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!

Monster-ous Birthday Wishes!

Hello and Happy Wednesday! 

I have a fun card to share with you today. I had the idea to blindfold the one eyed monster and make this card a, "Pin the Tail on the Pig," Monster birthday party!

To begin, I taped down a handmade stencil over a 5x7 panel of Neenah Solar White and lightly blended three Distress inks into the background; Cracked Pistachio, Squeezed Lemonade and Tumbled Glass.

Next, I used a ruler and a 0.3 Copic Multiliner to draw lines to frame my stenciled area. I thought it would be fun to stamp the balloons directly onto the background and color them so they look translucent. 

Once I saw how well the balloons turned out, I thought I would do the same thing but on a separate piece of paper and fussy cut the balloons when I was finished coloring. Isn't it nice when you try something new and it turns out exactly like you wanted? 

I colored the monsters with Copic markers. The expression on the red monster's face could be interpreted a number of ways so I decided to make it look like she was floating away. The monster on the right makes me laugh. It looks like he drank too much punch at the party.

The balloons are from It's All About Zoo and the presents are from Owl-idays. 

With my blindfolded monster, I decided to try to come up with a Pin the Tail on the ___ game. I drew the pig I used to doodle and drew him facing away. Instead of drawing the tail directly on the pig, I drew it with a Copic Multiliner onto a scrap piece of paper, loosely cut around the tail and popped it up with clear foam tape so it looks like the monster pinned the tail on the pig.

For the sentiment, I decided to go with, "Monster-ous Birthday Wishes," and stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black so the sentiment would be bold.

After I Copic colored the monsters, I fussy cut the presents, colored them and assembled the card. I added glossy accents the monsters eyes and Clear Wink of Stella to the balloons and the ribbon on the presents.

Here are the products I used:

Monster Mania

It's All About Zoo

Owl-idays

Thanks for visiting and have a beautiful day! 

Wish BIG!

Hello and Happy Saturday!

Today I am sharing another birthday card using the adorable Penny Black stamp set called, Sunny Days. My inspiration came in the form of a photo taken by the recipient of this card, fishing in photos and mentioning that she was enjoying some quiet time. What could be more relaxing on your birthday than sitting by the water, enjoying the sun and fresh air? 

To begin, I stamped the dog fishing on Neenah Solar White 80 lb card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I actually thought about trying no-line coloring with this card but then I located my sanity and stamped normally. However, I did free hand the background with Copics. Can you imagine trying no-line coloring with this image? Craziness. Haha

For the dog, I wanted to color him black but I have yet to color an animal 100% black so I chose greys. Usually I have the most difficult time deciding how to color animals and flowers. Especially black hair/fur because it's intimidating to me. I suppose this means I need more practice! I decided to try coloring a dog with spots and this happened! Don't you just love surprises? 

I have been trying to color my light source from different directions but coloring the shadow in front of the basket made me kick myself. I thought that was far too ambitious for this coloring adventure. Considering I had no idea what I was doing, I think it turned out ok. For the water, I used four different Copic colors and plenty of colorless blender. 

I've only been fishing a few times in my life and besides catching boots, crawdads and other surprising objects, I have only caught rainbow trout. I couldn't remember what they looked like so I did what I always do in that case and googled images of rainbow trout. I don't have a large selection of Copics so I just did the best I could with the colors at hand. To make the fish look like it had just been pulled out of the water, I brushed clear Wink of Stella over the fish. For the water droplets and some waves on the water, I used a blue Wink of Stella glitter marker. The bugs flying above the dog and fish are from another stamp set; Avery Elle, Happy Camper, also with a light brushing of Clear Wink of Stella.

For the Wish Big, I used a small sentiment from a Craftin Desert Divas stamp set called, Short & Sweet Tags. I stamped the sentiment with Versafine and clear embossed to make it shiny and raised. For the clouds, I used a sponge dauber and Unicorn Pigment Ink from Hero Arts. I also used Fog from Simon Says Stamp to darken the bottom of the clouds. 

That pretty much sums up this card. Thank you for visiting and I will attach a few more photos below.

Have a beautiful day!

Kristin

Let's Party & Celebrate You!

Hello and happy weekend!

Today I am sharing another birthday card for a wonderful woman and friend who helped me set up this blog! Patricia, I hope you've had the best day!

I have been playing with watercolor backgrounds a lot lately. One of the things I wanted to try was the emboss resist technique with gold embossing powder. I thought the Dotted Argyle background stamp from Impression Obsession would be great to try with this technique. 

To begin the background, I heat embossed Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold embossing powder on a sheet of watercolor card stock. Distress Ink colors used: Picked Raspberry, Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord and Mowed Lawn. In order to get the purples and green to blend, I added peacock feathers between them and it made a lovely, soft transition.

Next, I used the largest stitched die from the Mama Elephant Peek-A-Frame die set to cut an A2 size panel from the background. Patricia loves dots so I thought it would be fun to add some white dots over the background. I used the smallest dots stencil from the Bokeh Lights stencils from Simon Says Stamp and Unicorn Pigment Ink from Hero Arts. 

For the sentiment, I wanted to come up with something that wouldn't distract too much from the background. I decided to die cut a banner out of vellum with the Stitched Banner Duo die from Pretty Pink Posh and stamp the sentiment with StazOn Opaque White ink. The sentiment comes from the Big Birthday Wishes stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. I think it turned out well. You can still see the Bokeh Lights, the embossing and the color through the vellum. 

I knew I wanted to use the Bird Crazy stamp set from Tim Holtz but I'm more comfortable with my Copics when it comes to coloring. I stamped the bird on my normal Neenah Solar White 80 lb and colored with various copic markers. Fussy cutting this bird wasn't exactly easy so I see purchasing the dies for this stamp set in my future! I couldn't resist coloring the bird to match the background and I definitely couldn't resist giving her eyelids. Channeling Kathy Racoosin! haha For added interest, I added lines and dots of Uni-ball Signo broad gel pen in white and gold. On her eyelids and back, I brushed on Clear Wink of Stella. These birds have so much personality! 

The only thing left to do was put the card together and scatter sequins! Normally, I wouldn't have put this bird with this background but I thought that this bird needed to be on this card and after working on it for so many hours, the bird won! haha 

Other Supplies used:

Copic Multiliner 0.3

Versamark

Pretty Pink Posh sequins

Multi Medium Matte

3D Foam Tape Circles

I hope you like this card. I will add more photos below and I will return with another card on Monday. 

Have a beautiful day!

Kristin

Enjoy your day!

Good Morning and Happy Friday! 

Today I am sharing a card I made for a friend's birthday. My inspiration was originally to make it look like soccer balls were raining down on a very happy dog. Then I had a suggestion to make it look like the dog was standing on soccer balls, making it look like he's throwing them in the air like Scrooge McDuck in his money vault. Naturally, that sounded much more amusing! 

I began the card by stamping multiple soccer balls on Neenah Solar White 80 lb card stock, using the Summer Days stamp set from Penny Black. After I had stamped and colored the soccer balls and the dog, I realized that I made an error in the way I stacked the balls in the scene. 

As you can see, the way I stamped the soccer balls made it look like they were floating, not stacked. Instead of re-stamping the panel again, I stamped, colored and cut out more soccer balls and adhered them with clear foam tape to look like they were properly stacked. 

Next, I colored the whole scene with various Copic markers. This card didn't take a long time to color but I did enjoy watching it all come together. Using Versafine Onyx Black ink, I stamped the sentiment, "Enjoy your day!"

To add a little more interest, I applied Gold Wink of Stella to the dog's collar and Clear Wink of Stella to a few of the soccer balls. 

I wanted to keep the card base simple since the scene is quite busy, so I matted the panel with silver cardstock and popped it up onto a black card base with 3M foam tape. 

Below I have attached more photos of the card. Thank you for visiting and I will return tomorrow with another card.

Have a beautiful day! 

Kristin