Layered Die Shaker Card- Themed Friday #23

 My card today is for the Themed Friday card hop on Instagram. The theme for our card today is a New to You Technique.

I have made a number of shaker cards in the past, but I don’t believe I have made one using a word die and shadow. 

I used Antique Linen, Aged Mahogany, & Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks to ink blend and ink smoosh the background before die cutting. I also used Gold Perfect Pearls to add shimmer. The layered die set I chose to use is the Love die set from Simon Says Stamp.  

After die cutting the Love shadow three times, I stamped and embossed sentiments from the coordinating Love stamp set from Simon. I then added acetate to the back of the card panel and used foam tape to build three individual wells around each die cut shadow. I then poured in sequins to each well and attached a cream colored background. 

I matted the card panel on a black cardstock mat & then attached it to my card base. I added the die cut words to the shadows. I used the Tim Holtz Heart stencil, texture paste, & Mica Stains to add texture to the card front before I added additional sequins and crystals to finish the card. 

Stash Busters 2024

 

Welcome to Stash Busters 2024. This is a bi-weekly hop on Instagram where members share 3-6 cards &/or projects created using supplies already in their stash. This week’s theme is: “If I were a card, what would I look like?”

All the card stock, vellum, and watercolor cardstock for my cards today came from pieces that had already been cut down. I even had a few stamped images that I had not used on other projects that I was able to use on these cards. The “Birthday Wishes” sticker is an older one from my stash & I also pulled out a die cut piece from my stash and added a sentiment to it. 

I created three different cards that are very much my style.

Lots of greens and blues, Distress Inks, big, scripty greetings, natural (plant) images, splatters & sparkles. 

For this A2 card, I watercolored the two previously embossed, stamped branches from the “Be Kind” stamp set from Simon Says Stamp using Crushed Olive and Shabby Shutters. Before setting it aside to dry, I took dry Perfect Pearls in Perfect Gold and dropped it onto the wet pieces. Perfect Pearls is water reactive, so I was interested to see what would happen when I just haphazardly dropped it into the watercolor. I set it aside to dry & when I came back I was excited to see that the gold color gave a nice touch to the pieces. Similar to a splatter, but a little different. I plan to try this technique again sometime soon. I then took Peeled Paint Distress Ink and ink blended it onto the the leaves closest to the stem. I fussy cut both pieces and added foam tape to the back of the leaves before attaching it to my white card base. I used an olive green piece of cardstock between the card base and the design. I used that same green as a mat for my sentiment sticker. I added sequins to finish the card. 

I created this slimline card using smaller green pieces of patterned paper & cardstock from my scraps bin. I die cut the small pieces using the Tim Holtz Mini Holiday Greens, a favorite greenery die set that I use throughout the year. I added Distress Ink and Perfect Pearl Perfect Gold splatters to each of the die cut pieces and set them aside to dry. I found the cream colored die cut piece in my stash and heat embossed the gold “Sending Big Hugs” sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp “Big Scripty Greetings” stamp set onto it. The navy shimmer cardstock was given to me and I wish I had more of it. I used the die cut piece to trace the area for my greens, added adhesive to that area and them began to put down the greenery. Once satisfied with the arrangement, I popped the sentiment up on top with foam tape. I was just going to add Gold Stickles to the berries, but I didn’t like the result when I tried it. As I was wiping it away it smeared onto the Navy cardstock. I liked the look, so I continued smearing it around the design.  I then added pearls & crystals to the berries. I like the elegance of the finished card.

I loved creating this one! I took a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock from my stash & die cut hearts from the entire piece. I then used Crushed Olive, Evergreen Bough, & Faded Jeans Distress Ink to ink smoosh color onto the hearts. I added depth, by smooshing, then drying. I repeated that technique until I was happy with the results on each heart. Midway through each heart I added a coordinating Mica Spray to add a little shimmer to each. Once dry, I popped each heart up onto a piece of white cardstock & added a lot of sequins, crystals, and pearls. The sentiment, from the “Sending Happy Thoughts” stamp set from Simon Says Stamp,  was stamped in black & embossed with clear embossing ink on a piece of die cut vellum & then I added a few more sequins, crystals, and pearls. 

These cards are very much my style & I am so pleased with how they turned out. Take time to dig through your stash and find hidden treasures that you can create with. 

Spring Time Friendship Card

Today I'm sharing a Spring card. I love Limelight Hydrangeas and so I wanted to create something similar on this card. I die-cut a design into the card panel and added a Distress Ink background to create a shaker element. I added little sprigs of yellow for interest and to break up some of the green. I love the color scheme from this week's Color Throwdown. It is always fun to play along and create fun cards based on their weekly challenges. 

 

Coloring Tips

 This week as I began working on my card for Color Throwdown #738, I considered just using the colors given without any highlights. I started watercoloring the flower petals on the background with Mustard Seed Distress Ink. As I got the flowers done, they felt flat. Even though they are more whimsical instead of realistic, I just did not like the flat feel. 

I went back with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink and added shading on the petals and then finished the card background with Shabby Shutters and Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink. Even though they were not lifelike flowers the additional shading brought depth to the images. 

The Sentiment and the flowers were all stamped with Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide and clear embossed. I added shading to the fussy cut sentiment with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink. I finished the card with sequins and pearls from Lucy's Cards. 

Next time you feel like your card is feeling flat, go back and add shading and highlights. This is possible with watercoloring, using colored pencils, and even by adding a darker color beneath die-cuts. Just a little bit of extra shading & depth adds so much to your  card and keeps it from falling flat.

Working for the Weekend

 As we begin to wind down the school year I get more and more excited about weekends and the possibility of summer. The card I created today celebrates two of my favorite weekend (and summer) activities: reading and plants.

I used this week's Color Throwdown color inspiration for my card. 

Today's card features stamps from Cocoa Daisy and Heidi Swapp which were watercolored with 

Distress Inks. I figured out that Rusty Hinge and Wild Honey used together made the best terra cotta color to watercolor my pots. Everything got fussy cut and popped up for emphasis & then placed on an ink-smooshed background of Tattered Rose Distress Ink. 

This one was fun and I may have a hard time parting with it!

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!

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!

Spring Leaves Card

 Using this week's Color Throwdown #685 color scheme, I created an A2-sized card. 

I had a piece of leftover Neenah Desert Storm cardstock that I had cut down using Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies. The piece also had a piece of fun foam that was cut to the same size that I used to pop it up.

For the leaf sprig, I stamped and embossed a leaf image from the Simon Says Stamp Be Kind stamp set. I dropped water into each of the leaves using a small paintbrush. I then smooshed Distress Ink in Rustic Wilderness & Crushed Olive onto my craft mat and misted them with water. Using the same small paintbrush I dropped Distress Ink onto the already wet leaves and let the colors move and dry completely. I then went back and added a little darker and lighter colors to the leaves with the Rustic Wilderness and Crushed Olive Inks.  I also used the remaining ink left on my craft mat to splatter onto the leaves and also added splatters of Perfect Pearls in Sunflower Sparkle to the leaves and Desert Storm cardstock. 

After all the pieces were completely dry, I fussy cut the leaf sprig and attached it to the Desert Storm piece. I stretched a piece of orange ribbon from my stash to the center of the card, attaching it to the other side. I mounted the Desert Storm piece onto a matching orange piece of cardstock & attached that piece on top of the card base. I also used the same color orange cardstock to cover the interior side of the card to cover where the pieces of the ribbon were attached. 

The sentiment is from an older Ideology/Tim Holtz sticker set. I popped it up on foam tape and then added sequins & crystals from Lucy's Cards.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Fussy Cut Flowers

 Today I played along with The Color Throwdown #684. This challenge had an interesting color combination of yellow, tan, grey, and black. I wasn't sure what I could create with these colors that spoke to my creativity, but I decided to push myself a little & just see what I could come up with. 

"When skies are grey" kept popping up into my brain as I looked at the color scheme and I knew I had an older stamp from Cocoa Daisy that said "You make me happy when skies are grey", so that phrase became my jumping-off point for this card.

The background was created using Distress Ink blending in Hickory Smoke and Speckled Egg using an extremely old cloud stencil from my stash. I stamped the sentiment in black and then splattered the entire background with Perfect Pearls & matted it on black cardstock & mounted that piece onto a Neenah Desert Storm A2 card base. 

The flowers are from a small Tim Holtz stamp set I picked up at Michaels years ago. This is a similar Tim Holtz stamp set with the same images I used.  I stamped the images in black and embossed them with clear embossing powder. The flowers were watercolored with Distress Inks in Fossilized Amber and the flower centers were watercolored with Ground Espresso and Tea Dye Distress Inks. The stems were watercolored with Walnut Stain and a little Peeled Paint distress inks. 

I then carefully fussy cut all the images, adhered the stems to the background and popped up the flower heads with foam tape. Even though fussy cutting is tedious, most of the time I prefer it to die-cutting because it does not leave a white edge around the image. My biggest tip for successfully fussy cutting images is first to be patient and go slow & most importantly to hold the scissors still and move the image. 

I finished the card with clear sequins from my stash.

I  hope you enjoy my card and that you will give fussy cutting a chance. I am always pleased with how it looks on a completed project. 

Sunshine Card

This week I spent some time playing with brighter colors that have a summery feel. One of the cards I created using the Freshly Made Sketches #436. This is such a versatile & fun sketch, that I have more cards planned using it.

Here is what I came up with:

The card also has a matching envelope design, which was created using the same Tim Holtz Rays stencil along with Distress Ink in Mustard Seed and Carved Pumpkin. The blue background patterned paper is from an older 6x6 paper pad and it is layered on top of a Neenah 80lb card base. The shaker is filled with a mix of iridescent & Simon Says Stamp Summer Gold sequins. The sentiment is from an older Simon Says Stamp set & is stamped in Archival Jet Black ink. 

I love the summery feel of this card and it will soon be headed to a close friend who always makes me feel better when I'm feeling down.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are getting a chance to feel warm, sunny days in your part of the world.  

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.

Color Throwdown #555

This week I am again playing with colors that aren't in my wheelhouse- Color Throwdown #555. I'm not always comfortable when pink and purple are involved, just because they aren't colors I usually reach for. As usual, I struggled to figure it out, then when I had the card completed, I was pleased with the results.

This color scheme screamed flowers to me, so that was my plan. I had seen a really pretty card that Yoonsun Hur created for Simon Says Stamp.

  

I did not have this particular stamp set & I also had very limited floral image stamps that were small. I ended up using an older floral stamp set from Hero Arts called Color Me Flowers (CG133) along with Simon Says Stamp Big Scripty Greetings (SSS101527). There were no stems or leaves in the floral stamp set, so I used a couple of floral branches from an older Cocoa Daisy stamp set.  The Distress Ink colors I used are: Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, and Mowed Lawn. 

I finished the card with a splatter of Perfect Pearls and sequins from Lucy's Cards. 

(CAS)E this Sketch #333

Back today, sharing a card I made for a "new to me" Sketch Challenge blog- (CAS)E this Sketch #333. I was drawn in by the sketch because I love to use sketches to guide and push my creativity.

August for us means back to school, and as a school librarian, that means that I am working on getting lesson plans made and getting the library back together to welcome students. I have many teacher friends in my building and also around the state, so I made quite a few cards to encourage and uplift them as we start a new year.

Here is one that I am sending to one of my very best friends who lives in the town where I grew up. She teaches Kindergarten, KINDERGARTEN! I can't wrap my brain around the patience and energy that it requires to teach Kindergarten, but she does it so well! 

I started this card by stamping Tim Holtz's Mini Schoolhouse Blueprint Stamps onto watercolor cardstock and water coloring the image with Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Spun Sugar, and Pine Needles Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Thank You Teacher stamp set, and it is stamped on a piece of patterned paper from my stash. The red and green patterned pieces are from my stash of paper scraps as well. I used the largest Stitched Rectangle Die from Simon Says Stamp to cut the black cardstock background piece. It is the perfect size to fit on an A2 card base.

I adhered the pieces together and popped up the apple image with foam tape. I finished the card with a few Summer Gold sequins from Simon Says Stamp and a splattering of Perfect Pearls in Sunflower Sparkle.

I enjoyed this sketch challenge and look forward to trying it again in the future.

Color Throwdown #552

This week's Color Throwdown has pink again, but, this time it's mixed with white, silver, and grey. Those colors, along with going back to using flowers, made this challenge a bit easier for me than last weeks.

Here's my take:

I started with a pink card base and then cut down a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper. I stamped floral images from Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers (SSS201900) stamp set and embossed them in white. I then used Distress Inks in Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick to watercolor the floral images.  The leaf images from the same stamp set were stamped in Versamark ink and then embossed with  WOW Embossing Powder in Metallic Silver Ultra High (WC05UH).  This embossing powder is chunkier than most I work with, but I still like the results even though it didn't give polished clean images. To add more interest, I sprinkled that same embossing powder across the background, without embossing ink and then embossed from underneath. That melted the powder without blowing it off the paper. I used Versamark and the same embossing powder along the edges of a piece of paper just a little bit bigger than the watercolored piece to create a mat between the watercolored background and the pink card base. The sentiment, from the same stamp set, was stamped and white heat embossed onto a scrap of grey cardstock. Sequins from my stash complete the card. 

Color Throwdown #551

This color scheme Color Throwdown #551 is not part of my usual repertoire. The pink definitely threw me a little. I live in a home with four boys, one grown-ish and the other three the spitting image of him. Pink is not something I live with daily.

I knew I wanted to push myself a little, and since I had completed the last couple of challenges using flowers, I decided that this time, no flowers. I also wanted to stick to light pink, even though darker pinks might have been a bit easier.

Here's what I came up with:

This card started with a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock with an ink smooshing technique using Spun Sugar Distress Ink. The splatters were made with watered down black paint. The popped up butterfly is from an older Hero Arts set (CL383) heat embossed in gold embossing powder and then lightly was with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. The sentiment is from the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Handwritten Thoughts (CMS218) set. I finished the card by stitching a butterfly flight path in metallic gold thread and then scattering pieces of gold confetti along that path. 

This second card began on Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock as well. I repeatedly stamped, and white heat embossed an old Cocoa Daisy quatrefoil stamp onto the background. I then used Black Soot Distress Ink and the ink smooshing technique to cover the whole background. I went back and added darker black spots and then splashed on a few water drops to add interest. The gold background was created using gold glitter embossing powder on the card edges. I wanted it to match the die cut "love" word. The die cut is popped up on a Spun Sugar Distress Ink heart, and a Tim Holtz rosette die made from scrap polka dot tissue paper. A scattering of sequins and the word you from the Simon Says Stamp Hey Love release finished the card.

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!

Color Throwdown #549

I absolutely love the color scheme for this week's Color Throwdown.

I created a couple of cards using this color scheme and then I created another two using orange, blue, and green. I will take all four cards to school to put in my collection for teachers to use when they need a card for a co-worker or friend. I also create smaller kid cards for teachers to give to students as encouragement. 

Card One using the CTD 549 color scheme:

For this one, the background is done on watercolor paper that is inked with a combination of Carved Pumpkin and Abandoned Coral Distress Ink on a Tim Holtz stencil I picked up at Michael's. I spritzed the background with water to soften the edges. The stamped images are from the Delicate Flowers stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. The blue flower is inked and watercolored using Chipped Sapphire Distress ink and the leaves are watercolored with a gray Zig Marker. Once dry the flower and leaves were coated with the Wink of Stella glitter pen. The sentiment is from the same Simon Says Stamp set and covered with Glossy Accents. The card is finished with a scattering of sequins from my stash.

Card Two using the CTD 549 color scheme:

This one started with an older Hero Arts background stamp called Leaf and Floral Background stamped in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink onto Neenah 80lb white cardstock. The floral image and leaves are from the Delicate Flowers stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. The flower is watercolored on watercolor card stock using Distress Ink in Carved Pumpkin and Abandoned Coral. The leaves were watercolored using a gray Zig Real Color Brush Marker. The sentiment is from an older Hero Arts stamp set (CL 272). Because of the busy background, I used a circle of vellum to diffuse a little of the background and make the flower stand out more. The images were covered with Wink of Stella glitter pen & the center of the flower is filled with Glossy Accents. The card is finished with orange and clear gemstones from my stash.  

The additional two cards I made don't follow the color scheme exactly, but I had a couple of patterned paper card bases that need to be finished, so I stayed with the orange and blue and created these last two cards. 

The stamped images are the same as the other two cards and are colored using the same colors. The leaves were colored with a mix of Pine Needles, Lucky Clover, Shabby Shutters, and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks. Both sentiments are from older Hero Arts Clear Stamps and each card is finished with sequins and pearls from my stash.

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.