I "Seally" Like You...

A dear friend of mine at work is fighting breast cancer. She was just diagnosed this month and she has to be aggressive because she has other complicating factors.  There's not much I can do for her.  Her family is taking care of the usual things, like keeping her refrigerator stocked.  So I feel like the best I can do is remind her that I'm here for her and I adore her.

We have this little joke that I adopted her when my boss was promoted and she's joked about getting a seal for the papers.  So I've always had this idea of doing something with a seal, rather than  seal in a little punny twist.  Fortunately, Lawn Fawn has an adorable seal in their Critters in the Snow set.  I colored it along with some fish and a crab from the Critters in the Sea set.  I created a beachy scene by tearing some DCWV white core card stock and die cutting the Lawn Fawn Stitched Scallop Borders (and using the other side) several times from three colors of blue card stock.  I used several colors of Distress Ink (Peacock Feathers, Broken China and Tumbled Glass) to make the sky, then layered by "sea" and finally my sand.  I used several colors of Distress Ink markers and a Spectrum Noir marker to stipple the "sand" and then placed my critters in their places.  It still needed one thing so I cut a sun with the dies from Hello Sunshine to finish it off.

All the sentiment on this card is on the inside where it says:

I "seally" like you!  You have my seal of approval.

 I hope this card lifts her spirits and reminds her that we're all pulling for her. 

Happy Birthday Card with Ferro

I liked working with the Ferro so much for my dotted card that I had to try another pattern.  This time I used the mini peacock feathers stencil from the Crafter's Workshop to make my Ferro background.  Then I decided to try out some other techniques I've been admiring around the web.  I cut out some vellum with my Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling Die, then heat embossed in white some stamps from the Blissful Botanicals set on the back side of the vellum.  I colored it in with my colored pencils and then stamped the sentiment from my Fiskars' How Many Candles set in Versafine Black Onyx ink then heat embossed that.  I used my Xyron sticker maker on the vellum to attach it to my Ferro piece and then mounted all of it on a standard card base. 

Thinking of You

The inspiration from this card came from a mash-up of two sources:  the card Kristina Werner made with Ferro and some heat embossing on vellum that Nichol Magouirk did in a recent video.  But for my card, I didn't use Ferro this time.  Instead, I used two products that have been sitting in my stash for a couple of weeks from some recent sale shopping I've done:  Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium Matte and some Distress Stickles dry glitter.  I used the Heidi Swapp dotted stencil, brushed on a layer of medium, lifted my stencil, cleaned it and sprinkled on the glitter.  Once it dried, I trimmed the piece to fit my card base with a small mat.  Then I stamped the tag from Lawn Fawn's Winter Gifts set with Versamark and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  Then I added the sentiment from Inkadinkado's Expressions and Frames set following the same method.  To finish it off, I decided on a red poppy when scrolling through my cut files in my Cameo library.  I loved this one and I think it was just the right finishing piece (with a little Wink of Stella in the center of course).

The Sky's the Limit - Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

I found yet another panel I created while taking onlinecardclasses.com's Watercolor for Card Makers.  I had used stamps from Lawn Fawn's set Blue Skies to stamp the scene, then colored it with my watercolors from Michaels.  It seemed a little flat, so I added some Wink of Stella to the balloons (have you noticed that Wink of Stella seems be to "the thing" that people are adding when a card needs "a little something?").  Well, I still thought it needed something so I added Glossy Accents on top of that and then set it aside for a long time to dry.  The finished card is just what I was hoping for, shimmery and shiny!

Happy Birthday - Inspired by Kristina Werner

There are a handful of people in the crafting industry that I find seriously inspiring:  Jennifer McGuire for her endless supply of techniques she teaches, Nichol Maguoirk for her amazing use of colored pencils and Gamsol, Vicky Papaioannou for her fabulous art journal pages (and lovely accent), Michelle Short for her clean and simple style (and lovely accent), Catherine Pooler who is a new discovery for me and I'm loving her personality, Ali Edwards for her thoughtfulness, Melissa Stinson who introduced me to Citrus Twist kits (I'm still heartbroken that she's "retiring" because she and Michelle have shown me that one doesn't have to be formally trained and can have a "day job" - or in Michelle's case a day job and school on top of it - and still be quite amazing)...  Oh, I'm sure there a few others that I'll be kicking myself later that I didn't mention, but if I couldn't only see one artist's work for inspiration, it just might have to be Kristina Werner.  I've only been stalking following her for a while now, but I'm constantly amazed by how fabulous her work is both in the products she designs but also in her coloring and finished cards.  They are simply amazing.  I've been so inspired to try to so many of the things she's done (although my budget might squeak a bit at how much I ended up buying because of it). 

For today's card, that's exactly the case.  I saw her use Ferro to make a simple card the other week.  Although I had seen Ferro used before in someone else's video, it was her video that has stuck in my mind.  So when I popped into Runaway Arts and Crafts during my lunch walk last week to get hydro cortisone, I was so excited to see several bottles of Ferro in beautiful colors, but I was drawn to the Steel bottle.  So pretty. 

So, for today's card, I made the background with the Ferro and a simple dotted stencil from Heidi Swapp.  I adore how pretty it is in real life.  For the focal point, I wanted to replicate this cute tag I saw Kelly Marie Alvarez of Lawn Fawn make in a recent release video.  I stamped the tag from Winter Gifts, fussy cut out the inside and then used the Color Box Dahlia Art Screen with some Distress Ink to get the cute petals on the tag.  Then I stamped the tag again, die cut it with the matching dies and glued my "internal" tag portion on top.  I added the Happy Birthday stamp from the Inkadinkado Framed Expressions set stamped in Archival ink over the top then finished it off with pop dots and a scrap of ribbon.

Dream - Still Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

Even though the onlinecardclasses.com Watercolor for Card Makers class is officially over today with new content having ended last weekend and the galleries closing tonight, I'm still working through all the fun backgrounds I created and the inspiration just keeps coming.  When Lawn Fawn released their new products at Winter CHA back in January, I just had to have most of them.  There were a couple of sets where I wasn't sure I would get as much use.  One of them was the Dream set.  I could see it really being useful for art journaling or perhaps graduation cards, but since I don't do the first and I don't know many people still in school (and I have at least one graduation set already) I thought I would give it a pass.  But I've seen a couple of cute cards with it lately so it's been rattling around in the back of my mind.  Last week, I took a rare lunch break to walk downtown, oh, not because I really had the time to take a lunch break, but because my legs itched something fierce from this stupid rash that developed after a pedicure and I desperately needed hydro cortisone, so, of course, I had to do a little craft shopping too at Runaway Arts and Crafts since I was already in the area.  I found the Dream set and matching dies and decided that was my call to snap them up.

I have this background I made on the first night of class using the Impression Obsession Circle Fusion background stamp, some Versamark Ink, some clear embossing powder and then some watercolor over the stamped image.  I played around a lot with what to put over it and realized I really didn't want to cover it too much.  I had a Lawn Fawn banner from the Winter Gifts set sitting on desk and I realized it was about the right size for what I wanted.  So I stamped it up, then added some Old Paper Distress Ink to give it a little wear.  For the feathers, I colored them a little with Copics (B95 mostly) and then cut them out.  I added pop dots and some sequins to finish it off.

Happy Birthday - Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

Today's card features a background I made on the first day of class when I was so inspired by what I was learning that I just wanted to play.  There was a fabulous class where the instructor mentioned circles.  If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, you saw this picture (love the post-it note list of all the cards I need for coming up occasions in the background):

 

I was just having fun inking up circles in Distress Ink with no idea where the end product would be.  There's something very freeing about just playing with ink.  Well, today, I'm going to share with you where it ended after lots of circles, some water and some more water.  The background was so colorful and really beautiful, it just made me smile so I decided to let it shine.  I just stamped a quick sentiment from the Stampin' Up set I bought during their free shipping/retiring product promotion recently called Perfectly Penned.  I used Versamark and some white embossing powder, then added a black mat on a white card base and a few clear sequins. I just love the result:

Smile - Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

Here's another card with that fun stencil with watercolors technique I learned in the onlinecardclasses.com Watercolor for Card Makers class.  I love playing with my Distress Inks this way and it was a good use of my Peacock Feathers stencil from the Crafter's Workshop.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with this background, but I had watercolored a bunch of the cute animals from Lawn Fawn's stamp sets Into the Woods and Critters in the Forest that were calling my name.  So I put them to use on this back with the cute smile sentiment.  I added some Wink of Stella to my sentiment and I really love how it turned out.

It's Your Birthday - Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

I'm not so sure about this card.  I like the concept, but I'm not really happy with the execution.  I might try it again, but I'm hoping this one will just grow on me.  I was trying to do a technique from my watercolor class, Watercolor for Card Makers over at onlinecardclasses.com where you use the stamp as the starting point using an ink that will blend in..., well, while I love the class samples, I just don't think this technique fits with my style.  I couldn't bring myself to blend away the outline.  I combined that with another technique of masking an area to watercolor without getting any in that area.  I think it might work, but I couldn't quite get all the mask up and somehow I managed to rub away some of the paper too.  It look okay from a distance, but, up close, I'm not as happy with it. 

I used Lawn Fawn's Our Friendship Grows for the flower, some Distress Ink in Walnut Stain and then my watercolors from Michaels to finish it off.  The sentiment is from a Fiskars set called All Year Greetings.

 

Thinking of You - Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

The Onlinecardclass.com Watercolor for Card Makers class is winding up.  All the content is over and it's just the last few days to upload cards inspired by the course to the gallery.  There are so many amazing creations in the gallery!

I was doing some cleaning up on my desk when I saw the Bloom Color Box Art Screen I had purchased a few weeks ago.  I just had to get it inky.  I used three colors of Distress Ink: Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade and Dried Marigold through the stencil, then removed it and used a wide brush to get the color moving.  Once the background was soft and subtle (and dry!), I put the stencil back on to add a little more definition.  I liked it just the way it was, so I added a simple sentiment stamped with some Jet Black Archival ink using a sentiment from the Sophie's Sentiments set from Lawn Fawn.  I pulled a colored card base from my stash, mounted the panel with some foam dots then finished it off with some sequins.  I love how it turned out.

Love Card Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

I'm still working through the backgrounds I made in the Onlinecardclasses.com class Watercolor for Card Makers.  For today's card, the background was done with this stencil technique they taught sing a variety of Distress Inks and the Mini Woodgrain stencil from the Crafter's Workshop.  It's such a cool technique.  I then water colored the raccoon from the Critters in the Forest set from Lawn Fawn before cutting it out with the matching dies.  I then stamped the cute little love bubble from the Into the Wood set using Black Soot Distress Ink then cut it out with the matching die.  I finished it off with some Liquid Pearls.

Another Birthday Card Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

Today I have yet another card inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers using the background created using an acrylic block and Distress Inks.  I also inked up another image off of Lawn Fawn's Admit One set.  Then I used my Distress Ink markers to watercolor the image before fussy cutting it (what a pain!).  I added a little Wink of Stella to the Ferris wheel and over the sentiment as well then added some pop dots to adhere it to my background.  For my sentiment, I used stamps from Simon Says Stamp's Happy Sentiments set and another from the Lawn Fawn set inside the card.

 

Happy Birthday Card Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

Yes, another card from things I learned in my Watercolor for Card Makers class over at onlinecardclasses.com.  For today's card, I used a technique using an acrylic block to make stripes of watercolor using Distress Ink and blend them together.  It was loads of fun to do.  But then I needed something to put on top.  The Lawn Fawn Admit One set I recently purchased was still sitting on top of my craft desk and it called my name.  So I stamped the balloon on watercolor paper, "colored" it with some Wink of Stella to give it some shine and then fussy cut a cluster of balloons for the focal point.  I used the happy birthday sentiment from the Sophie's Sentiments set also from Lawn Fawn and finished it off with some baker's twine from Queen & Co. 

Thinking of You Clean and Simple Card Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

I am obsessed with these Art Impression stamps!  They are so much fun to play with and I love that they were featured in the Onlinecardclasses.com class Watercolor for Card Makers.  For today's card, I stamped out a simple scene using Distress Ink markers and several sets (A, Flower Set, and the Foliage set) that I had purchased previously after watching Bonnie, the owner, demonstrate them at CKC. I then added a simple sentiment from the Crafter's Meow Potted Garden set and some Versafine ink.  Then I just added a simple black mat and mounted it all on my card base.  Simple, but very pretty.

Thinking of You - Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

Yes, the watercolors just keep on coming.  It's the big word in my house right now and I'm loving my inky fingers.  For today's card, I used another image from the Crafter's Meow set Potted Garden watercolored with my cheap set from Michaels.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  I used a layout similar to yesterday's card but cutting out the image with the Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling Card dies.  The background paper is from the Lucky Charm 6x6 paper pad and I finished it off with a few sequins in the corners.  Such a fun card to put together.

Birthday Wishes Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

I made this background the other day after watching the lessons from the Onlinecardclasses.com Watercolor for Card Makers class.  I hadn't used this stamp from the Crafter's Meow set Potted Garden and it was calling my name.  I used Distress Ink markers and I learned a bit doing it that I put into practice the next time, but I though this was one was good enough for a card anyway.  I added the sentiment and cut it out with my Stitched Journaling Card die from Lawn Fawn.  I then used a little watered ink to brush the edges.

For the card background, I used some pretty paper from the Polka Dot Party 6x6 paper pad and some Queen & Co. baker's twine with some pop dots for my watercolored picture. 

Masculine Birthday Cards Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

I'm starting to actually put together cards from the myriad of playing I've done based upon the lessons from the onlinecardclasses.com class Watercolor for Card Makers.  So far, I'm really liking the background techniques and I love that I found something that will work for masculine cards.  I struggle with those the most.  For today's cards, I broke out a set from Impression Obsession called It's About Time.  I bought it a while back at Runaway Arts and Crafts (too close of a walk from work for my budget's liking, but budget smudget).  I haven't really had the time to play with it (ha!).  But when I ran out of background stamps to play with, I thought about making my own.  So stuck all the big stamps to my Fiskars press and made my own background.  For version one, I just stamped it with Versafine ink but I then heat embossed the second version.  I broke out my cheap watercolors from Michaels and went to town!   Once the background were dry, I cut them down to size and made a couple of banners.  I didn't want the cards to look exactly the same, so I matted one on black paper and then played with that angle look that is so popular right now (by played with I mean I put the paper on the angle and fought my natural instinct to straighten it).  Then it was just some taping it down.  But I still needed a sentiment.  I went with the traditional banner for one but on the angle card, I decided to balance out some of that white space that looked weird to be since it was such an angle.  I added a few sequins to the more traditional card (there can be sequins on a masculine card, right?  Of course!) but the angle card had finally grown on me so I left it alone and called it good.

Happy Mother's Day - Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.  Here's the card I made for my Mom:

Yes, it's another card from things I learned in the onlinecardclasses.com class Watercolor for Card Makers.  You are going to see a lot of posts about it because that class rocks.  This card was made with a Cover-a-Card background stamp from Impression Obsession called Circle Fusion. I heat embossed it with some VersaMark Dazzle and clear embossing powder.  Then I played with my watercolors over the image (and wiped up the excess on top of the image with a baby wipe).  I then watercolored some stamps from Lawn Fawn's Our Friendship Grows set and cut them out with the matching dies.  I stamped the sentiment using the "happy" from Simon Says Stamp's Happy Sentiments set and the "mother's day" from Technique Tuesday's Swanky Sentiment set.  Then I cut a flagged banner and added some Old Paper Distress Ink to tone down the white a bit. A few pop dots and glue and I was done. 

Thinking of You - Inspired by Watercolor for Card Makers

Today's card is again inspired from the class I'm taking on watercolor for card makers.  I'm a bit behind in putting together cards.  I have a stack of card background done from watching the videos in the class, but I'm just now working through turning those into actual cards.  Good thing too since I have a long list of cards I'm going to need this month and next. 

For this first card, Jennifer McGuire, one of my favorite crafters to watch, showed how to mask a stamp to leave the stamped image uncolored against the watercolored background.  While she demonstrated the true craft product to do that called liquid frisket, she also showed how to use rubber cement.  Do you think I can find rubber cement?  No.  I've been all over town and no one has it.  So this morning when I couldn't sleep, I got up and started playing with my inks.  I thought "I wonder if I can be careful enough to do the technique without a mask?"  Well, you be the judge...

I used one of my favorite background stamps called This is My Favorite.  It's a wood mounted stamp from Hero Arts.  I don't buy wood mount anymore because of the space they take, but for this one, I broke my own rule and it was a great exception.  I use it all the time in Project Life and was happy to break it out for this technique.  I used some Vintage Sepia Versafine ink after learning that it works with watercolors (something I previously didn't know) and then my watercolor set, which is a very inexpensive set I picked up a Michaels long before I ever knew I would be taking this class.  I have a feeling that a better set will find it's way onto my wish list for my birthday or Christmas, but for now, this (less than $5 with a coupon) set is getting the job done.  I finished the card off with a sentiment from Inky Antics' Delivery Benton set also stamped in the Vintage Sepia ink and some Darice sequins that were laying on my craft table.  Then I just couldn't help myself, I had to put Wink of Stella on the butterflies (but you can't really tell that here). 

Be Strong - from Watercolor for Card Makers

I'm taking a fun class, Watercolor for Card Makers, at onlinecardclasses.com.  The first day I was so inspired by the videos, I have watercolor card backgrounds all over my craft room.  Class is on hold for me for a couple of days while my evenings are filled with WHL finals (go Hawks!), but in between periods last night, I used one of those backgrounds to put together a quick card for a friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. 

That's two people in the last year in my office alone and we are a small office!  I hate that this ribbon4cure set from the Stamps of Life and the matching dies are getting this much use.  This is one set I would like to say I bought but never found a reason to use. 

Alas, I broke it out again to stamp the little ribbon, heat emboss the sentiment on vellum and add a few sequins to finish off the outside.  I stamped the "fight like a girl" sentiment on the inside for a quick card, courtesy of one of the watercolor backgrounds I had made based upon a Kristina Werner video (so love her work) from the class.  It was super fun and easy using the Lotus background stamp from Hero Arts that I bought on sale a while back but had yet to break out (at least I couldn't remember using it previously). 

Sigh, I think the next class I have to take though is one on photography (or maybe I need to adjust my schedule so that I'm taking my pictures during the day, rather than the dark night), because this picture just doesn't do the card justice.  The background is really quite a pretty swirl of yellow, orange and pink.

Happy Birthday Bethany!

A co-worker's daughter is celebrating her 13th birthday today and she needed a special card.  Along comes this cute little one I made just playing with some fun Lawn Fawn stamps sitting on my craft desk.  The polka dot paper in the background is from the DCWV Celebrations stack and was left over from some Easter treat boxes.  I thought it was the cutest place to start.  I love this cute little Yeti for the Yeti, Set, Go stamp set and thought he would be adorable in duplicate holding a banner.  The words are from the Sophie's Sentiment set and the banner is from Bannerific.   where I used the balloons to make the background paper.  I used some copics to color the yeti and banner.  I had to fussy cut the yetis (hey Kelly Marie from Lawn Fawn - when are we going to get dies for Yeti, Set, Go?  I'm ready, set, go for them now!), but the banner was easy with the dies for Bannerific.  The card still needed something, so I decided to take up the Lawnscaping challenge and stamp my background.  I stamped the balloons from the Admit One set I recently picked up.  After some color, I die cut the background using the Stitched Journaling Card dies.  Then it was just a little glossy accents to finish off the balloons.  Super fun!