Paper Smooches Get Well Soon

I took advantage of the AMAZING birthday sale Kim at Paper Smooches had earlier this month.  One of the sets I picked up was this Well Wishes set.  I love this big sentiment which is perfect for coloring.  I ended up creating essentially the same card, but using two different coloring media - markers and pencils.

First up, Copic markers:

The sentiment was stamped with GinaK Black Amalgam Ink.  I used three different shades of color for each of the letters.  It's hard to see in the photos, but to finish things off, I went around each of the letters with a very light gray (C0). 

Next up colored pencils on kraft.

For this card, I stamped the image with Versafine on kraft cardstock, and then colored the letters in with Prismacolor pencils, using three shades of color for each letter, just like with the Copics.  

Once I was done coloring, I placed my panel back in the MISTI, where I had left the image in place, and stamped again with Versafine.  This covers up any areas where I might have strayed a bit with my pencils and sharpens everything up.  You can stop there, but I then embossed with Ranger Frosted Crystal Antiquities embossing powder.  It gives the image a matte, but slightly raised texture.

The panel was trimmed down and layered on a white scalloped mat created using Neat & Tangled's Scalloped dies.  

I really love the size of this sentiment/image and that it is kind of a one and done image.  It is super cute and easy to color.  Would love to know which version is your favorite.

Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone!  We are in the final throes of the holiday season.  Today is the last day of school for the girls, all of the presents have been purchased/wrapped, and cards have been sent.  We're getting ready to hunker down and do some serious celebrating and bonding.

I'll be back next week with some end of year posts, but I wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I thought this cute snowman couple from Paper Smooches and sentiment from Neat & Tangled were the perfect way to do so.

For those who are traveling, be safe, and for everyone, treasure the time you have with friends and family.  See you soon and Merry Christmas!

Be You Tiful

I'm busy at work on some more stamp/die designs as well as some new goodies that are releasing soon (did you see the announcement on the Neat & Tangled blog?), so lots of stuff being made, but nothing hot off the presses that I can share just yet, so I thought I would share one of the bonus example cards I created for my Craftsy class in the combining die cuts section.

I love the look of inlay, and I love that it can take many different looks from very bold to subtle even to soft in this card.

For the focal oval piece, I first cut a panel of watercolor cardstock, then used the Paper Smooches spray to cut and inlay a design within the panel, and then die cut the whole piece with the oval piece.

I wanted to call out the background dies a little more, so I added some very soft loose/messy watercoloring.



The sentiment die is from Ellen Hutson, and I cut several layers to give it some dimension.

Hope your week is going well, I can't believe we are already in AUGUST!

Affliate Links Below:

Paper Smooches Wise Dies, Adorable Array

Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Be-YOU-Tiful by Julie Ebersole

My Favorite Things Die-namics, STAX Oval Set 1

Kuretake Gansai Tambi, 36 Color Set

Canson XL Watercolor Paper Pad 9x12

Scotch Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape

Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88 oz.

Happy Birthday

The current Happy Birthday challenge at Simon Says Stamp was the perfect excuse to break out my newly acquired Happy Birthday die from Paper Smooches.

I didn't have a ton of time, so I pulled out an old Documenter Kit from Studio Calico.

I used one of the journaling cards as a background, adding a mat of blue cardstock, and then embellished with a few chipboard stars and a wood veneer.



To add a bit of shine and a different texture, I used am embossing pen to color the chipboard stars and then added clear embossing powder.  I ended up doing this twice to get at thicker coating of gloss on the stars.

Thanks for stopping by!

*Affiliate Links Below

Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder, Clear

Paper Smooches Wise Dies, Happy Birthday Words

VersaMark Watermark Pen

All You Need is Love

I've been busy creating this weekend.  I haven't had a lot of time to play along with challenges lately, so I'm hoping to use Spring Break to get myself back in the groove.

This one is for Right At Home's National Craft Month Celebration.

I've got a pile of new items that haven't gotten used yet, so I thought I would pull out one of those items, this great Love die from Paper Smooches.

I used four red/pink colors of cardstock to fill in the letters.



The grid paper was the perfect paper to use for this since I was able to use the grid lines to line up the die cut.

The secondary sentiment is part of a sentiment from an older Mama Elephant set.

Ok, super quick post....I'm off to the attic to find size 6 clothes.....

*Affiliate Links Below

Paper Smooches Wise Dies, Love Word 2

Mama Elephant Clear Stamps, Smitten

Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder, White

VersaMark Ink Pad

Springy Card Set

Hey everyone!  I'm sharing a spring time card set today.



I'm not a huge fan of mass production, so even on card sets I like there to be some variation from card to card.

For this set, I die cut the flowers/leaves multiple times and then watercolored them with my Kuretake Gansai watercolors.

While those were drying, I added a soft blue wash to some watercolor cardstock panels.



The sentiment was stamped on each of the panels (from Avery Elle's Modern Blooms set), and then I arranged/adhered the flowers to each of the cards.

For the card box, I simple followed the instructions from this tutorial:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDv2mJ3npw&feature=youtu.be




That's all for today, but more exciting things coming at the end of the week, including a full reveal of the January Neat & Tangled release on Thursday (next week is the official release week, but since we delayed the release for CHA, we're treating everyone to the reveal a little early). I've got a few things in this release, and Danielle has been sneaking pics on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/neatandtangled/), so you might want to check that out.


That's all for today.  Hope your week is off to a good start!

Paper Smooches Wise Dies, Flowers

My Favorite Things Die-namics, STAX Circle Set 1

Kuretake Gansai Tambi, 36 Color Set

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

Canson XL Watercolor Paper Pad 9x12

Tombow Xtreme Adhesive Tabs

Free Hugs - for SPARKS Challenge

Happy Monday!

I was lucky enough to get together with some of my GI12 friends this weekend.  So much fun to be able to spend some time with crafty friends and meet them in person.  We had a BLAST!

This is one of the cards I made this weekend.

I just love this cute new set from Paper Smooches.  He's colored with Copics and layered over some Studio Calico papers.  



Some washi, dots, a bit of splatter and tiny attacher staples were added as embellishment.

I'm linking this up over at the SPARKS challenge, it's Anything Goes week.

 

Thanks for stopping by, hope your week is off to a great start!

Thanks a lot for Freshly Made Sketches

I had a little time this weekend, so I thought I would pull out something new and tackle this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

They are celebrating their 200th sketch this week with all sorts of great prizes.



I love how CAS the sketch is, and I kept my card very simple.

The background is Grout Gray and Insulation Pink cardstock from MFT.

Then I stamped the floral banner from Paper Smooches' Best Buds set.  It was colored with Copics and fussy cut to look like a die cut - with a bit of a white border.

I adhered the banner over a bit of white thread and then added a few sequins from Neat & Tangled.



Pretty quick and easy, but I love the impact, and you could definitely mix up the colors and make brighter or bolder versions and even mass produce this one.

Hope you have a great Monday!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock - MFT - Grout Gray, Insulation Pink, and Sweet Tooth cardstock; CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Stamps:  Paper Smooches - Best Buds
Ink:  MFT - Steel Gray Hybrid Ink
Other:  Copics, Neat & Tangled - Crystal Clear Sequins; Tombow - Mono adhesive; Scotch - Foam Adhesive

Some time to play this weekend

I had a little time to create this weekend.  The girls have some birthday parties coming up and they and their friends seem to get a kick out of my cards, so I thought I would make a couple cards for them.



I recently picked up the Three Amigos set from Mama Elephant, I love all the possibilities with the different sentiments.  I kept things pretty simple, but then the top of the card looked too bare so I added some sequin streamers.  This one is for one of Ellie's best friends.



Then of course I needed a card for one of Carina's friends.  I pulled out the Party Posse set and thought it would be fun to use several of the critters together.

Pretty simple, with a bit of washi, stitching, and sequins to embellish.

That's all for me.  It was nice to do some creating for fun.  Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  MFT - Smooth White cardstock; BasicGrey - Persimmon 6x6 pad; PTI - Simply Chartreuse cardstock
Stamps:  Mama Elephant - Three Amigos; Paper Smooches - Party Posse
Ink:  MFT - Hybrid Black Licorice ink
Other:  Copics; Neat & Tangled - Crystal Clear sequins and Festive Fall and Classic Christmas sequin mixes; Misc Washi; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

You Brighten My Cloudy Days

Hey everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend.  Ours was packed, visit to the pool (indoors), playing outside, buying a new/used car for the hubby, library, skating classes......oh and a little crafting too.

This card was actually created a while ago, but I haven't managed to post it until now.

It features the Script embossing folder from We R Memory Keepers.  Before embossing my cardstock, I used a brayer and white pigment ink on the inside of the folder to create that great two toned effect.



The clouds are Paper Smooches.  For the solid clouds I adhered two layers of vellum together to make them a bit more opaque.  This also helps the adhesive to show less.  The sequins are older, from Lawn Fawn, and the sentiment is from my Clouds set at Neat & Tangled.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  PTI - Lemon Tart cardstock and Vellum; Avery Elle - White cardstock
Stamps:  Neat & Tangled - Clouds
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; WPlus9 - White Pigment Ink
Other:  WRMK - Script Embossing Folder; Paper Smooches - Clouds Dies; Lawn Fawn - Into the Woods Mixed Sequins; KoolTak - Adhesive Squares; Ranger - Glossy Accents and Brayer; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Scotch - Foam Adhesive

Grateful for You for SPARKS challenge

It's been awhile since I played along with the PS SPARKS challenge.  It's an Anything Goes week, and I decided to pull out my favorite set, Blossoming Buds.

I decided to piece, it's a great way to use up some of your stash/scraps.  There's a little bit of everything on this card:  Studio Calico, BasicGrey, October Afternoon, My Mind's Eye....

Hope that your week is off to a good start, we're enjoying some really gorgeous weather here!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Supplies Used

Paper/Cardstock:  Avery Elle - White Cardstock; Misc Patterned Papers

Stamps:  Paper Smooches - Blossoming Buds

Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine

Other:  Kuretake - Glue Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive