Clean Up Cards!

 I don’t know about you, but I have hundreds and hundreds of card photos stored in my computer and my typical habit is to edit them for blog posts or to post on social media then pop them over to my CopyCatCard file!  Once that’s done, I delete them from Camera Uploads but unfortunately, I often forget that step!  During this time of social distancing, I’ve been working on cleaning up my files and came across a number of cards that I never edited and so they were never used for a blog or Facebook post!  I thought I’d share them with you today!  You’ll see that I have quite a few cards made with some of Alex Syberia Designs like this one above!  I printed it onto Bristol Smooth card stock and then colored the blossom with my Zig markers.  After die-cutting the image into a circle, I mounted it to a white base card which I’d embossed with a lovely folder I have.  I think that script is so elegant, don’t you?  The sentiment is from Unity Stamps.  

Here’s another one of Alex’s designs called Roses Bouquet which I stamped onto Bristol Smooth and painted, again using Zig markers! I think the sentiment is from Taylored Expressions  Simple Strips set!  

This card features a stamp made by Crafty Individuals called Summer Poppy Meadow.  I have to admit that I didn’t check to see the actual dimensions of this stamp when I ordered it, assuming it was a full A2 size!  It was quite disappointing to see the actual size when it arrived but it’s still a beautiful image and easy to work with!  I paired it with a black and white striped panel of a store bought card I had in my stash!  

I made this card over a year ago (maybe two?) and I’ve kept it for myself instead of selling it!  The simple yet striking lotus blossom was drawn by Luisana Lowry for her collection of digital stamps she called Red Hibiscus Designs and I was honored to be asked to create cards for her!  I colored this blossom with Copic markers and paired it with a background I had in my stash.  A little gold cord and a few sequins are pretty details!  

How gorgeous is this moth?!  Another one of Luisana’s designs, it’s not something I would typically be interested in, but I loved coloring this!  My Copics collection was fairly new and quite limited at this point but with the excellent tutorials that Luisana has shared, I learned so much and just love how beautifully this came out!  The background was made with Hero Arts Everything Flower stamp and I think I colored directly on the stamp, misted with water then stamped it onto Bristol Smooth card stock.  A perfect pairing, if I do say so myself!  Oh!  That bold sentiment is from Stamplorations!  

I just love this card!  It’s a print I found on Pinterest and it came with the blue background so all I had to do was color the flowers!  I believe I used Prismacolor pencils on this because I had to print it onto regular weight card stock.  The addition of Glossy Accents on some of the blossoms give it a really nice touch!  Sentiment is Taylored Expressions Simple Strips!  

When Alex Syberia created her first line of digital stamps, she invited me to design cards to help promote the line and I was honored and happy to do so!  This image is called Spring Bouquet and you can find it here in her Etsy shop!  Because I printed this with an inkjet printer, the ink smudged a bit but I used the printer ink as my gray and just went with it!  

Here’s the same image in orange and yellow; I like the addition of the Tim Holtz Hello die popping out of it!  

Another colorful card using Spring Bouquet, again letting the printer ink be my gray for coloring.  

Alex rocked the flower frame with this digi called XOXO Floral!  What a glorious array of blossoms and leaves to frame the hand-lettered XOXO!  I used Prismacolor pencils for this card, die-cut it with Gina Marie Designs Stitched Rectangle die then mounted it onto a base card made with heavy patterned paper!  

My last card is a simpler design featuring a sweet little Stampendous set called Sunshine Daisy!  I colored it with Copics, die-cut it into an oval and adhered it to the dotted paper oval.  The embossed base card is perfect with it’s display of petals, right?!  The sentiment is from Butterfly Reflections, Ink set called Let’s Flamingle.  

Here’s the inside of the Daisies card with the rest of the sentiment!  

I leave you with this sympathy card done in restful colors of nature and Papertrey Ink’s Meadow Greensstamp set.  I heat embossed the ferns with clear powder then sponged oxide and distress inks over them for a resist look, one of my favorite simple techniques!  The sentiment is from an old Stampin Up set.  Thanks for coming with me on this little walk through my computer files!  

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Stampendous Cling Garden Mum

I wasn’t planning to write a blog post about this card- okay, actually, it never occurred to me to write a post!  I just pulled out this gorgeous new stamp set by Stampendous and went crazy with it!  But someone requested a post to describe how I made this so here I am!  I’ll try to remember to at least snap some photos of the process the next time I make a card!  But for today I’ll just explain my process!

The name of this set is Cling Garden Mum and it comes with a beautiful flourish stencil and some gorgeous samples depicted on the back of the packaging!  I was so inspired by the samples!  To begin my card, I taped the stencil to a panel of watercolor card stock and sponged on Broken China distress oxide ink.  The next step was to heat emboss the giant mum directly to the stenciled panel using black embossing powder.  I decided to use my Bister watercolor powders to fill in the blossom; the depth of color is determined by how much powder and how much water you add!  I tried to create shading with the use of both!  

When the flower was colored in I decided to add the row of flourishes down the right side; to do that, I stamped them in Versamark then heat set them with clear embossing powder.  I then sponged a layer of Black Soot distress ink over the whole panel, trying to stay away from the blossom.  This, of course, made those flourishes pop!  If you look at the top left you’ll see where I stamped on a scripty stamp using a little water then removed the dampness with paper towel.  This left a faint impression for yet another detail!  

My card looks far more complicated than it actually was!  To finish it off, I trimmed down my watercolor panel and adhered it to a base card of textured aqua card stock then added the sentiment strip.  I like how this pops against the colorful background!  

I typically keep my inside panel quite basic with a sentiment or a coordinating strip of patterned paper as a band at the bottom, but this time I went all out!  I used Technique Junkies Zinnia’s with Monarch stamp in Hickory distress oxide ink right over the stenciled pattern which I did first!  I heat embossed the sentiment onto a scrap of pink then cut it with a label punch.  I think I can still write a message inside despite all the other stuff going on here!  I had so much fun making this card and hope I’ve inspired you to play with your own stencils and stamps!  Thanks for your visit!  

Flurry of Thanks

It’s been too long since I’ve posted on my blog but between craft shows and holiday preparations and activities, I haven’t made new cards until now!  Today’s project was to create Thank You cards and I was inspired by an incredibly beautiful card I received from Angelica Conrad of My Love For Paper blog!  Take a peek here!  She used Nuvo Shimmer powders but I don’t own that product so instead, I used my Bister and Brusho watercolor crystals which give the same effect.  

The process was pretty much the same as Angelica’s;  I heat-embossed the snowflakes from Tim Holtz’ Mini Weathered Winter in white onto a piece of watercolor card stock then spritzed it with a heavy layer of water.  

I sprinkled on several shades of Bister or Brusho crystals, then spritzed more water to make the color move and blend.  This one is my favorite with shades of purple and aqua!  

When all my panels were completed, I added the multiple-Thank You stamp which I embossed with white ink and clear powder right over the background.  I like how subtle it is!  

Wait.  Maybe this one is my favorite with it’s bright rainbow of colors!  😀  A dear stamping friend sent me a package filled with die-cut snowflakes and other goodies recently and I added one to each card, lifting it with a 3D Foam Square for a little added interest.  

The final touch was to emboss “many thanks” from an old Stampin Up set onto a scrap of black paper with white embossing powder and attach that over the glittery snowflake.  I like the pop of black, don’t you?!  A base card of white completes my card!  These are the first four of a number of Thank You cards I’ll need, so I’ll be back with the next batch soon!  Thanks for visiting!  

Cozy Country Christmas

Can I just say I’m in love??!!  I’ve been playing with my spankin’ new Unity/Brutus Monroe Hit The Brick background stamp and having SO MUCH FUN!!  I have so many ideas of ways to use this one!  Yesterday I laid out three panels of watercolor card stock, then covered my Brick stamp with a heavy layer of Ranger’s Distress Resist Spray and stamped it onto the stock.  The card above is the first one I did, and the spray was so saturated on the stamp that it lost some of it’s detail.  The second one was a better image and the third one was perfect!  BUT!  There was no way I was going to waste this one and here’s what I made!

So, here are my three panels after stamping out the Hit The Brick background, as mentioned above.  Not a great picture but you get the idea!

I sponged on these colors: Suede Surface ink, Terracotta Surface ink and Walnut Stain Distress Oxide.  The Resist Spray is VERY resistant so the shiny parts didn’t take the ink very well.

My finished panel; I didn’t love it but was hopeful I could make something beautiful with it!

I decided to cut out the center of my panel with Oval Stitched dies and create a “window”~ but what to place in my window?  After trying out several stamps, I settled on this one by Stampendous called Cozy Cottage which I stamped on a separate piece of Bristol Smooth watercolor paper using Gathered Twigs Distress ink.  I then “painted” over the lines with a watery brush to create the soft sepia look and added a little color using Distress Markers.

Then I realized that this would make a great shaker card!  I’ve only made a few with much angst and frustration, but this one came together beautifully!  I attached a piece of acetate to the backside of the window, then built a wall of foam tape going all around the back of the sponged panel to hold in the “snow” which is actually Ultra Thick Clear Embossing powder!!  I added a few sequins and micro beads as well!  Can you see them?  Anyway, I got all the pieces and parts in the correct order and voila!  A shaker panel!

I found the perfect patterned paper to attach the panel to, then mounted it to a card base of Brutus Monroe’s Lunchbag card stock!  The final touch was a few sprigs of Tim Holtz’ Holiday Greens holly touched up with a bit of Gathered Twigs distress oxide ink and three little “berries”!   Now, isn’t this a lovely scene framed by that amazing Brick background?!

Unity is still holding their awesome giveaway!  You have until October 1st to comment on any of the blogs which participated in the blog hop for a chance to win!  Here’s the link to their blog with the lineup!  On October 2nd, they’ll choose the lucky winners!  I hope it’s you!!  

 

Brutus Monroe Simple Blends

I’m really getting into making fall cards and this week on Brutus Monroe’s blog the team is sharing projects that feature the handy-dandy Simple Blend Circle stencil!  It comes with the circle cut-out and the frame around it so you can use it both ways!  For my card I used the frame part of it.  Here’s what I did!  To start, I did my usual tapping of distress oxide inks onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and dragged my watercolor cardstock through it, drying between colors.  I used Fired Brick, Carved Pumpkin, Fossilized Amber and a little Aged Mahogany.

After that I stamped Winnie & Walter’s Renee’s Leaves all over the panel, using Raven Detail ink.  I then spattered some black paint over it all and set it aside to dry.  The cute little bear is from Birthday Bears, and I stamped him on a scrap of watercolor cardstock, colored him with my Zig markers and cut him out.

Before I attached him to the background panel, I laid the circle frame from Simple Blend-Circle stencil over the corner of the panel and filled in the space with Picket Fence distress oxide ink using a sponge dauber.  When it was dry, I added a layer of Versamark, then clear embossing powder and heat set it.  It created a paler, shiny circle behind my bear!  I ran it through the Cuttlebug with Stitched Rectangle dies to trim it down, then again using a Fall Leaves embossing folder.

I drew faux stitching around the embossed circle then around a few of the leaves to mimic the “stitched” panel!  After mounting Birthday Bear to the panel with 3D Foam Squares, I attached the whole thing to an off-white card base.   A few fall flowers added the final detail along with black embossed sentiment strips!  Let’s see what the Team has made with their Simple Blend stencil!  JESS   MARIE   WALESKA   BERINA  HEATHER B.

One Martini, Two Martini’s

It’s Wednesday and we’re back with some great projects using Clear Toner Sheets!  I used mine as an overlay this time for not one, but TWO cards!  Now, I’m not a martini lover but when I made this fun background using Brutus Monroe’s Paint Spots stencil and distress oxide inks, the shape and colors made me think of martini’s!  I just happen to have Unity Stamps I Like It Dirty stamp set and pulled that out to play!  But first, let me tell you how I made the background ; on a panel of watercolor cardstock, I taped down my stencil then sponged over it with Pistachio oxide ink, shifted the stencil, added Squeezed Lemonade then shifted the stencil again and finished with Picked Raspberry!  Voila!

For the main image, I stamped out the martini glass onto a die-cut circle of cardstock using Raven Detail Ink, then colored it with Zig markers.  Next, I added a layer of Crystal Effects glue over the glass to give it shine!  I stamped out the funny sentiment onto a scrap of paper, trimmed it down and mounted it with a bit of foam tape.

To assemble my card, I trimmed down the Coffee Rings toner sheet to fit my card front and attached it to the dotted background with four pink brads.  I then adhered it to my black card base and mounted the big circle to that with another circle of fun foam.  I am so tickled with how this card came out!  Almost makes me want a martini!  😀

How freaking cute is this?!  After I completed the card above, I decided to make another background using the Paint Spots stencil!  You can’t see much of this one, but here’s how I did it.  On a panel of watercolor cardstock, I again taped my stencil down and sponged on Twisted Citron oxide ink, shifted the stencil, added Worn Lipstick and finally another layer of Squeezed Lemonade.  I love the look of Emboss Resist so shifted my stencil one more time and using a sponge dauber with Versamark ink, I filled in the spaces.  I heat-embossed them with clear  powder and the end result was a layer of shiny spots!  Next, I heavily sponged Black Soot oxide over the whole panel, then rubbed it off the embossed dots with a paper towel.  I die-cut the panel with a stitched circle die and set it aside.

On another die-cut circle of white card stock, I stamped the martini glass again but this time colored with Copics!  I added some stippled dots around the glass with assorted shades of pink for a little visual interest.  I stamped the sentiment directly onto the image.  An olive green card base was embossed with a large dots folder, then I die-cut that into a larger circle, keeping one edge flat on the fold.

I ran the Coffee Rings Toner Sheet through the Cuttlebug with the smaller circle die and stapled it to the martini glass circle!  As you can see, I layered them all together, attaching the layers with adhesive.  Finally, I added little pink and green ribbons to the staples for one more detail!  Phew!  This sounds like it was a lot of work, but it actually took me about half an hour to make, total!  I had so much fun making these two cards, and think the Toner Sheet adds a really great dimension!  But, just wait till you see what Marie, Berina, and Waleska have made!  We’re all going a bit crazy with the new stuff at Brutus Monroe!!