Hello and happy Monday! Today’s an especially happy Monday for me, since I’m taking the day off of work. I’ve got errands to run and chores to do, but I’m hoping to squeeze in some bonus crafting time 🙂
Today’s quick and easy card uses supplies from a few different companies: Altenew’s Coffee Love stamp set, Studio Calico’s Coffee by One Little Bird stamp set, and My Favorite Things’ Sun Ray stencil. Continue reading “Good Days Start With Coffee”
Hi there! I hope you’re having a lovely day!
Today’s card uses the Focus On You stamp set from Altenew which has a number of beautiful flowering branches.
I started by stamping three branches of flowers in Versafine Black Onyx ink onto Canson XL watercolor paper. This ink is waterproof and plays nicely with watercolors. Once the ink was dry, I added color using a few Arteza Real Brush Pens (Honey and Punch Pink for the flowers, Pea Green for the leaves, and Chocolate for the woody stems). In hindsight, I could have used any type of marker since the details in this image are so small and there’s not much opportunity for adding water or blending. I used a white Sakura Gelly Roll pen to add some very small dots to the centers of the flowers. When I finished coloring, I cut out the images using a Brother ScanNCut2 and set them aside.
The background is a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth which I cut down using the largest die from the Lawn Fawn Outside In Stitched Rectangle die set. Then I used a foam blending tool to softly blend Dried Marigold Distress Ink in the area that would be behind the bouquet of flowers. To add a bit of movement, I added splatter by smooshing the ink onto an acrylic block, adding a bit of water, and using a 2 round brush to flick ink onto the card front. I let the card front dry for a bit and then stamped the sentiment in the same black ink.
Then I assembled the bouquet, starting with the sprig in the middle which I adhered flat onto the card front. For the spring on the right, I added a few Zots Bling adhesive dots to the back, layering two dots on top of each other for a bit of dimension. To the spring on the left I added foam tape so that all three sprigs sit at different heights. Once all three sprigs were adhered to the paper, with their stems overlapping, I tied a bow using a piece of hemp twine. Finally, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.
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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.
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Hello there, I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!
Today’s card is a CAS(E) of one of Concord & 9ths inspiration cards for the Birthday Stacks stamp set. I made today’s card for a friend who is celebrating his birthday. I originally planned to use shades of blue, but then I realized that blue ice cream doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. In the end, these shades of yellow and orange and the way the scoops overlap reminded my friend, and other friends around the table, of tennis which is how we all met. I love it when things work out in ways you didn’t imagine!
I started by stamping the ice cream scoops in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock. Then I used the coordinating die to trim off the top part of the scoops. Since the die wasn’t long enough to stretch across the card, I used my paper trimmer to finish the horizontal cut to the edge of the paper. I then used the same ink to stamp the ice cream cones.
For the ice cream scoops, I used Hero Arts Soft Vanilla and Altenew Citrus Burst and Sunkissed inks. And for the cones, I used Hero Arts Pumpkin Pie. The stamp set includes solid stamps for these elements which makes the stamping very easy!
For the sentiment, which is Concord and 9ths standalone Hooray die, I used a scrap piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper because I wanted to blend the Altenew Inks and I usually find it challenging to blend dye inks smoothly. The Bristol Smooth paper has a coating that allows the ink to sit on top of the paper longer which gives you extra time to blend. I die cut the sentiment, and then placed the die cut back into the negative space so that I could easily hold it in place while blending. I used foam blending tools to sponge Sunkissed along the bottom and Citrus Burst across the top, blending in the middle.
I die cut the sentiment four more times out of scrap 110# regular cardstock and layered the pieces on top of each other, adhering all of the layers together with liquid adhesive. Then I adhered the inked sentiment on top to create a chipboard-like embellishment.
Then it came time to assemble the card. I adhered a A2-sized piece of kraft cardstock (I like the Recollections cardstock from Michael’s which is 60# weight and great for layering, not to mention its affordable price point) to a card base. Then I cut a piece of orange cardstock, also from Recollections, and adhered it to the back of the ice cream scoop piece, leaving an edge of orange peeking out. Then I adhered that combined piece to the card base.
Finally, I created some loops of twine and sandwiched it between the sentiment and the card. I used a couple of acrylic blocks to hold it all in place while the liquid adhesive dried. And that finished off the card!
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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.
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SkyPaperScissors 