Encouragement Cards – Page 26

You Are Mermazing

April 16, 2018April 15, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

Hello there! I hope your week is getting off to a good start!

Today’s card is for the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #380. A few days ago I pulled out some alcohol ink backgrounds that I made in late February and when I saw this weeks challenge I thought of a fishbowl and remembered that I had a blue and green background that I could use.

I started by trimming a panel of Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock using the largest die from the Lawn Fawn Outside In Stitched Rectangle die set. Then I cut out the circle using the second-larged die from the My Favorite Things Inside & Out Stitched Circle die set. I added a little bit of ink splatter using Mermaid Lagoon and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks, and then I trimmed the alcohol ink background and adhered it behind the circular window.

Then I stamped and colored one of the mermaids from the My Favorite Things Mermazing stamp set. I used Neenah Solar White, and just did some simple Copic-marker blending. I used E57 and E59 for her hair, E50 and E53 for her skin, R20 for her cheeks, YR15 and YR68 for the starfish, and BG11, BG45, and BG49 for her top and tail. Then I cut her out using a Brother ScanNCut2. I added sparkle to her top and tail using clear Wink of Stella.

For the sentiment, I prepped a piece black Recollections cardstock with an anti-static powder tool and then I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark ink. I sprinkled Hero Arts white embossing powder over it, tapped off the excess, and then hit it with my heat gun.

I used liquid adhesive to adhere the sentiment onto the card front, and then popped up the mermaid with foam tape. Then I adhered the entire card front to an A2-sized card base to finish.

Thanks for visiting!

Encouragement Cards, Feel Good Cards

Believe In Yourself

April 12, 2018June 23, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

UPDATE: I submitted this card to the CASology Challenge, Week #295, and received an honorable mention.

Hi there! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the weekend to get here. It’s been quite a week!

Today I’m sharing a one layer card using the Simon Says Stamp Believe stamp set. I just love this scripty font!

I started by using painter’s tape to tape down an A2-sized piece of Canson XL watercolor paper to an inexpensive Jack Richeson hardboard panel (any board will do, even a plastic clipboard). Using a wet 8 round brush, I transferred some Peerless Watercolor’s Robin’s Egg Blue to an acrylic block which I used as my palette. I added some extra clean clear water to lighten the color a bit as Peerless Watercolors are quite vibrant.

Then, using a clean brush, I added clean clear water to the watercolor paper in the general area where I wanted to create the wash. Since I’m still new to watercolor, and not very practiced in all of its subtleties, I have no idea if this is the best way to achieve the look I want, which is a wash that fades into nothing. I’m learning as I go, one card at a time!

I then dropped color onto the bottom left of the watercolor paper and watched it spread. I tried to tilt the board to get the watercolor moving in the right direction,, towards the top right, and when it stalled in a harsh line, I added a bit of clean clear water in its path to pull the paint forward. When I had a decent looking wash, I used my heat gun to dry the card front.

I put the dry card front into my Misti stamping tool and stamped the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx ink. I used the Misti because watercolor paper has a bit of texture and I wanted to make sure I could re-stamp in the same place if I didn’t get a crisp image the first time. I ended up having to stamp three times to get into all of the nooks and crannies of the paper.

I usually use liquid adhesive to adhere my card fronts to card bases, but since my panel was a bit warped I wanted to use an extra strong adhesive. I used Scor-Tape double-sided tape, which really has a strong grip, and that finished up the card.

Thanks for swinging by!

Animal Cards, Encouragement Cards, Feel Good Cards, Friendship Cards

We Can Weather Any Storm

April 10, 2018June 23, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

Hello there! I know winter is digging in its heels in many parts of the US so I hope, wherever you are, you get to see a glimpse of sunshine today!

Today I’m playing with the new Rain or Shine stamp set from My Favorite Things. I’m a sucker for encouraging sentiments (and ducks!) and this set has a few great ones. I also pulled out a couple of stencils for the background, as well as some standalone dies for the clouds and sun.

I started by stamping out the girl, ducks, and water elements in Copic-friendly Hero Arts Intense Black ink onto Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock. I then brought out what is essentially my entire collection of Copics to color in all of the images, doing some very simple two-color blending. When I was done, I cut out all of the images using my Brother ScanNCut2.

For the background, I used another piece of Neenah Solar White. I used Tombow Mono Removable Adhesive to temporarily adhere the panel to a piece of scratch paper and then I used washi tape to hold the My Favorite Things Drifts & Hills stencil in place while I used a foam blending tool to apply a heavy layer of Salty Ocean Distress Oxide ink on the top half of the card to create a blue sky. Then, on top of the inked area, I used more washi tape to hold down the Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil.

I misted water over the stencil using a mini-mister (Ranger sells these, however mine is from Tombow). My thought here was that the water would touch the paper at the open areas of the stencil and lift the Distress Oxide ink, creating lighter colored dots that would look like rain (I hoped) and not snow. I let the water sit for about 15 seconds, and then used a paper towel to wipe off the stencil and pick up any excess water.

Then I cleaned the Drifts & Hills stencil and re-arranged it over the blue side of the card and proceeded to ink up the remaining white space with Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink to create the ground. The curve of the stencil didn’t line up perfectly but I was able to make some micro adjustments to match the curve of the sky.

For the clouds, I used Lawn Fawn’s Simple Puffy Clouds die set to cut out clouds of varying sizes from some scrap Neenah Solar White. The sun is a piece of yellow Recollections cardstock die cut with My Favorite Things’ Sunny Skies die.

Next I laid out all of the elements onto the background and got a sense of where I wanted to stamp the sentiment, which I stamped in Versafine Black Onyx ink. I ended up using only one of the three little ducks that I’d made.

Then, I got out the adhesives. I used Tombow Mono Liquid Glue to adhere pieces flush to the background. For the splashes, I used Zots Bling Clear Adhesive Dots because I wanted just a bit of dimension but couldn’t bring myself to try to cut tiny pieces of foam tape. And for the the clouds in front of the sun I used foam tape. I left most of the rays of the sun glue-free so that they stand up a bit from the background. To finish, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

Encouragement Cards

Keep Your Head Up and Your Heart Strong

March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

I can always use some encouragement, what about you?

This card starts off with a background using Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock and Simon Says Stamp Center Cut Heart background stamp. When I use a background stamp, I always lay it etched side up, ink it, and then lay my paper down onto it. I put a piece of scrap typing paper over the top to keep my hands from getting inky and then burnish the surface to ensure I get an even impression. I did that here with clear, sticky, VersaMark ink. Then I sprinkled the panel with Hero Arts white embossing powder and hit it with a heat gun.

I chose two soft Distress Oxide Ink colors, Tattered Rose and Hickory Smoke, to blend. I had originally planned to pick a third color to blend between the rose and smoke, but I really wanted the heart to stand out. I’m still not sure if I made the right choice to use just two colors. I applied and blended the ink using foam blending tools, taking care to follow the design of the heart in the center of the panel. When I finished, I rubbed a paper towel lightly over the panel to pick up any ink that was sitting on top of the heat embossing to restore its bright white color.

The sentiment comes from Simon Says Stamp You Got This stamp set. The stamp is actually a single line, but I wanted to break it up into two lines. Rather than cut the stamp apart (which I can never bring myself to do even though it doesn’t harm the stamp), I used a Post-it note to cover a few of the words when I inked it up so I could stamp one line at a time. I used Versafine Black Onyx ink which gives a nice crisp impression.

To finish, I trimmed the panel down to 4″ x 5.5″ and adhered it to an A-2 sized card base, leaving a border on the left and right sides. Then I adhered the sentiment using foam tape to add dimension.

Thanks for visiting!

Encouragement Cards

You’ve Got This

March 30, 2018March 29, 2018 SkyPaperScissors

Happy Friday, I hope you had a good week!

Today I have a quick card to share using one of my favorite standalone dies. The You’ve Got This die from Concord and 9th is big and bold and the sentiment is a good reminder when I’m feeling challenged.

I started by taping down a panel of Canson XL watercolor paper to my work surface with painter’s tape. This helps prevent warping. Using an inexpensive 3/4″ wash brush, I wet the paper with clean clear water. Then I dropped three colors of Dr. Ph. Martin’s Hydrus watercolors (9H Cobalt Violet, 8H Ultramarine, and 7H Phthalo Blue) onto the panel and brushed left to right and back to blend the colors into each other for an ombre effect.

Once the panel was dry, I trimmed it to about 3.75″ x 4.75″ and then die cut the sentiment out, saving the fallout pieces for a future card. Then I added foam tape all over the back of the panel to add dimension and adhered it to an A2-sized card to finish.

Thanks for stopping by!