Happy Holidays Shaker Card

I know, I know...it's not Christmas time yet. Except if you are a crafter, it is time for holiday Bazaars and making handmade cards. I was playing with the Holiday Cheer Shaker Ornament kit, and I thought a removable shaker ornament would be cute on this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

I didn't have a ton of time to craft, since I just got back from a long weekend at the beach with my family and some of my stamping pals. Over the weekend I completed all the card and pages from my latest Craft With Heart Subscription boxes. When I got home I looked at the shaker tags spread across my desk, grabbed some festive washi tape, then started taping and stamping the stripes from the sketch across my background. I had intended to leave the whole background white, but I couldn't resist a little penwork around the edges.

Inside the shaker I mounted a glossy, sparkly snowman image. I did a little surgery on his arms to make it look more like he was holding that sign. Then I filled the shaker with silver sequin mix, tiny silver baby sequins, and some white snowflake nail gems. Can't wait to make a few more of these shaker tags - my friend Elaine was making the cutest tags all weekend!

October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. This month we are featuring the October SOTM, called Christmas Tune, a sweet shaker globe themed set. You may be arriving here from JANNA'S BLOG. You can find a list of all the participating blogs here.

For this project I started with the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. First I used white detail embossing powder to emboss the word wreath image in the bottom right corner of a panel of watercolor paper. Then I painted over the embossing with green and red watercolor paints. I added strips of black stripey Cats & Bats paper and gold shimmer trim. I added some hand drawn stitching around the edges, as well as both gold glitter gems and Bitty Sparkles that I colored with a green alcohol marker.

I painted scrap white cardstock with more of the red and green paint and hit that with my heat tool to be sure it was dry. I stamped the bottom of the tree image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink before trimming out just the bottom rows as a sentiment banner. I added some touches of gold Wink of Stella and Gold shimmer pen. The Stella is gold shimmer in a gold base, and the CTMH shimmer pen is gold shimmer in a clear base. I love them both!

Next up on the hop is GINA'S BLOG. Don't forget to click here or ask your consultant about scooping up your own October SOTM, before it melts away! 

End of Summer Blog Hop

Welcome to the Blog Hops with Heart End of Summer Blog Hop! You might be arriving here from KELLY'S BLOG. You'll find a list of all the hoppers at the bottom of this post.

For this month's hop I thought I'd finally get around to sharing my winning layout from this Summer's Convention Layout Contest. It's honestly one of my favorite things that I've ever made. I love how the Layout Contest themes make me scrapbook something that I might not otherwise have thought to put down on paper.

This year's theme was to tell an important story. I was STUMPED for the longest time. What story is most important. What's relevant? How in the world do you get started? Then one night, I kid you not, I literally dreamed this layout into existence. I woke up and it just came together like no prob, Rob...I am not a quick scrapbooker and this one just flowed out lickety split.   

I used a watercolor over rocks technique for the background, the watercolored letters, and the flowers. You pile small pebbles or glass stones onto watercolor paper and mist them well with a spray bottle. Then you drop watercolor onto the rock piles and let it seep down onto the paper. I let it dry overnight because I was afraid to disturb the watercolor. It's super fun to do, and the resulting background/painting is so lovely and bright.

Next up on the hop is JAYMA'S BLOG. I can't wait to see what all these amazing artists have made! Happy hopping!

End of Summer Hop:

Katy

Stephanie

Amie

Kelly

Wendy (You are Here)

Jayma

Becca

Sawdust is Man Glitter Card

Ready to shake up my girlie, floral obsessed, glittery blog with another masculine card today? If not, look away! Never mind - I still found a way to add glitter!

So I'm making cards with Jack-Scrapbooking, and, duh, it has no card sentiments. I really like goofiness. Like super duper love punny or silly card sentiments. And if I don't have a funny card sentiment, I will make my own! That's one of the joys of stamping - complete and total control. this one I made with a retired set called Tiny Typewriter. I hoard save all my fonts forever and ever, because you never know when you'll need them again.

I used my Fuse tool to create a pocket for the "sawdust", which is a combo of brown, red distress, and white glitters with a big pinch of mica flakes. I kept the rest of the details simple, inspired by the clean and simple masculine card by Tracey McNeeley over at the MUSE Card Club challenge. I only added one tiny kraft element like Tracey's kraft stripe, but couldn't resist just a bit of penwork. This is about as clean and simple as my embellishment loving heart could manage!

December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

Welcome to the December Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we have 30 talented consultants sharing their crafty creations using Thoughtful Flowers, a stunningly pretty set of 14 floral images and sentiments.You may be arriving here from TAMMY'S BLOG.

As soon as I saw this set I started to ponder how I could best turn it into floral sprays of goodness. I didn't really want to fussy cut all the flowers, or have it be too bulky, so it seemed natural to give masking a try!  I used some post-its to create a mask for each type of flower. Then I started with my biggest center flower, masking each image off as I went along, working from the "front" of the floral spray to the "back" so that the finished element would have depth. I stamped everything in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored the image using Shin Han alcohol markers. I don't usually go in for the one layer card but the MUSE Challenge this week is a cute one layer card with a vine wrapping around the sentiment so I took it as an additional challenge not to add a bunch of extra layering.

I went back in on the image with a shimmer pen for some subtle sparkle. I am a girl who lives and breathes sparkle, but I couldn't bring myself to add sequins or rhinestones this time. I wanted to let the pretty flowers stand alone, so all I did to finish is add a few teensy drops of glitter gel to the tiny flower centers and draw a delicate border around the outer edge of the card base with a very fine journaling pen.

Next up on the hop is KATHY'S BLOG. You can find a full blog hop list here. Don't forget that the December SOTM is only available in the month of December, so click here or chat with your consultant to get yours soon. Happy Hopping!

 Additional December SOTM Projects:

December SOTM Holiday Card

Sweet as a Cupcake Birthday Card

I know I may have already made a ton of cards using this adorable Sweet Birthday stamp set. It was already one of my favorite stamp sets, but now there's a matching Thin Cuts set so I don't have to fussy cut that cuppie anymore. Swoon!! 

I made this card using the new sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. I chose a base of Sea Glass cardstock that I stamped with one of the sentiments in Sea Glass ink. Then I layered on a panel of that pretty Swan Lake floral paper. I used a lot of ribbons and shimmer trims for the side banners.

I colored the cuppie with my Shin Han alcohol markers. and added a bit of clear glitter gel. I couldn't resist topping this cutie patootie off with some large wiggly eyes. I love him even more now that I don't have to cut him out every single time. Check out all the new Thin Cuts here, while supplies last. I'm also linking this card up to the new Seize the Birthday challenge. Hope you have a sweet day, Stamping Friends!

Like a Boss Blog Hop

Welcome to the Blog Hops with Heart Like a Boss hop! This is my first time hopping with these fabulously crafty ladies, and I'm so excited! This month we are sharing lots of creatively embossed goodies. You might be arriving here from STEPHANIE'S BLOG. 

I made this card for my first team meeting since moving back to Portland. I used the Urban paper packet for the neutral background layer. Then I added a fun watercolored, embossed panel. I heat embossed my random stamped June SOTM images with clear powder on the panel. Then I watercolored over the embossing to create the ombre effect. Finally I laid scrap paper over the embossed images and ironed the panel to remove the clear shiny embossing. It also helps my watercolor panel lay down flat again. I added some gold stitching to my vacation sun, and a sweet excited sentiment using Block Uppercase. 

 Next up on the hop is AMIE'S BLOG. You can find a full list of hoppers here.
Happy Hopping!

H2H Under My Umbrella Card

I was so honored to be chosen as a Heart 2 Heart Sweetheart in January. Now I get to play along with the challenges this month as a guest designer!

The first challenge this month is FOUR. For my card, based on the new sketch from RetroSketches, I used four kinds of patterned paper, four little hearts, four glittery triangles, and four applications of watercolor paints. I also stuck to the four colors from the new ColourQ color challenge. 

I did a light wash of blue over the background. Then I came back and splattered the background while it was still damp so the dots would spread a bit. I used my paints to color in the stamped images, using a paper towel to wipe paint off the boots and create a lighter color. Then I came back after the boots were dry and used very little water to add the orange dots on the boots with a fine brush. I'm linking this card up to the Just Us Girls Word Week inspiration: Raindrops. 

I hope you'll hop over to Heart 2 Heart to share your FOUR-spiration, too!

Watercolor Polaroid SOTM Card

Happy Monday, Stampin' Friends! I had a little fun with my watercolors today for the new sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

I missed out on the SOTM Blog Hop, but I still wanted to play with this cute new set called Life in Pictures. I masked off the edges on the top of my card with washi tape and stamped on one of the camera images using second generation Lagoon Ink. Then I went back in with full Lagoon ink to add the CLICK! sentiment. When I peeled off the washi it had preserved that nice crisp white edge around my card.

I stamped the Polaroid onto some watercolor paper and filled in the photo with my watercolor paints. I free handed the heart image in the center, choosing to blend some green and yellow watercolors to get the right green to go along with this week's Color Throwdown challenge. When it dried then I stamped the sentiment over the top with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. 

If you love retro camera images, be sure to check out the full April Stamp of the month here. 

Arrrr Pirate Birthday Card

Tonight I'm packing instead of unpacking... for the CTMH Seasonal Expressions launch in Seattle this weekend!  I'm so excited to get to hang with my CTMH peeps, checking out the new goodies, laughing, and learning! It's an afternoon event, so I'll be attending a team meeting in the morning and this is my card for the swap.

I wasn't quite done playing with the watercolors and salt technique. I painted some large pieces of paper first with a lot of water, then blue and green watercolors. You want the paper to be fairly wet. Then I sprinkled on some really big salt flakes I had in my kitchen, which led to bigger splotches in the watercolor as it dried. I really liked the bigger salt flakes. My inspiration sketch came form RetroSketches.

I stamped the pirate from Pirate Birthday, then took him (and all his buddies) along to the park with the boys to enjoy the sunshine while I colored and cut them out. I added the ARRRR! with Block Uppercase, and that's also where I got the "x"s to mark my spots on the card border. The pirate stripe B&T is actually from the super girlie La Vie En Rose papers. Finally I added a bunch of glitter dots and jewels for the pirate booty. ARRRRR!!

Whale, Ahoy Matey Watercolor Card

I had a practice panel of the watercolor salt wash technique I used on my Watercolor Blog Hop project yesterday, so naturally I had to use it for the 150th sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

The background was done with lots of water and watercolor paints sprinkled with salt and left to dry. I trimmed the panel to size and added some bits of Penelope paper. I painted some scrap cardstock with red and blue paint and let it dry. Then I stamped images from Pirate Birthday and Animal Greetings (which is the Operation Smile benefit stamp set) onto the painted paper to fussy cut and add to the card.

I added a 1/2" strip of green watercolored paper for the bottom banner. I stamped on a combo sentiment. All my stamping was in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I added a wiggly eye to my whale friend, and some white gel pen highlights to the pirate ship. A scattering of blue glitter gems and Bitty Sparkles made blue with an alcohol marker finished off my card.

We'd love to see your take on the 150th sketch over at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!

Watercolor Blog Hop

Welcome to the Watercolor Blog Hop! This month we have 30 fabulous creations using our vibrant watercolor palette to share. You may be arriving here from LELA'S BLOG. Let's hop!

I painted a bunch of panels and flowers for my original hop project idea, but I really wanted to do something with watercolors I hadn't done before. I popped over to RetroSketches, and at first I thought that this week's cute sketch didn't really lend itself to watercolors, but I just kept coming back to it. Finally I decided to go for it. I masked off the design using fat and skinny washi tape. I masked all around the edge with washi too, just to be safe. Then I did a wash of teal and dark blue watercolors int he masked areas with a lot of water. Before the paint dried I sprinkled on some sea salt, which is a really pretty effect with watercolors. When I removed the washi mask, I had these lovely bars of watercolor goodness.

I stamped the little pirate in Memento Tuxedo black and used my waterbrush with the paints to lightly color in the pirate. I added some dirty smudges to his sweet pink cheeked face, because in my house pirates are a dirty lot indeed. I painted a wash of red onto some scrap cardstock and when it dried I stamped on the AHOY MATEY sentiments to make the little sentiment red banners. Finally I added a journaling pen line around the edge of the card. I'm linking up to the Anything Goes Challenge at Seize The Birthday.

Next up on the hop is MELINDA'S BLOG. Happy hopping!

Day 337: Post-it Masking Tutorial

So my monochromatic card from the other evening brought on some questions about my masking technique. I offered to do a quick overview of how I masked the flowers...but then I thought I should do it with a new card, right?

So I popped over to CAS(E) this Sketch for some design inspiration, and then to  ColourQ for a color palette, because my brain is a big mush of moving details and over-caffeinated bad sleep. I added some 1/4" washi tape I found at Hobby lobby and a bitty strip of Charlotte paper, otherwise this is a one layer card.

My first step was the use washi tape to mask where the sentiment was supposed to go. If you can see the linty look to the washi, when I use it like this I often stick it to my pant leg before adhering it to the card so it won't be so sticky. I make it large enough to go off each edge of the card to help stabilize the card and keep it from scooting around while I'm working. I stamped the first central flower using Blush ink, then again onto a handy post-it note. You'll see that the image on the post-it isn't very well stamped - I don't need all the details, just the general outline, so I didn't bother to re-ink my stamp. I just stamped it with whatever ink remained from my stamped image on the card. I also make sure to catch at least a bit of the actual sticky part of the post-it note to help the mask stay in place on my project.

I cut out the post-it flower image and covered up the original stamped flower. Then I added two more flowers to the cluster., making a mask for each of those out of post-its as I went along. When making a masked cluster, you want to work from the "front" of your cluster to the back, stamping the things you want closest first and then adding more images behind as you go.

Each time I added a flower I made a post-it mask and covered that stamped image so I could keep adding flowers, leaves, and sprays for my floral cluster to my heart's content. When you are done, slide the masks into your stamp envelope to use again in the future. They won't last forever when made out of a post-it, but you can certainly get more than one use out of them.

Finally I removed the washi tape mask, stamped my sentiment bar and added the paper/washi strips. I popped on some pink enamel gems, then went back in with an alcohol marker to turn a few of the flower centers from pink to yellow. I used the same marker to add the dot border detail. I hope my little visual was helpful to those of you unfamiliar with masking!

Day 314: January SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to the January Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month we are featuring Beloved Bouquet, a gorgeous set of 14 images. I never can have too many flower stamps! You may be arriving here from NANCY'S BLOG. The complete hop list can be found here. Let's hop!

I was inspired for this project by a stunning layout I saw on Instagram by Jessy Christopher-Tham. She does amazing work, and I thought that the January SOTM would look lovely in place of the die cut flowers she used so beautifully. I used the stripe from La Vie en Rose, embossing with white powder the triangles from Crazy Good. I used Slate ink to stamp the floral spray (in a circle on the right) and the sentiments from the January SOTM. 

I got my 5x5 prints from Parabo Press, and they are so nice and thick! I trimmed the top of a gold PML overlay card into 1/4" strips so I could line two of the sides of my square print. Then I filled in the remaining two sides with so, so much gold glitter gel. Dude, it might still be slightly wet even next week. I patted some glitter gel over the white embossed triangles too, because more glitter is always good in my book. The flowers were stamped onto sanded colored cardstock. I inked only the outline images using the lightest color (like Canary or Whisper) and tapping on bolder colors here and there (Slate and Pomegranate). Then I sanded again and brushed on some Wink of Stella for extra shimmer.  

Next up on the hop is NINA'S BLOG. Don't forget that this lovely set of blooms is only available in the month of January, so contact your consultant or click here to pick your Beloved Bouquet  today!

My other January SOTM projects:
Thinking of You Card