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.

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.

Rain or Shine card

As you probably know, I follow quite a few blogs and I particularly love some of the challenge blogs, such as the Paper Players.  I fell in love with Jaydee's card from challenge #141.  It was so sweet and, best yet, used an umbrella so I could use my new Umbrella4You set from the Stamps of Life and the matching die.  I used a heart from a different stamp set from them called Sympathy4You to emboss my "rain."  I used some StazOn ink for the umbrella and was really pleased with how well it stamped.  I used a Color Box pad for the sentiment.  I was a little concerned about how well it would stamp because it's quite old, but I was really impressed at how well it stamped even after all these years.   I wish now I had added a little blue to the ink or to the embossing powder heart "rain" to make it stand out more, but that's the beauty of making cards, every time is an opportunity to learn.

Inspired by Pinterest and Jill Parker

Lately I've found such good stuff on Pinterest and today is no exception.  I needed a quick card for a former co-worker who just adopted her second child from overseas.  I needed to make the card tonight because tomorrow is my one and only opportunity to get it to her before she's gone for a while.  Fortunately I found this sweet paint-chip inspired card on Pinterest.  If I had been smart I would have followed it back to Jill Parker's blog Sweet & Korny Stuff right away.  But no, I had to stumble through thinking out the cuts when, if I would have just looked at her blog, I would have seen that she had them all for me.  Oh well.

I just used some basic white card stock and four pieces of scrap paper from my stash.  I cut the butterflies out using the base of a design I purchased in the Silhouette store.  I added a little Distress Ink to the end of the base piece.  I stamped the sentiment in white Color Box ink using a stamp from the Fiskars All Year Greetings set and then finished it all off with some silver Liquid Pearls. 

Ta da!  Now I'm off to bed.  I'm tired!