As I write this blog post, it’s officially been about four weeks since Vermont’s Stay at Home order in the face of a global coronavirus pandemic. What an unprecedented, unsettling and bizarre time this is and it’s impact affects us all. Since I’ve quit working and have so much extra time to spend in my stamp room, I’ve made a concerted effort to mail out many cards to encourage my family and friends. It’s a small thing but if one of my cards brings a smile and a moment of joy then goal accomplished! A number of stamp companies have created special sets that feature nurses, doctors, essential workers and sentiments that express our gratitude and admiration for them. Other stamp sets are filled with beautiful images and encouraging words, like this one from Unity Stamps called In This Together. The beauty of this set is that it’s a digital stamp which means after my purchase, the company sent me a file in an email which I then downloaded to my computer. I printed out the images onto regular card stock and then colored and cut them out. I just bought a laser printer so that I can print the images onto heavier card stock and watercolor paper and can’t WAIT to create watercolor cards with this set! In the meantime I spent a very happy hour or so coloring this beautiful blossom with Prismacolor pencils, adding many layers of color! I had a panel of watercolor paper upon which I’d tried out my new Tim Holtz Alterations Collection-Mixed Media 2 die. Some of the pieces didn’t pop out but I didn’t mind the look. I layered it over a panel of lavender card stock, mounted my fussy-cut blossom using foam tape and then adhered it all to a base card of white card stock. The final touch was to sponge a little lavender ink around the sentiment which came with the set and attach it to the panel along with a few iridescent sequins. This is another card using In This Together; this time I printed out the panel with both the blossom and sentiment all together. I colored the flower with Copic markers, adding many layers of many colors as I always do, then added an array of dots inspired by Alex Syberia! See her gallery of “dotty” cards here! I felt my card needed just a little extra “something” so pulled out a small embossing folder and added this lovely raised detail to the bottom left and top right corners! Perfect! I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing these and will be inspired to use your stamps to create encouraging cards as well. Thank you for visiting!
Welcome to my blog! I’d like to share two cards I recently made using brand new stamps from Stampendous! The larger blossom stamp is called Small Hellebore and the floral spray is from another set, Hummingbird Vine! I didn’t intend to combine them originally, but they just seemed to be made for each other, so here they are! I actually colored the floral spray while visiting my Mom a few weeks ago and later colored in Small Hellebore. I searched through my patterned paper scraps and found this beautiful brown, pink and green paisley print and although you can’t see much of it, I think it beautifully enhances the colored image, don’t you? I embossed an ivory card base with the lovely Floral Tapestry embossing folder by Sizzix then attached the layered panel and finally, mounted the larger flower with some bits of foam tape. I stamped the sentiment in brown ink directly to the card base. Here’s a close up shot of my water-bespeckled blossom! I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color it because they’re so juicy and inky and water-reactive! In retrospect, I can’t believe I didn’t add my usual spatters of paint!! Can you see my mistake on this photo?! I’d stamped the sentiment (from Unity Stamp’s My Condolences set) onto the inside panel, but it was crooked so I flipped it over and stamped it on the other side, not noticing that the first one shows through! Argh! But don’t worry! I’ll redo this inside panel which shows a larger portion of that pretty patterned paper I used on the front! In case you’re wondering if this is the exact same card, I assure you, it isn’t! I decided to make two of these because I liked how the two stamps paired so nicely! The background on this card is a piece of patterned paper from Simon Says Stamp’s June 2018 Card Kit! I stamped a few Small Hellebore over it and attached it to my white card base. Again, I used the same patterned paper behind my floral spray panel and mounted the larger blossom in the same manner as well. So….an interesting thing about THIS card!! I didn’t see that a brown ink pad had dropped onto my layered panel until AFTER I took pictures and then began my editing!! I couldn’t believe it!! My beautiful panel, ruined!! But I decided to go with it as it does look as though I did it on purpose to add shading! But, ARGH!! Oh well! I stamped the sentiment onto the front and called it a day! I hope you enjoyed this and be sure to go check out all the beautiful stamps by Stampendous! As always, thank you for your visit to my blog!
Welcome back, friends! I started writing this post almost a week ago, and realized I hadn’t finished it so here we go! I’m featuring some oldies but goodies from my collection of Stampendous images! This series of scenes in Tuscany is called Scenic Serenity and although they’re long retired, you may still find them on ebay or etsy. I was fortunate to have collected several of them some years ago, and love to pull them out to play with occasionally!
After stamping Grapes Scene onto a piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock using Versafine Onyx Black ink, I began coloring with my Zig markers. As always, I use many colors and layer them on, squiggling the brush into the prior color to blend them together. The colors I used here are as follows: Olive Green, Mid-Green, Yellow Green for the grape leaves and grass and trees. Violet, Purple, Mustard for the grapes. Mid-Brown, Oatmeal, Beige on the plowed earth. Ochre and Dark Oatmeal on the house, shaded with Green Gray and roof is Black with Blue Gray. The sky was colored with Persian Green and I used Light Blue to bring the color down toward the trees and to soften and lighten it. I always use my Flesh Colour to blend and add a little visual interest. I also colored in squiggles around the outside edges of this image with Flesh and Light Gray. I trimmed around the colored panel, then added a layer of black behind it. A crisp white card base enhanced with a vine-y embossed design completes my card!
This next image is called Poppy Scene and I colored it in the same squiggly manner using the same shades of green for the grass and tree, then colored the poppies with Wine Red, Red and Bright Yellow which is actually a light orange. I added a glaze of Crystal Effects on each poppy to make them shine! The background hills were colored with Dark Brown and Oatmeal and I colored the house with Mustard, then added some Light Gray to tone down the yellow. Roof is Black with a touch of Light Gray. To create the sky, I started at the top of the image with a thin line of Deep Blue and then brought it down to lighter shades with the Light Blue marker.
Again, I squiggled Flesh and Light Gray markers all around the edges to create a mottled background . I die-cut the colored panel with a Stitched Rectangle die, mounted it to a layer of black then lifted it up using foam tape. The white base card is embossed with Brutus Monroe’s Petal Lace embossing folder.I kept the colors quite muted on this card which features the Stampendous image called Olive Scene. I rather love the brooding dark sky and the dusky hillside! To color the olives I used a touch of Brown, then Wine Red and colored the leaves with my favorite trio of greens, Olive Green, Mid-Green and Yellow Green. I used the same colors on the background bushes and tree and colored the plowed earth with Mid-Brown and Beige. To create that brooding sky I started with a line of Gray Brown at the top, then used my Flesh Colour and Light Gray to blend the color down, really working the marker to depict the movement of clouds. The hillside was colored first with Light Blue and then a blending of more Flesh and Light Gray to tone it down.After trimming around the colored image, I mounted it to a little panel of black and then to a white base card upon which I’d dry embossed a border of flowers. I then added a touch of Crystal Effects to the olives, giving them a sheen and making them pop out a little.Since I’d already colored this Poppy Scene in traditional colors, I decided to get creative and use a brighter, unexpected color palette this time! I always fill in the grassy background first and this time I used a mix of Emerald Green, Light Green, Mid-Green, Yellow Green and Pale Green. I colored the poppies with Cornflour Blue, added a touch of Blue and then a touch of Light Violet. The trees were colored in using Cornflour Blue as well. Isn’t that sky gorgeous?! Again, I drew a line of Wine Red at the top then pulled the color down using that Bright Yellow marker. The house was colored with Ochre and the roof with Dark Brown. The Black I filled in the windows with was pulled into the Ochre to tone it down some. That’s what I love about Zig markers; they’re so juicy and blend together so beautifully!I love the white base cards with embossing which frames them beautifully. I spattered some black paint onto this one . I hope you’ve enjoyed this series of Scenes from Tuscany! Perhaps you’ve been there and my little images are a sweet reminder of a far away place and a magical time! And perhaps I’ll go there someday too! Until then, I can color and dream!
I’m having so much fun choosing which Glitterstock color to use for a new project and decided to use Tangerine for this card! The color itself prompted a Halloween card with it’s gorgeous rusty-orange glitters! To begin this card, I tapped Carved Pumpkin distress oxide ink onto my craft mat then spritzed it with water and dragged my watercolor cardstock through it. After drying with my heat tool, I used Black Soot next, again drying before adding my final color, Dried Marigold.
If you look closely you can see the faint impression of Winnie & Walter’s Scenery stencil which I foiled using Thermoweb’s Deco Foil in Copper! It made me think of a spider web! Anyway, after dusting the surface with my Embossing Buddy, I heat-embossed my Inkadinkado stamp in black right over all the colors!
I have a skulls and crossbone stamp which I use on my biker cards, and thought it’d make a fun accent so stamped that in Raven Detail ink over the background. Next I used my Stitched Rectangle dies to cut the panel and also cut the edge of a strip of Tangerine Glitterstock and attached them together with Thermoweb’s Sticky Tape Runner, then mounted it to a panel of white card stock. I used my scissors to rough up the edges of the white paper.
I adhered the panel to a black card base which I embossed with Tim Holtz’ Gridlock Set folder, then added some copper sequins for a bit of bling to accent the Glitterstock on the left! The sentiment is from a retired CTMH set called Thriller and I heat-embossed it onto white scraps, trimmed it down and mounted it with Thermoweb Sticky Dots! I love how all the pieces came together in this card! If you’re looking for a great glitter card stock, be sure to consider Brutus Monroe’s Glitterstock! It comes in a variety of colors, doesn’t leave glitter “crumbs” at all and cuts like a dream!
I’ve been a part of the Brutus Monroe team for almost two weeks now and having so much fun creating cards with their great stamps and products! But I wanted to branch out a little and make something different! I walked around AC Moore yesterday, looking at the bare wood items meant for crafting with but just wasn’t inspired. Thankfully, when I got home I came across this old frame which I’d tucked away to DIY back to life and had my AHA! moment! Beginning with the frame, I tapped the Sidewalk ink pad all over the front of it and noticed it stayed wet on the smooth surface so immediately sprinkled on some clear embossing powder then heat-set it! The color is fairly light, so I rubbed on more Sidewalk over the embossing and then set the color with my heat tool. Voila! I love the textured surface it made!
Notice that beautiful embossed background! First I spritzed Brutus Monroe’s Vintage Tapestry embossing folder with Wagon Surface Spray and then Sidewalk Surface Spray and ran a piece of watercolor cardstock through my Cuttlebug. The colors are divine and I can’t wait to get more of them! The photos don’t show it, but I also brushed Wink of Stella glitter all over the surface after!
At this point I’d decided to use the rosebud and leaves from Stampendous’ Rose Garden set which I stamped out, colored with Copics and die-cut, then added Wink of Stella clear glitter to the buds. Now what to do with the mat?? I used my favorite script stamp and Raven Detail ink to stamp it onto the mat; bummed that my script overlapped a little in some places, but that’s ok!
Next I used the I Love You stamp from Conservatory of Quotes and heat-embossed it in white onto a strip of black paper, then adhered it to the embossed panel. The final step was to place my blossoms and leaves then put it all together! Just look at all the different textures going on! This came together fairly quickly and I’m really pleased with it! Be sure to take a peek at the Brutus Monroe website to see the many fabulous products they have! I’ll be adding to my stash, for sure!
Confession time! My last post entitled Altenew Academy + Brutus Monroe = Awesome! was mistakenly published too soon! We went camping again this past weekend, but it was my turn to share a post on Brutus Monroe’s blog on Saturday! I intended to schedule the publishing of it for then but hit the wrong button!! GAH! So, I scrambled to create another card and came up with this! Brutus Monroe just had a fabulous Retirement Sale and I snagged this great embossing folder called Petal Lace and decided to ink it up today! I’m really loving their Surface Inks and rubbed Zest on the flatter side of the folder then ran it through my Cuttlebug. The color is just so RICH!!
I found a music stamp in my stash and inked it up with Raven Surface Ink and stamped it down the left side of my panel. After trimming my panel down with a Stitched Rectangle die, I mounted it to a layer of white, then to a black card base. This fun sentiment is from a set called Break The Rules and I stamped it with Raven onto a scrap of white card stock, then die-cut it with a Stitched Oval die. I used Sidewalk ink on the music stamp and loosely stamped that onto the oval then smudged more Sidewalk around the edges. Another oval in black beneath it makes it pop!
Finally, a layer of fun foam lifts the oval and completes my card! I hope you like it as much as I do!
CopyCatCards 