Clearly Besotted "Pretty Pansies" | A Floral Thoughts Birthday Card

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

So y'know the other day when I said I had so much more time to myself and I was looking forward to getting more posts and videos done? Well as it turns out, I've just been making cards; it hadn't even occurred to me until late last night as I was dozing off to sleep that I should probably be blogging as well. LOL, I guess I have been so excited about this uninterrupted time that I've just been making and finishing off half done cards like a crazy lady.

So today, when I sat down and logged into my computer for other reasons, it struck me that "While I'm here.....", so today, I wanted to share this lovely birthday card I created for my sister-in-law back in January, featuring Clearly Besotted's "Pretty Pansies" stamp set.

To create this card I cut down a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and put it in my MISTI, I stamped the larger image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink then turned the paper and stamped again.

I coloured all the images with Copic markers, you'll notice the bottom image has a darker blue halo than the one on the top. As it turns out my B000 and BG0000 both decided to dry right up after finishing the top image, so I had no choice but to go darker for the bottom. Because of this, I opted to have the greeting heat embossed on a piece of vellum to place over the lower image. I felt this would tone it down and make it less noticeable.

I then adhered the panel to a piece of coordinating cardstock and then mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card, I added some crystals from Pretty Pink Posh in both blue and purple because I gotta have me some shine.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, 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.

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.

Always be a Unicorn | ft. The Greeting Farm Stamps

Hello, everyone. Thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a new card for the Monochrome Monday series, even though it's a little early. I was late on the last one, so I think this makes up for it!

The Greeting Farm stamps are relatively new to me. I don't have many of them but the ones I do have I'm very happy with. I'm in this encouragement card phase right now, and I'm not sure why. Generally my cards reflect my frame of mind, so maybe I need some encouragement in my life, or maybe one of you out there need some encouragement, either way - I gotta do what's going on in my head.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

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!

Here's a little lesson about glitter pens!

Super Fun Bokeh Birthday | ft. Lawn Fawn "Let's Bokeh"

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

Today I'm showing you two cards, created with Lawn Fawn's "Let's Bokeh" stamp set and some Distress Oxide ink. The Mermaid Lagoon and Squeezed Lemonade are my absolute favourite summer colours; they're so bright and happy and when they come together, they make the prettiest green ever.

I recommend watching in HD on YouTube!

Check out the video above to see how these cards came together, and the one little thing I would do differently if (*when) I make them again.

The crystals from Pretty Pink Posh coordinated so perfectly with the Distress Inks. I'm not gonna lie; I was pretty please with myself over this. 

I hope you like the cards (and video) for today 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.

Watercolour Wishes | ft. Clearly Besotted "Merci Beaucoup"

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

I know that many of us started making cards as a way of expression. We don't always have the words, whether the right ones or enough of them to convey what we feel, and while we could easily pick up another form of art; painting or drawing, we're drawn to cards because of the emotion an image can send.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and maybe that's true. A handmade card is like that. We channel our emotions into colouring or painting, stamping or paper piecing and the recipient knows the time and effort that was put in. They know the love and thought behind the little card they hold in their hands when they open the envelope.

For some people, a card is a card; but for others they can feel the difference between something that was lovingly (and often painstakingly) put together instead of one that was grabbed off the shelf while getting a jug of milk.

To begin, I stamped the rose from Clearly Besotted "Merci Beaucoup" set with Antique Linen Distress Ink on Strathmore 140lb cold press watercolour paper using the MISTI. I used the MISTI for this because the ink is so light it takes a couple stamps to get an impression that you can see clearly while colouring.

I then used a mix of my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Distress inks to watercolour the image.

Once that was completely dry, I returned the panel to my MISTI and stamped the greeting from CTMH "Cursive Birthday" with CTMH Cranberry pigment ink. I then adhered the panel to a piece of coordinating cardstock cut just a bit larger, and mounted the whole lot to a standard A2 size card base.

To finish off the card I added a few clear droplets from Pretty Pink Posh to look like drops of dew. These droplets have a bit more dimension to them than I would like, but the final result is always amazing.

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 now on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Golden Birthday | ft. Clearly Besotted "Friends Forever"

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

Today I wanted to share a card that I was asked to create as part of a box set. She wanted two masculine and two feminine birthday cards - but "nice". Personally, I think all my cards are nice, that's why I continue to make them. But I know that isn't what she meant. She simply meant she didn't want the cutesy stuff that I love doing.

Something more elegant was required. Luckily, I love doing those as well.

To begin, I stamped the tulip image from Clearly Besotted's "Friends Forever" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then masked off the image and sponged around the outside of the panel with Dried Marigold Distress Ink.

Once that was dry, I removed the mask and coloured the flower with Copic markers. I prepped the lower half of the panel with my powder tool and stamped the greeting from CTMH "Cursive Birthday" with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.

I adhered the panel to a piece of shimmering yellow cardstock then mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

To finish off the card I adhered a scatting of Sparkling Clear Sequins by Pretty Pink Posh across the front.

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

Mermazing Birthday | ft. MFT's "Mermazing" Stamp Set

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

I went back and forth on this set for so long. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I put this in my cart then removed it, then put it back then removed it. It was cute, but do I really want it? It's cute, but I don't actually need it.

In the end, it was the solid images that help set the scene, the kelp, coral and fishes, that finally tipped the scales for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the mermaids but I can always, always use scene builders; and this set had pieces that I don't have from anywhere else. So that was that.

To begin, I stamped the mermaid, turtle and a rock in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. Then I masked the rock and stamped it again and again, until the bottom looked the way I wanted it too.

I masked off all the images, and used Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and just a bit of Faded Jeans to create my ocean background. I then used my Distress Sprayer to splatter water over the background. I let that sit for about 20 seconds then patted it dry with a paper towel.

Once the background was completely dry, I stamped the kelp and solid fishes using CTMH Olive, Pear and Whisper inks.

Next I removed all the masks and coloured the images in with Copic markers. I used my clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen over her tail to make her shimmer. The greeting is a mix of the "You are Mermazing" sentiment and the birthday sentiments from Lawn Fawn's "Lovable Legends", stamped with CTMH Archival ink.

I then mounted this piece on a shimmering purple cardstock for a bit of a border then adhered the entire panel on a standard A2 sized card base.

Finally, I used two of the Pretty Pink Posh 4mm clear droplets and one of the 6mm clear droplets for some interest and dimension.

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

This card is for:

TGIF Challenges

#117 Summertime Blues