My Favorite Things "Bitty Bears" Wednesday Sketch Challenge

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

So remember back in June when my part-time job went full-time? One of the other part-time people got a full-time job so we've had to hire a replacement for her. So far, I gotta say she's pretty awesome. Anyway, because she also has a full-time job, her training has to happen after hours, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm at work until 9:00pm, but it kinda works out because I get to start later so I have some extra crafty time during the week! YAY!!!

For today's card I'm working off the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge; each week they provide you with an inspiration sketch and you use your stuff to make a card, then enter it in the challenge. If you click on over to the Recognition page, or have been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I used to participate in challenges all the time, like dozens a month. But since going full-time I haven't really done as many because there just doesn't seem to be any time left in my day. This morning, I put together this card and will be submitting it to the challenge.

Hopefully this productivity continues.

To begin, I used Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio Distress inks along with my Lori blending brushes to create an ombre background.

I set that aside to dry then stamped the greeting and three of these adorable little bears from MFT's "Bitty Bears" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic Markers.

I then used a stitched square die to cut out the little guys and one of the banner dies from MFT's Die-namics Blueprint #27 to cut my banner.

Once the background panel was completely dry, I adhered it to the front of my standard A2 sized card base and used foam tape to pop up the squares. The banner was adhered with 1/4" Scor tape to lay flat.

To finish off the card, I added a bit of sparkle to their noses and used a black gel pen over the eyes of each bear to make them stand out.

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:

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.

Happy Holidays Series | Scripty Wishes ft. Lawn Fawn and Distress Oxide Ink

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

Welcome to the sixth day in this year's Happy Holidays Series. Today I wanted to go a little less cute and a bit more classic. Once again this card features mainly Lawn Fawn - I honestly cannot get enough of their products (quite literally).

This design is excellent for the those on the list who aren't into the cutesy scenes. With the MISTI a design like this can easily be reproduced to get a stack of cards that are ready to go.

To begin, I trimmed down a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock to slightly smaller than a standard A2 sized card base. I then prepped it with my powder tool and put it in my MISTI. I lined up a bunch of the scripty greetings from Lawn Fawn's "Winter Scripty Sayings" and stamped them with VersaMark ink.

I heat embossed them with clear embossing powder, then used Salty Ocean and Broken China Distress Oxide inks to create an ombre background. I then used clean water to create a splatter and patted it dry with paper towel.

Finally, I adhered the panel to the front of my card base and then added some glittering silver snowflakes that I cut using the "Mini Snowflake" dies by Lawn Fawn.

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.

Masculine Birthday Card in Greens

Hello again! I hope you are all having a great day. I've been working like crazy to get birthday cards and Valentine's day cards stocked up, and it's nice to sit down with my computer. Ahhhh technology...

With Christmas over and Valentine's day right around the corner, it's no wonder we're all thinking spring. Maybe that's just me? I don't know, anyway I've been putting a lot more bright colours into the cards and trying to stay away from the winter themes. I don't like winter at the best of times, so if I have an excuse to look forward to spring, I'll take it.

Today's card is for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, and their theme this week is Ombre. Which was just wonderful for me because I've been using it so much in my backgrounds lately, so I didn't even have to switch creative gears in order to participate this week. Always a win!

All inks are Tim Holtz distress inks on 140lb coldpress watercolour paper.

Update: I just wanted to let you all know that I won the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Ombre with this card!

Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement! It means so much to me.

(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.