Get Well Soon

I've been participating in Online Card Classes' "Spring Card Camp 2." On Day 8 of camp, Kristina Werner had a lesson on "Faux Dip Dye." I combined that with Julie Ebersole's lesson on Day 11 on "Anti-Coloring" for my card.

I did the faux dip dye technique first, with 140 lb. watercolor paper and my watercolors. I cut the paper a little larger than I intended the finished panel size to be, so I could tape it to my cutting board. I tore the bottom edge, and taped the other 3 sides to my board. I created a gradient that went from pink to purple to black at the bottom. I don't know that the purple tones shine through the black, as Kristina said, but I still think it looks OK. After I dried the panel with my heat tool one last time, I removed the tape & cut the paper to size.

For the "anti-coloring," I used the "Mondo Hydrangea" stamp from Essentials by Ellen. I stamped it with Versamark ink onto a scrap of white cardstock, and heat embossed with Wow Persian Indigo embossing powder. It doesn't show up in the photo well, but it is very shiny & glittery in real life. I die cut it with the coordinating die, and played around a bit with placement on my panel. Finally, I glued it to my panel, and set a couple of acrylic blocks on top while the glue dried, to keep everything flat. After the glue had dried, I trimmed off the overhanging bits of the flower.

I heat embossed a greeting from Miss Ink's "Magnolia Sympathy" onto a scrap of pink cardstock. I cut that into a narrow strip, and glued it in place. Finally, I matted my panel with lavender cardstock, and adhered that to a white A2-size card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts #351: "Embossing Delight"

613 Avenue Create #233: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Incy Wincy Designs: "Anything Goes"

Happy Birthday

The theme for My Favorite Things' Birthday Project Challenge over the past month has been "Circles." I decided to make a circle shaped card, with a twist. Caly Person's lesson on Day 7 of Online Card Classes' "Spring Card Camp 2" inspired me to do a vellum overlay frame on my card front.

I die cut my card front from a light green cardstock with the largest of the "Beaded Circles" dies from Spellbinders (discontinued). I cut a second piece from Essentials by Ellen's 40 lb. vellum, and die cut a circle from the center of that. Since I didn't have much surface area on the vellum to apply adhesive without making an unsightly mess, I decided to stitch it to my card front. I offset the vellum layer on the cardstock, taped the two pieces together, and used a plastic canvas circle as a guide to pierce stitching holes. Then I stitched with a pale yellow embroidery floss.

I cut my card base from a piece of white cardstock I'd folded. I positioned a circle die so it hung off the folded edge just a bit, and die cut through both layers. I also die cut a circle with the same die from yellow cardstock, to show through the little openings in the "Beaded Circles" card front. Finally, I adhered all the layers together.

For my image, I stamped the cake from Lawn Fawn's "Birthday Before 'n Afters" on a scrap of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper. I colored it with a combination of Tombow & Zig Clean Color markers, then cut it with the coordinating die. I stamped the greeting, from My Favorite Things' "Big Birthday Sentiments" (discontinued), in Lawn Fawn Guava ink onto a scrap of white cardstock. I cut the greeting into labels, and adhered them and the cake to the front of my card. (I did make sure my cake & greeting would be parallel to the surface the card stands on.)

I cut a small sliver off the bottom of the card base back, so the card will stand when open.

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

613 Avenue Create Challenge #233: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)
Incy Wincy Designs: "Anything Goes"

Stellar Mother's Day Card

I made this card for my brother & sister-in-law to give our mom for Mother's Day. He got a telescope last year, so I thought Lawn Fawn's "Super Star" stamp set would be perfect! The design & technique were inspired by Julie Ebersole's lesson in Online Card Classes' Spring Card Camp (Day 4).

I stamped the telescope from "Super Star" on the front of the card base & die cut it (having opened the card first) to give me a window. I used Lawn Fawn's "Smitty's ABCs" to stamp the greeting, lining up the letters in my MISTI stamp positioning tool. Not easy to do, since they are small & fiddly stamps, but I managed! I wanted the ends of the words to go around the outline of the telescope die cut opening. Thankfully, I had just enough room for the "Mother's" word, even though I hadn't planned it out that way! I used the small heart stamp from "Super Star" to fill in the "gaps" in front of the "Happy" & "Day." I stamped the greeting with Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink & the hearts with Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide.

View of inside of card

I closed the card, placed it in my MISTI, and stamped the telescope on the inside of the card through the window in the front. I also stamped the mouse from "Super Star" twice, masking the first one so the second would be behind it. I figured, this card is coming from two people--there should be two mice! I also stamped & white heat embossed the constellations & a few more stars from "Super Star," as well as the greeting.

I masked the telescope & mice, and masked off an area for the ground with a piece of masking paper I'd cut. I inked the sky with Distress inks in shades of blue, ending by adding a little Black Soot at the very top to give the sky some depth. I masked the bottom of the sky with the other half of my hill mask, & inked the ground with Mowed Lawn & Peeled Paint Distress inks. To add some more "starry" accents, I kept the image & ground masks in place, & spattered gold watercolor on the sky.

This is where my second "mistake" came into play. (The first had been smudging black ink onto the mouse in back, which I'd camouflaged by coloring him grey.) I wanted to see how my card would look when closed, so I mindlessly closed it--without waiting for the watercolor to dry completely. Yep--gold & blue Distress ink spots transferred to the inside of the card front! At this point, having finished the inside, I was NOT about to start over. Nor was cutting the card apart an option, since the front & back of the design are kind of "married." So I found a piece of patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye "Blue Floral" 6x6" patterned paper pad, that complemented the scene inside the card. I cut it to A2 size, adhered it to the inside front of my card, & trimmed off any overhanging bits around the edges. Then, I popped the telescope die in its opening on the front of the card, opened the card so I only cut through the front, & ran it through my die cutting machine. Ink & paint spots covered! Even with that hiccup, I still love how the card came out.

I'm entering this card in the Lawn Fawnatics Challenge #75: "Spectacular Skies."

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)

Card Drive for Seniors

Ellen Hutson, based in Issaquah, WA, is having a card drive to collect cards for senior citizens in one of their local nursing & rehab facilities. Because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, nursing home residents are not permitted to have visitors. While they may not be able to see people face-to-face, hopefully cards will prove to be the next best thing. Ellen Hutson needs encouraging cards, with messages written on the inside for the residents. I created 2 cards for this drive.

For my first card, I used Sketch #SC579 from Splitcoaststampers.com as the basis for my design. I chose the "Daisy Kitty" & "So Much to Say #1" by Inky Antics for my image & greeting. I stamped the image in Altenew Vanilla Cream ink onto a panel of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper. I colored it with my Tombow water-based markers. I added a bit of a very pale yellow to the daisy petals, just to help them stand out a little bit.

I used a 2" circle punch to punch out the opening in the patterned paper (from Pink Paislee's "Summer Lights" 6x6" pad). I adhered that and the top strip to my bristol paper panel, matted everything with a light green cardstock panel, & adhered it to my card base.

For the greeting, I chose the "sending you" & "warm hugs" stamps from "So Much to Say #1." To keep the greeting shorter so it would fit in the space I had, I masked the "you," inked up "sending" with Lawn Fawn's Forget-Me-Not ink, and stamped (after removing the masking tape from the stamp, of course!). Then I lined up the "warm hugs" stamp, inked again with the same color, & stamped it. I cut that into a small strip, and adhered it to my card.

I chose Newton's Nook's "Newton's Birdhouse" image for my second card. I stamped it onto a panel of Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Since this was a new stamp, I had to stamp it about 3 times to get a good black outline. I colored it with my Prismacolor colored pencils, using Gamsol on a blending stump to blend just the kitty's fur, so it would look nice & soft. I also added grass with 2 green pencils, to ground the image.

I stamped my greeting, also from the "So Much to Say #1" set, in Lawn Fawn's Blue Jay ink, onto a strip of Bazzill Icy Mint cardstock. I die cut 3 hearts from a scrap of patterned paper I had in my stash, using the 3 smallest of Hero Arts' "Nested Hearts Infinity" dies. I assembled my card, following Sketch #SC639, also at Splitcoaststampers.com, and using papers from the "Summer Lights" pad. I matted everything with a mint-green cardstock, and adhered it to my card base.

I'm also entering these in the following challenges:

Die Cut Divas: "Anything Goes" (second card only)
613 Avenue Create #231: "Anything Goes" (playing the colored pencils twist on my second card)
The House that Stamps Built Challenge #DCC M420: "It's Raining Cats & Dogs"