JustME Prints Easter Collection

I confess that I'm not a big fan of the digis, but when my friend Elena draws them I can't resist.

I colored up a couple of the images in her new Easter collection this weekend.

I just adore this cute bunny, I kept things very CAS, adding a strip of vellum that was stitched on, a doily, a few sequins, and then a sentiment from Neat & Tangled's Little Angel set that I stitched at the top and then popped up.



I had to color this little chick too.  His expression just makes me laugh.  I went super simple on this, just a couple mats and a bit of twine.



My girls will love these, and they are rather suited to their personalities too, you should be able to guess right away who will get each card.  ;)

Altenew February Challenge

I thought I would play along with this month's Altenew challenge.  I've got some new sets that I wanted to ink up and I really liked the inspiration photo this month.



I was really drawn to the sections of the door that are kind of weathered, where you can see the wood beneath, so that was my starting point for this card.

I use my Kuretake Gansai watercolors to paint the panel, starting with the wood colors as a base coat.  Once that dried, I added the blues.  It took a few layers since watercolors can be quite translucent, but I really like the end result.

To mimic the scrollwork that in the windows, I used one of the accent stamps from the Lacy Scrolls set on Primitive Cream cardstock.

The focal image is from the Succulents stamp as is the sentiment which was embossed with copper embossing powder.



I added a few extra mats than I normally would to echo the lintels of the door frame.

Just a fun card to put together.  It was how I thought it would turn out, but it's one of those instances where I just kind of followed where the creative trail led me.

Thanks for stopping by, happy Friday!

*Affiliate links below

Altenew Clear Stamps, Succulents

Kuretake Gansai Tambi, 36 Color Set

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

VersaMark Ink Pad

Stampendous Embossing Powder, Copper

Scotch Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape

Altenew Clear Stamps, Lacy Scrolls

Stitching with stamps

Here's another one of the projects I worked on on the plane last month.

I love this Altenew stamp set, and I thought the portions of the flowers with more details were perfect as guidelines for stitching.

I wanted a full look to the stitching, almost like crewel.  This takes a bit more time and you have to think a little more about where to place your stitches, but I really love the overall effect.



I thought about doing some additional stitching in the other petals, but opted for the more minimalist approach.

A bit of copic coloring in the center of the flowers finished this off.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

*Affiliate links below

Altenew Clear Stamps, Wild Hibiscus

Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad, Jet Black

Stitching patterned paper

As you might know, I love stitching on my cards.  On my recent trip I took some floss and stamped images and patterned papers to keep my occupied on the plane.

This is a BasicGrey paper from the Barista collection, and I just added some black stitched accents to to the paper to give it a little more interest and texture.  So easy to do and I love the extra oomph the paper takes on.



I added a simple panel across the card and a die cut sentiment from Lawn Fawn to finish it off.

Short and sweet today!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Hip Hip Hooray

I'm continuing my quest to use new and unloved items today.

I got this little journaling card die cut from Papertrey Ink ages ago and finally got the chance to use it this week.

I knew I wanted to keep the frame/letter outlines white, and most of the negative space on the inside black, but I wanted to add some color in there too.  The negative spaces within the letters were colored with Copics and then I inlaid the entire thing, save the teeny tiny letters in that little pennant portion.  For those I just colored with a Copic in the upper corner and didn't bother trying to get all those little pieces back in there, much simpler.

To add some extra depth/dimension, I cut three extra frames, glued them together and then on top of the inlaid piece.  For fun and a little extra dimension, I left the top pennant piece unglued.



The background paper is some BasicGrey from my stash.  Every time I look at my BasicGrey papers I get so sad, they are/were one of my very favorite companies, I can't believe that they have shut down their paper business and I curse myself just a little each time I look at the stuff for not buying a warehouse box in time before they sold out.  Not that I need anymore paper or craft supplies, because believe me, I don't.

I have to say that after crashing on all sorts of required projects and then taking some time off to decompress, I am so enjoying getting back into the craft room!  Hope your week is going well!

One stamp, two styles

I'm finally getting around to some of my 'new' purchases, and by new I mean Black Friday, and sadly, I have many other new things that are way older than this, but this is the first thing that caught my eye when I was perusing the stack of unloved items yesterday.

I really love this stamp, I love the detail, and I love that there's really not much else you have to do/think about once you stamp it.  I mean, you color it and what not, but beyond adding a sentiment, it really doesn't need embellishments or anything else.

I used my MISTI to stamp it.  This is a cling mount stamp, so you just remove the foam pad from your MISTI and it's just the right depth.  It's great for a detailed/intricate stamp like this because if you miss a spot or a section isn't as inked as you would like, you can easily fix it which you'd never be able to do otherwise.



For this first card I inked the background with Versafine, then I used a spoon to drop some gold embossing powder over random sections of the stamp.  I wasn't being careful, I really wanted just a bit of a dusting over portions of the stamp.  Then I went through and added some very soft watercoloring using my Kuretake Gansai watercolors.

The panel was trimmed down and I added an embossed sentiment from Neat & Tangled's So Good to See You stamp set.  The panel was then popped up with foam tape over my card base.



This second card is a bit more straightforward.  It was also stamped with Versafine, and watercolored, but I omitted the gold embossing and went much bolder and brighter with the colors as well as the sentiment.



Which do you prefer?  Soft and vintagey, or more bold and colorful?

*Affiiate Links below

Tim Holtz Cling Stamps, Botanical Sketch

Neat & Tangled Clear Stamps, Good To See You

Kuretake Gansai Tambi, 36 Color Set

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

VersaMark Ink Pad

Ranger Embossing Powder, Princess Gold

My Sweet Petunia MISTI Stamping Tool

Hosannah!

I'm still working my way through the Neat & Tangled January release, better late than never, right?

Today I'm showcasing my Easter Journaling set.

I first inked up the Sunburst stamp several times using my MISTI and several shades of yellow ink.

Then I stamped the sentiment with Memento ink, and colored in the letters with a red Copic marker.  I also added a bit of Wink of Stella over top for some sparkle.



On the card base I stamped a few of the clouds from the aptly named Clouds set in white pigment ink, just a subtle way to soften the background, added a few mats as well as some clear sequins from the new Crystal Clear mix.  I love that you get small, medium, and large sequins in the mix.

That's all for me today.  Looking forward a long weekend!

*Affiliate Links below

Neat & Tangled Clear Stamps, Easter Journaling

Memento Ink Pad, Tuxedo Black

COPIC Sketch Marker R24, Prawn

Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad, Mango Smoothie

Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad, Warm Sunshine

Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad, Buttercream

Zig Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Tip Marker, Clear

Glue Dots, Mini (3/16")

My Sweet Petunia MISTI Stamping Tool

Finally with the Pixellated Heart!

Because of all the preparation for my class last month, I didn't get to play along at all with any of the January release items from Neat & Tangled which is a TRAVESTY.

Not quite a travesty is the fact that I had to stay home with a sick kid yesterday, the up-side of which was I managed to squeeze in a little time with the Pixellated Heart Die.  

I was really just experimenting a bit here because I just wanted to cut it and see how it did.

I chose this bold paper from my stash, it's from Canvas Corp, I like that the die looks great CAS with solid cardstock, but also holds up well with something very graphic like this.

Now I will confess I had to give this two gos.  The first time I trimmed the width down before I folded it, and I think it works a little better if you trim it down afterwords so you have some more heft to it.  I also used my scoreboard and scoring/embossing tool (you know the kind that has a little metal ball at the end) to reinforce the score lines, I did this both on the front and on the back of the cut piece and I mean to tell you it folded like buttah!  I was really pleased with how it worked.

For the inside sentiment, I used part of one of the sentiments from Lumberjack Love with the small heart die.

On the front, I trimmed out the bit heart and cut the small heart, having a bit of fun with the chevron pattern, fun and graphic no?  The Painted Hello sentiment was embossed with Liquid Platinum embossing powder and I fussy cut it.  There is actually a coordinating die somewhere in my craft room, but if you could see my craft room you would understand why it might not be readily accessible....

Here's one more shot because i just love how it looks from this vantage point:



That's all for me today.  If you happen to be looking for the Pixellated Heart die, it won't be back in the N&T store until later this month, but I know that it's in stock at Ellen Hutson.

*Affiliate links below

Neat & Tangled Dies, Pixelated Heart

Neat & Tangled Clear Stamps, Painted Hello

Neat & Tangled Clear Stamps, Lumberjack Love

VersaMark Ink Pad

Ranger Embossing Powder, Liquid Platinum

My Sweet Petunia MISTI Stamping Tool

Scotch Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape