Coloring Challenge Day 5

I've been looking forward to coloring the beautiful floral heart from Concord & 9th's You Are Here stamp set.  The Coloring Challenge from The Daily Marker blog gave me just the push to color it!

I stamped the heart image onto Neenah Solar White 110 lb paper with VersaMark and heat embossed it with WOW's Silver Pearl embossing powder.  This is a new embossing powder to me and I love the pearly sheen so much that it steered my paper choices. I choose a pearly metallic card stock I have in my stash.  I colored the image with Copic Sketch Markers.  The Concord & 9th blog gave me the inspiration for my color choices.

The silver pearl and beautiful heart said wedding to me.  I also felt it should be a feminine card.  While pondering the design for the card, I came across a piece of white lace that my daughter had in her dress up trunk ages ago.  I repurposed it and cut out a piece, wrapped it around a 4 3/8" by 6 3/8" metallic pearl card stock secured with Scor-Pal tape on the back edges.  To this I added a 5/8 strip of white satin ribbon.  Next, I edged a piece of metallic pearl card stock with silver metallic tape on the four edges to give the illusion I have silver mirror paper matting the lace background. I then popped the lace background with 2mm adhesive foam sheet onto the silver edged pearl mat.  This was adhered to a A7 Neenah 110 lb card base.  I added metallic pearl love doves double stacked die cuts onto the lace over the stain ribbon. The front sentiment is heat embossed on heavy vellum overlaid onto metallic silver card stock. I embellished the front with white pearls.  I kept the card neutral with white, silver and pearl allowing the heart to pop.

For the inside, I used the same pearl card stock. To give the sentiment more emphasis, I created a stencil with a heart die in my stash and blended Distress Oxide ink Abandoned Coral over the heart opening onto the sentiment.  Added some silver embossed hearts to two corners using part of the same floral heart stamp. Matted the pearl card stock with metallic silver card stock.

I had so much fun creating this card!  Please tell me what you think of it by leaving your comments below.

Have fun coloring and repurposing bits....

Supplies used: (Almost all are available at my favorite local store Impressive Ideas)
Concord & 9th You Are Here stamp set 10175
Impression Obsession Love Doves die DIE 265-B
My Favorite Things Together Forever Stamp set LJD-39
Metallic Pearl Card stock
Metallic Silver Card stock
Neenah 110lb Solar White Card stock
Silver Metallic Rainbow tape 1/16"
WOW Silver Pearl embossing powder
Ranger Silver embossing powder
COPIC Sketch Markers R27, 24, 22, 21, 20, 00; YG09, 06, 05, 11
Distress Oxide Abandoned Coral ink pad
Distress Glaze
DCWV Pearl Gem Stickers
Couture Creations Premium Adhesive Pearls - Cream seed pearls
Stampin Up White Satin Ribbon 5/8"
White lace fabric

#thedailymarker30day
#concord&9thyouarehere
#prettyweddingcard
#coloringchallenge

CTMH September Stamp Of The Month

This A2 size card was made for the CTMH card swap shown in a previous post.  Here are details for making this card.

While playing around with this stamp set, I had an idea of using the feather to create a frame. I  stamped it 4 times with black pigment ink on watercolor paper, and heat embossed the feather outlines with clear embossing powder.  Then watercolored the feathers with a wash of Pacifica, Lagoon and Pansy inks.  I fussy cut the feathers. Next I stamped the sentiment with black pigment ink onto Lagoon watercolor paper from the Adventure Fundamentals paper pack, and heat embossed in clear.  I colored the inside of the words with Shin Han markers.  For the back ground,  I randomly stamped the feather onto White Daisy card stock with Lagoon, Pansy and Pacifica colors.  The Pacifica is so bold, I used second generation stamping for this color to soften it. 

To put the card together, I matted the background with a piece of plain Pacifica and glued the matted piece onto A2 size White Daisy card base. I arranged the cut feathers around the sentiment and glued them in the center but used foam dots in the corners to give them more movement and dimension. Lastly I glued the framed sentiment piece onto the matted background. Voila!

Please leave your comments below, they are much appreciated!  

Happy Creating!

All supplies used from Close to My Heart:

September Stamp of the Month Feel So Blessed S1709  only $5 with $50 purchase
Adventure Fundamentals Paper Pack Z3351
White Daisy card stock 1385
Pacifica card stock X5967
Watercolor paper Z3146
SOTM September Feel So Blessed S1709
Pacifica ink pad Z2892
Pansy ink pad Z2804
Lagoon ink pad Z2895
Black Staz-On ink pad Z888  
Ranger Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder Z2088
Shin Han Peacock Green Twin Touch Marker Z2461
Shin Han Peony Purple Touch Twin marker Z2462

#CTMH SOTM September 2017 Feel So Blessed
#CTMH Feel So Blessed
#CTMH September 2017 Stamp of the Month

Close To My Heart Card Swap

Casey Spinks, Executive Director for Close to My Heart organized a card swap to showcase some of the new products from CTMH's 2017-2018 Annual Inspirations and the soon to launch Holiday Expressions book. Here are my 10 creations. The rainbow cards have been featured in previous posts. If you are interested in the "recipe" for any of the other cards, please leave me a comment below; happy to share.

Had so much fun making these, will definitely make more with other new products. Lots of great stuff this year.  The Holiday Expressions products featured here are the 4 cards on upper right. The top 2 cards are made from Falling For You paper packet and card making stamps and thin cuts. I made the 2 cards below with the Beary Christmas paper packet, card making stamps and thin cuts and Tree Line Border dies. (lots of fussy cutting) Card on the very bottom features the September Stamp of the month Feel So Blessed. Both Seasonal Expressions and September stamp of the month go live on September 1st!

As always your comments are much appreciated!
Thank you for visiting.

#CTMH Falling for you card making stamps and think cuts
#CTMH 2017-2018 Annual Inspirations
#CTMH 2017 Holiday Expressions
#CTMH 2017 September Stamp of the Month
#CTMH Beary Christmas
#CTMH card swap

Rainbow die cuts

From the watercolor background I created with CTMH inks, I die cut the word Family.  This die is new in CTMH's just launched Annual Inspirations catalogue.  I inked the word with VersaFine and heat embossed in clear twice to get a super shiny surface.  I also die cut the word another 2 times and stacked the rainbow version on the top to give it more substance and dimension to balance the rainbow die cut scallop fringes below.  I created the border fringes with MFT's Fringed Scalloped Borders die and CTMH card stock.  The 2017-2018 new card stock comes two tone, a darker and a lighter side.  Thought the fringe die would be a great way to show case the light and dark colors.  I staggered the borders with lighter side over the darker side.  At the top of the fringe I glued a skinny strip of black glitter card stock. The sentiment Fun For Everyone is from one of CTMH's new stamps For All Seasons. I heat embossed the sentiment in white over black card stock and brushed on some sparkle with Clear Shimmer Brush pen.

Supplies used:
CTMH Family die
CTMH For All Seasons stamp set
CTMH  Pansy, Lagoon, Willow, Tangerine card stock from Adventure Cardstock Combo Pack
CTMH Canary card stock from Whimsy Cardstock Combo Pack
CTMH Ruby card stock from Enchantment Cardstock Combo Pack
Black Glitter paper
VersaMark ink pad
Ranger White Superfine embossing powder 
Ranger Clear Superfine embossing powder
Clear Shimmer Brush
MFT Fringed Scallop Borders (can be purchased in the Atlanta area at Impressive Ideas)

Please leave your comments below.  Love to hear from you. Thanks for visiting!

#CTMH Family
# Rainbow die cuts
#OCCRainbowMaker

More Watercolor Background

I love this Procrastinating sentiment... I can relate... While creating watercolor backgrounds for my last card, I had some left over and not one to waste anything, I used it as the background for this sentiment which I stamped with black Archival ink and heat embossed in clear to give it some shine.  This is a simple card. I popped the sentiment and for balance, also popped the wide black glitter border at the bottom.  I cut successively thinner stripes of black glitter paper and adhered them flat onto the white card base.  A thin strip of rainbow watercolor was glued flat on the top. Finished with a few white enamel dots.

Supplies used:
Procrastinating sentiment from CTMH We are Makers stamp set
See last post Rainbow Watercolor background for list of colors and recipes
Black Glitter paper
Archival Black ink pad
Ranger Clear Superfine Embossing powder
Black and White Enamel Dots 

Have fun "procrastinating"....

#CTMH Procrastinating
#CTMH We are Makers
#Watercolor background
#OCCRainbowMaker

Rainbow Watercolor Background

I created the background for this card with Close To My Heart (CTMH) inks and watercolor paper.  For the colors that I have reinkers, I used them.  For others, I stamped the ink pad onto my craft mat and added a spritz of water.  I did blend reinkers to create "custom" colors because it is FUN!  I list the proportions and colors below. After I applied the first layer of rainbow colors with a large watercolor brush, overlapping them some. I heat dried the piece and filled in with more color where I felt it was needed, and heat dried again. I repeated the process another time.  When I was happy with the colors, I put the dried water color background sandwiched between 2 copy papers and ran it through the die cutting machine several times to smooth it out.  That worked pretty well.  I stamped the Makers sentiment (new in CTMH 2017-2018 Annual Inspirations catalogue) with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it in white.  I felt it needed a shiny black border/mat.  I created the mat by inking the edges of a piece of black card stock with black archival ink, and applied clear embossing powder over the edges and heat set. The rainbow piece was adhered flat onto the shiny black border mat; and the whole piece was popped with foam tape onto white card base.

Supplies used:
For the red I used CTMH reinkers 2 drops of Pixie, 1 drop of Pomegranate, 1 drop of Cranberry 
Orange came from Tangerine reinker 
Yellow, was made with 2 drops of Canary to 1 tiny drop of Goldrush
Green was straight from the Willow ink pad because I don't have the reinker
Blue was blended by applying Pacifica ink pad onto craft mat with a drop of Lagoon reinker
Purple came from Pansy reinker 
Sentiment from CTMH We are Makers stamp set 
Archival Black ink pad 
VersaMark ink pad
Rangers White Super Fine Embossing Powder
Rangers Clear Super Fine Embossing Powder

#Watercolor background CTMH colors
#CTMH We are Makers stamp set
#OCCRainbowMaker

Love to hear your comments! And thank you for visiting.

Color Lifting

After not posting anything in a month, the last few days, I have had energy to craft a few cards.  Been stuck at home recuperating.  Turned to YouTube and learned this color lifting technique from Jennifer McGuire. After following her technique, I fussy cut the flower and leaves and  added sparkle to the hydrangea and leaves with Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle brush pen.  Stacked 3 layers of the "thanks" die cut for added dimension.  I love how it turned out.  I sent it to my dear friend Verna at Fuji Floral Design  in midtown Atlanta. She loves working with hydrangeas and other beautiful "not your ordinary" flowers including orchids and other tropicals to create stunning arrangements. She has been sending me food and flowers during my recovery.

For how to do this technique, please go to Jennifer McGuire's blog.

Supplies used:

Ellen Hutson Mondo Hydrangea stamp
Distress Inks - Blueprint Sketch, Ripe Raspberry, Mowed Lawn
Ranger White heat embossing power
Hero Arts Thanks stamp and cut set
Lawn Fawn Square Stitched Frames die set

Rainbow Maker card 2

For the second rainbowcard, I remembered I had purchased MFT's Big Balloons Stencil from my favorite local craft store Impressive Ideas recently. Dah! So didn't need to make a stencil for card 1 actually....Too clever by half...I tried out a technique Laura Bassan taught in day 1 of Rainbow Maker. Used MFT's Geometric Grid stencil. The sentiment is from MFT's Rainbow Greetings stamp set.

Rainbow Birthday Card

Inspired by online class "Rainbow Maker" to play with Distress Inks and Stencils.  The first card is a simple card. I used MFT's Big Birthday Balloons die set to create my own stencils. Not exactly ROYGBV but then I always seem to end up doing something quirky...This card was made with my friend Will in mind. It's his birthday! I wrote his name with a VersaMark pen and heat embossed before I applied distressed ink with a blending tool.  Created a true ROYGBV banner for the sentiment.

Rainbow Colors - Valentine Card

For this card, I took ideas from several of Jennifer McGuire's Rainbow videos from her blog.  I created the background by heat embossing scattered hearts border (Close to My Heart, retired) stamped multiple times with sparkly white embossing powder (doesn't show up here) then applied Oxide inks, spritzed with water and heat dried, alternating several times. For the sentiment, I wanted to use stamps that had a solid background.  The CTMH stamps from the Artistry Cricut collection fit the bill. "You & Me" was stamped with Color Box Chalk ink Lime Pastel and French Blue.  "So many reasons to be Happy" was stamped with CTMH Blossom and Tangerine inks. To finish the card, I added sparkle to the sentiments with Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle brush pen followed with Clear Glazing pen to give it extra shine.  Made my own iridescent heart sequins by die cutting some large sequins with MFT's heart dies from BluePrint Tag Builder 5.  This card definitely took the most time.  Somewhere on this card are all the colors of the rainbow!

Happy creating your version of rainbows!

Penny Black Dancing Daisies

 Had a few Penny Black brushstroke stamps but didn't really spend much time playing with them.  Recently with the new "Poetic" release, I can't seem to get enough of them. This one is the Dancing Daisies.  Stamped and watercolored with distress inks, dye based markers, and watercolor pencils (for highlights).  I prefer to use watercolor brushes that require wetting in water instead of the brushes that have built in water tubes.  I find it's easier for me to control the amount of water. After painting the the flowers, I added the background with an ink blending tool and Distress Antique Linen.  For added interest, I added splatters of Cocoa ink. I also inked the edges of the painted panel with Creamy Brown Cat's Eye chalk ink.

Supplies used:

Penny Black Dancing Ladies 40546 (available in Atlanta area at Impressive Ideas)

Ranger Distress Inkpads - Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo

Ranger Distress Markers - Spiced Marmalade

Marvy Le Plume ii markers - Brilliant Yellow, Sepia

Tombow Dual Brush markers - Baby Yellow 090

Derwent Inktense Watercolor pencils - Red Oxide 1910, Cherry 0510, Leaf Green 1600, Willow 1900

COPIC black multiliner 0.1

Close To My Heart Cocoa reinker

Cat's Eye chalk Ink - Creamy Brown

Silver Black Velvet Round #8, #2, watercolor brushes 

Windsor & Newton Round #1
Sentiment from IO stamps In A Garden clear stampset CL322

#Penny Black Dancing Ladies

Serendipity June 21st Blog Hop - Flower Pops Cards

I wanted a bright cheerful summery card.  I started by stamping the Background stamp on white card stock.  This serves as my border. I stamped images from the Flower Pops Solid cling set; then die cut the individual pieces and layered them onto white card stock with a cross stitched border.  I adhered this to a mat of poppy color card stock and foam taped it over the Summer Flower Pops Background.  "Summer" was die cut using the Seasons die set.  The word splendor I stamped with some alphabet stamps from my stash.  I like repeating elements from the front on the inside of the card. Had so much fun, I kept going...

For this next card I wanted a softer look. I used the Flower Pops Detail cling set, heat embossed flowers in white on watercolor card stock. I masked the flowers and leaves to get the arrangement I wanted.  Then I watercolored the flowers, leaves and background with Distress inks.  I masked the entire floral arrangement and spritzed water over the background to add a little interest. Finished with a simple stitched frame.

   

For the third card, I used distressed oxide inks to create a background, then stamped the Flower Pops background using a purple dye ink first followed by a pearlesent pigment ink. Misti makes all this and more possible! I used the same inks and stamped part of the Sisters cling stamp on the front.  The rest of the stamp I used as the inside sentiment. I hate waste so the oval cut out went on the inside.  To finish off the card, I traced the oval scalloped outline with Kirarina Wink Dandelion pen to give it some depth, fussy cut a couple of the pop flowers from the background stamp, one for the front and one for the inside; gave them some sparkle with a few brushes of Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle pen. Embellished with linen bow and pearl on the front


The Flower Pops set of stamps and dies from Serendipity are so versatile!  Have fun creating with your own set of Flower Pops!!!

Supplies used and available from Serendipity Stamps:
Seasons Dies 083N
Flower Pops Background Stamp 1316BK
Flower Pops Solid Cling set 1318QCL
Flower Pops Detail Cling set 1304QCL
Flower Pops Dies 033D
Complete Summer Flower Pops Detailed and Solid Stamps and Dies 1318SSD
You and I are Sisters stamp 1413F

Please hop onto to the talented Serendipity design team and see what they have created for the second June blog hop.  Do leave your comments for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to spend at Serendipity's online store.

Mary's Blog

Carol Mayne

Karen Amidon

Miriam Napier

Julie Warner

Vickie Zimmer

Marybeth Lopez

Thanks for visiting, your comments are much appreciated!

Fun with Petunias

IO Stamps Friendly Florals Challenge

IO makes some fabulous background stamps.  One that is new in my stash is Solid Petunias.  I inked the stamp with 3 different colors of the new Distress Oxides inks and stamped the petunias onto metallic Black Pearl cardstock.  I added the IO die Smile in the front, embellished with Nuvo crystal drops and a bow.  On the inside I heat embossed the birthday sentiment using one of IO's new releases, Birthday Bloom stamp.

Supplies used:
IO Stamps Solid Petunias CC271
IO Stamps Smile die DIE378-E
IO Stamps Birthday Bloom F20237
Distress Oxide Inks - Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick, Faded Jeans
Nuvo Crystal Drops - Wedgewood, Wisteria, Rasberry
May Arts ribbon

Summer Seaside

Serendipity Stamps Summer Card

When I think of summer, inevitably I come up with images of the ocean and seaside.  Using the Serendipity Stamps Lighthouse die and stamp set I created this card.  I layered Distress oxide inks over Distress inks on the lower two thirds of the card. For the sky I applied Tumbled Glass distress ink with a blending tool.  The lighthouse is die cut and colored with Copic Markers.  I added a little shine to the windows with a Glaze pen.  Quote on the front and the shell on the inside are both part of the Lighthouse stamp set.

Have fun creating your summer seaside scenery!

Supplies used:
Serendipity Stamps Lighthouse die and stamp set 031GDCL
Distress Inks - (from top to bottom)Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen, Salty Ocean
Distress Oxide Inks - Fossilized Amber, Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, Faded Jeans
Sakura Clear Glaze pen
Copic Sketch Markers - R46, 27, 24; B000, N5, 3, 1, 0

It's Teatime Year Round

Serendipity Stamps June 7th Blog Hop

Delighted to be included in this month's Serendipity Stamps Blog Hops.  For the Summer Cards theme, I used one of my favorite teapot and teacup dies. A bit unusual it may seem...but I love tea and anything related to tea. Even in the summer, I still drink hot tea almost everyday! 

Supplies used:

Serendipity Tea Dies and Stamps 020GDCL

Serendipity Teapots Cling Set 635QCL

Please hop onto other "cooler" Summer Cards created by the talented Serendipity Design Team. Leave you comments as you go for as chance to win $20 gift certificate to spend at the Serendipity Store. Mary will select a random winner to be announced at the next blog hop.

Mary's Blog

Carol Mayne

Karen Amidon

Miriam Napier

Julie Warner

Vickie Zimmer

Marybeth Lopez

Love your feedback, much appreciated!

Vellum hydrangea

Fun with Flowers IOStamps Blog Challenge

Colors inspired by one of my favorite flowers - Antique hydrangeas.  I colored the back of heavy duty vellum randomly with Copic Sketch markers, die cut the flowers and adhered to the base.

Supplies used from IOStamps:
Hydrangea Die set DIE-044Y
Cover A Card background stamp CC151 C-A-C French Text
Greetings Die Set DIE174-W

Copic Sketch markers - R39, R0000, G21

Compared 2 watercolor papers and gearing up for Valentine's

Playing with the CTMH new paper packet Hello Lovely and January stamp set of the month - Adore You.  Cards inspired by the CTMH Seasonal Expressions catalogue.

While making these cards, I wanted to test different watercolor papers, but first a disclaimer, I am NOT a watercolor artist...Compared the Strathmore 300 series cold press watercolor paper with Fabriano's hot press Studio watercolor paper.  What a difference!  I like the smooth surface of Fabriano; much easier to stamp on. I stamped the words Adore You on the watercolor paper with VersaFine pigment ink, then applied a wash of Sea Glass diluted ink for the background.  I find it easier to brush color on the Fabriano.  They are both 140 lb weight, but the Fabriano feels lighter to me.  The hearts were colored with Copic Sketch makers on White Daisy card stock.  However  I wanted to match the Hello Lovely colors for the flowers so I used CTMH inks and watercolored them.  I can water color on the White Daisy card stock but I have to work pretty fast.  Based on this comparison, I'd say Fabriano is worth the premium price.

Please leave a comment at the bottom of this post and share your experience with different watercolor papers.

Supplies used:

Close To My Heart (CTMH) Hello Lovely papers and White Daisy cardstock
Fabriano Studio Watercolor hot press paper
Strathmore series 300 cold press watercolor paper
CTMH January 2017 Stamp of the Month - Adore You
MFT Stitched Rectangle die
CTMH Exclusive Inks - Sea Glass, Sorbet, Fern, New England Ivy, Blush
MFT Black Licorice Hybrid Ink
VersaFine Black Onyx Pigment Ink
Copic Sketch Markers - R0000, R00
Offray - 1" translucent and .25" satin ribbons
CTMH - Blush Shimmer Ribbon
May Arts - white lace ribbon
Royal Aqualon watercolor brushes

#ctmhJanuarystampofthemonth
#comparewatercolorpapers

Valentine Explosion Box

The Hello Lovely papers from Close to My Heart are gorgeous and make crafting with them easy peasy.  I used the CTMH January stamp of the month Adore You, the Hello Lovely stamp & thin cuts bundle to make this explosion box. M size sentiment stamps with similar script to the Adore You set are my go to stamps for Valentine's.

Frames are cut from MFT Stitched Scallop frame dies.  The base of the explosion box was cut from white linen paper at Impressive Ideas in Norcross GA.  Buy the paper there and use their Accut dies for free.

Leave a comment below if you are interested in making this box and or would like the "recipe".

Happy Crafting!
#ctmhhellolovelyexplosionbox
#valentineexplosionbox