Floral Thoughts Series If Friends Were Flowers | ft. Clearly Besotted "Pretty Pansies"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

If you aren't having a great day, then I hope you are at the very least having a better day than I am. We've talked a lot about how my schedule has been crazy; full time job, three kids, just life etc. But I'm trying to post more often, I'm trying to be in the craft room more often, and it's a challenge.

Lemme tell y'all there are days where I get home and I just want to go to bed. I don't have an overly physically demanding job, but it is mentally (and emotionally) exhausting. So today being more challenging than most, especially after taking a few days off to do mom stuff, today I just wanted to through up my hands in the air and be done with it all. I cried. Actually cried at my desk. Now, I'm not one to typically let other people see me cry, but it couldn't be helped. So when my husband asked me what I wanted for dinner, I told him a bottle of wine and a jar of Nutella. No joke.

He declined. Which I think is rather unsupportive. Not really, he's probably right. And we didn't have wine or Nutella for dinner.

The plan when we got home was to sit and watch a show, but I felt that in an effort to bring myself a bit of joy today, I was going to blog first. So now you all know where I'm at. I don't blame you at all if you've just skipped over the last couple paragraphs.

Anyway, for today's card I wanted to share a beautiful new (to me) stamp set from Clearly Besotted. I gotta say that when it comes to floral images, Clearly Besotted is the place to go. Their images are so detailed, and yet leave you enough space to colour using any medium your heart desires.

To begin, I stamped the larger floral image from the Pretty Pansies stamp set, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, then masked that off and stamped it a second time along with the greeting.

I masked off the second image and used some Lawn Fawn "Butter" ink to add a bit of colour to the background around the flowers. I removed the masks and coloured all the images in with Copic markers. Interestingly, I know what a pansy looks like, but I had to Google it to actually get my colours. In retrospect, that seems silly, because I could have coloured this any old way I pleased.

I used some cool grey markers to add a small drop shadow, which isn't even really noticeable, but you would probably notice it if it weren't there.

I adhered the panel to the a piece of coordinating purple cardstock from my stash and then mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card, I covered the blossoms with clear Wink of Stella, then added crystals from Pretty Pink Posh.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Floral Thoughts Mini Series | ft. Simon Says Stamp "Beautiful Flowers" and 2 Kinds of Watercolour Pens

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share a card (and video - two days in a row, peoples!!) featuring the Beautiful Flowers stamps set from Simon Says Stamp. I received this in one of their monthly kits, but I think it is still available independently on their site. I wasn't sure how much I was going to love the giant floral images, turns out I love them a lot and I cannot wait to get more. There is a Sketchy Flowers coming in the October card kit, but that hasn't made its way to me yet.... I've been checking every single day and it's like that commercial where the little kid looks so hopefully only to be woefully disappointed - that's me. Every. Day. I can only imagine what my neighbours think when I shuffle back to the house empty-handed.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

So I've done some cards using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and I've done some cards using the Tombow Dual Brush Pens but I've never used the two together. Until now. I didn't have quite the palette I wanted to use in either set, so I ventured just a bit out of my comfort zone and used both sets. 

I stamped the image using VersaMark embossing ink and heat embossed it with Ranger's Rose Gold embossing powder. It's pretty, but it really wasn't as "rose-goldy" as I would have liked. I have a new powder that has arrived (between the filming and the voice-over for this video) and I'm looking forward to trying that out.

I hope you like today's card (and video) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think!

Floral Thoughts Series | In My Thoughts ft. Clearly Besotted "Thinking of You"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

"Thinking of you" cards are pretty versatile, depending on what you write on the inside, they can be used for almost any occasion. Sympathy, Birthday, Anniversary - it all depends on what you want to say. Sometimes people are just in your thoughts because they popped into your head for no reason at all, and it's always nice to know someone is thinking of you.

For this reason, I tend to leave the inside blank so I, or someone else can write a more personalized message.

To begin, I stamped the orchid image from Clearly Besotted "Thinking of You" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I coloured the image with Copic markers and then masked it off.

I used Spun Sugar Distress Ink with a damask stencil to add a light pattern to the background. Once that was completely dry, I removed the mask and used a light warm gray marker to create a shadow to the right of the flowers.

I stamped the greeting from the same set with Memento Ink and mounted the panel to a piece of coordinating pink cardstock. To add a bit of interest and to ground the image I added a length of dark pink bakers twine.

Finally I adhered the whole piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Floral Thoughts Series | Wildflower Wishes ft. Stampin' Up "Flowering Fields"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

We say that change is a wonderful thing and maybe it is... later on. It's terrifying and it's saddening and it's stressful. There's a reason it's called a comfort zone. Anything outside that can be so overwhelming we're left paralyzed, we're stuck in one spot as our minds try to catch up with what's happening around us.

Change can be the most terrifying thing, especially when we don't expect it. When we're walking along our carefully planned out lives, then suddenly a tree blocks our way.  We didn't ask for the tree, we didn't ask for a shake up to our routine. Now we have to forge a new path, take a new road fraught with unfamiliarity.

But what if, while we find a way around this obstacle, we find a beautiful new place that we never even knew existed? So while change can be frightening and stressful, there is also a chance that we can find something we never expected to see.

To begin, I stamped the flower images from Stampin' Up "Flowering Fields" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then masked all the images and sponged Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar and Milled Lavender Distress inks to create the background.

I removed the masked and coloured all the images with Copic markers and stamped the greeting with Memento ink.

I adhered the panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card I added clear Wink of Stella over the petals and the butterfly to give it some shimmer. Sadly, the camera just doesn't pick it up as well as I would like.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Floral Thoughts Series | Cheer Up ft Clearly Besotted "Sunshine & Smiles"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Now that Christmas is over, and we've had our white winter wonderland, I'm pretty done with winter. I'm done with the snow and the cold and the biting wind. If you look outside it doesn't look that bad, it looks crisp and clean - then you open the door and you're blasted with sub-zero temperatures that just make you want to curl up in bed with hot tea and a book.

In the hopes of spreading some warmth, today I have a bright card that I'm hoping will cheer us all up as we trudge through yet another week of temperatures in the -25C (-13F) range and snow halfway to our knees.

To begin, I prepped a piece of Strathmore 140lb cold press watercolour paper with my powder tool and stamped the sunflower (or maybe a daisy) image from Clearly Besotted's "Sunshine & Smiles" set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with detail white embossing powder.

I used the Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to add colour to the image; starting where I wanted my darkest shadows to be, then using my water brush to pull the colour out towards the ends of the petals and the leaves.

Working in relatively large sections, I wet the paper around the image then dropped in colour, pulling it to the edges of the paper to create a soft blue background.

Once the panel was completely dry, I stamped the greeting from the same set using CTMH Archival ink. I chose archival ink as it is waterproof and won't run if the paper is still a bit damp. If I were a patient person, I probably would have done the greeting in a mid-grey or even an ochre. But I don't have those in archival ink.

I used super strong two-way tape to adhered the panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. Then, to finish off the card, I added a scattering of yellow sequins across the piece.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Anything Goes

Floral Thoughts Series | ft. Foiling and Lawn Fawn "Blissful Botanicals"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share a card that involves a couple of techniques that I thought would be fun together. While this card has a bunch of dimension, there isn't a lot of bulk, so it will still fit in a standard envelope with no additional postage.

To begin, I cut a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock down to 2" x 5 1/2" and stamped images from Lawn Fawn's "Blissful Botanicals" randomly to create a strip of my own patterned paper. I coloured them with Copic markers and adhere it directly to the front of my standard A2 sized card base.

I then cut down a second panel to 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" and prepped that with my powder tool. I stamped a couple of the images from the same set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed them with gold embossing powder.

I let my heat gun get good and hot before bringing it to the paper to avoid warping. I also alternate applying the heat between the front and the back to further minimize the warping of the paper.

For the greeting, I die cut the word "love" using the Love die from Impression Obsession (Die 385-B) several times out of the 110lb cardstock and adhered them together. I cut an additional one from Heidi Swapp's "Minc Sheets" and used a piece of teal foil on top.

I don't have the Minc Foiling machine (yet), so I use my laminator to get the foil to stick. While this machine works for the most part; I have definitely had some struggles with it. I find that it doesn't get hot enough to make a solid transfer every time. There are dozens of projects in my book that I want to use foiling for but until I get an actual foiling machine, they will have to wait.

If you are using a laminator, like me - I recommend that you let it heat up for at least half an hour before attempting a foil transfer. They do get hot, so as with any other crafty tool, keep it away from children and pets.

I then adhered the foil die cut to the top of my stack and mounted that over the heat embossing on the white panel. I popped that panel up on foam tape and mounted it to the front of my card.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Floral Thoughts Series | ft. Clearly Besotted "Sunshine & Smiles"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a clean and simple floral card for you. I really like designs such as this one, you can choose any colour palette and swap out the greeting to fit nearly any occasion that you need a card for.

The floral images by Clearly Besotted are my favourites, I love the fine lines the stamps give and the large blossoms are great for practicing colouring and shading in any medium you feel like working with!

To begin, I stamped this floral image and greeting from Clearly Besotted's "Sunshine & Smiles" set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I coloured it with Copic markers, then masked it off.

I then used Shaded Lilac Distress ink with my large Damask stencil to create a soft background.

Any time I use a stencil, whether for sponging (like this card) or with embossing paste, I always clean the stencil right away with warm soapy water (I use baby soap) and a stiff brush. I know that I don't have to do this as promptly with ink, but I have found it best to be consistent, because sooner or later there will be a day where I'm using embossing paste and I forget. Then I would be very sad.

I removed the mask and adhered the panel to a slightly larger purple piece and then mounted the whole lot to a standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card I added clear Wink of Stella to the very centre of the flowers just to give it a bit of shine.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

The poll product review poll closes tonight at 7pm (December 6 2017) so please click on over to Facebook and let me know what you would like to see reviewed!

Floral Thoughts Series | Get Well ft. Clearly Besotted "Miniature Florals Collection"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today, I wanted to share a card where I use a small floral image with some masking to create a little bouquet. I chose the Black Eye'd Susan from Clearly Besotted's "Miniature Florals Collection". 

I absolutely love the floral images that Clearly Besotted has, and to make it even better, they took their large images and shrunk them down to create the Miniature Florals. Not only is this handy if you aren't looking for a big flower, but you can also finish off the inside of the card using the smaller version. Clever!

To begin, I stamped the flower on the left on Strathmore 140lb cold press watercolour paper using CTMH Archival ink. Archival ink is waterproof and the one from Close to my Heart gives an excellent crisp impression. I then stamped off that flower and stamped the middle, masked that one and stamped the one on the right.

As I wanted the one on the right to be the shortest, I used just a piece of scrap paper to mask the bottom part of the paper so that the stem wouldn't be hanging down.

I removed the masks and used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to colour the images in. Once those were dry, I used clean water to dampen the background and scribbled on the light blue randomly, then used more water to pull the colour out and get rid of the harsh lines.

Once the panel was completely dry, I prepped the top left with my powder tool and heat embossed the greeting using gold embossing powder.

To finish off the card I took some gold thread and looped it about the bottom a few times and tied it off, cutting the loops of the bow.

Using super strong two-way tape I adhered the watercolour panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. I then decided that the flowers needed to shine a bit, so I added clear Wink of Stella over the blossoms.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Technique Tip: Raised Focus Panel | ft. Stampin' Up "Birthday Blossoms"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share a fun technique that gives you a raised focus panel while keeping the whole image fluid through the card. If you have a stamping tool like the MISTI this technique is incredibly easy to do; you can still do this if you don't have a stamping tool by using an acrylic block with clear stamps or a stamp-a-ma-jig stamp positioner.

To begin, I placed my folded A2 sized card base in the corner of my MISTI and positioned the large floral image from Stampin' Up's "Birthday Blossoms" where I wanted it to be. I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, as the focus is going to be coloured with Copic markers, I wanted the black to be consistent through both levels.

I then used the small torn paper die to cut my focus panel and placed that right over top of the card base in the MISTI. I used a piece of washi tape and the magnets to hold that in place so that there would be no slipping, and stamped the image again.

I coloured the image on the smaller panel with Copic markers and added the greeting from CTMH's "Sending Smiles" set in the top right corner.

I raised the small panel up on foam tape and lined it up so that the image looked continuous. To finish off the card, I added clear Wink of Stella over the coloured petals and the centre of the flower.

If you don't have a MISTI or a stamping positioner, you can also stamp the image on your panel, then run it through you die cut machine to get the smaller panel from the centre. You'll only have to stamp the image one time. I recommend that you make sure your card base is the same paper as what will be your bottom panel, in case someone tries to peak.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

The Flower Challenge

#14 CAS

Floral Thoughts Series | ft. Inky Antics "Potted Violet"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I'm still feeling a bit blah today, the news yesterday still sits with me, and we are in our fourth or fifth day straight of snow and gray skies (I'm pretty sure I get the SADs), so I thought I would share a bright floral to try and help us all through this week. I suppose I assume that you all feel the same as I do, makes me feel not so alone on this side of the keyboard.

While I typically take great care with my Copic colouring, I was very loose and (almost) carefree with this one; especially the flowers. While I like to make it appear as if there are white highlights in my colouring, especially the florals, I think this is the first time I've ever actually left them white. On purpose!

To begin, I stamped the floral portion of this image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then masked off the bottom edge and stamped the pot. Both these images are from Inky Antics "Potted Violet" stamp set.

I removed the mask and coloured the image in with Copic markers. I didn't want the flowers to be floating in the middle of nothing, so I used some of the warm grey markers to create a shadow.

I prepped the lower right corner of the panel with my powder tool and heat embossed the greeting from CTMH "Sending Smiles" with gold embossing powder.

To finish off the card, I popped the panel up on some foam tape, I used a thin glittered tape at the top and bottom of the card base and adhered my top panel.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss out on any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Flower Challenge

Challenge #14 CAS

Crafts Galore Challenge

November 2017

Floral Thoughts Series | ft. Prismacolor Watercolour Pencils

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Before I jump into Christmas, I thought I would share a card that has been sitting around my craft room for a while. We're descending rapidly into deep fall, yesterday it was t-shirt weather, today I sent my kids off to school in their winter jackets. That's life on the prairies. I'm sure tomorrow will be nice again, but today I wanted to extend the feeling of summer.

To begin, I stamped this floral image from Hero Arts (I don't remember the name of the stamp) on to 110lb white cardstock using CTMH Archival ink. I then used my Prismacolor watercolour pencils to shade in the areas where I wanted the most shadows and used clean water to pull the colour out.

When using water on regular cardstock - the trick is to make sure it is dry before adding more water. Luckily these pencils are fantastic for laying down layers and they blend so beautifully. If too much water is applied the paper will become gummy and your project will be ruined.

While that was drying I used some shimmering embossing paste through a stencil to create my background panel.

Once both panels were completely dry, I cut the floral image in half and used some super sticky two-way tape to adhere it to the embossed panel. I mounted those to a piece of silver shimmering cardstock from Recollections, leaving only the tiniest border and tied some yellow twine around them.

I then adhered those to the front of a standard A2 sized card base, and to finish it off I added a few enamel dots across the front.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss out on any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Floral Thoughts Mini Series 5 | ft. Lawn Fawn "Our Friendship Grows"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today I'm using an older stamp set, in fact it is one of the very first Lawn Fawn sets I ever purchased, and by far the one I use the most; "Our Friendship Grows".

I honestly cannot say enough about this set. I love the sizes of the flowers, the different builder pieces and vases, and how easy they are to colour in whichever medium you feel like using. It's a win-win-win!

I used the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers (SURPRISE!!) along with some no line watercolouring for an organic artsy look.

I wasn't sure what kind of card this was going to be when I originally sat down. I just wanted to paint something cheerful, and even though sunflowers aren't my favourite type of flower, I feel they are the happiest.

To begin, I stamped the images using Antique Linen Distress Ink, the large flower and leaves are from Lawn Fawn's "Our Friendship Grows" stamp set, the smaller blossoms and leaves are from the "Happy Harvest" stamp set, stamped on 140lb cold press watercolour paper.

I coloured the images using the Zig markers in two shades for each colour, except for the brown which was just a more concentrated secondary application of the same shade.

The greeting from Clearly Besotted is stamped with CTMH Archival Black ink, I chose this ink because it is super intense as well as waterproof, just in case there was an oops. You never know, and it is better to be safe than it is to be sorry.

I used light gray on the lower edge of the image and pulled it out with clean water to create a faded shadow. I used my clear Wink of Stella on the petals, but sadly the camera simply refuses to pick it up. But it is there. I promise!

Finally to finish off the panel, I adhered a few clear shimmering sequins down just so that the white space wasn't so white.

I then mounted the panel on foam tape and adhered that to a standard A2 sized greeting card.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Add Some Shimmer

Floral Thoughts Mini Series 4 | ft. Clearly Besotted Merci Beaucoup

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

It's been a pretty not awesome week for me, May 30th would have been my Father's Birthday so that was a very difficult day. It's been just over a year since he passed away, everyone kept telling me things would get better after the first year. So imagine my surprise and extreme disappointment when that wasn't the case.

I wanted to create a card that expressed my love for him and the sadness that still hangs over us regarding his passing. I still think about him every day and every day my heart breaks.

To begin, I stamped the large rose from Clearly Besotted's "Merci Beaucoup" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Copic friendly paper, and then again on 2" post it tape to create a mask.

I masked the image off, and sponged Hickory Smoke Distress Ink around the the image fading out towards the right side.

Once that was completely dry, I prepped the panel using my powder tool, and pressed Versa Mark ink through the Simon Says Stamp "Falling Hearts" stencil and heat embossed the hearts using gold embossing powder.

I removed the mask and coloured the rose in with Copic markers, using two shades of green for the leaves and stem, 3 shades of red for the blossoms and two shades of warm grey for the shadowing.

The blossoms are covered with clear Wink of Stella to create a shine, but once again the camera fails to do justice to the amount of shimmer that pen gives. In real life it is incredibly sparkly.

Finally, I cut a 3/4" strip of vellum and used the same gold embossing powder to make the greeting. I was originally going to leave this card without a greeting, but the shadowing under the lower leaves got a little thicker than I liked; instead of scraping the card after all that work, I figured I'd cover it up. There really is always a way to fix a little problem.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Mask It

Floral Thoughts Mini Series 2 | ft. CTMH Hawaiian Hibiscus

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Not that I really ever really need a reason to make a card, because let's face it; I do it all the time, every day anyway, I wanted to create something that would reflect the personality of the person I intended to send it to.

A friend of mine just recently got some not awesome news from her doctor, and I wanted to create something that really was "her". She is the bubbliest, most happy person. Always has a smile on her face and a friendly word for everyone, and I wanted to do something that not only captured that, but reminded her of it as well.

To begin, I created a few masks of both the flowers and set them aside. I then stamped the images on Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock. After stamping the images, you *must* wait for the ink to dry. I  have tried a few different archival inks and they all need a bit of time on this cardstock. Probably because of the ultra-smooth texture of the paper.

I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to colour in each of the flowers, I was really just playing around with the different combinations to see (for myself) what worked and what didn't.

I then stamped the Recollections ColourSplash "Thinking of You" greeting with one of their ombre inks and added a few sequins to finish off the panel.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.

Floral Thoughts Mini Series 1 | ft. Clearly Besotted

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Welcome to the first day of my Floral Thoughts Mini Series! At this point I don't know how many cards will be in this series, but the thing is, I really (REALLY) love Clearly Besotted and floral images and "Just because" cards, so I figured I would make a mini series that will go on until I've moved on to something else.

I mentioned before that I recently got a nice little Clearly Besotted haul, and I cannot stop using them. I really can't say or recommend them enough.

To begin, I stamped the floral image from Clearly Besotted's "Friends Forever" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on to Copic Friendly Paper. I also created a mask for the image using 2" post it tape.

I masked off the image and sponged Antique Linen Distress Ink with a random stencil (sorry, don't know which one or where it came from). I then removed the mask and coloured the image with Copic markers.

I then covered the flowers with clear Wink of Stella. I used some twine from my stash and wrapped it around the card base and then tied a knot.

I stamped the greeting in Memento ink as well so that the blacks would match. I had considered using sequins or enamel dots across the space, but it started to look way too cluttered and ultimately I'm very happy that I left them off.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.

This card is for:

Time Out Challenge #57

"May all your Weeds be Wild Flowers"