It's Wednesday...

Hello and welcome!  It is Wednesday (and the last Wednesday in April... how did that happen?) and that means that I have a post up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of my project:

Looks a little bright and happy to me!  I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to check out the full project.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Creating with Jane Davenport Whimsical and Wild Stamps!

Hello!  I hope your week is off to a good start!  It is Tuesday (in case you have lost track of the days, lol!) and I'm popping in to share two cards that I made with stamps from the newly released Jane Davenport Whimsical and Wild collection.   These stamps are based on her Whimsical and Wild Happy Hour Art Journal book.  I am creating with the Panda Thank You and Brave Bear stamp sets.  First up is a card using the Brave Bear stamp set.   I stamped the main setimage on Canson watercolor paper with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  I let it dry and then colored the image with Tonic Studios AquaFlow pens.   Once I was finished coloring the image and it was dry I deepened some of the shadows on the bear with a dark brown Polychromos color pencil.   I die cut the image with the elongated octagonal die from the Becca Feeken Sentimental Finery die set.  I then used the largest die from that set to cut some black cardstock and adhered it to a black cardstock base so that it is just an  subtle look in the background.   The main image was then popped up on foam tape.  I finished by stamping the sentiment on black cardstock with VersaMark watermark ink, applying white embossing powder and heat setting.   The sentiment was trimmed out and adhered to the card front.  As the layout of my card is similar to the sketch from the Paper Players I will be posting it there.

The second card using the Panda Thank You was done in a similar manner except that I heat embossed the image with WOW! black embossing powder.  I also used the AquaFlow pens to color the image.  I haven't used the AquaFlow pens much and a couple had never been opened so coloring both images was a bit of a learning process for me.  And I ended up using the orange color for the young girl's dress as part of that process.   But I do like how it turned out.   Once the piece was dry I decided to ink up the edges with watermark ink and apply embossing powder.  I went with Platinum embossing powder for the edges.  I decided to create a custom sized card so that my piece would have a border around it.  My card size is 4 3/4 x 6.  Because the piece was a little warped with all the watercoloring and heat embossing so I used foam tape to adhere it to my cardstock base.   These stamp sets are a little outside my comfort zone as they lend themselves to mixed media, but I sure had a fun time working with them and going outside that comfort zone.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!  Compensated affiliate links used where possible.

with love...

Hello!  I'm popping in with a clean and simple card for the following challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash. I just love the Throwdown colors this week, as well as the fun clean and simple sketch from FMS! The Stock Your Stash challenge is to make a card for a mom, dad or grad.  Most of my Reverse Confetti stamps and dies lean more toward mom-type cards so that is what I made.  I used the following stamp sets and dies:  Wreaths Confetti Cuts, Butterfly Blossoms and Mod Floral Stack.  I stamped the little flower cluster from Butterfly Blossoms in Memento Tuxedo Black, colored very simply with two yellow Copics and two dark blue Copics and then die cut with the matching die.   I die cut the small wreath from the Wreaths die set from kraft cardstock twice and adhered them together.  I then die cut a piece of white cardstock with a rectangle die, wrapped it with bright green twine and tied a bow.  The wreath and flower cluster were then nestled in next to the bow.  I used some thinly cut foam tape to adhere the wreath and glue to adhere the flower cluster.   The sentiment (from Mod Floral Stack) was stamped using VersaFine Clair Nocturne and then the panel was adhered to a white cardstock base with foam tape.  I finished by adding a second little bow to the first one and applying Nuvo Crystal Drops in Morning Dew to the center of all the flowers and the little bow.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a lovely day!

Spellbinders/Becca Feeken Flourished Fretwork dies

Hello!  I hope you have had a good week and got the opportunity to be creative!  In between trying to do school with my 13 year old and all the other things I have to do around the house I am still managing to get my creative time in... YAY!  Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you a couple of cards that I made using newly released dies from Becca Feeken for Spellbinders.   Spellbinders was kind enough to send me two different sets.  First up is a card that I made with the Sentimental Finery etched dies.  There are four dies in the set, but for my card today I only used two.  If you have never seen Becca's dies before you should really check them out... they are amazing!  Full of detail and so easy to work with.  I die cut the large rectangle die from Memory Box glitter cardstock in a pale blue.  I then used the die that is like an elongated octagon to die cut white cardstock.  I adhered the glitter die cut to a white cardstock base using foam tape and then the white octagon to the center using glue.  I layered up lots of die cut ephemera pieces from the Feeling Hoppy March card kit in the center of the octagon.  (You can buy the ephemera pack separate from the card kit which is what I did.)  So quick and easy!  I'm going to post this card to the current Card Concept challenge.  This one fits the bill a little more than other card I posted a few days ago.  The category would most likely be clean and layered.

The second card uses the Fluted Tracery etched dies and this time I did something a little different.  I used the main die to create my card base!  The largest die in the set is slightly larger than an A2 sized card base so in order to create the card you will need to make a card base a bit larger than 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.  I made my base 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 from light aqua cardstock and that was the perfect fit as you have to hang part of the die over the fold so that you don't cut out two individual pieces, but a card base.  Hope that makes sense!  I then die cut that same die from white cardstock, but this time I included the insert piece that created the beautiful decorative border and leaves the solid center.  I adhered this to my card base.  There is a smaller die that cuts a beautiful emerald shape piece that is full of intricate cut work.  I die cut that from glitter cardstock and adhered it to the center of my card.  I finished out the card with a butterfly from the ephemera pack I mentioned above along with a sentiment that I foiled using my Glimmer Hot foil system and gold foil.  That sentiment was die cut with a banner die and adhered along with the butterfly.  I have included two photos so that you can see how the card stands.

These dies are just so gorgeous and I am so thankful to Spellbinders for having the opportunity to work with them.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!  I have used compensated affiliate links for some of the products used in my blog post.   If you decide to purchase through my links please know that I appreciate it!
  

Simon Says Stamp Sunny Days Ahead Release!

Hey everyone!  I'm popping in to share a couple of cards that I made with a brand new background stamp called Tulip Background that is part of the new Simon Says Stamp Sunny Days Ahead release! You can find all the new products here.   To make my cards I decided to stamp the full background on some smooth Bristol cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then color with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush makers in pink, purple, yellow and green, of course, for the stems and leaves.   Once all the coloring was done (and it took a long time, lol!) I let the piece dry and then trimmed it into two pieces.  Each piece was trimmed further to fit an A2 size card front.  On the first card I decided to die cut the Rainboot Planter die from Simon Says Stamp and color it in with ZIGs using the same colors I used for the background.  I adhered a strip of silver cardstock to the panel and then adhered it to my cardstock base.  The boots were adhered along with a sentiment from the SSS stamp set Hello Darling.   I finished with some Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins.  I'm going to add this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of flower power.

My second card is similar to the first just put the panel on the other side of the card, added a strip of black cardstock.  I stamped the sentiment (from the SSS Stronger Together stamp set) on additional black cardstock with VersaMark watermark ink, applied white embossing powder and heat set.  The sentiment was trimmed down and adhered to the card front with foam tape.  Super, super simple.
Thanks for stopping by.  Simon Says Stamp is open for business so you can shop the new release.  Just remember... their ship times are a little bit longer than usual.  Happy shopping!

It's Wednesday!

Hey everyone!  Hope you are having a good week!  It is Wednesday and that means that I have a post up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek:

I used a free digital image that you can find here and download.  I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to check out the full project and to let me know what you think.