Special Delivery

Hey friends, I hope you're doing well!  I have a card to share with you that was inspired by the current challenge at The Paper Players.  Joanne has chosen a fun theme of cards for boys, which I never have a enough of, so this worked perfectly.

PP539

I'm also joining Addicted to Stamps, where the current challenge is any occasion.

ATSC #404

My husband and I have two great nephews that are young, so I'm constantly looking for fun stamp sets appropriate for their age.  Recently I found a cute space themed set at Ellen Hutson, which worked well for this theme.

I began by making an easy galaxy background.  I used Distress Oxide inks to blend the colors, starting with the lightest in the middle and working my way out to the darkest.  Next a Distress sprayer was used to add water drops to simulate stars, then I added white gouache splatter for good measure, with both a small paintbrush and a toothbrush for the smallest size dots.  I set that aside to dry and went to work on all the stamped images.

The rocket ship and planets were colored with Copic markers and cut out with the coordinating dies.  The thing that probably took me the longest was deciding what sentiment to use.  The stamp set has several fun sentiments but none for birthdays so I pulled out several other sets and finally settled on "special delivery", which it would be if it were from space, right?  

After the ink blended panel was dry, it was die cut with the deckled rectangle die and adhered to the white card base.  Next, all the images were positioned on the panel, adhering the planets directly to it, then popping up the rocket ship with foam tape.  The main sentiment was die cut then the birthday greeting sentiment strip trimmed down and both added with foam tape.  I still wanted more stars, so I tried making white dots with a white gel pen but it didn't stand out as well as I'd hoped.  Then I remembered I had some fun holographic stars, which ended up being the perfect final piece.  You can see them really well in the closeup below.

Thanks for coming by and taking a look!  Take care and have a great weekend!

Stef

Stamps:  Space Out (Ellen Hutson), Pickup Lines (Honey Bee)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Strathmore Bristol, Sentiment Strips (Simon Says Stamp)

Ink:  Gina K Obsidian Amalgam, Versafine Clair Nocturne, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Oxide

Other:  Space Out and Pickup Lines matching dies, Deckled Frames die (Waffle Flower), White Gouache, Sakura White Gelly Roll pen, Oh My Stars Confetti Mix (Trinity Stamps)

Copics:  R59, 46, 24, B28, 26, 24, 23, 21, 18, YG67, 17, 03, YR18, 09, 16, 21, 31, Y17, 06, 00, C5, 3, 1, 0

Beary Happy for Sunday Stamps

Hello friends, I hope you're doing well!  It's time for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps where Heather has created this great sketch for us to play with!

Sunday Stamps

I had a sweet little bear that I wanted to use for the vertical rectangle, so I took a little bit of liberty with the sketch to create a "scene".

Initially, I started by looking through the loads of pattern papers I have to use for the background, but nothing worked right, so I created a scene and used a puffy cloud instead of a half circle or doily.  I started by coloring the bear, flower and his little bee friend with Copic markers, then added grass and a blue sky behind him.  Next a panel of Tim Holtz Heavystock was ink blended with green and light blue Distress Inks then die cut to fit on the 5"x 7" card base.

Next the clouds were die cut, inked around the edges with the same blue ink as the sky, then adhered directly to the panel.  A strip of white woodgrain was adhered across the middle, wrapped with Linen Thread, then the panel was mounted on the card base with foam tape.  Our little bear buddy was matted on a slightly larger piece of white cardstock, the sentiment stamped on the panel, then the entire thing added to the card with foam tape to finish things off!  I really love the fun play on the sketch, the only thing I'd change is to darken the ink blending of the sky, because it really doesn't show up well in the photos.

Thanks so much for visiting, I really appreciate it!  Be sure to use the link above to check out the amazing cards by the other DT members and hopefully join us for this challenge!

Stef

Stamps:  Happy Days (Colorado Craft Company)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Tim Holtz Heavy Stock, White Woodgrain (Ellen Hutson)

Ink:  Gina K Obsidian Amalgam, Versafine Clair Nocturne, Tumbled Glass, Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress 

Other:  Linen Thread (SU), Simple Puffy Clouds (Lawn Fawn), A7 Layers die (Waffle Flower)

Copics:  E29, 37, 35, 33, 31, R22, 21, 20, Y06, YG67, 17, 13

Hello Friend for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Hello again! It's time for a new Tic Tac Toe Challenge!  This week the lovely Jeanne has created this wonderful board to spark our creativity.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

I'm also joining the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with the Anything Goes theme.

For my card, I decided to go on the angle - embossing, coloring and flowers, although it ended up I could go across the bottom as well.

I started by stamping and coloring the two coneflower images.  Using Copic markers I find it hard to shade light pink for true contrast, so this time I used three Polychromos Colored pencils in Magenta, Fuchsia and Pink Madder Lake (light pink) to create the contrast.  Look at the difference below.

The leaves between the bottom pencil on the right up to the top pencil were shaded with the colored pencils and you can see the difference it made.  IRL the shading appears darker.  So anyway, it then could stand up with the other coneflower, where I was able to achieve dark shading with the red-violet markers.

With the coloring complete, the flowers were die cut with matching dies.  For the base, I adhered a scallop die cut panel of Desert Storm, then added a white embossed strip, then stamped the sentiment in black.  The flowers where adhered together at the very bottom of the stems, which was also glued to the card front.  The pink flower was slightly popped up with thin foam squares, the regular foam tape was used to pop up the dark pink flower and leaves.  And that finished my card!

Thanks so much for visiting, I really appreciate it!  I hope you'll take a moment to use the link above and check out the other DT member's beautiful cards, and hopefully join us this week for tttc111!

Stef

Stamps:  Build-A-Flower: Coneflower (Altenew)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm

Ink:  Gina K Obsidian Amalgam, Versafine Clair Nocturne

Other:  Coneflower dies, Scallop A2 Honey Cuts die (Honey Bee), Layered Leaves 3D embossing folder (ret. SU)

Copics: [T6, V06, RV66, 55, 52] [RV91, 21, 10] [G28, YG45, G21], [E39, YR27, Y19, 13]

Polychromos Colored Pencils:  133 Magenta, 123 Fuchsia, 129 Pink Madder Lake

Spring Flowers Birthday

Hello again!  I hope you're doing well.  Today I'm sharing a card that I made for three challenges - Seize the Birthday, The Flower Challenge and Addicted to Stamps (my second entry for this current challenge).

STB #212

TFC #55

ATSC #403

One of my favorite spring flowers is the cherry blossom, so I thought no better way to go than to use Ellen Hutson's Mondo Sakura. I decided to watercolor these big, beautiful blooms using my Karin markers.  I use the term "watercolor" loosely as what I did was such an simple technique.  

After gold embossing the floral image on watercolor paper, I used a #8 round brush to bring water to each petal, use the marker to drop in some color at the petal base, then mostly let the water do the work, with a bit of help with my brush to get the color moving.  After the petals and leaves were done, water was added around the image and water colored in light blue.

When dry, the panel was trimmed down, splattered with the pink marker color and white gouache (both watered down), then added to the Ivory card base with foam tape.  The large sentiment was die cut from gold once and white twice then layered together and added to the panel.  I trimmed down a sentiment strip and adhered above the die cut, then added a few sparkling clear sequins for the final touch.

Thank you for taking time to visit, I really appreciate it!  Take care and enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

Stef

Stamps:  Mondo Sakura (EH)

Paper:  Ivory (Simon Says Stamp), Arches Cold Press watercolor, Gold Pearl (Tonic), Reverse Sentiment Strips (SSS)

Ink:  Versamark

Other:  "You" die (MFT), Rose Gold embossing powder (Altenew), Karin Brushtip Pro markers, White Gouache, Sparkling Clear Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Sweet Birthday Wishes

Hello friends, I hope you're doing well!  Today I'm sharing a card made for two challenges - Addicted to Stamps where the current theme is birthdays and with The Paper Players, were the challenge is to make a CAS birthday card.

ATS #403

PP537

I essentially made a one layer card with some embossing and just a bit of splatter for a little added interest.

In my stash I had two components of this card, one the embossed background and the other a piece of Bristol previously ink blended with shades of Distress Oxide Ink.  I decided to keep it simple, in line with the challenge, with just one die cut image.  I used a leaf die to cut it out, maximizing the as much color difference as I could.

Next I adhered the embossed panel directly to the white card base, then gently added the black and gold splatter, first to the panel alone, then a bit more after laying the leaf die cut on it.  When the splatter dried, the leaf branch was glued to the base just along the main stems so the leaves could pop up a bit.  The sentiment was gold embossed on black paper, die cut then added to the base with foam tape. The last touch was to add three sequins.  Very simple and easy, especially using things from my stash!

Thank you for taking time to visit, I appreciate it very much!  Take care and have a great week!

Stef

Stamps:  Sentiment Strips (Altenew)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Black, Strathmore Bristol

Ink:  Versamark; Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Mermaid Lagoon DOX

Other:  (All Altenew unless otherwise noted) Just Leaves die, Featured Sentiment dies, Modern Squares 3D embossing folder, Antique Gold embossing powder, Jet Black Ink Spray, Starry Colors Gold Metallic Paint (Gansai Tambi), sequins

More Happiness for Sunday Stamps

Hello friends! I hope you're doing well.  It's time for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps!  This time we are bringing you a color challenge with some beautiful colors.

Sunday Stamps

Well, with these colors, I just could not resist using florals for my card lol!

I started by stamping the flowers and leaves.  The stamp set is a layering stamp set, so rather than use my ususal Copic coloring, I inked up the multiple stamp layers to get the contrasting colors, adding the dark center with a W9 Copic marker. Coloring will always be my number one love, but using these layering stamps is pretty darn nifty!  The flowers and leaves were die cut with matching dies, then I went to work on the background.

Using two shades of blue ink, the Deco Wallpaper design was stenciled on a panel of white cardstock.  I then fiddled around with the flowers and leaves for what seemed like forever until I could get a layout I was happy with.  All the leaves and the flower on the right were adhered directly to the panel, with the other flower added with foam tape.  

Unfortunately, while I was gluing down the first flower and the leaves, I smeared glue on the panel below the flowers and it look terrible.  I tried using an adhesive eraser to remove it but that didn't work.  I was NOT going to put this in the trash, so I decided to trim around the leaves and cut off the bottom of the panel and it worked! I was so happy.  Next, the panel was added to the card base with foam tape, which I also used under the leaves hanging off the panel bottom.  In the end, I really loved how this looked and was so happy I didn't give up on it.  The heat embossed sentiment was die cut and added to the panel with foam squares, then the final step was a bit of sparkle with some iridescent jewels.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, I appreciate it so much! Be sure to head over to the blog to check out all the amazing inspiration by the other DT members and hopefully join us for this challenge! 

Take care and I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Stef

Stamps:  Airbrushed Flowers (Altenew)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Island Blue (Simon Says Stamp)

Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne, Versamark; Fresh Pair, Key Lime, Olive, Summer Shower and Seaside (Pinkfresh Studio); Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Carmel Coffee and Paper Bag (Altenew)

Other:  Airbrushed Flowers dies, Featured Sentiments die (Altenew), Deco Wallpaper stencil (Altenew), W9 Copic marker, Fine Detail White embossing powder (SSS), Iridescent Jewels (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)

Stenciled Floral

Hi friends and welcome back!  I hope you're doing well.  Today I have a card to share that I made for two challenges - the sketch challenge at Fab Friday and the Trend Week challenge at Just Us Girls.

FF211

Just Us Girls 579

I thought the sketch would be perfect as a mini-slimline card measuring 3.5" x 6.25".

To start, I used a layering stencil to create the rose and leave background.  I worked with three shades of pink for the roses, using the darker two towards the center.  Switching to the leaves stencil, two shades of green were used.  After the panel was trimmed down, I wrapped a layer of vellum around the middle, then matted it on a panel of black cardstock. 

For the sentiment I used the Apothecary Labels stamp and die sets.  I stamped the label in the darkest pink, used my heat gun to make sure the ink was dry, then white heat embossed the sentiment.  When that cooled, the label was die cut then matted on a slightly larger black label.  After the main panel was adhered to the white card base, I made a little nest of silver thread on the vellum, then added the sentiment label on top with foam tape.  Lastly a few jewels were added for a bit of sparkle.

I also made a second card in more earthier peach tones.  Which one do you like better?  Personally, I like them both, but I seem to be more drawn to cool tones rather than warm.

Thank you for taking the time to visit, I appreciate it!  Take care and have a great weekend!

Stef

Stamps:  Apothecary Labels (Altenew)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Black, Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)

Ink:  Versamark; Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, Rubellite, Pastel Sunrise, Canyon Clay, and Burnt Red (Altenew); Grassy Knoll and Olive (Pinkfresh Studio)

Other:  Bed of Roses Layering Stencil (Trinity Stamps), Apothecary Labels dies, Fine Detail White embossing powder (Simon Says Stamp), Bridal Mix Jewels (Little Things by Lucy's Cards), Gold Glitter Gems (Studio Katia), Gold and Silver thread (ret. SU)

It's A Shower for the Tic Tac Toe challenge

Hello, friends!  I hope you're doing well.  It's time for a new Tic Tac Toe challenge!  This week Annie has given us this wonderful board for inspiration.  I'm also joining the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the current theme is CAS.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

For my card, I went across the bottom row (blue, polka dots, cute critter), but I also could have done the left diagonal down (umbrella, baby theme, cute critter) or left diagonal up (blue, baby theme, CAS).

When I first saw the board, I didn't think I had an image of an umbrella, but then I remembered this cute little ducky splashin' in the rain!  I began by lightly ink blending blue polka dots with a stencil in the upper left corner of white panel, then stamped the duck in the bottom right.  Copic markers were used to color the image, then I added white polka dots with a gel pen.  The panel was trimmed down and adhered to a base of Neenah Desert Storm.

For the sentiment I used one of my favorite sentiment stamp sets from Verve, white heat embossing two sentiments then die cutting in small strips.  Those were added to the card with foam tape and that finished things off!

Thanks so much for visiting, I really appreciate it!  Take care and enjoy your weekend!

Stef

Stamps:  Showers & Flowers (Simon Says Stamp), Small Phrases (ret. Verve)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm, Island Blue (SSS)

Ink:  Gina K Obsidian Amalgam, Versamark, Tumbled Glass Distress

Other:  I Like Small Dots stencil (SSS), Featured Sentiments die (Altenew), Sakura White Gelly Roll pen

Copics:  Y26, 19, 13, 00, B05, 04, 02, 00, BG000, E59, 57, TR18, 07, 16