Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Live Happy with Picket Fence Studios for SSS IG Challenge


Have you heard about the Simon Says Stamp Instagram challenge?  They just started it last month, there's a theme each month, and you just create a card and post it to IG to be entered.  This month's theme is watercolor.

I thought the challenge would be the perfect reason to ink up this Botan Peony image from Picket Fence Studios.  Don't you love how big and bold and showy it is?

The image was stamped with Versafine, and then watercolored using Kuretake Gansai watercolors.  I actualy used only one color for the flower proper, but added additional layers of color to deepen and brighten it until I got the depth that I was looking for.


The sentiment is from Picket Fence Studio's Live Happy set.  It's actually a single stamp with a number of different sentiments.  I stamped and embossed the entire piece and then cut this one off to use here.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Z-Fold Card with Spellbinders July Large Die of the Month


July is almost over, and I couldn't let it pass without using July's Large Die of the Month set.  It is a very cool die set that allows you to create a three dimensional bike that stands up which would be perfect for table settings or decorations.

I decided to use the bike on a card, and to try my hand at a Z-fold card.  

Because the bike is such a large die, I made my fold a little less 'proportional' because I wanted both the wheels to be on the front.  I cut a piece of white cardstock 4 1/2" by 11, and then used the MFT cloud stencil with a mix of Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean Distress Ink to create the sky background.  

Then I used a VERY old tool of mine - a cutter from Creative Memories - to create the wavy border on my green piece.  This was adhered to card base, I then scored the entire piece at 3 1/2" and 6 1/4".  

Once my card base was completed, I die cut all the pieces for the bike and basket/flowers, and assembled it, adhering it to the front of the card.  I also added a few white gel accents.  The wheels were popped up with foam dots.  


The basket piece was a little larger than I wanted for this card, so I trimmed it down just a bit.  The basket hangs over the fold, so that when the card is open, it covers a portion of the middle area, so I was able to add additional flowers/greenery there, and then a trail of flowers/greens flying out of the basket.


The sentiment is from a retired Mama Elephant stamp set.  Here's a closer look at where the bike overlaps the fold:


This was a fun one to create.  Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Simon Says Stamp Believe in You Release - Die Cut Overlay Inlay


 Hi all!  Just popping in to share a card created with the Carnation Frame die from the new Believe in You release from Simon Says Stamp.

To create my focal point, I adhered a bunch of different scrap paper strips to a piece of white cardstock.  I then die cut that piece. 

Because of the thickness of the paper with the scraps adhered to it, you'd have to run this through a few times to get it to fully separate, but I wanted the pieces to stay together a bit so that I could do the overlay.

Next, I die cut both a black and white piece of cardstock.

The place outline piece was adhered over my striped die cut, and then the white pieces of the flower were inlaid into that black outline.


I added a sentiment from Neat & Tangled's Typed Sentiments set, and the popped the die cut piece up with some foam tape.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be sure to head over to Simon Says Stamp to check out the full release!

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Paper Smooches You Are My Sunshine


As soon as I saw the Sunnyville set from Paper Smooches, I knew I was going to have to pick it up, it's got the cutest images and such uplifting sentiments.  This sun and cloud are my favorite from the whole set, so I needed to ink them up first.

I kept things pretty simple for this card.  Just added some distress inking around the edges, leaving the center pretty clear.  I used Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, and a bit of Fossilized Amber.


The image and sentiment were stamped with Gina K Black Amalgam Ink, and then I did added some simple Copic coloring (Y06, Y08, Y19, B000, R20)

Super quick and easy, but this card makes me smile.  Hope your Monday is off to a great start!

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Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Glimmer Foil with PA Scribe Collection Alphas


Hi all, I'm sharing a couple cards today using the Copperplate Majuscules Glimmer Hot Foil letters from the PA Scribe Collection.  I don't actually have a Glimmer Foil system, but I have been wanting to try one out, and a good friend has one, so I took my alphas over to her place to do some creating.

For this first card, I paired the Majuscules (alphas) with this filigree frame from the May 2019 Glimmer Hot Foil kit of the month, and used red foil.

I used a subtle patterned paper when foiling which I think gives extra texture and a vintage look.  Once the panel was done, I simply trimmed it down to size and popped it up over a kraft card base.


Once you get the hang of foiling, it is really so fast, and this would be perfect if you needed to mass produce cards.

For this next card, I again chose to foil on some patterned paper.  This time I used rose gold foil, and my younger daughter's initials.  You could easily create a set of personalized notecards as a gift.  For some extra interest, I added a mat using the Scattered Dot Pattern Glimmer Hot Foil Plate.


I also foiled and die cut a small sprig from the March 2019 Glimmer Hot Foil kit of the month, and popped it up on my panel for a bit of extra embellishment.



I really love the professional look you get from foiling, and these Majuscule alphas look so elegant. 

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Mama Elephant Botanic Hello


I've been on vacation for most of the last month or so, and didn't get to participate at all in the most recent 30 Day Coloring Challenge, so this week I had the urge to do some coloring.

I'm also trying to use all those sets that I haven't managed to ink up yet, and I thought this Botanic Hello image/sentiment from Mama Elephant would be perfect to scratch my coloring itch.

I stamped it using Gina K Whisper Amalgam Ink, which is the lightest of her Amalgam inks and perfect for no line coloring.

The flowers were colored with BV000, BV02, and BV04, and the leaves with G20, G21, G24, and just a few touches of G46.

Once my coloring was done, I used a Versamark pen to color in the letters, and then embossed them in gold.  I wanted a puffier look, so I did this twice for each letter and that also allowed me to fix any flaws that I saw.  This is the one thing I wish was a little bit crisper about the card.  If I was doing this again, I might try using a straight edge to help me keep the letters a little more uniform.


I also added gold embossing to the centers of the flowers, I think the official term is stamens, but I'm digging way back to high school or middle school for that word, lol.

Anyway, pretty clean and simple, but it was fun to get the markers out and color a bit.

One more day til the weekend!

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Thursday, July 11, 2019

CAS card set with Picket Fence Studios



Today I'm sharing a super simple card set created using the adorable Peach and Piper images from Picket Fence Studios and sentiments from my Typed Sentiments set for Neat & Tangled.


These images are just so sweet, they really don't need much.


I stamped each one with Gina K black amalgam ink, and did some very simple Copic coloring..really more like adding some accents with Copics (C0, C1, C3, and R000).


The images are great for encouragement cards, and I picked a few from the Typed Sentiments set that I thought worked particularly well with each one.


I think these images will get a lot of use!  



That's all for me today.  Hope your week is going well!

*Affiliate Links below to Ellen Hutson and in text to N&T