HELLO Autumn ~ I love you

  #Autumn. #Crafting ~ 2 of my most favorite words!  Combining them in real life is so rewarding!   

I am hooked on stamping on leaves and I think I'll start making framed wall art with them too  🍁            

Here's a link to the "Stamping Leaves" post if you want to learn more!

My goal for this card was to express the chilly-ness of Autumn while showcasing my stamped leaf!! The Sizzix embossing folder I used is one of the 3D folders that gives different levels of dimension.  I rubbed a little gold and then some white ink over the embossed paper it to amplify the dimension too!  

A heavier upholstery ribbon along with a lace edger conveys the cozier aspect of an Autumn sweater, don't you think? 

Blessings on your day!  I hope you stay cozy and find time to enjoy the little things (like leaves!) 💛

 

Easter Water Color

Spring puts me in the mind to use lots of fresh colors!!

Watercolor is a forgiving medium, and theriputic to play with when you're in the mood to just swirl colors. It is wonderfully relaxing to put blobs of color on the wet paper and let it pool and run. I like to make several backgrounds at once, partly because it's addicting to mess with color combinations, & partly so that several are ready to go when inspiration hits!

For this one, after the paper dried I ran it through a viney embossing folder.  Look at that yummy texture!!!

I  fell in love with every random swirl of color and decided not to trim it!  Instead I used one of my favorite alphabet stamp sets to spell Easter, accenting the daisies with Morning Dew Nuvo Crystal Drops.

To make the colors pop more I used bright white strips of lacy die cuts from Kaisercraft & some thin scraps of Lawn Fawn plaid paper.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope your Easter is beautiful and blessed.

MHK & Coloring Digitals BEFORE PRINTING!!

Welcome to another fun Inspiration card for PIP Challenges!!  Our sponsor is MHK Designs & wow, do they ever have some great digital images!!  Stop by & check them out, they have great prices and you can get started within minutes, no waiting for the mail!!!

MHK generously provides the digis for our design team to use and I am in LOVE with their butterflies. 

As I have said in the past, I am kinda new at digis and I enjoy experimenting so I decided to  try coloring them before I printed them!!

Wow, it is really fun and addictive! I also used a "colored pencil" filter to change it up a little.  I really can say that I had a lot of fun with this!! Click the selection tool and select the areas that you will have reflect the same color/hue. 

I used a sliding scale to change the colors in the adjust colors tab of my Microsoft Digital Image Standard editing tool. 

If I want something very intense and can't get it there, the trick for me is to "finish" and then reselect adjust color and continue to max out the scale until I get the intensity I am looking for. 

I colored each butterfly separately & blown up large so I could easily see what I was selecting.  When each was finished I copied them to a clean doc - sizing & spacing them to match each other.  Then it was just a matter of printing them (make sure they are far enough off the edge to use your selected die, etc.)

For the label shapes I used matching dies in different sizes. To make the oblong ribbon of paper I first cut the rectangle and then poked each end into the area of the smaller die to make the side accents. 

ANOTHER incident worth noting: I scribbled in the background stripes based on another card I made but the color turned out more intense and the marker left overlap marks instead of the smooth look on the previous card. 

       

The difference?  The kitty card was sprayed with Workable Fixatif which must give the paper a smoother texture that doesn't absorb color as quickly.  I think I may start using it just for that property (I originally got it just to "set" the ink on digis).

To finish  I thought I would make the inside reusable, so I added a note card for my sentiment and/or handwritten note. I put it there with adjustable adhesive on the note card only, then the recipient could reuse the card if she chooses (& who wouldn't !!!!!)

Don't forget, click here to make any order requests on the "HI!" notes Facebook page!!

Anchors - Frame it up!

I have to admit it.  The following flurry of my posts are a direct result of deeply desiring to win the $50 Power Poppy stamps is offering in their May challenge, Frame It Up!

I like great backgrounds and adding a hollow frame so that the card is decorated, but the beauty of the background isn't lost in the process!!  Here is one using mostly embossing and die cuts.  The sentiment is from Impression Obsession and the Anchor die is Spellbinders - Shapeabilities In'spire dies - Anchors Away.  Using the plastic packaging from one of my dies I used a Kaisercraft Embossing Folder laid over white to help the embossing really pop and layered on the rest :)

Hope you've enjoyed this post

Winter Frost Papers

Hello Friends!  Just some fun wintery inspiration for you.  This card is made from the Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper " Winter Frost ".  I layered bars of my favorites onto black cardstock and laid  that over a pure white card base. 

A  lace border was punched from the front bottom edge only.  I then put a blue ribbon under a sheer ribbon both with banner cut ends.  The sentiment was stamped and embossed on a die cut label whose edges were rubbed with shades of blue ink.  Add 2 gems for accents and "Ta-Da!!" a beautiful, Wintery card!!

A Cherry on Top

Just building some "Happy Cards" for Birthdays and other occasions.  I like using sentiments like "You're so Sweet!" or "Wish Big!"  It was a lot of fun Doing these :)

Start with pattern papers. I used ones that looked sunny and happy to me.  I've also done this with more sophisticated paper and they turned out great too!  Then using Unity Stamp Co. set "Sweet Life"https://www.unitystampco.com/shop/sweet-life-sw-kit/  I stamped with Versa Fine Black ink & heat embossed every ice cream scoop twice on each paper.  I found some solid and some patterned Chocolate and Carmel colored paper and later decided that Berry color was good too & stamped & embossed the dripping sauce stamp several times on each. Closely Fussy cut around each image.

To add a little extra dimension choose a color close to the main color of each image and rub the sides of every image, leaving no shading on the center of each image.  I enjoy the extra work it takes but they look great without the shading too.

For more texture dry emboss all of the ice cream elements!  I used small dots. I also use Glossy Accents on the fountain glasses for a little extra shine.

Dry embossed card backgrounds on white card stock with various embossing folders. Saturate each with inks that match the pattern papers using a sponge or other rubbing tool (I use pieces of hard foam packaging that were in the embossing folder packages).  This gets most of the paper full of ink and makes the raised parts stand out even more darkly.  The less you rub & saturate the softer the background will be. Experiment!!

I know you can take it from here!  Color & cut out the cones or glasses you want your ice cream creation to be in and start layering onto the embossed card fronts.  Make labels with stamps & die cuts to finish it off with a sentiment or leave it plain.  Add ribbon, sequins or "dots". 

This is so fun and merry!!  You can't go wrong!  I leave the sentiments off until I want to use the card and then I can easily choose the right one for the occasion and just stick it on (I like to have dimensional tape already on the back of every sentiment). 

Oh, I almost forgot the Cherry on top!!