My Most Popular Posts of 2015

We have come to the last day of 2015 and I look back fondly on my creative endeavors during the year! I wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to having you visit my blog in 2016!

January–Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Occasions Catalog




February–My Least Favorite Card To Create




March–Projects From Stamping Group







April–Remnants of Easter






May–Corner Garden Blues




June–2015 Catalog Launch






July–New Floor and Grateful For You




August–Best Thoughts Joy Fold Card




September–Pretty in Pink Poinsettia




October

This was a busy month for me and I didn't get to post AT ALL :( Hopefully, 2016 will allow me to post every single month!


November–Color Burst Christmas and Wonderful Wonderland






December–Tag Exchange and December Stamp Class







I hope you have enjoyed this review of my most popular posts from 2015. I look forward to your comments in 2016!

Best Thoughts Joy Fold Card

Finally had the chance to get back to the images I colored using my new Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers!

It seems that I can't get enough of the Best Thoughts stamp set as I am drawn to use it again and again.

Using my MISTI I stamped the rhododendrons using Ranger Archival ink on watercolor paper. My MISTI allowed me to re-stamp the image a couple of times to get a good print. Watercolor paper tends to be hard to stamp on, even using the smooth side so using the MISTI is a good practice.

I used Cornflower Blue (037) for the flowers and Olive Green (043) and Mid Green (046) for the leaves, using my Aqua Pen to blend the watercolor inks. When it was completely dry, I fussy cut it. To ensure a continuous black edge, I used a Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker to edge the image.

I wanted to use patterned paper as well as an embossing folder with the flower image so I decided to make a Joy Fold card. This is a lovely fold technique that uses a regular card with a narrower front than usual and a smaller card that overlaps and opens within the base card. You can find a great tutorial for a Joy Fold card on Debbie Henderson's blog.

I changed the measurements for my card as follows:

6.5 x 7.5" for the Pear Pizzazz card base, scored on the 7.5" side at 2.5"
2.5 x 6.25" DSP for the small flap
4.75 x 6.25" DSP for the inside of the card base
4.75 x 8" for the smaller Pear Pizzazz card base, scored at 4" on the 8" side
3.5 x 4.25" for the Night of Navy piece
3.5 x 4.25" for inner matte of Naturals White card stock

The patterned paper comes from the Regals DSP Paper Stack. All pieces of DSP had the edges inked with Night of Navy using a sponge dauber. All pieces of DSP were adhered to the larger card base using Fuse Fast adhesive.

The Night of Navy card stock panel was embossed using the Woodgrain Embossing Folder. It was adhered to the front of the smaller Pear Pizzazz card base using Fuse Fast adhesive, making sure the card opened in the opposite direction to usual.

The sentiment was stamped on a matte of the now retired Naturals White card stock using Night of Navy ink and the edges were also inked. It was adhered to the inside of the smaller card base using Fuse Fast adhesive. The smaller card base was centred and adhered to the larger DSP panel on the larger card base.

The colored flower was adhered to the embossed panel using Dimensionals. Sequins were scattered around the card and adhered using Crystal Effects. Wink of Stella provided a nice glimmer for the flower petals. (I really wish that I could get a good picture of the Wink of Stella effect to show those of you who are not familiar with it, but no picture seems to capture the subtle yet shimmery goodness Wink of Stella creates!)

A small bow of Old Olive 1/8" ribbon was added to the flower stem using Crystal Effects.

I hope you'll try creating a card using the Joy Fold technique. It's a great way to use some of your patterned paper and creates a lovely card!

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Remarkable You Sympathy Card

All too often these days, I find myself needing to make a sympathy card. I am ever hopeful that by designing a heartfelt card, it can bring the recipient of the card some measure of comfort.

Inspiration for my card actually came to me while I was working at Walmart.

In the last couple of days, several people have purchased Calla Lilies. We have yellow ones as well as purple ones that are almost black in color. I think that they are one of the most elegant looking flowers I've seen and I thought they would work well for my card.

Though a lot of sympathy cards utilize muted colors, I decided on strong, rich colors for my card.




Though I knew what stamp set I wanted to use as well as what techniques I wanted to employ, it still took me awhile to bring the card to completion as I tried out different matte sizes and embellishments. I also had a hard time deciding what color to use for my sentiment piece.

I remembered that there were a lovely pair of Calla Lilies in the The Remarkable You stamp set. I chose to stamp these on watercolor paper using Versamark and then heat embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.

I used Blackberry Bliss reinker with my Blender Pen to color the flowers. The blend of colors from the dark, rich blackberry to the lighter, fruitier pink made me very happy!

I adhered the lilies to a very thin matte of Mossy Meadow using Fuse Fast adhesive. I inked the edges of a slightly larger Mossy Meadow matte with Versamark and then heat embossed with gold. I adhered the thin matte to the embossed matte. Then, using Dimensionals, I adhered these mattes to a Tip Top Taupe matte.

Using a Stampin' Spritzer, I prepared a mixture of Rubbing Alcohol and a couple of drops of Rich Razzleberry reinker. In my makeshift spray booth (an old shoe box) I sprayed some Jute Ribbon to match my card. Once the ribbon was dry, I wrapped it around the matte, adhering it with Sticky Strip and tape.

Earlier in the day, I had rolled out a piece of the now retired Simply Pressed Clay (Why on earth did Stampin' Up retire this product? It's wonderful!) and pressed my sentiment stamp, from the Best Thoughts stamp set, into the clay. This is one of my favorite techniques for using the clay! I then pressed one of the Oval Collection Framelits into the clay to provide a shape to cut out the sentiment when it was dry.

I trimmed the dried clay with scissors, following the outline left by the oval framelit. I pressed the dry clay sentiment into my Old Olive stamp pad, being sure it was well inked on both sides and edges. I then wiped off some of the ink until I was pleased with the distressed look of the sentiment.

Using a sponge dauber, I applied Mossy Meadow ink to the edges and rubbed a little bit over the words themselves to make them stand out more. The sentiment was then adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.

Close up of Simply Pressed Clay sentiment

The mattes were adhered to the Blackberry Bliss card base using Dimensionals.

For the inside matte, I used a piece of the now retired Naturals White card stock. I stamped a portion of the Calla Lilies in the bottom right corner, using Sahara Sand. The edges were inked with Versamark and heat embossed with gold.

I think my card turned out well though I wish I had rolled the piece of clay just a little bit thinner so that it didn't look so thick on the bottom of the card. There's always next time to get it right, isn't there?

Drop me a comment below letting me know how you have used Simply Pressed Clay in your projects!

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Watercolored Best Thoughts

I had the day off to play in my craft room today but it was hard to choose what to play with first!

I finally decided to use the flower stamp in the lovely Hostess set, Best Thoughts.

This morning while eating breakfast, I was viewing cards in a blog hop for Catherine Pooler's newest online class, In The Mood. A special Mood Board was created just for the hop. Click on the image below to check out the wonderful creations in this hop!

Who wouldn't be inspired when viewing a Mood Board like this? Anyway, one of the cards shared by Heather North caught my eye:

To create my card using her technique I started with a 4 x 5.25" Watercolor matte. Using my MISTI and Versamark ink, I stamped the flower and then heat embossed it using Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder.

I taped the matte onto my craft sheet with Washi tape to stop it from warping.

I used a small paint brush to paint some clear water onto the flower. On my Tim Holtz Craft Mat I stamped some distress inks: Peacock Feathers, Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry. I dabbed the colors onto the flower, adding more water as needed to get an effect I liked.

Because I had gone out of the lines of the flower a little, I decided to paint a very pale background wash with the Spun Sugar ink. I heat set the flower and then painted the background and heat set it as well. I sprinkled a few water drops on but they didn't react as well as usual because I really watered down the ink so it wouldn't be so intense.

I made sure the whole painting was completely dry and then removed the washi tape. I then trimmed the matte down to remove the white edges.

I adhered the watercolor matte to a Whisper White matte using Fuse Fast. Using MISTI I stamped the sentiment using Stazon Jet Black ink because I wanted the sentiment to overlap the stem of the flower and because it was embossed, the only ink that would adhere to it would be Stazon.

I tied a sheer bow around the matte and then adhered it to a Bermuda Bay card stock matte. Finally, the whole thing was adhered to a Perfect Plum card base using Dimensionals.

To complete the card, I added a sprinkling of Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

I love the colors of this flower and the clear embossing seems to sparkle like the sequins! It is hard to see in the photos but the background really is a very soft pink color that really showcases the flower.

What do you think? Leave me a comment below!

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