Hi there, I hope your day is going well!
Today’s card uses the Sweet Sprinkles from Concord and 9th, made especially for Essentials by Ellen. I love the large cupcake image and the set also includes an ice cream cone for versatility. Continue reading “Hope Your Day Is Sprinkled With Every Happy Thing!”
Hello and happy Saturday!
Today I’m sharing a card using the Mondo Hydrangea stamp from Ellen Hutson and the Ridiculously Happy stamp from Honey Bee Stamps.
I started by stamping the hydrangea twice using VersaMark ink onto Canson XL watercolor paper. I poured Hero Arts white embossing powder over the top, tapped off the excess, and hit it with my heat gun. I then used Carbazole Violet and Quinacridone Violet watercolors from Daniel Smith to paint the petals. I added just a touch Hooker’s Green to the stem, used Rose of Ultramarine (loosely mixed with the leftover violets from the petals) for the background and then set the card front aside to dry.
The sentiment was stamped in VersaMark ink on vellum and heat embossed using Ranger Gold Superfine embossing powder. I trimmed the strip and wrapped it around the dry card front, using a Tombow Mono Dots Adhesive tape runner to adhere the ends of the strip to the back of the card front.
At the last minute I decided to add a few more gold accents by painting the centers of the blooms with Gansai Tambi Blue Gold watercolor.
To finish, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.
Thanks for coming by!
Happy Friday! I’m doing an extra little happy dance because not only is my stressful work week over in ten or so hours, but I also have a friend coming over tomorrow to craft with me. I have a few crafty friends, but only one who has joined me in card making. Where are all the card makers hiding?!
Today’s card features one of the sweet whales from Ellen Hutson’s Essentials By Ellen S’Whale set. I have been seeing a lot of photos of people on cruises lately and I was inspired to make something blue.
I started with an A2-sized piece of Canson XL watercolor paper. I smooshed three colors Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Mermaid Lagoon) of distress ink onto an acrylic block, overlapping, but not mixing, the colors very slightly. I then sprayed the block seven times with a fine mist using a Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer, though any sprayer with a fine mist will do. I sprayed from about a foot away so as not to disturb the ink too much.
I then turned the block over, ink side down, and placed it onto the center of the watercolor paper. When I use this technique, I usually weigh down the block with something heavy which helps force the colors to blend and smoothes them out, but when I saw the beautiful droplets of blue, I realized that I wanted a more textured look for this card so I didn’t put anything on top of the block.
I waited nine minutes (usually I wait five) and then removed the block, lifting at an angle so that the last part of the block touching the paper was over the area with the darkest color. This was important because the inky water tends to pool at the last point of contact and if that point of contact had been over a light part of the blend, then I would have gotten a splotch of a dark color in that light area.
I dried the card front with a heat tool until it was just slightly damp and then I put it between two sheets of typing paper and placed it under a heavy book. I find that doing this helps the piece dry a bit flatter than if I had left it out.
While the card was drying, I stamped the whale in Copic-friendly Hero Arts Intense Black ink onto a piece of Neenah Solar White #80 cardstock. Using N0, C1, and C3, I did some very simple Copic coloring and blending. I die cut the whale and set her aside.
The sentiment is heat embossed onto a piece of black Recollections 110# cardstock. I stamped the sentiment in Versafine ink, sprinkled it with Hero Arts white embossing powder, and then hit it with a heat gun.
When the card front was dry, I adhered it to an A2-sized card base and then adhered the whale and sentiment strip using foam tape for dimension, and that finished up today’s card.
I hope you had a wonderful week and that your weekend gets off to a great start. Thanks a ton for dropping by!
Happy Wednesday, we’re halfway to the weekend!
I finally had a chance to play with the beautiful Mermaid’s tail set from Ellen Hutson. I combined the tail and the sentiment from the set with die cuts from Hero Arts’ Coral Fancy die set.
I started by die cutting all of the seaweed and coral pieces out of Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock. I pieced the die cuts back into their negative spaces which helped hold them in place while I blended Ranger Distress Oxide inks on them. For the seaweed I blended Peacock Feathers with Lucky Clover. For the orange coral I blended Carved Pumpkin with Spiced Marmalade, and for the light coral I blended Antique Linen with Tattered Rose.
For the mermaid’s tail, I inked up parts of the stamp with Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide, and others with Lucky Clover Distress Oxides so there would be some color variation. Because these inks stay wet longer than dye inks, I was able to sprinkle the image with clear Hero Arts embossing powder and heat emboss it to add a bit of shine before I die cut it.
For the background I used Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper. This paper is the key for me when blending regular Distress Inks. I have never been able to get a smooth and soft blend on Neenah Solar White. Bristol Smooth paper has a coating which keeps the ink from setting as quickly so there’s time to move it around. No more harsh lines!
I blended a very little bit of Peacock Features and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink (not Distress Oxide) onto the card front and then sprinkled drops of clean clear water over it. I let the water sit for about five seconds before dabbing it off with a paper towel and then trimmed the finished card front to just smaller than an A2-sized card.
Then it came time to assemble the card. I created a composition that I liked and adhered everything, except the tail, with Ranger Multi Medium Matte glue. Since some of the pieces were layered on top of each other, I used an acrylic block to hold everything down while the glue dried.
For the tail, I used glue underneath the wider part of the tail, but towards the tip I added some foam tape for dimension. I let part of the seaweed and mermaid’s tail hang off the top of the card, and I trimmed off some excess seaweed and coral from the bottom of the card.
To finish, I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black ink and then adhered the finished card front to an A2-sized card base with foam tape, for additional dimension.
Thanks for visiting!
SkyPaperScissors 