Make it Monday #204 - Watercolor Smooshing

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Make it Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink today, where Betsy does a great video on the popular water coloring technique called "smooshing".  This is a really fun technique as it's a great surprise with every try, and what kind of a background you will come up with!  I wish I would have taken a picture of what my background looked like before I started stamping on it...it was beautiful even before I added the flower and fern (Meadow Greens).  But anyway, here's the finished product:

 
If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you'll be better able to see my "smooshing".  I used Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Hibiscus Burst, Plum Pudding, & Lavender Moon for my ink colors, and I will definitely be using that color combination again...Love, love, love the softness of that combo!  It's hard to see in the photo, but I clear embossed over the Plum Pudding flower, and that makes the color just a bit deeper and gives more "pop".  Love how this card feels like there's a lot to it too, but it's only one panel (other than the black layer and the card base), so it will definitely go through the mail easily!

There are some absolutely beautiful cards in the gallery this week, so make sure you take the time to check them all out (here) on Nichole's blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!

Merry Monday #149 - Monochromatic Blues

Hello friends.  Many of you that follow my blog know that I've been a tad bit obsessed with the Bokeh technique lately, and when I saw the inspiration picture for the new challenge over at Merry Monday, I had to do a happy dance!  The challenge is to use shades of blue, so I used blue distress inks and the Bokeh technique, and came up with this:

I started by using a blender tool and Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky, & Faded Jeans Distress Inks (TH).  Next I used Hero Arts Unicorn white pigment ink to add my circles for the Bokeh technique.  After the pigment ink dried, I used SU!'s "Northern Flurry" ef, and then lightly tapped my Versamark pad to the embossed raised areas, and then embossing with white embossing powder.  I also embossed with white the sentiment (WPlus9).  I mounted this layer to a navy blue layer, and attached to a white card base.  A little bit of blue and white bakers twine finished off my card.

  
To play along, you can get all the info and see all the wonderful cards right here.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!! :0)

Butterfly Basics - CASED

Good morning friends.  Sharing a card today that I wish I would have thought of myself, but got the idea off of Pinterest.  Take a look:

All stamps are SU! (Butterfly Basics and Hardwood) except for the butterfly die cut which is PTI (Life is Beautiful).  Inks are Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Suede, Mossy Meadow, & Blackberry Bliss.  I used this same idea on some Curvy Keepsake Boxes that I made for the gals in my stamp club tomorrow night, but want it to be a little bit of a surprise, so I'll show pictures of those later this week.  I know, nothing like a tease, right?!! :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!

Poppies

Good morning friends.  Last week my good friend Sue showed me a beautiful card she had made with a poppy stamp, and I asked her if it was a Impression Obsession stamp, and she said "no...Rubbernecker".  I really wanted to CASE her card and thought I had a poppy stamp somewhere...low and behold, the exact same stamp that we both bought at the stamp show last August in Novi!  Yes friends, it is pretty sad when you don't even know what you have.  A true addiction for what I pray there is no cure!!  Anyway, I played around with the stamp and this is what I came up with:

I used the "smoosh" technique for my water colored background (as Betsy Veldman and Laura Bassen call it!), using Bundled Sage and Tea Dye Distress Inks and Harvest Gold dye ink.  You just press your ink pads onto a sheet of acetate (or a craft mat), then spritz some water over them, and then "smoosh" your cardstock onto it.  Let it dry and you come up with some beautiful water colored backgrounds!  Next I added a layer using SU!'s "En Francais" background stamp (retired), that I also misted with some water to keep with that  water colored look.  I then colored directly onto my stamp with Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, & Old Olive markers, spritzed with water, and stamped.  Once this dried, I did go back in with my black Copic and blender pen for the centers, and my Aqua pen and some Cherry Cobbler ink for a little more definition in some areas.  Mounted this onto black cardstock and then added to a kraft card base.  It sounds a little long and complicated, but was really very easy and was mostly waiting time for areas to dry before I went on to the next step. 

I still like my girlfriend Sue's card much better, and I hope she will post it on her blog sometime soon so everyone can see it (Sue's Stamping Station).

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful weekend! :0)

Make it Monday #203 - Doodling with Stamps

Good morning friends.  Doodling with our stamps is what Ashley has us doing with this weeks Make it Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink, and boy is it fun!  Took me a few tries with some different stamp sets, but the one that worked for me was the "Embroidered Blooms" stamp set, and this is what I came up with:

I used some bright Spring-y colors (Raspberry Fizz, Orange Zest, New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, & Harvest Gold) and an Aqua Pen to give the water-colored look, and then used a Micron 02 pen to do my doodling.  The butterflies are dies from the "Heart-2-Heart #10" set, and I added a few orange enamel dots to finish it off.

Ashley's video is one you won't want to miss...this really is a FUN technique!  You can check out the video, Ashley's beautiful card, and all the other great entries right here on Nichole's blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  I think I'm off to do some more doodling...kinda addicting! :0)

Merry Monday #148 - Red & Green

Hello again friends.  I thought I was going to babysit my granddaughter today and be too busy to stamp, but the weather had other plans...have I mentioned that I'm quite sick of snow and Winter?!!!  Anyway, I spent the morning stamping instead and came up with a cute CAS card for the newest challenge over at Merry Monday.  I was so excited that my card came together so quickly and just like I pictured in my head...only problem being that I couldn't get a decent photograph of it!  At first I thought it was the lighting and being such a gray snowy day, but now I think it's the way I doubled up my "merry" die sentiment.  I used a light color (Certainly Celery) behind the darker Cherry Cobbler, and every time I photograph it, it looks out of focus. I'm guessing if I used the Cherry Cobbler behind the Certainly Celery, it would have been clearer, but I wanted the red to stand out and coordinate with the Santa hat.  Take a look:

Probably should have used a darker green, like a Mossy Meadow, but I really liked the lighter color of the Certainly Celery.  Oh well, it is what it is, and you'll just have to trust me that IRL it really is cute!  The "merry" is from PTI's "Wonderful Words: Holiday Die Collection" and the little birdie is from Penny Black's "Winter Wonderland" set. 

You can check out all the details to play along and all the great cards right here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! :0)

Thinking of You

Good morning friends.  I hope you're not getting sick of the Distressed Ink background cards I showed you last week, as I have two more to share with you today.  Take a look:

Same process for this card as all the others, just used a different stamp for the main image.  The Lilac image is from Impression Obsession (H8731).

I promise I'll be back with some different colors next time!  Thanks for stopping by today...love it when you do! :0)