May, 2014 - Right as Rain

One Layer Card

There’s a brand-new challenge over at Stamp Nation – to create a one-layer card. It’s been a while since I’ve done any masking, so it was fun to get back at it! I’ve created a card using one of my favorite Mama Elephant stamp sets.

To mask the hot air balloon, I stamped the balloon a couple of times on a large sticky note and fussy cut it. The teal balloon is stamped with VersaMagic. The VersaMagic has a bit better coverage than the VersaColor, which was used for the orange balloon. I have an assortment of both in Dew Drop pads that I pull out occasionally. Ideally I’d have an entire set of pigment inks!

Have a fabulous weekend, and may it be one full of sunshine!

Supplies: VersaColor Orange, Blue, VersaMagic Teal inks

Mama Elephant Clear Stamps, Sunny Skies	Memento Luxe Ink Pad, Gray Flannel	Mama Elephant Creative Color Ink Pads, Lollipop	Cardstock, Bluebird
Memory Box Cardstock, Sky	Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock, 25 pack

InLinkz.com

Penny Black Poppy Trio: Two Approaches

Today I’m sharing two cards using the Penny Black Poppy Trio stamp [#40-311] .

For the first card, I stamped and heat embossed the image four times – on green, yellow, orange and dark orange cardstock. I then fussy cut the blossoms and adhered them to the green card panel. I finished the card with a sentiment from the Friendship Flowers set [#30-223].

For the next card, I stamped and heat embossed the image on Strathmore 140lb coldpress watercolor paper and colored the image with Distress Inks – Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Ripe Persimmon, Peeled Paint, and Tumbled Glass. I die cut the watercolored image and added a sentiment from the Penny Black Kind Words [#30-226] set, which was stamped and heat embossed on vellum.

OCC Watercolor – Not Handpainted

The recent lessons in the Online Card Classes Watercolor class have been phenomenal! I’m amazed by the talent in the cardmaking community! However, after I “painted” a cardinal and a flower today using some of the recent lessons, and pouted a bit, I realized I needed to put my training wheels back on! So I’m sharing a card that’s technically from Day Six in class.

For me, the training wheels are heat embossed lines to help hold the water. I heat embossed the flowers from the Mama Elephant Lovely Mums set with white embossing powder on Strathmore 140lb coldpress watercolor paper. I colored them with Distress Inks and then fussy cut them. The die cut circle was stamped with a sentiment from Penny Black Special Wishes and heat embossed in gold powder. This card draws on the design shown by Jennifer McGuire in the Day Six lesson.

Supplies:

Mama Elephant Clear Stamps, Lovely Mum	Penny Black Clear Stamps, Special Wishes	Lifestyle Crafts Dies, Nesting Squares	Distress Ink Pad, Seedless Preserves
Distress Ink Pad, Picked Raspberry	Distress Ink Pad, Squeezed Lemonade	Distress Ink Pad, Ripe Persimmon	Distress Ink Pad, Dried Marigold
Studio Artist Brushes	Hero Arts Embossing Powder, White	Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder, 1 oz. Gold	VersaMark Inkpad

InLinkz.com

Ahoy!: Cards for Him

As a counterpoint to the watercoloring I’ve been doing, I’ve been creating masculine cards using inspiration from Catherine Pooler’s Creativity Grows Here Cards for Him Online Class

I really like to make variations when I’m putting ideas into practice, so starting with inspiration from the Nautical section of the class and adding a CAS lesson from Maureen Merritt, who’s part of the Stamp Nation Design Team, I created three cards!

With three men in my life (my husband and two sons), I’m often in need of masculine cards. I’ve always had a thing for anything nautical, starting with my first trip to the Pacific Ocean. I guess we didn’t pack a suitcase for me, so we went to May & Co. in San Diego and bought a nautical switsuit. I still remember it quite vividly, including its anchor belt! And I always like anything red, white and blue, especially this time of year.

Supplies:
WPlus9 Design Dockside, Dockside Background
Wplus9 Design Tag Die
Impression Obsession Thin Line Background
My Favorite Things Wood Plank Background
Sizzix embossing folders

OCC Day Six, In Detail and a Sale

Lots going on in the papercrafting world this weekend! First up, I CASEd my card in today’s Online Card Classes Watercolor class.

OCC Day Six

I watercolored a heat-embossed image from the Penny Black Blooming Garden set with Ranger Distress inks. I finished the card with a sentiment from Penny Black Special Wishes stamped in VersaFine ink. Even though I talk about “fail safe” sentiments in my video in class, I decided to “go for it” and stamp this sentiment directly on the Strathmore watercolor panel. VersaFine ink is so forgiving!

Next, I’m over in the CLASSroom today with an In Detail post covering Adhesives.

Finally, while you’re over at Ellen Hutson’s, don’t forget to check out the Mother’s Day Sale!

Happy Mother’s Day!