Card Kit Creations

Anyone who knows me knows that I love the color blue.  I especially love creating with shades of blue. So I was very excited to see that the July card kit for Simon Says Stamp was predominately blue.  There are also some beautiful accent colors of gray, golden yellow and a mauve tone.  I have a couple of cards I made using the card kit I would like to share with you today.

The first card was inspired by a creation from Debby Hughes at Lime Doodles Design.  If you are not familiar with Debby's work I highly recommend you check out her blog.  She is amazing and a super photographer.

I felt the white embossing on vellum looked so elegant, especially against the dark blue.  The traditional blue & white has always been one of my favorite.

The next card is an idea that is done frequently, although I have not really tried it before.  I used several of the images in the stamp set "Handwritten Floral Greetings' included with the kit to create a patterned paper.  I used that as my background paper.   I used my MISTI to make sure I got nice, crisp images.

I have to say I am quite please with the way it turned out.

This is really a fun technique and there are so many options.  You could make several looks with one stamp set and a few different colors.  Be sure to include blue of course.

I have made a couple other cards with the kit that are posted over on Instagram. I would love for you to check those out.

Supplies:
Card Kit including stamp set, ink cubes, cardstock, pattern papers ('Indigo Hills" by Pink Fresh Studios) and water brush
Zip Clean Color Real Brush Markers,
Embossing powders: White & clear from Hero Arts
MISTI
Dot accents from Stampin Up

I hope you enjoyed these cards and thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend and a happy & safe July 4th holiday.

Hugs and Happy Crafting, Jacqueline

The Rainbow Card Challenge

Hello everyone,  I am very excited to have been asked by Sandy Allnock to participate in this blog hop for The Rainbow Card Challenge.  If you are not familiar with this, it was started by Dawn Woleslagle from Wplus9.  She created a card with a rainbow of colors and challenged 2 of her friends to do the same.  Those 2 friends challenged 2 of their friends and, you get the idea.  

My card was inspired by the copic coloring class I am currently taking over at Sandy's blog called Copic Jumpstart.  If you are interested in learning about copic coloring from one of the best, you should check it out.

I absolutely love bright, bold colors and these little monster images are adorable.

Of course you can't do cute monsters with out googly eyes.  I have to say the blue one is my favorite.  Maybe because blue is my fave color or maybe because of the eyelashes.  Either way you have to love it.

To keep this party going I am to going to tag 2 of my favorite people. Lydia Fiedler at Understand Blue and Lindsay Weirich, The Frugal Crafter.  Be sure to check out their blogs I linked here. I know they will both create amazing projects.  

Below is a list of the supplies I used for my card:

Cardstock: Stamper's select white - Papertrey Ink
                   Basic black - Stampin Up
Pattern paper: Rainbow stripes - MFTStamps
Stamps: Monster Mash - Lawn Fawn
Die cut: Ring Frame - Simon Says Stamp
Embossing Powder: Ultrafine white - Hero Arts
MISTI: Standard size - My Sweet Petunia
Copics: Sketch - v12, v15, v17
                            r14, r37, r89
                            b21, b24, b29
                            y00, y04, y08
                            yr12, yr16, yr18
                            g03, g05, g09, g28
                            c1, c3, c4, c5, c7

I hope you are hopping along.  Click on Jasmina below to go to the next stop.

Sandy A
Glorious T
Sabrina K
Jacqueline S.  you are here
Jasmina B
Ruth C
Ellen
Anna D

Thanks so much for stopping by today.
Hugs & Happy Crafting, Jacqueline

Commit to the Flick

By far one of my favorite blogger/ You Tubers is Laura Bassen. Not only does she make the most fabulous projects but she is just fantastic to listen to.  No matter my mood she can always put a smile on my face.  Well today was no exception.  During the video she posted today for the Reverse Confetti block hop, she was talking about how she enjoys flicking or making splatters on her cards. In true Laura style she said you gotta "Commit to the Flick".  Well not only did I laugh for 10 minutes but it gave me such inspiration.  That was just what I needed today.  Even though it's Mother's Day I am not getting to spend it with my wonderful kids, (love you Matthew & Heather) so I was a little down.  So instead of just continuing to feel sorry for myself I decided to pay homage to Laura and commit to the flick.

And of course it had to be bright rainbow colors and a white sentiment on black.  My skills do not begin to equal Laura's but we all have goals.  I encourage you to check out her video today.  You can click on the link in her name above and it will take you to her block.  And try committing to the flick yourself.

Products:

Paper - Stamper select white, PaperTreyInk

             Basic black, Stampin Up

Ink - Tim Holtz distress mini's in squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin, candied apple, cracked pistachio & salty ocean

Pen - White gel pen, Signo Uni-ball

Die - Wave cover plate, PaperTreyInk

I hope that everyone finds something that makes then laugh for 10 minutes today and have a Happy Mother's Day.

Hugs and Happy Crafting, Jacqueline

OnlineCardClasses - Clear & Sheer

This past week I have been participating in the Clear & Sheer class at OnlineCardClasses.  This class is all about techniques & creating using vellum & acetate.  The instructors have shown some really great ideas & beautiful cards.  Of course the biggest issue encountered when creating with a clear substrate is how to attach it to your projects with showing the adhesive.  There are some nice vellum adhesives out there but I have never found one that is truly invisible.  The first lesson in the class is all about how to overcome that this issue.

The first card I made was an idea/ semi-case from Jennifer McGuire.  I used a dye ink to color the bottom of the vellum, then used a soft cloth to spread it up the card to give an ombre' effect.  The image is then embossed over it.  This idea is terrific with great versatility.  You can make your vellum any color(s) you want.

Products:
White card stock - Stamper's select, Papertreyink
Vellum - unsure
Ink - High Dive Dye & Hybrid, Simon Says Stamp
         Versamark
Stamps - Ombre' Sentiments Birthday, Papertreyink
                Corner Garden, Stampin Up
Embossing Powder - White/ Clear, Hero Arts
Droplets - Clear 4mm & 6mm, Pretty Pink Posh

My next card was created using acetate.  I used acetate for the balloons and inlayed them in the cardstock so the inside sentiment shows though.  I love the way this turned out although it did take me quite a while of fussing with acetate to get it to do what I wanted it to.  But well worth it.

Here is a closeup of the balloons so you can see the inside sentiment.

Products:
White card stock - Stamper's select, Papertreyink
Acetate - Clearly Bold 6x6 pad, We R Memory Keepers
Ink - High Dive, Hollyhock, Duckling, Simon Says Stamp
         Versafine Oxyx Black
Dies - Party Balloons, Lawn Fawn
Stamps - Big Birthday Wishes / Birthday Bits, Simon Says Stamp

I recommend this class.  It was alot of fun and I certainly learned a few new things.  Hope you enjoy the cards.  Thanks for stopping by.  Would love to hear from you.

Hugs & Happy Crafting, Jacqueline

30 Day Coloring Challenge

If you have not heard already, Kathy R from TheDailyMarker started her 4th 30-day coloring challenge yesterday.  This a great way to get inspired by coloring something everyday, even if it is just for 5 minutes.  You can check out all the details on Kathy's blog.  There is also a blog hop today with prizes. Of course I am a day late getting started.  Actually I started yesterday, but didn't get finished until today.  I started to make one card and ended up with three.
I got the butterfly cover plate die from the recent PaperTreyInk release and really wanted to use it.  I cut it out a few times, used it as a stencil for coloring with distress inks and did different combinations of layering.  I stamped the sentiments on  vellum and embossed them with clear embossing powder.  Below is a list of the products that I used.

The first one is die cut with white cardstock and layer with fun foam slightly off set from the stenciled coloring beneath.  I used the negative pieces from the die cut in black cardstock inlayed in the background.  

This is the die cut with black cardstock over the colors stenciled on white cardstock, again slightly offset.  

On the last one I used the positive image that I used as a stencil for coloring the first two and layered it over black cardstock.  Can't decide which one I like best.  Let me know your favorite in the comments.

Product List:

Paper: PaperTreyInk Stamper's Select White

           Stampin Up cardstock in Basic Black

           Hero Arts vellum

Inks: Distress ink mini's in Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry & Mermaid Lagoon

         Versafine Onyx Black

Tools/Others: MISTI, distress round blending tool, Hero Arts clear embossing powder, Milwaukee heat gun, Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh

Stamps: Hero Arts Acts of Kindness, Year Round Sentiments & the February card kit 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day.

Hugs & Happy Crafting.  Jacqueline

Watercolor for Cardmakers: Intermediate Techniques Class

Hi all,  the Watercolor for Card Makers: Intermediate Techniques class at OnlineCardClasses started today.  Dawn Woleslagle from Wplus9 is an awesome instructor.  I learned enough today to make the cost of the class a great deal.  There is still plenty of time to join.  Day one was all about the basics, putting color on the paper and using your brush to make shapes.

Brush Shapes

Putting color to paper

Well I don't think that I will win any awards but getting started is the hard part.  Come back all week to see what learn, or better yet head on over to the OnlineCardClasses and join in the fun.  See you soon.

Create something everyday. Hugs Jacqueline 

Whimsical Sketching Class

Hi Everyone, I hope you are having a good week.  Today I wanted to show you one of the things I have been working on lately.  I am taking an online class from  Sandy Allnock called Whimsical Sketching.  I have never really been someone who draws but this looked like it would be fun.  Our first assignment was to draw flowers.  It actually turned out better than I thought it would.  If you would like to learn something new or expand your drawing skills that is a fun class.  Sandy is an great teacher.