Watercolor Markers, Distress Inks, and Easter

For my card today, I incorporated Stampin Up as well as some of my many other crafting supplies! My card actually started as an entry for a "yellow" color challenge but became something else entirely!

I started by creating an ombré effect using my yellow toned distress inks on Watercolor paper. I used squeezed lemonade, mustard seed, scattered straw, fossilized amber, and wild honey but in the end, I had to rework my ombré so the final lineup was mustard seed, fossilized amber, wild honey, rusty hinge, spiced marmalade and ripe persimmon. To give some definition to the edges, I added walnut stain.

Next, I decided to use my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to color a focal image. I chose to use the Hyacinth from the Helping Me Grow stamp set and stamped it in Basic Black Archival ink on watercolor paper using my MISTI. It is often difficult to get an image stamped perfectly on watercolor paper in one go; the rougher texture of the paper seems to either absorb or deter ink. MISTI to the rescue!

I zapped the image with my heat tool to be sure it was dry before beginning my coloring. I used the following: Lilac, Light Violet, Purple, Mid Green and Olive Green. I just LOVE coloring with these markers because it seems so effortless!

The Big Shot along with a die from the Circles Collection Framelits was used to die cut the colored image as well as a die cut a matte from Old Olive card stock. I used a sponge dauber with Walnut Stain distress ink to give some definition to the edges of both. The colored image was then adhered to the matte with Dimensionals.

I used the Fluttering Embossing Folder to emboss the ombré matte (the only one that would fit since I was making a non-standard card size). I adhered the embossed background to a very thin Elegant Eggplant matte and then attached both to an Old Olive card base. The focal image was adhered to the matte with Dimensionals.

I chose a piece of Whisper White Seam Binding to color with distress inks to match my project. On my craft mat I dabbed wilted violet, dusty concord and seedless preserves. I spritzed them and my ribbon with water and then proceeded to dab my ribbon into the colors until I was satisfied with the results. I kept crinkling the ribbon into a ball in my hands (I wore disposable gloves so my hands would still look like hands when I finished!) and then dried it with my heat tool.

Cutting a small piece off one end of the ribbon, I wrapped the rest around three fingers. I tied it in the middle with the piece I had cut off to form my crinkly bow. I adhered the bow to my card front using Glue Dots.

I stamped my sentiment from the Crazy About You stamp set onto a strip of Basic Black card stock using Versamark and then heat embossed it using White Stampin' Emboss Powder. I used the Banner Triple Punch to flag one end. The sentiment was adhered to the card front with Fast Fuse Adhesive.

To complete my card, I used (for the first time!) some Rainstones that I had purchased from Papertrey Ink some time ago after watching a video tutorial that showed them being used on a card. I thought they looked gorgeous! I adhered some to my card front using a combination of Multi Medium Matte (for the small ones) and Zots Clear Adhesive Dots-Bling Tiny for the larger ones. I got my Zots at Michaels for $7.99 for 325. They work really great! I think I may try them for sequins or other tiny embellishments in the future.

I did not embellish the inside of my card but may do so before giving it out for Easter. Thanks for checking out my post today!

Helping Me Grow Thank You For Global Design Project

No creating on Monday. My granddaughter, Raine, was sick so she spent the day with me. She didn't want to do anything but lay on the couch so we immersed ourselves in Barney and Curious George. Luckily, whatever she had didn't last long and the next day she was back to her usual self and off to daycare.

Today I designed two simple thank you cards using the Helping Me Grow stamp set.

I started by cutting standard card bases from Basic Black card stock and mattes from Kraft. Using my MISTI to help me with alignment, I positioned my daisy stamp and then decided to insert the thank you sentiment into the actual stamped area so I used my Post-It Label Roll to mask over a section on the bottom right of the card. Using Jet Black Stazon ink, I stamped the daisy.

After removing the masking, I changed to the thank you sentiment stamp from the Endless Thanks stamp set. I stamped it in the place where the masking had created a space in the flower stems. After the ink was dry, I adhered the stamped matte to the card front using Dimensionals.

I threaded a black 4-holed button onto two separate pieces of Linen Thread and then placed glue dots on the back of the button. Positioning the button next to the sentiment, I tied the threads inside the card. To complete the card while keeping it simple, I used the Curvy Corner Trio Punch to punch the corners of a Naturals Ivory card stock matte and then adhered it with Fast Fuse Adhesive.

The second card was also stamped with Jet Black Stazon ink but this time the Hyacinths (at least I think that's what they are!) were stamped on the Kraft matte and the thank you sentiment was stamped at the top. A length of Basic Black 3/8" Stitched Ribbon was taped around the bottom of the matte and then a separate piece was knotted in the front. The matte was then adhered to the card front using Dimensionals. A sprinkling of black sequins completed the card front.

The inside was kept simple but elegant by using the Curvy Corner Trio Punch again on Naturals Ivory card stock.

I've entered this card in the Global Design Project #027. The theme this time is Thank You cards.

Why not click on the image above and come and play?

March Stamping Class Projects

My stamping group met on Friday night for a fun-filled evening of card making and some wonderful treats from Marilyn and Michelle!

Our first card was a new technique for the group–a skirt fold or other tutorials refer to it as a drapery fold.

I had been seeing this technique used on a few cards on Pinterest and thought it was delightful! I consulted a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers as well as one on by Song of My Heart Stampers and used their info to produce the card in my blog post, Fancy Fold Botanicals For Stampin' Royalty. For stamping class, I needed to modify the technique so that we could use paper from a 6 x 6" paper stack.

We started with a piece of 3 x 6" paper from the Love Blossoms DSP. It was scored at 2, 2.25, 3.25, 3.5, 4.5 and 4.75." A pencil mark was placed at 1.25" from the top right corner and another mark was placed at the bottom at the first 2" score line.

A trimmer was used to trim diagonally from the 2" score line to the 1.25" mark. The paper was then folded, accordion-style, starting with a valley fold at the 2" score line. This produced the "skirt" pleats. It was necessary to trim off .25" from the right end for the folded piece to fit exactly on a 4.25 x 5.5" matte.

Because there wasn't as long a piece of paper to work with as in the tutorials I referred to for this technique, the amount of patterned paper showing from the opposite side was not a lot, but the technique was still effective.

We applied liquid glue to the back of the pleats and then used a sponge and Early Espresso to add detail to the top of the pleat folds. The top pleats were then glued in place.

Using the MISTI, the sentiment from the Help Me Grow Stamp Set was stamped with Rose Red ink onto the bottom right corner of a 4.25 x 5.5" Blushing Bride matte, after finding the correct position with the pleated panel.

The top 3.5" of the matte was then embossed using the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder. A sponge was used to apply Blushing Bride ink to the raised dots. The matte was then adhered to the Blushing Bride card base using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

A .75" strip of Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper was adhered to the top of the pleated panel using Fast Fuse Adhesive, offsetting it about 1/8" above the panel. Dimensionals were then used to adhere the pleated panel to the matte.

The Big Shot and Magnetic Platform were used with the Botanical Builders Framelits to die cut the flower, leaves and fern from Garden Green and Rose Red card stock. Early Espresso was sponged on the edges of each and then the McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit was used to shape the die cuts.

Placement on top of the Dazzling Diamonds strip was determined and then the leaves and fern were glued in place using both Fast Fuse and the Fine Tip Glue Pen.

A "thread nest" was made with Linen Thread and adhered with Glue Dots and then the flower was adhered with a Dimensional. An Iced Rhinestone was added to the flower centre to complete the card.

Our second card was a sympathy card created with the Rose Garden Thinlits Die.

The design for this card has appeared several times on pinterest in several color variations. It makes for a very striking card. However, nowhere could I find a tutorial as to how this card was made! Looking at the photos, it just was not immediately evident to me how the card was made. Because of this, I decided that I was going to work with the die to figure out how the card was made so we could make it in class! Hopefully, this will help someone else who is trying to make this card.

We started by using a 3.5 x 4.75" Sahara Sand matte and positioned the die on the matte so it hung off both the top and the bottom right by a little bit. We used a dryer sheet under the card stock to make it easy to separate the die cut from the pieces and we saved the right side of the matte from which the rose was cut.

Using a 3.5 x 4.75" matte of Blackberry Bliss, the retained piece of Sahara Sand was glued in place using liquid glue. The Fine Tip Glue Pen was used to apply glue to the die cut rose and then it was carefully laid in place on the Blackberry Bliss matte, placing the two largest petals of the rose die cut in place first. By doing this, the other edges of the die cut fall into place naturally, making it very easy to get the rose into place next to the Sahara Sand card stock piece. A piece of scrap paper was placed over the die cut allowing the die cut to be smoothed over with a hand to ensure it was properly adhered.

The sentiment was stamped on a scrap of Sahara Sand using Blackberry Bliss and then die cut. The edges were inked with a sponge and then the sentiment was adhered to the card front using Dimensionals.

The edges of a 4 x 5.25" matte from the now retired Painted Blooms DSP was inked with Blackberry Bliss and adhered to a Sahara Sand card base using Fast Fuse Adhesive. The matte with the die cut rose was adhered to the DSP matte using Dimensionals.

The second sentiment was stamped inside the card using Blackberry Bliss to complete the card.

I'm pleased with both these cards from class! Using the Stampin' Up dies can so quickly produce a stunning card!