Last Post...I've moved.

After almost seven years and over five hundred posts, I've decided to continue my creative journey on a new blog HERE. Thank you for being so supportive and I hope to see you over at my new blog! Hugs! 

Little Tangles Challenge #39- Watercolor

Hello! Today I'm back with the latest challenge over at Little Tangles. I thought it would be fun to create a challenge all about watercolor. It's all the rage right now so I decided to jump on the bandwagon...

I did a lot of "watercolor layering" on this card, which means I applied watercolor and let it dry and then added more on top. I continued to layer until I achieved the results I desired. I used Pumice Stone, Peacock Feathers and a very small amount of Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks with some water. After all the layers were completely dry, I went back in with a stencil, a blending tool , and some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink to add the pattern.

To finish off the card, I punched several circles out of white cardstock, layered them together to create an embellishment and heat embossed the sentiment from THIS set with silver embossing powder. I also flicked on some Pewter Perfect Pearls to the card base for some shine.

I hope you can play along. Click HERE for more info. and to see the other design team member's awesome cards. Thanks for stopping by!

Danielle's Special Delivery Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my stop on the baby blog hop. I'm so excited to be a part of this. I just love Danielle and am so happy to celebrate this special time in her life. Here is my card I created for her and sweet baby Everly....

I have to admit that it was SO fun to use all that pink! I'm surrounded by boys in my house so I knew I wanted to make a bright pink card for her little girl. I also knew that I wanted to use some Neat and Tangled Stamps so I heat embossed the circle from the You and Me Stamp Set repeatedly in white and did some watercolor on top. Then I flicked on some pearlized water drops and added some sequins, hearts, and stamped a few sentiments. Here is a closer look...

Welcome to the world sweet baby. A big congratulations to Danielle and her family!

 Click HERE for the next stop on the blog hop. To start at the beginning of the hop, click HERE. Thanks for stopping by!

All in the family...

Hello. Today I wanted to share about my niece, Taylor. She is ten years old and LOVES to craft. I wonder where she got that from? LOL Anyway, she recently came over to do some creative play with her aunt. While she was here, I introduced her to Kristina Werner's videos. She was mesmerized by her coloring videos and saw that she had Mail Call videos and wanted to participate. The Mail Call theme last month was birthday so she made a few birthday cards to send in....

 Here is a close up of one of her cards....

 

Is that awesome coloring or what!? She got a little ink under the happy birthday sentiment so that inspired the dot pattern...she was covering a mistake. Gotta love that she knows how to make it work! She is such a fun girl and was so excited when she saw her cards on Kristina's video HERE. 

Yep. Craftiness is in our genes. :) 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Inspiration Photo Challenge

Hello! We announced a new challenge today over on the Little Tangles Blog. It is all about pulling inspiration from this photo...

I decided to do something a bit different and decorate an envelope. Yes, an envelope...

Oh, before I forget, Danielle added two new FREE digi images HERE. I used the sweet summer one to create a tag. You can use these digi images to create a project and play along with the challenge!

Okay back to the envelope...I chose to decorate the front of an envelope because my mom's birthday is around the corner and she wants pictures of our beach vacation from last year. I chose some fun photos to put inside. Here is a peek at a few of my little guy at the beach...

...and THIS stamp set is the perfect sentiment to stamp on the back of the envelope, on the flap...

Easy peasy. I hope you enter the challenge HERE. Thanks for stopping by. Be back soon.

Watercolor Week Wrap Up- Day 6 and 7

I hope you're enjoying all the watercolor ideas over the past week. Today is the last day and I will share Day 6 and 7 cards. Here are the links in case you missed any posts this week...
DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY THREE
DAY FOUR
DAY FIVE

The first card is one of my favorite cards I've ever made. I just love the colors and how the die-cuts flowers pop against the white card base...

I layered two very bright and bold Peerless Watercolors on top of each other onto an embossed piece of watercolor cardstock, drying in between each layer. I cut some flowers out of THIS die, added THIS sentiment and some black thread onto an embossed white card base. A closer look...

HERE'S A TIP: Make good use out of the hard work you did. There wasn't much watercolor paper left from this project but I used my heart border punch to punch out several hearts from the negative space for a future card. You can also use the entire negative piece on another card and layer some patterned paper behind it...

Now it's time to share the last card of the Watercolor Week Series. This is a card I created for my hubby for Father's Day...

This card was inspired by Tim Holtz in Watercolor Class. He taught us how to stamp with a stencil using Watercolors created with Distress Inks. I didn't have lots of water on my stencil so it gave a dry look, which I like for the masculine feel of this card. A closer look...

The sentiment stamp set I used is birthday themed but I think this greeting would work for any occasion, even Father's Day. I finished off the card with a wood heart and some twine. 

Thanks so much for joining me this week. I hope you had as much fun as I did. Have a great rest of your weekend! 

Watercolor Week- Day 5

Thanks for joining me. Today is Day Five of Watercolor Week. Here are the links to the other four days in case you missed it...

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY THREE

DAY FOUR 

Today's card features a super fun technique that I learned from Jennifer Rzasa in Watercolor Class. You add salt to the watercolor while its still wet and it moves the color around and gives great results. I tried it for the background of this card...

I used some Light Green Peerless Watercolor and water and added it to my cardstock to create a background. Then I sprinkled on some table salt in different areas and let it air dry. Once dry, I rubbed the salt off with my fingers. It does all the work for you and I LOVE the results. You can also see where I put the salt. It gives it an "oxidized" look with tiny, brown specs...

I wanted to keep the card simple and keep the focus on that amazing background so I die-cut a Papertrey Ink Speech Bubble die in the matching watercolor cardstock several times and glued them together, creating an inlaid, raised embellishment. I stamped the sentiment on top with THIS stamp set as well as those stars. I mounted the piece onto a black card base.

Now because I cut the speech bubble from the watercolor piece, I had an awesome little die that I just had to use on a card so I thought I would share a bonus card with you...

I did the same raised embellishment as the other card by cutting out several more of that speech bubble image and adhering them together. I decided to place the stars in the same spot as the first card but use silver embossing powder...

Here's a great tip I've learned-EMBRACE THE IMPERFECTION! When I heat embossed my first star, The embossing powder showed up in areas that I did not intend it to. So instead of ditching the card and starting over, I embraced the imperfection. I decided to add more Versamark with a pen and create a messy, faux spray mist look. I like how it turned out! 

Okay, I'll be back tomorrow with yet another watercolor card. Thanks for stopping by! 

Watercolor Week- Day 4

Welcome to Day Four of Watercolor Week here on my blog. If your new to my blog, you can find the previous three days here:

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

DAY THREE

Today's card features Peerless Watercolors. I'm really loving the results they give...

Today's card was inspired by a card Laura Sterckx did for class. I used my bone folder and the crease in my paper trimmer to emboss lines in my cardstock. I used the debossed side. Not only does it give the background great texture, but also creates tunnels that the color spread out from. It's hard to explain, but so beautiful in real life.

Also, I wanted an ombre effect. So I added a very small amount of water towards the left side of the card and then gradually added more water towards the right side. More water equals lighter color. Less water equals more intense color.

I wanted a pop of color to be on the inside of the card instead of just white, so I turned the card inside out...

I finished off the card by heat embossing THIS lovely greeting in white and adding some enamel dots and a button.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow...

Watercolor Week- Day Three

Hello! Welcome back to Watercolor Week. We are on Day Three, but if you missed Day One, you can find it HERE. Day Two can be found HERE. Okay, let's get right to today's card...

This card was quick and easy, just the way I like. I bought some Peerless Watercolors recently and I've been eager to try them out. So I picked the color Sky Blue and did a wash over the front of my Distress Watercolor Cardstock. I let it dry and did another wash on top to get more of an intense color. That's it. I told you it was quick and easy. :) 

I absolutely love the "creaminess" of the watercolor once it dries. Just gorgeous....

I decided to heat emboss my new favorite sentiment after the watercolor was dry. You could do this before using watercolor but I always get better results after. A good tip is to use an embossing powder tool before embossing because the powder will want to stick to the watercolor. To wrap up the card, I added a few Lawn Fawn and Neat and Tangled Sequins after I mounted it on some Lawn Fawn patterned paper and a Hero Arts Card.

Make sure you stop by tomorrow for Day 4! See ya soon...

Watercolor Week- Day 2

Hello and welcome back to Watercolor Week! If you missed Day One, you can find it HERE. Here is today's card...

I used Distress Inks again to create this watercolor background. I used Squeezed Lemonade and Barn Door inks together to create this yummy peach color. After the piece was dry, I went in with some Barn Door distress ink with a blending tool and a stencil to add a small section of pattern. 

I raised the heart image I cut from the background by layering many pieces of yellow cardstock that I cut from the same Hero Arts heart die. I traced around the heart image with a white gel pen to give it some definition.

I also found a fun technique by accident! I heat embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder thinking I grabbed white embossing powder. You couldn't see it well and I thought I ruined the card. Then I heat embossed the sentiment again right on top of the clear embossed sentiment but this time using white embossing powder. I positioned the sentiment off slightly from the one beneath. It's hard to tell in the photo but it gives a great shadow. A happy accident!

To finish off the card I adhered it to a grey card base and added a strip of yellow cardstock along with some awesome sequins. Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with another share...

Watercolor Week- Day One

Hello. I've been posting many cards using watercolor lately because I took the Watercolor for Card Makers Class from Online Card Classes. I'm still going through some of the lessons and have many cards piling up so I thought it would be fun to do a watercolor week on my blog. So every day this week you will find a new card featuring watercolor techniques.

For today's card, I was inspired to stamp with watercolor. I also wanted to challenge myself and make a masculine card, so I went with a blue, orange, and yellow color scheme...

To create my pattern, I started with a chevron stamp from Studio Calico and inked it with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and then spritzed it with water before stamping on watercolor cardstock. I repeated this step with Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. I love the "messy", watercolor look it creates...

To finish off the card, I stamped the happy birthday sentiment from Studio Calico in black ink and then mounted it on a black card base. Super simple.

I hope I've inspired you to create some Watercolor Stamping. Have a great Monday and see you tomorrow!

Acetate Challenge...

I am so glad that I decided to create an acetate challenge over on the Little Tangles Blog. I love the fun and unexpected look of acetate, but it sometimes can be tricky to work with. However, when creating this project, I stumbled upon a great tip that may work for some of you that are intimated by acetate (like me).

Here is my card for the challenge...

I decided to use acetate as my card base. My favorite acetate cards are THESE from Hero. They are high quality and are easy to work with. I stamped my new favorite greeting on the front of the acetate card using white Staz-On ink. Well, I must have had that ink pad for quite some time because the ink was kind of dull. So I restamped it. It looked okay but you still couldn't see it well. 

Here's the tip...If you're looking for that bright white look on acetate, use the staz-on as something for a White Gel Pen to grip to. I simply traced the image with my white pen and the only way for it to not smear on the acetate is to have the staz-on ink as a base. This would work for black as well. Here's a closer look (You can see the Staz-On ink. It almost serves as a shadow, a cool effect) 

To finish the card, I created a watercolor panel to go behind (on the inside of the card). I punched a 3x4 rectangle with THIS punch out of THIS paper and used Wild Honey, Peacock Feathers, and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks with water. I flicked some pearlized water on top to give spots of shine. Adhering this is the tricky part because of the clear card. I used glossy accents in tiny dots behind the words of the sentiment. It took some time but you don't see any adhesive that way.

I also added some black and white twine to the side of the card to appear as it is floating. I really like how it turned out! I hope you can enter your acetate card HERE for a chance to win a Neat and Tangled Stamp Set of your choice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stretching Two Cards from One...

Hello and welcome. I hope your week is going well. As promised, I wanted to share the card I created from the left over die cut word from THIS card. I LOVE getting more mileage out of one card. Why not make two cards instead of one when you've already done most of the work?!

This card was inspired by Julie Ebersole on Day 4 of Watercolor for Card Makers Class. 

I started to create this card by masking the center of some Watercolor Cardstock with a heart punched from Masking Paper. Then I stamped different size circles (from a "vintage" Hero Arts set) using Peacock Feathers, Squeezed Lemonade, and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks. I love these inks because they activate with water just like watercolors. I took a paintbrush with water and "colored"each circle to get it to spread out and achieve a watercolor look.

Once dry, I removed the heart mask and adhered the left over "love you" die cut word, after cutting the word out of white cardstock several times to get a raised embellishment look. I finished it off with glossy accents and adhered it to a green card base.

I also punched out some hearts out of my practice paper to include on the inside of the card for a finishing touch...

That's all I got for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Getting the kids involved...

Happy Mother's Day! I have a quick share today that shows how you can get your kids involved in card making. You've probably noticed from my last few projects that I've been loving to watercolor on my cards. So, I thought it would be fun to get Aiden involved to make my mom's card for Mother's Day this year. He had so much fun...

I broke out his Crayola Jumbo Watercolor Set that he received in his Easter Basket and let him paint several pieces of Watercolor Paper. I took one of the pieces and punched out six hearts to create a Mother's Day Card...

I finished it off with some dry embossing to the background and a sentiment from Hero Arts. A simple and fun project for both mom and son!

I hope this inspires you to get your kids involved in your crafting. Have a great Mother's Day!

Watercolor for Cardmakers- Day One

Hello! Today I have a card share just for fun. I recently signed up for the Watercolor for Card Makers Class over at Online Card Classes and as usual, it is full of inspiration. Today's card was inspired by the amazing Laura Bassen on the first day of classes. Here is my card...

In class, Laura showed us how to create a watercolor background using an acrylic block, some distress inks, and water. I wanted to do a bright rainbow pattern so I used Barn Door, Wild Honey, Mowed Lawn, and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. 

I wanted to keep the rest of the card super simple to keep focus on the fun background so I inlaid the love you die-cut into the background piece and added a few black hearts punched from cardstock. I also added a little shimmer to them with my Wink of Stella Pen...

If you want to get some inspiration or learn more about incorporating watercolor on your cards, check out the class info HERE.

I'll be back soon with another card I created with the leftover pieces from this card! Stay tuned...

Mint and Peach Color Combo (and tutorial)...

Hello and welcome. It's the first Thursday of the month so I'm back with a new challenge from the Little Tangles Blog....

I love mint and peach together. It's such a fresh color combo. Here is the card I created...

I took some photos for a tutorial on how I created the mint and peach embossing paste. 

Here are the tools I used to create that fun background...

-Ranger Craft Sheet

-White Embossing Paste

-Palette Knife

-Stencil (I used Tim Holtz- Dot Fade)

-Hero Arts Inks-Mint Julep and Fresh Peach

-Neenah Cardstock cut to card size

-Washi Tape to hold stencil in place

First, you need to smoosh (very technical term LOL) some mint and peach ink onto your craft mat. Scoop out a small amount of white embossing paste next to each ink color.

And start mixing! If you want it lighter, add more white embossing paste. If you want it darker, mix in more ink.

 Next smear it on top of your stencil like icing. I wanted a thin coat. It will look like this...

 Remove the stencil and you will be left with this awesome background...

 I did another extra one in mint...

(The two examples shown here were just extra backgrounds I created since I was making a mess anyway. For my final card I mixed the two colors on one background.) 

You can create your own embossing paste color with many mediums besides ink. You can add in acrylic paint, alcohol inks, ink refills, markers. Anything goes. Experiment! 

To finish off my card, I adhered my background to a grey card base and  stamped the sentiments from THIS stamp set onto some die-cut banners. I also added some of THESE yummy sequins.

I hope you can create a mint and peach masterpiece and enter it HERE. Can't wait to see what you create. The winner from this challenge will not only get a stamp set of their choice, but also a pack of mint and peach sequins. Yay! 

Thanks for stopping by. Be back soon...