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

Scenic Sayings Flower Patch Friendship Card

Recently, I held a Stampin' Up! workshop where we made our own patterned paper and created four different cards. I had some leftover card kits afterward, and so I decided to create some new cards with them. 

I wanted to teach my class about "Random Stamping." This is where you take 3 or 4 stamps, varying in size from a large stamp to a medium and a small stamp. I used the "Flower Patch" stamp set, using one of the largest, solid flowers. I was able to layer another large-ish stamp on top of this one, giving it a wonderful bit of depth. Then I had a medium flower, a leaf sprig, and a small daisy-like stamp to fill in the holes.

In a recent Paper Pumpkin kit (March 2016, "Pocketful of Cheer"), the paper had a wonderful color combination, and I was inspired to use a similar color combination, but adding a pop of Daffodil Delight. I also made it a Z-Fold card. I love the large piece of patterned paper on the front. It adds a wonderful bit of color and detail! The greeting is from the new stamp set "Scenic Sayings." But rather than just rambling on, why don't I just show you my card.

All Supplies are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated:

Stamp Sets: Flower Patch, Scenic Sayings

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Cucumber Crush, Daffodil Delight

Card Stock: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Cucumber Crush, Whisper White

Accessories: Brights Candy Dots (retired), Dimensionals

I made more cards with this paper, but I will save them to show you another time. I hope you like this one!

Thanks for stopping by to see my card. I appreciate your visit!

Kathryn

Balloon Celebration Birthday Card

Back in May, I had started working on a card for a challenge over on....I forget which challenge blog it was so long ago! Then the ugly illness bug bit me, and I was down and out for a good two weeks. Blah! So my card sat. And sat. And SAT!

When I was finally feeling well enough to sit down to my crafting desk, there was my unfinished card, just waiting to have some loving attention paid to it. Here is how it came together:

All items used are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:

Stamp set: Balloon Celebration

Inks: Archival Basic Black, VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad

Cardstock: Whisper White Thick, Pool Party, Tip Top Taupe

Accessories: White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Triple Banner Punch, Tear & Tape Adhesive, Metallics Sequin Assortment, Linen Thread, Dimensionals

I love the dandelion fluff images in this card set. Usually a person might notice the balloons and the cloud images, but then there are these adorable little dandelion seed parachutes and the round dotty images that are so cute! I heat-embossed these little cuties with white embossing powder to add a nice touch of texture, and added a little birthday banner across the center.

I love to put a strip of sequins on my cards sometimes. I just picked out a bunch of the white sequins from the Metallics Sequin Assortment and stuck them to a strip of the Tear & Tape Adhesive, making sure I had covered all the sticky adhesive. My husband told me he thought it looked like seashells. He really liked it. He said "You could even give this card to a guy!" Imagine that. I made a masculine card and didn't even know it! Then I finished everything off with some linen thread wrapped around and tied in a little knot. Cute stuff!

Well, I hope you like my card today. Thanks for stopping by!

Kathryn

Moroccan Nights Lantern card - #tgifc59

Can you believe it?! Two posts in the same week?!! What is up with THAT!!!?

Okay, I have been feeling inspired by the Moroccan Nights stamp set. So many beautiful inspiration pieces on my inspiration board on Pinterest that I just had to make something else! I was inspired...but it did take me three tries to get my focal piece to where I liked it. I really like the Bokeh technique on it. The colors are much more brilliant in person. I was also inspired with the sketch challenge over at the TGIF Challenge blog, #tgifc59.

All supplies are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:

Stamp sets: Moroccan Nights, Thoughtful Banners

Ink: Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry, Whisper White Craft, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad

Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Basic Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Large Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Sponge Daubers, Window Sheets, Circle Punches: 1/4", 1/2", 3/4", Metallics Sequin Assortment, Dimensionals, Simply Scored Scoring Board

Here is the sketch from TGIF Challenges:

Check out their blog, and leave some love for them in the form of comments. Better yet, play along if you can!

If you have any questions, or want to order any of the supplies I used, please leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can!

Thanks for visiting!

Kathryn

Moroccan Nights Thank You Card

I know it has been  awhile since I posted. Sometimes I just feel like it is so hard to put myself "out there". I really do try to do better. I feel I shouldn't post things that have retired from the "Stampin' Up!" world. I would probably post more often if I did, but, oh well. What do you think about posting stuff that has been retired?

Okay! Well, here is a new card, using all current product, of course. I hope you like it.

All supplies are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:

Stamp set: Moroccan Nights

Ink: Versamark Watermark Ink Pad

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum

Accessories: Big Shot, Hello You Thinlits Dies, Lucky Stars Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, Gold 1/8" Ribbon, Metallics Sequin Assortment, Tombow Mono Liquid Glue

Here is another view of my card. I die-cut 4 of the greeting and then layered them one on top of the other to give it more of a dimensional look. The medallion image in the Moroccan Nights stamp set, I  heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I think it makes a beautiful background.

I kind of struggled with this set a bit, so I went on to Pinterest and created a visual inspiration board, and then I did a search for all things Moroccan, such as lanterns, tiles and color combinations. From there I felt the inspiration I needed to create something I think is beautiful. I hope you do too!

Thanks for visiting!
Kathryn