Mermaid Birthday Wishes

Here is a cute mermaid card I made with papers from the CTMH Make Waves paper packet.

I have an old piece of clear transparency sheet that I punched some different sizes of circles into.

I used this as an overlay to add White pigment ink to my paper, giving it the bokeh effect, which I think in this case, it works more like bubbles in the water.

And the mermaid was cut out of one of the patterned papers in the Make Waves paper packet.

I added some shimmer to the mermaid with my Clear Shimmer Brush.

And I coloured the Clear Sparkles and Bitty Sparkles with a Marigold ShinHan marker.

Make Waves is available only until the end of April, so get yours while you can!

Happy creating!  :)

Colourful Super Girl Card

Here is a very colourful card I made with the Super Girl stamp set and matching Thin Cuts dies.

It totally reminds me of tie-died t-shirts.  lol

Happy creating!  :)

A Valentine for My Valentine...

A day late, but I wanted to share with you the Valentine I made for Lee.

It isn't overly masculine, but the sentiment still works.  ;)

I masked off an area where I wanted my sentiment, with a piece of paper, then used a hearts stencil/mask to sponge two shades of grey ink over top, allowing the lighter shade to fade out towards the edges.

The sentiment I used is from the What Matters Most stamp set and I stamped it in black ink.

And lastly, I cut a small heart with our smallest Hearts Thin Cuts die out of Bashful Glitter paper and then sponged Pomegranate ink onto it to give it an ombre effect and popped it up with 3D foam tape.

Happy creating!  :)

♥

Thinking Of You - Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking

I tend to like most of what I create, but every once in a while I really love something.

This is one of those times.  ;)

It is really stunning in person.  My photos don't really capture the depth of colour...

How I created my card:

I used the little Delicate Flower stamp on the background embossing it with White embossing powder.

Then I used three different blue inks to sponge and blend over top of the entire background piece.  (Glacier, Lagoon, and Peacock.)

The flowers and fauna are from the Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking stamp set - still my fave from this Seasonal Expressions catalog.

I used my watercolour brush with Canary and Goldrush inks for the flowers, and Raspberry for the centers.  I added a little extra colour the Raspberry, with my Cherry Pink ShinHan marker.

And the leaves are waterbrushed with Fern ink.

The sentiment is from the little Thinking Of You stamp.  I love these little M-sized sets.  :)

The gems I added are Bitty Sparkles and Clear Sparkles, and from Red Gems.

And the last step I did was to add some shimmer to the flowers with my Clear Shimmer Brush.

Did you know that these Shimmer Brushes come in Gold and Bashful pink, too?  AND that you can easily create your own colour by adding a drop or two of re-inker to a Clear Shimmer Brush?

I always have Sparkles in my stash.  Did you know that you can easily colour them with ShinHan markers to create different colours to match with your projects???  Definitely a must-have in your stash, too!

Happy creating!  :)

♥

Warm Birthday Wishes in Pinks

I love this card!

I was inspired by the Close To My Heart special this month called Pretty In Pink.  

You can get certain pink themed items at a 30% discount, plus they even created a butterfly mobile craft project that you can order.  How fun is that?  

I sponged Bashful, Blossom, and Raspberry onto a piece of White Daisy cardstock to create the colourful background.  Then I used the retired Charming Cascades to white emboss the falling hearts over top.

The heart was cut with the smallest Hearts Thin Cuts die shape from Bashful Glitter paper, and then I sponged Raspberry ink on the lower half of the heart to give it a ombre effect.

The sentiment is from the Sunny Thoughts - February SOTM stamp set.   Certainly a fave of mine right now!

Happy creating!  :)

Sunshine - Sunny Thoughts Feb SOTM

This was a fun card to make, but then again, I enjoy creating all the time.  ;)

I used a couple shades of blue inks, and yellow & orange to sponge the colours onto the main sentiment image.

Sunny Thoughts - February Stamp of the Month

Happy creating!  :)

Hello Sunshine Card (Sunny Thoughts - Feb SOTM)

I am loving the February Stamp of the Month set, Sunny Thoughts.

It's style is right up my alley!

I white embossed the images onto Charcoal cardstock, and then lightly coloured in some parts of the flower images with ShinHan markers.

So simple, but striking!

S1802 Sunny Thoughts $23 (or just $6 with a minimum $50 purchase)

Available Feb 1-28th

I will have at least two more cards to share with you that I made using this set...

Happy creating  :)

♥

Butterfly Thanks Card

This is my newest favourite card.  It is really pretty in person; sorry I now see that it is a little blurry.

I stamped the floral background with black ink onto the lighter side of a piece of Mink cardstock, using the Delicate Flower stamp set.

The butterflies and sentiment are from Chelsea Gardens Cardmaking stamp and Thin Cuts dies.

Happy creating!  :)

Blending Inks Birthday Card

I recently saw a card by Ali Farmer that came up on my Facebook feed, that I loved.

I recreated it using CTMH supplies I had on hand.

(inspired by this card by Ali Farmer)

Fun and cheery!

Happy creating!  :)

Stargazer Birthday Card #2

Here is another card I made using the same blending inks technique as my last card I shared.

I also used the same NEW Stargazer Cardmaking stamp set with matching Thin Cuts dies.

The stamp set is available just by itself, too.

On this one, I cut the circle out of the the upper center portion of a piece of White Daisy cardstock, and then used 3D foam tape to adhere it to my ink sponged card front.

There are so many possibilities with this set!

Happy creating!  :)

Stargazer Birthday Card #1

I played around with blending inks this past Friday to make some fun cards with some of the new products offered in the NEW CTMH Seasonal Expressions catalog.  

I tend to go in spurts of things/techniques I like to play with.

So you will likely be seeing more cards from me over the next little while using this technique.

On the background circle (White Daisy cardstock), I blended Lagoon, Sapphire and Pacifica inks with seperate sponges.

The whitish splatters are from blending a little Pearl paint (long retired) mixed with water, and dipping my small paintbrush into it, then tapping the brush handle against the edge of my finger just above the cardstock piece.

I believe you can do the same with the CTMH White Daisy pigment ink re-inker, although I don't have a bottle of it to try it out.  ;)

The adorable little spaceman on my card is from a brand NEW set called Stargazer Cardmaking stamp set.  It is also available to purchase along with the matching Thin Cuts Dies.

The spaceship paper is from the NEW Stargazer Paper Packet.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

And this is the NEW Seasonal Expressions catalog!

You can view it online HERE.

So much fun packed into a little catalog!

Happy creating!  :)

♥

Thanks So Much

For this card, I used a Heidi Swapp Chevron Mask to create the background by sponging Glacier and Flaxen inks over top of a White Daisy cardstock base.  I kept the most outer parts darker with ink while lightening as I worked towards the center.

I stamped the sentiment from You Mean the World to Me set, first inking it in Whisper, then rolling the bottom part in Slate, and then the very bottom in Black ink before stamping it onto a scrap piece of White Daisy cardstock.  Then punched it out with a 2 1/4" circle punch.

I turned the circle over and used a pencil to lightly outline where I wanted it to sit on my base, then I used a leafy image from the It's the Little Things (upcoming November SOTM) set and inked it in Black ink, stamping it around the circle.  I repeated the stamping with secondary stamping (by inking in Black ink and stamping it once onto scrap paper and then onto the card).

I cut a piece of new Slate Diagonal Striped ribbon and adhered it to the back of my circle piece, then used 3D foam tape to pop the sentiment up.

Lastly, I added some more leafy images and tiny Thistle flowers, and some Bitty Sparkles.

So pretty.  And soft.  Love it.  

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Paper:  White Daisy CS
Stamps:  You Mean the World To Me, It's the Little Things - Nov SOTM
Inks:  Glacier, Flaxen, Thistle, Black, Slate, Whisper
Embellishments:  Slate Diagonal Striped ribbon, Bitty Sparkles
Other:  Chevron Mask (Heidi Swapp), 2 1/4" circle punch (EK), 3D foam tape, Micro-tip Scissors

You've Got A Friend Cards

I haven't been crafty much lately, mostly because I've been going through physio for tennis elbow on my right arm (again) and have been in a lot of  pain/discomfort.  And I am right-handed, so...

But I got a little inky yesterday...

 (Inspired by this one by Cindy Shuster)

For the backgrounds, I used some overlays (SU) and sponged black ink over top of my Kraft cardstock.

{If you don't have any overlays, you can always create your own using the Cricut Artbooking cartridge.

I even made one once using a doily or snowflake shape (can't remember which right now) from the Artiste cartridge and cut it out from a sheet of acetate so it could be reusable.}

I stamped the images with Versamark ink, then right into the Black ink and stamped it onto White Daisy cardstock.  I sprinkled Clear Embossing powder over top and heat set.

After that, I simply colored the images with Copics.

For the stars, I colored onto scrap pieces of cardstock and then just used a star punch.

I love how the images pop!

I also did a little housework yesterday, and between that and inking my backgrounds, my arm is pretty sore and achy today.  It is sooooo hard to do nothing!

I am heading off this week to go visit my sister... a girl's trip, so the boys are staying home.

So I won't have anything to post until I get back home.

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Kraft, White Daisy CS

Stamp:  You've Got a Friend - May SOTM

Inks:  Black, Versamark

Copic Markers:  Buttercup Yellow, Golden Yellow, Chrome Orange, Aqua

Embellishment:  Lagoon Baker's Twine

Other:  3D foam tape, Micro-tip Scissors, Star Punch (other), Clear embossing powder

Thank You Card with Overlay Sponging Technique

I like how this card turned out.

It is simple, but pretty.

I had a piece of cardstock laying around that I had die-cut months ago and hadn't ended up using, so I pulled it out and used it as an overlay or stencil.

I placed the die-cut piece on top of a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of Cotton Candy cardstock, and sponged Cotton Candy ink over top.  It creates a wonderful effect.

Tip:  you can create your overlay with a piece of transparency and wash it off after use, so you can re-use it over and over.  ;)

The word bubble shape was cut using my CTMH Cricut Artiste Cartridge.

The sentiment is from the retired Avonlea Cardmaking WOTG kit.

And the heart I used is from a punch.  I dabbed my glue pen over top of it and quickly sprinkled some chunky glitter over top.

Lastly, I added a single sparkle within the sentiment.

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Cotton Candy, White Daisy CS

Stamp:  Avonlea Cardmaking WOTG set - retired

Inks:  Cotton Candy, Black

Other:  Cricut Artiste Cartridge, Sponge, Quatrefoil Die (PTI), 3D foam tape, Heart To Heart punch (SU), Chunky Glitter (SU), Glue pen

Embossed Snowflakes Card

I love all the dimension you can get with embossing, stamping, and sponging with different inks.

And I have to say, this card looks way better in person.  ;)

How I made the main piece on my card, is I first randomly stamped snowflakes with Versamark ink onto a piece of White Daisy cardstock, then sprinkled with White embossing powder, tapped off the excess and heat set them.

The second step was to take 3 varying blue inks (I used Outdoor Denim, Twilight, and Sky), and sponged them on starting with the darkest at the top left corner, and then onto the medium in the middle and the lightest colour at the bottom right corner.

Then I randomly stamped the snowflakes over top, using the three different blue inks.

The last step, I wiped it down with a dry paper towel to remove any excess ink, then rubbed my Versamark ink pad over the entire surface of the cardstock.  I then covered it with Clear Detail embossing powder, tapped off the excess and then heat set it.

It slightly changes the colours of the inks, but it also makes the colours pop.

Give it a try yourself.

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH):

Paper:  White Daisy, Slate CS

Stamps:  Frosted Cardmaking WOTG stamp set, Scandinavian Wishes - Oct SOTM

Inks:  Outdoor Denim, Twilight, Sky, Black, Versamark

Embellishments:  Clear Sparkles, Black Striped Grosgrain, Sparkle button - retired

Other:  White Embossing Powder - retired, Clear Detail Embossing Powder, 3D Foam Tape, White Baker's Twine

{Another} Ink Embossed Note Card

Here's another card I created using the same ink and emboss technique that I used on my last cards.

I simply dabbed my Creme Brulee ink pad directly onto the inside of the embossing folder (the side with the most flat space), and then placed a piece of Colonial White cardstock inside of it, then rolled it through my Cuttlebug.

Easy, and it gives a soft and pretty look.

And I like how it isn't perfectly perfect, which just seems to add to the interest of the card.

I used the chicken wire stamp from Distressed Backgrounds to stamp with Lagoon ink onto Lagoon cardstock for the edge.

I heat embossed the main image by first stamping the bird and flowers with Slate pigment ink.

Then I simply coloured the images with my alcohol markers.

I added some Almond Glitz Glitter Gel to the centers of each flower, too.

I used 3D foam tape to attach the ink embossed layer, and also the main image.

And lastly, I added the Rosette Ribbon with a piece of ScorTape.

I really like the overall softness of this card.  ♥

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Colonial White, Lagoon CS

Stamps:  Fabulous You, Distressed Backgrounds

Inks:  Slate pigment, Creme Brulee, Lagoon

Markers:  Creme Brulee Lt. and Dk., Lagoon Lt. and Dk., Autumn Terracotta Dk., Whisper Lt., Blending Pen

Embellishments:  Rosette Ribbon, Almond Glitz Glitter Gel

Other:  Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Baby's Breath Embossing Folder (Provo Craft), 3D Foam Tape, ScorTape (ScorPal)

Just Because I Care Cards...ink & emboss technique

I'm in love with these cards.  I think it is the colour combos that appeal to me.  And the added texture from the use of an embossing folder.

If you have embossing folders, you need to ink them up!

It basically turns them into a stamp when used that way, but it works like magic because it embosses your cardstock/paper at the same time.

For these cards, I added the ink to the embossing folder (the side with the most flat space on the inside of the embossing folder) by simply rubbing my Lagoon ink pad all over it.  Then I placed a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of Colonial White cardstock into it and ran it through my Cuttlebug.

And the ink just rinses off the embossing folder under running water for easy clean up. 

I made these two cards with just the one piece of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" cardstock.  After I embossed it, I cut it in half, then cut a 1" strip off of each piece.  The 1" strips were used at the tops of the cards, and the leftover pieces for the bottom parts.

Then I simply added a 3" x 4 1/4" piece of Colonial White cardstock to each card, that I stamped my sentiment onto.  You could skip this step and stamp directly onto the card base, but I prefer the look of the way I did it.  It seems to finish off the cut edges a little better, by hiding them.

Lastly, the flowers and leaves were cut using my Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge.  Those were stamped using the rock and roll technique, and then sponging additional colour to the center of the flowers.  The flowers and leaves were attached with 3D foam tape.

Easy peasy.

Happy creating!  :)

Supplies used are all CTMH (unless otherwise noted):

Paper:  Colonial White CS

Stamps:  Girls Rock, Avonlea Cardmaking WOTG set - retired

Inks:  Black, Lagoon, Pear, Creme Brulee, Sunset

Other:  Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, Baby's Breath Embossing Folder (Provo Craft)

Ahoy, Matey! (SCS SC215)

I love the Ahoy, Matey stamp set from SU... it's one of my fave SU sets! This is why I bought the Rockabilly paper pack. The skull and crossbones are just so fitting! I love the glossy parts on all the papers in this pack, too.

I colored the pirate with Prisma Colouring Pencils, using the Gamsol technique, where you colour and shade with pencil crayons, then dip the tip of a nib into Gamsol (odourless paint thinner) and blend the colours together. It's a great technique and one I need to keep working on to get better at. This card is also using the SCS sketch (SCS SC215).

What I used (all SU unless otherwise noted):
Ahoy, Matey SS
Rockabilly DP
Old Olive DP
Real Red CS
White Daisy and Black CS (CTMH)
Black ink (CTMH)
Black marker (CTMH)
Prisma Colouring Pencils
Odourless Paint Thinner (Michaels)
Ranger Pen Nibs (LSS)
Pop dots (other - dollar store)

Autumn Splendor... a brayered card

Thanks to Lourae Minor, a fellow CTMH sistah, I pulled out my brayer and inked it up again. Lately I have only been using it to make sure my C/S is sticking to my Cricut mat before cutting. The tree skeleton stamp is an old wooden one by Rubber Stampede that I have. I brayered my card before thinking about masking for a moon, so I ended up doing it the harder way... I cut a 2" circle, sponged the ink onto it, stamped the trees in second gereration stamping and then stamped on the sentiment. I'm pretty good a forgetting stuff and then figuring out how to make it work anyway... LOL.

What I used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):
Autumn Splendor stamp set
Winter Woods stamp (Rubber Stampede)
Cappuccino Delight (Kaleidacolor rainbow stamp pad)
Black ink
Black Brads
Autumn Leaves
Black and Colonial White C/S
2" Fiskars circle punch
Sponge

Grateful card... (featuring new September Stamp of the Month)

Finally found a little play time. I was away for awhile... took Jessica and Jocelyn off to college (about 10 hrs away), but now we're back home and their studies began yesterday. School starts for Cole next Tuesday (grade 3 already), so I'm hoping to find even more ME-time! YAY for school.... "It's the most wonderful time of the year..." LOL

What I used (all CTMH unless otherwise noted):

Treasure Life (Sept. SOTM)

Perfect Day B&Ts

Chocolate, Colonial White, White Daisy and Juniper C/S

Creme Brulee, Juniper, Tulip and Chocolate inks

Versamark and clear embossing powder

Craft heater

Chocolate brads

Photo Corner punch (SU)

Sm. and Lg. Oval punches (SU)

Scallop scissors

Make-up sponges (other)