die cuts - Right as Rain

CAS 3: Day Five

Okay, confession time – this isn’t a single layer card! I decided that I’d “cheat” a bit today to get the technique, shown by Jennifer McGuire in today’s Clean & Simple Cardmaking 3 lesson, under my belt without all of the work.

I cut the panel out of Distress Watercolor paper, heat embossed the sentiment (from the Hero Arts Fancy Basics set) and then applied Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks with a brush. As instructed, I ironed the sentiment to remove the embossing when the panel was dry. I added some stitching to the panel with Lil’ Inker dies to give it a more finished look. Unfortunately, because the watercolor paper is thicker than cardstock, you can really see the lines from the edge of the die. I’d have to redo my embossing sandwich in order to eliminate those lines. Live and Learn!

I applied the watercolor panel to a panel that was heat-embossed using the Hero Arts Five-Line background stamp. I wanted a little texture for that base panel.

CAS3: Day Three

In today’s Clean & Simple Cardmaking 3 lesson, we learned about creating optical illusions. Originally, I started out to CASE Julie Ebersole’s scenic stamping example, which involved simple watercoloring. But after half an hour, my anxiety level was off the charts – I like to watercolor, but I’m not good at it, and I stress when watercoloring under pressure.

So, back to square one – I decided to do another inlaid die cut card using optical illusion! Yes, I’m hooked on this technique. In this case, I played with the size of the sun as compared to the cityscape to create illusion.

Supplies:

Memory Box Dies, Cityscape Nightline	Memory Box Dies, Cityscape Silhouette	Lawn Cuts Dies, Spring Showers	Poppystamps Dies, Grand Madison Window
Technique Tuesday Clear Stamps, Bring on the Sun by Ali Edwards	Memory Box Cardstock, Licorice	EEE22 Cardstock, Sky	Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock, 25 pack

InLinkz.com

CAS3: Day Two

In today’s Clean & Simple Cardmaking 3 lesson, we received more wonderful inspiration using the techniques shown yesterday. I CASEd Heather Campbell‘s card, again using the inlaid die cut technique.

DayTwo

The Thanks die is from Paper Smooches, and the hexagon die is from a Hero Arts set. I really like this technique, although I do find it to be challenging!

Penny Black Stenciling on Watercolor

When I saw Alexandra’s use of the Penny Black Verdant stencil on a watercolored background, I couldn’t wait to try the technique. She included her panel on a scrapbooking page; I adhered mine to a cardstock base for a card.

I created my watercolor background with a combination of Distress Inks in shades of blue. I picked the ink up from my craft mat, after diluting it a bit, and brushed the ink onto the watercolor paper. After the watercolor panel dried, I carefully taped the Penny Black Verdant stencil [#25-003] and applied Faber Castell Whipped Spackle. The embossing paste dries quite quickly. I die cut the “Hugs” from Penny Black’s Love Expressions [#51-025] set twice to give the sentiment a bit more depth.

What’s fun about this technique is that every card is different!

CAS3: Day One

Today’s Clean & Simple Cardmaking 3 from Online Card Classes lesson included the inlaid die cut technique, as shown by Debby Hughes. I CASEd Debby’s card using the same and similar supplies.

Honestly, the most difficult part of this card was making those paint splatters. I’m not a big mister/sprayer, and I took baby steps when adding those. Debby seems to really have a knack for adding random spots and splatters to her projects. I will practice. And as I’ve said before, the things you learn in these courses is invaluable. Time and again, I try things I’d never try when following the class examples.

Hope you’re having a fabulous start to your week!