Fussy Cut Distress

For this week's Freshly Made Sketches #401, I wanted to create a repeated stamped leaf wreath as my focal point.

I realized very early on in this fussy cutting that a leaf die would have made this process much easier, so now I'm on the lookout for a set of leaf dies. 

I needed a simple circle as a guide for my leaf wreath, so I decided to use the Simon Says Stamp Solar Burst stencil and Perfect Pearl Mist in Biscotti to create a pattern on the background of the card. Part of the stencil has a circle, which was perfect as a guide for my leaves. 

The leaves were created using an older Cocoa Daisy leaf stamp and Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Crushed Olive, and Seedless Preserves. Each leaf was covered with a lighter Distress ink and then edged with a darker Distress ink. That gave each leaf a two-tone look. I stamped all the leaf images onto a piece of watercolor cardstock and then sprayed the whole piece with Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold Mist. Once completely dry, each leaf was fussy cut and adhered to the base with a mini glue dot. 

I used a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Thanks and Leaves Stamp Set. To add interest, I added hand stitching to match the mat. Clear sequins and red gems complete the card.  

Off to ice my scissor and search for leaf dies!! :)

Embossed Watercoloring with Distress Ink

This week's Color Throwdown #559 color scheme doesn't scream fall, but it still has a fall feel to it, which I love.

 I went with my favorite watercolor technique to create my card. If I am going to watercolor images, I always heat emboss the image before I begin painting. The raised edge of the embossing gives the watercolor a boundary and helps to keep the color inside that space. 

I started with a cream-colored card base. I wanted there to be a subtle pattern to the whole card. The bottom left was going to be so heavily embellished, I felt without a pattern it would feel out of balance. For the background, I laid the Simon Says Stamp Solar Burst Stencil down and sprayed it with Biscotti Perfect Pearls.  

The flowers and navy leaves are from the Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers Stamp Set. I stamped them in black ink and then clear embossed them. To add color, I chose two yellow Distress Inks- Scattered Straw and Fossilized Amber and two pinky coral Distress Inks- Tattered Rose and Abandoned Coral. The navy leaves were watercolored with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. Once I adhered the florals and leaves, I stamped the sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Thanks and Leaves Stamp Set in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and added a few sequins around the sentiment. 

I felt that the florals needed a bit more, so I used jute from Lawn Fawn and a small stamp from the Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp Set to add additional texture.  The small stamped images were embossed and watercolored with Antique Linen Distress Ink sprayed with Biscotti Perfect Pearls. To finish the card I added Biscotti Perfect Pearls to the flower centers, once dry, I coated the flower centers and small cream floral stems with Glossy Accents. 

Love how this color scheme turned out!

(CAS)e This Sketch #337

Here is this week's (CAS)e This Sketch #337.

I decided that even though it's still 100 degrees here in Arkansas, I'm ready for fall. So I designed a fall card with some vibrant, fall-like colors. 

I used two different stamp sets to create this card. The first stamp set from Simon Says Stamp was for the sentiment and large cut-out leaf and is from the Thanks and Leaves stamp set. The outline leaves on the green background are from an older Hero Arts stamp set (CL361). The sentiment is stamped on a piece of scrap cardstock and heat embossed with Hero Arts gold embossing powder. The background for the gold embossed leaf is Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade.  The green background was done with Crushed Olive Distress Ink, and the gold leaves were painted with a mix of Perfect Pearls and water. The card was finished with sequins from my stash and splatters of Perfect Pearls.