Bonjour Birthday!

My darling, one and only daughter, turned 14 on Saturday! Where has the time gone?!? She's growing into such a lovely young woman! I made this card for her special day! I wanted to showcase these lovely pattern papers that I got for Mother's Day this year and it's been quite a while since I've done a card with paper medallions. They are so fun! I was also happy to pull out my super old "Paris gift tags" from Cavallini and Co. as well as the coordinating Paris stamp set. 

To begin, I cut a variety of different pattern papers into different widths. I used my Martha Stewart Score board to score each one along the entire length. I found that my scoring blade in my paper trimmer was scoring them too hard so they were tearing. Then I folded and glued them into medallions. I have a tutorial HERE if you're interested.

 I created a 5 1/4 inch card base and added some pattern paper on top. The medallions were glue into place using hot glue. I added the cute little "Paris" clock accent that I purchased HERE. They are always such a fun addition to cards like this. I added the aqua colored pre-printed tag as well, but I did stamp "Bonjour" using the coordinating stamp set to give it a little more interest. 

 I stamped the birthday sentiment onto a pre-made gold banner that I have had for years. They are always so nice to grab for a quick and easy embellishments. I chose to use a simple sentiment from the Stylish Sentiments: Birthday stamp set. I didn't want it to detract from the overall feel of the card. 

I stamped the crown image onto a piece of patter paper and then punched it out using a circle punch and adhered it to the card. I tied the bow on the pre-made tag for a little bit of polish and that was it! Such a fun card and my daughter LOVED it! Thanks for fluttering by!

Discover the Beach

I feel Autumn cards on the horizon, so I will be using every chance I get to keep making summer designs! I was reminded of this fabulous retro beach stamp set by Tweety Jill after the newest Papertrey Ink release. I'm trying to be good and not buy anything so I was happy to pull this out and create a fun beach-y card. Also, the other day I received an unexpected envelope in the mail from Papertrey Ink. I quickly opened it up to discover a sheet of random dies that I hadn't ordered. On closer inspection, I realized that they were from the Post and Parcel Make it Market kit. I ordered it during the sale so I knew it wouldn't be complete, but it was such a fun surprise to get a few more of the dies for me to work with. It came with the fabulous postage looking piece I used for the focal image, which is similar to one of the newly released dies from PTI as well. 

To begin, I blended a bright rainbow pattern onto the die cut piece. I then used the stamping/stenciling with water technique that I used on THIS card. I chose to use just the side of the stencil rather than place the center of the stencil onto the center of the cardstock. I knew that it would be too busy for the look I was hoping to achieve. It turned out beautifully, with just the right amount of oxidation. After that was dry, I stamped the station wagon and postage image using Palette black ink.

After that comes the fun part; the collage type stamping! I used to design for TweetyJill's Idea Books and I got to do a lot of this type of thing...only more collage-y! LOL! It is one of my favorite styles and I haven't done it in quite a while. I noticed that Simon Says Stamp has a challenge doing just this sort of thing; I think I might just participate one of these days. Anyway...that was an unexpected tangent! So...I stamped the postage stamp image in coral ink onto the white panel as well as the lifeguard image using black ink. I chose to use the "seaside" definition image at the top for some balance.

I heat embossed the fabulously retro "discover the beach" sentiment using gold powder onto black cardstock. I just love how it turned out. I adhered it to the white panel with foam squares and cut it at an angle for a retro look. 

I quickly found my ancient stash of seashells that I knew I'd been saving for a day such as today! I adhered them to the card with Tombow Mono Multi adhesive. I added the entire white piece onto an A2 black card base for some added contrast and definition. Now...I think you may die of shock, but I left it at this...no sparkling clear sequins! LOL!!!! I had A LOT of fun on this design! Thanks for fluttering by! P.S. I'm headed to the water park again today so who knows what inspiration I'll come home with!😂😂😂

The Challenge #92 Just Bee You!

Just buzzing by for this week's new card for The Challenge! It's a fun one this week! You can check out all of the details and rules HERE. This week YOU get to choose the color to add to black and white! I wanted to make a Halloween card, but decided not to, since Summer won't be around forever and I love making Summer cards! You can also see some fabulous inspiration from the other designers!

Anita Madden

Claire Broadwater

Kim Heggins

Lee Ann Barret

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld

Vicki Finger

I'm going to be completely honest with you...this actually was a CHALLENGE for me! LOL! My mind just kept overthinking everything and in the end I really just got back to basics with bees! You can't go wrong with black, white and yellow bees! These cute little guys are from Reverse Confetti's The Buzz and I colored them using Copic markers and a little Wink of Stella for some added shine. I REALLY wanted to add some blue highlights to the wings, but I resisted to stay true to the rules of the challenge.

After the bees had been colored, I used the coordinating Confetti Cuts to die cut them. I used some black and white striped paper from The Paper Studio on the right hand side for some added contrast. I just love how it looks! The yellow cardstock was die cut using the new-ish To The Point Edgers Dies. I have been enjoying using them on various projects which you can see HERE and HERE. 

I stamped the Bee "trails" using black ink directly onto the yellow panel and then added the bees using foam squares. I also added a black sentiment strip with the "just bee you" sentiment using white ink. A few Sparkling Clear Sequins finish it off! I hope you get a chance to play! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Thanks for buzzing by...I mean fluttering by!

A friend like you

 I made this card quite a while ago when I was on my Round Repeats kick! I used it on a few projects recently that you can see HERE and HERE (scroll down to see the project that uses it). I don't know why I find it so gratifying, but it really is fun to play with. I did make a few backgrounds last week that made it into the circular file, but the process WAS enjoyable, just not the result! LOL! The possibilities are endless with all of the little details that are included in the set. 

 I decided on something clean and simple and use them horizontally rather than circles. I really like how the simple gold embossed knots look in the center. I chose a bright, summery color combination. It reminds me of Tropical Starbursts. he he. 

 The sentiment is gold embossed as well and has been a fast favorite since its release. It is from the set called Simple Sentiments: Friendship. 

Clean and simple, but with a few extra subtle details that make it feel special. This design would be nice to make a set of coordinated cards for a gift! Thanks for fluttering by!
P.S. I will be sharing a new design for The Challenge tomorrow so stay tuned!

Wish you the most beautiful day!

 Hello! I hope you all are having the most beautiful day! I had some time to kill the other day while I was waiting for my daughter's dance class to end so I decided to try my hand at the "no line watercoloring" technique. I have been playing around with the Beautiful Day stamp set in the last few days. I experimented with some Copic markers on a card which I will be sharing soon. The first time I used the set I opted to use the solid images which you can see HERE. I just love the versatility that you can achieve with each of the different types of images. I love it when I can stretch a stamp set!

 Because I was just experimenting, I did some simple stamping with a reliable layout. I was really just hoping to get something that I could make into a card if it turned out.

You can see some of the shading that I did here in this photo. I haven't done a lot of researching on the subject, but I think that most people just use one shade of color and blend it out. I decided to make things difficult and use three. I will try only using one next time. 

To begin, I taped my watercolor paper onto my grid paper and stamped the images using Vintage Photo Distress ink. I did some masking so that I could have a nice end result...if I made it that far. (wink) I chose two different aqua painter pens; a fine tip and a regular tip and in the end, I ONLY used the fine tip. I liked the control I had while working!

 You can see my process here. It really is so fun and relaxing to sit and work on a project like this. Four flowers was a lot of work, especially for my first time and I did find myself getting lazy toward the end. Shame on me! I actually like the way this looks over my finished card, so I am thinking that less is more in this case. I can't wait to try it again!

 Once I was finished with the flowers, I moved on to the leaves opting for three colors for these as well. The shading on them really does create some movement where their outline images gives none. That is really when you see the magic...once they start to come alive as the water and paint hit the image.

 At this point, I was just so happy that it actually worked, so I chose to add a simple strip of vellum with the sentiment stamped in black. I also added a few sequins as well as some Morning Dew Nuvo drops here and there on the flowers as well as the leaves. I made them small and realistic looking. I added some to the card I made using Copic markers and I made them bigger and more of an embellishment rather than a realistic looking dew drop. Like I mentioned, this was fun and I can't wait to try this more often so that I can get better and better. Thanks for fluttering by!

Just keep swimming!

 I might be *slightly* addicted to this Mermaid's Tail stamp set, but...I made this card for my daughter's Hope Squad group at school. so it's going to a good cause. I just love all of the cute, fun and silly sentiments that are included in the set. Once again, I was dreaming up this card while floating on a tube down the lazy river with my 3 year old on my lap as we soaked up the sun! The best part is when he falls asleep on me, even when we get splashed, and he just snoozes away! 

 It's no secret how much I LOVE my Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Pearl watercolors! They have brought me so much joy! LOL! They really are so much fun to work with and provide amazing results. To begin, I diecut the mermaid's tail using the designer dies out of 140 lb watercolor paper and painted the entire piece with the blue pearl watercolor. I also embossed just the very end of the flipper using silver embossing powder because I knew the rest of the tail would be covered up with all of the fabulous seashells. 

 I created a beautiful panel of watercolor so that I could die cut the seashells. I didn't want all of the seashells to just be one color, so I made a point to overlap the dies onto two conjoining colors as I ran them through my Cuttlebug. I had a lot of fun adhering them to the watercolored tail diecut. After they were all on, I added some Rainbow Sparkle Jewels here and there as I have done in previous projects which you can see HERE, HERE and HERE. They are so fun to add to my projects!!!! I also added a little bit of glossy accents to a few of the shells as well. I didn't want to overwhelm the piece, but just give it some fun details. Since it is the main focus of the card, it does have more gems and embellishments than I would if it were mixed with other images.

I created a fun background that reminds me so much of bubbles. I have used this particular Cuttlebug embossing folder for so many projects, mostly sports related. I actually experimented a few days ago with dry embossing acetate. I kept the panel that I am hoping to incorporate into a design, but for today, I did the dry embossing with vellum! Absolutely delightful!

 I really liked how it looked over the top of the Aqua Mist card stock but knew that I could create even more dimension with some ink. I sponged some Broken China Distress Oxide Ink onto the BACK of the vellum piece. The result is fabulous! I think I will be revisiting this idea in the future. I was hesitant to have the oxide ink on the front of the vellum, but I will experiment and see if it dries well. I turned it over and adhered it to the base I created using the Aqua Mist card stock. 

 You can see the depth that it gives that panel! So beautiful!I used Scor Tape along the edges, which is a fabulous adhesive to adhere vellum. I attached it slightly crooked and was pleased to see that I was able to lift it and reposition it, which came in handy later, too!

 I hadn't given enough thought to the sentiment before I added the vellum piece to the card front, but I was happy that the vellum was easily lifted so that I could adhere the sentiment. I chose to stamp the sentiment onto a strip of acetate using black StazOn ink. I wanted it to have a floating quality and not have any bulky sentiment strips! I just love how it turned out. 

I added a few more rainbow sparkle jewels, some Morning Dew Nuvo Drops, and a few Sparkling clear sequins here and there! I was pleased with the simplicity but awesome sparkle! 

I couldn't ignore the inside and I just HAD to add a shrinky dink sentiment. I thought the "Seas the Day" sentiment coordinated nicely with the sentiment on the front. It warped a little bit but I liked the wavy look that it added to the card. I may have gone a *little* wild with the embellishments on the inside, but these are for Jr. High kids so I am sure it will be fine! (wink) Thanks for fluttering by!

ALOHA!

 We've been spending A LOT of time at the water park! It's the only way to enjoy these scorching hot days and still be outside enjoying Summer! As we have been having fun, I have been equally inspired while we are there! Let's just say there is a sea of inspiration (pun totally intended! ha ha) While we were there the other day, there was a mom sitting on the side of the kiddie area where I was sitting watching my 3 year old. She had on a darling hat with pineapples across the front that said "Aloha". I wanted to make a card just like it! I sat and tried to discreetly look at the color pattern...I'm sure she thought I was a total creeper! After all that inspiration stalking, I couldn't remember the last color when I went to make the card! I actually didn't make the colors exactly the same anyway...I like my combination better. 

 To begin, I stamped out each of the different pineapple colors using the Some Like It Hot stamp set and then used the coordinating dies to cut them out. I spritzed each one with Shimmer Spray and let them dry. After that was done, I worked on die cutting the letters to spell A L O H A. I used a SUPER old Cuttlebug letter die cut collection called "Olivia". I think I have used it once, so I was happy to use it again and I think I'll use them again in the near future. 

 Each letter is stacked three times and glued together and then adhered to the stamped pineapple diecut. I also added a little bit of Wink of Stella to the tops of all of the letters for some added shine. You can see them all stacked here and a little bit of the sparkle on the pineapples and letters. 

 I adhered all of the pineapples onto a panel of Stamper's Select Cardstock that is cut to fit onto the navy card base. The card was specifically sized to fit into the handmade envelope that I made using some old Martha by Mail templates. These are the same envelopes that I used for THIS project. I used to create my own envelopes on a regular basis, but somehow fell out of the habit. It probably had something to do with crotchety old mail people and their lack of imagination and love for snail mail (which is completely ironic), but I don't want to get into that now! LOL! 

The envelope and liner were both traced onto coordinating pattern paper and then cut, folded and then adhered together. 

I couldn't resist adding just a few limited edition mermaid mix sequins to the front of the card as well. Thanks for fluttering by!