Gather Together for Fall

It has been a very busy summer. Now the air is a bit colder and the leaves are turning yellow. Yup, it's just about time for Fall. Such a beautiful season of vibrant colours, how could you not love it! (Well except for the fact that it signifies the fast approach of winter, that is!) So in honor of this gorgeous season, I made this card. 

For inspiration in making this card, I followed this week's challenge from the Global Design Project team which happens to be a sketch challenge.

For this card my focus was on the beautiful Gather Together bundle. Again I used my brayer and ink pads to create my fall-colored sheet that I used for my die-cut leaves. (Please see my previous blog post for more info on this technique:) ) Here I used Mossy Meadow, Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze ink pads.

I used the coordinating Gathered Leaves Dies to die cut my leaves out of this sheet and some Gold Foil sheet as well. I also used my Starburst Punch on a piece of Kraft cardstock and then I sponged the edges of this with Soft Suede ink. My sentiment was from the same sheet that I created and stamped using Early Espresso ink pad. My mat piece is a 4" x 5 1/4" Mossy Meadow cardstock that I ran through my Big Shot with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. And lastly I also added a strip of the retired Wood Textures DSP into the mix.

So I just put everything together, fanning my leaves out and adhering some with dimensionals for additional layer. For embellishment I used the coordinating Come to Gather Ribbon pack and made a bow with the Cajun Craze linen thread, and then added some Iridescent Sequins for some shimmer. 

And that is my fall card for today. I hope you liked it and hope to see you next time. Thanks for stopping by, happy crafting!

Fun-filled Snowman Season

Ever since I got my pre-order for the Holiday Catalogue, I cannot seem to stop playing with my Snowman Season bundle! These snowmen are just so stinkin' adorable! So in a rare opportunity that I am actually able to do a blog post, I'll show you how I created these cards...

Aren't they just adorable??! I had tons of fun creating these cute cards. Here's how...

I started by making my background piece...it's simple. I just taped a piece of Whisper White cardstock onto a board and used my brayer to deposit ink onto my paper. I used Melon Mambo, Balmy Blue and Night of Navy ink pads.

Then I sprayed LOTS of water onto my paper to spread the ink around. It'll look something like this...doesn't look much right now but just you wait!

Next I dried it with my heat gun. This is why you need it taped onto a board...so that your paper doesn't warp during the drying process. Then I sprayed it with some white ink and this is what you'll end up with...

Now to make my card I stamped and punched out my snowman with coordinating Snowman Builder Punch. I also stamped the smallest snowman in a piece of Whisper White cardstock and then fussy cut it. Next, the hills...I cut out a wavy line 1/3 of the way down a piece of Whisper White cardstock (4" x 5 1/4"). I lined this up against another piece of cardstock to eyeball the height of the next hill...it should be high enough to fit my hat-and-scarf snowman. Then it's just cutting up another wavy line going the other way this time.

I then stamped the hat-and-scarf snowman onto the bigger piece of hill and then colored my snowmen in using my Blends. Next I lightly sponged the edges of my hills with Balmy Blue ink using a sponge dauber. 

To assemble I glued the back hill onto my background piece that's 4" x 5 1/4". Then I mounted the front hill onto the second hill using dimensionals. Next I glued down the smallest snowman at the back and then added my punched-out snowman at the front. Lastly I white heat-embossed my greeting at the top of my background piece.

I mounted this whole piece onto a mat layer of Basic Black cardstock before adhering the entire thing onto my Whisper White card base. For some shimmer I covered my hills in Wink of Stella and then added some snow with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds. 

And that is my card for today. Kinda hard to explain the steps, but hopefully you were able to follow my method to the madness :)  I was hoping to do a video on how I made these, but that will have to wait for now. Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you next time. Happy crafting!!!

Pigment Sprinkles Fun

So I know I'm late in the game, but I just recently got to play with my Pigment Sprinkles. And seriously, I don't know what I was thinking waiting this long! These crystals are a-ma-zing! Very much like Brusho, but waaaay better in my opinion. Extremely pigmented and vibrant and gorgeous colors, I just loved experimenting with them.

There are lots of different techniques on how to use these sprinkles. One thing to remember with these though is that a little goes a long way. Seriously. You should've seen the mess I made the first time I played with these pigments.

Anyway I tried to think outside the box and today I added my sprinkles onto my texture paste and used some of my masks. I was originally going to use my embossing paste, but unfortunately it has dried up so much that it is hard as a rock so that's a no-go. I'm pretty sure that you will get pretty much the same results using either embossing or texture paste, so just use what you have.

Here's what I ended up with...

Aren't they so much fun?! This was so addictive, I had to force myself to stop. The texture paste muted the colors a little bit I think, making it look more pastel-like. This of course depends on the amount of pigment you use. I also like the ombre-effect it gave me, resulting in a DSP-like paper with the additional texture. How cool is that!? Some tips...don't over-mix your paste. This way you get lots of different colors on your piece. Also try to pull (or push) the paste from different directions so that you get a 'movement effect', if that makes any sense. And lastly, just have fun with it! :)

Here's the finished cards I created using these beautiful pieces. I had an accident with my last piece so I was only able to make these three cards. I'll do a more up-close look on how I created these in my next blog posts. 

Wasn't that just lots of fun!? Now I can't wait to get my new masks and play some more! And oh yeah, a new bottle of embossing paste too! :)  Hope you give this technique a try and have lots of fun with it too! See ya next time. Happy crafting!

Floral Essence

     It has been a while since I've done any crafting...life has just been too busy and crazy lately. And with all that time I've been away from my craft room, I seem to have lost my mojo. So what better way to get those creative juices flowing than a challenge, right?!

     This week at Global Design Project is a Color challenge.

With this color combination, I immediately thought that a floral themed card would work best. And so I came up with this card...

I stamped my flowers from the Floral Essence stamp set using Merry Merlot ink, then I spread the ink a little bit using my Aqua Painter. I then punched my images out using the coordinating Perennial Flower punch...I used four cut-outs to make one flower. I also added some Petal Pink rhinestone gems to the centers of my flowers for embellishment.

My leaves are from the same stamp set and are stamped in Mossy Meadow ink. I did some second generation stamping as well to get different shades of green. Then I used the coordinating Leaf punch to cut out my images. To tie in the Pretty Peacock color, I die cut my flower flourish from Well Written die set on a piece of Pretty Peacock foil from the Noble Peacock foil sheets. My sentiment from Beautiful Promenade stamp set is also white heat embossed on a strip of Pretty Peacock cardstock.

I used the Stitched Nested Labels die set to cut out my center frame in Whisper White and Pretty Peacock cardstock. Lastly, I used my Brick & Mortar embossing folder on a piece of Whisper White cardstock for my mat piece, which I layered on top of a Pretty Peacock cardstock. With a little fiddling and some floral arrangement, I ended up with this card!

I really enjoyed creating this card and getting back to my crafting groove. Hopefully this ends the lull and I'll have more ideas for my next projects. Thank you so much for stopping by and see ya next time! 

OnStage Vancouver Swaps

Well it is that exciting time of the year again when Stampin' Up demonstrators from all around the globe gather together to have fun crafting time...OnStage! This year I will be heading down to Vancouver, and I am super excited! 

Card swapping is an important part of this event. You get to meet new friends and also get lots of cool project ideas from fellow demonstrators! So for my swaps this year, I needed something that would be easy to mass-produce. Here's what I came up with...

I decided to make 40 cards this year, in 4 different colors for additional fun! Here's a quick video of how I made these cards.

All my cards had a Whisper White card base (A2 size) and a mat piece of Basic Black cardstock (5 1/4" x 4"). To save paper I cut out the inside of my Basic Black cardstock and trimmed it to 4 1/4" x 2 7/8" for the layering piece, and then punched out the middle of it for my sentiment piece using the Everyday Label Punch.

I started by stamping my images on a piece of Whisper White cardstock (4" x 2 5/8") using my Memento ink, then I colored them in using my Blends in Poppy Parade, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight. I used the stamp set Love What You Do for this. Moving on, I gold heat embossed my sentiment piece which comes from the same stamp set. Next are my butterflies from the Butterfly Gala. I stamped them on a piece of vellum with Versamark then gold-heat embossed them before cutting them out using the Butterfly Duet punch. 

Then it's just running my cardstock through the BigShot with the Country Floral embossing folder with ink on one side. For the green card I used Pear Pizzazz cardstock with my Mossy Meadow ink pad. I used Cherry Cobbler cardstock for the red card with Merry Merlot ink pad. For the yellow card I used Crushed Curry ink pad on my Daffodil Delight cardstock. And lastly for the blue card I used Bermuda Bay cardstock with my Coastal Cabana ink pad.

Finally it's just a matter of putting my card together. And as usual, I cannot have a project with no shimmer so I had to add some Wink of Stella on my embossed flowers. And those are my swaps, hopefully those who will receive them will like 'em! I must say that using my Stamparatus to create these cards was a huge time-saver! Mass-producing was a cinch! Thank heavens for our handy-dandy tools. Anyway hope you liked today's project and see y'all next time! Happy crafting!

Vintage-looking Needle & Thread

Today's card is a simple stamping project using the Needle & Thread stamp set. I ended up creating my own DSP using this set, with a vintage look to it. Here's what I made...

I created my DSP  background by stamping my images all over a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock (4" x 5 1/4"). I used Merry Merlot, Cajun Craze and Mossy Meadow ink pads for stamping. I then die-cut a circle piece of Crumb Cake cardstock using my Stitched Shapes framelits and stamped my sentiment on it using Merry Merlot. I added some Rose Metallic Thread at the back of my sentiment piece before adhering it onto my DSP piece using dimensionals. Lastly I wrapped a piece of Mossy Meadow twine (from the retired Festive Farmhouse collection) around my DSP piece and added a little bow before adhering it to my Cajun Craze card base (A2 size). 

For a little bit of shimmer (coz' I love my shimmer!) I just added some Wink of Stella on the centers of my flowers and then added some glitter enamel dots as well. And that is my super simple card for the day! Thanks for dropping by and see ya next time! Happy crafting!

Shimmery Lovely Lattice

I have been playing around with my Lovely Lattice stamp set from Sale-a-bration, trying to find the best medium to color the beautiful image. I've tried my alcohol markers, watercolor pencils, even Brusho! Although these worked just fine, I just wasn't satisfied. I wanted something else...something different. Enter the shimmer paints!

Yes, I colored my image with shimmer paints! I love anything sparkly anyway, so this is the perfect solution. The images just popped with these paints, and I am very satisfied with the end result.

For my card I started by white heat-embossing my images on a piece of Night of Navy cardstock. Then I colored them in using my Aqua Painter and various shimmer paints (some are now retired): Frost White, Vegas Gold and Bright Copper. Once colored in I cut out my images. I also white heat-embossed my sentiment from the Rooted in Nature stamp set before fussy cutting it.

Next I ran a piece of Night of Navy cardstock (4" x 5 1/4") through my Big Shot with my Subtle embossing folder for added texture. I then wrapped a Silver Metallic Ribbon around my card before gluing down my images. I adhered my sentiment last using dimensionals. This whole piece was then added on to my Smoky Slate card base (A2 size) using more dimensionals, and added a few Pearl Basic Jewels for embellishment.

And that is my card for today, simple coloring for the gorgeous lattice image! Quick and easy, no shading needed, with maximum impact...gotta love that! I hope you guys liked today's project and thank you for stopping by today. Hope to see you next time, happy crafting!