Hello friends! I'm popping in with a card that I made using the Spellbinders July small die kit of the month and the May small die kit of the month. If you have not checked out the Spellbinders monthly kits you really should. The value is outstanding! They have the following kits: card kit, large die kit, small die kit, Amazing Paper Grace kit, Glimmer hot foil kit and Fun Stampers Journey stamp of the month. The layout is from the Paper Players so I will be posting my card to their gallery. I started by die cutting the little scooter and other pieces from a background I created using alcohol inks on yupo paper. I then die cut the scooter from black cardstock and placed washi tape on the back to keep portions of the scooter in place. Those same pieces were removed from the alcohol ink pieces and then those pieces were backed with the black pieces. I die cut all the other pieces from scraps of cardstock and then I adhered everything together. Then I got to work on the cat and dog. I used gray and white for the cat with little accents of black and then dark brown and kraft for the dog with accents of black, as well. I'm so thankful that I purchased a Gemini Jr electronic die cutter because it would not have been fun manually die cutting all those little pieces! Once the dog and cat were adhered together I got to work on the overall layout. I used a Spellbinders Nestabilities rectangle die to cut my light blue rectangle and then a piece of patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye Meow 6x6 paper pad for another element. I die cut grass using the die from the July SDK and two shades of green. After adhering the grass strips together I trimmed them down to fit the rectangle and then adhered the scooter, dog and cat to the card from. Finishing it off by die cutting the words (included in the July SDK) from black cardstock twice, adhering them together and then adding to the card from. I don't think I have done so much die cutting in one sitting as I did on this card! Finally I want to remind you that Spellbinders' moving sale is almost over. Just click on the banner below to go to the sale. (Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!)
Hello! I'm back today with another post! I don't think I have posted two days in a row in quite sometime, but I really wanted to get a card made using the gorgeous color combo for the current Sunday Stamps challenge. It took me sometime to figure out what stamp set to use, but I finally settled on Concord & 9th's Happy Day. I bought the set quite sometime ago so I really needed to use it! I stamped the cake on smooth Bristol cardstock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then colored the image with my ZIG markers in the Sunday Stamps colors. I really love the deep rich colors in this combo! After the image was colored and dry I die cut it with the matching die. Then I stamped some light gray cardstock with the Concord & 9th Barnwood Background stamp using Simon Says Stamp Fog ink for a very subtle background. I stamped two little lines using a medium gray ink so they would appear behind the cake. I then stamped the sentiment and two little banners (with a 6 in one and a 0 in the other) in VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed in white. The sentiment was trimmed into a thin strip and adhered to the cake as you see. The banners were trimmed out and adhered to the little sticks. Finish by adhering the card to a white card base. I did also add some clear Wink of Stella, but you don't see it in the photo.
The second card is a clean and simple take on the Freshly Made Sketches layout using the colors from Color Throwdown and that pretty Simon Says Stamp Sunflower Stem die from their new release Believe in You. I used the polka dot stamp from the SSS Hello Darling stamp set to stamp the three color from the CTD combo. I die cut the sunflower twice from white cardstock, adhered them together and attached them to my stamped panel using foam dimensionals. The sentiment is from the SSS stamp set Delicate Flowers and was stamped with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink. Like I said... super clean and simple!
Hey everyone! Simon Says Stamp has a new release happening today called Believe in You and I have a couple of cards to share that I made with one of the items from the release. SSS was kind enough to send me the beautiful Sunflower Stem die to create with. First up is a card that I am super excited to share. As I was looking at the die and trying to figure out what to make it occurred to me that I could try to create a little bouquet of sunflowers like the kind you see at farmer's markets all over the country. I die cut three sunflowers from Canson watercolor cardstock and then watercolored all three of them with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors and let them dry. After they were dry I added washi tape to the back of each one so that the insides wouldn't fall out. I also cut the sunflowers from scrap cardstock to adhere to each stem to make it a bit sturdier. I rustled up some white tissue paper to create my wrap. I arranged the stems on the tissue paper, wrapped them up and tied the bouquet with some rustic twine and a little kraft tag that I stamped the sentiment from Delicate Flowers on. I used a Nuvo Aqua flow pen in a shade of blue to watercolor a background. After letting the background dry I splattered on black paint. I trimmed down the panel and adhered it to a kraft cardstock base. I then added some splatters of black paint to the flowers. Affiliate links listed below where available.
The second card is very simple. I die cut the flower from green cardstock twice and yellow cardstock one. I removed all the interior pieces from the flowers and adhered the two green ones together. I trimmed the large flower and the bud from the yellow die cut and adhered them to the green one. Some white cardstock was trimmed down and stamped with a sentiment from the SSS Hello Darling stamp set in black ink and the open letters colored with a light yellow Polychromos color pencil. The flower was adhered and then I added black Nuvo Crystal drops to the center of the flower. I love the simplicity of this card. You can shop for all the new products here.
Hello! Got some time to make a just for fun card today. Lately I have been making cards for design team commitments and for a fun new release coming from Simon Says Stamp. When that happens it means my time for making something just for fun kind of disappears. It is also summer and well... I'd rather spend time doing stuff with my boys to be honest. After finishing up my SSS projects I decided to make a card for the current Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches challenges. I fiddled around with another idea, but ultimately settled on making something with my Altenew Fantasy Floral dies. My first try with the CTD color combo ended up in the garbage due to something I did as I was finishing up the card. When I had to throw the card away I realized that I actually didn't like how I had combined the colors so I really wasn't that upset afterall, lol! About two months ago I bought a Gemini Jr. die cutter and got a package of dies with my bundle. I used a border die to create the pink cardstock strips. The sentiments are from the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers stamp set. Once I had everything layered up on my die cut rectangle I adhered the panel to a light gray cardstock base and added some Pretty Pink Posh silver jewels. So glad I messed up the first card because I like this one so much better!
Hello! Popping in with a super quick post to share a card that I made for Color Throwdown and CAS(E) this Sketch. It has been a while since I last played along with CTS! While it would have been fun to use a flamingo on my card I used my June Spellbinder's small die kit and cardstock in pink, black and gold glitter. After die cutting all the layers I adhered them together using my Glue Sponge. Must say that thing works pretty darn good! Then I cut down a piece of white cardstock and adhered the three medallions. A piece of black cardstock was trimmed down to be slightly smaller than the card front and was adhered to the card base. The panel with the medallions was adhered using foam dimensionals and then I added the sentiment (from Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers) and the gold sequins. 
Hey there! I have two more floral cards to share. This time I did some coloring. One card features coloring with ZIG clean color real brush makers and the other with Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils. First up is the card I colored with the ZIGs. This card is for the MFT sketch and color challenges and uses the Flowers in Bloom stamp set from the MFT June card kit. I haven't used the custom blended Color Burst powders that came in the kit yet, but hope to give them a try soon! I stamped the image on Strathmore smooth bristol cardstock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then colored the images with the ZIG markers giving each flower a different color. To deepen the shadows I used a little bit of dark brown on each flower as well as in the center of each flower. I also used a little bit a very light green to color the stems. I finished off the design by coloring around the flowers with a light blue ZIG and blending it out with water. I die cut the panel and then added the sentiment by stamping the word thanks in VersaMark watermark ink one vellum and heat setting with white embossing powder. I adhered the vellum strip using my Glue Sponge and I must say that it worked really well! (Compensated affiliate links listed below where possible.)
The second card is for the Sunday Stamps challenge that closes in just a few hours. Thank you to the team at Sunday Stamps for picking my entry in their previous challenge for an honorable mention! I actually colored this image from Technique Tuesday with my Polychromos pencils several months ago, but never found a project to use it on. I realized that it would work well for the Sunday Stamps challenge and so it finally made it onto a card! I did turn the sketch on its side to make it work better for me. A few weeks ago when I was down in Vancouver, WA visiting my friend, Greta, we spent sometime at a Craft Warehouse store and while there both of us picked up a pad of 6x6 pads with a fun linen like texture on them. I used two of those papers for the bottom strip as well as the mat for my colored image. Simply layered everything up and I was done. (Compensated affiliate links listed below where possible.)
Hello! Popping in with another floral card. This time for the current My Favorite Things sketch challenge, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge. I pulled out my MFT Painted Petal stamp set to help me create this one. I must admit that it took me way to much time to come up with a color combo that I liked. I ended up going with blue flowers and used a set of Altenew inks in shades that coordinate with each other. The leaves were stamped with a green Altenew ink. After die cutting the stamped flowers I cut a strip of white cardstock and then stamped it with the sentiment from the MFT Flowers in Bloom stamp set in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I then embossed the lines across the strip using my Scor-Buddy scoring tool. I adhered the strip using foam dimensionals and then arranged all the flowers based on the sketch. I finished the card by adding lots of Pretty Pink Posh jewels in a pretty shade of pastel blue using my new Glue Sponge. I think I will also post this card to the Flower Challenge as my blues are fairly light and pastel in color. Decided to add this to the current Time Out challenge as I am using flowers. (Compensated affiliate links listed below where possible.)
Hello! Hope everyone in the USA had a wonderful and safe 4th of July! I'm popping in with a couple of cards that I made over the last few days. First up is a card that I made for the Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches challenges. Back in May I won a gift certificate from Pinkfresh Studios and purchased the beautiful Hanging Florals stamp set and matching Hanging Florals dies. I die cut the main image from Canson watercolor paper and then stamped the die cut with images in VersaMark Onyx Black ink and then watercolored with Distress Crayons in Festive Berries, Fired Brick, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint. I die cut some white cardstock with the largest Stitched Dot rectangle from Jillian Vance Design and then adhered the image to the panel with foam dots. The sentiment was embossed on vellum with WOW! Embossing powder in black and then trimmed down to fit the card front. I used Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive and medium Zots that I rolled up to adhere the vellum to the image. The panel was adhered to a light gray cardstock base and then I added some tiny Pretty Pink Posh jewels in white, silver and clear to the image for a tiny bit of sparkle. (Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no cost to you.)
The second card I'm going to send off to this month's Flower challenge to use pastels. I colored up the Missing You Peony from Colorado Craft Company's Big & Bold line with my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers after stamping the image with VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist on smooth Bristol cardsto
