Deepest Thanks | ft. Lawn Fawn "Double Slider Surprise" Dies and Stamps

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

Sooo, the kids are all back at school now. Three kids, three different schools, an average of about 600 kids per school means there are 1800 kids worth of germs in my house right now, and I got them all. I don't get sick very often, but when I do... holy crap it hits me like a truck. I'll spare you the "juicy" details of what I can only describe as the great head cold of 2018, but that's the reason I haven't managed to do a voice over. I have a couple videos all edited and waiting for the voice over, but I'm sure you will appreciate not having to hear me breathe as though I had just run a marathon, and sniffle every two seconds. Trust me, I'm doing you all a favour.

For today's card I thought I would share my first attempt using the "Double Slider Surprise" die set. We all knew this was coming, I mean, when have I EVER been able to resist a Lawn Fawn item? I thought for my first attempt I would keep it relatively basic, using the "You are Sublime" and "Duh-Nuh" stamp sets.

Now, if you haven't watched Lawn Fawn's "Intro to Double Slider Surprise" video, I highly recommend that you do so before attempting this card. A couple of times. I'm a HUGE fan of their interactive dies, and while this one is no different, it's going to take a bit of practice, at least for me. Lemme tell ya.

The dies themselves are straightforward, the only one that I had issues with was the tab cutter, which makes the little indent on the sleeve. I wasn't sure what to line it up with, and as you can see in the photo above I did not line it up properly.

All the images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. I used the Brother 2 Scan N Cut to cut them all out.

To create all my background I used Distress Inks with my blending tool in various shades of blue for the water and Scattered Straw with Gathered Twigs for the sand.

Another mistake I made, was deciding at the end to add the little pull tabs, I totally should have added them before my layers - but that's on me. And let's be honest, any difficulties I had with this set are totally on me. And that's okay with me. I love a challenge and having a set that is more for the art of it, than for mass production is A-OKAY. So if you've received a card like this from a loved one, think twice before tossing it. More than a little bit of work went into creating it.

To adhere all the pieces down, I ran them through my Xyron mini X sticker maker, I've found that I can move them around a bit as a long as I haven't pushed them down completely.

I cut a piece of the Really Rainbow patterned paper to the front of my card - and then die cut my pull tabs from the piece I trimmed. This is when I discovered I should have done that waaay before this point.

To make the slider stick to the front, I covered the back with Scor Tape - which is a super sticky two way tape that I would recommend in all sizes for all things. I never have to worry about this stuff coming off.

To finish off the inside of the card, I used third generation stamping of the little submarine from the "You are Sublime" set, and first generation for the sentiment. I added a couple of the extra pieces I had coloured just for some added interest and so they got to fulfill their paper destinies.

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.

Make the Card Fit Your Scene - Deepest Thanks | ft. Lawn Fawn "You are Sublime" and "Jawsome"

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

Today I'm going to share a fun way to get all the images you want on to a single card. Just make the card bigger!! Sometimes the hardest thing (especially with Lawn Fawn) is getting all the images we want to use on a standard A2 sized card base. These images are so stinkin' cute and their sets coordinate so well that we just don't always have the space we want to make the scene in our heads come to life. So why not make a bigger card? Who says all our cards have to be the standard A2 size?

Today's card is a whopping 9x4" and even then I had to remove a couple from my vision. But hey, it happens. Don't limit yourself, do what makes you happy.

To begin, I cut a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock to just slightly smaller than my 9x4" card base. I stamped all of my images using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then masked them off.

Once the masks were all in place, I used Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Blue Print Sketch Distress Inks to create my background, working from top to bottom to get a smooth blend and adding more ink as I went so it would be darker at the bottom.

Once that was completely dry, I removed the masks and coloured all the images using Copic Markers. If I were to go back and do this card again, I think I would have used some of the solid image stamps to create more in the background to give the card some extra depth.

I mounted my panel the front of my card base using my tape runner. Then to finish off the card I used some "Ocean Wave" crystals from Studio Katia to be the bubbles and applied Glossy Accents by Ranger over the windows of the submarine and the visor of the diver.

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

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.

Butterfly Appreciation | ft. Simon Says Stamp "Beautiful Day"

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

Today I have a super quick Thank You card. A friend of mine is Chair of the Parent's association for her daughter's school, and she asked me to create a couple Administrative Appreciation cards for the ladies in the office.

So while the video is quick, it took me a little bit to sort out the design (luckily I had some inspiration!). She wanted them in the school colours, and this was as close to teal as I could get. She likes them, so it's a win!

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

The video only shows one, but they are basically the same.

I supposed this would also technically fall into my monochrome series, but I haven't posted in a little while so I wanted to get this up right away, instead of waiting for Monday.

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:

Muse Challenge #262

Inspired by Kim Heggins

Her CAS design with the bluebird really helped me out for my card today!

Spotlight Stamping | Beautiful Thanks ft. Stampin' Up "Rose Wonder"

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

Normally I won't post using the same stamp set two days in a row, but the Rose Wonder was still out on my desk and I did say I was going to use it more often and two in a row is better than three in a month right? Maybe not, but I was so in love with how this card turned out that I had to share it right away.

This card could work for Valentine's Day, but I decided to turned it into a Thank You card, though you'll never really know that because I didn't put a greeting on the outside. Just a sentiment of thanks on the inside. Either way, this card can work for any occasion.

To begin, I used the MISTI and stamped the rose with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I stamped it twice to get a good impression, something I seem to struggle with when using large stamps.

I then used a rectangle die from Spellbinders to cut out the centre. I adhered the centre piece down to a piece of black cardstock, cut slightly larger and used my Copics to colour the smaller panel.

I added a second piece of black cardstock to the front of a standard A2 sized card base and mounted the uncoloured frame to that. I then used some super strong two-way tape to add the smaller panel, making sure that my lines matched up.

To finish off the card I used my clear Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen over the coloured petals. I made sure only to do two passes with the glitter so we don't have issues like we talked about a couple weeks back. I decided it needed just a little something more, so I added a few clear drops from Pretty Pink Posh to look like water drops on a couple of the petals.

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.

Yoda Best! | A Clean and Simple Thank You Card ft. The Sassy Club

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

Super exciting news, well for me, maybe less so for you, but I hope you're excited about it. I had mentioned on my blog a little while ago that I finally found a mount for my camera and today I have the very first video.

Please be kind. It's my first one and there are still a lot of bugs to work out, especially in the audio portion of it. I haven't sorted out the voice over, but I did manage to not have it be upside down. LOL

Check out the YouTube link at the bottom of the post to hop on over and see the video.

I stamped the image and the greeting from The Sassy Club "Star Wars" set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic friendly cardstock.

I coloured the image in with Copic markers, then masked him off and used Antique Linen Distress Ink to sponge a bit of colour around him. It didn't really pick up well in the picture, but in real life it adds just enough to the card.

As I mentioned this is my first one, and I know I have a long way to go; but please be nice. I'm really trying, I promise!

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.

Sincere Thanks and a Little Lesson About Glitter Pens

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

I had considered not posting this. I didn't really look at the picture before I gave the card away, so I didn't have the option of taking a second one. I suppose I could have redone the card, but then I thought I'd keep the post and share a little something I learned about glitter pens.

To begin, I stamped the rose image and the greeting from Clearly Besotted "Merci Beaucoup" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I coloured the image with Copic markers.

To add some interest, I rounded the corners at the bottom of both the panel and the 4 bar card base. Finally I added a few mini diamonds from CTMH.

Here's where I went wrong. I wanted the flower to sparkle. And not just a little bit. So I went over it when my clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen. But because I'm me, and I can't stop myself - I waited until it was dry, then went over it again. Then again. And very possibly a fourth time; who's counting?

Looking at the picture, you're all probably thinking "uh not your best colouring, Trina" - but no, that's just glitter. Lots and lots of glitter. So a couple things I learned from this: first, check the picture before giving away the card and second, maybe four or five layers of glitter is just a bit too much.

So it sparkled. Like a whole lot and in real life it doesn't look this incredibly weird. Let's be honest as pictures go - this one makes up for every other one that I have ever posted where I said "the camera just doesn't pick up the 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 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.

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!

Freehand Thanks | ft. Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

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

Recently, my Mom went on vacation to visit some family on the island. She had a fantastic time and wanted to express her gratitude. My Aunt has always been a huge supporter of my work and any art that I put together. So when Mom asked me to create a thank you card for her, I wanted something that I knew they would both love.

To begin, I roughly sketched in the horizon and the scene using a regular pencil. I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to add the islands then my Prisma waterbrush to pull out the colour. Once that was dry, I added the water and again pulled out the colour; always being careful not to trap the pencil under the colour. Once it's trapped it's not coming out.

I erased any pencil marks and added darker shades of each colour to give it some depth. Finally I sketched in the palm trees, right over top of the scene that was all ready there. The great thing about these markers is the ability to layer colours.

Once everything was dry, I used my light and medium grays to add some shadows. I then stamped the sentiment using CTMH's Archival Black ink.

To put the card together, I adhered the watercoloured piece to black cardstock to give it a border and then put the whole thing on 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 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:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Add a Sentiment

DIY Patterned Paper | ft. Lawn Fawn "Blissful Botanicals" Emboss Resist

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

Sometimes the right patterned paper isn't one that happens to be in your stash, so today I'm going to share with you how to do your own using heat embossing and Distress inks.

To begin, I prepped a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock with my powder tool. Mine is from EK Success, but you could use an old makeup brush and some kitchen flour. The idea is to prep the surface with the powder so that when you stamp using VersaMark, the embossing powder will only stick where you want the stamp to be.

I then used one of the frond stamps from Lawn Fawn's "Blissful Botanicals" stamp set to stamp a pattern over the paper. To fill in some of the larger blank spaces I used the small open flower. After stamping with the VersaMark I used ultra-fine white embossing powder and heat set it with my heat tool.

I then took my Distress Inks (Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers) to create by background. Then I used some clean clear water to add splashes and create the distressed look.

For the greeting I used the same process and white embossing powder on black cardstock and popped that up on some foam tape for just a bit of dimension.

I then adhered the entire lot to a standard A2 sized card base.

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.

Thank You Bouquet

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

I can't even begin to tell you how fast this design came together. I looked up the challenge this morning, normally I am way more on the ball about these, but it has been a crazy week, and within minutes I had my design and in 20 minutes the entire card was put together.

To create this card, I began by stamping the floral images with CTMH archival black ink (which they appear to be discontinuing.... BOO!) I used PrismaColor watercolour pencils and an *very* light hand to create a watercolour look. This is not watercolour paper, so if you are going to do this, make sure you practice a bit, you need so very little water and have to work the piece gently, otherwise the paper will pill and it will be ruined.

I used my largest oval die to cut out the flowers, and my chevron boarder die to cut three chevron pieces.

I stamped the greeting in Lagoon ink (also CTMH) using the MISTI, just in case it didn't stamp fully the first time.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.

This card is for:

Fusion Challenge: Orchid Occasions

Thanks a Daisy

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

Generally I like to use my MISTI to create batches of thank you cards, because they are ideal for box sets (which are ideal for gifting). Today, however I really wanted to use a focus pop technique, to make the daisies stand out.

To create this card, I stamped the image on Copic friendly paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured it with Copics. I then used the two smallest dies of the stitched squares and cut three squares, and set them aside.

For the background, I masked off the top third of the card and used CTMH ink to sponge through a stencil. I stamped the image a second time and did not colour it in.

I adhered the squares with foam tape over top of the image on the card base to create three focus squares. I then stamped the greeting using Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink, (my favourite for stamping greetings and sentiments).

I hope you all like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own.


Today's card is for:

The Muse Challenge #154. 

This challenge is inspired by Jenni's beautiful card:

Monochromatic Thank You

Hi everyone, thanks so much for stopping by!

Today I have a monochromatic Thank you card to share with you all. I wanted to create something simple and delicate that could work for pretty much anything.

The greatest thing about this particular design is that it can be done in any set of colours. Not a fan of green? No problem! Simply change it up and you're good to go!

Clear embossed flowers on pale green with white embossed greeting on dark green cardstock.2015,