A Gift of Handcrafted Paper

A few weeks ago, several of my crafty friends joined me for a day of stamping, talking and hanging out.  I love spending the day with them!  Sometimes we create a lot of cards/projects.  Other times, just a few.  It kind of depends on how much time we spend just talking.  Imagine that.

My friend Ellen brought along several pieces of some gorgeous paper that she created in a paper making class that she attended.  This paper is so very pretty.
I love the textures and the blend of colors.  I had been trying to decide just how to use this gift of hand crafted paper.  Last weekend I decided to add to my supply of sympathy cards and I knew (right away) that I wanted to use these papers.

I created 4 cards; 2 of each style.

Click on each photo to enlarge it.

I knew I wanted to keep these cards clean and simple, so that the hand crafted paper is the focal point.  I simply tore the edges of 2 sides of the piece, in keeping with the natural edges that already existed.  There is a piece of gold thread looped and placed behind each sentiment panel.
The only other addition is a bit of glossy accents over the flower on each of the first 2 cards.

These cards came together just as I planned, which doesn't often happen.  And I love the results!

Thank you to my friend Ellen for sharing some of this treasured paper.  Aren't crafting friends wonderful?

And....how about this?  Oh, yes.

Watercolor Smooshing

Recently...well, actually before Easter...I make several cards that I thought I'd share with you.  It was a fun technique using watercolors or (in this case) distress inks, water and watercolor paper.

This is what I created.

I learned the technique from a video by Betsy Veldman for Papertrey Ink.
This technique isn't difficult, but it did take a bit of trial and error to get the effect I wanted.  Since I love playing with color, it was lots of fun!  HERE is a link to the video.

For my cards I used Ranger Distress Inks.  But there are many options available.  Any color medium that will blend with water, I would think.

That's it for today.  Thank for taking a look!

Celebrating you!

I'm playing along in a card challenge today.  Yes, finally!

It's the City Crafter Challenge Blog Birthday CASE #4 (week 359) and we're casing a beautiful card created by Marina.

It's so feminine and pretty, isn't it?  I immediately thought of lace when I looked at the cake image on Marina's card.  So that's the direction I took, as you'll see below.

Marina's colors are soft and subtle, but I decided to go a bit bolder with my color choices.  This card has lots of dimension!  I cut white card stock for each of the cake layers; covered each with teal felt, then over that I wrapped lace and ribbon trim.  The cake "plate" is a piece of gold foil paper.  After stamping the candle flame I added some Stickles to give it a little sparkle and shine.

It was fun to finally get back to my blog and play along with a challenge.
Thanks for stopping by!

Colorful Birthday Wishes

Well, hello!  It's been months since I've shared a card on this blog of mine.
I still love creating and I do so whenever I can.  This time I'm finally taking the time to play along in a challenge.  I'm so excited!  So, let's get to it.

The challenge is Color Throwdown #437.  Here's out inspiration photo.

Oh, how I love tulips.  One of the first signs of Spring, here in Illinois.
But.  I didn't go with florals on my card.  You see...my husband has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks, so I needed to make a card for him.  I really didn't think he would fully appreciate a "floral-y" card.  Anyway, here's what I created with the inspiration colors.

I used a light aqua, yellow and a medium green to create the ink blended sky background.  The trees were diecut and layered over that, along with the two little birds (I'm thinking they're Cardinals!).  I finished my card with a simple sentiment stamped onto yellow cardstock.  All done!
This was fun.  I should do this more often.  :)

Ink: peacock feather, squeezed lemonade, bundled sage (Ranger distress inks) onyx black (Versafine)
Cardstock: whisper white, garden green, real red, so saffron (SU)
Stamps: phrase play #6 (Papertrey Ink)
Dies: tree line (Tim Holtz Alterations), in the meadow (PTI)

Autumn Watercolor

It's been a long time between posts, hasn't it?  Yes, I've been creating, but seldom have any time to share what I've created.  Yikes!

I'm playing along with the current challenge at Happy Little Stampers
CAS Challenge - September 2016 - Watercolour Spritz

Watercolors, all the various forms and techniques, are so much fun to play with.  It was difficult to choose which to do!  I decided to use my distress ink pads since the colors are so vibrant. 

I just smooshed several pads onto my craft sheet, then spritzed them with water.  Then, I placed my watercolor paper onto the puddles of ink and moved it around just a bit.  It took a few tries to get the look I wanted, but I'm really pleased with the results.  Once dry, I sprinkled drops of water from my hand onto the paper, then blotted with a paper towel.
The same technique was used for the die cut leaf, using different colors and different inks (I used Stampin' Up! inks for the leaf).  I also stamped the veins onto the leaf AND just because I wanted a little something more....I added a few drops of glossy accents.  A sentiment stamped onto a die cut "hill" and my card is complete.

Thanks for stopping in to take a look!

Supply list ~
card stock: white (Recollections), watercolor paper (Strathmore)
ink: river rock, soft suede, early espresso (SU), mustard seed, spiced marmalade, worn lipstick (Ranger Distress Inks)
stamps: leaf prints (Papertrey Ink), words of inspiration (My Favorite Things)
dies: leaf prints (PTI), in the meadow (PTI)
other: mini mister, glossy accents, craft sheet (Ranger), water

In a Galaxy

In a galaxy.  Far, far away.

Sorry...that's the line of movie dialog that came to mind when I glanced at this card a minute ago!

This morning, I searched for a tutorial for making a night sky background (more like a galaxy, really).  I knew I'd seen a video by one of my favorite papercrafters, Kristina Werner.  I found THIS video tutorial on YouTube and knew I had to give it a try.

I love using water colors, but adding this much black paint to a card panel made me so uncomfortable.  This was SO far out of my comfort zone.

Here's what I eventually created...after a little experimenting.

I used almost the same colors that Kristina used, since I knew it worked for her.  Then I followed the steps she used in her video.  I had NO idea if my attempt at this technique would turn out okay...or a disaster.

Well.  I had fun playing around with these dark colors and I'm so happy with the results!

Thanks for taking a look!

Supply list -
stamps: blue skies (Lawn Fawn)
ink: versamark
card stock: white (Recollections), 140# cold press watercolor paper (Strathmore)
die: dotted die (Avery Elle)
other: Koi watercolor pocket field sketch box (Sakura), brushes, water

Watercolor Happy

Hi!  I made some time this afternoon to do a little stamping.  It was SO nice.

I'm playing along in 2 challenges with today's card.

CAS(E) this sketch! - CTS #175 (a sketch by Hannalie Bester)

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - June 1 - Sail On

The rectangles in the sketch reminded me of brush strokes, then the varied shades of blue in the Sail On photo....well, I knew I had to do some water coloring.  Actually, it's easy to convince me since I love to use any of the water color techniques!

Here's my take on these two challenges.

My distress inks were sitting there on my work table, so I used those instead of pulling out my water color set.  I have 6 different shades of blue.  So.  I used the all of them.  Just because I could!  I just smooshed each ink pad onto an acrylic block, then picked up each color with a wide, flat paint brush.  Not too much water, so that my colors would be fairly concentrated.  The water colored panel turned out exactly the way I hoped.

Once the panel was dry, I used a word die to cut the word out of this panel.  I also used the same die on 3 different blue card stocks, which I layered under the original one.  Gluing all of these die cuts was tedious work, since they're so narrow and fairly delicate.

After all that, I really didn't want to stamp a sentiment onto the card front.  It just  seemed there wasn't a good place to put anything else without detracting from the water colors.  I'll just write the remainder of my birthday wishes inside the card.

Well...I've talked for long enough.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies ~
card stock: coastal cabana, bermuda bay, tempting turquoise (Stampin' Up!), watercolor paper (Artist's Loft)
ink: weathered wood, stormy sky, broken china, faded jeans, mermaid lagoon, peacock feathers (Ranger distress inks)
die: wonderful words (Papertrey Ink)