Gone To The Dogs!

Yes, I’ve abandoned the flowers for a time and have gone to the dogs using a stamp set called Dog Kisses from Stampendous!  Just look at those sweet faces!  I’ve had this for some time but when I began binge-watching Stampendous’ youtube videos recently, I got really excited to get out many of my sets and be a CopyCat!  If there’s anything you want to know about stamping, watercolor, heat-embossing, mixed media and many other card-making techniques you’ll find it there!  This is the first card I made yesterday after following one of Fran’s (Owner and Chief Artistic Officer of Stampendous!) awesome videos!  

 

One of the things that Fran does before starting to stamp and paint is to tape off the edges of her card stock.  I used a little cutting board I bought just for this reason!  So I got my two smallish panels taped and ready to stamp out a few of the little doggo’s and my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to paint.  I don’t own really good watercolor paints- yet!  I’ll be purchasing the Daniel Smith paints recommended by Fran.  

After stamping out the dogs and sentiment I used a black Posca pen to hand-draw a border around the panel.  

I painted a light layer of color first then added some darker details.  Fran shows exactly how to choose and mix colors, place the colors for shading and gives lots of helpful tips and information throughout the video!  

Here they are!  All painted up and ready for a card!  

A pretty floral patterned paper plus a couple layers of yellow and aqua to coordinate with my colorful background made this a quick and easy slimline card to fit into a regular business sized envelope!  

I love the purple painted background on this one and found the perfect paper to finish off my card!  The mustard layer behind the doggie panel was a piece of cardstock I’d unsuccessfully cut a cover die from and I thought it gave a little visual interest!  

I had so much fun creating those two cards that I wanted to do more, especially after watching a number of landscape/scene-building videos!  I pulled out two more sets which I’ve not used much but will now that I know better how to work with them!  The top set is called Scenic Meadow and is a cling set.  The lower set is Meadow’s Edge, is a clear set and also has coordinating dies!  I started by stamping the dogs, then added detail stamps from the two sets.  

I was a bit disappointed in myself for doing such a bad job with my painting! My paints didn’t move and blend the way I wanted and I forgot the rules of depth and lightness in regards to perspective.  Bah!!  Hence the ugly solid swaths of color on the trio of dogs panel!  But I did have the fun of peeling off the tape to reveal the nice crisp white borders and decided to just go ahead and make these panels into cards anyway!  I will keep watching the videos, keep practicing and get better!  

I think this card is pretty darn cute!  Isn’t that a fun sentiment for it?  (It’s Taylored Expressions Simple Strips!) Inside is a birthday greeting and any dog lover would get a kick out of it!  

Should I mention those…hand-drawn pines in the background?? NAH!!  Let’s just say “boo-boo” and leave it at that!  I love the trio of happy, smiling dogs and think that someone will like this card!!  

Last but not least, here’s the final card I made this morning!  I determined to combine the two Meadow sets and add a doggie to sweeten it up!  I did some stamping, then masking, used my Zigs for coloring along with my waterbrush and finally, added a sentiment from Gina Marie Designs.  I hope I’ve inspired you to head over to see all the goodies at Stampendous, then zip on over to Youtube to watch some very inspiring videos and  then get busy in your crafty place!  Thanks for visiting today!!  

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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!  

Outta This World With Ranger Ink!

This card kinda makes me laugh!!  Like, whut?!  Succulents floating in outer space?!  Really, Sharon??  Yes, really!!  😀  As I was playing with my new supplies from Ranger Ink and Wendy Vecchi I decided to go out of my comfort zone and do something a bit silly!

It all started when I made this galaxy background by blending all of my new Wendy Vecchi’s Blendable inks onto a panel of Perfect White cardstock and covering them with a layer of Black Soot distress ink!  I added spatters of white craft paint and then gold from Gansai Tambi’s Starry Colors palette! 

 But what next?!  The sweet succulent from Wendy Vecchi’s Flower Pot Stamp/Die/Stencil set was just begging to be featured on a card again, so I heat-embossed a bunch of them in gold, colored them with Zig markers then cut them out.  Before I adhered them to the panel, I added strips of washi tape from Wendy Vecchi’s Washi Tape Assortment 2– the watercolor-y design just perfectly coordinated with my card!  I also like how the straight lines of the tape nicely balanced out the organic shapes of the succulents and the flowy script of the sentiment!  

“Dreaming of You” seemed the most appropriate sentiment for this galaxy card and it’s from Simon Says Stamp’s Seeing Stars set.  I embossed “Dreaming of” in gold onto a strip of black card stock then trimmed it down and mounted it with a bit of foam tape to my card.  Just below it I embossed the “You” directly to my panel.  

I really love this whimsical card with floating succulents and hope you do too!  Thanks for stopping by!  

 

CopyCat Strikes Again!

Most stampers and card makers know that the term “CASE” means “copy and share everything” and I DO like to copy!!  I’m continually impressed and inspired by other’s work and today’s card is no exception!  Lauren Lovato is a designer for Brutus Monroe and she recently shared THIS card which I fell in love with!  I’m always drawn to watercolored, spatter-y backgrounds and leaves and sprigs are some of my favorite design elements!  Her card combined both so I had to CASE! (Technically,  I made this card prior to seeing Lauren’s aforementioned card!)  This was made specifically for my daughter’s birthday; Sara is an amazing poet and going to grad school this fall for Writing and Publishing.  I’m so proud of her for pursuing her goals and “following her bliss”!  

The very first thing I did was to heat-emboss in black this encouraging sentiment from Stamplorations into the center of a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock.  I then pulled out an old Stampin Up set called Remarkable You which I recently found on ebay and heat-embossed the leaves image using Versamark ink and then clear embossing powder.  

Next, I tapped out Fossilized Amber distress oxide ink onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and laid my card stock into it, then repeated that process with Mowed Lawn distress ink, and Forest Moss distress oxide ink, drying in between layers with a heat tool.  As a nod to the written word, I had to add the Dictionary background stamp by Stampin Up in black over the whole card front.  I rubbed off the excess inks with a paper towel to reveal the crisp white leaf outlines.  Lastly, I sponged Black Soot distress oxide ink around the edges then mounted the panel to a white card base.  I really, really love this card and Sara did too!  

  I think it’s quite ironic that I had just created the Follow Your Bliss card for Sara, and then saw Lauren’s card online!  Here’s my CASE of hers!  Again, I used Stampin Up’s Remarkable You leaves image and embossed them in black onto a panel of Bristol Smooth.  Using Zig markers, I began by scribbling a little Deep Blue into the crannies between the stems of the leaves, then moved and blended the ink outward with a water brush.  I did a section at a time, letting it dry in one area then going back in to add another layer of color and water.  

When the dark blue background was filled in, I used Dark Pink on the leaves and again, a waterbrush to move the ink.  Persian Green was then added to the leaves and blended with more water.  I like that the Pink and Green colors bled into the Deep Blue background!  I happily spattered on all three Zig colors and a little extra black then die-cut the circle of vellum, embossed the sentiment with black powder and attached it to my watercolored panel.  A few little jewels added extra pizzazz and a black card base finished my card!  Thanks to Lauren for her inspiration!  I hope you will take the time to view her creations on her Instagram page or blog!  

Stampendous Hummingbird Vine & Small Hellebore

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!  

Stampendous Little Mushroom & Fern Garden

I recently received a big fat package of goodies from Stampendous and was so tickled to see these beautiful images!  I immediately got busy and have been making cards with Little Mushroom and it’s coordinating dies plus this amazing background stamp called Fern Garden!  I’m in love!!!   

The first thing I did was to ink up Fern Garden with Peeled Paint and Forest Moss distress oxide inks, then spritzed with a fine mist of water.  I stamped it out onto a panel of Bristol Smooth card stock, then stamped it again onto a second panel so as not to waste any of that delicious color!  

Next, I stamped the Little Mushroom onto another piece of Bristol Smooth and had so much fun coloring it in with my Zig markers!  I spattered droplets of water to create “texture” on the image then used the handy-dandy die to cut it out!  

Lastly, I added some bits of foam tape to the mushroom and attached it to the Fern Garden background then adhered that to a white base card.  I stamped the sentiment directly to the card front with Versafine Onxy Black ink.  This was a simple card and I just love the woodsy-ness of it, don’t you?!  

For my next card, I decided to play around with the Fern Garden background using the Floral Garden Embossing Powder kit which I also received!  It has twelve little containers of colorful embossing powders and little scoops for using with it.  I inked up Fern Garden with Versamark and stamped it onto a piece of Bristol Smooth then scooped the two shades of blue powder onto a section of the inked design, tapped it off and heat set it.  I did this again but used the two greens next!  

I inked up Fern Garden again with Versamark, then turned the stamp so the design was going in a different direction and stamped it directly onto the first heat-set layer of colors!  Again, I scooped additional colors of powders (orange, red and yellow) but this time I placed each color onto an area of the Versamark’d image, gently removed the excess and then heat-set them all at the same time.  I hope all that makes sense!  

The result of all that layering, scooping, heat-setting and repeating is quite vividly beautiful, I think!  I have a stamp set by Papertrey Ink called Meadow Greens with fern stamps and dies, so I stamped one out onto Bristol Smooth using distress oxide inks (Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn) then die-cut it.  I also die-cut a fern of olive green card stock and placed that beneath the stamped fern.  

To complete my card, I adhered the Fern Garden background panel to a white card base, added a little Vintage Note script stamp to the bottom then attached my ferns to the lower corner using foam tape for dimension.  The sentiment is from Pink Fresh Studio’s Let’s Flamingle set!  I had a lot of fun playing with the embossing powder kit and the Fern Garden background and have several ideas for more fun cards, so stay tuned!  Thanks for visiting!