Minty Dove

Howdy folks!  I know it's been a while since I blogged.  It's been a crazy busy time, but I did manage to stamp some cards to share with y'all.  This one is my favorite.

A friend of mine, Miss Bev, was telling me to try white embossing on the new Mint cardstock from Stampin Up, so of course, I had to test it out.  I embossed this Dove of Peace with Versamark and white embossing powder and it was gorgeous.  As I was looking at it, though, I wondered how it would look if some areas were just a bit darker than others.  I didn't want a bold color at all.  I just wanted a nice subtle change.

So I pulled out a Versamark reinker, squeezed a tiny bit onto a palette, and painted in some areas with a tiny paintbrush dipped in the Versamark reinker.  You can't tell the difference right away - you have to give the Versamark a little bit of time to dry.  When it does, the effect is stunning.

I loved this so much, I didn't want to change a thing.  I kept it all very clean and simple by adhering it to a white mat and then adhering that to a Mint card base.  

Can you imagine doing this technique with tons of other colors?  Wouldn't this make a wonderful gift set for someone who needs Christmas cards?  I can't wait to make some more cards like this in different colors!  :-)

If you want this Dove of Peace stamp set, you'll have to hurry.  It is in the Holiday catalog from Stampin Up, and it will only be available through January 4, 2016.  Contact your demonstrator today!  

Thank You Bouquet

Are you playing in the Hope You Can Cling To challenges over on SCS this month?  My challenge is up today, and I hope you come and play along.  It's an easy one, I promise!!!

For my Thanks Bunches challenge, I am asking you to make a thank you card with a "bunch" of something on it.  What's a "bunch?"  It could be anything - a bunch of flowers bundled together, a bunch of sequins, a bunch of twine wrapped around your card, or a bunch of leaves falling down. 

On my card, I used a bunch of flowers bundled together as well as a bunch of twine wrapped around the card.  I also used a bunch of colored pencils to color in this image.  This gorgeous flower image is from Power Poppy's Countryside Bouquet set and I colored it with some Polychromos pencils.  I wanted a vibrant autumn bouquet, so I chose yellows and oranges and fuchsia and even a tiny touch of purple.

Head on over to SCS and check out the Hope You Can Cling To challenges.  We'd love to see what you create, so come on and join the fun!

Blackberry Ombre

Hi folks!  Have you been playing in the Hope You Can Cling To challenges over on Splitcoaststampers?  There is a new challenge (sometimes more than one) every day during the month of October.  Today's challenge is to use the ombre technique.  I love the look of ombre on cards, so I was excited to make a sample for this challenge.

I picked up my Blackberry Bliss ink pad and a sponge and started sponging the ink onto a piece of white cardstock.  I concentrated the color on one end and blended it up, over and over.  I then colored the flowers in my image to coordinate with the ombre background.

Check out the challenges over on SCS and join us in our card drive for Hope You Can Cling To!!  I hear there are prizes to be won!!  :-)

Spread Your Wings

Have you heard about the Hope You Can Cling To challenges over on Splitcoast?  For the entire month of October, there will be at least one new challenge each day.  Some days might have 2 or 3, and they are all so fun and unique.  The purpose of these challenges is to get folks making lots of pretty cards for a card drive for MD Anderson, a hospital in Houston, TX.  

This card is for one of the challenges that was introduced on the first day.  Dina challenged us to use our fingers on our card or use an image that shows a hand.  I chose to fingerpaint, and I had so much fun.  I pulled out some Dylusions paints (pink, purple, and white) and just dipped my finger into the paint and smeared it onto some watercolor paper.  I colored this gorgeous dove from Stampin Up in colors to match with the fingerpainted piece and then I fussy-cut it.  The sentiment is from a JustRite stamp set.

Go check out the challenges over in the Hope You Can Cling To forum on SCS.  We'd love to see what you create to help the patients and their families this month!

Share the Joy challenge #4 - Happy Harvest

Have you played along in the Share the Joy challenges?  They are fun challenges where you can choose to do the sketch or the other challenge (sometimes a color combo, sometimes an inspirational picture, etc...), or you can combine both of them together.  

I decided to try combining both of them this time - the sketch and keeping it CAS.  I watercolored a circle of white cardstock with some yellow and orange inks and glued it behind the beautiful tree silhouette circle.  The tree die cut is from Taylored Expressions and it's called Beauty Lies Within 2.  The sentiment is from the Autumn Wreath set from Taylored Expressions.  The camera had a hard time focusing for this picture so that is why the tree looks a little blurry.  Just pretend the wind is making the branches move (*wink*).

Go check out the challenge over on the Share the Joy blog.  Make a card using the sketch or make a CAS (clean and simple) card and enter it into the challenge.  You could be the next winner of a fun shopping spree!  :-)

Share the Joy Challenge #3 - Fall Prairie

It's time to play with the Share the Joy challenge again, and this time I've decided to go with the tic-tac-toe game instead of the sketch.  I chose to go with the embossing (by using an embossing folder), sequins, and twine.  

I started by sponging green, yellow, and orange inks onto some cardstock, and then I ran it through an embossing folder.  I used this gorgeous new embossing folder from Taylored Expressions called Prairie.  I then stamped the sentiment (Autumn Wreath stamp set from Taylored Expressions), added the sequins, and wrapped the twine around the bottom.

Go check out the challenge over on the Share the Joy blog.  You can do the sketch or the tic-tac-toe challenge, or you can do both!  It's a fun take on doing challenges!  :-)

Share the Joy Challenge #2

I'm playing in the second challenge over on the Share the Joy blog, and I decided to use the sketch to inspire my card today.  I pulled out an old Taylored Expressions set called What's Cooking and colored the mixer with Copic markers.  I used some papers from the Buttercup 6x6 pad (lilybee designs) and I added that fun sentiment at the bottom.  I love that sentiment!  LOL

I want to extend some big congratulations to my friend Chrissy!  I challenged her to play in the Share the Joy challenge last week, and she won the very first challenge!!!!!  Yay!!!!!  How fun is that???  So now I challenge YOU to play along, as maybe YOU will be the winner of this second challenge!  How cool would that be?

Winner of BLOG CANDY!!

Happy Sunday, everyone!  Thank you all so much for leaving comments on my cards this week.  As promised, I have collected all the names that were entered for the blog candy, and a winner has been picked. 

Congratulations, BARBIE!  You have won this sheet of fall stamps from Art Neko!  I didn't see your email address in your comment, so please contact me and we can make arrangements to get these stamps in the mail to you.  

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend.  It looks like we have a few more days of hot weather, and then maybe, just maybe, we'll have some fall-like weather moving in at the end of the week.  Oooooohhhhhhhh, I can't wait!  :-)

Bamboo Cards - Two Ways

Happy Saturday!  Did you sleep late like I did today?  Ahhhhhh, such a wonderful way to start the day!  :-)

I've got a couple of fun bamboo cards to share with you today.  These bamboo rectangles are actually part of a set of stamps intended for bookmarks, but I wanted to see how they would look on some cards.  I started by stamping the bamboo rectangles with permanent black ink onto some white cardstock, and then I covered them with some Color Burst watercolor powders and misted them with water.  It's so much fun to play with the Color Bursts because you just never know what you are going to end up with.

I let those pieces dry completely and then I cut them out.  The colors of the powders were a perfect match to some of the papers in the cardstock and envelope assortment offered by Art Neko.  I pulled out the blue, neon yellow, and green cardstocks and cut them to size.  

For the blue card, I die cut some bamboo leaves from black cardstock and tucked them in behind the colored bamboo panel.  The "friend" kanji is from the Friendship, Thank You, and Get Well sheet from Art Neko.

The green card was stamped with the mini bamboo stamp from the Oriental Dragons and Geisha sheet (Art Neko) before I added the colored bamboo rectangle.  The "kindness" kanji is also from the Friendship, Thank You, and Get Well sheet at Art Neko.

Don't forget, you still have time to enter my blog candy before I pick a winner tomorrow.  Leave a comment on this post for your chance to win some free stamps from Art Neko!  Enjoy your weekend!

Share the Joy Challenge #1

Hi everybody!  There is a new challenge blog in town called Share the Joy, and I just had to play along with their very first challenge.  They offered a sketch challenge and a color challenge, and you could do either one or both.  I decided to try doing both, and I came up with this card.

I pulled out my Taylored Expressions die set called Bloom Where You're Planted, and I cut out some yellow flowers, some yellow flower centers, and some lime green leaves.  I then pressed the small circles (the flower centers) into a yellow ink pad to make them a shade darker and then I adhered them to the centers of the flowers.  

I found a chevron stencil and sponged some soft gray ink through the stencil onto some white cardstock.  This was glued down to a gray card base.  I added a small gray banner to the edge of the panel with the flowers and the die cut "hello" to the side of that.  I then wrapped some baker's twine around the top of the card.  

I love this color combo!  I never would have come up with these colors on my own, so it was fun to break out of my box and do something new and different.  Go check out the challenge over at Share the Joy and play along!  

Geisha in Aqua

 

I've been coloring some more with my Polychromos pencils, and this time I used a beautiful geisha stamp from Art Neko. This one can be found on this sheet at Art Neko, and I stamped it onto some Canson sketch paper and colored it with shades of aqua and red. These colors coordinate beautifully with the aqua cardstock from Art Neko, which you can find here. I added some bold red strips behind the image for a fun graphic effect.

Did you see the BLOG CANDY that I'm offering? You still have time to enter, so go check out this post and leave a comment with your email address. You could win some free Art Neko stamps!

Two Versions of Framed Bearded Iris

Hi friends!  Today I'm sharing two different versions of the same stamp.  I used the beautiful Framed Bearded Iris and Butterfly stamp from Art Neko and colored them both with Polychromos pencils.  These were carefully colored to match two of the purple cardstocks from the cardstock and envelope package offered by Art Neko.  The top one is more of a fuchsia color and the bottom one is a softer lavender color.

Did you see the BLOG CANDY that I'm offering?  You still have time to enter, so go check out this post and leave a comment with your email address.  You could win some free Art Neko stamps!

Hello Fall and BLOG CANDY!!

Hello everyone!!!  Today I am celebrating FALL!!!!  :-)  Some of you actually have some fall weather where you are, but it is still hot and dry here in Texas.  Hopefully someday soon we will have more fall-like temperatures here and I can go outside and not feel like I am roasting in an oven.  Hee hee hee!!!

For my card above, I did something a little different.  I actually masked off the area where you see the "hello" sentiment, and then I stamped the leaves and acorns on the top and bottom of the masked area.  With the mask still in place, I sponged some Hello Honey ink, Pumpkin Pie ink, and some Cajun Craze ink in an ombre fashion.  I then took the mask off and very lightly sponged some Hello Honey ink over the white area.

I then added a die cut "hello" and the kanji that came with the stamp set.  I can't read kanji, so I'm guessing it says something like fall or autumn.  In my mind, the card says "Hello Fall!"  These stamps are all from Art Neko, and you can see the sheet here.

I have a fun surprise for you!  I have an extra sheet of these fall stamps, and Annette from Art Neko told me to go ahead and give this away as blog candy instead of mailing it back to her.  You can see that these stamps are deeply etched red rubber, and this sheet is ready for you to cut and trim.  There are some leaves, acorns, pumpkins, a wagon, and even a cute little squirrel resting on a log.  

So, for this blog candy, please leave a comment and tell me what you love about Fall.  I will draw a winner from the comments next Sunday, September 6, so be sure to leave me your email address so I can contact you.  Good luck!!

Life is Sweet

I was playing with some color combos for these 3-step flowers, and I stumbled upon this yellow combo that turned out so pretty!!  These flowers are from Papertrey Ink, and I stamped the three pieces as follows:

Solid flower - Daffodil (Stampin Up)
secondary layer - Saffron (Stampin Up)
shadow layer - Dijon (a new SU ink color)

The leaves are also from Papertrey Ink, and these are just a 2-step stamp.  I used Wasabi ink (Stampin Up) for the solid leaves and Mowed Lawn (Ranger distress ink) for the darker vein color.

The wood plank background is a fabulous background stamp from Stampin Up called Hardwood.  I stamped it with kraft ink onto white cardstock.  I love how it almost looks like it is whitewashed wood.  The sentiment was stamped with a dark brown ink and the card base is kraft.

I loved how these flowers turned out after several experimental tries.  Practice really does make perfect!  :-)

Celebrate the Season

I had an opportunity to play with some new stamps and dies from Stampin Up (they won't be out until September 1), and I created this card with them.  I love how the colored background turned out, and I will try to explain it for you here.

I started by sponging some Broken China, Evergreen Bough, and Wild Honey distress inks onto some watercolor paper.  I spritzed them with water and let them dry a little bit.  I was not happy with the way that turned out - the honey color just looked weird with the other two colors.  So I sponged over the whole thing with more Broken China ink, but it couldn't cover up the honey color very well.  So I pulled out my Dusty Concord distress ink pad and smooshed it all over the top of the card and spritzed it with water.  Much better!  I picked up the piece and let some of the purple color drip down into the blue and I was thrilled!  I set it aside to dry completely before I could move on with the card.

One of the new dies from Stampin Up is called Sleigh Ride and I cut it out of white cardstock, leaving the bottom portion wide open so I would have room to stamp a sentiment.  The sentiment is from a new set called Happy Scenes and I stamped it with Eggplant ink (SU color).

After making sure that the watercolored background was completely dry, I used a white gel pen to dot some snowflakes all over.  Then I adhered the sleigh ride piece to the bottom, and matted it with some white cardstock and an Eggplant card base.  It's going to be the perfect card to send in the mail as it is nice and flat and mail-able!  :-)  I'm already planning to make several different backgrounds and see how they turn out with this same die and sentiment on them.

Hearts in Rainbow

This card was another experiment, this time with a stencil and three colors of ink.  Yes, I only used three ink colors.  :-)

I laid a plastic stencil down over some white cardstock, sponged some yellow ink in the middle, some red ink on the left side, and some blue ink on the right side.  You can see where the yellow ink met the other two colors, it combined to make orange and green.  That was a fun discovery!

I kept this simple with some die cut hearts in white and a sweet sentiment from Stampin Up across the bottom.  The ink colors that I used are Strawberry Slush, Daffodil, and Coastal Cabana from Stampin Up.  Now I am curious to see if this will work with pastel colors and deep jewel-tone colors.  I think another experiment is in the works!  LOL

When You Dream

Howdy!  I'm back with another card, and I have to confess, I am in love with this one.  Like yesterday's card, this one started out as an experiment.

I stamped the flowers and leaves (all from Papertrey Ink) with different colors onto some kraft cardstock.  Just like yesterday's card, it was pretty, but I was in the mood for something different.  So I spritzed the piece with water just to see what would happen, and it softened the edges of all the flowers and leaves.  The colors didn't really run too much because I used Stampin Up inks instead of distress inks.  

Once it dried, I really loved the faded, dreamy quality of the flowers.  I decided to add a little shimmer by spraying the piece with Green Patina Perfect Pearls Mist.  Oooooohhhhhh!  I just love how that turned out!

I found a sentiment (also from Papertrey Ink) that seemed perfect to go with the dreamy background, and I added that to the side of the flowers.  This is one of those cards that I really want to send to my friend, and yet, I can't bear to part with it!  LOL  I guess I'm just going to have to make about 25 of these so I can keep one for myself.  :-)

Stamps - Bloomers, Daydreamer from Papertrey Ink

Ink - all from Stampin Up - Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mambo, Olive, Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Jet Black Archival (Ranger)

Cardstock - kraft and Cherry Cobbler

Other: rectangle dies, Green Patina Perfect Pearls Mist

Laugh with Flowers

Here is another card I made recently.  This was an experiment that turned out really neat, so I turned it into a card instead of trashing it.  :-)

I stamped the flower from Penny Black and then colored it with distress inks and a water brush.  I used Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon on the flowers, and then I went over the entire background with Tumbled Glass and Broken China distress inks.   It was pretty, but I wanted something different, something edgier.  

I spied my mister with water in it, and I wondered what would happen if I spritzed the water over all my coloring.  As you can see, the orange colors moved past the outline of the flowers and some of the blue was washed away from the flowers, providing a cool halo effect.

To enhance that halo effect, I sponged some extra Broken China ink around the edges and then I added a wee touch of Vintage Photo sponging as well.  I let the piece dry completely and then adhered it to a white card base and added the die cut "laugh" sentiment to the front.  The "laugh" die cut is from a Little Yellow Bicycle die that I found at Hobby Lobby.

I hope you are enjoying the cards I'm sharing.  I still have a few more to share with you, so stay tuned!  :-)  Have a great week!

Honey Hexagon Hello

Hello, dear friends!  I hope you are having a wonderful week.  Here is a fun hexagon card to share with you today.

I started by stamping the hexagons onto a white card base.  I wanted an autumnal ombre effect, so the bottom row is stamped with Spiced Marmalade distress ink, the middle row is stamped with Wild Honey distress ink, and the top row is stamped with Saffron ink (Stampin Up).  The sentiment and the butterfly were cut from Chocolate Chip cardstock and I added some yellow rhinestones to the body of the butterfly.

This card will be easy to mail as there are no bulky layers or embellishments.  Wouldn't this be a fun card to duplicate in dozens of other color combos?  :-)

Go Boldly

Here's a fun card to give to a sci-fi fan!  I created the background by dabbing some Dylusions paints onto black cardstock and then spritzing them with water.  Once the paints were dry, I dipped a brush into some white Dylusions paint and flicked it all over the colored black cardstock.

Once my galaxy background was dry, I added some planets and a rocket with the fun "go boldly" sentiment.  The stamps are from Paper Smooches - perfect for this space-y card!  :-)

I've still got some more cards to share with you, so stop by this week for a little visit.  Have a wonderful day!

Bamboo Shoots Bookmarks

I've been playing with some Color Bursts and I created this fun collection of bookmarks to share with you.  Color Bursts are watercolor powders, and you sprinkle them onto your cardstock and mist them with water to create all kinds of random bursts of color.  You never know what it's going to look like til after it dries, and that is what makes them so much fun!

I bought my Color Bursts from Classy Cards 'n Such.  These bookmarks were created with the Brights assortment of colors - http://www.classycardsnsuch.com/Complete_set_of_Brights_Assortment_by_Ken_Oliver_p/ccns-ko-all-brights.htm .  I am waiting for the new Earth Tones assortment to come out, and you can pre-order them here - http://www.classycardsnsuch.com/Earth_Tones_Assortment_by_Ken_Oliver_p/ccns-ko-earth-tones.htm .

All of the stamps are from Art Neko, as well as the bookmark sleeves and tassels.  Here are the links to the stamps:

Bamboo bookmark stamp, Breathe stamp, bookmark sleeves, and tassels:
http://artneko.com/displayItem/A382-SET1

Small bamboo/leaves stamp from this sheet:
http://artneko.com/displayItem/A279-FSHT

Thanks stamp from this sheet:
http://artneko.com/displayItem/A327-0018

Fall Leaves Scene

I don't know about you, but I am more than ready for some fall weather to arrive.  I created this card in hopes that these 100+ degree temperatures will fall down to a more acceptable 75 degrees.  LOL!!

I started by sponging some yellow and mustard and orange inks onto some white cardstock.  Next, I die cut the tree frame and stamped it with a woodgrain background.  I cut some pumpkins and sponged them to add more depth and I colored the stems with a Copic marker.  The rake was cut from gray cardstock, and then I colored the handle with a Copic marker.  The basket was cut from kraft cardstock and I colored the metal rims with a silver Wink of Stella brush.

For the leaves, I started by sprinkling some Brushos onto some white cardstock, and then I spritzed them with water.  Brushos are a watercolor powder and they are fabulous for creating backgrounds.  I used several different colors, such as red, brown, yellow, green, and orange.  Once these pieces were dry, I die cut the leaves and added them randomly to my card.

I can't wait for fall to arrive!  :-)

Picnic Basket Daisies

Hi friends!  I've been busy staying out of the heat and making some cards in the comfort of air conditioning.  :-)  This is a quick and easy card that I thought I would share with you.  The background is really fun to make.

I grabbed my Peacock Feathers distress ink pad and smooshed it directly onto some white cardstock until the entire piece was covered with ink.  Next, I misted a background stamp with water and then stamped it onto the inky cardstock.  I carefully lifted the stamp off and let the piece dry.  The water reacted with the ink so you can see the ghostly image of the stamp.  Isn't that cool?

The picnic basket is a stamp from Papertrey Ink and I simply colored it with some Copic markers.  I thought about adding a sentiment but I wasn't sure if I wanted this for a birthday card or a "have a nice day" type of card.  I'll add that when I use the card.

I have some more cards to share with you, so pop by and see what I've been creating.  Enjoy your weekend!

Floral Prayer

Here is the latest card I've created for Verses Rubber Stamps.  This get well stamp is called A Special Prayer, and you will find it in the Get Well section at the bottom of the page.  I paired this stamp with some patterned papers and a mulberry flower that had been sprayed with a gold Glimmer Mist.

I like to keep the focus on the sentiments so I generally keep the embellishments to a minimum.  I have a sweet friend who is the opposite of me, and she probably would have done at least 5 layers with ribbons, flowers, and pearls all over the card.  LOL  I have a feeling she is going to challenge me to do just that the next time I make a card.  :-)

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Untie the Ribbons

Hello again!  Did you have a fun weekend celebrating the 4th of July?  We had fun watching all the firecrackers - so pretty!

Today's card is another sample I created for Verses Rubber Stamps.  I was inspired by the sentiment and I just knew I had to do something with ribbon and bows.  I found some pretty paper and then searched for ribbons to go with the colors in the paper.  Once I had that figured out, it was simply a matter of adhering down the papers and tying the ribbons.

I toyed with the idea of untying one of the ribbons just to go with the sentiment, but I think it will be more fun for the customers to do that in the convention booths.  You can find this sentiment, Untie the Ribbons, in the Quotables section, about a third of the way down the page.  There are so many beautiful stamps in the store, so take your time and enjoy shopping!

Bright Hopes Anniversary card

Howdy, folks!  Are you ready for another sample that I created for Verses Rubber Stamps?  Today's card is an anniversary card and I went kind of artsy and funky with this one.  I pulled out some patterned papers from my stash and punched out a couple of folk-art style hearts and added some gray satin ribbon.  This beautiful sentiment is called Bright Hopes Anniversary, and you can find it in the middle of the Marriage and Anniversary section in the store.

I've only used part of the stamp on the front of my card.  In actuality, there is a "Happy Anniversary" sentiment just below the verse you see on my card.  I covered that up when I was inking up the stamp so that it would only stamp the verse.  Then I cleaned the stamp and covered up the top part so I could ink and stamp the "Happy Anniversary" sentiment on the inside of my card.  

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my cards so far.  I'll have a couple more to share with you soon.  Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July celebration tomorrow.  

A Special Prayer

Hi friends.  I'm sharing another sample I created for Verses Rubber Stamps.  This special sentiment can be found in the Get Well section at the bottom of the page.  The flowers in the background are some stamps from Papertrey Ink.  I made this card upon hearing that my neighbor had fallen and hurt her hip.  I wanted to give her a card that would brighten her day while she was in the hospital.

I have three more samples to share with you, so check back in a couple days to see what I've created.  In the meantime, stay cool and have fun!

Chocolate cards for Verses Rubber Stamps

If you get the email newsletter from Verses Rubber Stamps, you probably saw these two cards featured in this week's email.  I had so much fun creating these cards with their chocolate sayings.

This first card uses the Chocolate stamp (found in the Miscellaneous section, about 3/4ths of the way down the page).  I used a chocolate kiss stamp from Deadbeat Designs to go with the quote.  This picture is taken on an extreme angle so you can see the silvery highlights I added to the wrapper on the chocolate kisses.

On this second card, I made a fun shaker card with the Clothes Shrink stamp (also in the Miscellaneous section, 3/4ths of the way down the page).  I have a little punch that punches a small circle with an "m" cut out in the middle to resemble those yummy M&M candies.  That was the perfect little confetti to put inside this shaker.  

I'll share some more of the card samples I've created for Verses Rubber Stamps over the next few weeks.  Have a great weekend!!

Coloring with pencils

I've been playing with my colored pencils, and here's a couple of flowers that I colored this week.  I'll list the details for each one below each picture.  I can't decide if I like the blue one or the orange one best.  :-)

You've Got This stamp set - Stampin Up

Prismacolor Premiere pencils

PC132     PC916

 PC903     PC1097

PC904     PC912

PC1086    PC913

   PC1089                   

You've Got This stamp set - Stampin Up

Polochromos pencils

102     162

109     161

115     158

133           

Spring cards with Chrissy - part 3

Howdy!  Here is my last set of Spring cards for Chrissy.  I stamped the big bold flower from Penny Black and colored them with Silks paints.  I wanted some color in the background, so I experimented around with spraying some Distress Spray Stains around the image.  I alternated spraying some Tumbled Glass with some Salty Ocean as well as some plain water.

To my surprise, the Silks paints resist the sprayed color, but they also react with the water by spreading out and blending with the blue background.  That was such a cool discovery, and I just had to share my excitement.  You can see each individual card below:

I hope you've enjoyed my Christmas and Spring cards.  I'll have more cards to share with you as the weeks go by, so I hope you stop by to visit.  Thank you for being with me today!

Spring cards with Chrissy - part 2

For my second set of Spring cards for my swap with Chrissy, I had some fun with Distress Spray Stains.  I cut some white cardstock down to A2 size, stamped this awesome image from Penny Black on them, and just had a blast spraying them with different color combos.  There was no way I could cover up all that fabulous color, so I kept the cards simple by adding a die cut "dream" sentiment to each of them.

Here is each card so you can see all the fun color combos that I ended up with:

Come on back in a couple days and I'll share the last set of Spring cards.  I was experimenting with something and I discovered a fun new technique in the process.  I'll share it all with you in a couple of days.  :-)

Spring cards with Chrissy - part 1

Remember the Christmas card swap I've been doing with my friend Chrissy?  We decided to throw in some Spring cards with our last set, so I have 3 sets of Spring cards to share with you this week.  This butterfly tag card is the first card set I created.

I started by sponging some Abandoned Coral distress ink over a grid stencil.  I then sprayed some white cardstock with distress spray stains (pink, purple, orange, yellow).  Once this was dry, I stamped the butterfly tag stamp from Penny Black and cut it out.  It needed a little extra something, so I smeared some Tropical Tangerine Stickles all over the tags.  That was so much fun!  I tied some ribbon through the tag hole and added a die cut "hello" to the card.

Does this card scream spring to you?  I kept the colors on the pastel side and the addition of the glittery Stickles brings a big smile to my face.  Can you tell I love glitter??  LOL!

I'll share the other two Spring cards sets with you this week, so check back to see some colorful cards.  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Christmas cards for Chrissy - Part 3

Here are the next two Christmas cards from my monthly swap with my friend, Chrissy.  We are doing 5 cards a month, and these are the cards I made for May and June.  I must admit, I am in LOVE with the angel card.  It turned out so much better than I saw it in my head.  :-)

I hope my Christmas card postings have inspired you to work on building up your own stash.  We made these clean and simple and mailable so we can actually get them mailed out to our friends and family before the Christmas holiday rolls around.  LOL  How many times have we stampers resorted to buying a box of Christmas cards because we ran out of time in December?  :-)