Monday, August 31, 2015

Birthday Tags



We had a busy, busy weekend.  Ellie turned 8 yesterday.

Saturday we took a few of her friends to lunch at the American Girl store.

As a party favor we gave each of the girls an American Girl book.  I made some personalized tags for the books using a little PTI, a little Mama Elephant, and a little Lawn Fawn.



These were really quick and easy to make, just some very simple Copic coloring.

Yesterday we had another family party at home, so I'm a little pooped....but no rest for the weary, Carina's birthday party is this coming Saturday.....

Friday, August 28, 2015

Ellen Hutson Winner

Just popping in to share the winner of the Bold Blossom Stand Alone Dies from my Ellen Hutson Pin-Sights post last week.

And that lucky lady is......

SCRAPDIDDLE!

Congratulations!  Please shoot me and email and I'll get this sent out to you.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Gardenia Blooms Thank You Notes


This is Carina's last week at preschool!  It's hard to believe, she's spent almost five years there, and Ellie was there for two years as well.  

We're very sad to be leaving behind some very loved teachers.  Carina still loves to visit her old teachers, we often have to make several stops before we get to her current class so she can visit with her people.

These cards are for the girls special teachers that we're leaving behind.  They feature the Gardenia Blooms Journaling Card Die and a sentiment from Paper Cut Flowers.


I thought I would provide a little tutorial for you:

I had an old Gardenia Blooms die cut that I used as a guide.  


Then I used Derwent Inktense pencils to lightly trace along the inside edge of the blooms and leaves. I didn't trace all around the openings just toward the center of the flowers.  


This is what it looks like when you remove the guide.


I normally don't watercolor directly on my cardstock because it will warp, but this requires very little water.  This is also why I'm using a real paintbrush as opposed to a waterbrush, it's easier to control the amount of water in a paintbrush as opposed to a waterbrush.  


I use the guide to make sure I'm on the right track and then (totally optional) I add a bit more pencil for additional color/dimension.


After those additional details are softened with water, you can put the actual die cut over top and see what the card will look like.



To adhere the die cut I like to use liquid adhesive as I think it works best on those delicate details.  I swipe the adhesive on the solid portions of the die cut and just tap it over the intricate areas.



I created both Grout Gray and Primitive White cardstock versions of the card, I think it would look great in any neutral.  It looks complicated but the coloring portion is actually very quick and these were easily mass producible.  They are also perfect for mailing since they are so flat.



That's all for today!  Remember today's the last day to comment on my giveaway, I'll announce a winner tomorrow.

MFT Color Challenge 28



Ready for another color challenge?

I really love these colors and thought they would be perfect with stencils.



I used the Fishnet stencil inking it up first with a Spearmint and Blu Raspberry.  Then I shifted the stencil over and added Wild Wisteria and Tropical Teal.

I added a couple balloons from Blueprints 26 and stamped the sentiment.  The balloon strings are also from the Blueprint set and after die cutting those, I placed them where I wanted them to go and used an extra fine Sharpie to color in where the sentiment is so it looks like fancy stamping, but it really isn't.



I had so much fun inking up that stencil I thought I would try another.  This second card features the Split Diagonal stencil.  I used the same technique where I inked with two colors, shifted, then inked with the other two.



Then I added a simple sentiment using the Happy Die-namics.  I thought about stamping a secondary sentiment, but thought the CAS look worked best.



Be sure to stop by the blog and check out the rest of the team's cards!




Wednesday, August 26, 2015

MFT Sketch 243



Ready for a new sketch from My Favorite Things?



This card is just under 4" (so I can fit it into a 4x4 envelope).

I kept the color scheme really neutral, I love how those flowers look in the grays.



Please stop by the blog and check out what the rest of the team made!


Monday, August 24, 2015

Thanks a lot for Freshly Made Sketches



I had a little time this weekend, so I thought I would pull out something new and tackle this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

They are celebrating their 200th sketch this week with all sorts of great prizes.



I love how CAS the sketch is, and I kept my card very simple.

The background is Grout Gray and Insulation Pink cardstock from MFT.

Then I stamped the floral banner from Paper Smooches' Best Buds set.  It was colored with Copics and fussy cut to look like a die cut - with a bit of a white border.

I adhered the banner over a bit of white thread and then added a few sequins from Neat & Tangled.



Pretty quick and easy, but I love the impact, and you could definitely mix up the colors and make brighter or bolder versions and even mass produce this one.

Hope you have a great Monday!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock - MFT - Grout Gray, Insulation Pink, and Sweet Tooth cardstock; CTMH - White Daisy cardstock
Stamps:  Paper Smooches - Best Buds
Ink:  MFT - Steel Gray Hybrid Ink
Other:  Copics, Neat & Tangled - Crystal Clear Sequins; Tombow - Mono adhesive; Scotch - Foam Adhesive

Friday, August 21, 2015

Using leftovers



A while back I made this card for one of MFT's color challenges (although I had to make another card since I managed to not actually use one of the colors...).

I was attempting to do some cleaning up the other day (which is actually quite shocking in and of itself) and ran across the leftovers from that card and thought I would just throw together another card (truthfully I could probably get even one more card out of the scraps, but I digress).

I used the Limelight frame and randomly inlaid pieces into the card.



Another of the extra white pieces was used to anchor the die cut sentiment and for the secondary sentiment.  I stamped a few stars directly onto the inlaid piece as accents.

Super quick and easy and a great way to end the week.

Have a great Friday and weekend!