2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 10 | Of Christmas Past

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

Today is the final day in this year's card series, and I chose to keep this card for last, because it was really this stamp that started it all.

Six years ago, when I started making cards and had no idea where to start, what was I to do? It was Pinterest. I scrolled and scrolled looking in wonder at the beauty people were creating and adding to the world, not just for Christmas, but for everything! Birthdays, Easter, Sympathy, Divorce, Babies, New Pets - I cannot remember wanting to be a part of anything more than I wanted to be a part of this.

And then there it was. The sweet little fox that started it all. His big bushy tail wrapped around him as he sat in the corner of the card. I fell in love with that little fox and that was the beginning for me. I haven't stopped since.

I have taken breaks, I have been frustrated, angry and sad. I've used card making to pull me out of dark moments of despair. When my Father passed away, I would sit for hours just surrounded by my colours, letting their beauty guide me back.

Each birthday, funeral, wedding and anniversary has been marked in some way with my cards, that little something more that I could do.

I discovered more brands, I soaked up YouTube videos like a dry sponge wanting to absorb it all; but I still come back to that little fox when I just need something to make me smile.

So for today's card, my ghost of Christmas past, I hope he brings a smile to your face as well.

I stamped the fox from "Into the Woods" with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink, I masked him off and stamped the log from "Critters in the Forest" and masked that as well.

I used Tumbled Glass and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide Inks and my dollarstore blending brushes to create my sky. Once that was dry, I masked off the bottom and used Moonstone Glimmer Paste by Nuvo through the Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil to finish off my background.

I removed all my masks and coloured the images with Copic markers. I mounted my panel to a coordinating piece of purple cardstock then adhered 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.

2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 6 | Wild Wonder

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

Wasn't it day 6 last year where I started talking about the colds my kids bring home just before the holidays? I'm too lazy to check, but we can probably just assume I'm close to right. It happens every year. We get right close to Winter Break and bang, all the kids are sick, all the co-workers are sick so Trina gets sick. Yep. Like clockwork, or to put a more positive spin on it, like tradition.

Because traditions are important. Structure, familiarity and whatnot. This particular "tradition" sucks, but at least it is predictable.

Today's card is probably my favourite of this year's collection, and with a few tweaks, I can probably make it for other seasons as well. So, stay tuned for that in the coming months.

All the images from Lawn Fawn's "Joy to the Woods" are stamped with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and cut with the coordinating dies (clearly I got this set and its dies before I got the SNC, so why not use them if you have them, right?)

Again I wanted the whole scene to appear very cold, I find there is an elegant beauty in a frozen scene and for me, this one captures it perfectly.

I created the background with Shaded Lilac and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink and my dollarstore blending brushes. I then used the SSS Falling Snow stencil along with some Nuvo Glimmer paste in Moonstone to get the glitter of falling snow.

I played around with the placement of the trees quite a bit. As this card is relatively flat, I wanted to create the illusion of depth by having some elements come outside my focus window.

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.

2019 Happy Holidays Card Series | Day 2 | Frosty Merry Christmas

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

It's no surprise that I don't like winter. This is, what, our sixth? no, our fifth winter season together; and every year we discuss how much I hate winter and how I don't like the snow, or the cold or the grey or the anything that has to do with anything winter related.

But let's be real for a minute. Hating winter and being cold is one thing, SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder is a real thing and it's scary. It's waking up to see a grey sky with a little bit of snow on the ground and staring out the window and crying for an hour. It's struggling to do anything because the blanket of snow on the ground literally feels as though it is smothering you, or in this case, me. It's your partner worrying about you because the forecast looks bad. It's more than some seasonal blues, it's a crushing weight that is incredibly lonely.

Find something that you love. Find help, it's a real thing and it's a terrible thing to go through alone.

Now that that's out of the way, lets get back to the card. The thing that I love, the thing helps me get through the winter.

The images from Lawn Fawn's Frosty Fairy Friends are stamped with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured with Copic markers.

I then masked the images and used Shaded Lilac and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink for the background sky. I didn't intend for these to be this year's winter colours, but as I worked through this year's series it turned out that purple and blue were where it's at.

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 "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.

You're a Star | ft. Lawn Fawn "So Jelly"

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

Today I want to share a card that I created using Lawn Fawn's "So Jelly" stamp set along with Distress Oxide inks and Copic markers.

To begin, I cut down a piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock and used Carved Pumpkin and Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide inks to create my background. Once that was dry, I prepped the piece with my powder tool and stamped the starfish from the So Jelly stamp set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I then splattered the panel with clean water to get that distressed look we all love, then splattered again with gold Perfect Pearls.

To get a bit more dimension in my starfish, I went in with some Copic markers to add some shadows and highlights.

I adhered that directly to my standard A2 sized card base. I heat embossed the greeting with detail white embossing powder and mounted the strip with foam mounting tape (from the dollar store).

To finish off the card, I used some of the small bubbles, scattered about the panel.

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.

International Sloth Day - Happy (belated) Birthday | ft. Lawn Fawn Stamps and Interactive Dies

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

Today I wanted to share a card (and video) for an interactive, masculine and SUPER cute belated birthday card, featuring Lawn Fawn's "Double Slider Surprise" die set, "Hang in There" and "Critters in the Jungle" stamp sets, all in honour of International Sloth Day. That's a thing. You can Google it.

So I had a completely different card in mind when I woke up this morning, and not gonna lie - it took a bit for me to get that one out of my head, or at least off to the side, so I could create this one. Sloth Day only happens once a year, and I'll not miss it. They are, after all, my most favouritest of animals.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

In the video you'll see the list of Copics that I used to create this card, I also discuss why this die set gives me the most trouble out of all the interactive sets I have. As well, in the interests of full disclosure, I do go off on a pretty long tangent about the value we put on our work, and why it is important that we continue to do what we love BECAUSE we love it, not to make everyone else happy. Oh, and you'll also see me make a bit of a masking error and how I fixed it. This video is loaded with stuff today; I didn't even list them all!

I really wanted the sloth to be the star of the show, not counting the interactive element, as that generally steals the show. We all love a little interaction in our cards!

I kept the colouring super simple on all of the elements, all of which are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock.

So while we're chatting about mistakes (in the video) I also didn't really put the card together the way I wanted. The pull up panel goes waaaay further than I wanted because I didn't use the stopper mechanism - and they provide it for a reason. Sooo maybe next time. Whoops!

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:

Adding Dimension with Coloured Pencils | ft. Simon Says Stamp "Beautiful Flowers"

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

Today I want to share a card I created using Simon Says Stamp's "Beautiful Flowers" stamp set, Distress Oxide inks and PrismaColor Premier pencils.

The end result of this card is not what I had planned. I had just wanted to do an ombre background and stamp the image over top, just something super simple so I could get back into the swing of things. I've been having some serious issues getting over my creative block. I have a lot of ideas and I find that they build up but then I can't get any one of them out on paper. It's incredibly frustrating.

I began with applying Squeezed Lemonade, Ripe Persimmon and Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide ink to my panel. I then splattered it with clean water and then splattered again with Perfect Pearls in gold.

Once that was dry, I put the panel in my MISTI and stamped the large floral image from Simon Says Stamp's "Beautiful Flowers" with Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink.

I had planned on leaving it at that (after adding the greeting from Beautiful Friend), but then I thought I would add a little bit of colour in the areas where I wanted shadows. Then down the rabbit hole I went. I just couldn't stop myself. I started adding darker and darker shades to deepen the shadows. Once the shadows were there, it occurred to me that the highlights weren't highlight-y enough.

When all was said and done, it was completely different than I had originally planned. I intentionally did not do anything with the leaves, I wanted just the flowers to really pop off the page. Kind of like a one layer spotlight technique.

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.

Interactive Masculine Birthday Card | ft. Lawn Fawn Stamps and Dies

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

Today I have a masculine card (and video) featuring -- SURPRISE!!! Lawn Fawn Stamps and Dies. I needed to create a birthday card for my grandfather who turned 86 this year! 86!! And still strong as an ox. He's totally one of my favourite people in the whole world and he got a real kick out of this card. We had his birthday dinner on Saturday (Chinese food - because that's what he loves) and he thought it was great. He even texted me during dinner to say thank you.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

When you watch the video, you'll see that my process isn't really as smooth as it generally is. Or at least as smooth as think I am because I had a little person talking at me and asking me questions and trying to get me to do stuff for her. 

I used Distress Oxide inks to create a simple background so that my little scene wasn't just floating in the middle of nowhere, I used Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass; there is absolutely nothing special about this. I just wanted to get colour on my panel.

I used Lawn Fawn Dye Inks to stamp my little water patch from the Dad & Me set, I knew that it wasn't going to be a solid stamped image and tried to use that to my advantage by restamping the image a second and third time with a lighter colour ink to make it look more like actual water.

I wanted to finish off the inside of the card, something I don't typically do. For this one I stamped the images in second generation Distress Oxide ink and then stamped the sentiment from the Reveal Wheel Sentiments with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

For the grass and dragonflies around the little scene I used Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Oxide ink. This isn't in the video because of a certain little person who just *needed* to have my attention. But I do talk about that in the video.

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.

Hello Little Monkey | ft. Hello Bluebird "Jungle Littles" and "Spring Script"

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

Today I'm going to share a card that I created for my friend who just had a new baby! He's about the cutest darned thing I've ever seen, let me tell ya.

When I saw these little critters from Hello Bluebird stamps, I about died. Mostly for the sloth because that's my favourite animal, but the rest of them are just as sweet. They went with a monkey jungle theme for the nursery so this one worked out perfectly.

To begin, I stamped the monkey and the vine with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. There was a bit of masking involved, as I wanted him to be swinging by his tail, to fill in any lines that were missing, I used a fine-tip Copic-safe black pen to draw them in.

I then coloured the images with Copic markers. For the greeting, I prepped the lower part of my panel with my powder tool, then stamped the large "Hello" from the "Spring Script" set with Peeled Paint Distress Oxide Ink (using the MISTI, just in case) then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Not only does this help the Oxide ink dry faster, but it gives just a bit of dimension and some shine. I stamped the "There" with VersaMark ink on black cardstock and heat embossed with white powder and trimmed it down.

I mounted my panel to a piece of patterned paper then adhered the whole lot to the front of a top folding standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card, I used some clear Wink of Stella on the leaves and the banana and then coated them with Glossy Accents by Ranger, because while he may not appreciate the shine, I know his Mom did.

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.

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.

Another Super Fun Bokeh Card | ft. Lawn Fawn "Let's Bokeh" and Distress Oxide Ink

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

Originally I wasn't going to post this one, because it is very similar to the card I posted recently. But I felt that it was different enough that it warranted its own post. Also I really like this one so I wanted to share it as well.

For this card, I created the Bokeh strip the same way I did for the other cards, just cut it down differently. I set that aside to dry and placed two strips of 1/8" Skor tape directly on the front of my standard A2 sized card base.

I used some silver Nuvo Gilding flakes to add some seriously shiny accent strips. I then stamped the greeting from Lawn Fawn using both the Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide ink and Memento Tuxedo Black.

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.

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.

Floral Thoughts Thank You Shaker

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

Today I have a super fun shaker using a new die, let me tell y'all: I had my doubts about this die. I haven't had the best luck with dies from Recollections, but this one impressed me. It's definitely the most intricate die that I have and it worked pretty well.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

If I had to remake this card, I think I would do something to make the text in the middle stand out a bit more, but live and learn, right? Don't get me wrong, I still like it, but just one of those things that I would do differently. Hindsight and all that.

I hope you like today's card (and video) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you have'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.

Celebrate .... "Everyday"? | ft Distress Oxide Inks and Gansai Tambi Starry Night Watercolours

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

Today I have a card that I thought would be a lovely encouragement card. I was planning to send this card to someone I know that has been dealing with a cruddy deal for quite a while now and I just wanted to let this person know I was thinking of them, and that every day (that was a hint) is an accomplishment.

However, if you watch this video I will explain why I cannot send this card, and why this card had me so frustrated!!

I recommend watching in HD on YouTube (Seriously, it's way shinier!!)

Check out the video for the full tutorial, the list of Distress Oxide Inks I used to create this background and where the inspiration came from.

This is also the first card where I got to use my new Iridescent Crystals from Studio Katia, and let me tell you I LOOOOOVE them!!

I'm so stoked I was able to capture the shine on this card in a picture. I'm definitely going to be doing this technique again!

I hope you like today's card (and video tutorial) 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.

Monochromatic Monday - Except it's a Day Late | ft. Lawn Fawn "Toadally Awesome" and Bayou Backdrop

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

So remember a couple months ago when I said that I was going to do Monochromatic Mondays, because I like having a series to work on, and the ones I had just weren't enough? And then I posted one, and haven't done another.

Today I have one for you and it's only one day (and a couple months) late! This one has a video to go with it - and it's a good video.

I recommend watching it in HD over on YouTube!

Check out the video above to see how I put this card together and my awesome commentary about paper-piecing (and how I never do it ... until now) as well as watch me talk myself OUT of adding a million embellishments at the end.

The patterned paper I completely forgot the name of that I use in the card is called Coastal Village. So not colour anything. HAHAHA

I have a full listing of the Distress Oxide inks as well as the Copic markers I used to create this card!

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

It's a Mixed Bag Today!

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

Today I have a mixed haul video, showing some Lawn Fawn (of course), MFT, new Distress Oxide inks, a failed project as well as the unboxing of the Chibi Lights Starter kit!!

Or you can watch it in HD over on YouTube!

I hope you enjoyed today's video. 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!

Out of This World Birthday | ft. Lawn Fawn "Beam Me Up"

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

Today I have a birthday card using stamps from the new Lawn Fawn set "Beam Me Up". I showed this set in my recent Haul Video and I couldn't wait to get started playing with it. I have so many more ideas - and not just for Birthdays, but for Mother's Day and Father's Day and Just Because. It's going to be great; so stay tuned!!

To begin, I created a galaxy background using Distress Oxide Inks, I started by randomly sponging on Broken China, Lucky Clover and Wilted Violet, then going over them with slightly darker colours and finally going over the whole panel with Black Soot. I applied an additional layer of the Black Soot around the edges to make it appear darker.

I used my Distress Sprayer to spritz clean water and patted that dry with a paper towel. Once the panel was completely dry, I used some Copic Opaque White to splatter some brighter stars, then set the panel aside to dry again.

I then stamped the ship with the alien, the cake and a couple presents with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, coloured the images with Copic markers and used my Scan N Cut to cut out all the images.

To create the beam I prepped a piece of vellum with my powder tool and stamped the image with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed with white detail embossing powder, then fussy cut it out.

Once I decided where I wanted the images to go, I prepped the bottom of the panel with my powder tool and heat embossed the greeting with the same white embossing powder.

I then adhered the gifts and the cake down to the panel and the beam over top, being careful to hide the adhesive behind the embossed lines. I popped the spaceship up on some foam tape and placed him over the beam.

I adhered the panel to a piece of black 65lb cardstock, then mounted the entire lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

Finally, I added glossy accents by Ranger over the dome of the ship and over the lights.

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.

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.

Shadow Butterflies | ft. Forever In Time "Butterfly Fancy"

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

A little while ago, I posted a card using a new (to me) stamp company and I really liked the results. Recently, I've been able to get my hands on some other sets and while the stamps themselves definitely need some "prepping" to be ink-ready, I'm enjoying the new designs.

To begin, I cut down a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock and used Salty Ocean and Broken China Distress Oxide inks to create the background. Once that was relatively dry, I used the Distress sprayer to spritz clean water and give the distressed look we all love.

I hit that with my heat tool - because I learned from the last piece that sometimes they take forever to dry. I then used a bunch of the butterflies from Forever In Time's "Butterfly Fancy" and Daisy White pigment ink from CTMH to stamp them randomly over the panel. I used first and second generation stamping to create a swarm.

While the lighting was pretty good, the camera didn't seem to want to really pick up the different layers of depth that was on the card. So in real life these butterflies are more bold than you can see here.

Once the white was dry, I stamped the greeting from CTMH "Cursive Birthday" using Pacifica pigment ink. I generally have pretty good luck stamping larger solid images with pigment ink, but less luck stamping the greetings - perhaps because the lines are finer - I seem to get these "trenches" in the ink. So I did this part of the stamping using my MISTI.

I mounted the piece to a coordinating piece of blue cardstock then 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.

Monochrome Monday Series | Green Birthday ft. Distress Oxide Inks

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

Happy New Year to all of you! With the new year, I have a few new series' coming and since the year starts on a Monday and we're all fans of alliteration, I thought to start out with Monochrome Mondays.

In this series, I'll be showcasing monochrome cards - this is really an effort to keep myself challenged and thinking outside of my comfort zone.

The last week has turned my whole world upside down and let me tell you it has not been awesome. Everything I thought I knew and held so close to my heart has been taken away and while it has been super fantastic for my creativity the rest of me feels lost and alone.

To begin I cut down a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock and used Peeled Paint and Lucky Clover Distress Oxide inks to create the background. I didn't really think that these two would blend the way I saw in my head, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out pretty darn close.

Once that was mostly dry - I really should have waited longer but I'm not exactly a patient person I used the circles from Lawn Fawn's "Let's Bokeh" stamp set with Daisy White ink from CTMH to create the Bokeh effect. I was a couple spots in when I realized that the Distress Oxide wasn't completely dry. So the spots are lighter than I wanted them to be and they picked up the green. In order to avoid contaminating my white, I wiped it clean with a baby wipe between applications.

I hit the panel with my heat tool to get all the pigment inks to dry, I really wish there were a more efficient way to get pigments to dry. They aren't even consistent. I've had pieces dry within half an hour and others that I had to leave overnight. It can be very frustrating.

Once the panel was pretty dry, I stamped the leaves from an old Inkadinkado set using Olive ink from CTMH in the lower right corner.

For the greeting I stamped a "Happy Birthday" from CTMH's "Cursive Birthday" with Olive pigment ink.

Finally, I mounted the Bristol panel to a darker green cardstock then 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.