Snowy Winter Evening in Paris

 

Happy Saturday!  I'm sharing this Snowy Winter Evening in Paris card with y'all today.  I love this Paris Winter Watercolor stamp from Technique Junkies, and I wanted to create a moody winter evening.  I watercolored this with some gray and blue paints, and I filled in the lamps and windows with some yellow paint.  After the piece dried completely, I went over it with a white gel pen and created a heavy snowfall all over.

Did you know that there is a special kit at Technique Junkies with this Paris Winter Watercolor stamp?  It's the French Notecard Kit, and you get notecards, envelopes, this Paris Winter Watercolor stamp, and the French Sentiments set for only $18.40.  You will have to hurry because this kit won't last long.

Be sure to use my code, TJ10Holly, to save 10% off your orders at Technique Junkies.  Come on back on Monday, February 1, to see the new February release stamps!  It's a fun "popping" release!!  :-)

Rose Bud Hello - Beyond the Blue challenge

 

I just found out that my sweet friend Lee Murphy and her sidekicks have created a fun new challenge blog called Beyond the Blue.  We are all fellow groupies of a famous stamper named Lydia, and this new blog will follow Lydia's videos and challenge us to create projects based on the techniques shown in those videos.  My card above is my entry for their very first challenge - Gel Press Printing with Dye Reinkers.

I pulled out some very old Memento reinkers - Dandelion, Tangelo, and Rose Bud, along with a Versamark reinker.  I combined each color with a drop or two of Versamark and proceeded with the technique as shown in the video.  I used the fun Happy Dots stencil from A Colorful Life Designs (use code HollyFan10) and shifted the stencil on my paper with each new color.  The addition of the Versamark reinker really helps the dye ink cling to the gel press and it also deepens the color of your reinker.  

I do not have a Rose Bud ink pad, so I cut a piece of ink pad foam from Ranger and squirted some of the Rose Bud reinker onto that and then inked up my sentiment stamp.  To create the pink mats underneath the sentiment and the colorful dots, I rubbed my hand-made ink "pad" over some white cardstock.  It's a quick way to match your cardstock to your inks.  :-)

Go check out the new Beyond the Blue challenge blog and play along with us!  It's going to be a fun ride!

Purple Fairy Scene

Good morning, friends! I was in the mood to play with some new fairy stamps, so I pulled out my stencils to create a background first. I used the Flowing Drops stencil along with a Marvelous Masks Rectangle stencil from A Colorful Life Designs to create this little fairy scene. I put the rectangle mask down first, then placed the Flowing Drops stencil over the open rectangular area and brushed on some purple and blue distress inks. I carefully removed the Flowing Drops stencil and left the Rectangle Mask in place so I could stamp the dandelions and the fairy. Then I carefully removed the rectangle mask and adhered my stenciled scene onto a white card. Stamps are from Lavinia.

Use code HollyFan10 to save 10% when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.

Flowing Drops stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/flowing-drops/

Marvelous Masks Rectangle stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/marvelous-masks-rectangles/

 

Glittery Dragonfly Dreams

 I've had this die cut dragonfly on my table for the past six months, and I was inspired to stencil this background so I could give this dragonfly a home. I used the Doodle Wheels stencil from A Colorful Life Designs with some distress inks first. Then I put the Marvelous Masks Circles stencil over the background and lightly colored in the circle with blue distress ink. I added some sparkle by using some Patina Stickles on the dragonfly wings, the sentiment, and the glitter around the blue circle.

Use code HollyFan10 to save 10% off your entire order when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.

Doodle Wheels stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/doodle-wheels/

Marvelous Masks Circles stencils - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/marvelous-masks-circles/

Valentine Heart Wishes

Good morning! I've got a fun Valentine's card to share with you today.  I used two new stamps from Technique Junkies on this card - Valentine Wishes and Valentine Heart Border.  First, I stamped the Valentine Heart Border all over the background with red ink.  Then I stamped the Valentine Wishes with black ink, cut that out with a circle die, and used a red Copic marker to color in the sentiment.  I cut a larger scallop circle from black cardstock and adhered the Valentine Wishes to the center of the card.  

This is such a fun and easy Valentine card!  If you haven't started on your Valentine cards yet, I hope this inspires you.  Be sure to use this code, TJ10Holly, when you shop at Technique Junkies to save 10% off your entire order.  

Chill Skates

Did you see the new January 2021 release stamps from Technique Junkies on Friday?  Aren't they fabulous??  I'm using another one of those new stamps today.  This Skating background stamp is gorgeous, and I had fun playing around with it.  For this card, I randomly dabbed some Wilted Violet and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide inks all over the Skating stamp.  Then I used my brayer to blend the inks and spread them out to the edges.  That's how you get all those different variations of color all over the background stamp.  I love how the edges seem a little frosty.  The sentiment is from the Let's Chill set and I stamped it with the Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink and cut it out with a circle die.

All of the January 2021 release stamps are on sale until January 8.  Be sure to use my code, TJ10Holly, for an additional 10% off for a total of 25% off all of the new release stamps.  Have fun shopping!

 

January 2021 Technique Junkies blog hop

Happy New Year!  Welcome to the January 2021 Technique Junkies blog hop! This release is filled with a wonderful variety of stamps, and we can't wait to show you what we created with them. 

All of the January 2021 New Release stamps are 15% off through January 8th.

We can all use a little bargain, right?

No codes needed, just put them in your shopping cart and the discount will be applied at checkout.

How about an additional 10% off at Technique Junkies?

That’s 25% off the new January 2021 release!

Use code TJ10Holly

For my first card today, I embossed the new Paris Winter Watercolors stamp with white embossing powder onto some smooth watercolor paper.  I pressed some distress inks onto my craft mat, spritzed with water, and then dipped this embossed image into the inky pool.  I didn't use any purple inks - the pink and blue colors mixed together to create these wonderful hues.  I used Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, and Salty Ocean Distress inks.  The smoothness of the watercolor paper is necessary to preserve the wonderful details of this stamp when using embossing powders.  The sentiment is called Beauty of Winter (previously released) and it's stamped with both the Raspberry and the Peacock Feathers distress inks to create that deep purple color (thank you, MISTI tool!!).  

For my second card today, I used the fun new Valentine Wishes stamp.  I stamped this with a raspberry ink and then cut it out with a circle die.  The background was created by punching out some hearts from raspberry cardstock, running them through an embossing folder, and adhering them to a raspberry cardstock layer.  It's a fun textural element for this cute card.

For my last card today, I used the gorgeous new Small Snowflake Trio set.  I wanted to to try these with a rustic style background, so I stamped the Weathered Wall with gray ink onto some gray cardstock.  I embossed the Hello from Five Fab Phrases with white embossing powder, and then I embossed all three of the snowflakes several times with the same white embossing powder.  To enhance the snowy feel of this card, I embossed the edges of the "wood" with more white embossing powder.  I'm in love with this wintry, rustic, snow-filled card.

The "Gotta Have It All" bundle is $94.80.  The regular price for all these stamps is $126.30, so you're saving $31.50 if you buy the bundle.  This is a fantastic deal!

 

Do you want to see more inspiration with these great new stamps?  Check out what my fellow Design Team members have created:

TJ Blog

Ro Donner

Holly Brown

Lynda Pleckan

Patti Gilliam

Beth Norman-Roberts

Pat Huntoon

Judy Jackson