Watercolor Celebrate with Winnie and Walter

Good morning! I'm excited to over on the Winnie and Walter blog again this morning to share another card I made using the same die from last week - I die cut it a couple times out of different paper trying to pick which one to use, and didn't want to let them go to waste, so I decided to put them to good use! :)

To start with, I die cut a panel of watercolor paper using Essentials: Katharine Cutaways, then used Peerless watercolors to color a bright and festive pattern. After it dried, I die cut the center with Big Bang Confetti Cutaways (I haven't separated the dies yet - so they were in a fun pattern already to die cut) - and kept the pieces as well. I assembled a shaker card filled with Silver 4mm sequins and chunky clear glitter. The word celebrate was cut with The Big, the Bold, and the Party Cutaways, once in black and once in white, then separated a bit for a shadow effect. I also layered some silver thread underneath the word die cut. 

Next, I used my first Winnie and Walter stencil - Scenery: Big Bang Sci-fi Star Creative Screening - and embossing paste to add a background to my kraft card base. Finished off with a few extra silver sequins, some distress inking around the edges of the card base, and then attached some of the pieces that I die cut from the watercolor image. In this next picture you can see the filling on the shaker element a little better. I really should have added more, but I usually add too many and was afraid it wouldn't shake if I over did it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!!!

Guesting at MFT Challenge and Inspiration!

Good morning! Excited to finally be able to share this morning - I'm this month's guest designer over at the MFT Challenge and Inspiration Blog! I'll be posting along with the design team every Wednesday this month for the sketch challenges.

Here is a peek at my card - head over there to see the full card, and what the design team has made for the sketch!

Here is the sketch for this week as well:

Thanks for dropping by and letting me share my news! :-)

Make a wish - and Happy Birthday!

Good morning! I'm posting one final time this morning as guest designer for Unity Stamp Company for the month! It has been such a fun month for me - thank you so much for stopping by each week, and for the sweet comments you left me! I would love if you stop by there and say hi one last time! :)

Today I'm sharing a couple cards I made using the "smooshing" technique! I basically used a few different ink colors, smooshed them on my nonstick mat, misted with water, swirled together a bit with my fingers to smooth the edges, then smooshed my cardstock in there and allowed to dry before adding my images and sentiments. 

This first one, I used a soft color combo, then used Plenty of Pandas to add my image and sentiment. Oh how I love these sweet pandas! 

I added some pattern paper layers stitched together, some Glossy Accents and glitter, and a few sequins.

Next up - I went with a much bolder color combo:

I used this fun set that I just love, Far Better Things Ahead Grab Bag - LOVE the variety in this set!

Finished off by drawing a string in with a black pen, added a few wood veneer stars, and covered the balloon with Glossy Accents. Let me just tell you - that took FOREVER to dry! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by one more time to see me today! Have a wonderful day!!!

Happy Elephant

Good morning! Stopping by this morning with a card I made yesterday for a couple of challenges - and this was for my Day 4 of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge as well! 

First up - my inspiration came from this photo for the March Challenge at Altenew:

I also did some heat embossing, so linking up with Virginia's View Challenge - All Things Embossed:

And - as I mentioned above, this is for Day 4 of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge:

After looking at the inspiration photo, I wanted to create a sort of stain glass effect. I heat embossed the elephant from Ori Kami in black on vellum, colored with a Copic marker, coated each section with Glossy Accents, and then added a heavy coating of chunky glitter. Once I waited for that to dry thoroughly, I stamped my sentiment from Sentiments and Quotes and heat embossed that as well. Tore the top and bottom edges, sewed it on to some pattern paper from American Crafts, then wrapped some gold thread around, adding a few 4mm and 6mm clear sequins and gold star sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, and tying a bow. Finished off a few splashes of Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine, and attached with foam adhesive to my card base.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!!!

Neon Birthday Wishes!

Hello again! Back with another card for another challenge! This one is totally using the neon!!!

Here is the inspiration photo - for this weeks Cure for the Monday Blues Challenge:

It is hard to get it to photograph correctly in the photos - but the part on the left that looks like lighter green? It's actually neon yellow! For this, I started off with a stencil and some clear embossing paste, and masked off the bottom of the panel at an angle. Once I applied the paste and removed the stencil, I quickly sprinkled it heavily with patches of neon glitter - then set it aside to dry for a good long while! Came back later in the day, shook off any excess glitter, and stamped my sentiment on the bottom using a Neat and Tangled sentiment from Sketchy Cupcakes - I thought the font even matched the title of the inspiration photo! I heat embossed it in white, added some fun bright sequins, and then added random dots of white paint to finish it off, before matting with a thin strip of white cardstock on one side, and mounting with foam adhesive on my card base.

Thanks for dropping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

MCS Challenge - Watercolor Flowers

Good morning! It's Monday and I'm excited to be sharing a card with you for this weeks new challenge at My Craft Spot - Flowers!

I totally had fun with this card and playing with a newer to me technique - watercolor! 

I heat embossed, with clear ink, my image from Unity Stamp Co on PTI Rustic Cream cardstock.

Next, I pressed 3 different PTI inkpads on my non-stick mat, then used a damp paintbrush to pink up some ink and color in my image. I kept it kind of messy (partly because it was hard to see the clear lines!) but also to leave it with that water-colored effect...

Once it dried, I stamped my sentiment from this set from My Craft Spot, and used my Tim Holtz distress tool to rough up the edges:

I tucked a doily behind, and used some my Mind's Eye pattern paper, also with the edges distressed for my background.

Finally, I used some White Sheer Ribbon and Natural Jute Twine from My Craft Spot along the bottom, adding a button from Papertrey Ink to finish it off.

That's it for me! Hope you will stop by My Craft Spot and join this weeks challenge!

You BRIGHTEN my day!!!

(((If you're looking for my Sweet Stamp Shop New Release Post, click HERE or scroll down)))

Hi there! I felt inspired - for some reason or another! - to make a bright and happy card for this weeks Peachy Keen Anything Goes Challenge! It's pretty bright - so you've been warned! Here it is:

I started off with the rainbow from the February 2012 Monthly Kit. I covered each row one at a time with Glossy Accents, and then sprinkled on neon Martha Stewart Glitter. I left it plenty of time to dry, before fussy cutting it out. 

The background is the Peachy Keen Cloudy Day Background. I inked it up with Versamark ink, then with Tim Holtz blue ink, before stamping and heat embossing with clear embossing powder. LOVE the fun shiny look that gave it! 

Next, I cut the clouds out using a Lil' Inkers Die. I layered them on the rainbow, then attached to the cloud background with foam adhesive, before covering the clouds with Glossy Accents and more glitter. 

Finished off with a sentiment from Scrappy Mom's Stamps on a hand trimmed banner, and added a Tim Holtz paper clip and some bling on the bottom.

Finally, I attached the entire thing to a green cardbase with foam adhesive!

Thanks for stopping by to see my BRIGHT card! Hope it brightened your day!

Jar of Happy Thoughts

Good morning! I don't know if I have said anything before about how much I love jars - but I do! So when I started thinking about something to make for this weeks Peachy Keen Challenge - Just Cards Heart of Hearts, it was easy to think of putting that heart in a jar! Here is what I made: 

I used this sweet set - Butterfly Kisses - it has so many fun sentiments!

The jar is a cut file from the Silhouette store, and I used my Cameo to cut it out.

I inked the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink before attaching all the layers together. I used one of my favorite Peachy Keen Face sets, Wide Eyed Kids Assortment, to put a sweet face on the heart. I used some white gel pen to add some stitching and detail to the face, then used foam adhesive to attach it to the jar.

I added some Glossy Accents to the eyes, mouth, top of the jar, and the bottom of the jar - sprinkling a bit of Martha Stewart Coarse Glitter on just the bottom. Also tied some natural jute twine (available HERE at My Craft Spot) around the top of the jar, tying in a bow. 

I layered all my different papers together from an older My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pad - inking all the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink, then wrapped some Vanilla Bean crinkle ribbon (available HERE from My Craft Spot) around, tying in a bow on the side. 

Here is a close up of the jar that shows the texture from the Glossy Accents and glitter a little better:

Finished off by attaching the jar with foam adhesive, stamping the sentiment on the bottom, then adding some stitching with a Tim Holtz distress marker around the outer edges.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day today!!!

My Craft Spot Challenge - Christmas Tags

(((If you're looking for my Day 1 Growing in Unity Post - click HERE or just scroll down to the last post.)))

Good Monday morning! It's time for a new challenge at My Craft Spot - and this week's theme is Wrap it Up! So...I decided to make some pretty tags to put on Christmas gifts for my kids this year. Here they are:

I started off by cutting the tags using my Silhouette Cameo, then smearing white paint all around the edges.  

While the paint dried, I cut all the layers of the Tiny Doily Metal Dies. I actually used black and red  chalkboard paper for two of the layers, then just white paper around. 

I heat embossed the tiny tree from Stampin' Around Christmas in white on the black chalkboard paper to add to the chalkboard look, then stamped the no peeking on the round piece using black ink. I put foam adhesive between the lace doily, and the front round part, then attached them all with foam adhesive to the tags. 

Next, I stamped the to and from, also using Stampin' Around Christmas, then added the sentiment on the bottom with red ink using the Mistletoe Stamp set, and added a couple of green pearls next to it.  

I added some jute twine in bittersweet (available HERE), and some olive crinkle ribbon (available HERE) to the top of the tags, and then as a final finishing touch, I added some Diamond Glaze to the bottom, and sprinkled them heavily with Martha Stewart Coarse glitter - so it looked like they were dipped in snow! 

I'm so glad you stopped by today! Hope you'll join us this week at My Craft Spot, and get a head start with some of your gift packaging! Have a wonderful day!

I am also adding this to the Word Art Wednesday's challenge this week - Giving/Anything Goes.

First Published Card - and Unity FWF

Hi there! Life has been pretty crazy around the homestead lately, so since I hadn't gotten anything made for this weeks Unity Friends with Flair - I realized I hadn't shared a few published cards yet! So...here is the first card I ever had published! 

It appeared in the August 2012 issue under the "Sparkle and Shine" category. 

I used a Unity Stamp sentiment from the June 2011 Kit of the Month, and my Cricut and Life is a Beach cartridge. The sparkle on the sand is Glossy Accents and Martha Stewart coarse glitter. I also inked a lot with Tim Holtz distress ink.

Thanks for stopping by today! Feel free to grab that issue of the magazine if you want more detailed cut info! Have a great weekend!

Friend's with Flair - Sending Blessings!

It's Friday - and for the first time in a while, I am playing along with this week's Unity Friend's with Flair!!! I am also entering this in the World Card Making Day Hello/Thinking of You Challenge on the Moxie Fab World.

I used one of the Phyllis Harris stamp sets - which I love, and happened to notice several new sets were released yesterday, and all of her stamps (even past ones) are on sale! Not to be an enabler or anything! :-) 

I colored her with Copic Markers, then cut her out very carefully, even cutting into the hair a bit. When I attached her to my shape (cut with a Spellbinder's Die), I left her hair, and the side of her dress unattached, and curled up a bit for some dimension. 

I added some glitter to the dandelion, and made my own trail of sparkly fluff on the card. 

My papers are all from a My Mind's Eye paper pad, and I distressed the outer edges with a bit with my Tim Holtz distress tool and added a bit of distress ink as well.

Finished off by using a kraft paper card base, and stamping the sentiment onto the bottom of the card. 

I can't believe that I hadn't had a chance to ink this cute stamp up yet! LOVE it so much!!!