Rainbows and Unicorns Birthday Card

My middle daughter, Katie turned 30 this past weekend.  Since it was a biggie I thought she deserved Rainbows and Unicorns plus flamingos (her favorite), but last years card had flamingos.  I purchased the Mama Elephant Over the Rainbow Stamp and Die set at Joanns using a coupon, a while ago.  I loved coloring those little unicorns with my Tombow Markers!   

Loved the Avery Elle Horizontal Strips Die Set and thought it would go perfect with the small images.  My card has some shimmer with the Wink of Stella and crystal Stickles.  The light pink circle was inked with Guava from The Stamps of Life.

Hope you have a great day and keep on crafting!

July My Monthly Hero Card

Hero Arts July My Monthly Hero Club sets are Awesome!!  If you are like me and adore flowers, this one is for you.  I paired this set with the Avery Elle's Horizontal Stripes Die.  It just came Saturday and I couldn't wait to use it.

The Flowers and containers were stamped with Versafine Black ink  on Canson Multimedia paper.  Coloring with Tombow markers on this paper is fabulous!  It was very easy to blend.  Topped the flowers with Wink of Stella and added Glossy Accents on the butterfly.   The sentiment was stamped by curving the the stamp on a block and using Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink then die cut with a Spellbinders banner die.

This card's sentiment was stamped and embossed, then cut with a punch.  Also both purple pieces were raised with pop dots.

Have a great day and keep on crafting.

Sympathy Cards with New Technique

First of all, I love watching new technique videos on Youtube.  Jennifer McGuire is my favorite and today I'm showing you my take on her technique.  The link to her video is here.  I highly recommend visiting her site, you could spend days watching all her crafty goodness!

So, I love making cards, but it's very sad when the reason is loss.  A family member passed and a very good friend lost her husband, both were very unexpected.  Instead of struggling to design a card, I poured my love for these people into making the cards.

Here's my card, I made two of these...

The stamps and dies are a flower building set from Altenew called Camillia.  The prayer sentiment is from Hero Arts called Prayers Stamp and Cut.  I chose to use the new Distress Oxide Ink Wilted Violets for the flower and three different colors of green from my stash.

Keep on crafting and have a great day.

June Hero Arts Kit AND Yes, Color Of Pop Dots Matter

So the June My Monthly Hero Kit is Amazing!  Something I would never have picked out but absolutely love!  I have three daughters so everything I gravitate to is pink, flowery and glittery, so this challenged me.  

I stuck with Kraft card stock for four cards, but first used Bristol Smooth and three colors of Distress Ink - blended like butter on this card stock!  Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey was applied with a blending tool and I was able to continue moving it around for quite a bit.  Choosing which animals was hard because there were sooo many to choose from and in different sizes, but all were inked with Memento Tuxedo Black.  Here they are:

The kit came with some cork and I added a strip and buttons were from my stash.

The moon die cut is sprayed with Shimmer and Shine and raised with pop dots.

Loved that little Momma and Baby Elephant image!  The paper cord was from the kit and the little wooden heart was from my stash.  The tree is raised with pop dots. 

And finally, the brown shimmery paper was also included in the kit.

Now for those pop dots - I first found black pop dots at a Creative Keepsake Convention and it opened my eyes!  It really does make quite a difference when you are adhering black or dark color card stock as opposed to white or light color.  Here's a better look:

 Here is a photo of the black dots I used.

And there you have it.  Keep on crafting and have a great day!

Fathers Day Card with Hero Arts

My last cards were made with Hero Arts Monthly Kit (May) and featured mermaids and other underwater goodies.  I had all that sitting out still, (yes, I'm lazy and hadn't put it all away) when I reached for another new Hero Arts Stamp that I haven't used yet called Color Layering Octopus.  These two went together perfectly and I made three cards with them.  Bonus:  Got the Octopus Stamp on sale 40% off at Joanns.

Again, I used the monthly kit stencil and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist for the background.  One used the stencil and the next one I turned over the wet stencil onto fresh paper for the background.  The octopus was stamped with Prussian Blue Palette Ink for the base layer and then Versamark for the second layer and heat embossed with Zing Silver Embossing Powder.  Loved using my MISTI on the octopus as I was stamping over the misted background, four layers of ink was all it took to get really good coverage on the base layer.  Some coral was stamped and others were die cut along with seaweed.  The starfish was stamped with Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide and really covered the background as well.

For the sentiment I used Justrite Stamps All In The Family and TAC (The Angel Company) All-American Blue ink.  But wasn't paying attention when I stamped the starfish and covered it partly with the sentiment strip.

Hope you have a great day and keep on crafting!

#heroarts

3 Cards with May Hero Arts Monthly Kit

I've seen several talented artists create wonderful creations with this card kit!  Here is my try with these three cards.  

The backgrounds are some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists with the included stencil and the backing card that the stamps and dies are mounted on - it was too pretty to not use it!  Each card has images popped up and two of the sentiments are heat embossed.  I had quite a bit of fun coloring all the stamped images with my Tombow Markers.  I'm pretty sure I'll be getting lots of use out of this kit!

Hope you have a great day!

Multi-Purpose Card

I'm making more cards that can be used for many purposes, (not occasions per se) like today's card.  I sent it to my Aunt who suffered a severe fall, yes, I want her to get well, but what I really want her to know, is that I love her!  This could also be sent instead of a condolence card as well as just I love you.

The background was stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder.  Picked up this stamp at a CKC convention called Branch Shadow from www.rubbernecker.com.  The Flower is from Stampendous called Floral Bloom and the Love die cut and sending you stamp is from a Simon Says Stamp set called Kristina's Love.

The flower is colored on Bristol Smooth card stock with Tombow Markers.  A touch of sparkle and white dots with gel pens accent the image.  I hand cut the image and used pop dots to raise it up.  The Love is cut with both black card stock and vellum, and the sending you is stamped with versa mark and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

 Here's to Aunt Linda, hope you heal quickly!

Have a wonderful day and keep crafting!

Mothers Day Card (A Day Late)

Yes, this is the day after Mothers Day!  My Mom sees this blog so I couldn't post earlier.  I always make my Mom a card and don't repeat it for anyone else, kind of like her, she's one of a kind!

Jennifer McGuire Ink has oodles of tutorials and I love watching them and use the stuff I already have.  Don't get me wrong, I do find myself adding to my wishlist some of the items she uses!  This card uses a few of her techniques - I encourage you to follow her on her blog, youtube, Pinterest and Instagram.  Those are the only social media feeds I use, so I'm not sure about others.  

On to the card.... I used a stamp set from Hampton Art, it's flowers but doesn't have a name, just a number SC078.  Stamped and embossed the images and used distress ink to color with blender.  I used Abandoned Coral and Wild Honey, then sprayed with water, lots of water and added a final spritz of shimmer and shine spray.  After it thoroughly dried I hand cut all the pieces and added pop dots to the pieces I chose to use.  For my "Non shaking" Shaker box, I used Hero Arts Infinity Dies in hearts to cut windows.  Instead of placing foam tape between the layers of acetate, I just smooshed them on top of each other - aka "non shaking".  The sequins still move, just not a lot.   The sequins are from Neat and Tangled, a free goodie that arrived with my order.  The sentiment is from Justrite Stamps, All in The Family, Large Sentiments.  Stamped with Versafine black and embossed with Zing clear embossing powder.  Inside the card, to cover the flowers and adhesive I glued more flowers, turned face down, so the inside flap is all white.  Tucked inside the card....a JoAnn's Gift card...she's a quilter :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day!  

Three Cards, Same Stamps

I purchased several new stamps and dies from Neat and Tangled and here are three cards made with the Succulent Journaling Card stamp and matching die set.  Love how the sentiment has the perfect spot on the image! 

The first two are similar, just different sentiments.  Stamped with Versafine ink and colored with Tombow Markers.  One of the sentiments is embossed with Zing clear embossing powder after using Versafine to stamp.  I also used a Wink of Stella clear pen to color the green, picked up some green tombow ink, that I scribbled on a clear block and pushed it around on Bristol Smooth card stock.  I assembled these with The Stamps of Life Stitched Rectangles as background, inked with Palette Raw Sienna around the edge.  I used just the outside portion of the Succulent Journaling Die to cover the edges.

The final card has a different technique on the background.  I purchased the Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks at the April CK Convention.  One of the vendors had a stash that he saved for convention attendees!  All of my online sources were backordered so I was thrilled to get all 12 of them.  Had fun using a blending tool to add the ink to Mixed Media Card Stock, then sprayed water to get the mottled look.  I used cracked pistachio, faded jeans and wilted violet.

This time I used the entire die to cover the stamped image lines and raised the whole image with pop dots.  

I had fun mixing up the colors and will be making several card with these stamps and dies.  

Have a great day!

Mixing Old & New!

About a million years ago, you know, when I first started paper crafting, I bought my first Stampin Up Stamp Set.  It was a Birthday set that had all the pieces of a cupcake.  Thought I would be using it often, yeah, not so much...  Then there's the butterfly stamp I bought at a stamp store in Branson, MO at least 12 years ago from Holly Berry House.  

I finally bought the necessary paper to color with Copic markers, and stamped a bunch of images to practice with.  It also helped having just acquired a Stamp and Storage container to hold my Copies.  Just the push I needed to color!  Loved this little butterfly and needed a background.  I pulled out the "frosting" stamp from the Stamping Up Birthday Set and used Versamark and Zing White Embossing Powder to make resist clouds on white yardstick.  Then used two colors of blue ink to color the sky.

Hello 2017 and I'm looking for uses for the Simon Says Stamps Believe Dies and Stamps.  The cloudy sky made a pretty background for the popped up butterfly and Believe sentiment.  A bit of sparkle and shine (Crystal Stickles and Glossy Accents).  Note to self:  get the air bubbles out of stickles before it drys.

Here's two of the cards I made, one with stickles and one with glossy accents.  Enjoy!

Have a great day and keep crafting!

I love using up supplies!

It's fun using up supplies with new products added to my stash!  I recently found some Art Impression Stamps on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  Of course I snatched them up.  This card has an image from the Birthday Wishes set that I colored with Tombow markers on Bristol Smooth paper.  Paper does make all the difference when coloring with different mediums.

So one of the other new items I purchased was Hero Arts Stamp and Cut sets.  JoAnns had all their stamps 50% off a few weeks ago and bought, Happy, Congrats and Thanks.  Obviously the Happy set was used.  The birthday sentiment was heat embossed with Zing White powder on a matching strip.

From my stash, I used Stitched Rectangles from The Stamps of Life to die cut the colored image and backing.  The background papers are from Nana's Nursery, Baby Boy card stack and inked with Raw Sienna Palette Ink.  I buy most of my card stock from Michaels Recollections with a coupon!  

Hope you have a wonderful day and keep on crafting!

Saving Big when you own BOTH a Big Shot and Silhouette

So yes, I love all things paper!  Especially those lovely machines!  My craft area has a place for two Sizzix machines (remember that red one that you had to press down instead of crank), two Cricut Machines (the small and the large) and finally a Silhouette Cameo. 


There are loads and loads of techniques out there to get the best bang for your buck.  There are lots of people I follow and one of my favorite is Jennifer McGuire Ink.  She makes wonderful videos that showcases new products as well as techniques for products you may already own.


It was this Jennifer McGuire Ink video that I fell in love with a layering die from Birch Press called Dazzle.  It's actually a set of three A2 plates that have a hefty price of $69.  So, I asked Santa and all his elves for Gift Cards to Simon Says Stamps for Christmas.  Yes, I was prepared to pay that.


I was playing with my Silhouette software, looked at the online store for images and be still my heart...there was a VERY close design by Lori Whitlock called A2 Stacking Card Base Burst for $.99  - That's a $68.00 savings!!!!!!!  Now don't you worry about those Simon Says Stamps gift cards...I have a huge wish list there, so it won't go to waste.


If you are toying with the idea of Silhouette, you can visit www.silhouetteamerican.com or for crazy good tutorials and projects -  Silhouette School Blog.


Here's the card I made for my parents 59th wedding anniversary using that Silhouette Design, Tim Holtz dies and The Stamps of Life die.

You have a wonderful day!