Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Quick and Easy Christmas with WPlus9


I thought I would use some of my quarantine time to get a jump on this year's Christmas cards...maybe this year I won't be scrambling at the end of the year!

I pulled out this sweet retired set from WPlus9 called Holiday Trimmings, it's perfect for quick and easy stamped one layer cards.

I started with the ornaments.  


These were stamped with Altenew inks:  Citrus Burst, Sea Glass, Wisteria, Pink Diamond, Mountain Mist and Jet Black.  I did use the oval image to fill in the openings in the elongated ornaments, stamping with a very light ink, WPlus9 Fairy Dust Ink.


I also added some very light marker accents using an N1 Copic marker.  I also used a Wink of Stella pen to add sparkle to the colored portions of the ornaments.

Next up, those cute trees!


I again went with Altenew inks:  Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Parrot, and Olive.  These were stamped in a pattern, rotating between the inks, and stamping the large tree, then the small one twice and repeat.

To add some shine and sparkle, I stamped and embossed the tree accents on every other tree with WOW Metallic Gold Sparkle embossing powder.  


I added the sentiment (don't you love the font in this set?) and that was it.

These were super easy to do and could very easily be mass produced.  It's nice to have a couple Christmas cards done already!  

Thursday, March 26, 2020

You've Got a Friend in Me


I inked this sweet VW Bus image by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs up ages ago, and then set it aside without coloring it.  I just found it and decided now was the time.  

I colored it with Copics, keeping the color scheme very basic, I really think the image stands on it's own and doesn't need a ton.  


Once the coloring was done, I fussy cut the image and adhered it to a Studio Calico journaling card.  The sentiment is from my Clearly Canine set for Neat & Tangled.

I added a patterned paper mat from an old BasicGrey 6x6 pad to finish things off.

Short and sweet today.  Hope you are all staying safe and  healthy!

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

When a Poppy is not a Poppy


This Pretty Poppy stamp set (along with the coordinating die set) was something else I picked up in the recent Concord and 9th Inventory Reduction sale.  

I wanted to color this in kind of a sketchy/artsy way, which ended up not being very poppy like.  I started by adding some yellows, but then added some bolder colors, reds that look more orange with the yellows.

I colored the leaves in a similar style, although sticking with the green family, and then I added some blue shading around the flower.


The sentiment is also from the set and was stamped with Versafine.  

I then popped the panel up on my turquoise card base.

How are you all faring with social distancing?  It's definitely not for the faint of heart!  We found out yesterday that schools in Virginia will stay closed through the end of the year!  

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Thursday, March 19, 2020

Concord and 9th Hey There Bundle


I was so good about not spending money on crafty supplies, and then the Concord and 9th Inventory Blowout Sale happened and I could not resist.  I picked up a bunch of really great deals.  This Hey There Bundle are the first products I decided to work with.

I really love C9's turnabout line, they are so clever and easy to work with.  When I pull out a turnabout I tend to make multiple cards at once because it is so easy to mass produce.

This time I created three cards.  I start by picking out the inks I plan to use, so when it's time to stamp it happens pretty quickly and easily.

I usually use at least one full ink family from Altenew when I use a turnabout just because it's so easy and I love the monochromatic look.  For this card I used the Deep Blue Seas family of inks.


To finish it off, I used the banner and banner insert from the bundle.  The banner was cut twice, once from white and once from blue.  I then die cut the inset words out of the blue banner and layered that over the white so that the words show up in white.  This was popped up over my background.


Next I went for a more colorful look, using Sea Breeze, Sweet Leaf, Pinkalicious, and Warm Sunshine.


I added a thin white strip of cardstock across the card, and added the hello die from the bundle over top.


Finally, my favorite look, which is white on kraft.  For this panel, I stamped with white pigment ink each time.  Actually, for each of the four 'turns' I stamped in white pigment ink three times because the pigment seems to just soak into the kraft.


Then I used all three of the dies in the bundle.  The hello was stamped three times and layered together, and I again layered the banners together so that the Hey There shows in white, although I offset the banners slightly.


Super quick and easy.  I'm looking forward to trying out the rest of my new goodies as I socially distance myself from my family in my craft room.  ;)

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Pinkfresh Studio Folklore Die


This card is one of those projects that kind of evolved and changed as it went along because things just weren't quite working the way I planned.

I started out by wanting to do something a little different for Kathy Rac's coloring challenge.  I've been wanting to use this Folklore Die from Pinkfresh Studio for a while.  It's so pretty and detailed, so I thought it would be fun to color it.  To do so, I dry embossed it on a piece of cardstock, and then used those embossing lines as my coloring lines.

Because the spaces are relatively small, instead of using my normal three colors for shading, I just used two.  I colored the flowers and greens, and then I colored the background black. 

The black coloring wasn't looking as crisp as I wanted it to, so I decided to die cut a panel of black cardstock, and inlaid those background pieces into my outline die. 


This worked OK, but because of all the detail in the die, and the fact that I wasn't inlaying the entire thing, I couldn't adhere the die/pieces the way I normally did, and as a result things weren't sticking as well as I wanted them to.

What to do?  I decided to spread Nuvo Glimmer Paste over the entire piece.  Once the paste dried, everything was stuck firmly in place, and I also got some SERIOUS sparkle.

I added a simple sentiment to finish things off.

This is definitely not the card that I set out to make, but I think I like it.  What do you think? 

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Ellen Hutson Mondo Peony and Paper Cutting


We're already almost halfway through the current 30 Day Coloring Challenge, and I haven't managed to participate, so I pulled out the Mondo Peony set from Ellen Hutson and got to work.

Normally I like to color my flowers in very bold colors, I think light tones scare me.  I decided to try my hand at some light colors for this one, using R000, R00, and R02.

Once I had my flowers colored, I fussy cut them.  I do have the coordinating dies for this set, but wanted a really crisp clean look without the little halo that comes with coordinating dies.


I paired this first flower with a really gorgeous print from an old Studio Calico paper pad.  The print was trimmed down so it was centered on my panel.  To add a little interest, I used a cutting knife to trim out portions of the pattern.

The patterned paper was adhered to a white panel, and then to my card base.


The flower was popped up with foam tape, and I added a sentiment from my Lovely Lotus set for Neat and Tangled which was also popped up.

For this next card, I used some patterned papers from Pinkfresh Studio which was fussy cut with scissors.


The background paper with the elongated hexagons was cut around the pattern to create a dynamic edge.  I added a strip of another patterned paper from the paper pad at the bottom to ground the panel, and then used foam tape to pop up the fussy cut piece.


The flower was then adhered to the panel, and another sentiment from Lovely Lotus was added.

It's been quite a week here!  Hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy!

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Sunday, March 8, 2020

Spellbinders Modern Essentials Collection


Hi everyone!  Today I'm sharing a few cards created using some of the new Modern Essentials dies from Spellbinders.  

There are some wonderfully versatile dies in this line, including a number of sets of basic nested shapes which include dies that cut both your basic shapes as well as ones which cut inlaid dots in those shapes.  There are also word sentiments that cut both the word as well as the word with textured lines.   

Today I'm showing off the Squares Etched Dies as well as the Bold Type Smile Etched Dies.

For this first card, I wanted to use the dots for stitching.  I used the second smallest dot square, cutting it four times on a panel, lining it up with the square next to it each time to create a grid.


Then I used embroidering floss to stitch a very simple basic pattern.  I used the solid sentiment die for my primary sentiment and added a secondary sentiment from an old Studio Calico set.


Next, I nested all of the dies together on a panel and ran the whole thing through my die cut machine.  This created a series of frames with a square of dots in the center of the frame.


I cut four squares of colored cardstock, which I layered underneath the squares in succession.  For some extra interest, every other frame was popped up with foam tape.


For this card, I used the textured sentiment, but I inked my paper with Versamark and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder before I die cut it. 

Finally, I used the dies to add some great background texture to a card.


For this card, I cut a panel of kraft cardstock, and then dry embossed it using all of the dies.  I didn't place them perfectly, but left them a bit wonky.  You see the texture much more clearly in this detail shot:


The card was finished off with some of the dies from last year's October Large Die of the Month kit, and I added clear Nuvo drops to the the little berries for some additional texture.

That's all for me today.  Be sure to check out the rest of the new Modern Essentials dies over at Spellbinders.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

SSS Lucky to Know You


Hey all, have you seen the new Lucky to Know You release from Simon Says Stamp?

Today I'm sharing a few cards created using the Clean Line Faith set.  This is a great set, and not just for Easter.  But of course, I have a couple of Easter cards to share.


For this first card, I stamped the large cross with Versamark and embossed it with WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder.  Then I stamped the cross again on some wide Post-It tape and cut it of to create a mask which I placed over the cross.

Using a sponge dauber, Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey Distress Ink, and a strip of cardstock to use as a mask, I inked rays around the cross.


The sentiments were then stamped with the help of the MISTI.

For this next card, I started by painting an ombre wash over a panel of watercolor paper.


Once that was dry, I stamped the crosses and sentiment with Versafine ink and the embossed with Ranger Frosted Crystal Antiquities Embossing Powder.

To highlight the crosses, colored them in with Copics, adding just a tiny bit of shading.


Super simple and easy.

I also wanted to create a non-Easter card with this set.  Since I had my watercolors out, I created a second panel.  This time, I added the wash just on half of the panel, although I added water to most of the panel when I created it.

Then after I had let the panel dry for a bit, although not complete, I went back with blue, adding a second wash from the bottom up.  I didn't do this all at once because I was afraid I would get more of a green where the colors came together if I did.


Then I just stamped the sentiment in black.  This is such a basic and simple card, but I think it's just right for those difficult situations.  


I really love how clean this font is too.

Be sure to head over to Simon to check out the rest of the release!