Butterfly Appreciation | ft. Simon Says Stamp "Beautiful Day"

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

Today I have a super quick Thank You card. A friend of mine is Chair of the Parent's association for her daughter's school, and she asked me to create a couple Administrative Appreciation cards for the ladies in the office.

So while the video is quick, it took me a little bit to sort out the design (luckily I had some inspiration!). She wanted them in the school colours, and this was as close to teal as I could get. She likes them, so it's a win!

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

The video only shows one, but they are basically the same.

I supposed this would also technically fall into my monochrome series, but I haven't posted in a little while so I wanted to get this up right away, instead of waiting for Monday.

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.

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #262

Inspired by Kim Heggins

Her CAS design with the bluebird really helped me out for my card today!

Happy Heart Day Series | Stamping Mash Up ft. Clearly Besotted and Lawn Fawn

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

I've found the more I create cards, the bigger my stash gets, the more videos I watch and the more blogs I follow, that I tend to try to stay within one brand for my cards. Each card, from start to finish is either all Lawn Fawn, or all MFT or all Clearly Besotted etc. And that's all well and good, and maybe if I'm lucky enough to be a guest designer or (dare I dream) on one of the design teams that habit will serve me well.

As of right now, though, I'm not. I remember way back when I first started it didn't even occur to me to stay in the same brand for a whole card. First off, I didn't know that was a thing, and second I certainly didn't have the supplies to do that. LOL We've all been there, right?

Today's card is a mash up of two of my favourite companies; Lawn Fawn and Clearly Besotted.

To begin, I stamped the rose from Clearly Besotted's "Merci Beaucoup" set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then stamped the top of the dome from Lawn Fawn's "Ready, Set, Snow" set, masking the bottom. I repeated the process, stamping the bottom of the dome and used a Copic-safe liner and a straight edge to pull the lines together.

I coloured the rose and the base of the dome with Copic markers. I then used some of the little snowflakes from the Lawn Fawn set with Delicata silver ink to add the sparkles around the flower. Once that was dry, I prepped the base of the dome with my powder tool and stamped the "Valentine" with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with silver detail embossing powder.

To make the dome look a little more like glass and a little less flat, I took my lightest blue Copic marker (B000) and drew a few streaks to create the illusion of reflection. This is a relatively new technique for me and I definitely need some practice, but I think it turned out well for a first try.

Finally, to finish off the panel and because I just can't really help myself, I used the Spectrum Noir clear glitter brush pen over the petals. This time I was very careful not to add too many layers (like we saw here, I guess I learned from that mistake!).

I had to trim down the left edge of the panel as my images weren't centered, I adhered my panel to a piece of red glitter paper 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 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:

Muse Challenge #253

Inspired by Tracey

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

It Must Be Love

Product Review Series | Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and a Completed Card

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

This past week on my Facebook page, I ran a poll to see what you were interested in for this week's review. Well the votes are in and 65% of voters wanted to see the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.

In April of last year, I did a post about these Zig markers and about the gauntlet I went through to get my hands on them. It didn't occur to me until just recently that I never actually did a review of them! Whoops!!

So here it is, as always this review will be long and full of pictures, so grab a coffee and enjoy! And don't forget there is a card at the end!!

My current storage system has them broken into three groups; neutrals, cools and warms. This isn't ideal, I'll be honest. I would love to find another way to store them but frankly I haven't gotten to it yet. I like the three mini mason jars as they just sit on my desk but when I come up with something new, I'll be sure to share it.

So a couple of things:

• These are super vibrant. A little goes a long way - and that's good because they are pricey.
• They blend super well. Don't feel like you need to buy the whole lot to get a good range of colour, any colours you may not have can very easily be created with a little practice.
• Can be used with or without water (I'll have examples below)
• They will reactivate after drying if new moisture is applied. Very handy for those times you may slip out of the lines.
• They have an actual brush tip. It doesn't just look like a brush, it is a brush, so in a lot of ways it's like painting.
• These come in open stock as well as packs of 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and finally 80 (If you checked out my other post - linked above - you'll see why I got the 60 pack instead of the smaller one that I had originally wanted)

Here I just wanted to show you a close up of the brush tip. It is amazing. Like any other brush don't apply a lot of pressure - more pressure means a wider stroke and that's okay just be careful not to damage the tip.

There are about a million printable swatch cards online for these guys and that's fantastic. However my printer doesn't take watercolour paper, or Bristol paper or any paper that it doesn't like the look of depending on the day, so I made my own. This way I could keep them in basic colour groups, I could arrange them the way I wanted and I could omit any markers that I didn't actually own. 

Swatching is good for a couple of reasons (and I have a post coming up all about it), firstly it gives you a basic idea of what the marker feels like when you use it. How fast the pigment comes out and how much pressure to apply. It will also show you the true colour. I know they try and try to put the colour on the bottom of the marker or the pen but really they don't always match up - and that's frustrating to find out in the middle of a project.

There are two ways that I personally use the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.

The first is with Bristol Smooth paper. I use Strathmore 100lb Bristol Smooth - it's white but almost has a creamy colour to it. It's incredibly smooth and mostly useless for coloured pencil but it works like a dream with these markers.

In the picture above, I have stamped this floral image from Clearly Besotted with CTMH Archival ink. Using Archival ink is incredibly important as it is waterproof, and these are water-based markers, so you see where I'm going with this.

I work in small areas, adding the darkest colour where I want the deepest shadow to be, then add the lighter colour and blend the two together. The smooth surface of the Bristol paper keeps the marker from drying as quickly as it would on regular cardstock, allowing you to blend. Don't wait too long though as it will dry. 

I keep a paper towel handy to wipe clean my lighter colour. While the brush will pick up the darker colour it will not seep up into the brush nor will it ruin the tip so feel free to blend away.

For this second example I am still working on Bristol Smooth paper because I love the smooth texture, but this can be done on watercolour paper as well.

I prepped this piece with my powder tool and stamped the rose image from Clearly Besotted with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.

For each petal I added a fine line of my blue and then pulled it out using the clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen. You can also do this with water, but I wanted my flower to sparkle. I repeated this process with each petal, wiping off the glitter pen whenever it was picking up too much colour.

I did the exact same process with a green for the leaves and stem. I wanted to show this close up as it is also the completed card for today. There are only two markers used for the colouring of this entire flower. One blue and one green. 

Overall I'm incredibly happy with these markers. You can use them the way I have described above, or you can scribble them on a palette and pick them up with a brush. These have all the best things about watercolours and all the best things about markers - rolled into one!

For this completed card, I coloured the flower from Clearly Besotted as I described above, I then masked it off and lay down a stencil and spritzed a light blue mist through it. Because this is Bristol Smooth paper, the areas where the liquid pools in the corners of the stencil will be more intense than if it were pulled into the paper.

Once that was dry I heat embossed the greeting in the same silver.

I hope you enjoyed today's review and card. If you have any questions about this product or a suggestion for a future review, please drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know. 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. 

*disclaimer: I am not sent products to review, nor am I paid to review them. I review the products that I find interesting, that I use and that I have purchased. All reviews are based on my experience with them and are my opinions only. I am not given reward, incentive or payment to write a review.

This card is for:

Muse Challenge 

Challenge #245

 Thank you for voting for this card!

Happy Holidays Series | Watercolour Trees ft. Stampin' Up "Lovely As a Tree"

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

I have surprisingly few Stampin' Up sets considering how lovely they can be. I find myself very torn on them. They are either completely elegant or far too basic for my tastes. This particular set, "Lovely As a Tree" is by far one of my most favourites. The trees can be used with any palette and various mediums to create the most beautiful cards for any occasion and they are excellent for masculine cards; an area in which I struggle.

This card took me a couple tries to get the way I wanted, and even then I'm sure I could play around with it some more to get it absolutely perfect.

To begin, I cut down a piece of Strathmore 140lb cold press watercolour paper and put it in my MISTI. I then positioned the tall evergreen stamp starting with the far right tree. I used my Distress markers to colour directly on the stamp then spritzed it with a very fine mist of water and held the MISTI lid shut. I found that if I held it shut for about 30 seconds, the ink would transfer and give this very loose look to the image.

I repeated this process with the tree on the left. I let them both dry completely then repeated it again with the tree in the middle.

I stamped the greeting from Hero Arts "CL722" using the same markers as I did with the trees, but did not spritz the water. Because of the texture of the paper, I had to restamp the greeting several times to get a good solid impression.

I added a piece of teal shimmering tape down the right side and popped the watercolour panel up on foam tape and adhered it to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

Depending on your preference, you could do this with any palette so long as the colours blend nicely together. You wouldn't want to use colours that would muddy up the image when the 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 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:

Muse Challenge #242

Inspired by Ardyth

 Thank you all so much for your votes and support. I really cannot tell you how much it means to me.

A Little More Autumn | ft. Lawn Fawn

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

Now that the weather has broken a bit, I thought I'd recreate a fall card that I made ages ago, and share it with you. The last few years we have had some wonderful autumns, but they always seem so short.

While my house still says "Halloween", I'm starting to think about how I want it to be for the winter season, I typically do blues and silvers about this time of year, then at the beginning of December the tree goes up and gets decorated.

To begin, I used the "Stitched Leaves" dies from Lawn Fawn to cut the three large leaves from 110lb cardstock. I used Distress inks to make them look like autumn leaves.

I used a torn paper die to create my panel from the same cardstock and stamped the greeting using Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink.

I adhered the leaves together using liquid glue, just to give myself a bit of time to have them arranged perfectly. I added a length of natural twine around the front panel, then popped the panel up on foam tape and adhered it to the front of a standard A2 sized card base, in brown.

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:

Muse Card Challenge

Challenge #241

 Thank you all so much for you votes and Support!

Rustic Thanks | ft. Lawn Fawn "Stitched Leaves" Dies

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

Remember when we all first started out and punches were like the coolest thing? Punches and stickers and those scissors with the funky cutting edges. Today I wanted to share a card that doesn't have any image stamps or colouring.

Today's card features the "stitched leaves" dies from Lawn Fawn and two paper punches. One from Martha Stewart and the other from Recollections. Sometimes it's fun to take a step back from everything we do right now and try something that we would have done years ago.

To begin, I die cut all of the leaves using Lawn Fawn's "Stitched Leaves" dies out of Kraft cardstock by Recollections. I also punched out four of the daisies (Recollections) and three of the leafy fronds (Martha Stewart) out of the same cardstock.

I then used Distress inks and CTMH pigment inks to add some colour to the leaves. For the pigment inks I used a finger dobber as I wanted a more stippled look instead of the smooth blend that I get from the sponging tool and the Distress inks.

I set those aside to dry, and used the finger dobber and CTMH pigment inks on the front of the card base to add some additional colour and make the background look a little out of focus.

Once that was dry I arranged my leaf pieces the way I wanted them and adhered them in place using liquid adhesive.

I then stamped the greeting from an old Recollections set using Gathered Twigs Distress ink in my MISTI (just to ensure that I got a good image).

To finish it off, I added a bow with natural twine.

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:

Muse Card Challenge

Challenge #239

Inspiration card by Stephanie Lanzalotto

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Monochrome

 Thank you all so much for your votes and support!

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

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

I'm just going to say that deciding on which floral stamp to use was the hardest part for this card. When I saw Tracey's post I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but then all these beautiful flowers were just staring at me and I seemed to hit a bump.

I knew my colour palette, but choosing the flower was another story all together. I tried a few of them (because Clearly Besotted has some of the most amazing floral images - how would I decide?) and went with this one. It reminded me of the soft pink lilacs that used to grow in the front yard of the house I grew up in.

To begin, I stamped this floral image from Clearly Besotted's "Fresh Flowers" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, then coloured it with Copic markers.

I then stamped the same image, using second generation stamping, randomly over my background panel. This was another reason for choosing this image. I liked how full the background looked, yet didn't get overly busy.

I mounted the smaller main image on a piece of pale pink cardstock and created a banner to wrap around. Then popped it up on foam tape.

I mounted the background panel on another piece of the same pink cardstock and adhered that to the front of my standard A2 sized card base.

I added my focus panel, and used clear Wink of Stella over the petals. Unfortunately that doesn't show up very well in the picture, but in real life this is crazy sparkly.

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:

Muse Card Challenge

Inspired by Tracey McNeely

Hello Halloween Series | ft. Mama Elephant "Meowlloween" Slider

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

Today's card, inspired by Elizabeth Stewart, was so much fun to make! It also allowed me to make a starry night background which is one of my favourite things to make.

I love that more companies are making dies that allow interactive cards to be so easy!

To begin, I sponged Blueprint Sketch and Seedless Preserves Distress inks randomly on my panel. I then went over them with Dusty Concord, Hickory Smoke and Black Soot to darken them up. I used more of the darker colours around the edges until I got the look I wanted.

I then splattered the panel with clean water and set the piece aside to dry.

I used a Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside border and Grassy border dies to create the layers for my foreground. I sponged on Forest Moss and Gathered Twigs Distress inks to make the grass look old and dead, then set those aside to dry completely.

Once the sky panel was dry, I used Copic Opaque White to splatter on some stars and then set that aside again to dry.

For all my little tombstones and the kitty witch, I stamped them with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic markers. I cut the tombstones out by hand, and used the Brother 2 Scan N Cut for the kitty witch. I didn't want her to be in two separate pieces and the Scan N Cut makes this so much easier!

I then went back to the sky panel and used the longer straight slider die from Lawn Fawn's "Slide on Over" die set.

Then I was able to put the pieces together. I popped the sky panel up on some foam tape, and made my kitty witch into a penny slider. Once she was in place I adhered the sky panel down on some black patterned cardstock on the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

Next, I adhered the hillside down, leaving room near the top so I could slide some of the tombstones in behind it. I cut a slit with my craft knife and slid one of the tombstones in so it would give it some dimension without adding more bulk to the card.

For my grassy layer, I only added adhesive to the very bottom strip and tucked the rest of my tombstones in behind it.

My favourite part of these types of cards is just watching the entire thing come together and then letting the little witch slide back and forth across the panel. So fun!!

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:

Muse Challenge

#235 inspired by Elizabeth Stewart

My inspiration came from the witch flying over the graveyard. Fantastic design from Elizabeth this week!



Thank you all so much for your votes! Your support and encouragement mean so much to me!

Layered in Blue | ft. Altenew "Totally Tropical"

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

I gotta say, this particular Muse had me stumped; but what really drew me in were Kim's colours. The purple of the bird over those beautifully layered flowers is just beautiful. With every challenge, I like to put my own spin on things, but I didn't know what I was going to do for this one. I sat and I thought and I thought and then I remember!

I have the most amazing layering set from Altenew that I have been dying to play with and I felt that this was the most perfect opportunity!

I've mentioned before that I'm extremely new to layering stamps and to be perfectly honest they frighten me. I'm always so surprised by how they turn out.

To begin, I stamped the solid stamp in CTMH Sky ink, then the detail stamp in Gypsy. These stamps have holes in the centre - maybe so you can line them up, I don't know. So I took the outline stamp and sponged on Pacifica ink to the middle and put that over top.

For the leaves I used Sweet Leaf and then Pear inks, also from Close to my Heart. The greeting is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black.

The middle flower on the right side got lost between the other two, so I lined up the outline stamp again, and stamped the whole thing with Pacifica. In retrospect, I think I should have stamped it off once and used a second generation stamping for the outline, but... hindsight, am I right?

Finally I matted the panel on to a medium blue piece of cardstock then adhered it to a standard A2 sized card base. Then of course, me being me, and I just can't leave well enough alone, I used some Pico Embellisher - the Wedding Dress irRESISTibles in the middle of each flower. My idea was for this to remain white, but it picked up the colour of the ink and I'm glad it did. This looks nicer.

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:

Muse Challenge #234

Inspired by Kim Heggins

 Thank you all so much for your votes and support!

Hello Halloween Series | ft. Lawn Fawn "Trick or Treat"

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

Today's card was inspired by Tracey McNeely, over on the Muse Challenge. The ladies over there are so fantastic with their designs and always provide excellent inspiration for the challenges. As you'll see at the bottom, Tracey went with a Christmas themed card, and while I love the CAS style of it, I'm not ready for Christmas just yet. Well, not ready to post the Christmas stuff just yet, anyway.

So here is my more Autumn twist on her inspiration card.

To begin, I used the smallest and forth smallest of my Spellbinder nested circle dies to cut a doughnut shape in 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then stamped the small candy corn from Lawn Fawn's "Trick or Treat" stamp set, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, in a circle around it. I felt that my wreath was too sparse, so I flipped the stamp and made another loop with the candies facing the opposite way.

I stamped the little bat from the same set on a scrap of 110lb cardstock. I coloured all the images in with Copic markers. I used Spectrum Noir Sparkling clear overly to give the bat some shimmer, then fussy cut him out and popped him up on foam tape.

I covered my candy corns with Glossy Accents by Ranger, so they would have that shiny look. Once that was dry I popped the wreath up on foam tape and adhered it to my panel, and added the bat.

I stamped the greeting from Lawn Fawn's "Booyah" stamp set, using Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink. Finally, I added a black mat to the panel to coordinate with my bat and then adhered the whole 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 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.

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #233

Inspired by Tracey McNeely's card

  Thank you all so much for your votes!

Hello Halloween Series | ft. Simon Says Stamp "Trick or Treat"

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

I hadn't intended to make today's card a Halloween card, I wanted to wait a few days, but something things just don't work out like that. Today's card was made specifically for the Muse Challenge (of which you know I am a HUGE fan). When I saw Anita's card, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do at first, so I sat on it for a few days.

So when it came to me yesterday, I knew what I had to do. And I knew that I couldn't wait to post it.

To begin, I masked off the bottom left and the top right edges, and used a light hand to apply Dried Marigold Distress ink in the middle.

Once that was dry, I removed the masks and set them aside and prepped the panel with my powder tool. I then stamped the large greeting from Simon Says Stamp's "Trick or Treat" set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with black detail powder. I also stamped the smaller greeting on a different sheet and heat embossed that with black as well.

I then used the large and the small bats from the same set and stamped them randomly in the light orange area and heat embossed them with clear.

I then replaced the masks and sponged on Wild Honey and Carved Pumpkin Distress inks to create an ombre look getting darker as it went down the card.

I removed the masks again, and raised the panel up on foam tape and adhered it to a standard A2 sized card base. Then I cut around the mini greeting and used a black marker to finish off the sides. I then popped that up on a piece of foam tape and placed it just below the big greeting.

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 over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #232

With inspiration by Anita Bowden

 Thank you all for your votes once again!

Hawaiian Hibiscus Birthday | ft Close to my Heart "Hawaiian Hibiscus"

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

Recently I have been playing around with my Copics and I've been looking for friendly inks that are not Memento. Don't get me wrong, I love my Memento ink and it is still my go-to for stamping images, but it is nice to know that there are options.

As it turns out the water-based dye inks from Close To My Heart seem to be compatible. I haven't tried them all - I do have a lot of them, but the few that I have tried have worked nicely.

To begin, I stamped the smaller hibiscus flower using CTMH's Whisper ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then masked that off and began building up more flowers and leaves around it.

I removed all the masks and coloured the images in with Copic markers. I wanted to keep the lines soft. Despite the size of an actual hibiscus they feel very delicate to me. I didn't want anything harsh or "in your face" about this card.

I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting from Lawn Fawn's "Party Animal" stamp set using the same soft grey ink.

To finish it off I added clear Wink of Stella over the petals (once again it doesn't show up on camera, but I promise it is there). Then I mounted the panel on 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 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:

Muse Challenge #230

Inspired by Kim Heggins

My inspiration lead me straight to Hawaii

Stamping Sensations August Challenge

Anything Goes

Watercolour Florals | ft. Hero Arts and Zig Clean Color Markers

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

If you're like me, you see these super pretty cards online and then get a million ideas on how to use that stamp; so you rush out and buy it only to forget about it completely.

No? Just me? Huh.

I got this stamp a while back because I saw all these super pretty cards online and I had to just rush out and buy it, only to forget why I wanted it in the first place. So when I saw the inspiration by Anita Bowden in the Muse challenge, along with a Happy Birthday Challenge and an Anything Goes challenge I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I'm not going to lie, the execution of my idea took a wee bit longer than I wanted, but now that I have the hang of this one, I'll probably make a couple more with different colour palettes for my friends.

To begin, I prepped a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth 100lb cardstock with my powder tool. I then positioned it in my MISTI and stamped this Hero Arts "Large Blossom" using VersaMark ink. I actually did it twice so that I was certain the black embossing powder would stick where I wanted it when I heat embossed it.

I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers in Carmine, Light Carmine and Bright Yellow for the flowers; and May Green and Mid Green for the leaves and stems. To get a nice blend I put only a bit of each colour at opposite ends of each section and used my Prisma watercolour brush to bring the two together.

Because Bristol isn't actually watercolour paper, it is best to use a very light hand when it comes to adding the water. You can always, always add more, but once you have too much the paper will warp and pill -- no one wants that.

Once that was completely dry, I heat embossed the sentiment using the same black embossing powder.

I then added a bit of twine to the left and bottom of the panel, and adhered the whole piece 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 side bar. 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:

Muse Challenge #228

Inspired by Anita Bowden

and

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Happy Birthday

and 

Stamping Sensations August Challenge

Anything Goes

 

CAS Hello Baby | ft. MFT's "Magical Dragons"

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

I know that I have been doing a lot of birthday cards lately, so today I thought I would show you a clean and simple baby card that I created for a friend of mine. We're not entirely sure what she's having so I went with sweet gender neutral tones, and the dragons from My Favorite Things' "Magical Dragons" stamp set are just perfect.

To begin, I stamped the little dragon with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, I then masked off his face and stamped the larger dragon. I didn't want a huge amount of overlap, and with these two, I found an almost tenderness to their interaction that worked out perfectly for this card.

I coloured both the images in with Copic Markers. I stamped a greeting from CTMH with the Memento ink as well.

I matted the panel with a soft purple cardstock and then adhered the entire piece to a standard A2 sized card base.

Finally I added a scattering of coordinating enamel dots to finish off the card.

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, 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:

Muse Challenge #227

Anything Goes

and

Simon Says Stamp

Work It Wednesday - July 27th 2017

Mother's Day 2016 Series - Card 10 | ft. Clearly Besotted Stamps

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

The inspiration provided by Michele Ferguson (you can see her card at the bottom of the post) was wonderful. I love the potted flowers, and after I started I just couldn't stop. If one is good, then three must be better, right?

Moreover, I can't seem to get enough of either the florals by Clearly Besotted or the Zig Markers. They blend so amazingly, and the colour they give off when mixed with water is beyond anything I could have imagined when I first read about them.

If you haven't tried them out, I highly recommend picking up a couple. Unlike Copics (also wonderful) you can get various shades with just one marker.

To create this card, I began by stamping the vases from Lawn Fawn's "Our Friendship Grows" stamp set. I then masked them off and stamped each of the floral images from Clearly Besotted's "Miniature Florals Collection" using CTMH Archival Black Ink on 140lb cold press watercolour paper.

I coloured them with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. I forgot to write the colours I used down. Sorry, guys!

I stamped the greeting using the Archival ink as well, to ensure that the blacks matched. I mounted the panel on a standard A2 sized card base using super sticky tape.

To finish it off, I added clear Wink of Stella to the petals of the flowers. Unfortunately, the picture didn't pick it up. But in real life, it is SUPER shiny.

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

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #164

Inspired by Michele Ferguson's Beautiful Card:

Floral Encouragement

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

I'm going to be pretty honest with you guys for a minute. Not that I'm not honest all the rest of the time, but you know what I mean. This week (*cough month) has been pretty terrible for me. A year ago my Father passed away very suddenly and the anniversary of that is coming up right quick. The entire year has been a struggle; for me, for my Mom and sister, for my own family. Every day is a challenge.

This week, however, has been so utterly beyond trying. Maybe because it is the first anniversary of his passing, maybe because it is the spring and that was his favourite time of the year, or because while everyone else seems to think I should be "past" this, I'm still grieving (albeit privately) as much as I was when it happened. I don't know.

So for those of you who are regular readers (and I love you all dearly, you mean so very much to me), you will have noticed that this week has had a lot more inspiration and encouragement cards, than usual. Perhaps I have been trying to pick myself up by creating these cards.

So this challenge really moved me. You never know when the last time you see someone will really be the last time. Make it count.

To create this card, I began by stamping the flowers from Lawn Fawn using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colouring them with Copics. I then added the greeting (which makes me teary every time I read it) with Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink, because it is wonderfully crisp.

I used some warm grey markers (W1 and W0) to create a shadow on the lower side of the image. I trimmed the panel and extra 1/4" so I could add the glittery strip. All of this was adhered to a standard A2 sized card base.

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

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #162

Inspired by Tracey McNeely's card

Watercolour | Apple Blossom Birthday

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

While I was very inspired by Tracey's card (shown at the bottom), the full idea took a few days to come to me. I wasn't sure what image I wanted to use nor did I know what kind of card I wanted to create.

Once I knew what I was looking for, all that was left was choosing the colours. The versatility of design is great, I can easily swap in a Mother's Day or Sympathy Greeting and still have a very elegant piece.

To create today's card, I began by stamping the image in Versa Mark, a clear sticky ink, and heat embossing it with clear embossing powder, on 140lb coldpress watercolour paper.

I then used Tim Holtz Distress inks to watercolour the image. The colours I used were: Tattered Rose, Picked Raspberry, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso, Wild Honey and Tumbled Glass.

I stamped the greeting using archival black ink and mounted the panel on a standard A2 size card base.
I thought it needed just a touch more so I added the shimmering clear sequins with Ranger Multi Medium Matte adhesive.

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

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #158

Inspired by Tracey's Card

Update:
Thank you so much to everyone that voted for my card in the Muse Challenge! Thanks to you, this card won "Featured Member"!