Under the Sea

I've made this card for 2 card challenges, the Some Odd Girl July sketch challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: By the Sea.

I started by stamping the mermaid in blue and then working on the backing papers.  I chose a dark blue for the backing, a metallic blue and a Core'dinations blue/green that I ran through a bubble embossing folder and sanded lightly.

For the wave trim I stamped the wave image (from the mermaid set) on white cardstock and then fussy cut around the tops.

The mermaid was coloured in pencil crayon with a green gel pen for the scale detail and white gel pen for the eye dots.

Vintage Fan Layers

I started this card for the Marianne Design Divas Lace and Pearls Challenge, but couldn't figure out how to use the fan pieces on a card with lace and pearls.  So I made a different card for that challenge and left the fan pieces to the side.

Then I saw the new MDD challenge: Layer It Up, and knew I had my start.

So first, I die cut the fan pieces using Marianne Design Creatables Vintage Fan 1.  Before popping the die off, I sponged some red die ink over the raised parts.  I then stamped 3 different flowers on clear shrink plastic using Staz-On ink, die cut them out using a Spellbinders oval die, and coloured the images in using nail polish (it's the only thing I have that will work as I don't use alcohol based markers and pencil crayons, water based markers, etc. don't work on plastic).

Once the images were dry, I shrunk them down using my heat gun.  Yes, they stick up a bit due to the nail polish not shrinking flat, and the nail polish makes the images quite dark, but I like the effect.  You do have to watch them though.  The nail polish on the hydrangea started to burn as I tried to flatten the front of the shrink plastic (it will harden crooked/lopsided if you don't hold it flat for the last few seconds of the shrinking phase).  I glued them on the fans using superglue (and luckily didn't get much on my fingers).

I die cut the label and embellishment from Petra's Large Ovals for the label and fan ends, again adding some die to the embossed parts.  I attached the fan and ends together using a jewel brad.

Since I didn't feel I had enough layers, I also cut out the smaller oval from the Oval Passe-Partout die, inking the centre oval before gluing the label on top.  The dark green oval was cut from the same set, and used to show the intricacy of the fan dies off a bit.

I finished off the card with the dots in the corners using perfect pearls.  I thought the upper corner looked a bit bare and so decided to add the butterfly I punched from shrink plastic and coloured with red gelato (it kind of worked).  The superglue ran over and made a huge wet spot on the card and got all over my fingers.  To fix the error, I punched the white butterfly but it wasn't big enough to cover the spot, so I punched the larger green butterfly and then glued them slightly offcenter of each other.

The card's a lot more ornate than I usually make, but I like how it turned out.

Wild Cat Card

This is a card I did a while back and haven't posted yet.

I used an animal print embossing folder on orange Core'dinations cardstock, then lightly sanded it.  The wild cat (leopard?  cheetah?) was coloured with markers, though I used an ink pad with sponges to make the grass.  Then I layered it up.

Framed Beach

I had this great idea for the sand card challenge that involved using a tropical frame stamp (wooden picture frame with flowers on one corner).  But when I looked at the stamp it was pretty tiny, only large enough to hold a sentiment, not for the idea I had.

So I came up with this, which no longer fit the challenge (CAS) but, I think, still looks good.

I used some wood grain paper for the frame, cut a bit wavy so it would look like branches in a rustic style frame.  For the picture I took some watercolour paper.  I blended watercolour crayons and gelatos with water and then added some glitter glue once it was dry over the brown for a rougher 'sand' look.  I added a few lines for waves in a darker blue that I didn't mix in so much, so you'd get the wave effect in the water.

Finally I mounted the image and frame on beige paper.

Pink Christmas Card

This card is for Lily of the Valley's Pretty in Pink challenge.

Pink is not my colour, so this was a bit challenging for me.  When I bought this stamp I pictured it in shades of blue...

I die cut the pass-partout oval, then stamped and coloured the girl in multiple shades of pink, using gamsol to smooth out the pencil crayons.  I added some liquid applique (fake snow) to the muff, pompoms and ground and waited several hours for that to dry so I could heat emboss it and puff it out.

In the meantime, I punched out the snowflakes from cardstock and flower petals from tissue paper, and put the flowers together using gold brads.

Finally I glued the picture to the back of the cardstock and added the accents, fluffing the flowers so they'd look more 3 dimensional.

It's Your Day

I made this card for the month's Marianne's Design Diva's challenge, Lace and Pearls.

I glued lace at the top and bottom of the cardstock, then added thin strips of white and silver ribbon.  For the center embossed tag I used Marianne Creatable's Petra's Large Oval.  The sentiment is by Papertrey Ink.   I also used some silver pearls by Imaginesce to finish off the design.

Wishing You a Magical Day

This is a quick card I whipped up yesterday for the 10 Minute Craft Dash challenge to feature stars.

I started out by stamping the sentiment on the bottom of the light blue cardstock in dark blue ink.  Then I stamped the boy wizard.  I added the tape (which has some stars on it, in addition to the shamrocks and rainbows).  Lastly, I added the glitter glue starburst/firework at the end of the wand.  Not sure I'm happy with how that turned out.  All this in 5 minutes.

I thought the card lacked something, and so added some yellow glitter glue to the stars and moons on the wizard's hat and cloak so they stand out more.  Finished in 6:10.

Bonus Iris Card

I've got my crafty mojo back, so today you're getting two cards because there are a lot of great card challenges I want to enter.  LOL.

This card is being submitted to two challenges, JustRite's Delicate Doilies (use a doily on your project) and Mojo Monday's 300 Sketch Challenge, to use this sketch:

Well, that circle to the side made me think doilies, and so I got out a new JustRite stamp set and picked the iris stamp from it for my focal image.  I wanted to use blue and turquoise as my card colours, and so coloured the image using those shades of pencil crayons.  I started with a light colour and then added a darker shade on top.  The bow I did purple, just for some contrast.  To get a good, soft blended look, I also used gamsol (an alcohol solution) with a blending stump over top.

I cut out the square from regular cardstock and flag from Core'dinations.  I then ran the flag through my Big Shot with a vine embossing folder and lightly sanded the embossed parts.

The doily came from one of my UmWow Studio kits.  I love how intricate it is!

Instead of the small flag, I decided to use feathers (I love feathers but have had trouble deciding how to add them to cards, so this was great).

Finally I glued everything on.

And here's a close-up of the flowers:

Life's a Beach

I made this card for this week's Less is More Challenge: Sand.

I took a piece of light brown/dark cream cardstock and stamped my hula girl stamp in tan ink.  I stamped the sentiment on the bottom and then spread yellow glitter glue (as sand) along the bottom of the card.  Voila.  Clean, simple and fast.

Velum Rose

I bought a stamp set online of rose outlines and leaves a little while ago and when it arrived (as sometimes happens) I was surprised by the size of the stamps.  I expected the roses to be fairly small to regular, a good size for cards.  What I got was medium to large - too large, I thought, for cards.

Then I remembered some cards using stamps that go off the page and that used stamps in creative ways.  I'm still planning the off the page card, but I decided to use the stamping on vellum technique with this set.

So, I used versa mark ink and then heat embossed with lilac embossing powder.  I added a touch of colour with a purple dye ink (it didn't show up well, so I left them mostly white/vellum).  The leaves were embossed with teal powder, with some teal pigment ink on top (also didn't show up well).

For the card, I used a purple cardstock for the back with a sheet of patterned paper taped on top.  I die cut my new ribbon threader border, inking the dry embossed parts with white ink.  I threaded a dark purple ribbon through and then glued it on.  The centre of the flowers was done with a blue/purple glitter glue.

Lastly I added the flower.  The bottom layer is glued on the page, with one side of the leaves underneath.  I pop dotted the tips of the leaves so they'd stick up a bit and the second layer of the rose.

I've got some room in the middle for a sentiment, should I decide to add one when I give the card.