Simon Says Stamp July 2019 Card Kit | Just Bee-cause

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

Today I have a card (and VIDEO!!) featuring the Simon Says Stamp 2019 Card Kit. Click the video below to see how this card came together as well as what I did for the *inside* of the card.

I don't normally finish off the inside of my cards, and it's really something I want to try and work on.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

I also really want to thank everyone who has reached out to me over the past little while to make sure that I'm doing okay. I am, it's just been crazy busy, especially now that summer has finally arrived.

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.

MFT "Friends at First Sip" | Appreciate Your Friendship

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

So remember how I switched jobs a couple months back? Loving it, by the way. But it's now stampede week in Calgary. If you don't know what that is, you should Google it. "The Calgary Stampede". Basically, it's a giant 10 day party, where people skip work, engage in crappy behaviour and spend the day drunk, eating the weirdest food ever. Today, is day one. That means there's a parade. A parade that shuts down roads to our downtown core. A parade that somehow gives the impression that parking rules no longer apply (not to mention the next nine days). I work with guys in the construction industry and entire sites have to shut down for this "party". So hopefully, I'll be able to get to work without losing my mind, and just pray to the gods that my parking space hasn't been snagged by someone hoping to avoid getting towed.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep that much last night. Coffee was the first thing on my agenda this morning, luckily, MFT has an awesome new(ish) set all about the black gold in a cup.

To begin, I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured her in with Copic markers. I then masked her off and used my Dollar Store (FTW) blending brushes to add some Tumbled Glass and Mowed Lawn Distress inks to create a soft background.

I really wanted her to be the star of the show, so I chose not to create a more detailed background, but I definitely did not want her to be floating in the middle of nothing - she hasn't had *that* much coffee, yet.

I then stamped the greeting from the same set and trimmed down the panel. I adhered it to a piece of kraft cardstock, then mounted the whole lot 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, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

My Favorite Things "Bitty Bears" Wednesday Sketch Challenge

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

So remember back in June when my part-time job went full-time? One of the other part-time people got a full-time job so we've had to hire a replacement for her. So far, I gotta say she's pretty awesome. Anyway, because she also has a full-time job, her training has to happen after hours, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm at work until 9:00pm, but it kinda works out because I get to start later so I have some extra crafty time during the week! YAY!!!

For today's card I'm working off the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge; each week they provide you with an inspiration sketch and you use your stuff to make a card, then enter it in the challenge. If you click on over to the Recognition page, or have been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I used to participate in challenges all the time, like dozens a month. But since going full-time I haven't really done as many because there just doesn't seem to be any time left in my day. This morning, I put together this card and will be submitting it to the challenge.

Hopefully this productivity continues.

To begin, I used Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio Distress inks along with my Lori blending brushes to create an ombre background.

I set that aside to dry then stamped the greeting and three of these adorable little bears from MFT's "Bitty Bears" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic Markers.

I then used a stitched square die to cut out the little guys and one of the banner dies from MFT's Die-namics Blueprint #27 to cut my banner.

Once the background panel was completely dry, I adhered it to the front of my standard A2 sized card base and used foam tape to pop up the squares. The banner was adhered with 1/4" Scor tape to lay flat.

To finish off the card, I added a bit of sparkle to their noses and used a black gel pen over the eyes of each bear to make them stand out.

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!


This card is for:

Lawn Fawn "You Color My World" Reveal Wheel

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

Today I wanted to share a card I created using the "One in a Chameleon", "Blissful Botanicals" and "You Color my World" stamp sets along with the "Reveal Wheel" dies. This card can be used for the ladies and the gents, which is always a bonus as well as a just because or a cheer up kind of card.

All the images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured with Copic markers.

I used the Reveal Wheel die set along with the Chameleon die to create my view window. It's handy that the wheel is big enough to accommodate dies from other sets even if they don't have the little puzzle piece to fit into the die.

I used Distress Inks and my Lori blending brushes to get a rainbow gradient for a smooth colour change when you turn the wheel. Once the wheel was dry, I assembled the mechanism and adhered it to a piece of patterned paper; then mounted it to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I stamped the chameleon on a piece of acetate with StazOn black ink. The background hanging vine plants were stamped with Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide ink.

Click on the Video to see this little guy change colours

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.

Lawn Fawn "Butterfly Kisses" Happy Spring Slider

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

Today, I have a super cute spring slider card featuring Lawn Fawn's "Butterfly Kisses" stamp set, along with the Slide on Over die set. As soon as I saw this set the idea for this card flew into my head and I couldn't wait to get it out and on to paper (literally).

I stamped all the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly paper and coloured them in with Copic markers. I then fussy cut them out.

I used my homemade cloud stencil and Tumbled Glass Distress inks with the Lori blending brushes to create the sky. I cut down two pieces of cardstock with the grassy border dies and used Mowed Lawn and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks to create the ground.

Once the ink was dry, I used one of the Slide on Over dies to cut my track. To make the butterflies appear to be floating I adhered them to a small piece of acetate. I placed the fox over the track and used a small piece of foam tape to attach him to a penny. Next I adhered the background grassy piece with additional foam tap to ensure that the penny will slide smoothly.

The bunny and the bear are adhered directly to the foreground grassy piece and that was attached to the panel as well.

The entire piece was adhered to the front of as 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, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Lawn Fawn "Butterfly Kisses" Interactive Magic Picture Changer Card

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

Okay, first off just let me say OMG! I LOVE this die set. I think I have all of the interactive dies from Lawn Fawn and this one is by far my most favourite (and not just because it's new!), it is super easy to use and you get a huge bang for your buck - so to speak.

If you haven't watched the video by Kelly, then you should head on over and do that (here's the link, I'm not affiliated, I just think they are amazing). This is one of those dies that lets you tell a little story to your recipient along with giving them a card, which is pretty amazing if you ask me. You also get double the space without a whole bunch of bulk and that is always a good thing.

To make this card I stamped this adorable bear and butterfly from the "Butterfly Kisses" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly paper and coloured them with Copic markers. I then masked them off and used Cracked Pistachio Distress ink along with my new blending brushes (dollar store FTW) to create my grass. I then used my homemade cloud stencil along with Tumbled Glass Distress ink for my sky.

For the second part of my scene, I started by stamping the butterfly, masking him then stamping the bear and colouring them the same as in the first picture.

Once all my images were stamped and stenciled I used the "Magic Picture Changer" die set to get all the pieces I needed for my mechanism.

There's a couple of things I want to mention:

1. I use 110lb paper, it's really hard to fold on the score lines along the edges when you use that thick cardstock, but I haven't found an 80lb that I like along with my Copics, so as it stands, this is something I'm just going to have to take a bit of extra time with. It definitely (and obviously) can be done, it's just not super easy. 
2. Use a powder tool. I thought I could try getting away without using one (I like to learn things for myself... LOL) and I was most definitely wrong. A powder tool or even a soft paintbrush with kitchen flour will be your best friend when making these cards. And be liberal. Like REALLY liberal with it. Get that stuff everywhere.

I used the largest of the Large Stitched Rectangle dies to cut a piece of the green Gotta Have Gingham paper to cover my A2 card base. I cut the frame and the pull tab from a piece of the pinkish paper from the same pack.

I mounted my Picture Changer mechanism to the front of my card with foam mounting tape (more dollar store FTW) and pressed it down firmly.

To finish off the card I used some clear Wink of Stella on the butterfly in each phase of the picture, making sure to let it dry before moving the slider. I also used Ranger's Multi Media Medium Matte to adhere some sequins from my stash, because I gotta have me some sparkle.

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.

This card is for:

Hello Bluebird | Rainbow Sloths!

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

Ever have one of those days (or weeks) where you just wake up feeling bleh? Maybe it's the weather, or how everything just seems to pile on all at the same time, but that's where I'm at. So what could make me happier than a card with sloths? A RAINBOW card with LOTS of sloths, of course!! Just looking at this card makes me smile, despite everything going on around me.

I stamped the sloth from Hello Bluebird with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, starting in the middle and masking them off as I moved to the edges. The greeting is from Lawn Fawn's "Slow Down and Enjoy" stamp set.

Once they were all stamped I removed the masks and coloured them all in with Copic markers. I used some warm grey markers to create some shadows. I cut the panel down with a scalloped stitched rectangle die and adhered it to a piece of Lawn Fawn's rainbow patterned paper.

I then mounted the entire piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base and that was that!

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.

Lawn Fawn "Treat Yourself" with a Plethora of Stamp Sets

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

Today I wanted to share a "Just Because" card featuring a bunch of different Lawn Fawn stamp sets. I know we've talked before about how well their sets coordinate with each other, but lemme tell ya, it never ceases to amaze me. I think the most incredible thing about Lawn Fawn is that you can make the most unique scenes using as many or as few stamp sets as you would like.

All of the images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured with Copic markers.

I started with the sloth from Slow Down and Enjoy, I masked that off and stamped the cup from Thanks a Latte; masked that off and stamped the Doughnuts from Sweet Friends, masked those and stamped the plants from Critters in the Jungle. How can you tell I love to do masking? It's just like magic when all the masks come off to to make a cohesive scene.

Once all the images were coloured, I sponged a halo around the scene with Distress Inks and used warm grey markers to create shadows. I then cut the panel down using the second largest of the Large Stitched Rectangle dies and adhered that to a piece of patterned paper.

I stamped the first part of the greeting from Slow Down and Enjoy and the second part from Village Shops, with Memento ink as well, 'cause my blacks just have to match

I adhered the whole piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base and finished it off with some crystals from Pretty Pink Posh, clear Wink of Stella on the icing, which I then covered with Glossy Accents.

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! For those of you that are following me on Google+, please don't forget to subscribe directly to the blog or you'll miss out on future posts when Google+ is no longer a thing. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Missing You | ft. Studio Katia "Floral Trimmings"

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

Today started out not awesome. It wasn't as bad as Monday, but it definitely wasn't spectacular. Then my honey sent flowers to my office and it turned my day right around. Not only was it the first time he has ever sent me flowers, it absolutely made my day to know that he was thinking about me and the hard time I've been going through the last couple of days.

I think a lot of our motivations in crafting comes from these very things. Just letting someone know you are thinking about them, especially when they are having a difficult time can make all the difference in the world. You never know how you can turn a day around just by sending a card to let them know they are in your thoughts. I highly recommend it.

Today, I want to share a card featuring Studio Katia stamps and embellishments. This card wasn't made for anyone in particular, but it's always good to have one on hand for those times when someone just happens to pop into your head out of the blue.

To begin, I stamped the "Floral Trimmings" stamp from Studio Katia with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I coloured the images in with Copic markers. Like I talked about in my video "You are so Loved", I generally like to go big and bold with my floral colouring. Just throwing sunshine off the page, so to speak. That's what I was going for in this image.

To add some detail, I used a white gel pen to add highlights to the petals and leaves as well as dots in the middle of the larger flowers. I then stamped the greeting from Simon Says Stamp with Memento ink over top of the image.

I adhered the panel to a piece of coordinating pink cardstock then mounted the entire piece to the front of an A2 sized card base. Then, because I'm me and I just can't resist, I added a scattering of crystals from Studio Katia across the panel.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own, and maybe let someone know you're thinking of them. 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 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.

Tropically Beautiful Day | ft. Altenew "Totally Tropical" and Tombow Dual Brush Markers

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

Today I wanted to share a card with you that is a little out of my comfort box. If you've been reading or following on YouTube for any amount of time, you know that I love me some stamps to colour. I love making little scenes and doing all the cute little things that brought me to this community.

Today's card is a little different. Today, I'm working with a layering set by Altenew. I love their stamps, especially the floral ones, what I don't love is the price here in Canada. The exchange is just craziness! But I couldn't stop myself with this one!

To begin, I cut down a piece of Strathmore 140lb cold press watercolour paper and put it in my MISTI. I selected two shades for each flower, a lighter for the solid and a darker for the more detailed layer.

I positioned the solid stamp where I wanted it and closed the door to the MISTI, I then coloured directly on the stamp with the Tombow Dual Brush marker, gave it a little spritz with my Distress Sprayer and closed the lid.

At first I wasn't thrilled. But I've said, time and again, that if you keep going, you'll probably like it when it's done. I repeated this process for each of the flowers. I gave the panel a bit of time to dry, not completely, just so it wasn't really wet anymore, then positioned the more detailed stamp over top of the original solid image.

I coloured directly on with the darker shade, spritzed again and closed the lid. I then repeated the process for the other two flowers.

Once the panel was dry, I scribbled each of the darker shades on to my acrylic block, added a bit of water and used a paintbrush to splatter the colour over the panel.

I allowed the panel to dry again, then prepped it with my powder tool and stamped the greeting from Simon Says Stamp "Beautiful Day" stamp set with VersaMark ink, and heat embossed with detail black embossing powder.

I then mounted the panel to the front of a top folding standard A2 sized card base. The colours I used are: Blue - 452 and 443, Purple - 603 and 636, Pink - 743 and 755.

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.

Sunset Hello | ft. Hello Bluebird Stamps "Silly Birds"

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

Today I have a card using a very new stamp company; Hello Bluebird! (maybe it's just new to me, but based on my order number, I'm thinking they're pretty new all round)

I decided to just play around before work so there's no video for this one, but so far I'm pretty impressed with the quality and they have some super cute stuff, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what they come out with next.

To begin, I stamped the flamingo and the leaves from the "Silly Birds" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, then coloured them in with Copic markers.

I die cut the panel and the background panel with some of Lawn Fawn's "Stitched Rectangles". The patterned paper is from one of my Coastal Village paper packs that I had show in a previous haul video.

I adhered the patterned paper to the front of a standard A2 sized card base, then added the accent strip (conveniently it was the other side of the paper).

I masked off my images and used Abandoned Coral, Dried Marigold and Mustard Seed Distress Ink to create a sunset background. I used a very light hand to add some Broken China Distress ink under the water.

For the water panel I used the same small stitched rectangle to cut a piece of blue vellum, then used the small ocean waves boarder die from Lawn Fawn to die cut the top. I prepped that with my powder tool and stamped the "Oh, Hello" from Hello Bluebird's "Spring Script" with VersaMark ink then heat embossed with detail white embossing powder.

Finally, to finish off the card I added a 4mm googly eye from Studio Katia, just to add a little something - and it's super cute.

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 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.

You Do You | Single Layer ft. Distress Oxide Inks

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

Getting to know myself has been one of the hardest things I have ever started to do. I say started because I spent a very long time putting my needs and dreams and wants last. Sounds funny? Maybe you're one of the lucky ones. My time as a stay at home mom over the last five and a half years had me making everyone but myself a priority. It's kids and husband and house first.

Part of me is super excited to try and focus on me and see what it is that I want to do. I want to do something that makes me happy and I want to do something where I feel accomplished. You know what I'm saying.

To begin, I masked off the front of a standard A2 sized card base and used Abandoned Coral and Wild Honey Distress Oxide ink to create the background.

Once that was dry, I put the card base in the MISTI and stamped the image and greeting using CTMH Archival black ink. I love to use archival ink (and CTMH is my favourite) over the Distress inks because it is waterproof - so in the event that the coloured ink isn't completely dry the black won't run.

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.

Elegant Encouragement | ft. Technique Tuesday "Butterflies", Prismacolor Pencils and Nuvo Gilding Flakes

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

In case you haven't noticed, I am loving these butterflies from Technique Tuesday. It's kind of funny, I bought them a couple years ago and never touched them. I really only got them because they were on sale as the store was closing down, and thought "hey, these are okay ... but the price is amazing!"

It's a single rubber stamp with three butterflies. It wasn't until last week that it occurred to me to cut them apart - which is weird because I cut a lot of stamps apart. Like a lot. Since then, they've been on my desk - which is also weird because I'm crazy OCD about cleaning up between projects.

To begin, I prepped a piece of 65lb black cardstock from Recollections with my powder tool and stamped the small and medium butterfly with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with Sticky embossing powder by Ranger.

I've found that the trick to using sticky embossing powder is to remove the heat as soon as the powder is melted. I get the heat gun good and hot before bringing it to my paper and remove the heat as soon as the powder melts, if I keep the heat on the powder too long it seems to cook and not be sticky; that just defeats the point.

Once all the powder was melted I used Nuvo Gilding Flakes in copper over the sticky lines, pressing down firmly with my finger then burnishing the rest away with a stiff brush. I do this over a piece of clean copy paper, so I can funnel the excess back into the container, all the while trying really hard not to breathe. These flakes are lighter than air and the smallest current sends them flying all over.

I then used my Prismacolor Premier pencils to colour the butterflies. I have done a bunch of cards using these pencils on kraft cardstock, but I think this is the first or second that I have ever done on black and again I am amazed at the vibrancy of the colours.

I started with just a dark and a medium purple, but then brought in a light purple to brighten it up a bit. After I was done, I felt they needed just a little something extra so I pulled in the aqua around the edges of the wings.

Finally, I decided it needed a greeting so I prepped the lower right corner with my powder tool again, and stamped the greeting from a Color Splash set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with Copper embossing powder by Recollections. I could have used the same gilding flakes, but was concerned about how small the font is in the first part of the greeting. Sometimes the gilding flakes don't all come away easily and I wanted it to be clear.

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.

Clean and Simple Note Card | ft. Technique Tuesday "Budding Poppies"

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

Today I have a super clean and simple, single layer note card. I had done a review of the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers last week, and while I had them out on my desk, I thought I would put together another simple card.

I have never used stamps from Technique Tuesday before and was extremely pleased with the quality of the stamp and the fine detailed lines I was able to achieve when stamping. Definitely a company I will buy from again.

To begin, I cut a piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock to 11 x 4 1/4" and folded it at 5 1/2" to create a landscape side folding card. I then prepped the front with my powder tool and stamped the poppy image from Technique Tuesday and the greeting with VersaMark ink and heat embossed both with gold embossing powder.

I then used the 029 Geranium Red Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker to add a line of colour at the base of each petal and my water brush to pull the colour up towards the edges. Even though the Bristol paper stops the ink from seeping in and drying too quickly, I still work one petal at a time so I don't get a harsh line of colour.

I then added a strip of gold glitter tape across the bottom as an accent and to avoid having it look as though the flowers are floating in the middle of nowhere. An accent strip adds just a little something extra and grounds the image.

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.

Gilded Wings | ft Nuvo Gilding Flakes and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

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

A little while back I did a review on the Nuvo Gilding Flakes and showed how you can gild an image and then colour it afterwards with Copic markers. Today, I have a card that uses this technique but instead of using Copics I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers (which I also recently reviewed) to add the colour to the image.

To begin, I prepped a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock with my powder tool. I then stamped the small and medium butterflies from Urban Stamps "Butterflies" with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed them with Sticky Embossing Powder by Ranger.

I have found the trick to using the sticky embossing powder is to remove the heat from the paper as soon as it is melted. Get your heat gun good and hot before bringing it to the paper and remove it as soon as the powder melts. I discovered that if you allow the heat to stay after the powder melts it won't be sticky, it just cooks. And that defeats the purpose. It has taken me some practice, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Once the powder was melted I used the Radiant Gold gilding flakes, pressing them down with my finger, then burnishing them away with a stiff brush.

I then used 022 Carmine Red and 052 Bright Yellow Zig Markers to add the colour. These markers are fantastic on the Bristol paper. The smooth surface stops the colour from seeping into the paper and drying too quickly. For this card, I drew a thin line of the red at the base of the wing then a thicker line with the yellow and used my water brush to pull the colour out to the edges. You could also skip the water and use the lighter colour to pull the red out to the tips, but I wanted a softer watercolour look.

To finish off the card, I added the greeting from Stampendous "Happy Messages" with the gilding flakes as well, then mounted my panel on a top folding A2 sized black 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.

If you hop over to my Facebook page, I currently have a poll going to see what you want to have reviewed this week. Voting closes December 14th 2017 at about 1:00pm MST, so if you want to vote click on over and do so!

Hippie Hello | ft. Forever In Time "Sunshine Daisies"

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

You know how your Mom or you Grandmother would have different decorations for each season? Different framed pictures on the walls, different throw pillows and colour schemes depending on the time of the year? Just to keep things fresh. Well, I've decided that it's time for that to be me.

I recently had my first Dollar Tree experience, I couldn't believe I had never been there before. I got an entire set of Autumn dishes (large plates and bowls) for like $20!!! For eight place settings!

Last week, my Mother and I were back at Dollar Tree looking for a set of Winter dishes (because why wouldn't I buy another set?) and I came across a set of clear stamps by Forever In Time. I had used their embellishment products before because they are super inexpensive but I had no idea that they made stamps. So I figured why not? At $1.25 for the set what did I really have to lose?

I started by stamping out the largest daisy with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then did the medium size, then the smallest. My intent was to create a patterned paper for a background.

It wasn't until they were all stamped out and coloured with Copic markers that it struck me as a very "Hippie" background. I then did something, that I had never even considered before.

I coloured the background with Copic markers. I know that seems pretty common, but I'm kinda cheap and the idea of using a Copic (not cheap) to fill in such a large area was somehow terrifying to me. But I am sooo glad that I did.

Once the entire panel was coloured I remembered I needed a greeting. So I prepped the whole piece with my powder tool and stamped the "hello friend" from Stampendous in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it in white. Now typically, that's where I would leave it, but even with the contrast between the white and the colours the text seemed to get lost. To solve this, I took my 0.3 Staedtler pigment liner and carefully traces around the embossing to make the letters really pop.

I created a splatter looking using a bit of watered down Copic Opaque white and a clean brush. On the front of my standard A2 sized card base, I sponged on some Broken China Distress Oxide ink just around the edges and then adhered my hippie panel to the front.

I wasn't really expecting much from this stamp set, I expected a low quality that didn't hold the ink very well that I would probably end up tossing. But I can honestly say that I have paid more for other "more popular brands" that frustrated me to no end. These worked better than I had ever thought. They certainly aren't perfect, but considering I paid $1.25 for a set of 10 stamps, I'll definitely purchase any others that I happen to come across.

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.

Window Daisy | Paper Punches!

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

Today, I thought I would step away from the stamping and colouring (I know, right??!?!) and do something that I haven't done in a while.

Paper punching!! While the greeting is clearly stamped from Clearly Besotted, the rest of the card was made with punches. I cannot remember the last time I did this.

To begin, I punched the small daisy from some plain white cardstock, I punched the centre from a scrap of yellow patterned paper.

I punched the larger square 4 times, then punched a smaller square out of the middle of each to create some frames. I could totally have done this with my dies, but then I couldn't say I did all of this card with punches, right?

I used the larger square punch to get the green patterned background and built my frames up on that one. Had I done this with dies, the frames would have been even and not wonky on the bottom. But that's part of the joy. At least it was wonky for all of them.

I'm nothing, if not consistent.

I then adhered my frame to the front of a standard A2 sized card base, then stamped the greeting from Clearly Besotted. I added my little daisy to the centre.

To finish it off, I used a scattering of enamel dots from my own Spring Daisy mix.

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

Dance and Twirl | ft. Darcie's Heart & Home

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

My super sweet little niece is turning 3 today! I can't even believe how fast that time has gone by. I thought my babies were growing up fast. Last week she had her very first dance class, and she has to be the cutest little thing in a tutu I have ever seen!

In celebration I made this card for her.

To begin, I stamped the little mouse from Darcie's Heart & Home (JCS275) using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly card stock. Then coloured her with Copics.

I prepped the bottom of that little panel with my powder tool and stamped the greeting using Worn Lipstick Distress ink and moved fast to heat emboss it with clear embossing powder.

For the larger panel, I prepped the entire thing with the powder tool again, and stamped the ballet slippers along the edge using VersaMark ink and clear embossed them. I then sponged on Worn Lipstick to create a pink emboss resist background and adhered that to the front of my standard A2 sized card base.

I used super strong Skor tape to mount the smaller panel - I find that regular tape runner won't always stick over distress ink and I didn't want to run the risk of it not staying stuck.

To finish it off, I used Glossy Accents by Ranger on her slippers, her belt and headband; then placed a little diamond from CTMH Bitty Sparkles in the centre of the flower; then because I just don't know when to stop I added some enamel dots from CTMH around the little mouse.

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. 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:

Crafting with an Attitude

Challenge #31

2 Crafty Critter Crazies
Challenge #6