Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! 

I made this card about a week ago using Mama Elephant's Lion Dance stamp set, which is a really fun set. A dragon counts as a critter right? The sentiment is one that I used for a New Year's card towards the end of December too- very useful! 

I flicked some gold watercolor paint onto red cardstock and adhered it to some gold mirrored cardstock. With all the reflective gold going on, I didn't think this card needed more embellishments- I also didn't want to detract from the cute characters that I colored with copic markers. I chose a faint green for my accent color. At first, I was afraid it would like like a traffic light haha, but they helped it all come together. I fussy cut the characters out and popped them up using foam tape for added dimension. I imagined making another new years resolution where I treat myself to the dies for fun sets like this, but we'll see how much my heat bills are this month lol!

Thanks for taking a look!

Challenges:

Avenue 613- use a critter

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends

Felt Background

Today I used a background die on a unique material: FELT!

I have a love/hate relationship with felt. I love how it looks and feels and I think it elevates a card to another level. I hate felt at times b/c it can take a lot of effort and be frustrating lol.. it can pull and lose its shape, or start to fray and look sloppy.

I used a shim when cutting the felt, so the pieces would have come out pretty cleanly if I wanted them to... I kept them in there though so the spacing was perfect. I then applied some glue on the back of the small pieces and put my card down on top. 

My first problem was that the felt was cut through for the most part, but it was actually hard to tell where some of the cuts were.. even holding it under a light. I placed the glue on the little pieces, but some ended up on the cut lines, or even on the negative piece that I had hoped to preserve.. I was in it to win it by now though, so I carried on and put the card on top.. I waited about 10 seconds so the little pieces didn't immediately fall off, but didn't want to wait too long or the background would dry on the spots I messed up on. I carefully pulled off the surrounding piece of felt (that was all one big piece). That piece though, which I had wanted to use for another card, was in shambles by the end of the process. It was just too stretched out to use. The other problem was that it took a few minutes to carefully make my way one by one through all the pieces and by then, my accidental glue spots were drying.. All in all, it wasn't too bad really and I was able to work it out by using a pair of scissors to cut some of the frays. I told myself to not obsess over it and after coming back from the gym, I actually thought it looked pretty good. 

The nice thing is you can use sequins or your sentiment to cover up any accidents. I actually thought about not using a sentiment so it didn't cover up all the hard work, but I think Vellum was a good choice and I love using it. I used a few embossing powders: WOW and 2 of Ranger's Tinsel series. I carefully did a little ombre work on the LOVE stamp (mostly b/c I'm cheap and I didn't want to contaminate/waste any powder lol. Then I took a few seconds to bask in the beauty of the finished card lol.

I actually use felt a good amount on my cards, but this is the first time I used a background die with it. I think that larger pieces are easier to manage. I also tried to use a sticky sheet on the back, but even with a shim, it wouldn't cut properly. Maybe it was the adhesive I used, so I might give it another shot. 

 Let me know if you give felt a try and thanks for visiting!

I used Simon Says Stamps' Stained Glass stamp/die set and the Scalloped Cover Plate from Neat and Tangled.

Challenges:
The Male Room Challenge
Mod Squad Challenge
My Time to Craft Challenge
Crafts Dreamy

Westminster in Watercolor

I decided to do a watercolor card, but since this is London's Westminster Abbey, I guess I should say *watercolour*

This Sketchy Landmark set from Altenew is awesome and I hope they create more landmarks soon. I used a stamp tool since the watercolor paper has a lot of texture- that way, I could stamp it multiple times in the same spot. I used black embossing powder. 

Kuretake Gansai Tambi makes a Pearl set, so I painted them over the heat embossed image. I used a few layers so the shine would pick up in different areas. People always say a picture doesn't do it justice, and that is also the case here.

After letting it dry, I wasn't totally satisfied with the clarity of the yellow, so I added a border of yellow heart paper. I finished the card using some frosted heart embellishments. Enjoy!

Challenge:
Pile it on challenge
Penny Black at all sorts

Gracias Por Todo card

So, I went to Mexico for the holidays and my wonderful novio's family took great care of us.

Here is a thank you card I made for his mom upon landing back in the States.

I used the Simon Says Stamp mum (the irony) flower die and a stitched square die I had from another set. First, I blended the background with distress inks. Then, I popped up the white paper on a silver square sheet of paper. I also inlaid the big silver piece to the left. I finished it off with some Swarovski crystals- they come in a ton of colors and you can actually find the small ones for pretty cheap. I enjoy how much they catch the light and for special occasions like this, I think it is put to good use. 

For the sentiment, I used Vellum and some good old fashioned WOW embossing powder. The stamp is from "Heartfelt Wishes" by Mama Elephant. Very handy. I grabbed a matching envelope and I was good to go!

Thanks for coming! Gracias por venir!

Challenges: 

As You Like It Challenge

Pammies Inky Pinkies Challenges

Corrosive Challenges by Janet

Daisy Chain Challenge

Ariel, The Little Mermaid

A buddy of mine loves the Little Mermaid, so I decided to make a bday card for him.

The eels were fun critters to use, and I am happy with how it turned out.

I cut down some watercolor paper to a 4x4in square and liberally added water. Then, I added several different sprays of blue- the first few sprays were from a cheap blue from ACMoore that I had laying around and the top layers were from Lindy's Stamp Gang so the glitter and shine would sit on top. I added some darker blues and grays as well since it would better convey deep water. While messy, this was pretty fun, however, waiting for it to dry was not haha. 

I stamped and copic-colored the images of 2 stamps sets: The Greeting Farm's Little Mermaids set, and Lawn Fawn's You Are Sublime.

I also used a coral die since I had lots of scraps floating around and the shine on the paper was too nice to waste. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

I later added a birthday sentiment but gave it away before getting a pic... I need to get better at that!

Thanks for coming by and hope 2019 is starting off well for ya :D

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Lawn Fawnatics- critters

Ellibelles Corner- shine

Fabnfunky Challenges- kids

Belated Xmas Cards x3

Belated Xmas Cards x3

I was out of the country and didn't get a chance to post these holiday cards! 

and a close up of the shaker and paper trees

                                 

My red card uses Simon Says Stamp's Stained Glass greetings. I heat embossed them using Lime Green Tinsel Embossing Powder from Ranger, along with a small "wishing you" in Alabaster White Embossing Powder from Brutus Monroe. 

The forest background stamp is from Impression Obsession and embossed in the same Lime Green powder. I will be using this again in different colors with a black background as it looks great.

My shaker card was a lot more time consuming.. First I prepared several sheets of green paper to cut with my tree dies (from Simon Says Stamp). I used some green sparkle felt, a sheet of metallic green paper, a sheet of green shine paper from ACMoore and lastly, a paper that I made myself using several sprays from Lindy's Stamp Gang. The spray adds a lot of glitter, and I used a few shades of green as I was cutting a bunch of trees from the paper and wanted them to be varied. 

I then worked on the shaker part. First, I cut the tree in the middle. I chose this shape because it was big enough where the parts could shake around, but also had some straight lines too- I would later surround the back with foam tape and the straight lines made it a bit easier to deal with. Anyway, after cutting the tree cutout, I used a snowflake embossing folder on the paper. Then, I glued a piece of acetate on the back of the paper. Then, I surrounded the perimeter with 2 layers of foam tape. Then, I filled the middle with shaker bits. Then, I added a layer of acetate on the back to seal it in. I prefer to do this so that I can then take the whole piece of paper, turn it upside down and stick it exactly where I want to on my card base. If you want to skip this step, you can lay the cardbase upside down on your foam tape, but it probably won't be lined up perfectly straight... Good luck though! I think the extra 2 inches of acetate is well worth it- I actually just used leftover wrapping from some packages I had laying around. 

The last step was some glitter stickle drops in the middle of the snowflakes. I made a few of these to hand out, so I varied them a bit, but they all followed these steps. 

Hope everyone had an awesome holiday!

Snow Gear See Through card

I created a mouse that wants to go snowboarding. In order to put his gear on, the recipient must close the card. I think the helmet fits him perfectly. 

The equipment and sentiment are from Simon Says Stamp's Snow Gear set. The mouse is from Mama Elephant's Lunar Animals set. I colored using copic markers in a fall orange color, but I feel it is still a winter card since snow came so early this year. 

I die cut the scalloped circle from the front of the card and adhered acetate on the back. I die cut two more gray panels to make the white snow stand out more and ensure a 'clean and simple' look.

I cut two helmets and glued them to each side of the acetate ensuring that when the card was closed they fit in the correct spot over the mouse. To do this, it was easiest to put the helmet on the mouse (colored side down) and put a drop of glue on it.. then, I carefully closed the card. Let that dry. Then, I knew exactly where to line up the helmet for the front of the card.

I embossed the sentiment using Ranger Tinsel Embossing Powder. In some of my other posts I have specific details for embossing-- it is fun and really adds a lot when you view the card in person!

Hope you enjoyed this see through card :)

Challenges:

Mod Squad Challenge

Cardz4guyz- Critters

Thats Crafty Challenges- Winter-Wonderland

Crafty G's Corner- Fall Colors

Simon Says Stamp Work It Wed

Simon Says Stamp Wed Challenge