winnie and walter and ellen - sentimental

Hello again.  I'm back cuz I've been on a mission playing along with two of my favorite companies who are sharing the love - Winnie and Walter and Essentials by Ellen.

You can check out all the fabulous inspiration at Winnie and Walter or The Classroom blogs.

This card is for the Day 2 Challenge which is "Sentimental" as well as the Day 5 Challenge  to use this gorgeous mood board.

As much as I love me a good technique when creating a card, and although I often neglect my sentiment until the end of a card's creation... I do try hard to make the sentiment fit the feel and design and mood of the cards I create. So what to do for a "sentiment" challenge? The idea came to me as I was falling asleep (happens often). Unfortunately it didn't pan out like it did in my mind's eye, but oh well.

Was supposed to be the humongo jumbo WW "hi" wafting up into the sky tied to some balloons. Was going to stamp through a negative of the die cut, making a B/W "hi" and probably watercolor balloons like I did on this card.

Wanna see what came of that idea? As so often is the case, I took a detour. Cuz for the first time I noticed the mood board photo in the center on the right. See those lovely subtle colors, blush and whites and gray/green? Not my go to colors, for sure, but I went for it.

Yeah. I went for it after I had stamped through the negative with the Multifaceted stamp and unfortunately the print wasn't tiny enough to really define the outline of the "hi". So I decided some light ink through the negative would help. Hmmm, what color? Gray? Spun Sugar? Enter the inspiration photo I mentioned ;)

Pulled out Essentials by Ellen Up the Happy. White heat embossed some clouds and watercolored them white. White embossed some balloons onto vellum and watercolored them gray/green. Adhered them with multi-matt medium, drew some strings and added "love" from The Big, The Bold and You.

Wanna know what bugs me about this card? I had envisioned the "hi" wafting, leaning more to the left. But I screwed up when I put down the big piece of paper (negative). I held it up to the light to see the angle, but something happened between that moment and the moment when I adhered it to my cardbase with temporary adhesive. It doesn't look straight, it doesn't look angled. Just crooked!

And there's more. Those balloon strings. The last step of the card and what was I thinking? The "hi" is supposed to be wafting, not the balloons. The strings should be taut. Ugh.

I'm joining in at Addicted to CAS with this card.

I've one more card for you today and then it's back to our regular programming ;) Which means more STAMPlorations 3rd Birthday party fun coming at ya!!!

winnie and walter and ellen - transparent

I'm back again cuz although it's been kinda cray cray around here, I had to play along with two of my favorite companies who are sharing the love - Winnie and Walter and Essentials by Ellen.

You can check out all the fabulous inspiration at Winnie and Walter or The Classroom blogs.

Today's card is for the Day 4 Challenge to use something transparent as well as the Day 5 Challenge  to use this gorgeous mood board.

See that party table scene top right? Made me reach for pink, red and blue and the WW The Party stamp set. For my transparent element I chose heat embossed vellum attached over an inked and stamped and heat embossed cardbase. With washi, of course ;) Love how the background peeks through but is diffused, depending on how much air there is behind the vellum.

I just love those lanterns and their tassels. I heat embossed them gold. Used Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Festive Berries Distress Inks on the cardbase. Stamped various smaller images with the same colors and heat embossed a few aqua.

My sentiment (Essentials by Ellen -Many Thanks) was partially inked with Versamark and heat embossed aqua too. Got my inspiration for that from Curtain Call.

I'm sharing my card at Craft Stamper, Take it Make it for July where it's Anything Goes with stamps.

And at Artistic Stamper where it's All things Bright and Beautiful for July.

winnie and walter and ellen - mood board

As I mentioned, it's been kinda cray cray around here but I just had to play along with two of my favorite companies who are sharing the love - Winnie and Walter and Essentials by Ellen.

You can check out all the fabulous inspiration at Winnie and Walter or The Classroom blogs.

My next card is for the  the Day 5 Challenge which is to use this mood board.

See the birdie on the branch in the bottom row? And have you seen Vanessa M.'s DT card?
I made a birdie card too. I was following CAS(E) this Sketch #179 but got a bit detoured with my choice of sentiment!

I'm sharing at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's Anything Goes this week and at Artistic Stamper where it's All Things Bright and Beautiful in July. And over at the July CAS Mix Up it's about stamping + markers + your choice of mixed media. I've got Copic coloring, distress inking and die-cutting.

My tweetie from WW So Tweet is perched upon an Essentials by Ellen Laurel Wreath instead of a branch. I inked it with Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Festive Berries inks. Stamped and Copic colored a few wafting hearts from the set. Added a sentiment, also from the set, which I partially colored with a light gray Copic marker.

My tweetie (couldn't get Vanessa's orange cutie off my mind) I Copic colored, fussy cut and popped up on foam tape. A strip of skinny washi finished off the bottom of my card.

Really. Isn't this little birdie just the sweetest. And so perfect for that sentiment... *sigh*

winnie and walter and ellen - florals

It's been kinda cray cray (as Tenia would say) around here but I just had to play along with two of my favorite companies who are sharing the love this week. Well last week actually, but I'm just getting around to it today.

You can check out all the fabulous inspiration at Winnie and Walter or The Classroom blogs.

My first card is for the Day 1 Challenge to make a floral card. I actually pulled inspiration from the Day 5 Challenge which is to use this mood board.

See the B/W striped dress in the bottom row? And her chartreuse cardigan and fuchsia pumps?
Meet my floral card.

I stamped mega blooms from the fabulous In Bloom sets (Addie, Anna and Elsa) with black Versafine onto white CS. Then I adhered some die cuts from Essentials by Ellen Wild Garden (that seed pod is one of my all time favorite dies). And finally my sentiment. In a nod to the gold in the mood board photos, I cut "celebrate" from gold mirror CS and added a heat embossed "today" from The Big, The Bold Extras.

Remember those pearls we all had to have a couple years ago. I now hoard six less ;)

You must check out Julie E.'s floral gorgeousness if you haven't yet. And you have until July 3rd to join in the Share the Love fun if you haven't yet.

MMCC #25

Ready for a fun challenge over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge? This month's theme is "Sparkle" with the option of gems. This is sure to please a lot of you ;)

Now that I think of it, I guess I went more "shimmer" than "sparkle". But I've got some flashy sequins that are doing their parts to be gems ;)

I started with a black cardbase. I stamped PTI Scribble Circles in white on the cardbase. Then I stamped them onto scrap black CS and heat embossed them white. I painted them with Perfect Pearls in purple and gold tones and fussy cut them.

Adhered them with dimensional adhesive a bit offset over the white stamped ones and added some sequins. A heat embossed and fussy cut sentiment from STAMPlorations Bold Sentiments Hello finished off my card. Technique, texture, dimension - it's all there!

Show us your mixed media card using sparkle, with or without gems, and link up to the gallery before the 25th of July. Can't wait to see what you make.

I'm sharing this card over at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge where it's Anything Goes this week.
And at the Simon Monday Challenge where it's Tic Tac Toe. I've done the first row across ;)

STAMPlorations 3rd birthday blog hop - day 2

I'm joining the party a day late, but it's a good one! STAMPlorations is celebrating Birthday #3 and hip hip hooray, there's a new product line coming to the store. DIES!!! We'll be showcasing them on days 5-7 so just keep watching ;)

In celebration of Birthday #3 as well as the arrival of owner Shery R.'s adorable little Kat last fall, this is the stamp set released for the party.

Kathryn's Big Wishes

I couldn't resist using delightful little Kat with her closed eyes to make a dreamy birthday card. Meet wafting Kathryn!

Thought the sentiment lent itself well to becoming a balloon string! Love the oversize balloon in this set so I heat embossed it white and watercolored it with Gansai Tambi. I chose a bold, primary color scheme (reminiscent of those large punching balloons that Kmart and the like had when I was a kid - anyone remember those?) and went pretty heavy on the pigment which leaves some shine when dry.

So now it's your turn. There's a linky party with prizes over on the blog, as well as a whole lotta inspiration from the DT. There will be random prizes for comments along the way too. Help us celebrate won't you?

a colorful rabble for CASometry 2 and virginia

I've had such fun with Anna K.'s CASometry 2 challenge to use one stamp set to make five different cards. What a great idea and what fun it's been to see how creative card designers are. I'm bringing you a review of my previous cards as well as #5.

For #5 we were to CASE a card from the CASometry 2 Pinterest board where this colorful beauty caught my eye.

I set off with my Essentials by Ellen Up the Happy set and this is what evolved.

Pretty easy actually. I used Strathmore Bristol smooth paper and stamped the butterflies with Distress inks. Then I colored them a little in the center with Zig Clean Color Brush markers. TIP: If you're interested I've a list at the bottom of this post telling you which inks match which markers. Went over them with a wet brush and used some of the color picked up on one butterfly (eg. the purple one) to add some highlights to another one (eg. the light blue one). Just made sure to clean my brush after that so as not to end up with mud.

I die cut the cardbase and the stamped panel with STAMPlorations Crazy Double Stitch Rectangle dies. Added craft foam behind the panel for some dimension. I was itching to add black splatters. And a black sentiment too. But I forced myself to keep it light and airy, so heat embossed the fun sentiment yellow on vellum. This way it can't steal the show from the rabble!

This colorful rabble is joining the colorful gallery over at Virginia' View Challenge too!

Here are my previous creations for CASometry 2:

paired with watercolored die cuts

emboss resist inking with Distress inks

stamping with watercolors

sentiment stamps as a background

 And here's my list of Zig marker/Distress Ink matching colors:

#21 = Worn Lipstick
#23 = Ripe Persimmon
#50 = Mustard Seed
#46 = Shabby Shutters
#42 = Peacock Feathers
#36 = Tumbled Glass
#82 = Seedless Preserves

Have a fantastic day!!!