Something Blue & More or Less White Space

Hello there!  I hope your weekend is off to a good start.  Today I'm sharing two cards I created for two different challenges.  The first challenge is the Fusion Challenge: Something Blue, I chose to use only the cake as my inspiration.  The second challenge is the Addicted to CAS Challenge: Petals. Am I the only one who struggles with white space on a card?  I take that back, I think it may be that I might have a hard time with spacing things out.  For example, I made my first card on the left below with the intentions of having a lot of white space (you see how that worked out).  Once I stamped my large main flowers I felt that I needed to "fill in" to balance my design, then once I was done stamping, I wasn't sure I even like it because I thought it might be too busy.  Soooo, I made another card trying for more white space, this time was better but I had to hold myself back so I wouldn't add more.  It's not that I don't like white space and CAS cards, I do!  Maybe for ME, I just like color more. I would consider both of my cards clean & simple (CAS) since they're mostly one layer cards with the exception of the die cut hello.  For both cards I started out with a white card base and stamped the My Favorite Things Pretty Posies onto a white cardstock panel using the colors new leaf, limeade ice, spring rain, enchanted evening, hawaiian shores and marina mist (SU).   First I stamped the outlines of the flowers and leaves and then I stamped the colors slightly off centered.  I also stamped the friend sentiment from the MFT stamp set Label Maker Sentiments.  Once my stamping was done, I die cut my stamped panel using the MFT hello die and also die cut the hello from a piece of fun foam to layer the two together.  I did some ink blending on both of the die cut hello words before gluing them to the fun foam, marina mist & enchanted evening on my first card and hawaiian shores & marina mist on my second.  Below I have a simple slide show of some of the steps I took to create my dimensional die cut hello sentiment.

One of the funnest things for me while making these two cards was the finishing details, adding the blue and silver sequins, some white gel pen to the tiny dots around some of the flowers, using a silver glitter pen to add dots in the daisy flowers and some Wink of Stella glitter pen on a few of the flowers. Thanks for stopping by!

Concord & 9th May Guest Designer - Sending You Sunshine

Hello, crafty friends!  I'm enjoying my time as a Concord & 9th Guest Designer for this month, today I'm showcasing the new Concord & 9th, Sophisticated Script Uppercase Alphabet. For my card today, I used the newly released, Sophisticated Script Uppercase along with the lower case Sophisticated Script to create a shaker card.  I knew I wanted to create something cheerful to send to a friend so I started out by stamping my sentiment in black Palette ink (I know these alphabet stamp sets may look intimidating to stamp with, but they are so easy to use and line up).   Next I stamped a few of the floral images around the edge of my cardstock piece using the Wildflower stamp set and Versa Mark ink and heat embossed them with white embossing powder.  After that I used my Zig Clean Color Real pens to do a bit of watercoloring over the embossed images.  Once my watercoloring was dry, I die cut a rectangle from the center of my watercolored piece and created my shaker, adding gold sequins and flowers as my shaker bits.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Don't forget, you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest to see what I'm up to.

A Note of Thanks - (CTD394)

Hello and Happy Wednesday!  It's time for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge.

For my card, I used the Papertrey Ink Make-It Market kit: Don't Forget to Write and created a thank you card using this week's colors.  I haven't really had time to play with this kit yet but just making this one card makes me happy I purchased it.  I started out by die cutting the scalloped note card that comes with the kit, then added an embossed polka dot panel of pale plum.  I stamped the frame, flowers and sentiment in pale plum, marina mist, melon mambo (SU) and limeade ice & simply chartreuse (PTI) for the leaves, sponging on some marina mist for the die cut word, Note.

For more inspiration, check out the design teams' blog links below OR you can go to the Color Throwdown blog for details on how to play along and you can see all the sample entries in one location.
Amy Rohl Amy Rysavy

Barbara Anders   

Broni Holcombe   

Jodi Collins 

Lisa Henke 

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put   

Vickie Zimmer 

Wanda Cullen

Jill Hawkins - May Guest Designer

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Don't forget, you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest to see what I'm up to.

Concord & 9th May Guest Designer - HUGS

Hello there!  I'm back for my second post as a guest designer for Concord & 9th.  This time I used the fun new Hugs stamp set and Hugs Card die to create a gift set. First off, I have to tell you that this new Hugs die that Concord & 9th has created is ingenious, it's original and super easy to use.  If you have any questions on how this Hugs die works you click here to watch the Concord & 9th You Tube video but in all honesty its even easier to use than it looks. For my card, I started out by using a piece of mixed media paper which is light weight and can handle watercoloring and I stamped and heat embossed the oranges with white embossing powder (I embossed a few extra oranges on some scrap mixed media paper to use as embellishments).  Once I was done with that, I used my Gansai Tambi watercolors to add color to my oranges and set it aside to dry.  Next I used the Hugs die and die cut my card from white cardstock.  I also die cut the Hugs die in orange cardstock and Doodlebug Designs chevron orange glitter paper and glued the two together slightly off so the die cut glitter Hugs would stand out.  Once my watercolored panel was dry, I cut it down the middle and adhered it to the front of my card along with a die cut vellum circle and die cut white frame.  Next I adhered my glittered die cut hugs with some glue, added a few orange slices and stamped and heat embossed my inside sentiment with white embossing powder onto a die cut circle of orange cardstock. The little treat bag was simple, I used a glassine bag, added a banner of the matching orange glitter paper with two die cut circles of orange and white cardstock and few more of my watercolored oranges.  Inside the bag I added some sweet sugared orange slices.
Thank you for stopping by!

Elephant Birthday Wishes

Hi there!  I'm popping in today to share a quick card I made using the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #281 and the My Favorite Things Color Challenge. I'm blaming my friend and Color Throwdown team mate, Barbara Anders for the reason I ordered this MFT's Pretty Posies stamp set.  With all of Barb's beautiful creations using this set I was in love and had to have it.  So for today's card, I paired the Pretty Posies with the Adorable Elephants set and the fun Circle Grid stencil for my background. I used my Zig Clean Color pens and watercolored all of my stamped flowers, elephant, butterflies and background sky, then used my Zig Wink of Stella glitter pen over the flowers and butterflies (wish it showed in the pictures).  And for my stenciled background, I used some broken china distress ink.

Hello Friend - (CTD393)

Hello!  Hope your week is going well so far.  It's Wednesday and time for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge.

For my card, I used the Concord & 9th stamp sets, Flourish and Sophisticated Script.  I guess I got creating this card and ended up taking some liberties with the colors for this week's challenge.  I went with more berry colors and a tope instead of a gray, I found that out once I was posting my card, whoops.  Anywho, I went with a white card base, then added a panel of scarlet jewel and then my stamped piece with a white scalloped edge along the bottom.  For the stamping, I used sahara sand ink and stamped the large branch.  Next I stamped the largest flower which is three step stamping and used rose red, cranberry crisp and scarlet jewel ink (PTI).  Then to make my lighter colored flowers stand out on my beige paper, I stamped them white craft ink and let them dry for a few minutes before stamping them in cameo coral and rose red.  Once all of my flowers were stamped, I inked up the large branch stamp again and stamped off before stamping onto my cardstock.  This gave a subtle look and some added interest to the lower portion of my card.  I also used the white craft ink to stamp some of the dotted filler flowers and finally once my layers were adhered together, I tied on some twine. For more inspiration, check out the design teams' blog links below OR you can go to the Color Throwdown blog for details on how to play along and you can see all the sample entries in one location.

Amy Rohl Amy Rysavy

Barbara Anders   

Broni Holcombe   

Jodi Collins 

Lisa Henke 

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put   

Vickie Zimmer 

Wanda Cullen

Jill Hawkins - May Guest Designer

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Don't forget, you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest to see what I'm up to.

Concord & 9th May Guest Designer - You've Got This

Happy Friday the 13th, friends!  I've got some exciting news to share!  I'm guest designing this month for Concord & 9th and I'm thrilled.  If you're familiar with Concord & 9th then you know how unique and beautiful their products are, if not you really need to hop over and see what you've been missing.  I can't wait to share the projects I've created for this month's release using the fabulous new products!

Today I'm showcasing the new You've Got This die along with the You Are Enough stamp set.  I love the combination of using these two new products together.  So many times I've needed an encouragement card and the You've Got This die sums it up perfectly, its so versatile in the ways that you can use it.  And the You Are Enough stamp set with it's willowy illustrated flower just begs to be watercolored.

For my first card, I used a piece of watercolor paper and randomly stamped the flower in black ink from the You Are Enough stamp set.  Once my ink was set, I loosely watercolored the flowers using my Gansai Tambi watercolors (dark pink, scarlet red & mid yellow).  After the watercoloring was dry I watered down some white acrylic paint and added some white splatters of paint onto my watercolored flowers.  While that was drying, I die cut the you've got this from black cardstock and a piece of craft foam and glued the two together to add dimension to my sentiment.  Going back to my watercolored panel, I die cut a rectangle from the center, matted it with black cardstock and adhered it with foam tape, lining up the stamped images.  Next I adhered my sentiment and matted the whole piece in black and added a few black and silver sequins. For my next card, I instead of popping up the die cut sentiment I die cut it and backed it up with colored cardstock.  I used a piece of watercolor paper and stamped the flower image twice, one in each corner.  I used my Misti tool to not only stamp the piece of watercolor paper but also the card base.  I have a short slide show below to walk you through the steps if you're interested in seeing them.  Again I used my Gansai Tambi watercolors (pale aqua, green & light brow) to watercolor my stamped panel, adding splatters of the aqua.  Once the panel was dry, I die cut my sentiment, adhered a piece of tropical teal cardstock to the back side of it and added it to my card front with foam tape.  To finish it off I added some yellow Stickles to the center of the flowers and glue on some sequins.

 Thank you for joining me today and be sure to check back next week with another Concord & 9th product showcase!