Saturday 31 March 2018

Muse 259 - Thanks


Here's my card for this week's Muse Challenge, where Guest Barb Ghig gave us this pretty inspiration:


I focused on Barb's:
-floral theme
-pink/peach/yellow colours
-silver accents and sentiment

I started by cutting a white panel with the Lil Inkers Designs Cover Up Die:Geometric Snow. It has straight lines in the pattern and can easily be cut to a 4.25x4.25 square with a border all around.

I used daubers to blend Tiara and It's a Girl ink to make the snowflakes look like flowers. I glued the cut-out panel onto a square made up of white and kraft cardstock and popped it up over a sparkling silver frame. I cut the Mama Elephant Thanks die once from silver and once from white and glued them together for dimension.

Here's a (very!) quick video:


I used:


Friday 30 March 2018

SugarPea Designs 4th Birthday Celebration




Good morning! I'm excited to be part of a big blog hop to celebrate SugarPea Designs' 4th Birthday! The hop includes the Design Team and some very special guests (see below for full blog roll).

To celebrate, SugarPea Designs is offering a coupon code: BDAY04 for customers to receive 15% off their entire purchase AND a FREE 4x8 stamp set with any purchase (valid until April 7th 11:59 EST).

SugarPea Designs will be giving away (4) FOUR $40 gift certificates to the SugarPea Designs shop.

Winners will be randomly chosen from all the comments left along each stop of the hop.

Comments will close on April 7th 11:59 PM EST with winners announced on April 8th.

Now, onto my card:

I made a circular watercolour rainbow card with the Mandala stamp and Sweet Sentiments: You set, along with the You die.

I started by laying down a rainbow wash on my watercolour panel. When it was dry, I stamped and embossed the Mandala stamp. Then I went back and added more colour to certain spots on the Mandala, to add interest. 

For my sentiment, I cut a black strip and embossed 'Happy Birthday to' from Sweet Sentiments: You on it. I layered a white die cut You on top. The black strip really helps the sentiment to stand out from the rainbow watercolouring.

Here's a quick video:



Don't forget to hop and comment for your chance to win!





I used:

Thursday 29 March 2018

AJVD - Birthday Chickie


I'm on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today with this card that proves that chicks aren't just for Easter!

Wednesday 28 March 2018

Playing with Texture



 Today at Splitcoaststampers, we're doing a product focus on a really neat product that's been around for a while. It's the Clearsnap Magic Stamp, which is a foam pad that you heat up, press into something with texture and then stamp with it. Once you're done, you just heat up the pad and the texture disappears so you can use it over and over.

It's so much fun to find things to use! Here are my examples (all on Neenah 80lb cardstock):

Distress Oxide inks with Mini Mister Lid, Catherine Pooler die

Catherine Pooler inks with metal pot scrubber, Catherine Pooler stamp and dies

Catherine Pooler inks with kitchen trivet, Catherine Pooler die (from Winterhaven Stamp of Approval collection - not currently available)


I used:

Monday 26 March 2018

MCV96 - Joy


Today I'm playing along with the current Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge, where Chriss gave us this beautiful inspiration:


I focused on Chriss':
-ombre colours
-busy background
-gold accents

I started by blending a 4.25x5.5 panel with Catherine Pooler Designs Ink in Rockin' Red, fading it out toward the top. 

I cut the panel with a Hero Arts Coverplate and then cut a scrap of gold mirror card with the coverplate to give me the bits to fill in.

I cut the Essentials by Ellen Joy from Gold Mirror card and 2 more times in white and stacked them together.

Here's a quick video:



I used:



Sunday 25 March 2018

FS581 - Spread Your Wings and Fly


Congratulations to this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper, ponygirl2.

I chose this card as my inspiration:



I focused on:
-feather theme
-aspirational sentiment
-fun edge (hers is on the panel, mine is on my inking)

I changed:
-colours
-layout
-no metal embellishment

I started by cutting the feather from a white panel. I temporarily adhered it to a scrap piece of paper and blended ink over the edges, moving from the centre of the feather, to the outside, to create a 'feathery' edge. (haha!)

I then placed the panel over my card base and positioned my feather stamp before stamping it in black. I then stamped my sentiment on the coloured panel.

I popped up the colourful panel over the cardbase and added a few sequins for some sparkle.

Here's a quick video:


I used:



Saturday 24 March 2018

Muse 258 - You Make Me Smile


Here's my card for this week's Muse challenge, where Kim gave us this really neat inspiration:


I was intrigued by the colours and how well they worked together.

I focused on Kim's:
-green, black and white colour scheme (I added some yellow)
-3 black elements on green

When I got the Love Grows matching dies set, I noticed that the flower centre dies were attached inside the flowers. This gives a really fun possibility of easily cutting them together.

I also took some inspiration from Melissa Miller (another member of the Catherine Pooler Designs Creative Team) and blended ink onto a strip of the new Black Tie Gala Patterned Paper to match the rest of the card.

Here's a quick video:


I used:

Thursday 22 March 2018

National Craft Month with Right at Home - Hello Sunshine



Good morning! I'm excited to be celebrating National Craft Month along with Ellen Hutson and Nicole from Right at Home! Check out the details on the Right at Home blog!



I used my Zig Art & Graphic Twin Tip Watercolor markers to make this spring-like card. Not sure how new this technique is, but I did add a couple of twists:

First - I coloured each stamped image with more than one colour, and let the spritzed water blend the inks.

Second - I created a 'frame' by masking off an area, drawing a line with one of the ZAGTT markers along the mask and then moving it with an aqua brush - it's so easy and worked really well!

Here's a quick video:


I used:


AJVD - Faux Coverplate Birthday


I'm on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today with this fresh spring birthday card (and a video)!

Tuesday 20 March 2018

Catherine Pooler Designs March Release - All That Jazz!


It's Day 3 of the All That Jazz blog hops and the products are now available in the shop!


This card uses the new Grateful Heart stamps and dies, the new Wonderful die and one of the amazing patterns in the new Black Tie Gala Patterned paper pack.

I started by stamping and embossing the swags of flowers and then watercolouring them using CP inks (Video below). I cut them out with the matching dies and popped them up on a full panel of the striped patterned paper. 

I wanted my 'wonderful' to match the embossing on the flowers, so I cut it out in white, then pounced Versmark all over the top before using the same embossing powder. I stacked 4 die cuts together to raise it to the same height as the flowers.




Next up, I've got a fun card that uses the new Wonderful die together with the Counting Blessings Thankful die. I love how they work so well together! I blended Lime Rickey and All That Jazz onto some white cardstock, and cut them out, making sure that the fade-out would be about half-way up the word.

I used Tags, Etc. to create my scalloped square out of the new Sand Dunes cardstock.  Here's a video I made last fall to show how to convert a scalloped rectangle into a scalloped square.




Today is your last chance to hop, comment and win! 







Monday 19 March 2018

Catherine Pooler Designs All That Jazz Release - Make a Wreath



It's Day 2 of the Blog Hops for the new release from Catherine Pooler which will be available tomorrow. I'm not on the hop today, but I've included the list below, so you can hop and comment for your chance to win 2 CP Ink pads!

Seems like everyone's making wreaths these days, doesn't it? There are stamps that turn and there are templates that turn, but I made this just with a square panel and my MISTI.

The stamps I used are from two sets from the Counting Blessings Stamp of Approval Collection that was released last fall, and will be available in the shop tomorrow.  I used pretty pastel colours, and voila, my wreath has a fresh, spring feeling! That little spiral really goes with the pumpkin stamp, but it fits right in here, doesn't it?

It's important to start with a square panel (I used 4.25x4.25 and then cut it with a circle die when I was finished my stamping). And you need to know where the centre of the panel is. I use a circle die and a pencil to draw a guideline, but that step isn't necessary.

Be sure to hop and comment for a chance to win:

Catherine Pooler
Chrissie Tobas
Tracie Pond
Ashlea Cornell  
Jen Carter   
Josefine Fouarge  
Ilina Crouse  
Melissa Miller  




Here's a quick video:



I used:



Sunday 18 March 2018

Catherine Pooler All That Jazz Release



I'm excited to be here with a card using some new products from Catherine Pooler that will be available on Tuesday, March 20 (for StampNation members, you can order on Monday at 10 am! Here's more info about becoming a StampNation member!).

We are celebrating with 3 days of blog hops. I'm not on the hop today (but the blog list is below, so you can hop for your chance to win!) but I couldn't wait to show you some fun cards using the new goodies!


This release is made up of some completely new stamps, dies and stencils, as well as the products that were in the Counting Blessings Stamp of Approval Collection last fall and the All That Jazz Ink pad and reinker.

This card uses a solid leaf stamp from Leaf Motifs in a rainbow of inks from the Party Collection. I started by creating an 8-petal 'flower', overlapping each one for even more pretty shades of colour. 

I used the scalloped rectangle die from Tags, Etc. to create the scalloped edge on my white panel.

The Awesome die is brand new and is, well, awesome! I love the bouncy, happy font! To get this look I blended the rainbow of inks onto a piece of cardstock and then die cut it. I then spritzed it with water and let it dry before cutting it out. I stacked it with 3 other die cuts for some dimension.


Be sure to hop for your chance to win 2 inks - winners will be announced on Catherine's blog on March 23.






Friday 16 March 2018

SugarPea Designs Sweet 2 Repeat Blog Hop




Good morning! It's time for SugarPea Designs' Sweet2Repeat Blog Hop! Now that you have had a chance to play around with the newest goodies, our Design Team has come up with even more inspiration for you!

Would you like to WIN a $20 gift certificate to spend on some SugarPea Designs of your own?  Please visit with each of our design team members listed below and leave a comment for your chance to win! The winner will be announced on Saturday, March 24th.

Sugar cookies are my weakness, but my paper version of my favourite treat is just as sweet, with no calories! I stamped and masked the cookies and then coloured them with Copic markers. I blended some Antique Linen Distress Ink for a warm glow and stamped my sentiment.



These cards show you how this Diagonal Stripe Cover Plate creates two cards for one! I blended ink onto one panel before cutting. I used the full panel for one card and a few of the cut out stripes for another. 


Better-Together


SugarCut---Diagonal-Striped-CoverPlate

Garden-Topiary




Thursday 15 March 2018

Happy Easter


I'm on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today with a video showing how I made my pastel rainbow background with one sentiment stamp, and how I added colour and dimension to a die cut.

Tuesday 13 March 2018

Colour Trend: How to Incorporate Attitude (Colour Palette)


Good morning! Today I've got a fun card inspired by this vibrant Attitude colour palette, using stamps and dies from the latest Essentials by Ellen release and Catherine Pooler inks.


I love these bright colours and that  rainbow citrus caught my eye right away!

I started with a 4.25x4.25 white panel. I blended Fiesta Blue about half-way down the panel, fading to white.


Then Something Borrowed just on the area closer to the top.


I splattered it with water and let it dry.


Then I stamped (with some masking) my girls and the sentiment.


I used Copic markers to colour their obis and left their kimonos white, because I wanted to capture that rainbow-citrus from the inspiration photo in their parasols. I used the matching dies to cut out the 3 parasols.


I trimmed the panel to 4x4 and adhered it to a white card base before adding the 3 parasols.

And that's it! Really a simple, mostly-stamped card with some blending and colouring but bright, fun and full of energy and life! 

I used: