Hippo Anniversary To You | ft. MFT "Happy Hippos"

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

Today I have a super fun anniversary card I created by request using the Happy Hippos stamp set by My Favorite Things and the "mirror stamping" technique.

My mom asked me to create an anniversary card for someone she knew whose son was coming up to his first wedding anniversary. Naturally, I suggested something super romantic and had roses and lovey stuff all ready to go, and she's all like "nahhh, can you do hippos?"

Yes. Yes, Mom, I can. It was awesome! I was so incredibly stoked that the lady wanted hippos instead of something lovey. So epic.

To begin, I used the hippo with the gift from the Happy Hippos set and mirror stamped him. The original is the one on the right and the mirror is the one on the left. As I get more practice with this technique I love the results more and more. Kissing hippos? C'mon guy! How AWESOME is that?

I trimmed the left edge down and added half an inch of teal paper to coordinate with the ribbons on the gifts; then coloured the images with Copic markers. The little heart is from MFT "Bitty Bears" and it worked out perfectly!

All the images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I used a bit of Mowed Lawn Distress ink under the hippos just so they weren't floating in the middle of the page.

To finish off the card, I used clear Wink of Stella over the hearts and the ribbons from the presents, then covered the hearts with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

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

Anything Goes

Pastel Paradise | ft. MFT "Polynesian Paradise"

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

When I get a new set, I'm typically after the big piece. The main stamp and my scene will be built around it; but those little stamps, that sit back and mind their own business can really come into their own light when you 'forget' about the big one. I've been challenging myself to use some of the littler pieces in a set to create something without the fanfare of the main image.

To begin, I cut a grey frame using two of my nested circle dies. I then cut a circle using 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and the larger die to create my window piece. I had considered doing an acetate overlay here, but I discarded the idea later.

For all the stamping I used CTMH Whisper ink. This is a dye based ink, so as long as you are careful you can use your Copic markers with it. This was a new discovery for me and it opens up so many doors of opportunity. I am no longer tied to a black outline. I literally have dozens of the CTMH inks and since I use Copics more than anything else, there are few cards I'd like to recreate with a softer edge.

For the flowers I stamped the small hibiscus flower from MFT's "Polynesian Paradise" and masked a couple off so that they would look like a bouquet. I also stamped the little lizard from the same set, but I used the mirror stamping technique so he would face the other way and work with what I had in mind.

Because this is also for a color challenge, I had a very limited palette to work with. Their colours this week were Aqua, Light Pink, Lavender and white - and you can pick a neutral so I chose the grey.

After coloring all the images, I covered the blossoms with clear Wink of Stella because it has to sparkle! (I used my BV markers for the Lavender, BG markers for the Aqua and my lightest R markers for the Light Pink.)

I masked the right side of the panel off except for just over an inch and used Glacier CTMH ink, when looking at my swatches, it was the closest to an Aqua colour that I have.

To put the piece together, I adhered the panel to an A2 sized card base, then I used Tombow Mono Multi Glue to put the circle in place and foam tape for my little chameleon. I used the same Whisper ink to stamp the Birthday greeting (from MFT's "The Whole Herd").

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:

MFT Sketch Challenge #345

CAS(E) This Sketch #234

Color Throwdown #455

and 

Fusion Challenge: Pastel Pencils

My inspiration came from the colours in the picture.

Lost Treasure | ft. Lawn Fawn "Duh-nuh"

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

Today's card came together while I was playing around with some new things and trying out a couple new techniques. If there were a do over, there are a few things I would do differently, but overall I think it turned out pretty well.

There isn't really a category for this card to fit into, but sometimes that is okay. Sometimes it is about the creativity and the process and the art of it all.

To begin, I stamped the left shark from Lawn Fawn's "Duh-Nuh" stamp set, on to 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then used the Mirror Stamping technique to get the shark on the right. Once I have played around with this technique I'll do a full post about it.

I then stamped and masked the treasure box, coins, diamond and fish and then used Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Faded Jeans Distress Ink for the ocean, Antique Linen and Gathered Twigs of the sandy bottom and a bit of Ground Espresso for the shadow under the chest.

After that was completely dry I used the Distress Sprayer (also new!) to add water droplets to the page. I did a bit of creative masking and sponging to keep a sun ray over the treasure chest.

I coloured all the images in with Copic markers and fussy cut out the two sharks and popped the right one up with foam tape. I used clear Wink of Stella on the bubbles and the diamond then covered them with Glossy Accents to make them shine.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.