The Evolution of a Card

Hi Everyone!!  I wanted to show you how this card evolved from one idea to something entirely different.  I think it probably happens to all of us!!
When I go to my craft room I always bring my iPhone or iPad with me.  Just in case I get a blog-worthy idea and I can document it, 9 times out of 10, it isn't blog-worthy, lol!!  Although, I really need to start posting more...even the fails!!  Well, I guess you can say this card started out as a fail...

I apologize in advance for the numerous photos..

So, it started with a background cling stamp from Impression Obsession called Leaf Flourishes (linked to Simon Says Stamp). I hadn't used it yet and thought I would pull it out.  I also knew I wanted to do some sort of watercoloring.  I heat embossed the image with clear embossing powder on to watercolour cardstock...mistake #1.  The image was almost impossible to make out, but I tried anyway.

I painted as many leaves as I could spot but just wasn't happy with the results (there are quite a few flourishes on the stamp as well, so there was a lot of unpainted area).  I took out some Worn Lipstick Distress Ink, and sponged the entire thing. Then I thought it needed some Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink...oh my, mistake #2.

Yup! There it is! It would've made a lovely sofa pattern in the 80's, don't you think?  So, here is where  my brain started working.  Let's try to freehand watercolour before stamping a floral image.  I got out the Doodlie-Do Stamp set from PaperTrey Ink and chose a stamp.  I started to watercolor behind the stamp, trying to put a specific color in the right spot i.e.: red for flowers, green for stems/leaves.

When I was done, I placed the stamp over top and....it didn't line up.  I know its a loose-goosey type of card but I really didn't like it.

I thought I could take some of the separate images from the set and stamp them over each part of the watercolour.  But as I took a close look at what I had created, I decided to Stop Right There!!  This was my very first freehand watercolour!!!  I knew if I stamped over it, it would be ruined.  So, I ended up adding a few splotches of color to each part and...stopped.

To finish things off, I used a Stitched Square Die from Simon Says Stamp to cut out my "flowers".  I misted it lightly with some Perfect Pearls (in the shade Perfect Pearl) mixed with water to give it a wee bit of glimmer.

I used my scoring board to score some lines around the edge of the card base (1/4" around all sides).  I really wanted to keep this as clean and simple as I could, which is rather difficult for me!!  I thought about tying some black ribbon around the card but the only ribbon I has was rather thick, so I skipped it!!  I stamped the sentiment, also from the Doodlie-Do stamp set, added a few Sparkling Clear sequins and called it done!!

 Sorry this post was rather long, but I really wanted to show you how my thought process works sometimes!!

Hope you enjoyed!!  Until next time...Stay Crafty!!

Laurie

PS:  I did not throw away the 80's sofa panel...will try to do something with it :)

Mix It Up with Mama Elephant

Hello, everyone!!  This project is for the current Mix It Up Challenge over at Ellen Hutson.  This time around, you are to use Mama Elephant products (along with Ellen Hutson products).

I decided to use a combination of Carnival Cupcakes and Soiree from Mama Elephant and the Wish Big stamp set from Ellen Hutson.  

I jumped around A LOT on this card. 

So, in the end, this is what I came up with...

Hope you like it!!

Until next time...Stay Crafty!!

Laurie

Paper Smooches November Challenge

Hello everyone!!  I'm participating in the November Challenge over at Paper Smooches!  This month's theme is to use gold somewhere on your project.

I decided to use the Best Buds and the Blossoming Buds stamp sets.  I knew I just wanted to use gold as an accent, along with a neutral.
I stamped my images with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink onto some Canson Watercolour paper.

I then used my Brand New Derwent Inktense Blocks!!  I only used one color (Neutral Grey) to color in the background.

This is where the idea in my head wasn't working out.  I stamped out a couple more images with Gold Embossing powder, with the idea of overlaying them onto the watercolored panel...this just looked too "heavy" (I don't know how else to explain it).

So I die cut some Blissful Butterflies out of glitter paper as well as a circle of vellum which I gold embossed the word Thanks from the Fancy Frames Set.

The OCD in me didn't like this, only because the the embossing powder and the butterflies were different shades of gold.  I ended up die cutting another vellum circle, overlaying it onto the coloured panel and restamping some of the images...

I made a scalloped circle frame to adhere over the vellum circle, cut around the sentiment and adhered it to a banner strip.  I finished it off by adding a few gold sequins.

Hope you enjoyed!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

LaurieC.

My New Addiction

Hello and welcome back!!
I wanted to share with you a new (to me) crafty addiction....Digital Stamps!!  These have blown my mind.  I cannot stop buying them!!

First off, I want to let you know that I am computer stupid.  I can manage basic things, email, surfing, social media.  But when it comes to more technical stuff, I get lost very quickly.  This blog, for instance, wow, not easy for me!!  I still don't know a quarter of the stuff you are able to do, so sadly, don't expect big changes to occur here :)  So, that brings us to digital stamps.  The purchase and downloading was easy...purchase, download, open file!!  The printing on the other hand took me some time to figure out, and I'm still having a few issues.

I've been doing a lot of colouring with pencils lately and I use watercolour cardstock for that.  I use either Canson or Strathmore most often.  But that is some thick paper and unfortunately will NOT feed through my cheap HP Envy printer (from Walmart).  So, I tried using cheap watercolour paper, also from Walmart, and it fed through fine.  The coloured pencils work ok on it but not like the quality stuff.

I can always use practice with my alcohol markers and these images are super for that!!  After numerous attempts at getting the ink NOT to smear when colouring, I finally figured out the printer settings (on my printer, anyway).  You do not want to print a "quality" document.  The ink does not dry!  Trust me, I waited for literally days before trying to colour and the ink still bled.  I changed the print setting to "draft" quality and it worked great!!  I guess it lays down less ink???  I should mention I use Neenah Solar White 80b cardstock.  NOTE:  I still find using certain colours, like flesh colours will still make the ink bleed.  Not sure why...

So, now on to some cool stuff!!  There are so many awesome things about digital stamps:

1.  Cost.  You can get a single stamp ranging from .99 to 3.00.  Digital stamp "sets" range from about 4.00 to 12.00, depending on the number of images. And, NO SHIPPING!!
2.  Storage.  No storage pouches, no precut cardstock, no labels, no baskets. (Although, I'm a sucker for all those things!)  They are all just waiting for you nicely on your computer.
3.  Instant gratification!!  THERE IS NO WAITING!!  The shortest wait time when I order stamps online is 7-10 business days...and that is a lot of time when you are excited to get your goodies.
4.  Possibilites.  They are really endless.  You can twist, turn, flip, resize, add a custom sentiment...its so cool!!!

I definitely still have a lot to learn with digital stamping.  I am considering buying a quality laser printer.  Something where you know the ink won't bleed and is capable of handling quality cardstock.

NOTE:  I still love my clear stamps and will continue to buy them.  Maybe just not so many.  I look through my stash of stamps and there are so many sets that I just had to have..and they have only been used once or twice..its actually quite shameful, poor things :(

Finally, this is a few of the digis I've coloured and a couple of cards made with them.

I created a mask by printing the image onto copy paper and fussy cutting.

I hope you enjoyed this!! And I encourage you to give digi stamps a try!!  There are websites out there that offer some free images!!  I will leave you with the links of the three sites I've used. But there are many others, including Easy!!

www.mygrafico.com

www.fromtheheartstamps.com

www.bugaboostamps.com

Thanks for stopping by and hanging in until the end:)

Stay Crafty!!

Laurie

Paper Smooches Designer Drafts Challenge

Hello everyone!! Well, we had a wee bit of snow this morning, nothing that stayed around, just a little reminder that winter will soon be here. Ugh.  So, it's the perfect day to make a tropical card!!

I'm participating in the LAST challenge over at the Paper Smooches Sparks blog.

 It's a Designer Draft Challenge using the following sketch:

So, let me just start by saying that I'm never really sure how far you can "stray" from the sketch. I kept it fairly close to this..I think.

I've combined two different stamp sets for this card :  Get Outta Town and Summer Lovin.  These two sets go together SO well!!!

To start, I picked my images and coloured them with Spectrum Noir coloured pencils on watercolour cardstock, then fussy cut them out.  (Check out Julia Altermann's Blog and YouTube channel for colouring tips and just fab card designs!!).

Then I planned my layout.  I die cut four Frame 2 dies and figured out my placement.

I traced lightly around each frame.  I then masked around the inner portions of each frame and blended Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks to make a nice blue background for each image.

I erased all my pencil marks and started to assemble.  I used Smoke Ink from Simon Says Stamp to stamp my sentiment and some additional small images. I adhered my frames using some Tombow Mono glue and my images with foam adhesive.

And finally here is the finished card, complete with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents, of course!!

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by!!  

Stay Crafty!!

Laurie

Paper Smooches Picture Perfect!!

Hi Everyone!!  Just want to share a card I made for the October Paper Smooches Sparks Picture Perfect Challenge.

Here is the photo inspiration:

Such pretty colors!! So here is my entry!!

I used the Leaves One dies along with the Sentiment Sampler stamp set!! 

Thanks for stopping by today!!!

Stay Crafty

xx

Mixing It Up with WPlus9

Hi everyone!!  I'm back with a card for Ellen Hutson Mix It Up Challenge.  This time around, you are to use Ellen Hutson products along with WPlus9 products!!  As you all know, I am a huge fan of this challenge!!

I decided on the BeYoutiFul die from Ellen Hutson and the Paisley Patterns stamp set from Wplus9.
I chose 7 ink colors from Simon Says Stamp...Doll Pink, JellyBean, Scuba, Green Leaf, Rosie Cheeks, Wisteria and a tiny bit of Slate.

I started by doing a bit of test run to make sure the colors were going to look ok.

Then I stamped my entire background.  I didn't really have a concrete plan in my head but I didn't really expect it to be so "busy"...but hey, let's just go with it, shall we?? 

 To break things up a bit I thought maybe a die cut window would be good, so I used a My Favourite Things Double Stitched Ovals Die.  Then thought I would use the Sunshine Layers Dies to cut the panel (sorry, I couldn't link to it..it is currently out of stock).  I used the pretty scalloped frame!

So, this is when I started to think that I messed up, I basically die cut the focal point out of my  background, that large, beautiful paisley.  Ok, let's think about this...I knew that background was busy, but I didn't want to lose that middle piece.  I ended up die-cutting the BeYouTiFul in the centre of the oval...let's inlay die cut, shall we??

I should mention that this was my first card base.  Scrapped that pretty quickly!!

Yes, the back is very ugly.

I ended up cutting two extra BeYouTiFul pieces from thick, black cardstock, for a bit of dimension, adhered it into the negative space (and can you believe I had all the tiny bits of the sentiment saved?!?).  And no card of mine is complete without some Clear Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents!!  I also put some tiny rhinestones and silver sequins, yes, sequins!!  I kind of have a love/hate thing going on with them...they're pretty but I'm terrible at placement!!  Aaaaanyway, here's the finished card...(I still think its on the "busy" side, but let's call it done!!)

Hope you enjoyed!!  I'm off to have some leftover chicken from today's Thanksgiving feast!!
Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!!

Until next time,
Stay Crafty!!

Laurie