Flurry of Thanks

It’s been too long since I’ve posted on my blog but between craft shows and holiday preparations and activities, I haven’t made new cards until now!  Today’s project was to create Thank You cards and I was inspired by an incredibly beautiful card I received from Angelica Conrad of My Love For Paper blog!  Take a peek here!  She used Nuvo Shimmer powders but I don’t own that product so instead, I used my Bister and Brusho watercolor crystals which give the same effect.  

The process was pretty much the same as Angelica’s;  I heat-embossed the snowflakes from Tim Holtz’ Mini Weathered Winter in white onto a piece of watercolor card stock then spritzed it with a heavy layer of water.  

I sprinkled on several shades of Bister or Brusho crystals, then spritzed more water to make the color move and blend.  This one is my favorite with shades of purple and aqua!  

When all my panels were completed, I added the multiple-Thank You stamp which I embossed with white ink and clear powder right over the background.  I like how subtle it is!  

Wait.  Maybe this one is my favorite with it’s bright rainbow of colors!  😀  A dear stamping friend sent me a package filled with die-cut snowflakes and other goodies recently and I added one to each card, lifting it with a 3D Foam Square for a little added interest.  

The final touch was to emboss “many thanks” from an old Stampin Up set onto a scrap of black paper with white embossing powder and attach that over the glittery snowflake.  I like the pop of black, don’t you?!  A base card of white completes my card!  These are the first four of a number of Thank You cards I’ll need, so I’ll be back with the next batch soon!  Thanks for visiting!  

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Watercolor With Aqua Pigments

It’s blog-hopping time!!  Yippee!!  You probably know by now that Brutus Monroe has come out with a set of watercolor inks called Aqua Pigments!  They’re non-toxic, come in a large 1 fluid ounce bottle with dropper (child proof!) lid and blend beautifully!!  Sadly, I don’t have the full set of twelve but I did buy the primary colors plus black and brown.  For now I can mix them to get more colors and I’ll certainly be adding to my collection soon!  I recently purchased this floral set from Altenew called Best Mom and couldn’t wait to paint it with my Aqua Pigment watercolors!!

I started with a piece of watercolor paper and heat-embossed my floral spray using Brutus Monroe’s Coffee Grounds embossing powder.  Then the fun began!  In my Tim Holtz ink palette, I mixed the inks to get the varying shades of red, orange and yellow by just combining Red and Yellow pigments.  I filled in the blossoms first, letting them dry before adding another layer of color.

Then I mixed drops of Blue and Yellow, varying the amounts to achieve the different shades of green for my leaves!  Easy-peasy!  Next, I created the aqua background by filling in the white space around the image with a watery paintbrush first, then made my aqua by mixing mostly Blue pigment and just a touch of Yellow.  I painted on the color with a wet brush, let it dry and then added more or less Blue and Yellow to get the light and dark shades of aqua.  I tapped an inky paintbrush with Yellow around the flowers for a little added texture and then spattered on some black craft paint!  Now I wish I’d added a few white spatters!

I trimmed my panel down with Stitched Rectangle dies then mounted it to a panel of white upon which I’d stamped the floral spray in Wagon Surface ink.  Finally, a base card of red compliments the water-colored panel as do a few aqua jewels!

So, what’s with the folded paper?!  After I finished this card, I decided to add the sentiment but I’d already mounted the panel with three strips of foam tape and there wasn’t full support in that section of the card!  So, I folded a piece of paper, stuck it in between two of the foam strips and voila!!  Support!  😀  This very old stamp by Hero Arts is one of my favorites and it was perfect for my card, don’t you think?  Now, here’s the blog hop list so you can see how the others used their Aqua Pigments!                                                                                                                               MARIE
BERINA
JESS
HEATHER
LAUREN
WALESKA

All That Glitters Is Glitterstock!

Brutus Monroe is sharing projects made with their glorious GlitterStock and I can’t wait to share mine with you today!  Just look at all that shine!!  There’s just something about glitter card stock that brings a card to the next level of elegance!  I used Gilded which is the perfect weight for die-cutting!  But let me start at the beginning!  To begin my card, I created the background on a piece of watercolor cardstock with Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick and Candied Apple distress oxide inks, smooshed, spritzed and blotted onto my paper.  While it was wet, I sprinkled on some kosher salt, dried it with my heat tool and then brushed off the salt.  The result is a different texture than just spritzing with water.

Next I heat-embossed in gold the beautiful spray of roses from Unity Stamps called You Are Forever Beautiful, then carefully colored them in with Copic markers.  You should avoid coloring directly over the embossing as it could damage the nibs.  After layering on a number of colors I trimmed my panel down and added a layer of Gilded Glitterstock behind it to frame it.

I bought this ornate frame die from AC Moore and cut it from another piece of Gilded, and added an oval of white cardstock to the center, upon which I’d stamped my script stamp in gold ink, then heat-embossed the pretty little sentiment from Stampin Up.  I attached the frame with All Purpose Craft glue and then adhered the panel to a white card base.  I have the amazing Sampler Pack with lots of luscious colors and can’t wait to play with them!  I hope you take a minute to see all the glittery goodness at Brutus Monroe and check out what Marie,  Berina and  Heather B. (our current guest designer!) have made for the blog!

I’m a CopyCat!

I am a shameless copy cat!  I saw a fantastic card the other day on one of my Facebook stamping groups and was inspired to recreate Tania’s card which you’ll find here!  My stencil, stamps and dies are different but Tania gave great instructions in her video and I actually cranked this out in about half an hour!  So!  Here’s what I did!  Starting on a piece of Brutus Monroe’s Not Your Mama’s Ultra Heavy cardstock, I laid down a stencil I made with Winnie & Walter’s The Leaf Effect die, then using a palette knife, I spread a thin layer of Unicorn Horn Glitter Glaze over mainly the center of the stencil.  I used my heat tool to dry the glaze because I was too impatient to wait for it to air dry!  

 

Following Tania’s instructions, I then sprinkled three Brusho colors onto the stenciled panel, spritzed with water and patted off the excess with a paper towel.  She used ultra-thick embossing powder granules for her card, but I don’t have that, so instead I sprinkled on some silver embossing powder and using my heat gun, heated it from below so the powder would stay in place.   I don’t recall where I got my Thank You die (AC Moore, perhaps?) but I cut it from black and then white cardstock, glued them together with Brutus Monroe’s All Purpose Craft Glue and layered them, slightly offset.  

To complete my card, I twisted a little circlet of silver thread and placed it under the sentiment and added a few colorful sequins for the last detail!  A black card base is a perfect frame for all the colors and texture!  I’m pretty happy with my card and appreciate the great inspiration from Tania!  

Simon Says Stamp’s Beautiful Flowers Doubled!

Aaaaand, I’m BACK with yet another card using the wonderful Beautiful Flowers by Simon Says Stamp!!  This time in shades of pink on a warm yellow background!  I stamped the image several times on my card stock, arranging the blossoms to form a background.  And then the fun began!  It takes me so long to color with Copics, adding layer upon layer of color, blending, shading, adding more color, doing more blending…it’s so relaxing and so satisfying!

Unfortunately, my markers occasionally leaked out too much ink and made a blob!!  Argh!!  But I was too committed to stop and start over!  OH well…

It’s amazing to me how beautiful the backside of Copics coloring is!  I did end up making color copies of both the front and back so I can use them in more cards and not waste this gorgeousness!  😀

To create this card, I used my Gina Marie Stitched Rectangle dies and cut the panel down then cut a smaller panel from the center.  To make the frame above, I used yet another die (the next size smaller) to cut the center out of the inside die-cut.  Does that make sense?  I attached a piece of white card stock behind the frame after stamping my sentiment and a teeny bit of the Beautiful Flowers stamp.  I had adhered the larger panel to a layer of green then onto a soft yellow base card.  I then popped the frame up with a piece of fun foam.  I really love that beautiful frame on this card!

I definitely got creative with THIS version!  After cutting my panel down with the Stitched Rectangle die, I also die-cut the center, then cut it down AGAIN, using several sizes of the dies!  I stamped the blossoms all over the white card base in black ink, then layered on my die-cut pieces to form a “window” which features the sentiment from Brutus Monroe‘s Super Sentimental set!  So how’s that for a double whammy?!  🙂

Tim Holtz Flower Garden & Stampendous Sketchy Blooms

I’ve been on a watercolor kick lately (well, okay, all the time!) and just love creating cards like these with rich, vibrant colors and deep, “moody” backgrounds!  The card above features beautifully detailed Tim Holtz Flower Garden stamps which I heat-embossed in white onto Bristol Smooth card stock.  I then used my Zig markers to color, drying between layers.  This dark blue background really sets off the blossoms, doesn’t it?  I added spatters of black and white paint.  As usual!  🙂  

My husband recently bought me a new Cuttlebug as mine finally bit the dust after 18 years of hard use!!  The new one came with this awesome die which I cut three times from the backside of a watercolor pad cover!  How’s that for recycling!  I then glued the three layers together but need to work on getting the layers perfectly aligned!!  🙂  Anyway, I love how this card came out!  

I really enjoyed coloring the flowers on this card which used Stampendous’ Sketchy Blooms; I stamped and embossed the image into both corners then colored with Zigs.  I decided to do the background in black to really make those bright flowers pop!  Spatters of water droplets and white paint for extra detail!  

I bought this sweet little die at AC Moore recently; it’s a great size for adding to cards without taking up too much space!  I adhered it to a scrap of aqua then mounted it with a bit of foam tape.