Unity/Brutus Monroe CopyCat!

This strikingly beautiful card was shared yesterday by Unity Stamps on the Stamping Life Facebook page and I was immediately captivated!  I love strong color and just love this card, so had to make a copycat!!  The card above was made with the newest release by the dynamic duo of Brutus Monroe and Unity Stamps, called Botanical Background and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!  But let’s talk about how I copied it!  

For my card, I used a Brutus Monroe favorite, Conservatory of Quotes to create my black and white roses background, heat-embossed in black onto a panel of water color card stock.  Then I got out my Zig markers, Mustard and Yellow and began to fill in the space between the images.  I scribbled one section at a time with Mustard, then went over it with Yellow; a wash of water from my waterbrush softened and blended the two colors.  As you can see, my image didn’t stamp out completely, but I knew I could cover that section up!  

I decided to make another card using shades of Aqua but the ink didn’t blend or flow as evenly, even with the addition of water!  The panel on the right was my first attempt and the one on the left wasn’t any better!  I set those aside to try another color!  

For this panel, I used Yellow Green and Mid Green, beginning with the darker color next to the image, then blending out with Yellow Green, and finally, softening again with water.  I’m not sure why the aqua inks didn’t blend out but I was happy this one did!  

The last color I did was purple; again, the colors didn’t blend as well as the yellow and green, but I like the texture of this one!  I used Purple and Light Violet then used my water brush to soften the ink.  

Here is my finished CopyCat card in yellow!  The sentiment is from Brutus Monroe’s Super Sentimental set which has a great variety of sayings!  I trimmed down my watercolored panel with Stitched Rectangle dies, then adhered it to a panel of white, and then to a black base card.  

The sentiment was heat-embossed with Alabaster embossing powder onto a strip of black then  adhered to a strip of vellum for accent.  

I don’t love this one, but it’s still quite nice!  I die-cut the panel again with Stitched Rectangle dies, then mounted it to a white card base.  A strip of vellum enhances the die-cut sentiment.  

For this version, I die-cut the image with Stitched Circles, then mounted it to an off-white base card which I’d embossed with a Large Dot embossing folder.  I stamped “Hello Beautiful” from Brutus Monroe’s Super Sentimental set and heat-set it with Alabaster embossing powder on a scrap of black card stock then attached it to the card front with a bit of foam tape for lift.  

Remember those aqua panels which didn’t work out so well?  I retrieved one of them by cutting it down with a Stitched Circle die then sponged Peacock Feathers distress oxide ink around the edges.  I had this embossed panel in my stash which I’d made using Tim Holtz’ Botanical 3D Texture Fades embossing folder.  I love the white on white effect and then the pop of aqua!  I recently bought this die “Fabulous” and love how it looks! The “YOU ARE” stamp is from Stampendous Big Words Thanks; the sentiment was actually “hope you are having a great day” so I taped off the words I didn’t need, inked it up with Versamark then removed the tape and heat-embossed it with Alabaster powder.  I trimmed it down and adhered it to my panel.  I had a lot of fun creating this series of CopyCat cards and I hope you enjoyed reading about the process!  I appreciate your visit!  

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Stampendous Coneflowers and Copics

I’m slowly adding colors to my collection of Copic markers after buying my first batch from Scrapbook Pal!  Last week I started this card using Stampendous’ Coneflowers set, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Bee Paper Bleedproof marker paper.   After coloring, I lightly stamped a script stamp in black for added interest.  I then cut the panel down with Gina Marie Designs Stitched Rectangle dies, and used her Stitched Oval die to impress (not cut) that shape in the center.  

The amazing thing about Copics coloring is that the backside is as beautiful as the front, but looks almost watercolored!  I was SO torn!  Which side to use??  Then inspiration struck!  Make color copies of both!  So I did!  

This is the original colored panel, trimmed down and adhered to a layer of white card stock, then attached to a base card of kraft card stock.  Once again, Stampendous‘ Big Word Thanks sentiment stamps fit the bill; a while back I’d scanned and cut the word “you” from black card stock, so I glued three of them together, attached to my panel then stamped “brighten my day” with Versafine ink.  I love how cheerful this card is!  And I’ll keep practicing my Copics coloring!  

My second card features the color copy of the backside of my original panel!  It’s constructed in the same manner as the one above, except I did die-cut the oval in the center and lifted it with a slightly smaller oval of fun foam.  The sentiment from Stampendous Coneflowers set fit perfectly in that space!  This is what you call a “two-fer”!  Two for the price of one!  🙂

More Penny Black Poppy Pattern!

I just love this wonderful background stamp (Penny Black Poppy Pattern) and the pretty detail in it!  When I made my card last week for a challenge on my Facebook stamping group, I created several panels using this stamp and just finished them up!  This card features a brand new set by Simon Says Stamp called Mom Flowers in their Fluttering By series. 

 After stamping a script stamp over the background panel in brown, I mounted it onto a layer of brown card stock, then onto a white base card.  I stamped out MOM and the sentiment in brown ink onto a strip of vellum, then attached it with two jeweled brads in green. 

For this panel, I taped the four edges of my Bristol Smooth paper then smudged distress oxide inks (Carved Pumpkin/Picked Raspberry/Peeled Paint) directly on the Poppy Pattern stamp!  It was a little tricky but I love the velvety look of the oxides!  I spritzed the stamp with water then stamped it onto my card stock.  I dried with a heat tool, then used a black Sharpie to enhance the centers.  

An interesting twist re: my sentiments!  I received Big Word Thanks from Stampendous recently and just LOVE the big words!  But there are no dies so with the help of my friend, Lynne Bunn, I used my Scan N’ Cut machine to create the YOU image, cut out several of them from black card stock and layered them for added dimension!  Voila!!  😀  

Finally, I removed the tape which leaves a satisfyingly crisp border, and completed my card!  I like this one best of all the versions I made!  

The Ton Anenome Cluster Mini

I just received this sweet little Anenome Cluster Mini by The Ton in the mail yesterday and just love it!  After stamping repeatedly around the outer edges of my Bristol Smooth watercolor paper, I heat-embossed the images in white and colored with my Zig markers.  I used a darker gray to go around the blossoms, then softened it with a watery brush.  Gray shading is my favorite!  

The Hello sentiment is from Stampendous‘ new set called Big Word Thanks; I heat-embossed in black directly to the front of my watercolored panel, then heat-embossed the smaller sentiment which is from The Ton’s Basic Labels set!  I popped the little piece up with a bit of foam tape…Oh no!!  I just realized that I forgot to add my black splatters of paint!  😀  

Before mounting the panel onto a white card base, I added a strip of black and white patterned paper at the bottom to accent.  I really like that special little touch!  BTW, the black and white striped tissue paper in my background is the packaging from The Ton!  😉 

Stampendous Butterflies Resist

One of the sets I received from Stampendous is Imagine Butterflies by Laurel Burch!  What fun designs they are!  The first thing I did to create this card was to press Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin distress oxide inks onto my craft mat, spritz each color with water, then press my watercolor paper through the colors till I was satisfied with the result.  I dried the panel then stamped and heat-embossed in black the various sized butterflies.  After that, I placed the handy stencil over each butterfly, blocking off the rest of the card and used a sponge dauber to dab Versamark embossing ink over it.  I took the time to heat and melt clear embossing powder on each one before moving on to the next.

I ended up with glossy coated butterflies on a velvety oxide surface!  I then used Pumice Stone and Black Soot distress ink (not oxide this time) and sponged liberally all over the panel, including the clear-embossed butterflies.  I used a paper towel to remove the ink from the butterflies, leaving behind a darkened background with vibrantly colored images!

I trimmed my panel down to layer over a piece of white cardstock, and then onto a black card base.  Using Stampendous’ fabulous Big Word Thanks set, I stamped and embossed in black the word “YOU” and fussy-cut it out, after unsuccessfully trying to cut it with my Brother Scan N Cut!  That was mounted onto tiny pieces of sticky foam tape to raise it up and I added the other words on a scrap of white.  Lastly, I adhered a few pretty sequins from Doodle Paper Playgrounds Sparkle Blends mix called Love Potion!  (available from White Rose Crafts).

Penny Black Sweet Perfume Take II

The early morning sun was shining in as I photographed this card from last night’s midnight stamp-fest!!  Last week I received a beautiful card from a fellow Instagram-er (@myloveforpaper) which inspired me to create this!  After embossing Penny Black’s Sweet Perfume background stamp in gold onto Bristol Smooth paper, I selectively colored sections using Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.  I began with the hot pink flowers, scribbled a little color onto them then spritzed with water.  I let them dry while I moved to another part of the panel, doing the same thing.  When the panel got too wet, I set it aside to air-dry, then returned to fill in more glorious color!  

Feeling satisfied with the finished colors, I trimmed the panel down to mount onto a panel of gold metallic card stock, and that’s when the “fun” began!!  I knew I’d be using the green base card, and wanted a little contrast between the gold and green so I decided to add the white layer.  That meant I had to trim down my watercolored panel a little more.  It cut a little unevenly, perhaps because it was buckled from all my water!  So THEN I decided to use sticky fun foam to mount it onto, thinking that would flatten it out!  It did a bit, but a teeny bit of the green fun foam was showing along the sides so I cut it again!!  You don’t have to look too closely to note that all my layers are not even.  SIGH!!  

Oh, and that “You”??!!  Sadly, I don’t think there are dies for Stampendous’ Big Word Thanks sets and after unsuccessfully fussy-cutting a gold-embossed YOU, instead I just embossed it onto my card front, hoping I wouldn’t ruin the whole thing!  I embossed the other sentiment onto a scrap and adhered it directly to the card.  You can see the layer of green fun foam in this photo, and I wish I’d used black or white, but…OH well!!  😀  All in all, this was a fun card to create and I love the overall look of it!