You Anchor Me

Kristie Goulet of the Stamp Nation team regularly posts about paper crafting trends sharing tips, tutorials and projects! Kristie wrote about the nautical trend last year, when it was really at its high point. As a member, I can access those past articles. Even if the trend has cooled somewhat, I still enjoy making nautical-themed cards, especially in the summer.

AnchorWornLipstick

To create the coral striped background, I inked the Impression Obsession Thick Stripes background stamp with Distress Ink and misted it until the ink pooled. The anchor is cut from a brushed gold cardstock.

AnchorMintBlue
As long as I was making one card, I decided to make another with a little variation! I heat embossed the Impression Obsession background stamp with gold embossing powder. The anchor is cut from a gold foil cardstock.

I’m also entering the second card in the Card Concept “Use A Nautical Theme” challenge. My style is Clean and Graphic.

Supplies:

Life Is Good

This week’s challenge at Stamp Nation is HOME. There are so many different directions you can go with the theme. I decided to create a card based on a fantasy of mine to live in a lighthouse (I’d settle for living on the beach)!

LawnFawnLifeIsGood

I stamped and heat embossed the lighthouse and sand pail from Lawn Fawn’s “Life Is Good” set. I colored the images with Distress Markers scribbled onto an acrylic stamp block, from which I picked up the color with a wet brush. Once dry, I die cut the lighthouse and pail with their matching Lawn Cuts. The sand dunes were stamped, heat embossed and watercolored.  The sand color is a combination of Brushed Corduroy and Dried Marigold. Once dry, I fussy cut the dunes. The background was watercolored with Salty Ocean.

This scene makes me happy – the sun and the ocean beckons!

Supplies:

Butterfly Thank You

Today, I’m sharing a card created with some Penny Black stamps and die cuts in which I’ve paired feminine (the delicate floral) and masculine (the woodgrain) motifs.

ButterflyThanks

I started by inking the  Penny Black Star Ivy [#40-310]  background with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. I misted the stamp until the ink started to pool, at which point I pressed watercolor paper onto the stamp. As I let that dry, I applied Worn Lipstick Distress Ink directly to watercolor paper from which I die cut the  butterflies using the Penny Black Flutters [#51-006] set. (I also die cut the butterflies from blank watercolor paper, as I wanted the die cuts to have some depth.) I stamped the woodgrain using the Inspiring [#40-113] stamp set with Versamark for a tone-on-tone look. The sentiment is from Penny Black’s Special Wishes [#30-229].

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.

LovelyMums

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:

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!