Showing posts with label Have Courage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Have Courage. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Floral Background from The Stamp Market


I have a thing for background stamps.  I just love them, I think that they are so versatile and there are so many things that you can do with them.  Today I'm sharing a card using the Floral Background Stamp from The Stamp Market.

I wanted to create a soft, watercolored look with the background.  I started by stamping the background with Fairy Dust Ink from WPlus9 just to get a bit of a base layer.

Then I used sponge daubers to apply color to the background using Altenew inks.  All stamping was done using my MISTI.  I started by working on the leaves, using Sweet Leaf ink.  Then I moved onto the flowers, using Dusk ink. 

Then I went back, adding first Desert Night ink towards the centers of my flowers, and then later Andromeda.  I also added some Frayed Leaf to the leaves to add dimension.

This process involved multiple inkings/daubings until I was happy with the results.  I also went back at the end, and stamped another layer of Fairy Dust Ink over the whole image.  Doing this I think helps to soften and blend some of the color together.


The sentiments are from the Have Courage set that I designed for Neat & Tangled.  I stamped with Versafine and then embossed with Frosted Crystal Antiquities embossing powder from Ranger.  I love using that powder with Versafine because it gives it a bit of texture and emphasis, but without the shiny finish.  The courage was stamped on a piece of scrap, fussy cut and popped up for some extra emphasis and dimension.

This is such a beautiful stamp and I love how easy it is to create the look of patterned paper with it.

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Altenew Arabesque Medallion


I've really been trying to keep my crafty spending to a minimum in the new year as we're saving up for a big vacation this summer.  So, in addition to using things I've gotten but not inked up yet, I"m also trying to revisit some old favorites, enter Altenew's Arabesque Medallion set.

I really love this image.  It's large and bold, but not overly complicated, so it lends itself to lots of different techniques, but today I decided to simply color it.

I stamped the image on an A2 sized piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock that had not yet been folded, and colored it with Copics.  Then I decided that I could get two cards for the price of one, so I cut the panel right down the center of the image.


For this first card, I simply trimmed the half down to 5 1/2" x 4", added a sentiment from Neat & Tangled's Have Courage stamp set, and then popped the panel up over a dark gray card base.


For my second card, I fussy cut the second half of the medallion, and after adding a sentiment to my panel, from Papertrey's Choose Joy set, adhered the medallion with foam tape.


I added a wine colored mat to finish things off.

This is such a great image, and it was fun to get it out again.  I also love that I was able to get two cards out of the main image.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, March 14, 2019

Courage for Neat & Tangled


Hi everyone!  I'm sharing this card over on the Neat & Tangled blog today.  It features my Wonky Chevron cover plate and Have Courage stamp set. 

I had been plotting this card in my head for a while now. I love how bold the Wonky Chevron cover can be, but I wanted to do something very soft and pretty with it.  However, when I was looking through my papers, I couldn't find soft enough colors (this is shocking because I have so.many.papers).  

My solution was to create them for myself.  I cut several panels of watercolor paper and then using Kuretake Gansai watercolors in a light blue, and yellow gold (from the Starry Colors set), added a very light, soft wash to them.  Once they were dry, I die cut the cover plate from them as well as a plain piece of watercolor paper.


I used the soft gold for the outline/webbing, and then inlaid blue and plain pieces within the cover.  The cover plate is just a smidge smaller than A2 which I like sometimes because you get a really nice fine mat when you mount it to a card base, but for this card I wanted just the cover to show, so I trimmed the card base down accordingly.

The gingko branch from the Have Courage set was stamped and clear embossed on watercolor paper, and then I colored it using a Distress Marker (Forest Moss) and water brush.  I added just a bit of color to the leaves with the brush side of the marker, and then softened and spread the pigment out using the waterbrush.  

I also added a very light light wash of color around the branches/stems so that the clear embossing would stand out a little better.  Once the piece was dry, I die cut it and popped it up over my cover plate with some foam adhesive.  The foam adhesive was added only towards the center of the piece because I like the movement you get from the leaves when they aren't fully adhered.  They curl up a bit and it looks more natural.


The sentiment is also from the Have Courage set.  The large sentiment was stamped in Versafine on watercolor paper and clear embossed (mostly so I wouldn't accidentally smudge it), and then I fussy cut it.  The secondary sentiment is stamped on a banner from the Skinny Strips die set which I die cut from a scrap of watercolor paper that I had colored/painted using that same distress marker and water brush.

I used two layers of the foam adhesive on the courage sentiment for some extra dimension.

Incidentally, the Have Courage set is part of the March Madness sale going on now through Saturday in the Neat & Tangled store.  Everything in the March Madness category in the store is 30% off with code MARCHMADNESS!

Thanks for visiting, hope your week is going well!

*Affiliate links below to Ellen Hutson and in text to Neat & Tangled

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Rubeena's Crafting Anniversary Blog Hop


Hi everyone! Today I'm helping to celebrate my friend Rubeena's crafty anniversary.  This is a two-day hop with more than 70 guests and over $1,000 in sponsored prizes. You should have arrived here from Laurel Beard's blog.

Not only are we celebrating four years since Rubeena first discovered cardmaking but also crafting in general. This industry is made up of wonderful individuals who are creative, inspirational, kind, and incredibly supportive!

In celebration of this anniversary, there are several amazing sponsors. Winners will be randomly selected from comments left on all the blogs and announced by Wednesday, September 5 on this page: http://www.arareruby.com/giveaways/. Winners will have up to 2 weeks to contact Rubeena at ararerubycrafts@gmail.com to claim their prize.  Here's a list of all the prizes to be won:

Studio Katia - $50 gift card
Hello Bluebird - $50 gift card
Altenew - $50 Gift card
Pinkfresh Studio - $30 gift card
Gina K. Designs - $50 gift card
Clearly Besotted - £25 gift card
Simon Says Stamp - $25 gift card
Spellbinders Card Kit ($55 value).
Jennifer McGuire - $50 Simon Says Stamp gift card
Winnie & Walter, LLC - $40 gift card
Mama Elephant - $25 gift card
Hero Arts - $25 gift card
Nichol Spohr LLC - Custom-sewn rainbow pencil case filled with brand new Spellbinders dies
Danielle Flynn - $25 Simon Says Stamp gift card
Picket Fence Studios - four $25 gift cards
Ellen Hutson - two $25 gift cards
Pretty Pink Posh - two $30 gift cards
The Stamp Market - July 2018 Release (estimated $100 value)
Indigojade Art Shop - $50 gift card to Art Prints & Gifts Shop
Flora & Fauna - a 4x6 stamp set
Waffle Flower - $25 gift card
Power Poppy - $50 gift card

And here is the card I created for today's hop (I'll try and keep this short and sweet since there is a lot to see on this hop!):


My card features the Have Courage stamp set from Neat & Tangled. I cut a panel of watercolor paper and heat embossed the gingko leaves with clear embossing powder.

The panel was then watercolored using Kuretake Gansai watercolors.  I actually used very minimal colors here - two shades of blue and one shade of green, but I did paint this in layers going over the piece a number of times to get the level of vibrancy and color I was looking for.


The sentiment is also from the Have Courage set and the panel was popped up over some chartreuse cardstock for some dimension.

OK, your next stop is Leanne West, and I've got the full hop list below in case you get turned around.  Happy hopping!

* Affiliate links in text to Neat & Tangled and below to Ellen Hutson

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Colored Pencil GIngko Leaves


Hey everyone!  I'm up over on the Neat & Tangled blog sharing this card today featuring my new Have Courage set.

I so love the look of coloring on kraft, so I stamped the small ginkgo leaf sprig three times on kraft with white pigment ink.  Then I proceeded to color the leaves in with my Prismacolor pencils.  Really easy here, just two colors, I went in first and filled in with the light and then added details with the darker color.  


You can get a wonderful texture from colored pencils that I think really adds a lot to foliage images.

Once the coloring was done, I die cut the springs with the coordinating dies and arranged them around my sentiment.  The sentiment is from the Calathea set and was embossed in white onto a circle.

I fiddled a bit with the placement of the sprigs.  My original plan was to create a circular frame around the round sentiment piece, but I ended up pulling the sprigs out a bit to create a more organic arrangement, plus I like the bits of white that peek through amongst the leaves.

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

*Affiliate links in text to Neat & Tangled and below to Ellen Hutson 

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Neat & Tangled April Release - Day 3 and Giveaways


It's time for Day 3 of the Neat & Tangled April release.  I've got several projects to share with you today.  First up, a few cards featuring my newest stencil, Patchwork Fields.  I was inspired by aerial views of fields when creating this design, but I think it's really versatile, could double as stonework, or just a modern pattern.


I created three cards using three different techniques today to show off the stencil.  First up a very basic technique - inking with Versamark and then embossing.  There are so many different embossing powders out there right now, and you can get so many different looks just by changing it up.  For this card I used Rainbow Black Embossing Glitter from WOW.  This powder is gorgeous and gives such a rich look.

Since I wanted the background to be the star of the show, I added a simple white mat, and the Awesome die cut sentiment (die cut four times and stacked together) with a strip of vellum behind to help make the sentiment stand out.


The first shot doesn't do justice to that gorgeous embossing powder, you can see better here what a beautiful, rich look you get from it!


Next up, I used the stencil with some paste to create texture for my card.  I used some mixed media paper, and just added paste on the left side of my panel - no masking, just eyeballed it.

Once the paste was dry, I placed the stencil back over the design (I did wash the stencil off in between), and then lightly misted it with some Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Color Shine.  I didn't want this on the whole card, so I placed a paper over about half the card to shield it a bit, and I was very light with the mist.

The small gingko cluster from the new Have Courage set was stamped and embossed twice on cardstock using Hero Arts White Satin Pearl embossing powder.  I added some very soft Copic highlights to the centers of the leaves and adhered them to my panel.


The sentiment is from the So Many Sentiments set and was embossed in white.

Finally, I used one of my favorite techniques for stencils with small areas on this next card.


You start by placing your stencil and then inking with two or more colors.  You could do this with just one color of course, but I think multiple colors adds a lot of interest.  For this card I used Worn Lipstick, Scattered Straw, and Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink.

Once that's done, leaving the stencil in place, trace around the openings with a fine journaling pen/marker.  I used an American Crafts 03 Journaling Pen.

Then you remove the stencil and randomly color some of the openings in with black (I used a fine Sharpie) and gold (American Crafts Metallic Marker).  There's no right or wrong in terms of what you fill in, I just try and go for a balanced effect.


Once the panel was complete, I trimmed it down, matted it, and adhered it to my card base and then added a sentiment from Have Courage.

We are also showcasing a new stamp set today called Happiness Is from Danielle.  I really love the sentiments in this set and had to create a card to share.  


I used the large main oval sentiment/image to create some patterned paper by inking the stamp with Versamark and stamping it onto my panel in a repeating pattern.  You get a wonderful tone on tone effect when you stamp with Versamark.  I wanted to add a little bit of color to the background and highlight that central 'Happiness' as part of the sentiment for my card, so I added some soft coloring with Copics to the sentiment and the hearts.

The bear image is from the Mommy, Daddy, and Me set we showcased yesterday.  It was colored with Copics and die cut.  


The secondary sentiment, from the Happiness set, was stamped on a patterned paper panel, and then it was just a matter of assembling the card.

That was a lot to share today!  Remember, I'm drawing some winners from comments left on the blog and my IG giveaway posts this week for my new products, so be sure to leave a comment here and then head over to my IG (@mprantner) to get extra entries there.

You will also want to head over to the Neat & Tangled blog to see what the rest of the team created and enter to win today's featured products there as Danielle is giving away a set.

See you back here tomorrow for Day 4!

*Affiliate links in text to Neat & Tangled and below to Ellen Hutson