Hi there! I’m back with another Alex Syberia-inspired card using her fabulous dot-coloring technique! Check out some other’s cards with dots HERE! I was particularly inspired to create my card after seeing THIS one of hers! What a riotous explosion of color!! I just had to make one of my own! Before I begin a card, I often think to myself, “Now, what can I do to make this card especially striking or unusual?” So that’s why I thought of the red background! Not something we see that often in our cardmaking community! I began by stamping and masking my Stampendous Small Hellebore image onto a panel of Bristol Smooth card stock. I then added the leaves and little floral sprig from Altenew’s Crown Bloom set. Unfortunately, I didn’t make a video of this process. I wish I had! But as always, I created my background first with many layers of red Zig Clean Color Brush markers, placing the darkest color next to the stamped images then smudging and squiggling the color outward using a lighter shade. The Flesh Color marker is my blender, adding a lighter tone without being too heavy. After filling in the background to my satisfaction, I began on the flowers and leaves, using shades of aqua for the blossoms and many shades of green for the leaves. A little gray and yellow kept the floral sprigs clean and simple against the explosion of colors everywhere else! Next, I used my Copic markers to add the colorful dots randomly over the whole panel, making some larger than the others. I love this fun technique which adds such an unexpected dimension to a card! Lastly, I thought that Taylored Expressions new Simple Strips sentiments on black would make a nice contrast to the background, so I heat-embossed them with white, lifted each strip with a little foam tape and arranged them on my card. Aren’t they perfect?! I LOVE how this came out and will certainly be making more dotty cards in the future! Thanks for visiting!
Today’s card is again inspired by the colorfully creative Alex Syberia and this card I found on her Instagram feed! I love the unusual size of the card and of course, the bold, bright colors! So, I decided to make one similar to hers!I began by cutting a four inch wide strip from a nine inch long watercolor pad, thus getting a 4″x9″ panel to work on. I dusted it completely with my anti-static pouch in order to stamp Altenew’s Crown Bloom and Beautiful Day sprig using Brutus Monroe’s Gilded embossing powder. I had to do a bit of masking to achieve the elongated design similar to Alex’s.
When my design was in place, I pulled out my darkest teal Zig marker and began by lightly “scribbling” a little color into each nook and cranny, then adding water with a water brush to soften and spread the color. I did this section by section until the whole design was surrounded by a soft sea of color! I decided to color my blossoms with shades of orange, red and yellow as they’re opposite blue on the color wheel and pack a vibrant punch! I can’t even list the colors I used as there were so many; I kept adding layers upon layers, drying often in between.Initially, I’d colored the little “seedy” looking things in the flower center with black and brown, but went over them with the same purple I’d colored the tiny blossoms on the sprigs.You can really see the pretty purple centers in this photo! When I was satisfied with the depth of color in the Crown Blooms I began to add to the background by spattering on wet purple, aqua, red and black ink and used my markers to fill in some of the crannies with additional dots. After stamping lightly my new Vintage Note stamp from Stampendous around the images, I heat-embossed the Unity Stamps sentiment in black directly to my watercolored panel then mounted it onto a base of ivory card stock. I am SO loving how this card turned out! And I already have my next Alex Syberia project planned!! Stay tuned! 😀
There are so many amazing card artists whose work I admire, and especially those who can create clean and simple cards! I don’t think I can create “clean and simple” if my life depended on it! I started this card thinking I would keep it really simple, one layer, no texture. HA!! As usual, I strayed from the plan! Sigh! On a piece of watercolor card stock, I stamped and heat-embossed in white the blossom and leaves from Altenew’s Crown Blooms set, masking the flower in order to place the other images. I then began coloring with my Zig markers, layer upon layer, using a wet paintbrush to move and soften the color. I know I’ve mentioned before that when I choose colors for my cards, I try to use the ones that are opposites on the color wheel for the most visual impact! Blue and orange are always so striking together! Anyway, when I finished coloring the flower and leaves, I filled in the background with an aqua marker and lots more water to spread the ink. After drying it with my heat tool, I spattered some black, aqua and white ink over the images, then added “dew drops” with my Crystal Effects glue! I trimmed the panel down with my trusty Gina Marie Designs Stitched Rectangle dies. I found a butterfly embossed piece I’d made AGES ago, and thought it would make a nice “frame” for my card, so die-cut that with the Stitched Rectangles in a size larger. I adhered the panels together then mounted them to a card base of aqua. Lastly, I heat-embossed the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp’s Beautiful Flowers set onto a strip of coral cardstock which I’d trimmed into a little banner, then attached it with some foam tape. So much for “clean and simple”!! I guess that’s just not my style! But I love this card and think it’ll perfect for many occasions!
I thought I’d share a little of my creative process with you in this post! Above are many backgrounds I created using Tim Holtz’ Distress Resist Spray which I received in my Simon Say’s Stamp June Card kit! I finally tried it out and ended up with these! Basically, I laid a stencil onto each piece of card stock, sprayed the Resist Spray over it, removed the stencil and let the paper dry; the spray acts just like heat-embossing and we all know how much fun that is! The really fun part was to choose my color combinations for each panel and then let it “speak” to me in regards to which stamps to use and how to design the cards!I LOVE this one!! I’m partial to a gray & yellow combination, and I love how that black got onto this panel! (I’m not actually sure how that happened!) I used Fossilized Amber, Iced Spruce and a little Black Soot distress oxide inks to sponge the color on. Speaking of Tim Holtz (I mentioned the oxide inks, right?!) this is one of my absolute favorite “man” sets and just love this vintage car! I heat-embossed it in black onto the panel, then over-stamped the other images in more Iced Spruce. I can’t recall who makes the “let’s get LOST” sentiment, but it’s perfect, isn’t it?! 🙂 A lovely Bazzill textured gray base finished this card! Remember when aqua and brown was all the rage?! I still love this soothing combination and added some Cracked Pistacio distress oxide ink to Broken China and Walnut Stain. The resist background was made with a cool script stencil. I pulled out another favorite Tim Holtz set for this card; it’s called The Great Outdoors and has some really wonderful images! I stamped the wood circle all over a white card base using Walnut Stain, then moved on to create my card. I tore the resist background in half (now I get to make a second card with the other half!) and sponged more Walnut Stain around the edges. On a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock, I sponged Antique Linen distress ink all over, then dripped water over it for cool texture. I stamped the trees in Cracked Pistacio and Walnut and stamped the deer in Walnut too. I used my Walnut distress marker to darken the deer in the foreground. More Walnut Stain around the edges! I heat-embossed the sentiment onto a scrap of textured card stock then adhered it to my card after assembling the other pieces. OH! Big surprise! Another Tim Holtz product; a stencil this time! 😀 I first sponged Fired Brick oxide ink at the bottom, then Carved Pumpkin over it and finally, Fossilized Amber at the top. Those “cool” darkish stains are from my dirty baby wipe as I was wiping the ink off the resist parts! Happy accident!! I kinda love this “dirty” card!! The Celebrate You stamp is from Neat & Tangled and I heat-embossed it in black right over my panel, then sponged Black Soot around the edges. A strip of black & white striped paper accents one edge and I mounted this onto a black base card. The last detail was to add Nuvo Drops all over and then spatter black paint over it all. I haven’t done paint-spattering in a while and I miss it! 😉 How beautiful is this background?! My favorite Iced Spruce oxide ink is paired with Shaded Lilac and a touch of Fossilized Amber, all sponged over the cool grid stencil. That resist spray is SO easy and SO cool! I’ve already written a post about this beautiful card but it needs to be added here! I used my spankin’ new Altenew set called Crown Blooms ; stamped out the images onto a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock, then colored with my Zig markers. I fussy-cut the bloom and leaf and layered them over the background where I’d stamped the little floral sprig. Lastly, the sentiment from Brutus Monroe‘s Super Sentimental set was heat-embossed in white onto a scrap of black, then mounted to the blossom. A base card of my favorite textured card stock by Bazzill in gray sets this off beautifully! Now…I have more backgrounds to play with so I’m out!! Thanks for visiting!
I finally opened my bottle of Tim Holtz Distress Resist Spray which came in my Simon Say’s Stamp June card kit, and had fun making a bunch of backgrounds! For this one I used a cool grid stencil and then sponged Shaded Lilac, Iced Spruce and Fossilized Amber distress oxide inks over it! This card also features my brand new Altenew stamp set called Crown Blooms and I just love the images! I stamped the flower and leaf using Brutus Monroe‘s fabulous Raven Detail ink onto Bristol Smooth card stock, then enjoyed coloring with my Zig markers! I didn’t buy the dies because I intended to use my Scan N Cut machine to cut the images but wasn’t very successful with that, so ended up fussy-cutting. I stamped the little cluster of flowers onto the background several times then arranged my blossom and leaf over them. The addition of a few coordinating pearly-thingies were a pretty accent! This little sentiment is from Brutus Monroe‘s Super Sentimental set and I heat-embossed it in white onto a strip of black card stock then adhered it to the blossom with bits of foam tape. Lastly, I mounted the whole panel to a base card of lovely gray Bazzill card stock. I know I’m going to really enjoy making more cool backgrounds and using my new Altenew set!
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