I Whale Always Love You!

Today's card made for the Itsy Bitsy design team embraces the cool tones of winter and celebrates everlasting love...in large, oceanic, mammal style, lol! 

You may be wondering why I am showing you this pretty piece of tan, vintage paper from the Retro Paper Pack below...but believe it or not,  that is what I started out with for this project! I used only the top right portion of this 12" x 12" sheet (cut to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2") as the base for my stencil work. Follow along with the step -by -step below to see how it's done.

The first step was using stencil tape to secure the Chevron Stencil down to my work surface over top of the Retro patterned paper. Using gray Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, I gently tapped the color through the stencil on to the paper. 

When it was covered completely, I removed the patterned paper, sprayed the inked surface of the stencil with water in a fine mist and then pulled a print of that watercolored design on to a separate piece of White Card. 

I then repeated that same process with the blue Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, but I offset the paper under the stencil to alternate the two colors.

I also used the two ink colors to add watercolor splotches on a small scrap of white card that I'll use for my sentiment banner. Below you can see the 3 pieces I was left with after my session of playing around with water, paper and ink.

After I gave it some time to dry, I used my diecut machine and the thin cut Banner Die set to cut a large banner from the water printed chevron paper, a medium banner from plain white card and a small banner from the watercolor splotched paper.

Then I got out my Black Chalk Ink and the Fintastic Birthday set to stamp the sentiment on the small banner and the whale on a scrap of white.

I tapped the Distess Ink pads in both colors on to a clear acrylic stamp block and pulled ink off using a water brush to watercolor the whale. After he was dry, I fussy cut him out and covered him with a little dusting of glitter.

Using Foam Tape adhesive and an office/desk stapler, I layered and adhered the banners and the whale to the front of a white A2 side folded vertical card.

Tiny silver stars from the Moon Light Shaker Sprinkles pack were randomly glued on to the card front for some subtle bling and then it was all done!

Check out Itsy Bitsy's webstore to find all the supplies used here today and until next time, happy crafting~

A Sparkly Love Anniversary Card

Today's card was designed for the Mix It Up Challenge Blog November Design Team with the optional technique of "Stenciling" using the sketch from Sunday Stamps as my inspiration. It will also be entered @ Crazy 4 Challenges for "Using Pink" and @ heARTful Stamping for "Anything Goes + a Stamp". 

The first step in making this card was to stencil the polka dots design on the front of an A2 sized horizontal top folding card made from Bristol cardstock for it's sturdiness qualities and ability to take the wetness from the gel medium well. I used Frog tape to secure it to my work mat and then used a palette knife to evenly spread the matte gel medium across the stencil on the card front. I then carefully pulled the stencil off and sprinkled the crystal glitter all over the wet gel. I also rinsed the gel off the stencil right away! I then set this aside to dry while I worked on the other parts of the card.

 I stamped and heat embossed the blooms from Close to my Heart in Silver Pearl powder, colored them with watercolors and cut them out using the matching die set once they were completely dry.

Using the sketch as my guide, I trimmed the vellum layer and added the washi tape banner. The "love" was die cut from some DCVW holographic paper I bought at a stamp and scrap store while we were on vacation in Bermuda.

There is so much sparkle and shimmer on this card -I just LOVE it, lol! As you may be able to see here, I even added clear wink of Stella to the blossoms.

Once everything was assembled, I wrapped the silver thread around the card front 2 times, tied it in a bow and secured it with a mini glue dot. The bloom was adhered with foam pop dots, but everything else is glued flat.

Inside, I stamped the sentiment in London Fog Memento ink and added the embossed and die cut blue bloom. This card will be going out in the mail to one of my sister-in-laws and her hubby in the next few weeks.

Until next time~

How to Make an Adorable Kitty Birthday Card Using The Best Glue Ever

Hello crafty friends! Today's card is a cute kitty on a 6" x 6" square top-folding white card base. The patterned papers, embossing folder, glitter and the stamp set that I used are all from the Itsy Bitsy shop. The first step after trimming all my paper layers was to run the floral layer through my Amaze machine with the Mums embossing folder -but only partially -meaning that the left side of the piece of paper hung outside of the folder and stayed smooth. I then lightly sanded the paper to remove the color off the very top and give it some definition.

Using the Best Glue Ever to adhere the embossed paper to the other card layers means that I know it will stay stuck and not pop off later...the dimension from the embossing proved to be a challenge for securing until I discovered how well the BGE works!

I also used the Best Glue Ever along with the No Clog Writing Cap to "color" in the white circles on the yellow patterned paper and then turned them a sparkly rose gold using glitter.

To color my images, I used Distress Inks as water colors...tapping the ink pad onto an acrylic block and picking up the color with a water brush. I just kept layering colors until I got the look I wanted. I then fussy cut out the party accessories and added them to the kitty using mini glue dots. The square kitty panel and the sentiment panel were adhered using mini foam dots for added height.

Here you can get an up close look at how using the sanding block in the first step really pops the embossed dimension up off the patterned paper. This works really well with white cored and white backed papers.

I also went back and added glitter to the pile of gifts once the water color on them was all dry.

Inside I used up some paper scraps and did some quick stamping and coloring. This card is now ready to be given to my niece for her 16th birthday coming up after this weekend.

Until next time, happy crafting with ScraPerfect and the Best Glue Ever! 

Tranquil Pines for a Peace Filled Holiday Season

Today's card is my October creation for the Mix It Up Challenge Blog where "anything goes", but we also have an optional theme of "Watercolors" this month and I used sketch #340 from Try Stampin' on Tuesday where the optional theme was "Petite Patterns".

This card is made on a top folded vertical white A2 card base and the pattern papers from my stash were chosen for their colors and because of the "Petite Patterns" they showcased -I think they came from SU.  The metallic layer is a pretty platinum and I think it came from Creative Memories at one time. The stamp set is another oldie from Stampin' Up too. As you may be able to tell, I have had a hard time parting with these gorgeous holiday stamp sets over the years, lol. It's hard to make holiday cards when it is still so hot outside, but I know that if I don't start now, I will never get them all done!

Since the technique of the month at MIUCB is watercoloring, I tried out something that I've been wanting to do for quite a while now...I applied the Distress Ink colors directly from the inkpad onto the stamp, stamped it onto the watercolor paper and then blended the ink like watercolor paints using a waterbrush. I was really pleased with how nicely the ink moved on the watercolor paper and love how it turned out!

Then I re-stamped the image using Versamark ink and heat embossed it using Holographic powder to give it a gorgeous sparkle and shine. I then watercolored the sky and the shadows using Distress Inks.

I love how the inks watercolor blended so nicely, yet still maintained a good bit of the images stamped details!

To stamp the sentiment, I used a post-it note to mask off the bottom of the saying before I inked it up so that I could capture just the first line for the card front...trimmed it out and popped it up with mini foam dots. I wish the photo would capture the sparkle better, but you can catch a glimpse at the top of  the largest pine in this picture.

Inside I masked the sentiment again -doing the reverse this time and masking the top part so that I could stamp only the bottom two lines and watercolor washed a little blue behind the dove. The embossing I did on the dove tells the story of why I now have ordered myself a Stamp-a-Majig after 15+ years of having resisted doing so, lol. The re-stamping with the versamark was much harder to line up than the card front because I didn't have the edges of the paper to use as my guide -hence it is waaay off, lol! Oh well, it just adds to the hand-made charm of the card and makes it look like the dove is in motion, right? - at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it, lol!

Until next time~

Fall 2017 Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

Today's card is my second contribution to the Fall 2017 Coffee Lover's Blog Hop and my design team creation for Atlantic Hearts using sketch #230. I will also be entering it @ House of Cards for "Add Text" and @ Addicted -to -Stamps for "Stamp a Backround".

This card started with a white side folding A2 card base and a kraft cardstock layer trimmed just a bit off the sides. I then repeatedly stamped the COFFEE stamp from a retired set from FunStamper's Journey using 3 fall colors of chalk ink, going about 2/3rds of the way down from the top and stopping. I then glued a shimmery latte colored ribbon on and wrapped it around the back to hold it in place. The 3 mini antiqued copper brads were added using a tiny hole punch.

Using  a Versamark pad and brown embossing powder, I stamped and heat embossed the "to-go-cup" and the sentiment on small 2 pieces of white cardstock. The sentiment piece will be layered on 2 colors of cardstock while the cup will be fussy cut out.

And here's where I went a little rogue, lol...I turned a baby wipe into a stamp pad by spraying Walnut Ink onto it and then stamping the bottom of the blue silicone bowl in it to make the trio of coffee cup stains. I then also took the top off the ink bottle and tapped the spritzer tube to make the splatters, spritzed it with water to make it bleed a little and then dried it with my heat tool.

I used watercolors to color the "to-go-cup" and adhered it to the card front using foam tape once it was dry and fussy cut out.

The large kraft panel was mounted to the card front also using foam tape, everything else was glued down flat with my ATG gun. The last step was cutting the red and green banners and tucking them underneath the center layers.

On the inside, I stamped the sentiment from a STAMPlorations coffee themed stamp set in black, stamped the bottom of the bowl again with the walnut ink and the heart is from another love themed STAMPlorations stamp set. Hoping this card will put a smile on my hubby's face when he opens it while on one of his hectic weekly business trips...he loves his Starbucks Coffee!!!

Until next time, happy crafting~