Your Next Stamp Sketch Challenge #4

Today I get to share with you a custom card that I created.  I chose a Your Next Stamp oldie.  This cute kitty on a princess cushion, Willow, was the perfect image for the project.

I decided to also use a sketch for this month's challenge.

I changed it up a bit but a sketch is mainly an idea to get your creative juices flowing.  I used a brushed silver cardstock for the base and some pretty coordinating pattern papers to go with the silver.

I stamped the image twice and colored only one so that I could layer them to create a sturdy focal image.  I used a silver Wink of Stella pen to color the cushion.  I love how it goes with the brushed silver cardstock.  A touch of aqua on her bow and the cushion tassels picks up the polka dot paper.  I left the sentiment for the inside since it was personal.

I think my customer will be happy with how it turned out.  Handmade cards are the best!

Sugar Sketch 17

So, I've had a little time to catch up with some of the challenges I like to participate in and created a card to enter Sugar Pea Designs Sugar Sketch.  This is number 17 and here's a photo of the sketch.

 

I chose a Sugar Pea stamp set I haven't used before.  Shocking, I know.  It's called Friends to the End and features some encouraging sentiments along with a cute snail crossing a finish line in a race.

I love the girl in her exercise outfit, sweatband and tennies but decided I only wanted to feature the snail.

It looks so cute colored up and is the focus of the card.  The card is a generous size at 6 x 6 but after planning out my design I decided the bigger size was the way to go.  The person I'm sending the card to likes rusts and browns so I chose my color scheme with that in mind.

You can't help but smile at the snail and butterflies.  And, don't we all need encouragement not to give up.  I matted the stitched panel with the same cardstock as the card base.  I added a few golden strips of washi tape to the pattern paper to bring your eye to the entire card front.

Back to card making.  See you soon for another fun post.

Reverse Confetti Sketch 19, Take 2

The December sketch at Reverse Confetti is still active for a few more days.  I decided to get another card posted.

Here's the sketch.

I used some pretty Rich Razzleberry for the card base that measures 5 1/2 x 4 1/4.  I made it a top folding card and oriented it so I would have room to fit all my elements.  You probably can't guess what I used to create the butterfly wings.  The dies from Fabulous Flamingo just spoke to me.  They are really the flamingo wings.

I used several papers from Little Yellow Bicycle, Fern and Forest.  It's an older paper set but I love the blues, aqua, greens and purples.  I used very tiny pearls for the bodies and finished it up with a sentiment from Fabulous Flamingo.  I have yet to stamp the birds as they are intended.

See you soon!

Our 48th Anniversary

Wow!  48 years of being married.  That is truly an accomplishment.  And actually, my husband and I were together for a few years before that.  Here's the card I made for him.

I found this paper with the ties a few months ago and decided to use it for this card.  The sentiment seemed appropriate for a couple who have been married a long time.

Yes, my darling husband, I love you to the moon and back!

It's nice to celebrate love, but even nicer to celebrate a long lasting marriage.

Phoebe Art Journal Page

Anyone who has worked in the crafting industry for any length of time knows about Julie Nutting doll stamps.  They are a take on the old craft we used to do as kids.  I have many fond memories of hours spent with my granddaughter playing with paper dolls.  There are several doll stamps in the line and I have acquired a few.  I've decided to create an art journal page featuring each doll.

Phoebe is the first.

Creating this page was a time consuming project but it was lots of fun and very rewarding.  I started by stamping Phoebe on some paper with small text and then adding shading with some markers.  I paper pieced her dress, headband and the ties on her shoes.  Some of the pieces are very tiny.  I added more shading with markers after she was "dressed".  A few tiny pearls on her jacket completed her look.

I used a pad of canvas paper as my background.  I want to be able to use different mediums as I move on to other pages.  I found some pretty paper to complement her outfit and glued it to the canvas paper.  The flowered block was cut out of a very old paper I've been hording.  I added the "Memories" word and popped it up on the rectangle.  While I was working on this page, I was thinking of the fun memories my granddaughter and I had together.  I used a Dylusions stamp by Ramger to create the ground layer.  I stamped it on two different papers and glued it to the pink paper.  The leaf stamp is from the same Ranger stamp.

Isn't this just the cutest kitty ever!  My granddaughter and I both love cats, although neither one of us has any.  She is from a stamp called Cat's Meow by Papertrey Ink.  I plan on using her on every page.  I stamped her on the same text paper as Phoebe and added some gray coloring with markers.  I think she is the perfect companion for the dolls.

I also plan on using a quote or meaningful statement on each page.  I found this one about love from a My Favorite Things stamp called Clearly Sentimental About Love.  I thought this was so appropriate because I feel Jen's happiness is essential to me being happy.  I love her so much.

So, here is my Phoebe page.  Hope you enjoy!

Reverse Confetti Sketch 19

I love this pretty, happy card.  Reverse Confetti has a monthly sketch challenge and I'm entering this project.

I made this a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 card so that I could get all the circles to fit.  I used stamps from the Happy Harbor set.  The compass symbol fit perfectly into the die cut circles.  I love the tiny heart in the center.  I used a scrap strip that just happened to have hearts in the patterned paper.

The stamped sentiment fits the theme of the project and the aqua twine is the extra pop of color the card needed.

I think it will brighten someone's day!

Watercolor Wash Background 2

I'm showing you another card today using the soft watercolor background that I created using the technique in my class.

This time I left more color on the paper to create a focal point for the finished project.  I love the soft pinkish color and the way the background looked after it dried.  I heat embossed some pretty snowflakes with gold powder and then flicked the gold paint from my brush onto the paper.

You can see the gold flecks better in this close-up.  I took a strip of vellum and stamped this cute snowman again using gold powder.  I attached the vellum ends around the back of the watercolor panel and then adhered it to a gold cardstock base.

It would be easy to create several of these unique backgrounds to have ready for card projects.

I can't wait to move onto the next watercolor technique, a vibrant background.  Come back soon!

A Purrfect Anniversary

This is an anniversary card I made for a couple who are very special.  As soon as I saw this new stamp by Mama Elephant I knew it was just right for the card I wanted to make.

 

I started with some textured watercolor paper.  I applied some Ranger texture paste to a star stencil and let it dry.  I added a couple of colors of Distress Ink to make a nighttime sky.  I die cut some stitched snow banks and set the two darling kitties on top.  Of course you can tell which one is the girl, right?  I attached the entire panel onto a white cardstock base.  Of course I finished the inside with special anniversary wishes for the happy couple.

 

Happy Anniversary Kathy and Keith!!!

 

 

Watercolor Wash Background 1

The first project in my watercolor class is to create a soft watercolor wash using a stencil.  Here's what that means.  I used a piece of watercolor paper and a couple of paint colors.  I chose a pretty purple and a touch of blue.  Using a lot of water to dilute the intensity of the paint I swirled the colors around.  There is no rhyme or reason for putting the paint to the paper.  As soon as I was happy with the design I taped a stencil to the wet paper.

This is what it looked like after it dried and I removed the stencil.  A pretty cool look.  Now I was ready to create a card with this unique background.  I wanted a simple card so that the background would be the star.

I chose a navy cardstock for the base and cut a small tag shape.  I stamped the sentiment in navy ink and punched a hole so I could thread a ribbon through and taped it to the back.

I loved trying this technique.  The results will always be different.

I would love to hear your comments on my project.  Thanks!

Warm Wishes

 It's December.  Normally I would be shivering, wearing sweatshirts, and staying inside from the cold.  However, I live in Florida now and I can truly say I don't miss any part of winter.  I have lots of friends who live in colder states and I decided to make a couple of cards.

I had this one little strip of pattern paper and decided to use it up.  I roughed up the edges and added a couple of fishtail panels, one in brushed gold and the other a warm ivory.

I punched a tiny hold and tied a little bow with some ivory ribbon.  The stamped feathers are from Lawn Fawn's Dream set.  I love the pop of color they give to the card.  I adhered some sparkly sequins for some added texture and interest.  Simple but a nice sentiment and ready for mailing.

While I was at it I made a second card but used a different strip of scrap paper.

Warm Wishes to all my northern friends!

Watercolor Exercise

I'm always looking to improve in my craft techniques and stretch my enjoyment in my projects.  I'm taking an online watercolor class and I will post my journey so you can share in the process.

 

One of the exercises that is recommended before you start the class is to get familiar with your paint mediums.  I purchased a quality set of watercolors that is manufactured in Japan.  The set has 36 beautiful colors, including one pearl, one gold and one copper.

The colors are highly concentrated so only a small amount is used.  They should last a very long time.

Aren't they gorgeous!  The lid of the box is printed with a chart numbering each of the colors and a small space beside it.

I love the pretty Japanese writing under the number.  The best way to see how the color looks is to paint it on a good surface.  Yes, the little square next to the number.  Here's how mine looked when I finished.

All the pretty rainbow colors!  Of course the more water you use reduces the intensity of the color so it can be as vibrant or as muted as you want for the project.  I'm really excited to get started with the class and will post some projects along the way.  Here's a close up of the pearl and metallic colors.

We will also be using other mediums in the class, like markers, inks, and pencils.  This should be lots of fun!

Thanks

You can never have enough thank you cards.  I needed one so I worked on a second while I had all my supplies out.  I used all Lawn Fawn products.  I wanted to make a tag as the focus of the front of the card so I die cut the large tag from Tag, you're It from a pretty blue paper from the 6 x 6 Sweater Weather collection.  I stamped the matching tag on a piece of white card stock and a piece of green paper.  I cut the inner shape of the green tag and mounted it on the white tag.  This gives the tag some easy personalization.  I slightly offset the blue tag behind and I had the beginning of my project.

The thanks is stamped on vellum and heat embossed with snow powder.  I centered it at the bottom of the tag and folded the ends back to glue down.  The cute owl and branch is from the You're a Hoot stamp and die set.  I love how puffy and cute he is.  I added a few stitched clouds cut from white card stock and vellum.

All the effort I put into the tag makes this ordinary card very special.  I mounted the tag on Lawn Fawn's wood grain note card.  This is the cranberry color.  I made the second card using the same design but I used a note card in butternut.   It gives the card a completely different look.

They took a lot of time to make but I think thank you cards should be special.  I'm definitely going to use this design again.  Maybe I'll use a bird or other woodland creature next time.

THANK YOU, my friends, for letting me share with you.

Skater Girl

My card today features a stamp from Your Next Stamp called Little Darling Joy.

She was so much fun to color.  I made it easy on myself with the background.  I used a winter paper from Lawn Fawn's collection Snow Day.  I cut it to the size I needed and then cut some snowdrifts from white cardstock for the foreground.

After stamping and coloring Joy, I cut her out and popped her up with some foam dots.  She looks like she's floating on the icy snow banks.  The cute bird is part of the same stamp set and I positioned him to be looking down protectively on Joy.

Doesn't she just skate into your heart?  I heat embossed the sentiment with snow embossing powder.  So, along with Joy, I'm wishing all of you happiness every day!