Happy Holidays 2018 | ft. Lawn Fawn "Thanks a Latte", "For You, Deer" and a Bunch of Dies

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

Today I want to share a card (and video) as the first in this year's Happy Holidays series, featuring Lawn Fawn's "Thanks a Latte"and "For You, Deer" stamp sets, as well as several of their die sets!

I recommend watching HD over on YouTube!

It feels a bit early to start posting Holiday cards, but as I mention in the video, I got some new Lawn Fawn goodies so it just had to happen. I do still plan to be posting some Fall and Halloween themed cards, but it's cold and yucky out today so it just felt like a winter card. As many of you know, I'm in Alberta, Canada where winter starts early and sticks around forever. Let me tell y'all, my winter tires stay on the car longer than my not winter tires and that is just a sad, sad thing.

So not only am I able to use THREE different pieces of patterned paper, I actually did paper piecing for the scarf on the mug. I know!! Totally not something I would normally do, but there it is! To be honest, I saw it on the YouTubes and it was just too cute not to try.

If you click on over and check out the video, not only will you get to see how this card came together, you'll also get to hear my thoughts on the Tim Holtz/Tonic Glass Mat. I know he talks about it being a "game changer" in his intro video, but having tried it for myself, I can certainly recommend it. Blending is a whole lot better. 

I don't know if you noticed, but there isn't a whole lot of embellishments on this card. Maybe the more patterned paper I use, the fewer sparkles I feel the need to add. Not sure how I feel about that.

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!

Shadowed Birthday | ft. Distress Ink and Heat Embossing

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

Today I wanted to share a CAS birthday card featuring Distress Oxide Inks and heat embossing with some translucent embossing powder. I felt the contrast between the colours lent a striking yet delicate look to this birthday card.

As with all cards, if I were to redo it, there would be some things that I do differently, but as it stands I'm rather pleased with how the card turned out.

To begin, I cut down a piece of 110lb cardstock to just smaller than the standard A2 size, and smooshed the Worn Lipstick and Dried Marigold Distress Oxide pads directly to the paper. I used my heat tool to speed up the drying. I choose to use the Oxide inks as they are more opaque and in this technique will not blend so much as lay down on top of each other.

Once that was completely dry, I prepped the whole page with my powder tool and stamped the floral shadow image with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with some translucent teal powder by recollections. I repeated the process with the greeting from Recollections.

Generally if you use contrasting colours or complimentary colours (the teal and the orange) you will get a muddied brown. Contrasting colours look great next to each other but they aren't awesome for blending.

I was pleased to find that this didn't happen. I think that this would also be lovely in shades of green or blue with different embossed images.

I then used a piece of coordinating twine and wrapped it about the bottom of the panel and tied it off in a bow. I used foam tape to mount the panel to the front of my A2 size 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.

Leafy Birthday | Ft. Lawn Fawn "Stitched Leaves Dies"

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

My super awesome Aunt asked me to make some masculine birthday cards, and today I'm going to share one with you featuring Lawn Fawn's "Stitched Leaves Dies". These leaves are fantastic for both positive and negative space use, and I have several cards that use them both ways. Today I'm going to be using the positive portion of the die cut (so the piece you actually cut out).

To begin, I created my top fold A2 sized card base from a piece of 65lb Kraft cardstock from Recollections. This was originally intended to stand upright, but I decided on a greeting that worked better this way. Just gotta roll with it.

I then used the Stitched Leaves dies to cut these leaves and used Distress Ink to give them some fall colours.

For the accent strip I cut a piece of dark brown cardstock to just under an inch wide and adhered 9 lengths of neutral bakers twine with a piece of 1/2" Skor Tape. I then adhered down the leaves using Nuvo Deluxe Liquid glue - which has become one of my most reached for liquid adhesives. It's so fantastic and I don't have to worry that things are going to wiggle loose.

I stamped the greeting using CTMH Cocoa ink - I did this in the MISTI so I could stamp it twice to get a really good impression.

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:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

For the Boys

Happy Heart Day Series | It Means I Love You ft Lawn Fawn's "Rawr"

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

The spring release from Lawn Fawn was amazing this year. By far my favourite set is the "Rawr" with this super cute little dinosaur; and what's even better is that it can be swapped out for use with  any season. "Rawr means I love you", "Rawr means Happy Birthday", "Rawr means Merry Christmas" the list just goes on and on. Good job Lawn Fawn!

To begin, I stamped the dinosaur, hearts and the speech bubble from Lawn Fawn's "Rawr" set with CTMH archival ink on 110lb white cardstock.

I then trimmed that down and coloured all the images in with Derwent Inktense pencils, using clean water to move the colour around. I'm still learning the ins and outs of these pencils so when I have had more time to use them, there will definitely be a review.

Once the panel was dry, I wrapped a length of bakers twine around the bottom and tied a bow. I popped the panel up on some foam tape and adhered it to a piece of patterned paper from Lawn Fawn, then mounted the entire 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.

Welcome Home Mashup | ft. Lawn Fawn and Mama Elephant

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

I may have mentioned this before, but I love mash-ups. So much of the time we limit ourselves to a single company per project and that's all well and good; but what's the point of buying very similar stamps from different companies just to keep the same brand throughout the project? It seems silly to me.

Today's mashup includes older sets from both Lawn Fawn and Mama Elephant - two of my absolute favourite companies!

To begin, I stamped the branch from Mama Elephant "Lunar Extras" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then stamped the greeting as well as the remaining images from Lawn Fawn's "Home Sweet Home" with the same ink.

I coloured all the images in with Copic markers and used my Stardust glitter pen for the very centre of each blossom.

Once the colouring and shadows were in place, I wrapped a length of baker's twine around the top and tied a bow. I then popped the panel up on foam tape and adhered it 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.

Happy Heart Day Series | The Sweetest ft Lawn Fawn "Sweet Friends"

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

I mentioned before that I had considered scrapping this year's Heart Day series. But as I push through it - channeling the things that I want to feel instead of the things I do feel - I found more and more that though the design was harder for me this year, the process was just as calming. Moreover, I felt more accomplished when the card was completed because the initial steps were more difficult.

I do think that things are starting to turn around here, I don't have any illusions that this is going to be an easy road to travel. It's hard work and it takes a determination that is stronger than the "feelings of the moment". Falling in love is easy, that's why they call it falling; it takes no effort. Maintaining that love after the initial "high" wears off is a lot more work, and it shows in all the little things.

So if you've been floundering lately, or feel like it just isn't quite the same, think back to the beginning and figure out what it was that brought you both together to begin with. Then from that, what things you've let slide or have allowed to slide. Even recognizing those tiny little things can be helpful, make a choice to love and to show that love.

To begin, I stamped the greeting and the froyo image from Lawn Fawn's "Sweet Friends" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I coloured the image in with Irojiten Coloured Pencils by Tombow. If you haven't checked these pencils out yet, I highly recommend that you do.

I then tied a length of bakers twine around the two corners and then popped the panel up on foam tape. I adhered a piece of patterned paper to the front of my standard A2 sized card base and mounted the panel to the front of that.

To finish off the card I used two shades of Nuvo Crystal Drops to add some embellishment across the front of the card.

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

Floral Thoughts Series | 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.

Happy Heart Day Series | Be Mime ft. MFT "Be Mime"

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

I'm not going to lie, I seriously considered skipping the Valentine's Day series this year. It has been a time of heartbreak for me, and while I pull a lot of my inspiration for emotions - more specifically sadness (stereotypical artist, right?) the idea of creating an entire series dedicated to love was so overwhelming for me that I thought it may have been better to just skip it.

I sat and looked at my lovey stamps and my pretty heart paper and just cried. How could I channel anything meaningful into cards when I felt so terrible? But the more I thought about it and stewed over it the more I realized that I could channel what I want to feel instead of what I was feeling.

I'm not generally one for patterned paper, I have a very difficult time working with it, it's one of the things I am challenging myself to work with more this year. I chose this incredibly busy background to represent the noise of the season, all the shops and people and love in the air; to be in opposition to the silent girl in the middle.

Maybe that's really deep, but you really just can't help how you feel.

To begin, I stamped the mime from MFT's "Be Mime" stamp set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured her in with Copic Markers. I wanted to keep her in very stark contrast to the background so I stuck with the cool and neutral grey families.

I used one of my stitched rectangles from Lawn Fawn to cut her out, then used some red bakers twine to create a border around the frame. I popped that up on foam tape and set it aside.

I adhered my patterned paper to the front of a standard A2 sized card base, then mounted my focus panel to the front of 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 or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:
Use Patterned Paper

Cute Card Thursday:
Anything Goes

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. Prismacolor Watercolour Pencils

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coloured on Kraft | ft. Clearly Besotted "Forever Friends" Gladiolas

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

With all the Halloween and Christmas stuff being posted, I think I'm still longing for the lazy days of summer. The temperature here is still quite warm - which makes me completely not ready to post my winter stuff, and I need to spread out my Halloween posts so that we actually make it to Halloween. LOL.

But it is getting crisp, especially at night and most noticeably in the mornings as we are getting ready for school. Today I want to share the next in my Coloured on Kraft mini series - which to be honest is really turning into a "not-so-mini" series.

Working with Kraft, for me, is all about the warm feelings. There is such a difference between the stark white of my regular cards and the coziness of a Kraft card. This just feels rustic, which reminds me cozy days by the fireplace when it starts to get nippy outside.

To begin, I stamped the Gladiola (I think) from Clearly Besotted's "Forever Friends" using VersaMark ink on 65lb Kraft cardstock. I opted to not use the standard black ink as I find it takes away from the warm florals when working on Kraft.

I then coloured the image in with Prismacolor Premier pencils (review coming, I promise) in shades of yellow. It wasn't until I Googled the actual flower that I discovered that this can be how they really look. I just liked the combination. And really, that's what the art is all about. Do what makes you happy. If you start worrying about what everyone else wants, you'll lose the reason you started in the first place. Stay true to you.

I then stamped the greeting from CTMH's "Sending Smiles" set using Memento Tuxedo Black. I wanted a high contrast between the image and the greeting.

Next I used some orange twine to create a bow, then mounted my Kraft panel to a piece of coordinating yellow cardstock. Then I 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 already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Crafting from the Heart

Challenge #176

Home Sweet Home | ft. Mama Elephant and Lawn Fawn

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

My in-laws recently moved from our relatively large city to a substantially smaller city in the mountains. It's been their retirement dream for some time, as they are both avid hiker/skiers, living in the mountains would be ideal for them. Imagine being able to do everything you wanted to, but get to sleep in for an extra 90 minutes and NOT have to go to bed early the night before? How awesome would that be?

Well, they're living their dream now, but it isn't easy leaving a house you've lived in for 20 plus years, where your kids left home (and came back ... again) where you were when your Grandchildren were born, where you've laughed and loved for so long.

To begin, I stamped the branch from Mama Elephant's "Lunar Extras" in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then stamped the house and added the door and the string(?) from Lawn Fawn's "Home Sweet Home" set.

I coloured the images with Copic Markers and stamped the greeting from the same Lawn Fawn set. To bring a bit more life to the panel, I sponged Tumbled Glass Distress ink around the edges, and used a length of yellow twine around the top to make a bow.

I then popped the panel up on foam tape and adhered it 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:

Addicted to CAS Challenge

#120 Florals

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

 

(Mostly) Single Layer Masculine Card

I have found that one of the more difficult things to do as a card maker is to create cards for men. Most of the stamps and sentiments out there are very feminine. And while it is perfectly okay to give a man a card with flowers and butterflies or cute little critters, it has been far more challenging to create a "manly" card. 

Today's card was created using earth tones and minimal embellishments. Swapping out ribbon for bakers twine takes out some of the femininity that so many of my cards have. Using neutral colours in place of my usual rainbow pallet gave this card a more rustic feel.

(Mostly) single layer card using ombre strips with black heat embossed greeting and focus.