Simple Congratulations

I’ve had the Avery Elle Sentimental Swirls stamp set for a couple of weeks, but I hadn’t had a chance to take it out for a spin. As I was running errands this morning, I thought about the idea of pairing a simple sentiment with a partially dry-embossed card front. (Some of my most creative thoughts occur while I’m driving my car.)

To make the card a tad more elegant, I decided to emboss the sentiment with a metallic powder.

Simple Congratulations

When I was done with that one, I made another with silver embossing powder!

Simple Congratulations

Penny Black Hedgie

The hedgehog is one of the first images I came to associate with Penny Black stamps. And there just happens to be a hedgehog in the Garden Critters set!

Penny Black Hedgie

I colored the hedgehog and flowers with watercolor pencils and combined them with a sentiment from the Friendship set.

I purchased some more Penny Blacks sets that I plan to ink up tomorrow, including some images suitable for Father’s Day cards.

Another Garden Critter

I got the opportunity over the weekend to continue playing with the watercolor pencils and the Penny Black Garden Critters stamp set.

Penny Black Garden Critters

I watched Jill Foster’s PB & J video several more times, and learned a bit more about how to use the pencils. I also switched watercolor papers to a heavier paper that is preferred by Jennifer McGuire. Additionally, I used my water brush pen as a brush dipping it into the water. Filled with water, the brush was putting too much water on my image. I don’t have any Penny Black sentiments, yet, so I added one of my most used sentiments from the Hero Arts Essential Messages set to finish off the card.

Happy Monday!

Nautical Sampler

I’m nuts about all things nautical, for reasons I don’t even understand as I didn’t grow up anywhere near the ocean! At any rate, I’m loving the current nautical trend!

To get familiar with the Reverse Confetti Happy Harbor set I decided to create a sampler with the images. I tried a lot of different inks on the stamps, finding that I liked the way that the Memento inks stamped, as well as the Fresh Inks, sold by Impress. And inevitably this process led to adding inks to my wish list!

Nautical SamplerSupplies: Reverse Confetti Happy Harbor, Memento ink (red) Fresh ink (navy); Encore (silver); Memory Box + Stampin’ Up cardstock

A Rabbit “Hello”

I bought some Derwent Inktense watercolors pencils on Sunday (my Mother’s Day gift to me, ha ha) and spent most of Sunday afternoon and into the week coloring the critters from the Penny Black Garden Critters stamp set.

I’ve watched Jill Foster’s PB & J video several times, and I am in total awe of her skills! If you’re interested in trying out watercolor pencils, her video would be an excellent place to begin.

A Rabbit "Hello"