New Dream

Hi Friends!

This weekend, as I was watching the Hurricane Irma coverage on the Weather Channel and praying for Florida as well as the surrounding areas, I had a chance to play around in my stamping studio to create a few fun inky backgrounds.

I decided to turn this rainbow colored background into a quick Clean and Simple (CAS) Mixed Media card for the CASology #265 "Education" Challenge as well as the TimeOut #91 CASEing Beverly Brown Challenge (I was inspired by the rainbow colors) and the Simon Says Wednesday “Stamp It”Challenge.  

I love the sentiment on this stamp and think it would be great for someone returning to college or trying something new in their life, don't you?

If you have not had a chance to check out the above challenge sites yet, I hope you will find the time to do so- as always, wonderful inspiration from all!

To create this card:

1). On a craft mat, swipe Salty Ocean, Worn Lipstick and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks, lightly spritz with water, lay a piece of watercolor paper onto the ink, shift a bit and lift up.  Add a bit more color as needed and heat set with a heat tool.

2). Add a bit of metallic color with Faber-Castell® Gelatos™- Metallic Blueberry, Bubblegum and Gold Champagne.  Rub onto areas of the panel, smooth with your finger and sprtiz with water to allow the color to run. Dry with the heat tool and add a few more splashes of water to finish off the panel.

3).  Once the panel is thoroughly dried, de-static with an Embossing Buddy®, ink the New Dream Plain Jane image (closeout at Verve Stamps but image also available in the current Words of Wisdom stamp set) with Versafine™ Onyx Black Ink and stamp onto the panel.  Apply clear embossing powder and heat set with the heat tool.  Trim the panel and mount onto a piece of black cardstock (die cut with a stitched rectangle die).

4). Trim a piece of white cardstock for the background to 4” x 5 ¼”, mount onto a piece of black cardstock, trim and mount onto the white card front.

5). Add the sentiment panel with dimensional foam to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: New Dream Plain Jane or Words of Wisdom (Verve Stamps)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine™ Onyx Black; Tim Holtz® Distress Inks- Salty Ocean, Worn Lipstick, Squeezed Lemonade; Faber-Castell® Gelatos™- Metallic Blueberry, Bubblegum, Gold Champagne

Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up!), Canson™ Watercolor

Accessories/Tools: Big Shot™, Stitched Rectangle STAX Die (My Favorite Things™), Embossing Buddy®, Heat Tool, Stampin’ Emboss® Clear Embossing Powder

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- I hope all of you have a safe week!  I will continue to pray for all of you in Irma’s path as well as those affected by Harvey as well as all of the wildfires in California and the West Coast- hugs and God Bless!

Psalm 31:24 Be Strong and Take Heart

Hi Again Friends!!

Here is my second card I designed using The Card Concept Challenge #52 Inspiration  Photo (please see my first card in this post).

Again, I was inspired by the beautiful purples in the lilacs for my Mixed Media card (lilacs were my Mother’s favorite along with irises).

I am also linking this card to the Mixed Media Monthly MMMC#23 “Dimension” Challenge and the Word Art Wednesday #228/#229 "Family Friendly/Anything Goes" Challenge.

I hope will find the time to visit us at The Card Concept as well as the other challenge sites- wonderful inspiration from all!!

To create this card:

Using a foam brush, apply Gesso® over a piece of cardstock (I used a piece of Designer Series Paper that I did not like the pattern- one way to use up “older” paper).

Once the Gesso® dried, apply Ranger® Tim Holtz® Distress Stains to a craft mat (I used Broken China, Frayed Denim and Mowed Lawn), lay the panel into the ink, lift up and allow the ink to spread, spritz with water to dilute a bit and continue to tilt and spread the ink.

Dry the ink with a Heat Tool, apply more ink as desired along with Gelatos® (I used Aqua Dolce and Cotton Candy- spritzing the Gelatos® with water and allowing the color to run across the panel).

Some of the color was a bit bright for me so I added Ranger® Tim Holtz® Picket Fence Distress Stain to tone down some of the brightness.

Once the panel was thoroughly dry, de-static with the Embossing Buddy®, ink the retired Ex Libris background stamp with Versamark® Ink, stamp onto the prepared panel, apply Stampin’ Emboss® White Embossing Powder and heat set with the Heat Tool.

Repeat the above embossing steps with the sentiment from the Our Daily Bread Designs Scripture Collection 3 using Versamark® Ink, then add Elegant Eggplant Classic Ink followed by Clear Embossing Powder.

Trim the background panel, mount onto the Old Olive card base and sponge additional Elegant Eggplant Classic Ink over the embossing in a few areas (wiping off the excess with a lightly dampened paper towel).

Cut the roses from Elegant Eggplant cardstock with the Big Shot™ and the My Favorite Things® (MFT) Royal Rose and Mini Rose Die, crimp the die cuts with the Crimper Tool before rolling into the flower shape and add Gesso® to the flower petals.

Punch the leaves from Old Olive cardstock with the Martha Stewart® (MS) Leaf Punch, add the roses to the leaves and apply Gesso® to the leaves as well.

Mount the roses and leaves onto the card front (I like to use Hot Glue for this step) and add the Pearls to the corners.

Ink the butterflies from Papillon Potpourri with Versamark™ Ink and stamp onto Whisper White cardstock, apply Stampin’ Emboss® Black Embossing Powder and heat set with the Heat Tool.

Punch the butterflies out with the Elegant Butterfly Punch and color with the So Saffron Stampin’ Write Marker.

Add to the card front along with Pearls for the bodies to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: Papillon Potpourri, retired Ex Libris (SU!), Scripture Collection 3 (ODBD)

Ink/Mediums: Versamark™, Elegant Eggplant; Stampin’ Write Marker- So Saffron; added Ranger® Tim Holtz® Distress Stains-Broken China, Faded Denim, Mowed Lawn, Picket Fence; Gelatos®- Aqua Dolce, Cotton Candy

Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, misc piece of DSP (for Gesso® panel)

Accessories: Gesso®, Big Shot™, MFT Royal Rose and Mini Royal Rose Dies, Elegant Butterfly Punch (SU!), MS Leaf Punch, Embossing Buddy®, Heat Tool, Stampin’ Emboss® Clear, White and Black Embossing Powder, Pearls

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- I hope all of you have a wonderful day!!

TCC53 Blessed to Know You

Hi Friends!!

Woohoo!!  It is time for the new challenge at The Card Concept and I was inspired by the bright, beautiful colors along with the texture for my Mixed Media card.

Just a reminder that The Card Concept is a bi-weekly challenge that has an inspiration photo along with a number of design styles that you can choose from to create your card- Clean and Simple, Clean and Graphic, Clean and Layered, Shabby Chic, Freestyle Collage, Classy and Elegant and Mixed Media.  

I have also linked this card to the Global Design Project #GDP031 "Nature" Theme Challenge along with the Splitcoaststampers’ MIX164 “Celebrate Spring!” Challenge.

 I hope you have a chance to visit us at The Card Concept and check out the rest of our Design Team samples as well as the Global Design Project and Splitcoaststampers challenge sites- fabulous inspiration from all!!

To create this card:

On a piece of Watercolor Paper, apply Gelatos®- Bubblegum, Aqua Dolce, Cotton Candy and Green Tea, spritz with water and use your finger or a sponge dauber to move the Gelatos® around on the paper.

Speed up the drying process with the Heat Tool.

Spritz more water onto the background panel, apply Ranger® Tim Holtz® Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Picked Raspberry and Mowed Lawn Distress Stains onto a craft mat, lay the moistened background panel into the ink, tilt the panel to allow the inks to spread across the page and heat with the Heat Tool.

Originally I inked the Hero Arts® Stamp Your Own Plant leaves with Mowed Grass Distress Stain and inked directly onto the panel.  FYI- While this looked OK, I was not completely satisfied, so I dried the panel with the Heat Tool, used the Embossing Buddy® to prep the page, and stamped the different leaves from Stamp Your Own Plant with Versamark® Ink and heat embossed the leaves with Stampin’ Emboss® White Embossing Powder.

I embossed the leaves in several steps so that they have the appearance of overlapping one another.

Use the Big Shot™ with the My Favorite Things® (MFT) Die-namics™ Stitched Cover-Up Vertical Companion Die and cut the Cover-Up from Basic Black cardstock.

De-static the Cover-Up die cut with the Embossing Buddy®, ink the sentiments from the Blessed (Mama Elephant) stamp set and Absolutely Fabulous (retired Stampin’ Up!) with Versamark™ ink and heat emboss with Stampin’ Emboss® White Embossing Powder.

Mount the embossed Cover-Up onto the embossed watercolor panel and adhere the entire panel to the Melon Mambo card base using dimensional foam.

Stamp Sets: Absolutely Fabulous (retired Stampin’ Up!), Stamp Your Own Plant (Hero Arts), Blessed (Mama Elephant)

Ink: Versamark™, Gelatos®- Bubblegum, Aqua Dolce, Cotton Candy and Green Tea , Ranger® Tim Holtz® Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Picked Raspberry and Mowed Lawn Distress Stains

Paper: Watercolor, Basic Black, Melon Mambo

Accessories: Big Shot™, MFT Die-namics™ Stitched Cover-Up Vertical Companion Die, Embossing Buddy®, Heat Tool, Stampin’ Emboss® White Embossing Powder

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by- I hope you can gather your supplies and pick a style to create your own card for our TCC53 "Bright and Fresh" gallery at The Card Concept!

Always Make A Total Effort

Hi Friends!

Today I am sharing my weekly card post on the Artistic Outpost (AO) blog – this Mixed Media card was created using the new AO March Release stamps, Grunge Elements and The Golf Club.

I had posted this card as one of the two designs created for the new March release announcement with a promise that details would be shared at a later date (so here are the details:-)).

To create this card:

Add Ranger® Tim Holtz® Distress Stains along with Gelatos® and Leaf Green Brusho® to a piece of watercolor paper, spritz and allow the colors to run, repeat until you have the desired effect. 

Dry the panel with the Heat Tool and stamp the images from Grunge Elements (AO) with Stāz-On® Jet Black Ink.

Trim the panel and cut on an angle (I used the Splitcoaststampers' SC584 Sketch and MIX155 "Let It Flow" Mix-Ability Challenge for inspiration).

With the Big Shot™ and the largest die from the ODBD Double Stitched Rectangle Dies, cut a stitched panel from Basic Black cardstock, mount onto the Cucumber Crush card base and add the background watercolor panels.

De-static a piece of Basic Black cardstock with the Embossing Buddy®, ink the sentiment from The Golf Club with Versamark™ Ink and stamp onto the prepared cardstock, apply Stampin’ Emboss® White Embossing Powder and heat set with the Heat Tool.

Cut the sentiment panel with the Big Shot™ and the ODBD Double Stitched Rectangle Dies.

Adhere the looped Silver Cord (I used Hot Glue for this step) onto the card front and mount the sentiment over the Silver Cord using dimensional foam to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: GrungeElements, The Golf Club (Artistic Outpost)

Ink: Stāz-On® Jet Black, Ranger® Tim Holtz® Mowed Lawn and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Stains, Leaf Green Brusho®, Green Tea Gelatos®

Paper: Watercolor, Basic Black

Accessories: Big Shot™, ODBD Double Stitched Rectangle Dies, Embossing Buddy®, Stampin’ Emboss® White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Silver Cord 

Thanks again for stopping by- hugs and I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend!

TCC50 Let All That You Do Be Done In Love

Hi Friends!!

It’s time for new The Card Concept #TCC50 "Shamrocks, Patterns and Greens" Challenge!  March signals the start of spring along with the celebration of Easter and Saint Patrick’s Day so I decided to use the colors in the inspiration photo for my Mixed Media card.

Just a reminder that the Card Concept is a bi-weekly challenge that has an inspiration photo along with a number of design styles that you can choose from to create your card- Clean and Simple, Clean and Graphic, Clean and Layered, Shabby Chic, Freestyle Collage, Classy and Elegant and Mixed Media.  

I have also linked this card to the Just Us Girls JUGS339 “Happy Leap Year” Challenge as well as the Splitcoaststampers’ WT549 What’s Your Birthstone Challenge (Green for Peridot) and the Stampin' Royalty SR319 "Going Green" Challenge :-)

I hope you have a chance to visit us at The Card Concept and check out the rest of our Design Team samples as well as the other challenge sites- fabulous inspiration from all!!

To create this card:

Apply Gesso® to a piece of Whisper White cardstock, allow the Gesso® to dry (or use the Heat Tool to speed up the process), add Gelatos®- Aqua Dolce, Green Tea and Metallic Mint, spritz the background with water to allow the colors to run and merge together, dry with a Heat Tool, apply additional Gelatos® along with Leaf Green Brusho®, spritz and dry again with the Heat Tool.

Once the background color has dried, place the Memory Box™ (MB) Stencil over the background and use a dampened cloth to remove some of the color.

Trim the panel and mount onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock, trim again and mount onto a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock.

Add the crocheted lace trim and mount the panel onto the Cucumber Crush card base.

Ink the sentiment from the Our Daily Bread Designs (ODBD) Boho Love stamp set using Stāz-On® Jet Black Ink and stamp onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock. 

Trim the sentiment, mount onto a piece of Cucumber Crush cardstock and adhere directly to the card front.

Ink the floral image from Flower Shop and the butterfly from Papillon Potpourri (both Stampin’ Up!) with Stāz-On® Jet Black Ink and stamp three of the flowers and two butterflies  onto a piece of Whisper White cardstock.

Use the Sahara Sand Stampin’ Write Marker to add color to the butterflies and flowers, fussy cut the flowers and use the Elegant Butterfly Punch to punch out the butterflies.

Use the Martha Stewart (MS) Leaf Punch to punch leaves from Cucumber Crush cardstock, adhere the leaves to the back of the flowers and add the flowers along with the butterflies to the card front.

Add the white highlights to the center of the flowers with the Faber-Castell® Pitt Penn White Marker and once dried, darken the centers with the Faber-Castell® Bold Black Pitt Pen Marker.

Add Pearls to the centers of the butterflies to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: Flower Shop, Papillon Potpourri (Stampin’ Up!), Boho Love (ODBD)

Ink: Stāz-On® Jet Black; Stampin Write Marker- Sahara Sand; Gelatos®- Aqua Dolce, Metallic Mint, Green Tea, Brusho® Leaf Green; Faber-Castell® Pitt Penn White & Black Markers

Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Cucumber Crush

Accessories: Gesso®, Heat Tool, MB Pattern Heartwood Stencil, Water Spritzer, Elegant Butterfly Punch (SU!), Leaf Punch (MS), Crochet Lace, Pearls

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- I hope you can gather your supplies and pick a style to create your own card for our gallery at The Card Concept!

Somewhere Beyond the Sea...

Hi Friends!!

Today I am sharing my first blog post at the Artistic Outpost using Sound of the Sea and Beyond theSea.

This was a fun card to design and I hope you will stop by the Artistic Outpost blog to see more details on how to create this card.

I have also linked this card to the Splitcoaststampers' Mix-Ability MIX160 "Let's Face It" Challenge. 

This was a fun card to create- a bit of Gesso®, Gelatos®, Distress Stains and Ink along with Crackle Texture Paste was used to create the Mixed Media center panel, Heat Embossing, Markers, and Embossing with a die cut and the card was finished :-)

Stamp Sets: Sound ofthe Sea, Beyond the Sea (Artistic Outpost)

Ink: Versamark™,  Stampin’ Write Markers- Blushing Bride, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, Tip Top Taupe, retired Poppy Parade; Gelatos®- Metallic Blueberry, Cotton Candy; Ranger® Tim Holtz® Distress Stains- Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire; Ranger® Tim Holtz® Tea Dye Distress Ink, Titanium White Acrylic Paint

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Tip Top Taupe

Accessories: Big Shot™, Our Daily Bread Designs- Double Stitched Rectangle Dies, Boho Background Dies; Embossing Buddy®, Heat Tool, Stampin’ Emboss® White and Black Embossing Powder, Sponge Daubers, Distressing Tool, Clear Crackle Paste, Gesso®

Thanks again for stopping by- I hope all of you have a blessed weekend, my friends!!

TCC49 A Friend Loves At All Times

Hi Friends!!

It’s time for new TheCard Concept #TCC49 Floral Radiance Challenge!  I just love this spring inspiration photo with all of the beautiful flowers and glass- I was inspired by the colors, flowers and glass for my Mixed Media card!

Just a reminder that the Card Concept is a bi-weekly challenge that has an inspiration photo along with a number of design styles that you can choose from to create your card- Clean and Simple, Clean and Graphic, Clean and Layered, Shabby Chic, Freestyle Collage, Classy and Elegant and Mixed Media.  

I also linked this card to the Just Us Girls #330 Trend Week (Add a Tag) Challenge :-)

I hope you have a chance to visit us at The Card Concept and check out the rest of our Design Team samples as well as the gallery at Just Us Girls- fabulous inspiration from all!

This background for this card was created by applying Gelatos®, Distress Inks and Brusho® to a piece of Watercolor Paper, drying between layers, add Gesso® with the MB Fishnet Stencil, trim and mount onto Basic Black cardstock, trim and mount onto the Whisper White card base.

On another piece of Watercolor Paper, apply orange, yellow and pink Gelatos®, dry with a Heat Tool, prep the paper with an Embossing Buddy®, stamp the flower with Versamark™ Ink, apply Black Stampin’ Emboss® Embossing Powder, heat set with the Heat Tool and fussy cut the flower.  Add Clear Wink of Stella® to the petals (difficult to see in the photo).

Create the leaves in the same manner using Green Gelatos™ and add to the card front using dimensional foam.

Heat emboss the sentiment using Stampin’ Emboss® White Embossing Powder onto Basic Black cardstock, punch out with the Note Punch and mount onto the card front using dimensional foam to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: Choose Happiness, Blessed by God

Ink: Ranger® Tim Holtz® broken China, Faded Jeans  Distress Stains; Gelatos®- Metallic Blue, Blueberries, Orange, Lemon, Pink, Brusho® Turquoise; Faber-Castell® Pitt Penn White Marker; Clear Wink of Stella®

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Watercolor

Accessories: Gesso®, MB Fishnet Stencil, Embossing Buddy®, Heat Tool, Stampin’ Emboss® White and Black Embossing Powder, Water Spritzer

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- I hope you can gather your supplies and pick a style to create your own card for our gallery at The Card Concept!

SC122 Love You

Hi Friends!!

Woohoo!! I am a Guest Designer for the Stampin’ Celebration SC122 Photo Inspiration Challenge and I decided to create a Mixed Media card using the colors and the heart theme.

I am also linking this card to the IN{K}SPIRE_Me #235 Valentine Challenge as well as the Tic-Tac-Toe #3 Challenge (top row across- Love, Add Shimmer and Hearts).   

I hope you have a chance to visit the gallery at Stampin’ Celebration and check out the rest of the Design Team samples as well as the designs from the other two challenge sites- fabulous inspiration from all!

To create this card:

Apply Gesso® to a piece of Whisper White cardstock (I used a piece of Whisper White cardstock that I had printed some Scripture from Psalms and decided that I was unhappy with my Bible Journaling on that page, so I cut the paper into A2 size panels and this is one of those panels).

Once the gesso has dried, apply Gelatos®- I used a blue metallic, light blue and metallic pink (sorry, the colors were not printed on the outside and I neglected to note them before discarding the packaging- oops!).   

Spread the Gelatos® with your finger (I used a dry paper towel), spritz with water and allow the colors to merge and drip down the paper. 

Dab the colors with a paper towel, re-apply, spritz again and dry with the Heat Tool. 

Add Ranger® Tim Holtz® Worn Lipstick Distress Stain, spritz and dry with the Heat Tool.

Once you are satisfied with the color (I ended up doing several layers), use a Sponge Dauber to apply Melon Mambo Classic Ink over the Memory Box™ Texture Flourish Stencil, trim the panel, mount onto a piece of Melon Mambo cardstock, trim again and mount onto the Whisper White card base.

Here is the background before adding the die cut heart :-)

Adhere a strip of Basic Black cardstock across the upper portion of the panel, add the Basic Black paper bow and Antique Brad.

Use the Big Shot™ with the Bloomin’ Heart Thinlits™ (Stampin’ Up!) to cut a heart from Whisper White cardstock and a few of the flowers from Melon Mambo cardstock.

Also, from the Bloomin’ Heart Thinlits ™ cut two of the large flowers and three of the smaller flowers from Whisper White cardstock.

Mount the Whisper White Bloomin’ Heart die cut to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals® and add the Melon Mambo flowers to the Bloomin’ Heart die with with Stampin’ Dimensionals® as well.

 Add Pearls for the centers of the flowers and the heat embossed sentiment banner to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: Express Yourself (retired Stampin’ Up! Hostess Set)

Ink: Versamark™, Melon Mambo; Ranger® Tim Holtz® Worn Lipstick Distress Stain; Gelatos®

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Melon Mambo

Accessories: Gesso®, Big Shot™,  Bloomin’ Heart Thinlits™, Texture Flourish Stencil (MB), Pearls, Punches-Bow Builder,  Hexagon; Embossing Buddy®, Stampin’ Emboss® Winter White Embossing Powder (retired), Heat Tool

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- I hope you can gather your supplies and join us at the Stampin’ Celebration SC122 Photo Inspiration Challenge!