Paper Hug

I’ve been under the weather for about a week so haven’t done much in my stamp studio but was browsing my photo files and came across this card.  I made it a couple of months ago for a special friend who was going through a difficult time and took extra care in my coloring, wanting it to be especially perfect for her.  When it was finished I wrote a note inside and mailed it off.  Sadly, she never received it and there’s no telling where it might be now!  I did post it on social media but am just getting around to writing a blog post about it now!

The image is one that was gifted to me by a new Instagram friend and fellow card artist and it’s called Blooming Bunch by Studio Katia.  I love to color flowers and these were a joy!  I used Prismacolor pencils and spent quite a bit of time on it, adding layer upon layer of color!

I wish I’d think to stamp and color on kraft card stock more often; it’s so beautifully muted yet the colors really pop, don’t they?!  I also wish I’d blended out that gray background a bit more but nevertheless, it’s one of my favorite cards!  It makes me sad that it’s lost!

The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions wonderful Simple Strips background set!  There’s a convenient coordinating die which cuts the full sheet of sentiments into handy little strips but I don’t own that…yet!  I trimmed my sentiment down then added a layer of textured gold cardstock behind it and as a last detail, adhered a scattering of sequins for a little shine.  I hope you like this card as much as I do!  My friend has seen pictures of it and hopefully knows that she is “paper-hugged”!  Thank you, as always, for visiting my blog!  I appreciate you!!

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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!  

 

Flames of Fall

Yay!!  It finally cooled down to a lovely 64 degrees which means long pants, a light jacket and no more flip flops!  I’ve been having lots of fun making all my fall cards but doing so in hot weather isn’t quite as satisfying!  I made this beautiful card a few days ago using the Tree Poem stamp by Stampendous!  It’s such a striking image and I decided to add “leaves” of flaming colors!

I started with a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock and heat-embossed the tree in black.  I then tapped some Faded Jeans oxide ink onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and pressed my card stock into it, moving it around to fill in mostly the edges.  Next I tapped a small acrylic block into Fossilized Amber oxide ink then spritzed it with water and “stamped” it onto the tree in several places.  This allowed me to control where the “leaves” went.  I repeated this step with Fired Brick and Carved Pumpkin oxides, adding some to the base of the tree as well.

When my panel was finished, I die-cut it with Stitched Oval dies and mounted it to a vanilla base card which I’d run through the Cuttlebug with my Fall Leaves embossing folder.  I kept the overall design fairly simple so that the tree was the main focus!

The final detail was to heat-emboss in black a sentiment from The Ton’s Basic Labels set onto a scrap of white cardstock then attach it to a strip of orange floral paper.  I lifted it with a bit of foam tape for dimension.  The leaves are just beginning to turn here but soon they’ll be aflame!  I hope you enjoyed this card and are inspired to play!

Stenciled Summer Flowers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is to use a stencil in a card so I got on the bandwagon and created this!  The stencil I chose is one I drew and cut a couple years ago and I think it makes a nice backdrop for these blossoms from Summer Flowers!  On a white card base, I began by taping down my stencil, then with sponge daubers and distress oxide inks in Walnut, Fired Brick, Carved Pumpkin and Fossilized Amber, I filled in the spaces.  The Broken China blue (distress oxide ink) speckles were made with a very old Stampin Up texture stamp!  

I set that aside and pulled out a piece of special marker paper and stamped the images from Summer Flowers with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then began to color with my new Copic markers.  My colors are still limited but I have enough for flowers!  

After coloring, I added more texture by dotting on some black Nuvo Drops.  Next, I fussy-cut the blossoms and leaves, cutting out some of the petals and curling the leaves a tad so I could stand them up a little for a more realistic appearance.  I then arranged them on top of the stenciled design, gluing the pieces down with Tacky Glue.  I stamped Thinking of You (The Ton’s Basic Labels) with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto a scrap of white, cut it out and mounted it with a bit of foam tape.  I wasn’t sure how this would come together but I’m quite happy with it!  

Stampendous + Simon Says Stamp = WOW

I feel like I’m behind on posting but I guess I’m not, really!  This weekend I worked for several hours finishing up TONS of cards with the insides, envelopes and packaging.  I am determined to complete the process for each card as I make it from now on!!  I did take some time this evening to use this Stampendous Jumbo Dahlia image (no longer current) which I’d colored with Zigs a while back and had put aside.  Today I cut it into two pieces so I could make two cards with it!  

This gorgeous background was made with Simon Say’s Stamp’s Kaleidoscope Leaves background stamp, upon which I randomly brushed Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink along with a little Black Soot.  I spritzed the stamp with water then stamped it onto a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock.  The base card is actually the first one I did but didn’t like the look so just covered it with my second version!  

On a strip of the Bristol Smooth I used the Kaleidoscope Leaves background in the same manner, but with Carved Pumpkin and Fired Brick distress oxide inks, spritzing with water for that soft watery look.  I trimmed it down, layered it onto a strip of gray textured card stock, then heat-embossed the sentiment in black.  

This card was created in the same way, but without the card stock layer behind the sentiment which is from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings set.  I embossed that with black to make it pop on the softer background and lifted it with a strip of fun foam.  A piece of Basic Gray patterned paper is placed behind the background layer and all was mounted to a black base card.  

I think these two cards are just beautiful and it felt good to create after hours of busy work with finishing up cards!!  

More Layered Floral Cover Dies!

These fabulous Layered Floral Cover dies from Altenew are so versatile! And they’re on sale right now!!  For this card, I cut panels of Neenah Index white card stock with both Plate A and Plate B, and then used them as stencils!  How cool is THAT?!  I used Ranger Distress inks in Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Peeled Paint and Worn Lipstick to sponge the color through the “stencils”, creating a quick and easy one-layer card.  I roughed up the edges with my scissors, sponged more Black Soot around the edge and attached it to a layer of white, then the base card of white.  I’m not sure who makes the sentiment I used, but I stamped it onto a strip of vellum with Versafine Onyx Black ink, then attached it with two green brads.  I really love how this turned out!  🙂  

In much the same manner, I created this card using Distress inks in Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint and Broken China.  So simple to just sponge through the stencils I created with regular weight card stock!  I adhered the panel to a piece of Bazzill white and stamped out an older Stampin Up sentiment on a piece of scrap white and lifted it a little with a piece of fun foam beneath.  I hope you like these cards and if you have the dies, make a stencil and have fun!  🙂