Altenew Wild Hibiscus Take Two!

I’m constantly inspired by other’s cards and Pinterest is my go-to source for cards to copy!  😀  Check out my Card Inspiration Gallery there!  I love the look of images stamped in black on a white background, so today I created this beautiful card!  Altenew’s Wild Hibiscus set is perfect for this style!  I began by stamping out one of the blossoms with Versafine Onyx Black permanent ink onto a white card base, then set that aside. 

 For my oval image, I heat-embossed some blossoms and the butterfly using white embossing powder on a piece of Bristol Smooth watercolor paper.  I decided to use my Gansai Tambi watercolors and filled in the background first with a wash of black, then dark blue over it.  I dried it with my heat tool, then filled the blossoms with water so that when I dropped in color, it spread and “bloomed”!  I wasn’t sure about the butterfly, but I do like the pop of green against the other colors! 

When the whole panel was dry, I spattered on some white and black paint, then added little jewels as an accent.  Using my Gina Marie Designs Stitched Oval dies, I cut the watercolored panel, an oval of black fun foam and a larger oval for the frame.  I adhered the painted panel to the fun foam, then to the black frame oval.  

Hero Arts Happy Stamp and Cut  was the perfect addition for my sentiment; I cut the word Happy from black fun foam and mounted it onto the panel then stamped the words “for you” below.  I’m so happy with this card!  I love how the colored portion really pops against the black and white!  

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More Stampendous Jumbo’s!

I know!  I know!  All I do is gush over Stampendous!!  But look!!  These jumbo blossoms are to DIE for!!  This one is their retired Jumbo Peony which I found on ebay after months of searching!  SCORE!!  Heat-embossed in white onto Strathmore watercolor paper, I painted it with Gansai Tambi watercolor paints, then very faintly stamped one of my script-y stamps onto the background.  A strip of fun black and white patterned paper, a few sequins…

…and Altenew’s Label Love sentiment embossed in black, all layered onto a white card base complete this beauty!  

Stampendous Jumbo Dahlia is so striking!  Again, I heat-embossed in white on watercolor paper, painted with Gansai Tambi watercolors, layered it onto white then onto a white card base.  Easy-peasy!  I later added a sentiment like the one above.  

Stampendous Jumbo Peony in Gansai Tambi shades of orange and blue~ spatters of white to accent the black heat-embossed image.  Watercolor paper on a white card base.  What’s not to love?!  😉  

Stampendous Jumbo Peony

Have I mentioned how much I love Stampendous stamps?!  😀  I made a video of the making of this card (needs editing before posting!) and had just finished it, then went out to check the mail only to find a package of NEW Stampendous stamps for me to create with and share on social media for them!!!  WOOHOO!!  I began this card by heat-embossing the image in black onto a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper, and stamped the flourishes in Versafine Onyx Black permanent ink.  I then “painted” a wash of water over the blossom and using my Gansai Tambi watercolor paints, filled it in with color.   

I created the background with more water, shades of blue, a bit of yellow and then added gray around the flower.  My trusty script stamp was inked up with Versafine and stamped lightly over the background.  The obligatory spatters of black paint and a sentiment (Altenew’s Label Love) which I heat-embossed with black and lifted with a bit of foam tape, completed the card!  I trimmed it down and mounted it to a white card base. 

My daughter, Becca (a graphic design student!) graciously created my new logo!!  You can check out her work here! 

Stampendous Coneflower Cling Set

What a delight it was to stamp out Coneflower given to me by Stampendous!!  I couldn’t wait to ink it up and play!  For this card I began by heat-embossing the lower flowers in white onto Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper, then masking in order to stamp the one on top.  I used my Gansai Tambi watercolors and added layers and layers of color, using my water brush to soften and blend.  I added the brown around the image, then stamped very lightly down the right side with an older Stampin Up text stamp, and finally, added the Sunshine sentiment from the set on top of that.  As always, I like to spatter paint for more texture and interest.  To keep it simple, I adhered the panel onto a white base card.  

When I begin a card, I choose colors that are opposites on the color wheel as they have the most visual impact and appeal.  Blue and orange are such colors and I really enjoyed painting this!   I used the same older Stampin Up text stamp and another sentiment from the Coneflower Cling set to complete this fairly simple, yet striking card!  Note the white border around this one: I taped the watercolor paper to my Epicurean cutting board with painters tape to keep it from warping as I painted and to make that border.  More spatters complete this card!  I hope you like it!  🙂  

The Ton Magnificent Magnolias

What fun I had stamping out and coloring all these images from The Ton’s Magnificent Magnolia’s set!  I heat-embossed the magnolias in white onto Strathmore Watercolor paper, then used my Gansai Tambi watercolors to paint the image.  I cut the circle with Gina Marie Designs Stitched Oval dies,  and mounted it above a die-cut frame of soft yellow vellum.  The base card was embossed with Sizzix Floral Tapestry embossing folder.  Hero Arts Ribbon Messages sentiment and die-cut banner and a sprinkle of sequins completed this beautiful sympathy card.

This sentiment is from the set as well~

I had this black & gold embossed background in my stash; it was made with Stampendous Jumbo Dahlia which I believe is no longer available on their website.

Stampendous Double Whammy!

I mentioned in another post that Stampendous had sent several stamp sets to me so that I could create projects for them!  I used two of the sets to make this card; Rose Garden and Laurel Burch Tribal Cats.  I spent some time mulling over ideas for a card and thought the cat would be cute peering out from a cluster of roses; hence this design!  It involved quite a bit of detailed work but was really fun and the result was quite satisfying!  Here’s how I did it: I began by embossing a number of roses and leaves in white onto Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and painted them with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor paints.  After cutting them out with the coordinating dies, I set them aside and worked on the base panel.  Another piece of the Bristol Smooth was cut with my Gina Marie Designs Stitched Rectangle die, and I stamped & embossed the cat in the center, masked that image, stamped and embossed roses and leaves around it, making it appear to be peering out!

I watercolored that panel with my Gansai Tambi’s, then attached it to a panel of black and white patterned paper.  That was adhered to the base card of gray Bazzill card stock (my favorite!).  The final step was to assemble the die-cut blossoms and leaves into a satisfying arrangement, adhering them in layers with double-stick foam tape.  It was a little tedious but I love the end result!  I hope you do too!