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Watercolor for Card Makers 2

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This was the first technique taught in the Online Card Class on watercolors. Once you’ve painted a watercolor background, you lay a stencil down on it, press it in, and when you lift it up here’s what you see.

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I absolutely love this technique and will use it again, I’m sure. Luckily it worked well on the first try!

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I used my Winsor and Newton travel watercolor set with the Crafter’s Workshop “Mini-herringbone” stencil on Tim Holtz watercolor paper. My favorite thing about this watercolor paper is how white it is. Both my cold press watercolor pad and my regular watercolor pads are more cream colored. I bordered the watercolor piece with a piece of Worldwin “Light Terrific Teal” cardstock. I used to be able to buy this paper locally. When the last of the local shops went out of business I stocked up on a lot of colors, but they’re beginning to dwindle. I love the range of colors and it’s a great weight for matting. 

The sentiment (“Oh, Happy Day” by Avery Elle) was stamped on vellum, layered on another piece of cardstock and stitched down. I’ll enter this in Virginia’s View Challenge:  Stitching, even though there’s not a lot of it!

Watercolor for Card Makers 1

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As soon as I saw it advertised I signed up for the Online Card Class:  Watercolor. I’ve tried nearly all the techniques from Day 1, and have four cards I’ll share here over the next few days, but today is Day 4, and the list of things I want to try is LONG! Like every other Online Card Class, this one is packed with techniques, videos, and great tips that apply to more than just watercolor. I thoroughly enjoy these classes.

My first attempt at using Distress Inks and an acrylic block to stamp some intense watercolors wasn’t a total success. I wasn’t really happy with one of the colors I chose, but when I cut the piece into strips and alternated them, I ended up with a card I like.

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The die cut & stamp are from “Wonderful Words: Thank You” by Papertrey Ink, and the cardstock is Papertrey’s True Black. 

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I was happier with the second attempt, but I’m saving that one to post on Mother’s  Day. Off to see the videos for Day 4!

Thinking of You & Anything Goes Challenge

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Here to share two cards created for the same friend. One was sent a couple of weeks ago, and the other just yesterday. Around Christmas, she fell and broke her wrist so severely that she still is unable to drive, open her mail, or do many of the ordinary things we take for granted. It’s been a long haul, but she is one of those “glass half full” people who downplays the whole experience.

The first card is a lift from one of the inspiration pieces from the February Simon Says Card Kit.

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Everything except the gems in the center of the flowers came from the kit.

The next card is quite unusual for me. I took a variety of art materials to Chicago with me, and one day was playing around with some watercolors. I was also doing some doodling for an art journaling class I was taking, and created these flowers with watercolors on a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper and some Molotow paint markers.

Hello

 

I cut the same “Simply Framed” die I used on one of my recent Project Life cards to cut a black frame and the watercolor piece. Then I cut the new Phrase Play #3 die and used just the “Hello” from it over the watercoloring, and the coordinating “A Warm . . . ” from the accompanying stamp (all Papertrey Ink). Simon Says’ new cardstock, “Audrey Blue,” was the perfect match for the card base.

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The Online Card Class: Watercolor began today, and although I watched all three videos, and have multiple ideas percolating in my head, there wasn’t any time at the creating table today. I am linking these cards up to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge “Anything Goes” Challenge, for which I see there are already over 700 entries! There’s no lack of inspiration for card makers on the internet.

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Two Cards for Keep It Clean and Simple

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I have two cards today for the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Keep It Clean and Simple. Most of my cards would fit this challenge, but these latest two—one for a friend’s birthday and the other for a friend whose husband entered hospice are definitely CAS.

First the birthday card. I bought a new stamp set by Penny Black , “Blooming Garden,” while we were away. When I first started stamping years ago, I owned a few wooden stamps by Penny Black, but this is my first acrylic set. It’s all florals. I’m taking a watercolor card class that starts next week, and I think the images will be perfect for watercoloring.

ForYou

I love these poppies, and this time I colored them using Copic markers. I added a little Wink of Stella glitter to them as well, but try as I might, I could not get it to show up in a photograph. The sentiment is also from a new stamp set I found in Chicago by Avery Elle called “Oh, Happy Day.”  The font for these sentiments if very different from anything else I have.

The next card was inspired by this one Cristina created for last August’s Papertrey Ink release of “Mum’s the Word. “I started with an embossed flat card by Paper Source, and masked the border to stamp inside.

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The mum was stamped once, and then again without reinking. The sentiment which seemed perfect for this sad occasion is combined from “Boutique Borders: Sympathy” and “Winter Hills.” All three sets are by Papertrey Ink.

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When I heard about our friend entering hospice, it occured to me that we always seem to have at least one friend or acquaintance with serious health concerns. It’s probably a function of our age, but too many of them are younger than we are. I count my blessings every day, and continued good health is top on the list.

Make It Monday: Water Splats

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Given that Papertrey Ink is my favorite stamp company, and I own more of their stamps than all the rest of my rather extensive collection combined, I thought I’d be participating in the Make It Monday challenges on a regular basis. But it hasn’t happened. I was intrigued, however, by Nicole’s video this week about using stamp pads to blend inks, and then adding water to make “water splats.”

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I ended up really liking this process, and the final card, which will be in the mail for my niece who turns 21 next month. I used Orange Zest, Raspberry Fizz, and Summer Sunrise for the ink blending.

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The Wet Paint stamp set works wonderfully with this technique. I mounted the final piece on a piece of gold cardstock, then on a Raspberry Fizz card. The star die cuts are new ones I picked up this month from Memory Box, and they’ll be getting a lot of use!

ETA: I’m entering this in the Moxie Fab “Hip on Handwriting” challenge.

April Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

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Being away for 10 days meant the month of April just flew by. Here it is, the 25th already. We’ve finally had a few spring-like days and are beginning to see the green buds on trees and bushes. What a relief! We planted some pansies yesterday, and we have a bouquet of daffodils from our yard on the kitchen table. This month’s Papertrey Ink Blog Hop challenge was to find a piece of embroidery to inspire a card, and I was anxious to use some new floral images I got in my last Papertrey Ink order.

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Although there’s plenty of inspiration in this inspiration board, I went off to Pinterest to see what I could find. I knew from the start that I wanted to use theBotanical Blocks stamps to create my cards. The bright colors against a black background attracted me to this piece.

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The orange, yellow, and greens seemed perfect for the sunflower image in Botanical Blocks.

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I embossed the sunflower block with Memento Luxe Ink and colored it with Copic markers. The sentiment is also from Botanical Blocks, and I added just a narrow cardstock frame and two A Muse black pearls to finish it off. Here’s a closer look.

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Next I found this piece with a much different color palette.

Stitched Flowers

 

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I decided to try watercolors for the image of the rose, and again embossed it with the Memento Luxe ink. I love that you still get the fine detail of the stamp after embossing.

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I chose the purples and greens from the inspiration piece as well as the pink border. I added a few white highlights with a Molotow paint pen in the center of the rose. I dry embossed the border with a Spellbinders Matting Basics die which made the perfect frame, then hand cut the sentiment and popped it up with a piece of adhesive foam. The Soft Stone card base seemed perfect for the watercolored piece.

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I’m linking both cards to this week’s CAS-ology Challenge:  

Week 92 - Garden

 

It was fun to play around with a new product, and it’s good to add a couple cards to the stash for the long list of May birthdays on my calendar.

Happy Easter!

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We’ll soon be off to church. I always look forward to Easter services. The church is filled with flowers, joy, and wonderful music provided by our choir and a group of brass instrumentalists. Afterwards we’re going to Matt and Betsy’s to help Skylar hunt for Easter eggs, and then to my sister-in-law’s for the annual Walker Easter dinner. Too much food, but lots of good company and fun.

I left some goodies for Caleb’s Easter basket in Chicago, and have a little basket ready for Skylar later this morning. Both got Easter cards as well. (Of course!) I saw this card on Pinterest, and when I came across these bunny stickers in my stash, I was all set. 

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The hearts on both cards were die cut with Papertrey’s Stitched Heart and then filled with patterned paper. The paper on Skylar’s is from A Muse, and Caleb’s is from Lawn Fawn’s “Into the Woods” paper pack. The bunny stickers are surely Jolee, but they’ve been in my stash for so long, there was no manufacturer information with the sheet of stickers. I printed the sentiment on the computer. 

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I hope these bunnies find you enjoying good weather and a happy holiday!

Happy Birthday!

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Yesterday was Adam’s birthday. He celebrated by preaching a fine sermon for Palm Sunday, opening a pile of gifts for his newfound interest in drawing and art, and a dinner out. Knowing he was getting a lot of art related gifts, his card reflects that.

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I started with a Hero Arts kraft notecard, and splattered on some yellow and red paint. I die cut two Spiral Notebook dies (Papertrey Ink), one in red and one in Select White. The paintbrushes stamped on the white notebook die are from the” Friendship Jar Fillers”, colored with Copic Markers with some Glossy Accents on the paint. The little clothespin is American Crafts, and the sentiment comes from “Be” – the stamp and the die (Simon Says). 

I have to admit being as interested in his gifts as he is, and hope to spend some time looking through the many books he received as gifts.

Before I left, I posted two birthday cards to friends who are celebrating significant birthdays this month. They’re variations on the same theme.

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Both cards use a negative die cut with Papertrey’s “By The Numbers”  & “Suffix Style” die cuts, backed with patterned paper. (I’m posting this from Chicago, and don’t remember which paper pad I used.) The rest of the sentiment comes from “Birthday Basics” (Papertrey).

Although we’re delighted to be here to help Adam celebrate, we did miss the big celebration for the 80th birthday while we were away.

A Couple of Cards

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It’s been a busy weekend. Our duplicate bridge group met Friday night. Saturday morning I attended the first hour of a Lenten retreat at church.  I had to leave early because my Dining Room Ministry team was cooking lunch this week. Today we went to church and out to breakfast, I visited my elderly friends (one of whom is in comfort care while her husband is in assisted living), and tonight we had some friends to dinner to start planning a celebration of life event for our friend, Marie, who passed away last month.

In between, I was busy organizing and packing since we’ll be leaving tomorrow for Chicago. Sarah has to fly to California for five days, so we’re off to help out with Caleb (and thrilled to be doing so!) Unlike Deb who always has great weekend recap photos, I have none. But I do have a couple of cards to share that went out in the mail some time ago.

ThankYou

I won this wonderful three heart die on Melissa’s blog. It was so easy to make a quick card with it. I used the negative die cut and backed it with pretty patterned paper from Basic Grey. The thank you die cut (Papertrey Ink) was cut into two pieces. I think this die will made a great valentine come February as well.

Feathers have been a popular theme for quite a few months. Although I liked Papertrey’s “Feather Finery” as soon as they introduced it, it took me awhile to decide to order it. Like the heart die, I think it is pretty versatile, which is my current criteria for ordering a new stamp set.

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One of the things I like the most about this set is the double stamping with the dots which I embossed in silver.

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I’m taking way too much to do on this trip, but hopefully will get a few projects underway while Caleb is at day care in the mornings. He loves day care, and we want to maintain his routine as best we can since he is definitely NOT used to having his mom away. Hopefully, having Grandma and Grandpa there will be a bit of a distraction.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday–Two Challenges

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Today I have a card for two Simon Says challenges: The Wednesday challenge “Happy Birthday,” and the Work it Wednesday for bright colors.

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I love the Simon Stamp sets with die cut words and accompanying stamps. They work so well for so many occasions. Today’s card uses the “Happy” set. I die cut it three times in Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest and Hawaiian Shores, and layered them on a piece of True Black. I embossed “birthday” in gold, added a few gold sequins and layered it on a premade Memory Box card.

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The sun is shining and the snow is melting so it’s a happy day here!

Happy Hearts

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I used a nine heart die called Tic Tac Toe Hearts by Simon Says to get hearts for this card and this card. That left me with the negative die cut, and I couldn’t see letting it go to waste. 

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I mounted the die cut paper on a piece of Select White (Papertrey Ink)  and then on a card base created with Doll Pink (Simon Says). A tiny pearl from Michael’s was added to each heart, and the sentiment (from “Everyday Classics by Papertrey) was stamped on a trimmed Double Ended Banner die (Papertrey).

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I’m always happy to have an anniversary card in my stash. Usually I’m making one for the event right beforehand. 

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We got another foot of snow on Saturday night. Fortunately, I’d bought a few daffodils at Trader Joe’s on Friday so there was a spot of spring in the kitchen. It was warmer today, and tomorrow the forecast is for 60° so hopefully the snow will be gone before too long. Tomorrow is April 1st after all!

Color Fade

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Recently I came across two cards, one by Julie Ebersole, and then one based on her card by Laura Bassen (two wonderful designers). I loved the look and since I had just gotten a new set of Winnie and Walter stamps (“The Big, The Bold, and You) I thought I’d give color fading a try.

After embossing the sentiment in white, I masked the stripes and added Distress Inks fading out to the side.

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As always, I learned a bit in the process so the next attempt should be a bit better, but overall I’m happy with another bright and springy card to add to Simon Says “Work it Wednesday” challenge.

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One More for the Online Card Class & Work It Wednesday

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It’s been a long time since I played around with so many new (to me) techniques, but I tried another variation of masking cards that Kara shared on Day 4. This time I die cut a mask from Mat Stack #1 by Papertrey Ink and used the negative to try another series of stamped circles. When I removed the mask, I felt like it need something else, so I cut another frame from cardstock and traced around it with a fine lined pen. That was better, but I wasn’t really happy with it until I added the sequins. I think it still qualifies as a one layer card.

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I do love all these bright colors, and I’m entering it in the Simon Says “Work It Wednesday” challenge which is to “to create a card with bright colors, flowers, sunshine or anything else that makes you think of Spring!”

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Card Recipe:

Cardstock: Select White (PTI)
Stamps: Beautiful Blooms (PTI), The Big, The Bold, and The Happy (Winnie and Walter)
Die: Mat Stack #1 (PTI)
Sequins: Michaels

 

March 2014 Papertrey Blog Hop

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It’s not often I post twice in one day, but in addition to the CASology challenge, today is the March Papertrey Blog hop.

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The Papertrey March Blog Hop challenge is high gloss, which leads one directly to Glossy Accents. I have to admit I have an issue with Glossy Accents. I find it nearly impossible to get it to go on smoothly. I did a Google search and didn’t find any great tips, so if you have some, I’d really appreciate it if you’d share them.

I combined an inspiration piece by Stephanie Klauck from the recent Online Card Classes for the Textural Effects Lesson–using Washi tape to mask off the edges of a card to create a frame with Distress Inks. Instead of glitter on the balloons, I used Glossy Accents. 

Birthday

The “Happy” (“Wonderful Words”) was cut from high gloss metallic blue cardstock and the rest of the sentiment came from “Stylish Sentiments: Birthday.” The balloons are from “Balloon Bash.” Here’s a closer look at the gloss. (Excuse the glare; these photos were taken after dark last night.)

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The next card was made from scrap pieces I had lying on my desk after playing around this weekend with cards for the Online Card Class: One Layer cards. The hearts and “thanks” are both Simon Says dies and I covered them with Glossy Accents. I do have an easier time covering the smaller pieces. I die cut and trimmed the “Building Blocks” die by Papertrey and adhered it to a Tropical Teal card.

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You can find a lot of inspiration for card making on Nicole’s blog today.

Lucky!

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Guest Designer Badge New

Two weeks ago I was honored to win the CASology challenge: Roots. That alone was exciting, but even more exciting was an invitation to be the guest designer for this week’s challenge:

Week 88 - Lucky

I had to think this one through since St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone, but it didn’t take long to come up with “Lucky in love” as a theme for the card.

Lucky

I die cut “LUCKY” with Papertrey’s Headliner Alphabet and used the negative. I backed it with beautiful gold metallic paper from Paper Source. Images from Winnie and Walter’s “The Big, The Bold, and the Happy,” and Simon Says “Love This” finished off the sentiment. I added three hearts die cut with Simon Says “Holiday Shapes” to finish the panel which I mounted with dimensional tape onto a white A2 card. You can find more inspiration for “lucky” here.