I Believe in You

I Believe in You

Hello friends! 

I'm here to share the most recent card that I finished for the IG Crafty Crew July Challenge (I'm a bit early) to make a cheer up or encouragement card using sequins and/or jewels.

If you want to participate on IG, use the hashtag: #igcc180710e 

Here is the card:

To start, I took a piece of watercolor paper (no idea what brand) and began blending several colors of Distress Ink:  Festive Berries, Candied Apple, Squeezed Lemonade, Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet

Next, I sprinkled water droplets over top and then spritzed Perfect Pearls lightly over the paper. After heat setting, I die cut the paper and made a shaker card. That's it!

I never separated the die set and after playing with them all together, I don't think I will ever cut them apart. haha

Here are some more photos:

Simon Says Stamp sentiment: I See You (no longer available), heat embossed with Hero Arts White embossing powder on SSS Black card stock

SSS Die set: Dot Circles

Pretty Pink Posh sequins mixes: Sparkling Clear Confetti, Iridescent Mini Hearts, Gold Mini Hearts, Silver Mini Hearts

Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

Moody Cat Concert

Moody Cat Concert

Hello, friends! Today I'm here to share a card that I struggled with and ended up loving. Don't you love it when that happens? I used five stamp companies to finish this card but the animals and the sentiment are Mama Elephant.

Here is the card:

To start, I began with the cats on stage. The stamp set is Little Cat Agenda from Mama Elephant. First, I die cut the stage out of Neenah Solar White 80 lb with the larger die from the Pretty Pink Posh die set, Window Frames.

After stamping the cats with Simon Says Stamp (SSS), Intense Black ink, I put a piece of printer paper over the cats and drew a homemade spotlight stencil.

After masking the kitties, I taped the stencil onto the stage and began lightly blending Distress Inks over the cats. I used the colors Wilted Violet, Salty Ocean and Cracked Pistachio.

What happened next is why I was sure my little scene I created was done for. I was going for smokey, it ended up looking dirty and dark.

Instead of giving up on it, I took the advice of a friend and colored in the cats and under their feet. She said that once I finished the coloring it might make more sense to me. I'm glad that for once I didn't pitch a failed idea in the garbage. 

To achieve the spotlight of color around their little bodies, I tried to use Copics but it wasn't working. Instead, I fashioned another stencil out of printer paper and lightly blended the same Distress inks on the floor.

  

As you can see, the background isn't perfect but much improved. I decided after getting to this point that it worked for a moody atmosphere.

Next, I used the straight stitched die from the die set, Stitched Borders 2 from Pretty Pink Posh to add another layer of stitching below the stage with some spare cardstock scraps. I rubbed Nuvo Embellishment Mousse in the color Peony Pink over the cardstock and adhered it to the stage.

After that, I used the stitched rectangle die from the Mama Elephant dies, Femme Frames, to die cut a piece of Dark Chocolate cardstock from SSS. 

The fireworks are from the die set, Fireworks Bursts, from SSS, which I can no longer find on the website. I did some quick and simple coloring with my Prismacolor colored pencils. I also used one small stamp from the stamp set, Birthday Bits, from SSS, to add white and gold dots of color below the fireworks.

While I had my colored pencils out, I also added a bit more color to the instruments and I moved on.

I ended up taking the easier route for this card and went with die cut grass. There is the tall grass die from Lawn Fawn, Grassy Border, and the shorter grass die cut from My Favorite Things, Grassy Hills. All I did was lightly blend some of the stage colors onto the cardstock with the addition of Black Soot on the scalloped border of the MFT die cut. Incidentally, that scallop border is another PPP die from the die set, Stitched Borders 2.

The sentiment and the animals are from the stamp sets, Woodland Gifts and Blogging Buddies from Mama Elephant. 

For the sentiment, all I did was stamp the sentiment inside the laptop screen and fussy cut the screen to make it look like a fan sign. All that was left was to put the card together, brush on a lot of Wink of Stella over the fireworks and I was done!

Here are some more photos of the finished card:

My cat, being the extra helpful cat photographer.

Thank you for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

I Hope You're in Every One of My Nine Lives

I Hope You're in Every One of My Nine Lives

Hello friends! I'm here to share a card I made using two stamp sets from My Favorite Things, Cool Cat and I Knead You


Here is the card:

I made this card for my friend, Michelle (@michii00 on IG) that includes both of our cats. These stamp sets are adorable!

This card was spur of the moment. I wasn't sure how I was going to make this card with all four cats so I decided to wing it.

The ink I used to stamp the images is Simon Says Stamp, Intense Black ink because, Copics.

To start, I cut a piece of 80 lb Neenah Solar White in half the long way and worked from left to right. The only masking involved is the cat on the far left so I could have her sitting on the cushion and the cat  with the yarn so I could tuck the yarn under his paw. Unusual for me to have so little masking on a card. haha

I finally decided to give each cat their own little section so I would have more room to color our individual cats. Using a 0.5 Copic Multiliner, I drew a line to separate the first cat and began working on the next section. Using the MISTI stamping tool, I stamped the cat in the box and the sentiment at the same time, drew a line and moved on.

After I finished the Copic coloring, I covered different sections and lightly blended Tumbled Glass or Abandoned Coral Distress Ink into the corners. After brushing a bit of clear Wink of Stella on the fish and the bows on the cats, I was finished.


I've had some questions about which Copics I used so I will leave that information here:

Copic colors used:

E55,  E35,  E37,  E57  -  Cardboard Box

R21,  R22,  R14,  R27,  N0,  N2,  -  Cat bed

R20,  E50,  YR20,  E53  -  Cat on the left (Emma)

R00,  R20,  W1  -  Fish

B00,  B0000  -  Thought Bubble

N0,  N2,  N4,  R20  -  Cat in the Box (Mini)

E30,  YR20,  E53,  R20  -  Cat top right (Julius)

N4,  N6,  N8  -  Cat bottom right (Bentley)

C00,  C2,  C4  or  W1,  W3,  W5  -  Floor under cats



Here are some additional photos of the finished card:

Thanks for stopping by, have a beautiful day!

Polynesian Paradise

MFT Polynesian Paradise Card

Hello everyone! I'm here today to share a card I made with the Polynesian Paradise stamp set from My Favorite Things. This card is masking and Copic intensive.

Here is the card:

To begin, I took an A2 size piece of Neenah Solar White 80 lb. and stamped the girl in the center of the paper. Then I began stamping the flowers, masking as I went along.

Here is a photo I found online of a beach scene that I used for inspiration:

I wanted to use the sun on the water but I didn't have enough room to play so I focused on the beach instead.

This is how the background looked in the very beginning. I have to admit, sometimes I am intimidated by my ideas but I got there in the end. haha

After I started coloring the girl, I learned a valuable lesson that I had forgotten over the years.. Practicing coloring the image before coloring on the final piece! My coloring skills are a bit rusty. I was going for a nice suntan but she ended up looking like she had a bad sunburn so I colored her multiple times until I was finally happy with the skin tone.

After finishing the Copic coloring, I die cut a piece of Neenah Desert Storm from the larger frame from the Femme Frames set from Mama Elephant and glued it to the card base before adhering the Copic panel.

The final step was fussy cutting and adhering a few of the flowers and adding some sparkle to the pollen and the waist of her skirt with a few of the Wink of Stella colored glitter pens.

Here are a couple more images of the finished card:

Special thanks to my cat for his interest in photography. haha



Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

In Case You Didn't Know... You Are Amazing

In Case You Didn't Know... You Are Amazing

Hello, friends!

It took me roughly two weeks to remember the email I used to log into my blog. Good grief, after two years of not making a card I almost forgot how to create a blog post. haha

I'm here today to share a card I made for a dear friend, Maggie (@rahzicrafts on IG) on June 1, 2018.

I will be catching up and posting the cards I made recently on my blog over the next several days.


Here is the card:

To start, I cut an A2 size panel out of Neenah Solar White 80 lb card stock and began stamping some images from the My Favorite Things stamp set, You Gnome Me, using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink.

I thought it would be fun to use large flowers to make the gnomes appear smaller so I picked the Altenew set, Peony Bouquet. I masked the gnomes and the boot and began stamping the peonies and leaves using Altenew's Jet Black ink. For the top right flower, I used the mini Altenew inks in the colors: Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, and Ruby Red, and for the other two I used Coral Berry, Ruby Red and Grapevine.

For the yellow flowers, I used Altenew ink colors: Warm Sunshine, Caramel Toffee and Paper Bag.

For the leaves, I used Altenew ink colors: Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades and Evergreen.

The sentiment is from the My Favorite Things stamp set, Amazing. I stamped the sentiment using Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed it with Hero Arts Ultra Fine clear embossing powder.

After sketching out a path for the gnomes and laying down a base for the grass, this is where I stood with the card:

As you can see from this photo, all the gnomes originally had blue hats but seeing as I rarely leave well enough alone, that changes as the card progresses. haha

Next, I finished coloring the road, grass and boot with Copic markers. I didn't want to stamp even more flowers (I was all masked out) so I used my Copics to fill in the blank spaces above the flowers. I also used my Copics to add more depth to the leaves.

I can't tell you how many images of gnomes and their clothing colors I saw before I settled on red, green and blue. While I was coloring, I started thinking about what it would be like if this is how people dressed. What a visual. I should probably start distracting myself with music while coloring. haha

To finish, I colored the gnomes and like the pro I am, I neglected to finish shading their clothing in my haste to finish the card. Nonetheless, I am pleased with how it turned out. :)

Thanks for stopping by!