Have a Fabulous Day

I have been participating in Online Card Classes' "Spring Card Camp," which is going on this month. I created this card, inspired by Debby Hughes' lesson on Day 5. I'm entering it in Creative Knockouts' Challenge #346: "Spring is on the Way."

I cut a panel of watercolor paper and taped it to a board. I applied clear water to the whole panel, then dropped in watercolors. I dried it with my heat tool, added a die cut stencil, and applied more watercolor. I let that air dry, then peeled off the stencil.

I stamped the butterfly from Hero Arts' "Butterfly & Flower" set (discontinued) onto a scrap of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I hit that briefly with my heat tool, just to make sure the ink dried thoroughly. The coordinating die doesn't cut the body, which is actually a separate stamp, so I fussy cut the image instead. Then I colored the butterfly sections with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. I applied a small amount of color at the base of each wing section, then used a damp paintbrush to draw the color out to the end & create shading.

I stamped the greeting from the same set onto another scrap of bristol, and die cut it with a Hero Arts "Nesting Oval Infinity" die. Because the background panel had a few hard lines from the watercolor drying against the tape, I also die cut it with a Hero Arts "Rounded Rectangle Infinity" die. Finally, I adhered a panel of pink cardstock to a white A2-size card base, adhered my main panel, & glued on a few 5mm & 8mm Darice Crystal sequins.

I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:

The House that Stamps Built #DCC A120: "April Showers (Something Wet)" (used watercolor)
Die Cut Divas: "All About Animals"
A Blog Named Hero: "Watercolor"

Merry Christmas Cardinal

This is actually my second Christmas card of the year--and it's only April. Yay, me! :) I created this card for Christmas Card Throwdown's April Sketch Challenge.

I stamped the cardinal from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Christmas Joy" set (discontinued) onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with Hero Arts Soft Granite ink. After I painted him with my watercolors, I decided to die cut with the coordinating die.

I stamped the wreath & greeting (Hero Arts "Color Layering Wreath"--discontinued) onto a scrap of white cardstock. I used Lawn Fawn Sage Leaf & Noble Fir inks for the first 2 layers of greenery, and Memento Northern Pine for the last layer. I stamped the greeting with Lawn Fawn Yeti ink a couple of times, then stamped over that with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink. (The only reason for the Yeti pigment ink was because the "c" overlapped the greenery slightly, and didn't really show up without the white "base.") I die cut that with the coordinating die. I also stamped 2 of the pinecones from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Christmas Pine" set in Gina K Charcoal Brown ink, and watercolored them. I fussy cut those out, and glued them together so I could "play" with their placement without them being too fiddly.

Because of the larger elements, I decided to make this a 5x7" card. (I did end up cutting it down to 6-1/2" tall in the end, though.) I cut a panel of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4-1/2" wide, and cut 2 strips from another scrap of burgundy paper to go along either side. I adhered the burgundy strips along the sides of my card base, and then adhered the holly leaf panel in the middle. I die cut a circle to go behind my cardinal from another patterned paper scrap, and glued my image to that. To help the circle stand out a bit more, I inked around the edges with Pine Needles Distress ink.

I adhered my image/circle piece to the card. The white cardstock I'd stamped the wreath on looked a bit too stark, so I inked over it with Antique Linen Distress ink before gluing it in place on my card. And that finished my card. Two down...so many more to go! :)

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create #232: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)
Die Cut Divas: "All About Animals"

Agapanthus Hello

Hero Arts has started a new series of challenges on their blog, called "Stay Crafty with Hero." The current challenge is "Never Seen Ink." Basically, take your older stamps that you've never used and use them! Hero Arts products, while encouraged, are not required. I pulled out Altenew's "Versatile Vases" stamp set for my card as my never-inked set.

I cut a panel of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to 3-3/4x5". After lining the vase stamp up in my MISTI, I stamped it with Lawn Fawn's Kiddie Pool ink, dried it with my heat tool, and then added "water" with a pale blue Tombow marker. I blended that color out with a damp paintbrush. I put the panel back in my MISTI & positioned the agapanthus stamp (from Stampendous' "Agapanthus Thanks" stamp set). I masked off the bottom of the vase with a piece of yellow Frog tape, and "inked" up the flower stem with a green Tombow marker. I stamped that, and repeated to get a better impression. I cleaned off the stem, and added color to the flower portion with a purple marker. After I stamped that twice, I used my paintbrush to blend the color in the center of the flower out just a bit, to help fill in the area.

I die cut a tag from a scrap of bristol paper with the smallest of the "Pinpoint Main Street Tags" dies (discontinued) from Poppystamps. I used my purple marker & damp paintbrush to do kind of an ombre on the tag. I dried that with my heat tool, and stamped the "hello" from "Versatile Vases" with Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink. I pierced a hole through the end of the tag, and used some thin jute twine to tie a bow through the hole. I pierced 2 more holes on either side of the vase, & threaded twine through them, taping the ends to the back of the panel. I used a thin foam dot at the end of the tag, and double-sided tape for the rest, and adhered it in place. The foam dot gives it just a bit of lift, for added depth & dimension.

I matted the panel with lavender cardstock, leaving a 1/8" border. I adhered that to a piece of green cardstock, and trimmed that to a 1/16" border on all 4 sides. Finally, I mounted the card front to a white A2-size card base.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Dies R Us Challenge #142: "Anything Goes Using Any Brand of Die DRU Sells" (used a Poppystamps die)
613 Avenue Create Challenge #231: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)