You’re Swell

There’s something about the warmer weather and sunny skies that makes me dream about spending days on the water. Now, I don’t happen to own any watercraft, but the idea of setting sail is appealing nevertheless!

PaperSmoochesNautical

I crafted this card with Paper Smooches stamps and die cuts, as well as the Memory Box Wave stencil. I dry embossed white cardstock with the stencil, and then, with the stencil held in place, applied a combination of blue inks.

I’m linking my card up with this week’s Paper Smooches Sparks challenge – “Anything Goes.”

Supplies:

Penny Black Poppies

Today, I’m sharing a CASE of a card made by Jill Foster using Penny Black dies and stamps. I’ve been working my way through many of Jill’s tutorials in the past several weeks.

PennyBlackPoppies

Mine is a little simpler than the card Jill made. I used the Field of Dreams die [ #51-030] to cut the poppies and painted them with Distress Paints. (As an FYI, the die works with the Poppies stamp in the Blooming Garden stamp set [#30-155].) I created the yellow background by making a single-use stencil out of cardstock with the Interlocking die [#51-029], through which I applied a combination of Distress Inks. I finished the card with a sentiment stamped with Versafine ink from the Blooming Tags [#30-228] stamp set.

Tim Holtz March 2014 Tag

I had a lot of fun creating this month’s Tim Holtz tag – I like its theme and colors. I view creating his monthly tags like getting a kit from which I learn new techniques, with the safety net of the design and colors already thought out. I’m not sure why I didn’t make one in January – I need to go back and make that one as well!

THMarch2014Tag

One of this month’s techniques was smudging. This technique was shown in the Online Card Classes Chemistry 102 class, but I didn’t have much luck with it at the time. I had more success with it this time – smudging produces a subtle effect.

The tag on the left is the first generation and the one on the right is second generation. I smudged the stamped images on both tags. The images, from the Bird Feather set, are stamped with Distress Inks. The top part of the tag was misted with Distress markers using the new Tim Holtz Spritzer tool. This is an easy way to add misting, with or without a stencil to a project.

Supplies:

Penny Black Spring Celebration!

Happy Spring for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere! Today, I’m sharing a spring-themed card inspired by a card design of Heather Telford’s.

FloralWatercolor

To begin, I stamped the Penny Black Sweetness [#40-208] background stamp on watercolor paper with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I applied several Distress Ink colors to the floral area. Any ink that went on to the embossed area was easily wiped away. After the panel dried, I ironed off the embossing. I cut the panel into squares, arranging them on a card base. I applied white embossing paste through a one-time stencil I created with one of the dragonflies in the Flutters [#51-006] die cut set. I finished the card with a sentiment stamped in gold ink from the Special Wishes [#30-229] set. I tried a couple of other color inks, including green and cocoa brown, before choosing the gold ink for the sentiment. I wanted something soft and elegant.

Did you know that Penny Black offers a free membership for all of their fans?  Simply join the Penny Black club by clicking HERE so you can get a first peek at new releases, blogging events, new card and scrapbooking ideas, and receive card ideas with step-by-step instructions.

I’m delighted to be sharing cards in an upcoming “Three Steps” feature to club members.

three steps

 

Penny Black Cityscape Scene

Ever since seeing Julie Ebersole’s fabulous card, using the Penny Black “A Day in Paris” stamp set, in the Online Card Classes CAS 3 course, I’ve been wanting to made a card with a scene.

Using stamps from the Penny Black Fashion Tweet [#30-233] set and a stencil made with the Penny Black Silver Linings [#51-033] die cut, I created a birthday card.

PennyBlackTweet

The car, the cake, a few of the windows, and the horizon line were painted with various stamp inks and a brush. I used as little water as possible since the card base is cardstock, rather than watercolor paper. For the clouds, I used a sponge dauber to apply ink through the stencil I made with the die cut. (It’s the smaller of the two clouds in the set.)

To finish the card, I stamped the “#celebrate” sentiment, included with the stamp set, on a red cardstock rectangle, which I adhered inside the card. This card makes me want to say “beep, beep”!