Color Throwdown Guest Stamper

 I am honored to be the Guest Stamper for the Color Throwdown #736. For this challenge I created a birthday card using yellow, gray, and sage. 

The background uses the Simon Says Stamp Solar Burst Stencil (SSS121424) which I inked blended over with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. I also mixed Perfect Pearls with water and splattered the stenciled image before adding the flower pieces and sentiment. 

The floral pieces were created using a number of different stamp sets and embossed with white or gold embossing powder. The big floral image is an older one from Hero Arts called Stencil Flower (CG194 circa 2010). I watercolored it after embossing with Fossilized Amber and Scattered Straw Distress Ink & added Star Dust Stickles to the center of the flower. The leaf images are from the Simon Says Stamp Be Kind stamp set (SSS202099) and watercolored with Bundled Sage Distress Ink. The final floral images are the small gold embossed pieces that are from the Simon Says Stamp Thanks and Leaves stamp set (SSS101894). Before adhering the stamped floral images I splattered them with Perfect Pearls. 

To finish the card I stamped the sentiment, from the Simon Says Stamp Sending & Wishing stamp set (SSS101475) in black ink and then added a mix of sequins from my stash.

Masculine card

 I don't make a lot of masculine cards, even though I live in a household with all guys. Today's card uses blue, rust, and brown and is inspired by this week's Color Throwdown #735.

For this card, I stamped Hero Arts Alphabet Background (ST501) stamp onto a piece of cold press watercolor cardstock using Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide Ink. Since cold press watercolor cardstock has a slightly bumpy texture I repeatedly stamped the stamp using my Misti stamp press until I was happy with the result. I then ink blended Stormy Sky Distress Ink over the entire background. To add rust and brown to this card, I smooshed Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain Distress Ink onto my craft mat and then used water and a small paintbrush to add color to the background. When I added the Distress watercolor it moved and picked up the blue, leaving behind the brown and rust. I love how it turned out and I want to try it with other background stamps and color schemes. I matted the blue background onto a piece of brown cardstock & then I added brown brads, both are from my stash.

For my sentiment, I used Ground Espresso Oxide Ink to stamp the Simon Says Stamp You (SSS101211) sentiment & then I used Walnut Stain and Antique Linen Distress Ink to blend over the sentiment. The die-cut sentiment was splattered with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls and added to the card using foam adhesive. I also added cream colored thread, sandwiching it between the background piece and sentiment piece so I didn't need any more adhesive. I finished the card with a few iridescent sequin stars from Lucy's Cards Ocean Adventure Sparkly Shaker mix.

Excited to put this card in one of my boys' hands soon. I tell them all the time how proud I am of them and how much I love them, but sometimes having something tangible in your hands makes you feel even more special. Thanks for stopping by!

Favorite Color Distress Ink and Watercolored Card

 Today, I am part of an Instagram card hop with a few of my crafty friends. The theme for our hop today is our favorite color.

Green happens to be my favorite color, especially lime-y, peridot shades of green. For the background of this card, I chose two yellow-green Distress Inks to ink blend over a gold embossed image. At the top is Twisted Citron Distress Ink, which is blended into Crushed Olive Distress Ink on the bottom. The gold embossed image is an older background cling from Hero Arts called Leaf & Floral Background (CG405 circa 2012). The gold embossing powder is Princess Gold from Ranger Ink. Before adding my florals and sentiment, I flicked water onto the background and then added a few splatters of old pearlized paint mixed with water that I have in my stash.

I originally considered making a fully green card but then decided to add florals for interest, so I added my next favorite color, which happens to be shades of aqua & blue-greens.  Using a floral image from Altnew's Beautiful Day Stamp and Die set and additional flower and leaves images from Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers (SSS201900) I gold embossed and Distress ink watercolored the images. 

The flowers were first washed with Salvaged Patina Distress Ink and while still wet I brushed darker Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink into the crevices where a natural flower would be darker. Using my paintbrush and a paper towel I was able to delicately move and manipulate color to where I wanted it. I used the same technique with the leaves using Twisted Citron and Crushed Olive ink. I left more ink on the leaves because I wanted them to blend in more so that the flowers would stand out. The floral images & leaves were then splattered with Perfect Pearls Perfect Gold powder that I mixed with water. I fussy cut or die-cut the images after coloring and popped them up on the card base using foam adhesive squares. 

To complete the card I added a die cut You from the Simon Says Stamp You Are My Sunshine Die (SSSD111834) and a gold embossed sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp You stamp set (SSS101211). The pearls and sequins are from Lucy's Cards and are from her Ocean Adventure and Fresh Grass Sparkly Shaker Selections. 

 Anything that is still available for purchase I linked in the description above. If you have any questions about techniques or products, please leave a comment and I will get back to you. Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Nature Inspired Cards

 Today's cards started with The Color Throwdown #734 color inspiration.

Shades of green, brown, and cream are some of my favorites in nature and also in my creative life. I went looking for an older Hero Arts woodblock stamp as my jumping-off point for my cards this week and in the process of digging through my woodblock stamp drawer, I found a number of other woodblock stamps I love and had forgotten about. I love when I find "new" things in my stash!!

 

For my first card, I used the Hero Arts Heart Winged Butterfly woodblock stamp (F5158 circa 2009) stamped in Distress Oxide Ground Espresso Oxide and heated embossed with clear embossing powder. The inside of the butterfly was watercolored with LuminArte Twinkling H2O's in Lemongrass and Fern. The butterfly's body is a little green metal piece that I used Ultra Thick embossing powder on to give it a glossy raised finish. The brads I used are the same color. Both came from an old Making Memories metal attachment collection.  The background of this card was from a box of scrap pieces and I believe it is actually the back of a wedding invitation that I saved because I liked the subtle cream leaf design. The sentiment is stamped in Ground Espresso Distress Oxide. I matted the card on khaki-colored cardstock and added a few Crystal Stickle drops to finish it. 

This get-well card was created on a ledger background from Scenic Route papers. The gold mulberry paper was die-cut into a frame for the fern and the sentiment. The fern stamp is also an older one from Hero Arts called Silhouette Fern (K5314 circa 2010). It is stamped in Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide ink. The sentiment is stamped in Versamark clear embossing ink and then heat embossed with Ranger Ink's Princess Gold embossing powder. 

My final card uses two older Hero Arts woodblock stamps- Three Ferns (S5154 circa 2009) and Old Letter Writing (S4878 circa 2007). I started with a scrap of watercolor cardstock & a wash/splatter of Antique Linen Distress Oxide all over it. I then stamped the Old Letter Writing in Versamark ink randomly over the background and added Princess Gold embossing powder. Before embossing I brushed away sections of the embossing powder to give the background a more weathered/antique look. The fern stamp was stamped in Rustic Wilderness and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide then sprayed with water before stamping onto watercolor cardstock, then dried with a heat gun and fussy cut. I splattered the background and the fern-stamped pieces with Gold Perfect Pearls & water.  The sentiment was embossed and edged with Princess Gold embossing powder. Both the fern piece and the sentiment were popped up with foam squares. I finished the card with sequins and clear pearls from Lucy's Cards.

All three cards use sentiments from the Simon Says Stamp Handlettered Encouragement stamp set (SSS101705). 

I love the color scheme and the natural feel of all three of these cards and I especially like that I was able to dig into my stash and use things I already had. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Watercoloring & Embossing on Vellum

In my last post, I mentioned playing with older supplies. I enjoyed playing with my Twinkling H2O's so much that I wanted to continue using them. I am amazed at how much I have used them through the years and how much of them are still left. I'm not sure they are still be made, so I'm glad they don't get used up quickly.

I was excited this week to see Freshly Made Sketches #446. I have been intrigued by slimline cards here lately as I have begun to see more and more of them being made and shared on social media. I thought this was the perfect week to try one.

I pulled my inspiration from a decorative piece I made a few years ago that hangs on one of my inspiration boards. 

Using the same color scheme and vellum I created a slimline card with a similar feel.

Heat embossing on vellum can be really tricky. The best advice I can give is to go slow and hold the embossing gun as far back as possible from the vellum while you are embossing. That way it will reduce the warping or burning of the vellum. 

The stamped leaves came from an older Cocoa Daisy stamp set and are no longer available. They are stamped with Versamark ink & embossed with white embossing powder. My favorite white embossing powder is Hero Arts White Embossing Powder because it is a crisp, clean white. The leaves are watercolored with Twinkling H2O watercolors. Once dry, I buffed the images to remove any watercolor that bled onto the white embossing. 

The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Thanks and Leaves stamp set and is also embossed in white embossing powder.

I used foam tape behind all the bigger leaves to adhere the vellum piece to the white card base. I finished the card with a sprinkling of sequins from my stash. 

This card made me question why I don't play with the vellum in my stash more often. It was a fun card to make and makes me yearn for the cooler temperatures of fall. 

Embossed Watercoloring

This week I began digging around through some of my older supplies, simply looking for something to create with & ended up pulling out some things I haven't used in a long time:

-An older embossing folder from Sizzix ( I think it came in a two-pack from Hobby Lobby)
-Twinkling H2O's Shimmering watercolor paints  (I bought these many years ago from a local shop)
-Two of my favorite pumpkin woodblock stamps from Hero Arts (old, old.....really old)
- A small scripty sentiment stamp from Ali Edwards (way back when she was making stamp set with Technique Tuesday)

I decided to try watercoloring the recessed portion of my embossed image with Twinkling H2O's in the color Copper Penny. It was definitely redder than I wanted since I was playing along with The Color Throwdown #604 color palette, but I decided it could be considered terra cotta, so I went with it. Here is the inspiration piece and my card is underneath.

I figured out that watercoloring the recessed part took much longer than expected and required a steady hand. I love white pumpkins in the fall, so I decided to make my pumpkins white, but I didn't want them to be stark white and blend into the white in the background. So I adhered some pages from an old dictionary to some white cardstock and then stamped and fussy cut the images. Because they now had a mixed media kind of feel, I splattered them in Perfect Pearl Mists in Sunflower Sparkle (brighter gold) &  Heirloom Gold (vintage, darker gold). I still have both of these as mists, but Ranger has discontinued making the mists. Once I run out I plan to buy the powders and mix them with water to replenish my mists (Probably using the same mist containers and mixing a full jar of powder and water to fill the jar). 

Once I layered the embossed piece on top of the black cardstock it felt unfinished and that it was lacking something. I decided to add gold embossing powder along the edges of the embossed piece to give it more definition. I love the way it turned out. 

The stamped pieces are sitting on a scrap of black cardstock with the gold embossed Ali Edwards sentiment. I wound some black thread around my fingers and then sandwiched it messily between the embossed piece and the pumpkins. Sequins are from an older Simon Says Stamp release. 

I had not played with some of those materials in years and I love that I was able to dust them off and make something that doesn't feel dated.

 Love how this turned out and how it pushed me creatively.

Spring Floral Card

How about a Clean and Simple Card?  I love the sketches at CAS(E) this Sketch. The sketch always pushes my clean and simple abilities. I always tend to overthink/spend a ton of time producing cards, but when I use the CAS(E) sketch I try to think more simply and work quickly to complete a card.

Here is what I came up with. 

I limited myself to two stamp sets, one for the florals and one for the sentiment. The sentiment is from an older Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday stamp set and the florals are from an older Hero Arts stamp set (Color Layering Let Love Grow) stamp set. 

I stamped the solid images in different light color Distress Inks around a penciled-in circle the size of the sentiment circle. I then misted the solid images with water and let them dry. I added detail stamped images, from the same stamp set, in darker shades on top of the dried solid images. 

The sentiment is stamped in Archival Jet Black ink and clear heat embossed. To finish the card I added sequins from my stash and stamped a matching envelope.

Love how this one turned out. 

Thanks for stopping by!

(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. 

Freshly Made Sketches #400!!!

Here is the 400th Freshly Made Sketch! So much fun to play along with such a milestone sketch.

This one came together pretty quickly.

 I had stamped, watercolored, & fussy cut a bunch of the Tim Holtz flowers and had them in a dish on my scrap desk. One of those became the focal point of this card. The card was built on a white card base. I added a tan-colored piece of cardstock to the base and used foam tape to pop up the Blue Swiss Dot patterned paper. The green loops were created with ribbon sandwiched between the tan piece and the blue patterned paper. I created a tan frame using two stitched rectangle dies. The background behind the frame was created using an older Hero Arts background stamp, and the sentiment is from an older Hero Arts stamp set as well.

I finished the card with sequins and a bow.

Freshly Made Sketches #400 Week 3

Here is this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch:

Since it is beginning to cool off a little here in the South, thanks to a few thunderstorms, I decided to start working on a few more fall-themed cards. 

I used one of my favorite woodblock stamps from Hero Arts called Design Block Tree (S5037) to create the larger rectangle. The tree was stamped with Versamark and then embossed in WOW regular embossing powder in Rose Gold. The ink blended tree colors are Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Crushed Olive, and Fired Brick. The olive green rectangle is a piece of scrap cardstock from my stash. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Thanks and Leaves stamp set. 

As always, I finished the card with a few clear, iridescent sequins from my stash.

Color Throwdown #557

This week's color scheme was fun. I decided to go with some ink blending so I could deliberately avoid mixing the yellow and purple together. Yellow and purple together equals mud and isn't a good look on a card.

I also decided to do a predominately one layer card by embedding my sentiment into a background. 

I chose the "You Are Awesome" sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's  Big Scripty Greetings stamp set. I stamped it in black and embossed it on the smooth side of the Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock. I stamped the sentiment onto some scrap paper, cut it out and then adhered it over the embossed greeting. Using an older Hero Arts background stamp called Flower Dot Pattern (CG330) in my Misti, I stamped over the covered sentiment. Once I had a solid stamping on my background (it took a couple of times), I embossed the background as well. 

After I removed the sentiment mask, I used Distress Inks in Dusty Concord, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, and Squeezed Lemonade to ink blend over the complete background. I used pearlized water, made with Perfect Pearls and water, to paint some of the background images. I also splattered the entire background with Perfect Pearl water.

After it dried completely, I added sequins and gems from Lucy's Cards to complete the card. 

Freshly Made Sketches #400

I found a new-to-me card sketch challenge blog. Freshly Made Sketches stretches my creativity because I'm not a "clean" cardmaker. I am a splatter and Distress Ink kind of card maker most of the time. Here is the sketch for this week and then my card:

Since I am a school Library Media Specialist, I decided to create a card that I can give to a colleague when she needs encouragement.  This card was made using patterned paper scraps from my stash. The apple image is from an older Hero Arts woodblock stamp set (LP125: Four Apples) and is watercolored with Distress Inks in Fired Brick, Barn Door, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, and Vintage Photo. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Thank You Teacher stamp set (SSS101749).

Color Throwdown #553

I loved this week's Color Throwdown combination! Very fun and summery!

Here is my card using this color scheme. 

I used an older background stamp from Hero Arts that coordinated with the Hello Luscious paper line from Basic Grey:

I really miss the Basic Grey paper lines & stamps. I wish I spent more time sewing to justify purchasing some of their beautiful fabric.

I stamped the Luscious Floral Background stamp (Hero Arts CG301) onto Strathmore Watercolor paper that I had cut down to 4 x 5 1/4 and embossed in Hero Arts white embossing powder.  I then ink blended the background using Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry. Using those same colors, I watercolored them into some of the open flowers to give the background more depth and interest. I finished the background with flicks of water that I dried with a heat gun. 

The sentiment is from the Bring on the Sun stamp set from Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday.

This stamp set is from 2012, but one I still reach for summer projects. Stamps are so versatile and

timeless. 

I stamped the sentiment with Distress Oxide Ink in Picked Rasberry onto shimmery vellum from my stash & then heat embossed it. Adhering vellum is always tricky because you don't want the adhesive to show through the vellum. To combat this, I used DMC cross stitch thread to sew the sentiment strip on. 

To finish the card, I used sequins from my stash and Crystal Stickles to fill in the flower centers.

Hope your week is great! Check the Color Throwdown website on Wednesday to see the next challenge and play along! It is a great way to stretch your creativity and use your supplies! 

Color Throwdown #550

This week's Color Throwdown is another lovely color scheme. I will say I worried going in that what I created would come off too Christmas-y or too Watermelon-y, but I ended up liking what I created.

I created two different floral cards using the color scheme as it was given and I also created three smaller "teacher" cards that pretty much stick to the color scheme, with a slight variation on one of them. I find that it is faster to make multiple cards within the same color scheme than to spend tons of time switching up colors.

For this card, I started with a white card base and splattered it with black paint. I then die cut three stitched frames and adhered them together using the Stitched Rectangle Die set from Simon Says Stamp. The floral images are Beautiful Flowers 2 from Simon Says Stamp as well. I stamped them onto Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock and then colored them with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, Candied Apple, and Spun Sugar. I also used Prismacolor colored pencils to darken some of the areas on the flowers. I then fussy cut around all the watercolored floral images. 

The sentiment is from the Beautiful Day stamp set from Altenew. I stamped it in Versamark onto a scrap piece of black cardstock and then heat embossed it in white embossing powder. I adhered the sentiment onto the card base using foam adhesive tape. I built around the sentiment using the fussy cut floral images. To finish the card, I added sequins and gems from my stash.

For this second card, I wanted to use my Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils. They had been gathering dust in a drawer with some other crafting mediums & I tried to push my creativity a little. The stamped image is an older one from Hero Arts called Striped Flower (CG255). I stamped it repeatedly onto a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor card stock and then colored it with the Apple Green Inktense pencil and then used Tim Holtz's watercolor brush to spread the color. The red flower was watercolored using the same technique, but with a heavier hand and more of the Poppy Red Inktense pencil being used. Once dry, I went back over the image using red Prismacolor colored pencils to darken parts of the image. I also used Stickles to add sparkle to some of the red images in the center. The red image is popped up on foam tape. 

The sentiment came from the Beautiful Flowers 2 stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. It was stamped in Versamark ink and then white heat embossed onto a scrap of black cardstock.

The stamped and colored panel was matted on black card stock and then adhered to a premade white card base.  I finished it with a scattering of sequins from my stash & a few more drops of Stickles.

My three "teacher' cards came together pretty quickly because I had already adhered patterned paper from 6x6 paper pads to a set of white notecards I picked up in the Target dollar spot ages ago. 

All the sentiments are from the Thank You Teacher stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. The smaller apples are from a super old woodblock stamp set from Hero Arts called Four Apples (LP125). They were watercolored using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Candied Apple, Mowed Lawn and Shabby Shutters, once dry they each got a coating of Glossy Accents. The "Education is the Most..." sentiment was die cut using an ancient die set from Sizzix??, I don't have a link or even a name for that die set.  The other apple image is from the mini blueprints Schoolhouse stamp set from Tim Holtz and is colored the same as the other two. 

Thanks for stopping by. I am looking forward to next weeks Color Throwdown!

Watercolored Valentine Cards

Today I want to share two Valentine Cards I made using Distress Watercoloring. I created these for Jude's kindergarten teacher and teacher's aide.

  The background was created using an older Hero Arts cling background stamp embossed in white onto Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock. I then ink blended Spice Marmalade and Barn Door Distress Ink over the embossed image. To add depth, I then used the same Distress Ink colors to watercolor all the hearts on the background. I die cut a heart out of the center of the background to create a shaker window. The window is covered with acetate and the shaker well was created by die cutting the same heart into red fun foam sandwiched between the background and a white piece of cardstock. The sequins in the shaker are Lucy's Cards Tropical Paradise Sequin Shaker Mix. The "Sending" Die was die cut from red glitter cardstock and adhered to the top of the acetate. The black sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Sending and Wishing stamp set. More sequins from Lucy's Cards and gems from my stash were added to complete the card. 

I absolutely love how these turned out! I can't wait for Jude to share them with his teachers on Thursday.

30 Day Coloring Challenge

I am participating in The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge, check out how it works here.

Before I committed to the challenge this time (I've tried before, but didn't get the full 30 days in), I laid out some ground rules for myself:

1. To use materials I already had on hand

2. To fix mistakes & live with the results vs. starting over if I didn't like it

3. To try new techniques or to relearn things I've done before

4. To complete projects with my daily coloring. 

After 10 days, I am still going strong! So today I want to share some of my completed cards and a general statement of how I created them. 

I used the Simon Says Stamp Elizabeth background stamp embossed in white on Tim Holtz watercolor paper. The color was added using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Distress Ink in Spun Sugar. The sentiment is from Tim Holtz Snarky Small Talk Stickers. I finished this card using cardstock and gems from my stash. The sequins are from Lucy's Cards Tropical Paradise. 

This card started with an older woodblock background stamp from Hero Arts embossed in white on Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock. The light blue is Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and the darker blue is Mermaid Lagoon. The leaf die is Tim Holtz Sizzix Garden Greens Bigz and it is dipped in Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Distress Ink mixed with Perfect Pearl Mist. The love die and sentiment are from Simon Says Stamp Kristina's Love stamp and die set. The small heart dies are from an older die set & the sequins are from my stash.

This card background was created by ink smooshing Distress Ink in Spun Sugar and Abandoned Coral. The stamps are from the Simon Says Stamp Kristina Love stamp set. The thick lines of "Love" are watercolored with Abandoned Coral and then covered with Glossy Accents. The heart dies are from an older die set and the sequins are from Lucy's Cards Tropical Paradise.

This background was created by ink blending Spun Sugar and Barn Door Distress Ink, then splattering Perfect Pearl Mist onto the inked background. The sentiment from Kristina's Love stamp set was embossed in white and colored with Barn Door Distress ink. The sequins are Lucy's Cards Ice Crystal sequin mix.

This card was created using an older woodblock Hydrangea stamp from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from an older set by them as well. Both are embossed in gold embossing powder along with the edges of the card. The flower image is watercolored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Tumbled Glass Distress Marker. The completed piece is mounted on cardstock from my stash and then added to a white card base. 

I'll be back in a week or so with more completed projects using my 30 Day Coloring Challenge pieces. 

Color Throwdown #527

This week's Color Throwdown #527 uses my very favorite color- GREEN! So I was really excited to create a card using this week's colors.

Years ago I went through a Hero Arts Wood Block background stamp purchasing frenzy. Of the many I purchased, S5154 Three Ferns and S4878 Old Letter Writing are still two of my favorites. You might be able to find them through eBay or other crafty sites, but I'm not sure. It has been quite a while since I have used a wood mounted stamp and I am quite spoiled using my Misti stamp press, so today's card gave me a little bit of anxiety. I was determined to stamp it well once and not have to remake my card base. 

I actually ended up stamping the ferns twice, but I was able to simply flip over my Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock and start over. The first stamping on the smooth side was too light and I didn't like it. I did use a stamp positioner to help me stamp the second time on the rough side. I'm glad I used it because I ended up needing to stamp a second time to get better coverage. 

I stamped the fern using a mixture of Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, and Crushed Olive. I then stamped the Old Letter Background over the top of the whole piece in Simon Says Stamp Slate Ink. I could have masked the fern image so that the Old Letter Background wouldn't be on top of the fern, but I didn't want to take the time to hand-cut the mask and I also wanted the Old Letter Background to be seamless across the whole background. 

To minimize the grey lettering on top of the green of the ferns and to give the ferns a more solid appearance I used Distress Markers in the same Distress ink colors to add additional color. I used a watercolor brush and water to give the ferns a completed look. I then splattered the background with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls. The Thank You message is from an older clear Hero Arts stamp set- All Occasion Messages CL272, which may still be available through eBay or other crafting sites. I stamped it on navy blue cardstock and embossed it with white embossing powder. I matted the card on the same navy blue cardstock and then added an additional mat of bright green handmade paper, that I have had forever. I finished the card with gold and clear, iridescent sequins from my stash. 

To complete the envelope, I stamped the fern background in the bottom left corner and then again on the back flap. 

Simon Says Stamp- Stamptember 2014

I love fall with all of the beautiful colors and crisp cool breezes. When you add daily creative inspiration, like Stamptember, into my favorite season I am over the moon excited!

Today's project started as a card using the smaller snowflake images of the Lots of Snowflakes set. 

I wanted to use the smaller flakes as the base for the card & then add larger, fussy-cut flakes for the accents on the finished card.

I randomly stamped the smaller flakes with Versamark & then heat embossed with a white & silver glitter embossing powder that I have had in my stash for years. 

Once I completed the base, I stamped, silver embossed, then fussy cut a few of the larger flakes. As I started to lay out the design I decided that it just seemed to busy, so I scrapped the card idea altogether. 

Instead of wasting the card base, I decided to cut it into two pieces and use them for inserts in my Project Life or December Daily album.

The resulting 3x4 cards are fun and I look forward to using them in my album.

The cards were not quite 4 inches wide, so I decided to cut them & add elements that made it look more intentional, rather than just a fix. 

On the first card I used a ribbon to cover where I cut the card in half. The glitter flakes and star came from the dollar spot at Target a few years ago. The snowman is one of my favorite older small stamps from Hero Arts & was stamped then watercolored with Twinkling H2O's. 

For the second card I removed a larger section of the stamped piece so I could stamp "Wintertime", which is from an older Hero Arts stamp set. The small blue flake is from the SSS Lots of Snowflakes stamp set. I then added washi tape to the white background card. To finish this card I added iridescent sequins and flicked the whole thing with Perfect Pearl Mist. 

Both cards were edged with Broken China Distress Ink before they were mounted to the background pieces. 

The Wintertime card will definitely end up in my PL album, but the more I look at the other card, I think I might end up making additional cards and using them on the boys Christmas presents this year. 

I have one more small project to share tomorrow using the Lots of Snowflakes stamp set. Here is a small peek.