approach to a Christmas card makes me think of candy and frosting. Add in glitter and I think of sugar cookies.
I used three dies to create this sugary pastel Christmas card. First, I knew I wanted a shimmery pink background. I randomly watercolored a piece of watercolor paper with two pink ink colors. I added a little splattering. Then I heavily spritzed the paper with a pearlescent glimmer mist.
After it was dry, I used a snowflake background die to cut out my sugary pink piece. I mounted this on a piece of mint green patterned paper (I love mint green and pale pink together). Next, I used the Merry Christmas die to cut out the sentiment from pale pink glittered cardstock. Then I used a medium-size stitched frame die to cut the frame from white cardstock. I next cut a piece of vellum paper to just a fraction smaller than the frame and glued it to the back of the frame. I adhered my Merry Christmas to the front of this framed vellum. I then put everything together on a folded white card, adhering the vellum frame with skinny foam tape so it wouldn't show. Finally, I adhered the clear droplets to the card with clear liquid glue. I just love how these things look on everything.
Perhaps I'll mail this card to someone with a sweet tooth.
Ingredients:
CS: Canson XL Watercolor Paper, Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 110, vellum
Ink: Distress Ink Spun Sugar, Stampin' Up! Sweet Sugarplum, both used as watercolor
Other paper: Patterned is Fancy Pants (2009) Christmas Magic collection On the Tree design, Glitter is Memory Box Delicate Pastels Glitter Pad 6x6
Dies: Merry Christmas Poe Script, Snowflake Background, Scalloped Stitched Frames all by Poppystamps
Embellishments: Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl, Fairy Drops Clear by Poppystamps
As much as I enjoy the traditional red, green, silver and gold of Christmas, I get a big kick out of color twists on this festive season. A pastel approach to a Christmas card makes me think of candy and frosting. Add in glitter and I think of sugar cookies.
I used three dies to create this sugary pastel Christmas card. First, I knew I wanted a shimmery pink background. I randomly watercolored a piece of watercolor paper with two pink ink colors. I added a little splattering. Then I heavily spritzed the paper with a pearlescent glimmer mist.
After it was dry, I used a snowflake background die to cut out my sugary pink piece. I mounted this on a piece of mint green patterned paper (I love mint green and pale pink together). Next, I used the Merry Christmas die to cut out the sentiment from pale pink glittered cardstock. Then I used a medium-size stitched frame die to cut the frame from white cardstock. I next cut a piece of vellum paper to just a fraction smaller than the frame and glued it to the back of the frame. I adhered my Merry Christmas to the front of this framed vellum. I then put everything together on a folded white card, adhering the vellum frame with skinny foam tape so it wouldn't show. Finally, I adhered the clear droplets to the card with clear liquid glue. I just love how these things look on everything.
Perhaps I'll mail this card to someone with a sweet tooth.
Ingredients:
CS: Canson XL Watercolor Paper, Neenah Solar White Classic Crest 110, vellum
Ink: Distress Ink Spun Sugar, Stampin' Up! Sweet Sugarplum, both used as watercolor
Other paper: Patterned is Fancy Pants (2009) Christmas Magic collection On the Tree design, Glitter is Memory Box Delicate Pastels Glitter Pad 6x6
Dies: Merry Christmas Poe Script, Snowflake Background, Scalloped Stitched Frames all by Poppystamps
Embellishments: Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl, Fairy Drops Clear by Poppystamps
I was so excited to get the Harvest Mouse My Favorite Things Stamp and Die set in the mail. I won a gift card from them a while back (random draw!) and finally took advantage of a sale to snag this utterly adorable set. I was using both a color challenge and a sketch challenge to guide me into a design.
I stamped with Versafine Black Ink on watercolor paper and heat set it for just a few seconds. Then I used my dear Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers along with a tiny paint brush dipped in water to color in the image. The inside of the ear was originally gray and I went back with a pink color later. I added white dots to the vest with a white gel pen. I added a sentiment up top. I die cut the mouse, leaves and the frame and backed the frame with a piece of lightweight text paper (I'm a sucker for text paper anywhere). I added the olive green strip which I stamped with the same color ink and mounted everything onto a kraft card. Can't wait to use the rest of this sweet set.
Ingredients
CS: Dark olive green CS unknown, lighter green is Stampin' Up! Old Olive, kraft is Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake, Canson XL Watercolor Paper
Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up! Newsprint Designer Series Paper (retired)
Stamps: Harvest Mouse by My Favorite Things
Dies: Poppystamps Double Scalloped Stitched Frames & MFT Harvest Mouse dies
Ink: Versafine Black ink, Old Olive (stamped off)
Color: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
Punch: I used a Fiskars Hexagon Punch to make the fishtail on the sentiment strip.
Challenges: Make the Cards Challenge #38, Freshly Made Sketches #508 and Just Add Ink #577
I was so excited to get the Harvest Mouse My Favorite Things Stamp and Die set in the mail. I won a gift card from them a while back (random draw!) and finally took advantage of a sale to snag this utterly adorable set. I was using both a color challenge and a sketch challenge to guide me into a design.
I stamped with Versafine Black Ink on watercolor paper and heat set it for just a few seconds. Then I used my dear Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers along with a tiny paint brush dipped in water to color in the image. The inside of the ear was originally gray and I went back with a pink color later. I added white dots to the vest with a white gel pen. I added a sentiment up top. I die cut the mouse, leaves and the frame and backed the frame with a piece of lightweight text paper (I'm a sucker for text paper anywhere). I added the olive green strip which I stamped with the same color ink and mounted everything onto a kraft card. Can't wait to use the rest of this sweet set.
Ingredients
CS: Dark olive green CS unknown, lighter green is Stampin' Up! Old Olive, kraft is Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake, Canson XL Watercolor Paper
Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up! Newsprint Designer Series Paper (retired)
Stamps: Harvest Mouse by My Favorite Things
Dies: Poppystamps Double Scalloped Stitched Frames & MFT Harvest Mouse dies
Ink: Versafine Black ink, Old Olive (stamped off)
Color: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
Punch: I used a Fiskars Hexagon Punch to make the fishtail on the sentiment strip.
Challenges: Make the Cards Challenge #38, Freshly Made Sketches #508 and Just Add Ink #577
