Happily Ever After

Hey!  Welcome back!  I’ve been remiss in keeping up my blog this summer but want to share this colorful creation with you!  I recently bought a set of Altenew’s Watercolor Brush markers in the Spring Garden collection and wanted to use lots and lots of color!  This gorgeous floral image is a background stamp from The Ton called Anemone Garden and I began by embossing it with gold onto a panel of Bristol Smooth watercolor paper.  

Aren’t those markers so cool?  They have a barrel filled with color and you just squeeze the sides (like we do a water brush!) to release the ink.  It took a little practice to figure out just how much to squeeze but to paint this image, I first brushed a little water onto a petal then dropped ink from the marker into it, letting the water move the ink initially.  

In true Alex Syberia style, I added several colors to the petals, creating a multi-colored array of fabulousness!  I filled in the background with black to make the colors pop even more!  

Setting that panel aside to dry, I pulled out a white card base and again, heat-embossed Anemone Garden in gold onto it.  I trimmed down the watercolored panel using my new Sizzix  Thinlet Stacked Deckle dies and then layered it onto a panel of gold metallic card stock to frame it.  I mounted the framed panel to my base card and added a sentiment from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips set which I’d also embossed in gold.  Two little gems adorn the ends of the Sentiment Strip for a final detail!  I loved making this glorious card and using some new products!  Thanks for stopping by!  

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Hollyhocks on Heather!

I recently bought this stamp called Hollyhocks from Unity Stamps and inked it up the other day!  I’m not in love with this card, but I AM in love with Brutus Monroe’s line of cardstock!  To begin, I tapped out several colors of distress oxide inks (Broken China/Faded Jeans/Iced Spruce) onto my craft mat, spritzed them with water then blotted up the inks with Brutus Monroe’s Not Your Mama’s Ultra Heavy Base Weight card stock (now THAT’S a mouthful!) and was delighted at how well it took my watery inks!  I then stamped the Hollyhocks onto the background with Wilted Violet oxide ink and then Iced Spruce.

I created a little stencil using my Punchinella die and added the dots of Iced Spruce in a couple of places.  I heat-embossed the Hollyhocks in black over the finished background and I love how they really stand out!  I wanted to darken the edges so I sponged Brutus Monroe’s Sea Surface Ink around the edges, then trimmed my panel down and roughed up the sides with my scissors for a distressed look.

But did I stop there?!  Heck, no!!  I then got out my new little pot of Brutus Monroe’s Unicorn Horn Glitter Glaze and smeared a little onto my craft mat, then tapped a dots-stamp into it and stamped it around my panel.  I like the little sparkle it adds!   I also recently received a lovely selection of Brutus Monroe’s card stock and chose to make my card base with Heather.  I inked up Hollyhocks with Wilted Violet distress oxide then added some Sea Surface Ink, spritzed it with water and stamped right onto the card stock!  I was impressed that it took the watery ink so well, with no buckling or warping!  After attaching my distressed panel to the card base, I found this sentiment from the Super Sentimental set in my stash and placed it on with Thermoweb’s Sticky Strip Runner which doesn’t show through the vellum!  A spattering of black paint added the final detail to my card!  

Coloring Book to Card!

I received Splash of Color, a painting/coloring book for Christmas and decided it was high time I used it!  I love that the images are printed on heavy watercolor paper!  I cut this particular page into five pieces and here’s the first one I finished!  I used Zig markers and a waterbrush; when the image was dry I spattered droplets of water, as I often do!  Oh, and black spatters of paint!!  

After painting the image, I cut it down using Gina Marie Designs Stitched Oval dies, then cut a slightly larger layer in lime green.  I ran my gray card base through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder to give it added dimension, then mounted the ovals onto that, lifted with another oval of fun foam.  

Lastly, I stamped and cut the sentiment using Hero Arts Ribbon Messages; I used scraps of watercolor paper and adhered three banners together to form the thick one I attached to the card.  

This is the second card I made using one of the pieces I cut down from a page in Splash Of Color painting/coloring book.  This time I used Gina Marie Designs Stitched Circle dies.  I embossed the vanilla base card with a large dots embossing folder to mimic the circles.  The sentiment is Label Love by Altenew.    I really enjoyed the simplicity of creating with pre-printed images!  

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!  

Today~I Give You Paris!

Faith Hill sings a beautiful song called “Paris” and the chorus begins with “…tonight I can’t give you Paris” but today I CAN give you Paris!  Aren’t the morning shadows of the blinds so striking in this photo??  I used my lovely set by Stampendous called Paris Bonjour which also has coordinating dies and a pretty fleur-de-lis stencil.  I began by sprinkling black and yellow Brusho crystals onto a panel of Bristol Smooth card stock, then spritzed with water, allowing the water to move the ink.  I tipped the card to let the colors run, then blotted off the excess dampness.  Setting that aside to air-dry, I heat-embossed in black the stunning Eiffel Tower onto a scrap of Bristol Smooth, then die-cut it.  I did the same with the little stand of trees but with Versafine Onyx Black permanent ink.

Stampendous has a FABULOUS Paris background stamp and I stamped that onto my dried Brusho panel with Versafine Onyx Black, then laid down the fleur-de-lis stencil and sponged a little Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink just to add a bit more interest.  I sponged Black Soot Distress Ink around the edges of my panel and then, after die-cutting another Eiffel Tower from black fun foam, I adhered them together. I sponged more Black Soot around the edges of the Tower and mounted it onto my panel.  I used bits of foam tape to attach the little stand of trees which I’d colored lightly with shades of gray Zigs.

I felt the card design was busy enough so I just mounted the panel to a base card of white, then dropped sequins from above, rearranged them a tad and attached them with dots of Glossy Accents glue.

The very last touch was to stamp the sentiment from Stampendous’ Big Words Happy stamp set onto a scrap of paper, sponge around it with black distress ink and trim the ends to mimic a little banner.  I mounted that on a narrow strip of fun foam.  SIGH!!  Although this card is “dark” it makes me happy and I hope it does you too!  🙂

Stampendous Rose Garden

I LOVE this set called Rose Garden from Stampendous!  It not only has a large and small full-blown rose, but these fabulous rosebuds too!  I created the lattice-work background using the stencil which came in the set, by sponging on Ranger Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide ink, then I shifted the stencil slightly and added a layer of Fossilized Amber.  I then inked up the smaller rose stamp with Wilted Violet distress oxide and used a water brush to “paint” them a little.  I sponged more Wilted Violet along the edges.

The base card is embossed with Stampin Up’s Manhattan Flower embossing folder.  To create the central image, I first die-cut the oval using Gina Marie Designs Stitched Oval dies, and heat-embossed the rosebud stamp using white embossing powder.  Zig Clean Color Brush markers were perfect for coloring in the image, adding water to create a water-colored look.  When it was dry, I painted the background with more Wilted Violet oxide ink, then stamped the text stamp (from the Rose Garden set) in the same color around the roses.

Hero Arts makes this pretty curvy banner called Ribbon Messages which comes with several sentiments and two banner dies.  I used the smaller die to cut the banner and the fun foam to mount it on.  A little jewel colored with a yellow Sharpie completes my card!  I’m proud to display my brand new Stampendous watermark!!