Watercolor Background with Roses

Hello to you and happy Friday! 

I am popping in with another take on the technique shared on Day 5 of Spring Card Camp. The card I shared yesterday was supposed to be my practice piece. For whatever reason, I just had to do this again! You all know that I love to watercolor. 

Choosing my Altenew watercolors I combined yellow, greens and orange for my background, generously spattered with gold metallic paint. 

I found that the delicate die cut did't work best as a mask because some of the paint seeped underneath so it's mainly the outlines of the leaves that you see. Of course, I kept adding color and maybe should have stopped sooner. 

I adhered some of the die cut pieces to add interest, depth and to mimic the shapes of the roses. The eye should fill in the rest. Nuvo drops in green and gold were liberally placed as well. 

For the second card using the die cut, I have a much softer background and I like the more delicate look of this card. 

Cutting two roses from the bouquet die cut gave it a better fit on the card front. The sentiment was embossed in gold on a strip of vellum wrapped around the card. For shine and shimmer I added gold sequins. 

I'll list some supplies below for you. Keeping this short as it's a gorgeous day to be outside today. 

I hope that you are staying well where you are. I will probably be back tomorrow or even later today to share more class projects! All this blogging has been a great outlet and I am so thankful for your kind comments!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps:  PTI - Sentiment Staples: Sending You, and Inspired: Prayer and die

Paper: Fabriano Extra White Water Color 

INK: Versamark, Pear Pizzazz (SU)

Accessories: Memory Box - English Rose Bouquet Die (I can't find this anywhere online - could it be retired already?), embossing powder in white and gold

Day 5 Watercolor Backgrounds with a Stencil

I've loved Online Card Classes for a very long time! I'm especially enjoying Spring Card Camp since the stay-in mandates have left me with LOTS of time to stamp. And at least for week 1 I've been able to keep up. 

For day 5 we are focusing on watercolored backgrounds. You know I love these, so I went right to work! 

The twist is to use a die cut: first as a stencil and then as a die cut over the inking on the second card. 

I used Fabriano Extra White watercolor card stock, and Distress Inks painted on with a brush for the colors. 
For both cards I used the Inside and Out Berry Branch Die (The Greetery). 

For the first card the die cut was used as a stencil.  It was spattered with paint but when I removed it the leaves outline remained. I loved the way this turned out.

 I took the stencil and adhered it over the background on the second card.

For both cards, I added accents of the die cut leaves in white to add brightness and texture. The lovely sentiments and coordinating die cut are from the Cotton Comforts set (The Greetery.)

Needing some shimmer, I embossed circles with Wow Sea Glass Embossing Glitter and added clear jewels. Here is a closer look.

I have no idea what I'll be making tomorrow. First I've got to clean up the huge mess in the craft room. I'll be back. 

Thanks for visiting! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Day 4 one more

When I made the clean and simple card for the previous post, I had one die cut ellie left over. The idea is to make two cards so here is one more for you! 

The simple sketch made it easy to color up the elephant add a die cut and some DSP and there's one more birthday card in my stash. 

You know I love flowers but it's been nice to find some of these other cute images and work out ways to use them on a card. 

I'm in lift off mode with my mojo, feel it coming in for a landing! 

Playing with the folks at CAS(E) This Sketch who inspired the layout. 

See you tomorrow!

Day 4 Clean and Simple

Nothing beats making a Clean and Simple card as inspired by Julie Ebersole. We got great tips and samples at today's Spring Card Camp class. I am so grateful for the timing of this class. I've really been in stay-at-home mode since January and I absolutely need something to help me be motivated. 

Here's my card for today, using the Unforgettable stamps and dies from WPlus9. I went looking through my stash for a line drawing so that I could color with my Polychromos pencils, and matching dies. These elephants have long been some of my favorite images. 

I kept the front very simple, with a strip of DSP and a die cut through to the inside of the card. I intentionally wanted to create the feeling that this guy was sort of just suspended there in space. That would be unforgettable! 

On the inside you get the rest of the picture and the sentiment. 

The key to a well-designed CAS card is having an image with enough details to make it interesting. I used Glossy Accents to add to the elephant and made sure it was a strong focal point for the card front.

The only other embellishments are a bit of shimmer and the twine bow. I am trying not to feel guilty about all this craft time, but grateful instead that I have this mental challenge to keep me engaged! 

But OH, I miss our children and grands. Seems like it's been SO LONG since we've had hugs. I've been doing lots of talking to myself lately. 

Thanks for your visit today, I sure appreciate you dropping by. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Cut Paper Background Scenes

Hello there! For Spring Cards Stamp Day 3 I was busy creating all afternoon. We used an abstract background stamp to create scenes and it was quite a challenge for me. 

My background stamp (SU retired) has wild animal stripes on it. Stamped on different colors of paper, can you see the possibilities? I cut it out and pieced layers for each card. 

An ocean voyage?  For a birthday card or just, thinking of you.

Spacious skies, fields of grain and rolling hills? 

Well you have to use your imagination. 

What I liked about these cards is that they are very colorful. What I didn't like? They were time consuming. But I am reminding myself that learning something new takes time, especially the process part of wondering what to use and how to make it work with what I have. 

The sense of accomplishment is nice. Sharing is fun! The best part is getting two cards for one technique and it really does get my brain thinking about how to make the next one. I know it will get easier. I also know that I could have cheated and used a die to create the same look, or nicer actually. But I wonder, what's the fun in that?

Thank you so much for visiting and listening to me think out loud. You are so kind! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Spring Card Camp Day 2

Hello, welcome back to my blog! Our Easter day was very quiet but we enjoyed special face time and calls with our loved ones. 

I've taken many Online Card Classes and loved them, so I was excited to sign up for the Spring Card Camp when Kristina and Jennifer announced it. I always love learning new techniques or just having the prompts to make cards that aren't in my usual wheelhouse. 

I enjoyed using the My Whole Life stamps from WPlus9 to stamp once and then make two panels with the cards.  After randomly stamping I stenciled soft yellow dots in one area to pull it all together. Using a sponge dauber, I blended a second layer of inks on some of the images. I kept them very simple and one layer. 

The class goes on all month, it's not to late to join in! A great value and they are geared towards using supplies that we already have. Just the kind of diversion I need now while stuck at home.

I'll be keeping these posts short so that I have more to time to stamp and keep up with posting. I'd be happy to answer questions if you have any in the comments about the supplies I used. Thanks so much! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Budding Beauties Cherry Blossoms

Our flowers and trees are blooming so beautifully right now! Our redbuds and azaleas, and beautiful dogwoods have been so pretty this week.  

I went to clean up yesterday's supplies after posting THIS card and decided to make one more card with this fun stuff before putting it away! 

The Halfsies Diamond die always makes a clean and elegant card, enabling the focal point to shine. I kept that very simple, inking up one cherry blossom branch image, die cutting it and adding an olive green thread bow. 

Another special die cut, *new* to me, is the Brick Layer Die. I placed the die on the card front itself.  The Halfsies panels were inked with Distress Oxides and placed over the card front. Adding an inked panel inside the top of the card adds depth and hides any writing on the inside of the card. Hope that makes sense. 

I wanted the look of warm stucco for the card front, so I let my inking be a bit mottled. I really liked how that turned out, but it was difficult to photograph!

This is my second card made for the Freshly Made Sketches this week. This take on the sketch is much more CAS. 

Thank you so much for your visit and kind words. Take care and I pray that you will stay well.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: The Greetery - Budding Beauties Spring Stamps, Sentiment Suite: Birthday Stamps and dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Pear Pizzazz

INK: Versamark, Altenew - Warm Mocha, Rouge, Crimson, Frayed Leaf: Distress Oxides - Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Aged Mahogany

Accessories: Altenew - Rose Gold Embossing Powder, The Greetery Dies: Halfsies, Brick Layer