Butterflies!

Hello! I'm back again today to post another card I just created for the Mix It Up Monday challenge at Gina K Designs. We were to create a card that uses Spring colors and designs. Sean Fetterman posted a card very similar to this that I just fell in love with, so I CASed it ("Created and Shared" or "Copied and Stamped" or "Copied and Shared" or whatever else you can come up with). 

I used the cardstock, butterflies and sentiment from Warm Spring Wishes in the Shabby Spring Stamp TV kit. The inks used are from Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life. I like to mix supplies sometimes! Both are fantastic and I feel they are top of the line.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and comments very much, so keep on coming back! Probably no more cards for today, but there will be another very soon. Take it easy and have a good day!

Little Gal

Hello! Happy Monday! Here's a card to cheer you up! I used a Bugaboo digital image for this and layered it with paper from Doodlebug Designs' Take Note 6 x 6 paper pad. Since this was for an Outlawz Paper a la Mode challenge that required glitter, I added some on her hair bands and also on the little polka dots on her dress. I just love this cute image! I colored it with Copic markers, which I'm not the best but I gave it a shot. The last step was to add some Baker's Twine.

Hope you like today's card! I appreciate your visits and comments very much, so keep on coming back and check out what I have for the next post. Take it easy and have a wonderful day!

Spring Blessings

Hello! So happy for your visit today! I haven't posted in several days...I've been taking a little break since class ended. 

This card has been posted in a Gina K Designs challenge. We're supposed to include a knot on the card. I just got the Stamp TV Kit with this image and sentiment in it, and I just love all the other designs included as well.

To start my card, I created my own background paper by stamping flowers and leaves in the same colors as the cardstock I used for the next layer. I stamped the image and then cut out the circle, which wasn't too bad. Usually, I'm not very good at fussy cutting, but this one turned out ok. All that was left to do was adhere the layers and add some ribbon with a knot. Easy enough, right?

Thanks for your visits and comments! I am always inspired by reading what you have to say -- it definitely keeps me moving forward on this creative journey. Hope to see you again soon!

CAS3 Day 9 Again

Hi! I am adding a card today to the gallery for Day 9 in Online Card Classes Clean and Simple 3. I'm so excited because I found my Falling Hearts Stencil and therefore was able to create this card based on the video by Debby Hughes.  WooHoo! Did you hear me scream in excitement when I found that stencil? That was something I definitely did NOT want to lose!

This class was focused on texture, and there's lots of that in this card--image, sentiment, splatters and hearts!

I first stamped this watercolor cardstock with a butterfly stamp from Gina K Designs and then watercolored it using my InkTense Pencils, which are fantastic -- so vibrant! After heat embossing the sentiment in silver, I created masks to cover that and the butterfly. Next I took Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Summer Glow and splattered it across the card front. I left the masks on, let it dry, and then placed the Falling Hearts Stencil over the card and covered it with white embossing paste. Once that was dry, my card was done!

This almost has too much texture for my comfort zone, but I do think the end result is pretty. I love the font used for the sentiment, and I think the silver embossing turned out good. Like many other cards I've posted from class, this was a second try. My first card had a smaller butterfly and different font for the sentiment, and it just looked too small and too far apart. This one turned out better.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and comments very much. Now that class is drawing to a close, I hope you'll consider following my blog. I'd love to have you, and it would be fun to stay in touch between classes. Take it easy and have a good weekend!

CAS3 Day 10

Hello! Welcome to my blog--so good to have you here! Today is Day 10 for Online Card Classes' Clean and Simple 3 and we had more lessons on Textural Effects.

I chose to follow the lesson from Joy Taylor on the use of Embossing Paste, and it's been a fun afternoon playing with it! (Actually, first I tried the lesson from Laurie Wilson on DIY Diffusers but had no luck getting it to work, so I moved on to the Embossing Paste. Any of you have that trouble?)

Fortunately the leaf stencil was right at my fingertips and I was so happy to know where it was I jumped right in with the lesson and covered it with Embossing Paste. After it dried, I created a clear panel on the card base by attaching a strip of transparency so there would be a nice window on the side of the card. Then I attached the piece with the leaf and the paste. Finally, I added the sentiment that was heat embossed with silver embossing powder and then I put a little bling here and there with silver gems.

This was my second try for the lesson -- the embossing paste got smeared on my first one -- and I am happy with the way it turned out. I think it would be a good card for a wedding.

Thanks for stopping by! I am really enjoying your visits and comments and am learning so much from each of you--keep on coming back! See you tomorrow -- the last day of our lessons?

CAS3 Day 9

Hello! So glad to have you here today! We're on Day 9 (hard to believe!) of Online Card Classes' Clean & Simple 3. Today's focus is on Textural Effects, and I'm afraid I had to cheat a little to get my card finished. Can't find my stencil anywhere, and that really upsets me!

So, instead of creating a card based on the video by Debby Hughes as I'd planned, I took liberty with Julie Ebersole's directions and colored here and there on cardstock that had been embossed. The piece was too small to create the card by itself, so I did end up layering the embossed piece onto a colored card base. Also, I did not have the necessary non-aperture die to leave a place for the sentiment within the embossing, so I put it on a piece of vellum and attached across the bottom. I just got this in Gina K Design's new Shabby Spring Stamp TV Kit with the stamp set called Spring Blessings.

This card barely follows the guidelines given in the videos, but I still like it and am putting it in the Class Gallery. The embossing folder with the birds (don't know the name) is one of my favorites. Hope you like it as much as I do!

Thanks for stopping by today! I appreciate your visits and comments very much and enjoy learning from each of you. See you in class again tomorrow!

CAS3 Day 8

Hello! Hope your week is going well! It's cold and rainy again today, but I think sunnier days are coming. I see some trees blooming already, and they are very pretty. Signs of Spring -- gotta love it!

Today's card follows a video where Dawn Woleslagle demonstrated stamping flowers with a mask from a Post-It note. She showed a two-step technique but used her 0 Copic marker (blending solution)  to wipe out some color on the first step. After removing the Post-It, she had a blank square in the center for the sentiment.

Fortunately, I had the WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals stamp set to use for this card. It's brand new, and I love it but it does take some practice to get that second stamp placement just right. Let's just say I've gone through several scraps of paper recently before putting this on the actual card! I used stamps from Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life for the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and comments very much and enjoy learning from each of you. Come back soon!

CAS Day 7.2

As another part of today's lessons, Kristina Werner gave a lesson in Simple Copic Coloring where we color lines of various shades on a piece of Vellum paper and then layer it behind a piece of cardstock that has been die cut.

I die cut some flowers, hearts and circles using dies from Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life and also cut out the small word "Hi." That was as complicated as I would get for this card! Personally, I think a bigger word would've looked better. Anyway, I added a few gems here and there and put all this onto a blue piece of cardstock for card base. That means this is NOT a one-layer card, but that's ok. It's still Clean and Simple!

Thanks for stopping by today! I appreciate your visits and comments very much and enjoy learning from each of you. Keep on coming back!

CAS3 Day 7

Today in Online Card Classes Clean and Simple 3, we had several lessons on creative coloring techniques. This card demonstrates what I learned about tracing in these lessons.

Tasnim Ahmed showed us how to trace part of a stamped image on a  card with a gold pen and then color it using at least two different colors. When you ink the stamp, you wipe off the ends so the image fades off the paper.

Thanks for stopping by today! I appreciate your visits and your comments very much! We can learn a lot from each other, so keep on coming back!

Watercolor Flip-It

Hello! Today's card has nothing to do with Online Card Classes, but rather, my post for The Outlawz Paper a la Mode Challenge. We were to make an Easel, Gate, Bendy or Flip-it card, and I had a die for the Sizzix Circle Flip-It card, so I went with that. The patterned paper is from Gina K Design's Watercolor Patterned Paper Pack and is one of my favorites. I created a flower in the same colors for the other side of the center circle, opposite the sentiment, using a Sizzix Flower and Leaves die. The sentiment in the circle is from Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life.

Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and comments very much! Enjoy your weekend, and I'll see you again soon.

CAS3.Day 5

Here we are at Day 5 for Online Card Classes Clean & Simple Card Making 3! WooHoo! It's been a week already and I've learned so much!

Today I learned how to make stripes using only paper, Post-Its and Distress Ink.

This was actually the second card I made: the first one totally stuck together with the tape and I couldn't help but tear the piece right across the middle--YIKES! This one tore a little bit towards the bottom, but I hope my repair looks acceptable. I really want to do better than acceptable, but this was my first one to post for today's class...there's always room for improvement, right? As creative people, are we ever really happy with our work? Sometimes! But the critical eye never rests...

I simply masked off stripes with Post-It paper that fortunately arrived in my Happy Mail today, along with other goodies for the class. Then I inked and sponged different colors of Distress Inks to create the stripes going both directions. I left a little white space, too. Finally, I added the sentiment from Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life and put a few colorful gems of bling here and there to direct the eye towards the center.

Hope you like this and give it a try. It's not hard, just a little weary creating the same line over and over. My mojo is coming back after yesterday's stressful procedure on my back, and I'm not so shaky, thank goodness! I'd have wobbly stripes if I was! Ha!

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and comments very much! I always learn from your comments--it helps to know what stands out to people who view my cards. Take it easy and have a good Friday!

CAS3 Day 4

We're at Day 4 in Clean & Simple 3 Online Card Class and tutorials today gave additional inspiration to what we learned in Day 3. Most of the focus is on Optical Illusion, which has been a challenge for me. This card took me 3 tries to get it somewhat acceptable for the blog! This appears to be a bit of a boring card to me. I might go back and add some bling, but that would make it less than one layer.

I think it could've used more stamping up around the dog, but that's about all I had that's the right size to appear to be far away. Most of my stamps are around the same size -- and a lot bigger than that little doggie! I tied the balloons around his neck for fun.

My coloring leaves a lot to be desired today--please accept my apologies! I had a spinal epidural this morning for a herniated disc and the medicine has left me quite shaky. I'll be better in a day or two, and the best change of all will be less back pain! Thanks for your patience.

Can't wait for tomorrow's class to see what we'll learn next. I'm never disappointed with these Online Card Classes.

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your visits and your comments very much. Take it easy!

CAS3 Day 3

Okay, I know. Third card today? Yep, I'm playing catch-up from the few days my camera wasn't working right. I don't like being behind!

This card followed the video on Stamp Layering by Laura Bassen. She's got a great sense of humor and kept my attention throughout the entire lesson.

First, using All-Night Media's Splatter Pattern stamp, I put tiny splatters of dots all over my page with Hero Art's Soft Sand Shadow Ink. With Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life stamps, I added circle images in various colors around the card base. Finally, I added the sentiment at an angle.

This was a quick and easy card to make. I will keep practicing and will probably add more cards tomorrow.

I appreciate your visit and your comments very much! Please come back again soon!

CAS3 Day 2

This post reflects lessons learned on the Day 2 of Clean and Simple 3, One Layer Cards Online Card Class. This day we had a second part to what we learned on Day 1. I chose to try a card based on Heather Campbell's tutorial for Faux Layered Die Cuts. This one wasn't easy (quite challenging, in fact!) but I stuck with it until I got to a result I was happy with. This is my favorite card, so far!

For this card, I dug into my well-organized, color-coded scraps again and quickly found what I needed to die cut the shapes I was looking for. My die is My Favorite Thing's Die-Namics Triangles, and the set has large as well as small triangles. I only needed the small ones for this card.

Before die cutting, I layered the triangles in a way I was happy with and taped them together to hold their place. I had two that were inset, and THAT took some trial and error to accomplish a good cut.

First, I cut the shape of the entire group of triangles out of yellow cardstock. Then, still holding the multiple triangles together with tape, I die cut more of them out of various colors of cardstock and fit them together without using the same color twice. This was like putting together a puzzle. Once I got the hang of it, I liked it.I paper-pieced the cut triangles into the blank space in the yellow cardstock until I had a good, even fit.

For the sentiment, I stamped HAPPY from a stamp set by Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life and die cut the yellow cardstock with BIRTHDAY, using Papertrey Ink's Birthday dies. This left a place to fit the BIRTHDAY letters.

That done, I had a pretty good one-layer card...BUT, I had blue ink on my fingers and it smudged on part of the die cut, so I cut it again using white cardstock and layered it onto the yellow BIRTHDAY letters. Fitting in all those little pieces in the B, R and D, not to mention the tinier ones between the letters, was a HUGE challenge. Keeping track of them and then getting them glued into the right space wasn't easy, either...but I DID IT, and for that, I am one HAPPY gal!

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your visits and comments very much. If you're in the class, it's good to see you again! If not, please keep coming back, because there are plenty more crafting days ahead!

Clean and Simple 3: One Layer Cards Day 1

Hello, Hello, Hello! I'm so excited -- this is the first of many posts from another class I am taking, Clean and Simple 3: One Layer Cards.

Thankfully, I organized my scraps before class began, because I am using them, DAILY! It feels so good to know right where to go to get small bits of of paper, now organized by color. What a difference a little organization makes! I used several scraps for my first card.

I lined up the scraps on a piece of paper and glued them down with my ATG gun. Then, I die cut the scraps using Spellbinder's Wonderful Wings Grand Shapabilities die. I die cut the same butterfly from a piece of white cardstock cut about 5-1/4 by 4 and fit the colorful butterfly made of scraps inside. Then, I layered the whole piece onto my Kraft cardstock. Finally, I inked and stamped various circles using VersaMark onto the butterfly and then re-stamped, just slightly offset, with Memories Unicorn (White) Pigment Ink. This was supposed to make the circles appear to be a separate layer, as if they were coming toward you, up off the page.

I added a strip across the bottom of leftover scraps I had glued together and added a sentiment from Stephanie Barnard's Stamps of Life.

The technique is called Faux Letterpress, and the class video was by Shari Carroll, a wonderful artist and teacher. I hope I got the right effect (affect?). Feel free to share your thoughts!


Thanks for stopping by today. I will have two more posts for the next two classes (I'm playing catch-up since my camera wasn't cooperating for a couple of days.) Your visits and comments mean the world to me -- we can always learn from each other! Have a good day!

Tiles

Hello! Here's a card I created using a technique to create the look of tile. Gina K (of Gina K Designs) had a video that showed step-by-step instructions. All you need is a score board to use with your cardstock, and you simply mark lines every half inch, going both directions on your paper. To help it show up, you lightly sponge ink around the edges and toward the center. That's it! I like that kind of lesson--easy! The stamp, the patterned paper and the cardstock are all from Gina K Designs.

This was for another challenge that gives us the opportunity to win a spot as Guest Designer at Gina K Designs. There will soon be another challenge to enter before knowing who wins the spot...so exciting! Even if I don't win, it's fun to participate. It keeps me striving to do better with each card I create.

Thanks for stopping by today! I appreciate your comments and your visits very much. Have a good weekend!

WOWW 218

GUESS WHAT??????????? It's time for Stamping Ground's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday again! WooHoo! And I didn't even clean it off from last week--YIKES! Fortunately, I do have a different card front & center, which means some of the stuff around it is a bit different, too.

 I just posted the card, which is called Peach Butterfly and is for Curtain Call's Perfectly Peach challenge. I love peach--everything peach! That includes the fruit, too. Anyway, it was hard to come up with that card because I hardly had anything peach color for some reason.

 I found a couple sheets of paper that were peach and another that had peach in it, along with one peach ("cantaloupe") ink pad, so that's what I used. The brown ink pad is out because that color was stamped for the sentiment. The ink pads in the plastic box are what I have from Stampin Up--I found a peach pad in there, too. You can see the paper for the card came from The Mariposa Mat Stack, which is right beside the card. I also just loaded up my other ATG gun and began using it since it has a more narrow adhesive roll. (The yellow ATG gun uses a wider adhesive roll, which is what you've seen on my desk previously.) Both fit into my neat ATG gun box my friend built for me. I'll say it again...what a dear friend!

My stamping blocks are still on the desk, to the far left. You can hardly see them. Yes, they are still stacked! I stack them every time I finish using them. Now, if I'd just figure out what to do with all that scrap paper I'd really have a neat desk! What do you gals do with it? I have two boxes loaded with scraps, but I'm not sure what to do with most of the small pieces. I use them just as much as the larger pieces but I haven't figured out a good place to keep them. Organizing them by color would be a great idea, but after that, I'm stumped. Feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions. I'd appreciate it!

Hope you're having a Wonderful Wednesday! It's a cold day here in North Carolina, but better days are coming. So glad March has arrived!

I appreciate your visits and your comments very much. Thanks for stopping by!

Peach Butterfly

I have created a card for Curtain Call's Perfectly Peach challenge. Believe me, it was a challenge! I had one peach ink pad and only a couple sheets of paper with peach in them! That's a little strange, because peach is one of my favorite colors.

As difficult as it was to find the correct colors, this has to be one of my favorite cards. Peach is such a beautiful color!

I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags for the sentiment, which came from Gina K Designs Organize It stamp set. I inked a little peach color around the edges of the die before popping it out and intertwining ribbon throughout. The paper came from The Mariposa Mat Stack, and the butterfly was created using Spellbinders Wonderful Wings Grand Shapabilities. I found a few peach-colored stars in my stash to put around the card, and I put one white sequin in the center of the butterfly.

Your visits and comments mean the world to me. I appreciate you stopping by today and hope you like the card as much as I do!

Spring

Good evening! I created this card today for the Mod Squad Challenge, which says we are to come up with something that reminds us of Spring. I thought the colors would be appropriate with the chicks and the Easter eggs. The image is from Basket Blessings created by Melanie Muenchinger at Gina K Designs. It's full of bunnies, eggs, flowers and stuffed animals--lots of fun! I stamped extra eggs, colored them, cut them all out and then placed them behind the chicks. I also placed a thin piece of ribbon across the trim on the basket. The background was embossed and a flower was cut out, colored and placed on the card next to the sentiment, which is perfect for a Springtime card!

Thank you for stopping by today! I appreciate your visit and comments very much. See you again soon!