Guest Designer -- Donna Phelan

On today's "Guest Designer Friday" I get to share yet another beautiful card created by our talented guest designer, Donna Phelan of Crafting By The Beach. Donna is sharing another great tutorial with our blog readers that includes lots of photos! Here's what Donna says about putting her pretty floral card together:

"Good Morning!

I am happy to be back as a Guest Designing on the CropStop Blog.

No sentiment, just a pretty all occasion card! 

Here's how I created it!

I layered 2 of the My Favorite Things Cross Stitched Rectangles together, die cutting in White card stock.  This creates an easy and decorative frame.

I die cut the Memory Box Distress Windham Collage from White card stock and topped it with my pretty Cross Stitched Rectangle frame.  I then layered a piece of pretty Violet card stock behind that.  Adhering a piece of Fun Foam using Scor Tape to the back of all of those layers.  The Fun Foam gives this panel a nice sturdy feel.  

Next I cut the pretty Dogwood Blossom Corner die by Poppy Stamps

from Violet and Green card stock.  I cropped the flowers from the Violet piece and layered them on to the Green vine.  Topped with Adhesive Pearls.

My butterfly is from the Memory Box Butterfly Exhibit die.  I just snipped the largest butterfly from the die cut and again backed it with the pretty Violet card stock.  
It just POPS! 

Added one more Adhesive Pearl.

As always, a little bit of dimension.  I flipped up the butterfly wings a bit.

I stamped a wee little butterfly on the inside as well as a little vine.

Sending Love Stamps by Gina K Designs.

Inks in Rich Razzleberry and Wild Wasabi."

Thanks for sharing your talent with us again this week, Donna!
Now it's your turn....stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any projects that include a few products from companies Cropstop carries in the store! I'll look forward to seeing your work appear in the gallery!

Guest Desinger - Donna Phelan

Welcome to another "Guest Designer Friday!" Today I'm sharing a beautiful card created by the winner of the April Link Party...Donna Phelan of Crafting By the Beach. Donna not only created a gorgeous interactive card to share with us today, but also included a mini tutorial with LOTS of photos! Let's get right to it...Donna says,

"Good Morning!

I am sharing a little interactive card with you today.  I was inspired by Dawn's Stamping Thoughts, her Hubby designed this particular sketch.

Top Folding A-2 Card.

Black card base, 4 1/4 x 11 inches, scored at 5 1/2 inches.

White layering weight card stock, 4 1/8 inches x 5 1/4 inches

Polka Dot Designer Paper, 3 7/8 inches x 5 1/8 inches.

Using the Memory Box Sideshow Tickets I die cut once from Black card stock and Floral Designer Paper.  Adhered with Scotch ATG Adhesive.

I added  Fun Foam to the back of my panel using Scor Tape.  This creates a nice 'channel' for my smaller Memory Box Sideshow Tickets which is cut in White card stock, layered with a Red Memory Box Row Of Poppies cropped die cut.  Ribbon added for the pull tab.

Sentiment panel Folk Filigree and Happy Spring stamp sets, by Gina K Designs.

Raven Black ink.

Spellbinders Standard Classic, Heart, and Scallop Circles die cuts.

Red and White Gingham Ribbon.

Black Ribbon Tab.

Foam Dots.

A hidden surprise inside.

A little bit of dimension.

Classic Black and White with a POP of Red."

Thanks for sharing your talent with us Donna! You have inspired me to do something interactive and fun!  Now it's YOUR turn! Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and show off any project that includes a product or two from companies Cropstop carries in the store!

Prairie Thistle

Hello Everyone! Welcome back to the Cropstop blog! Today I'm sharing a card that features a layered die cut image (Prairie Thistle) and a fun way to use your embossing spacers. I've had a lot of fun experimenting with different mixed media products this month, and this card features a few of those as well.

To create my card I:

• brushed some Clear Gesso (Art Basics) over a piece of white card stock
• applied some Seedless Preserved Distress Oxide (Ranger) to the center, spritzed with water, and spread the ink around with a small paintbrush
• using Sponge Daubers, I applied Seedless Preserved Distress Oxide (Ranger) through the Mini North Star Stencil from TCW
• taped my piece of cardstock to the Oval Embossing Spacer and painted through the opening with Platinum Inka Gold  diluted with water

Next I:

• removed the panel and used a Sharpie marker and created faux stitching lines around the inside of the oval 
• die cut the flowers using the Prairie Thistle Die from Memory Box - Poppy Stamps  
• I  cut three from white card stock and one from purple
• I layered the three white one on top of the other and added the purple underneath leaving the petals intact
• the petals were painted with diluted Seedless Preserved Distress Oxide (Ranger)
• die cut two sentiments from phrase one Spellbinders dies - layering one on the other for extra thickness
• last of all I added some pearl centers to my stars using White Opal Liquid Pearls

 The photo below shows the shimmer that the Inka Gold adds to the card.

 Now it's your turn....stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any projects that include a few products from companies Cropstop carries in the store! I'll look forward to seeing your work appear in the gallery!

Guest Designer - Kathy Krug

It's Guest Designer Friday and today we're sharing the talent of Kathy Krug of Stamp With Ink. Kathy created a beautiful spring card with a delicate border and gorgeous floral arrangement underneath her hurricane candle. I absolutely LOVE the gorgeous flowers she created with their pretty prill centers!
 
Here's what Kathy says about putting this card together:

"The front of the package for this Elizabeth Craft Hurricane candle pairs it with some pine boughs and a poinsettia so I think the idea was for a Christmas card. It is too pretty to use just for Christmas so I created a spring time card that could be used for many different occasions. 

Here are the directions:

1. Cut a card base 4 ¼ by 5 ½.
2. Cut another piece of card stock a little larger and cut it with the Memory Box Blooming Floral Frame.
3. Adhere to the card base.
4. Cut the hurricane two times from vellum
5. Cut the candle three times from card stock and glue together to give it some dimension.
6. Glue candle to one piece of the vellum
7. Glue the second vellum hurricane on top using Ailene’s tacky glue at the bottom part of the hurricane where the flowers will cover the glue.
8. Cut and shape Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blossom and put some Prills in the center.
9. Tuck some Elizabeth Craft ferns behind the flowers."

Thanks for sharing your talent with us, Kathy!

Now it's your turn....stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any projects that include a few products from companies Cropstop carries in the store! I hope to see YOU there!

Clear Gesso

Hello friends! I'm fairly new to the mixed media art world, so I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with different products and discovering techniques to use in my card making. Today I want to share a card I created with Clear Gesso as the base, so let's get started.....

To create my background I:

• painted a piece of card stock with a layer of Clear Gesso (Art Basics)
• once dry, I used sponge daubers to apply Broken China Distress Oxide (Ranger) to the center
• next I, spritzed the ink with some water
• using a small paintbrush, I spread the ink around my card stock to form a pretty background and let it dry

The wonderful thing about Clear Gesso is that it doesn't change the color of your paper at all, but it gives you a surface that's slightly textured and holds the paints, inks, watercolors you apply so they won't soak into your paper right away. Regular card stock will soak up the color, dry quickly, and pill after too many applications of water. Here's a photo of white card stock without the gesso to show you the difference in the above technique:

You'll notice:

1. The color didn't spread nearly as far - the center is dark/the edges are light - uneven color
2. The color isn't as vibrant as it soaked into the paper
3. The paper has a bit of "pill" to it
4. It doesn't look like watercolor like the above panel does

To create my panel I:

• stamped flowers, stems, and "sentiment" from the Blossom stamp set (Tim Holtz) in Tuxedo Black ink Tsukineko)
• colored the stems with Touch Five Markers
• using a Splatter Brush (Ranger) I applied some diluted (with water) Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide (Ranger)
• glued my flowers (below) over top and fussy cut around one to create a popped out image

 

For the flowers I:

• painted a piece of card stock with a layer of Clear Gesso (Art Basics)
• stamped a flower from Blossom (Tim Holtz) in Versamark Watermark ink and added black embossing powder
• applied some Spun Sugar Distress Crayon (Tim Holtz) to the petals and painted with water and a small paintbrush (since I was cutting these out I didn't worry about staying in the lines)
• applied Picked Raspberry Distress Crayon (Tim Holtz) to the petals and repeated the wet paintbrush step
• applied Spiced Marmalade Distress Crayon (Tim Holtz) to the centers and painted it with water
• using just water and a clean paintbrush I removed some of the ink from the centers of my flowers
• This is possible because of the Clear Gesso -- the ink is longer drying and can be moved around and removed for some time - I tried this same technique on regular white card stock without gesso and it didn't work!

To finished off my card I:

• stamped a Script background stamp (SU) in Versamark Watermark ink  over my flowered panel 
• added white embossing powder and heat set
• matted my panel on pink card stock
• embossed a piece of white card stock with the Lattice embossing folder from Creative Expressions
• assembled my card

Now it's your turn....stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any projects that include a few products from companies Cropstop carries in the store! I'll look forward to seeing your work appear in the gallery!

Guest Designer - Stephanie Wright

It's time for another guest designer spot here on the Cropstop blog. Today we're sharing the work of Stephanie Wright of Sasha Belle Designs.  Stephanie has created a beautiful spring step card to share with our readers, and has also included a great tutorial!

Here's what Stephanie says: "I am so honored to be Guest Designing for the Crop Stop blog today. I found a simple Step Card tutorial by Loll Thompson on Pinterest and used that for my card base. I decided to make this a birthday card for a friend who like purple and also likes butterflies. I really like this step card design because it still allows room to write a message on the interior.
 

After following the tutorial to make my card base, I cut solid cardstock slightly smaller to mat patterned paper. I inked the edges of the patterned paper with Distress Ink for extra dimension. The green patterned paper strip across the bottom front of the card was embossed with an embossing folder. After inking the edges of this strip, the embossing was also highlighted with ink to really help it pop. 

The sentiment on the right side was stamped with Versafine black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. A Spellbinders circle die was used to die cut the sentiment which was then matted on a Spellbinder Picot Edge Circle die cut. After adhering these to the panel, the circles were embellished with clear bling. The sentiment on the left was stamped directly on the patterned paper and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. The small butterflies were punched from dark purple cardstock with a Fiskars punch. The centers of the butterflies were accented with Stickles. The large butterfly was die cut with a Momenta die from cardstock and then from vellum. The vellum layer was also embossed with the coordinating embossing plates. The vellum layer was adhered to the cardstock layer only in the middle. After adhering the large butterfly to the card, it was accented with clear bling."

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill (dark purple for butterflies), Taylored Expressions Vellum, Unknown {Pealized (cardbase), Lavender}
Patterned Paper: Recollections
Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly clear stamp set (Inspirational Birthday Innies & Outies)
Ink: Tsukineko Versafine (Onyx Black), Ranger Distress Ink (Dusty Concord)
Tools/embellishments: Scor-Pal scoring board, Scotch ATG gun, Fiskars (Trimmer and Butterfly punch), Mementa Butterfly Die, Spellbinders dies (Standard Circle Small, Picot Edge Circles), Bling (The Paper Studio, Gina Marie Designs), Simon Says Stamp embossing powder (Clear), Star Dust Stickles

Now it's your turn....stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any projects that include a few products from companies Cropstop carries in the store! I'll look forward to seeing your work appear in the gallery! 

May Link Party - #39

It's time for another challenge here on the Cropstop blog! Today I'm sharing a different kind of "spring" card created with Inka Gold metallic rub.  I realize that Inka Gold isn't a new product, and I'm late to the party (as usual). However, since a lot of the mixed media supplies are "new" to me, I'm having a lot of fun discovering their uses and playing with them in my projects.

 Here's how I put this shimmery card together:

• To begin with, I painted a piece of white card stock with Clear Gesso (you'll read more about my new-found love of this next week!!)
• I thinned some Graphite Inka Gold with water and, using a small paintbrush, I added this over the gesso layer
• Once dry, I embossed it with the Victoria embossing folder from Cuttlebug
• I then rubbed Platinum Inka Gold over the embossed part of the card
• The butterfly is a die cut from the Anna Griffin (Cuttlebug) set Butterfly Trio
• I rubbed a just bit of  Platinum Inka Gold over it to give it some sparkle and shine
• I also added strip of white pearls down the center for extra dimension
• For my sentiment, I die cut a saying from the Phrases Set One (Spellbinders) set four times and glued them one on top of the other
• The top layer also features  Platinum Inka Gold and makes the sentiment softer than a the stark white it was

The photo below gives you a better idea of the shimmer Inka Gold adds to your creations! 

Now it’s your turn to share the projects you’ve been working on! As always our link party is "Anything Goes" with these few simple rules:

1. Create ANY new project using a product or two from one of the companies CropStop carries in the store. (It’s ok if you didn’t buy it from us, and also fine if it’s a product we don’t currently have it in stock as long as it’s from one of the companies we carry!)
2. Please, no back-linking old projects
3. Limit 5 entries per challenge
4. Link your project here, link back to this post, and mention the CropStop Challenge in your post.

We’ll choose one random Winner who will receive a prize from the CropStop Store! (100 or more links = two winners and two prizes!) Thanks so much for linking up with us, we look forward to seeing all your great entries this month. Grab our badge and help us spread the word that CropStop is a great place to play along!

OPTIONAL TWIST FOR MAY:

If you use INKA GOLD on the project you link up this month, I'll enter your name twice (for each project linked) in the random draw!

Guest Designer - Laurie Unger

Time to share the work of another talented guest designer and today we have a bright and cheery card from my friend, Laurie Unger of Laurie's Stampin Place. Laurie is sharing a sweet butterfly card that features one of my favorite products - Ken Oliver Color Bursts.

Here's Lori's instructions for creating this card:

1. Using Ken Oliver color bursts in lemon yellow and burnt orange. Start with watercolor paper and spritz with water.

2. I dropped a lot of the lemon yellow onto the paper and swirled it around.

3. Next, I spritzed with water again and dropped a few drops of burnt orange and let the water do the work.

4. Let dry and then layered it with black cardstock and added it onto a white card base.

5. Cut a butterfly out of white cardstock using the memory box solid butterfly die.

6. Sponge on some Oxide inks in squeezed lemonade and spiced marmalade.

7. Next stamp some polka dots onto it for some added interest - then layered a solid black one behind it so that it would stand out from the watercolor background that I created.

8. Die cut the word hello out of black and then used Nuvo crystal glaze to put some shine on it. 

9. Adhere the butterfly using a foam square and bend the wings on it so that it appears to by flying.

10. Add a sentiment

Now it's YOUR turn! Stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any project you've recently created that uses a product or two from the companies Cropstop carries in the store.

Guest Designer - Vicki Robertson

Time for another Guest Design post here on the Cropstop blog. Today I'm sharing the talents of Vicki Robertson of He"artful" Validation of Vicki. Vicki has not only created a beautiful spring themed card to share with us, but also includes step by step directions (with photos!) for our readers.

Vicki Says: "This card base is  6" x 6", which happens to be my "go to" size when creating cards.  There's something about four symmetrical sides that makes me feel like I'm working on mini canvas or layout.

The "How-to"..

1.  Cut your card base 6" x 12", fold in half and crease.

2.  Cut the next layer of cardstock 5 7/8" x 5 7/8" and adhere to base.

3.  Cut patterned paper 5 3/4" x 5 3/4" and adhere to previous layer.

4.  Die cut two Foliage Flourishes and adhered to top and bottom of card front.  

5.  Die cut Majestic Oval and adhere Nesting Oval die cut centering it in the opening.  Place white foam tape to back for dimension and adhere to card center.

6.  Make bow and hot glue at top of oval.

7.  Die cut, ink and assemble flowers using foamiran.

 8.  Use black micro beads mixed with glue to create flower centers and let dry.  Hot glue flowers over the bow.

9.  Add sentiment using Elizabeth Crafts Banner die.

10. Glue butterfly to center of oval. 

Thanks, CropStop, for having me as a Guest Designer once again! It's always a pleasure to be here."

 Supplies and Tools:

Aleene’s Tacky Glue

Bazzill Paper

  Core'dinations Cardstock

Elizabeth Crafts Banner Die

Foamiran for Flowers

Heartfelt Creations Vintage Floret

Love Nicole Patterned Paper

Martha Stewart Micro Beads  

Prima Butterfly

Ranger Distress Inks...

(Peeled Paint, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Shaded Lilac, Victorian Velvet)

Really Reasonable Ribbon

Spellbinders Nestabilities Majestic Oval

Spellbinders Shapeabilities Foliage Flourish

Tutti Designs Dotted Nesting Ovals

 Thanks for sharing your talent with us, Vicki! 

Now it's your turn....stop by our CURRENT LINK PARTY and showoff any projects that include a few products from companies Cropstop carries in the store! 

I'll look forward to seeing your work appear in the gallery!