Hello Watercolor Card #tgifc65

I made today's card in response to the challenge blog "TGIF Challenges". The challenge  ( #tgifc65 ) was to cut something out and use it on your project. It could be die cut, fussy cut, or even punched. You just had to CUT something out. My card used die cutting, using my Sizzix Big Shot and two different die sets. I was also inspired by Kristina Werner's blog post from a couple days ago where she watercolored her background. You can see her post here: http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=16235

I used a piece of watercolor paper that was 5 inches wide by 3-3/4 inches high. I sprayed both sides with water to help prevent it from curling up on me while I was painting it. and to also help the ink to blend together and spread.  I squeezed a few drops of Melon Mambo ink refill into the lid of it's corresponding ink pad, and also squeezed a few drops of Calypso Coral ink refill into the lid of it's corresponding ink pad. Then I took one of my aqua painters, loaded up my aqua brush with water and some of the Melon Mambo re-inker and started painting along the top of the wet watercolor paper. I painted about 1-1/4 inches and then I cleaned out my brush. Then, I picked up some of the Calypso Coral with my aqua brush and started to paint underneath the Melon Mambo. I wanted the two colors to blend so I went over the first color close to where I had stopped painting to mix the two colors slightly. (Remember, my paper is pretty wet, so the color was being pulled down by gravity a bit.) I used less and less ink the closer I got to the bottom, so that it would become lighter and lighter. After the paper dried (I helped it out a bit by using my heat tool), I wanted to give it the look of having little water droplets splattered on it. I wasn't sure if I actually dripped water on it, if it would look like I wanted it to, so I decided to use one of the splatter stamps from the "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp set. I used Whisper White craft ink, and I really like how it turned out. I think it looks great, and I love the colors! I also decided to turn the watercolor paper upside down so that the Melon Mambo was on the bottom instead of at the top so that it didn't feel so top-heavy.

 All supplies used are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge

Inks: Melon Mambo Classic Ink Refill, Calypso Coral Classic Ink Refill , Whisper White Craft Pad

Card stock: Whisper White Thick, Daffodil Delight

Accessories: Watercolor Paper, Aqua Painter, Big Shot, Hello You Thinlits Dies, Bloomin' Heart Thinlits Dies, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Dimensionals

Now, like I mentioned earlier, the TGIF challenge was to use something you cut out on your project, so I decided to use the "Hello You" Thinlits Dies, and also the "Bloomin' Heart" Thinlits Dies. I layered the little flower dies to give them some dimension, and on the greeting, I cut out four "hello" dies. I layered all four of them one on top of the other to give it some depth also.

Here is a picture of the challenge post from TGIF Challenges blog:

I hope you like my card today, and that it might inspire you to create something yourself!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn

Scenic Sayings Thank You Card

For the last several weeks I have been working on a job for some friends. Their son is getting married and my friends asked if I could help them make some wedding favors. Hundreds of little flowers and even more hundreds of tags/labels later...and I am all finished. But...I didn't take any pictures to share!  Maybe I could make something using the same kind of little flowers and then I could share that with everyone.

Today I have a thank you card that I made a little while back, and I told you that I would share it with you at another time. And today is that other time! So here it is:

All supplies used are from Stampin' Up!:

Stamp Sets: Scenic Sayings, Flower Patch

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Cucumber Crush, Daffodil Delight, Archival Basic Black

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Accessories: Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Paper Snips, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Dimensionals, Pool Party Stampin' Write Marker

Remember when I told I did a class where we did a One Sheet Wonder? (Did I tell you about that?) Well this is one of the cards that I made with some of that patterned paper that I had stamped and created. I love the color combination! I also stamped two of the greeting, then fussy-cut the banner that was in the middle and popped it up on some Dimensionals foam dots. It still felt like it needed something, so I added the rhinestone basic jewels and then scored a frame around the edges of the card base using my Simply Scored scoring board.

One other thing. I just want to take a moment to thank those of you who visit my little blog here. It means a lot to me. If it weren't for you, I don't think I would even have a blog. I enjoy sharing my cards, and I hope you enjoy looking at them. So...thank you so, so much!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kathryn

#GDP044 Theme: "Case The Designer" Thank You Card

Lately I have meant to post more often, but I have had a job working on some wedding favors for a friend and neighbor, so I have been sort of really busy trying to get things done for that. I decided to take a break and make some cards. I did some Paper Pumpkin cards for some friends  that I was going to visit, and my son needed a thank you card for another friend who gave him a gift for his high school graduation, and I still need to make a couple more cards for my husband who wanted to give them to some other friends that he was going to visit...so I have been pretty busy with paper crafting...just not for my blog!

Finally a moment for me to craft for myself! YAY! I decided to check out some of the challenge blogs that I participate in and found that the Global Design Project had a challenge that was still open, so I sat down and started to work. The challenge this week (#GDP044) was a "Case the Designer" challenge, where you would make something inspired by a project made by someone on the GDP Design Team. This week it was Steffi Helmschrott and a beautiful card she made with a big butterfly in the bottom right corner. I was inspired by her layout, and also sort of by her colors. I say "sort of", because she didn't use Rich Razzleberry or Delightful Dijon. But it did look like she used a Crumb Cake base, and it also looked like she used a Very Vanilla layer. She did use Gold Foil Paper, but I decided to use the Delightful Dijon as it is kind of a golden color.

Anyway, here is my card:

All supplies are (c)  Stampin' Up!:

Stamp Sets: Flower Patch, Thoughtful Banners

Inks: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Delightful Dijon, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Delightful Dijon, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Big Shot, Big Shot Magnetic Platform, Flower Fair Framelits Dies, Brick Wall Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Duet Banner Punch, Paper Snips, Dimensionals

I die cut the flower parts so I could layer them for more dimension, and I embossed the Very Vanilla layer to give it the brick wall texture that I wanted. I also inked up the embossing folder to make the "grout" on the folder stand out more, and to give it a little bit of "grunge". This card has a lot of texture, which I like a lot! I also stamped and punched out two of the Delightful Dijon banners so I could cut the tails off the top one to make it look like it was folded under. I also used the Thoughtful Banners stamp set, which is a Photopolymer stamp set. This kind of stamp set allows you to "curve" the stamp a little bit, which I did, so that the greeting appears to curve on the waving banner. I initially stamped the greeting in Crumb Cake but I didn't like that it appeared too light in color for my taste. So I pulled out my Soft Suede ink pad and very carefully stamped over the top of the first stamping to give it a darker, but still brown, color. (I thought Basic Black would be too dark.)

Here is the inspiration piece from the Global Design Project challenge blog:

I hope you check out their blog: www.global-design-project.com

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave a comment if you like my card!]

Kathryn