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! 😀
It’s Ugly Sweater season again! And just in time Stampendous offers this adorable Cool Penguin Clear Stamps & Cutting Dies set! In fact, Stampendous will give away 3 Cool Penguin sets randomly drawn from the comments on all blog posts featuring this set from November 25th-December 8th! Check out the Stampendous blog HERE. Now, onto my card! I like a little bling as much as the next penguin, but this little chick is rockin’ her sequin-loaded ugly sweater!! To create my card, I began by stamping the penguin, sweater and hat onto a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock and colored them in with Zig markers. I forgot that the dies came with the set and fussy-cut out the images. GAH!! Don’t do that!I have a stash of plain old craft sequins so dug through and found the red, yellow and green ones to bling out the sweater and hat, gluing them over the colored images. I added a dot of glitter glue to each one as well and a bigger blob to the pompom on the hat! I then glued the sweater and hat onto the penguin.Setting that aside, I started on my background! On another piece of Bristol Smooth I stamped and embossed the snowflakes with white powder, then sponged Lemonade and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide inks over it. Using my border dies, I cut the snowy landscape from Brutus Monroe’s Fallen Snow Glitterstock, and adhered them to the pretty background, then added a little line of glitter glue beneath my penguin. I heat-embossed the sentiment onto a scrap of green card stock, cut it down and attached that as well.Let’s take one last look at this Ugly Sweater before moving on to my next card!I confess that I don’t LIKE ugly sweaters so had to make a beautiful one too! Again, I stamped my images onto Bristol Smooth card stock and colored with Zig markers. Again, I forgot to use my dies and fussy-cut the pieces and then pressed each one onto my Versamark pad to coat with clear ink, then used clear embossing powder to create a glossy glaze! I glued them onto the penguin and set it aside.I decided to make a beautiful night sky behind my little girl, so on another piece of Bristol Smooth card stock, I sponged Wilted Violet, Fossilized Amber and Broken China Distress Oxide inks randomly over the paper, then sponged a layer of Blueprint Sketch to cover the colors and finally a layer of Black Soot, letting some of the colors show through. A spattering of water created “stars” and a spattering of white paint added more!
I cut the snowy landscape from Brutus Monroe’s Fallen Snow Glitterstock, and attached it to the sponged panel. Using a sentiment from Stampendous’ Merry Words, I heat embossed Believe in white directly onto my background layer, then the smaller sentiment onto a strip of black card stock which I adhered with adhesive. A base card of white completed my card. I actually love both cards and will bring them to my upcoming craft show to sell! Thanks for visiting!!
Do you love birds? Do you love to stamp and color birds? Then you’ll love this set! It’s called Holiday Birds Cling Stamps & Dies by Stampendous and it’s just beautiful! I’m always drawn to realistic images and these were a joy to color and create with! I began by inking up the fabulous Pointsettia Collage stamp (by Stampendous too!) with Forest Moss distress oxide ink, spritzed the stamp with a mist of water then stamped it onto a panel of Bristol Smooth card stock. I set it aside to dry and stamped out both bird images onto another piece of Bristol Smooth and heat-embossed them in gold. I loved coloring them with my Zig markers, using a water brush to move and blend the ink. After coloring the image, I cut them out with the convenient dies! To construct this card, I wrapped a length of gold ribbon around the watercolored background panel and taped it down on the back. I sponged more Forest Moss oxide ink around the edges then attached it to my base card of olive green. On a scrap of olive card stock, I heat-embossed the sentiment (from Stampendous Merry Words Clear stamps) and then die-cut the glittery pine needles from a Gina Marie Designs die. I tucked the pine needles behind the bird then attached it to the ribbon with a couple pieces of foam tape. The sentiment was adhered just below the Merry Christmas sentiment which is part of the background stamp! This card was done exactly the same way except I used the little wren instead of the cardinal. I think they’re both very festive and may tuck these away for personal use! Thank you so much for visiting! 🙂
I am not a skier, and in fact, I’ve never skied in my life! But I’m working on building my card stash for an upcoming Holiday Craft Show, and had to pull out this amazing set from Close To My Heart called Steep & Deep! I love the simplified images of the skier and snowboarder and I began by heat-embossing them in black onto a Bristol Smooth card stock. After embossing the snowboarder in black, I heat-embossed the snowflakes with clear powder. My next step was to sponge on a heavy layer of Faded Jeans distress oxide ink, mainly around the edges and at the top, then went over it and added color to the center with Cracked Pistachio oxide ink. I used a baby wipe to remove the excess ink from the snowflakes so they would pop! After setting the inks with my heat tool, I dripped water onto the panel which left behind the wonderful mottled look to depict snowflakes! I colored the snowboarder with Zig markers, then stamped the trees and sentiment using Versafine Onyx Black ink.I repeated the process for this card, then sponged some Black Soot oxide ink around the edges. I trimmed down the main panel to layer onto a piece of white card stock then mounted it to a black card base. Coordinated stamped envelopes are always a must! I think these cards are pretty cool and hope they’ll sell well at the craft fair! Vermont has many skiers, so they should snap these up! Hmmm….maybe I’d better make more! 🙂 Thank you for visiting!
Happy Halloween!!! ***GIVEAWAY!*** We wanted to have a little fun with our blog hop this week, and give away ONE $25 GIFT CERTIFICATE to the Brutus Monroe store! Just leave a comment on each blog post along the hop to be entered! Winner will be announced on next Wednesday’s blog hop post, November 7th, on the Brutus Monroe blog. Please remember to check back next week to see if you are the winner! ***BONUS ENTRY- Post ANY project you have created in the Brutus Monroe Fan Club group on Facebook with the hashtag,#TrickOrTreatGiveaway! Good luck! The Team has had a ball creating spooky Halloween cards and I’m excited to share mine! The Pumpkin Faces and Scare Crows sets have so many great images that I had to use them both! To begin, I inked up Hit The Brick background with black embossing ink then stamped it onto a panel of Bristol Smooth card stock. I sprinkled on not just black embossing powder but Brutus Monroe’s cool Glow In The Dark powder too! I set it with the heat tool and the Glow In The Dark looks amazing in a dark room!
The next think I did was to heavily sponge on several shades of distress oxide ink (Walnut Stain/Gathered Twigs/Carved Pumpkin and Fired Brick) to create my brick wall, then I trimmed the panel down with Stitched Rectangle dies and cut out a doorway! I inked up a piece of string with Raven Detail ink then made a handle with it and wrote the words on the door with a Sharpie marker. Setting that aside, I started on my inside images!Here’s what the outside looks like in the dark! I took this photo at 6:30 am in my kitchen!To create my inside scene, I stamped out the scarecrow image from Scare Crows set, embossed in brown and then colored with Zig markers. Look at that cute kitty on the left! I also stamped out the cornstalk and then two pumpkins from Pumpkin Faces and colored them as well. After fussy-cutting all the pieces, I attached them to a panel of black card stock on which I’d stamped and embossed more cornstalks with Glow In The Dark powder.Oooooo!!! Spooky!!! 😀To construct my card, I adhered the inside panel to the backside of the brick wall panel, then layered that onto a panel of green card stock. I attached it to a black card base and glued on my cornstalk and two pumpkins to the outside. This card was a little involved, but so worth the extra effort because I think one of my grandsons will love it! Especially when Nanna shows him how it glows in the dark!I want to thank you all for your support and encouraging comments these past four months while I’ve been a part of the fabulous Brutus Monroe Inspiration Team. It’s been a real joy and a wonderful experience to be part of a group of such inspiring and creative people! I’m going to bow out with this card as my last official post for Brutus Monroe although I look forward to guest designing in the future! Now, let’s see what those amazing people have created for this weeks blog hop! You’re sure to be inspired! MARIE JESS HEATHER BERINA LAUREN DANIEL WALESKA
As a stamper and card artist, I find inspiration in some unexpected places! Like, at the Dollar Tree! I found this gorgeous plate there last week and just love the artists watercolor style! I had to have it, so it came home with me! I knew right away that I’d use Brutus Monroe’s Pumpkin Faces set to make my card; it comes with TEN various sized and shaped pumpkins plus ten faces to add on! Now, I like scary pumpkins as much as anyone, but how wonderful that I can use this set for an elegant card! I stamped and heat-embossed the four pumpkins in silver, masking in order to layer them. In retrospect, I wish I’d used dark gray ink instead. Using the plate as a guide, I colored the pumpkins with a variety of Zig markers in shades of green, gray and brown, adding water to soften the ink. My leaves and vines are from an old CTMH set called Grapevine and I think they beautifully complement the design. I stamped them with Bundled Sage oxide ink. At this point, I realized that Brutus Monroe’s Hit The Brick background would go perfectly so I inked it up with Bundled Sage oxide and gently maneuvered the stamp to fill in the space above the pumpkins. That’s the beauty of flexible cling stamps! I trimmed my panel with a Stitched Rectangle die then mounted it to a panel of dark gray. On a piece of vanilla card stock, I stamped more of the vines and leaves with Bundled Sage again and attached it to a base card of Jurassic card stock. When my card was complete, I made a coordinating envelope with more vines and leaves. I’m pretty happy with my card and hope you like it too! Now, I’m off to Dollar Tree to buy more of these plates! And you should head straight to Brutus Monroe to check out these pumpkins! 😀
CopyCatCards 