Tropical Birthday | ft. MFT's Polynesian Paradise

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

Today I have a clean and simple birthday card that I'm hoping will warm the heart of the person I give it to. I know several people who loooove the tropics and I thought that this card would be loved just as much.

I've really been trying to challenge myself to use some of the smaller stamps in a set instead of running for the big one each time. Don't get me wrong, it was hard not to reach for the little dancer in this set.

Believe me, I sat for a bit trying to figure out how she could fit in here, but in the end I was able to control myself. Just barely.

To begin, I stamped the toucan from MFT's "Polynesian Paradise" stamp set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly card stock. I then coloured it with Copics and fussy cut him out.

Next I used some Dried Marigold Distress ink to sponge a circular area on my standard A2 sized card base. I then used some orange cardstock to create two banner accent pieces. I wanted a bit more black to tie the card together so I used my Gelly Roll black glaze pen to add some stitch detail to the larger banner.

I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting using Memento Tuxedo black ink. Once I had the banners adhered in place, I popped the little toucan up on some foam tape to give the card a bit of dimension.

To finish it off I added a few enamel dots for interest and because you know I gotta have my bling.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right side bar so you don't miss any future posts; if you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Challenge #5

Fusion Card Challenge

Orange and Black Stationary

Pastel Paradise | ft. MFT "Polynesian Paradise"

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

When I get a new set, I'm typically after the big piece. The main stamp and my scene will be built around it; but those little stamps, that sit back and mind their own business can really come into their own light when you 'forget' about the big one. I've been challenging myself to use some of the littler pieces in a set to create something without the fanfare of the main image.

To begin, I cut a grey frame using two of my nested circle dies. I then cut a circle using 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and the larger die to create my window piece. I had considered doing an acetate overlay here, but I discarded the idea later.

For all the stamping I used CTMH Whisper ink. This is a dye based ink, so as long as you are careful you can use your Copic markers with it. This was a new discovery for me and it opens up so many doors of opportunity. I am no longer tied to a black outline. I literally have dozens of the CTMH inks and since I use Copics more than anything else, there are few cards I'd like to recreate with a softer edge.

For the flowers I stamped the small hibiscus flower from MFT's "Polynesian Paradise" and masked a couple off so that they would look like a bouquet. I also stamped the little lizard from the same set, but I used the mirror stamping technique so he would face the other way and work with what I had in mind.

Because this is also for a color challenge, I had a very limited palette to work with. Their colours this week were Aqua, Light Pink, Lavender and white - and you can pick a neutral so I chose the grey.

After coloring all the images, I covered the blossoms with clear Wink of Stella because it has to sparkle! (I used my BV markers for the Lavender, BG markers for the Aqua and my lightest R markers for the Light Pink.)

I masked the right side of the panel off except for just over an inch and used Glacier CTMH ink, when looking at my swatches, it was the closest to an Aqua colour that I have.

To put the piece together, I adhered the panel to an A2 sized card base, then I used Tombow Mono Multi Glue to put the circle in place and foam tape for my little chameleon. I used the same Whisper ink to stamp the Birthday greeting (from MFT's "The Whole Herd").

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right side bar so you don't miss any future posts. If you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web Version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

MFT Sketch Challenge #345

CAS(E) This Sketch #234

Color Throwdown #455

and 

Fusion Challenge: Pastel Pencils

My inspiration came from the colours in the picture.

Beeping Birthday | ft. Lawn Fawn "Beep Boop Birthday"

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

Today I have a super sweet card that can be used for either a boy or a girl's birthday. I was asked to create this card for a friend's nephew, but wasn't given any direction on what he might like. So I had to wing it.

To begin, I stamped the two robots from Lawn Fawn's "Beep Boop Birthday" stamp set, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly Card stock. I then cut the panel down at angles to add some interest to the card.

I then stamped the greeting and balloon string from the same set, I used the solid balloon image with silver Delicata ink.

I coloured the two robots in with the cool grey Copic markers. I like to use the cool greys for metallic images as opposed to the warm greys that I typically reserve for critters and shadows. Before I started with Copics and colouring images I would never have imagined the need for more than one set of grey markers; now, I cannot get enough.

After the balloon was dry, I used my clear Wink of Stella pen to give it some shine and covered it with Glossy Accents by Ranger. Then I set the top piece aside.

For the silver background panel, I prepped it with my powder tool and used the little gear and key pieces from the Beep Boop Birthday set. I wanted some to be darker and some to be lighter and some to barely show up at all. I used CTMH Slate, Whisper and Steel Wool inks for some and VersaMark ink with clear embossing powder for others.

To finish off the card, I raised the white piece up on foam tape to add some dimension then adhered the entire thing to 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 all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Fusion Challenge

Hello Cards

For the challenge, I went with just the sketch for inspiration, I had considered doing some foiling, but turns out I don't have a foil that worked well with this card. Maybe next time.

and

MFT Sketch Challenge 342

Baby Birthday Bears | ft. Lawn Fawn | Fusion Challenge

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

Today I have a super cute birthday card (for both a boy and a girl). When I started card making, it was Lawn Fawn that got me going. Not personally, obviously, but it was their designs and sweet sentiments that finally pushed me over. I couldn't resist, and really who could?

To begin, I stamped the bear from Lawn Fawn's "Party Animal" stamp set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I coloured that in with Copics and set that aside. 

I then used the gift stamps to create my own patterned background. 

I matted each white piece with a coordinating blue (and pink for the girl card - seen below). I used foam tape to pop up the bear piece and finished both cards with coordinating enamel dots.

This card is for:

Fusion Challenge

Sand, Beach

I opted to just use sketch for inspiration

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

Hello Baby Boy | ft. Clearly Besotted "Wild Thing"

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

While I have a bunch more cards lined up for my Floral Thoughts mini series, I thought I would take a little break and share a baby card I created using Clearly Besotted's Wild Thing stamp set.

This set is just too sweet for words, great sentiments and puny sayings, but what I love most are the adorable little critters. There are four animals in the set and each seems to have their own personality, which makes it great for any type of critter card you happen to be creating.

For this particular card, I chose to use the lion in blues for a baby boy.

To begin, I stamped the lion on Copic friendly paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then coloured him in with Copic markers and fussy cut him out.

For the background panel, I started by using embossing paste through a dot stencil and setting that aside to dry. I make my own embossing paste, and I'll have a post about that later, to get the colour I just add a touch of Distress reinker ink.

I used a leaf die to cut out two fronds from Bristol paper that I had sponged with Mowed Lawn Distress ink. And used the bird punch from Stampin' Up to punch the vellum leaves. The Hello die is from Lawn Fawn's scripty Hello.

Once everything was dry, I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to place the different leaf pieces together and right down onto the panel. I used the same adhesive to adhere the Hello die cut. I popped the lion up on foam tape to make him stand out and to ensure that he stuck to all the different layers under him.

While it didn't pick up on the camera, I used glossy accents on his nose to make it shiny.

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

This card is for:

Fusion Challenge: Something Blue

Floral Thoughts Mini Series 3 | ft. Clearly Besotted "Fresh Flowers"

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

Today I have a couple new-to-me things going on in the card. An image I've never used before and a technique I am still learning and playing around with.

I have another "Thinking of You" card today, which I'm sure comes as no surprise. At the moment these are my favourite cards to create, perhaps because they are so versatile. This was also the first time I pulled out the bluebells image from Clearly Besotted (I assume they are bluebells. That's the way I see them.) I felt they would work perfectly for this week's Fusion Challenge.

Since learning the shadowing technique (I'll create a post about it later), I have been trying to incorporate it more and more into my colouring, especially with florals. I absolutely love single layer cards that look as though there are multiple layers.

To begin, I stamped the bluebell image from Clearly Besotted's Fresh Flowers stamp set on to Copic friendly paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I masked off the image and sponged Tumbled Glass Distress Ink through a damask stencil starting in the upper left corner and pulling the ink lightly down towards the bottom right.

I removed the mask and then coloured the image with Copic markers, because these flowers are smaller than many of the other images by Clearly Besotted, I only used two shades of blue and two shades of green for the flower.

I then used a W5 and went around the image where the shadows would lay if my light source were in the upper left corner of the panel. I used a very light hand for this, as the W5 marker is rather dark and I wanted to keep my shadows thin. I went over the shadow area again with the W3 marker, making the line just a touch thicker.

I covered the blossoms quite liberally with clear Wink of Stella, but once again my camera has failed to do justice to the amount of shine this pen gives off.

The greeting is also stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, to ensure that I didn't have different shades across the panel.

I then mounted the panel on a piece of soft blue card stock and wrapped them with the twine.

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

This card is for:

Fusion Card Challenge: Something Blue

Thank You Bouquet

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

I can't even begin to tell you how fast this design came together. I looked up the challenge this morning, normally I am way more on the ball about these, but it has been a crazy week, and within minutes I had my design and in 20 minutes the entire card was put together.

To create this card, I began by stamping the floral images with CTMH archival black ink (which they appear to be discontinuing.... BOO!) I used PrismaColor watercolour pencils and an *very* light hand to create a watercolour look. This is not watercolour paper, so if you are going to do this, make sure you practice a bit, you need so very little water and have to work the piece gently, otherwise the paper will pill and it will be ruined.

I used my largest oval die to cut out the flowers, and my chevron boarder die to cut three chevron pieces.

I stamped the greeting in Lagoon ink (also CTMH) using the MISTI, just in case it didn't stamp fully the first time.

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

This card is for:

Fusion Challenge: Orchid Occasions

Mother's Day 2016 Series - Card 1

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

Now that Easter is over, it's time to turn our attention to Mother's Day. That being said, welcome to day one of the 2016 Mother's Day Series. Today's card is featuring the new Mom and Me stamp set from Lawn Fawn, as well as a few "new to me" items that I am just loving!

To begin, I stamped the owl on Copic friendly paper and coloured them with Copics. I don't have the coordinating dies for this set, so I fussy cut the image out and put foam tape on the back.

I stamped the tree stump directly onto the card base using CTMH Saddle ink with the MISTI. I also stamped it a second time on some post it tape to create a mask. 

After putting the mask over the tree stump, I stamped the tufts of grass. The mask makes it appear as though the grass is behind the stump. I used the larger flower and used first, second and third generation stamping to vary the shades of red. I stamped the butterflies using CTMH Honey ink. 

I stamped the "Happy Mother's Day" greeting from Lawn Fawn's "celebration scripty sayings" using Golden Glitz Delicata Ink from Tsukineko. The picture does not do the shimmer of this ink justice. I have tried several metallic pigment inks, and this is by far the best I have every seen. 

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

This card is for:

Fusion Challenge: Everything's Owl Right

Update:
This card was selected for Honorable Mention on the Fusion Challenge!

Lucky Day

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

I wasn't planning to do anything for St. Patrick's Day because Easter is just around the corner, but then I was laying in bed trying to sleep and this idea popped into my head. The idea was so clear, I had to get up and sketch it out, or I would have had no chance of sleeping at all.

I decided to not have a greeting on the front of the card, because I didn't know if I was actually going to use it for St. Patrick's Day, or if I was going to hold on to it and give it away as a good luck card.

To create this card, I started by using half inch Skor tape at a diagonal. Before removing the backing from the top side, I coloured the white areas with a super light green. I then removed the tape backing and covered it with emerald glitter.

I die cut a piece of Copic friendly paper and stamped the kitty, masked it off and stamped the clovers around him. I coloured them all in with Copics, and used just a touch of glossy accents for the tag on his collar. I mounted the piece onto the back panel with foam tape.

When mounting over top of glitter areas, be careful to avoid getting the tape on the glitter. You run the risk of it not sticking properly and potentially falling off or looking lopsided.

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

This card is for:

Fusion Card Challenge: Lucky Days

Valentine's Day 2016 Series - Card 12

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

This card was so much fun to make, and quite a deviation from what I normally do (stamp, stamp, stamp....).

To create this card, I used the large stitched cloud boarder from Lawn Fawn to make a mask. I then used Tattered Rose distress ink to sponge upward to shade. I started from the top and worked my way down toward the bottom of the panel.

The hearts are cut from regular cardstock and then sponged with Victorian Velvet and edged with Worn Lipstick distress inks.

I had considered raising the hearts on foam tape, but I couldn't find my foam tape, and I'm kinda glad for it, because I ended up liking it better without the dimension. The different sizes of hearts gives the illusion of dimension and that worked well enough for me.

The matte is just the actual card base sponged with Worn Lipstick distress ink to match the edges of the heats.

I hope you all liked this card and are inspired to create something of your own.

I'd like to enter this card to the following challenges:

1. Fusion Challenge: Paper Hearts

I used both the inspiration photo of paper hearts and the sketch for this card.

2. Time Out Challenge: Love is the Flower you've got to let Grow

I thought the size differences in the hearts was a nice parallel to the growth as well as representing the love.

Second Year Celebration Fusion Challenge

Hi everyone, thanks so much for stopping by today!

Today I have a very special card that was created for the Fusion Challenge! This is for their second year celebration. If you have not checked these guys out, you really should. Just follow the link above, they are amazing.

My submission is very much inspired by the photo

The bouquet is watercoloured using PrismaColor watercolour pencils on 140lb cold press watercolour paper. After stamping the blossoms in archival ink, I masked them off and created a yellow swirl background by pouncing distress ink through the stencil then spritzing with water. Unfortunately, the camera didn't pick up the background nearly as well as I would have liked, but I promise it is there. 

The concept is pretty fantastic. They provide you with an inspiration photo and a sketch, you can either create your design off either or both, so if the picture doesn't really speak to you, the sketch sure will.

Here is the challenge for the celebration. The photo is so beautiful, I think of something between afternoon tea in the garden and an outside wedding when I look at it.




Once again, thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you all like the card!