Monthly Archives: May 2018

Have a Beautiful Day – Butterflies

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This card was made to offset the cold, rainy weather that doesn’t seem to want to go away. The calendar says late May, but where I live, the cooler weather seems to be hanging on forever!

How I made this project:

  • Tape down the leafy stencil over a 4” x 5.25” piece of Bristol smooth cardstock.
  • Using a stencil brush, blend green ink over the stencil, blending and softening as the ink is applied and the desired intensity is achieved.
  • Stamp butterfly images onto a piece of white cardstock using a Copic-friendly ink. The butterfly images will be colored with Copic markers.
  • Color butterfly images with Copic markers.
  • Die-cut (if you have coordinating dies) or hand fussy-cut the butterflies.
  • Stamp sentiment in the middle of the blended, stenciled background.
  • Arrange the butterflies around the sentiment, raising them with foam squares.
  • Adhere the card front onto a piece of green 4.25” x 5.5” (A2-sized) piece of cardstock.
  • Mount the entire card piece to a horizontal A2-sized card base.

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps: Simon Says Stamp: Beautiful Day stamp set (butterflies and sentiment).
  • Stencils: Simon Says Stamp: Leafy Frame stencil.
  • Inks: Simon Says Stamp: Jellybean ink (leafy frame background); Memento Tuxedo Black ink (outline of butterfly images); Versafine Onyx Black ink (sentiment).
  • Copic Markers: RV09, RV17, RV19, RV21, RV34, RV66.
  • Dies: Simon Says Stamp: Beautiful Day coordinating die set (butterflies).
  • Cardstock: Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock (card front); Neenah Solar White 80# (stamped butterflies); Papertrey Ink: New Leaf cardstock (mat); Neenah Solar White 110# (card base).
  • Other: Stencil brush.

Notes:

  • I prefer to use a stencil brush with a delicate stencil such as the Leafy Frame stencil because you have more control in blending and softening the color when creating a fade-out background. Also, the brush is easier to use on a delicate stencil. There is less chance of “bending” the cut-out areas on the stencil while blending the background.

Hope you like this project! Have a great day!

 

 

Hey, Wasabi?

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I love using die-cuts that create openings. The openings serve as frames for my stamped images.

For this whimsical card, I chose a theme to tie several stamp images and a sentiment together. I’m sending it to a friend as a hello card.

How I made this project:

  • For this project, I used a die cut that cuts 6 round openings. I cut the openings using a 4″ x 5.25″ piece of white cardstock
  • I stamped 5 images that were all thematically related to sushi and ramen (I was hungry at the time!), colored the images with Copic markers and then cut out the colored images using the coordinating die set.
  • For the assembly of the card, I used a teal-colored piece of 4.25″ x 5.5″ (A2) as my mat. I centered and adhered the white die-cut piece onto the teal-colored mat. I stamped a sentiment on the bottom, right opening.
  • I then adhered all the images using foam squares onto the remaining 5 openings.  I then adhered the card front onto an vertical-oriented card base.
  • Note: All images and the sentiment were from the same stamp set.

Supplies used in this project:

  • Stamps: Essentials by Ellen: Wasabi stamp set.
  • Dies: Essentials by Ellen: Wasabi die set (coordinates with stamp set by the same name); Simon Says Stamp: Repeating Circles wafer die.
  • Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black (Copic-friendly ink; used for the stamped images that were colored using Copics); Versafine pigment ink: Onyx Black (for sentiment); Taylored Expressions: Early Grey ink (for nori skins on the sushi).
  • Copic Markers: R12, R22, R01, YG11, YB23, Y35.
  • Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 80# (die-cut openings); Papertrey Ink: Tropical Teal (for mat); Neenah Solar White 110#.

 

Hope you like this card. Have a great day!

You Are Enough: Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights Challenge

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This month’s inspiration board for the Pin-Sights Challenge over at Ellen Hutson’s classroom features a lot of beautiful colors and images shown below.

I decided to go simple and used just three colors to create my focal image. The colors are teal, a dark blue, and a gray from Tsukineko’s Versafine Clair collection of ink pads. The colors stamped beautifully.

The focal image took inspiration from the arrangement of succulents in the inspiration board.

How I made this project:

  • On a 4.00”x5.25” piece of white cardstock, I stamped a flower several times to form a cluster.
  • Using another stamp from the same stamp set, I stamped the centers of the flowers in gray.
  • Using a darker blue color, I used a coordinating stamp for the flower to stamp the flower folds.
  • The leaves for the flower cluster were stamped around to cluster for balance. Note: I didn’t use masking when I stamped the leaves. I inked the leaves stamp in gray and then wiped ink away using my finger on the portion(s) of the leaves so that the leaves looked like they were coming from behind the flower(s).
  • The sentiment was stamped in the same gray ink as the leaves.
  • The card front was then matted against a gray, metallic shimmer card. The mat was 4.25”x5.5” so there was an eighth-inch border all around.
  • The card front with mat was mounted onto a 4.25”x5.5” card base.
  • Clear gemstones were added for some soft bling.

Supplies used in making this project:

  • Stamps: Essentials by Ellen: Courage Stamp Set (flowers and leaves); Essentials by Ellen: Lovely stamp set (sentiment).
  • Inks: Tsukineko’s VersaFine Clair inks: Warm Breeze (flower); Blue Belle (flower folds); Morning Mist (leaves and sentiment).
  • Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 80# (card front); Silver metallic cardstock in a gunmetal gray from my stash (mat); Neenah Solar White 110# for card base.
  • Other: Hero Arts Smooth Clear Gemstones.

The overall look of the card is clean and simple. The style of the card matches the sentiment in a way—just enough, not fussy.

Hope you like the card. Have a great day!

Hey There: Emoji Faces Card

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This is such a simple card to make! The clean and simple style lends itself to being a gender-neutral card. Just send this to a friend to say hello!

I  used a die-cut that had 6 circle openings and puffy stickers. The puffy stickers were really cute, I found them at a Paper Source store and couldn’t resist buying them!

The only stamping was done with the sentiment.

How I made this card:

  • Die-cut openings onto a 4″ x 5.25″ piece of white cardstock.
  • Glue the die-cut opening piece onto a 4.25″ x 5.5″ (A2-sized) piece of colored cardstock. A lavender-colored piece of cardstock was used here.
  • Adhere the puffy stickers in the middle of each opening, leaving one opening free to stamp the sentiment.
  • Stamp the sentiment in the middle of the sixth opening.
  • Adhere the card front to an A2 card base.

Supplies used in making this card:

  • Stamps: Hey There stamp – sorry it is from my stash of small sentiments and I can’t remember the maker or the name of the stamp set it came from. However, you could use any small sentiment to convey the message you want to the sender.
  • Dies: Simon Says Stamp: Repeating Circles wafer die.
  • Cardstock: Neenah Solar White 80# for die-cutting opening; lavender cardstock from my stash; Neenah Solar White 110# for card base.
  • Ink: Versafine ink in Onyx Black for sentiment.
  • Stickers: Emoji Face Puffy Stickers by Meri Meri (found at Paper Source store).

Hope you like this card. Have a great day!

 

Mom: You Are One of a Kind

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Motherhood is universal, yet each person’s mother is unique! Here is another Mother’s Day card created with a vibrant floral arrangement.

For added glamour, the word “mom” was die-cut from lowercase dies in magenta glitter paper. I love how the magenta glitter paper adds an additional level of richness and glitz.

The die-cut word was mounted onto vellum in order hide the outlined word “kind” that was in the middle of the floral arrangement stamp.

How I made this project:

  • Stamp the floral arrangement using Memento Ink onto an A2-sized piece of Neenah Solar White 80# cardstock. I used an ink that was alcohol-marker friendly because I was going to use Copic markers to color the floral arrangement.
  • Color the floral images with your favorite colors.
  • Die-cut the word “mom” from glitter cardstock.
  • Glue the die-cut word onto a small rectangular piece of vellum and then glue the sentiment piece to the center of the colored floral arrangement.
  • Trim down A2 card front to 4”x5.25” and mat it onto an A2-sized piece of magenta/pomegranate cardstock.
  • Adhere the card front piece onto an A2 sized card base.

Supplies I used to make this project:

  • Stamps: Simon Says Stamp: Kind Flowers (floral arrangement stamp & sentiment phrase)
  • Dies: My Favorite Things Die-namics: By the Letters die set (discontinued), can substitute a alphabet die set that is approximately 3/4-inch high.
  • Copic Markers: Leaves: YG23, YG11, yg17 (leaves); Flowers: R85, RV34, RV21; BV17, BV08; V04, V15; RV09, RV66; Y38 (flower centers and circles).
  • Ink: Versafine Onyx Black (sentiment phrase); Memento Tuxedo Black (floral piece)
  • Cardstock: Simon Says Stamp Glitter Cardstock in Magenta; Neenah Solar White 80# card front; Magenta/Pomegranate cardstock from my stash (for matting card front); Neenah Solar White 110# for card base; Bazzill Vellum 40#.

Note: the SSS stamp set has a large floral arrangement stamp in it, with the word “KIND” in the middle. I loved the floral arrangement and wanted to hide or obscure the word “KIND” and replace it with the MOM die-cut piece. To do this, I extended the flowers by coloring over the word “KIND” so that the flowers appeared over the word and made the word less noticeable. Since the vellum obscured anything underneath it, the extended flowers appeared as if they were part of the original floral arrangement.

Hope you like this project. Have a great day!