Clearly Besotted "Pretty Pansies" | A Floral Thoughts Birthday Card

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

So y'know the other day when I said I had so much more time to myself and I was looking forward to getting more posts and videos done? Well as it turns out, I've just been making cards; it hadn't even occurred to me until late last night as I was dozing off to sleep that I should probably be blogging as well. LOL, I guess I have been so excited about this uninterrupted time that I've just been making and finishing off half done cards like a crazy lady.

So today, when I sat down and logged into my computer for other reasons, it struck me that "While I'm here.....", so today, I wanted to share this lovely birthday card I created for my sister-in-law back in January, featuring Clearly Besotted's "Pretty Pansies" stamp set.

To create this card I cut down a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and put it in my MISTI, I stamped the larger image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink then turned the paper and stamped again.

I coloured all the images with Copic markers, you'll notice the bottom image has a darker blue halo than the one on the top. As it turns out my B000 and BG0000 both decided to dry right up after finishing the top image, so I had no choice but to go darker for the bottom. Because of this, I opted to have the greeting heat embossed on a piece of vellum to place over the lower image. I felt this would tone it down and make it less noticeable.

I then adhered the panel to a piece of coordinating cardstock and then mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card, I added some crystals from Pretty Pink Posh in both blue and purple because I gotta have me some 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, over on Facebook and on YouTube. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays 2018 | Cascading Snowflakes | ft. Lawn Fawn Dies and Stamps

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

I know I promised this post on Sunday, but other things happened and it didn't work out for me. But it's here today, and I'm feeling lucky I've gotten this far. My computer is being rather uncooperative and I'm starting to feel rather hostile towards it.

So today's card (and video) are a little different. There's only a little bit of stamping for the greeting and zero colouring. I wanted to share a card that has been in my head for a little while and maybe appeal to some of the people who aren't into stamping and colouring as much as I am.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

In the video you'll get to hear how this card didn't go according to plan as well as my thoughts on the Nuvo liquid glue.

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.

All of your support and encouragement mean the world to me and I cannot thank you enough for every comment, like/thumbs up and follow you guys have given me. You are all awesome.

A New Baby to Love | ft. Lawn Fawn "Rub-a-Dub-Dub"

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

Today, I have a sweet baby card, created with the "Rub-a-Dub-Dub" stamp set by Lawn Fawn. This card came together with my little dish of bits from the dish on my desk. I tend to cut and colour more than I need so they end up in the dish. Every now and then the dish gets a little too full (or so I like to think) so I create mainly with what is in there, until it is down to a more respectable level.

They have to fulfill their paper destinies, after all.

To begin, I used the stamped images from Rub-a-Dub-Dub set and put them together in a little scene. The bubbles had been stamped on vellum, to attach them to the tub, I used just a small piece of scotch tape on the back, ensuring that it didn't come over the edge of the tub. It wouldn't do to have the tape showing.

All of the images had been coloured previously with Copic markers. As such, they were stamped with Memento Tuxedo black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock.

For the background, I used a couple scraps of patterned paper - this is another thing I can't seem to be able to get rid of. Even the tiniest of scraps end up back in the package.

I adhered the tub flat to the front of the card and popped the mama duck and the banner up with some foam tape.

To finish off the card, I added some iridescent bubbles from Studio Katia, just to give it some extra shimmer.

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.

Embossed Vellum Overlay for Mother's Day | ft. Lawn Fawn "Flutter By"

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

Today I have a card (and video!) featuring a gold embossed vellum overlay on top of a brightly watercoloured background. This is pretty much how I imagined it in my head when it came to me.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

There are a few things I would do differently if I were to redo this card; chances are I will make another of these, it was just fun to play around with the watercolours.

I think with a different colour palette, this technique could be used for pretty much any type of card. I'm looking forward to trying this in more earthy tones for a masculine 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 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

Sparkle and Shine

Pet Sympathy | ft. Clearly Besotted "Thinking of You"

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

A little while ago, a friend of mine lost her dog and like any other loss it was not awesome. Loss is a terrible thing, whether a pet or a loved one passes away, or someone incredibly important in your life decides that they need to get a new perspective. Grief is still grief, and it is cutting and it is hard and there are no words than anyone can ever say that will make it better.

All another person can do is sit and listen when you cry and rant and vent and throw things. But that's the most important thing; having a safe space where you can feel all those things without fear of judgement or reprimand. Just letting the other person know that you are there can make all the difference in the world.

To begin, I stamped the lilies from Clearly Besotted's "Thinking of You" set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then coloured the image with Copic markers and masked it off.

I used Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress ink to create a dark halo around the flowers fading out towards the edges.

While that was drying, I prepped a piece of vellum with my powder tool and heat embossed these dog prints with detail black embossing powder, then fussy cut them out. I ran them through my sticker maker and adhered them to the panel.

I mounted the panel to a piece of charcoal cardstock then adhered the whole piece to a standard A2 sized card base. To finish it off I went over the petals with my clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.

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:

Muse Challenge #248

Inspired by Anita Bowden

Inlaid Anniversary | ft. Stampin' Up "Rose Wonder" Dies

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

Today I thought I would share a super fun technique where you use both the positive and the negative space of the die cuts to create a beautiful inlay design. I chose this die set because of all the pieces to work with, it's very much like a puzzle and I found it to be quite soothing to put together.

While I created this card with Anniversary in mind, it can easily be used as a shower card, a birthday card, a love card; and it doesn't have to be glitter paper, but really who doesn't want a card that sparkles like crazy in the light??

To begin, I used the large rose die cut from Stampin' Up's "Rose Wonder" set and die cut the flower from three different pieces of glitter cardstock.

I first cut down my panel from the medium pink then die cut the rose to get my base and I adhered the positive panel to a piece of cardstock that was cut down to be the same size.

I then cut the flower again from the darkest piece of glitter cardstock to get my outline. Finally I cut the flower from my lightest piece of glitter cardstock to get all the little pieces to inlay. If you have a package of Stick-It, this would be the time to use it. I did not have any so I went old school and used glue.

Much like a puzzle, I found it most efficient to work with the pieces that were obvious first, then made my way down through the smaller pieces. If you are lucky enough to have the paper stick in your die, it is even easier. I was not so lucky.

Because I didn't have Stick-It at the time, I covered my hidden background panel with wide two-way tape and worked slowly and carefully. The tape is quite strong so once it's down, it's down.

I prepped a strip of vellum with my powder tool and heat embossed the greeting from CTMH "Finding the Words" with white embossing powder and wrapped it around my panel to hide all of the adhesive.

I then mounted the completed panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base. To finish off the card (because three types of glitter paper just doesn't sparkle enough) I adhered a few sequins across the panel using Aleene's Glass and Bead Adhesive.

Also, because I created this piece from three different card stocks, I can ultimately create three different cards! YAY!!

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.

Mostly Monochrome Thanks | ft. Lawn Fawn "Love you a Latte"

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

Sometimes when the challenges get to be too much (shocking, but it does happen) or I have spent hours working on a product review for an upcoming post, I really like to just play around with my favourite stamp sets. The "Love You a Latte" from Lawn Fawn is by far one of my most loved sets.

I also really like coffee. A lot.

I'm on cup #2. I've been up for just over an hour.

Anyway, today I thought I would share one of those cards that was just a play around and decompress after working on a lengthy DIY (you have to wait until Sunday!)

To begin, I cut down a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock so that I could use it as a strip across the middle. I then stamped the travel mug from the "Love you a Latte" set with Memento Tuxedo black ink. I wanted it to look like patterned paper.

I then coloured it with Copic markers. I knew this would be on a Kraft background so I wanted the little sleeve to match as closely as I could get it. Once it was coloured in, I felt it was a little bare, so I stamped the coffee bean to fill up some of those white spaces using CTMH Cocoa ink. Then I sent that aside.

I created an A2 sized card base using craft paper, and stamped the large mug in VersaMark ink randomly to get a great tone on tone look. Once again, I used the coffee bean to fill up the space.

Then I adhered the strip to the card base and totally realized I had no greeting. So I cut a piece of vellum using one of my Spellbinder Oval dies and prepped it with my powder tool. I stamped the Thanks from the "Love you a Latte" set with VersaMark ink and embossed with black embossing powder and used tiny little dots of liquid glue to hold that in place.

It then occurred to me that I have these awesome "Lift the Flap" dies, and it would be super fun to give a gift card with this! So I ran the largest of the dies through my die cut machine on a second piece of Kraft cardstock. I then used the little "Life the Flap" saying from the "Push Here" stamp set with the mini arrow, and stamped the mug (same as on the front) using the Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink with the little steam sentiment "For You".

I coloured the mug in with PrismaColor Premier pencils to add just a splash of colour on the inside since the front is very monochromatic.

To make it so that the flap can be opened and reclosed I used a bit Tombow Mono Multi Glue (green lid) and let it dry. Once this glue dries it becomes repositionable; which is perfect for hiding a gift card!

To get the inside panel to stay inside the card, I used some 1/4" two-way tape to tape around the gift flap opening (wouldn't want to have the flap stuck for real!) and laid it in place.

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 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.

Silver Embossed Birthday Card

Once again, less is so much more.

I'm absolutely loving this flower set and I'm finding so many ways to make it look elegant and unique. The silver embossing makes the card shine, sadly I was unable to fully capture that in the photo.

Silver embossed greeting and flowers on matte black cardstock with white embossed flower on pink vellum accent.