Nail Polish Marbling Background

I made this card for 2 challenges, Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday nail polish marbling and Simon Says Stamps' making your own background.

I took a plastic container from a frozen item, washed it, and half filled it with water. I then added drops of nail polish on top and carefully put a piece of cardstock (2 white & 2 black) on it, marbling the cardstock. You have to be quick or the nail polish will start to harden (well, it created a film that didn't transfer properly anymore).

I found that some of my nail polishes worked great for this, spreading out or streaking, while others didn't want to drip into the container at all or sank to the bottom.

Here are the 4 panels I did:

For my card, I stamped a sentiment from the Daydreamers set by Papertrey Ink in black ink into the bottom right corner. It got lost in the nail polish, so I stamped it again on a piece of vellum and folded the vellum around the back of the card to attach it to the panel. I then mounted the panel onto a blue card.

Hello Kitty Skating card

I started this card by printing out a Hello Kitty colouring page I found online (sized to fit the die I wanted to use). I coloured it with a mix of Spectrum Noir and Copic markers. When I was done, I stamped a few mini snowflakes around and added touches of glitter glue to them. I also added some white applique to the white edged areas. When dried and heat set, this puffs up, giving the image some texture. I die cut the image out with the Simon Says Stamp stitched circles die. I used the same die to cut out the pink circle.

I die cut the skates, cut off the laces and added silver marker accents. I also die cut the little poinsettia accent. There's a strip if mini pompom ribbon and a sentiment from Cas-ual Fridays' Snowflake Greetings.

I'm submitting it to the Simon Says Stamp Ice inspiration challenge.

Lamp Greetings

I started this card by cutting out the lamp with my Silhouette SD. I marked out where the lights would sit on the card and then used a sponge to add yellow ink to those areas on the cardstock.

For decoration, I added some punched greenery, a bow and a tiny poinsettia. I stamped the greeting and then added snow on the bottom. Originally I just had the glitter glue, but then I saw someone do a snowy ground with texture paste and decided to add some to my picture. It gives the round real dimension.

I'm submitting this to Simon Says Stamp's Ice Inspiration challenge.

Merman card

For Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge of 'Anything Goes' I decided to do something different. I printed out the Some Odd Girl MerMan Cody and Make It Crafty's Mermaid Castle digital stamps. I coloured the images and then die cut them out, inking the edges with some blue. I mounted the images on a blue cardstock base and put some flowers around them.

Shimmer Challenge Card

I made this card for the Simon Says Stamp shimmer challenge.

It's my first time using this Altenew stamp set, which is my excuse for why the flower is upside down. :)

My first step was die cutting the scalloped frame out of black cardstock.

I stamped the largest flower background using the Perfect Pearls medium, then dusted it with purple powder.  I then used a purple Encore pigment ink , which is metallic, to stamp one of the inside detail stamps over top.  The ink pulled off some of the powder, giving it some interesting dimension.

I masked the flower and stamped the leaves on either side, using the medium and green powder.

I stamped the sentiment using the purple pigment ink.

To finish the card I mounted it on a piece of dark purple cardstock and then a lighter purple card base.
 

It's not easy to see the shimmer in the photo, but it's awesome in real life.  Here's a close-up that gives a bit more of an idea.

Night Castle Card

This is another card I made for Simon Says Stamps' birthday challenge.

I started this card by die cutting the castle and trees from black cardstock and then inking them with white pigment ink where they embossed through the die.  I took a piece of glossy cardstock and stamped a moon, then die cut the frame out of it.  With the die in place, I used red, 2 blue, and black inks to fill in the background, leaving the edges white.

For the stars I added some white paint dots, then I used a Versamark pen for the moon and more star dots and and sprinkled on glow in the dark embossing powder.

I attached the white cardstock to a black base and then used pop dots to attach the castle and trees.

Simon Says Stamp's Birthday Challenge Card

I made this birthday card for Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge.  I took a piece of dark purple cardstock that I'd previously cut a circle out of and then die cut 3 of the Dahlia die (2 out of lighter purple cardstock, and one from white cardstock).  I then die cut and embossed a banner and stamped Happy Birthday on it.  I glued the banner down high enough so I could add the recipient's name in later, then glued the flowers to the side of the circle.  I also added a punched butterfly with some purple sparkle pen lines to the upper corner.  To finish the card I added 3 pearls to the flowers.

Birthday Flowers Card

I'm submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp's Birthday Challenge as well.  I used a stamp positioner to make sure everything went on straight as I used a set of rubber stamps for this (as opposed to clear stamps).  I stamped the shelf, then the vase, the sentiment and finally the flowers.  I coloured in the petals and used a bit of yellow glitter glue for the centres.  A quick card but I like how it looks.

SSS Challenge's 6th Birthday.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I've had several other time consuming projects come up and haven't had much time for card crafting.

This is a birthday card I made to celebrate Simon Says Stamps Challenge's 6th 'birthday'.  I've enjoyed entering their challenges a lot the past few years.

I stamped the two frames and the sentiment (I stamped off the 'Happy' so the words would be visible despite the overlap) and then die cut them out.  I die cut the bottom of my card base and then the patterned panel.  I added some ribbon and then layered the die cuts on top, finishing off with a punched butterfly (with some glitter pen for accent).

Congratulations Card

Sorry I haven't been around much.  I've been busy with a bunch of other projects and haven't had much time for card crafting lately.  I did spend a few days making and adjusting silhouette cute files for greenery and cutting them out in different colours so I have quick access foliate.

I used some of that foliage for this card.

I die cut and embossed the bottom of a black panel of cardstock.  I then die cut some flowers out of red cardstock and used black paint to add interest.  I scrunched the petals and added some white foliage.  I stamped the sentiment in dark red ink on the white cardstock base.

I'm submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes challenge.

Santa's Down the Chimney Card

A few days ago I mentioned how I'd bought light modelling paste.  Well, I also used my silhouette SD to cut a few stencils.  I did a sunburst, a brick pattern, a forest silhouette and a diagonal striped page.  I decided to use coloured acetate for the stencils, as they'd be easier to see than clear ones.

I wasn't sure how well acetate would work for stencils, being thinner than the stencils you buy at the store, nor did I know how well modelling paste would work.  So I mixed some red dye into the paste and tested out the brick stencil.

I'd meant to leave a border around all of the stencils so I'd be able to tape them down, but forgot to factor that in when I made the brick pattern, so I ended up with a stencil just barely larger than my paper.

I was able to secure it, then used a plastic palette knife ti smear the paste onto the stencil.  I mixed the paste and colour on a Spellbinders die package.  The lip around the packaging helped keep the paste from making a mess and it was easy to clean up.  You can see the panel in the photo below, with the stencils.

I let the panel dry over night, then cut a rectangle out of it for my card.  I'd tried to be smooth with the paste, but found the rougher areas have nicer texture and a more realistic old brick look.  The paste once dry is a little spongy but very flexible and light.

I cut a chimney top out of white cardstock, some red legs, cloud punched white boot toppers and black boots.  I assembled the vanishing Santa, then stamped my sentiment in black ink and added a piece of glitter ribbon as a roof before attaching the chimney to the white cardstock base.

I'm submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp's Christmas/Holidays challenge.

Noel Snowflake Card

This was a quick and fairly simple card to make.  I started out by embossing the snowflake swirl embossing pattern onto white cardstock.  I die cut two snowflakes, one from vellum and one from white paper.  I glued them on the card and added a pearl to the center.  Finally, I stamped Noel in black ink.

I'm submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp's anything goes challenge.

May Your Holidays be Out of This World

I've got a rather unorthodox Christmas card today.  Using markers I coloured the Lil Lads and Lasses image, Futuristic Willow, that I'd printed and cut out with my Silhouette, in holiday colours and then had to fit a card around it.  I thought of the sentiment and the rest flowed from there.

I cut a panel out of black cardstock and punched a bunch of stars out of it.  I layered that on a piece of neon yellow cardstock, which in tern was glued to a black cardstock base.  The sentiment was written on a piece of red scrap paper in metallic gel pen (and finishes inside on a second banner).  I die cut a circle out of gold cardstock and rubbed some red ink on it to make it look more shadowed, then die cut the red and green spaceship.  I attached all the pieces and voila, a space themed Christmas card.

I'm submitting this to Simon Says Stamps' Wednesday challenge, We're Seeing Stars.

Angel Holiday Card

I started this card with a piece of dark green cardstock for the base and a piece of slightly smaller white cardstock for the front panel.  I stamped the angel and then die cut an oval next to it.  I stamped the harp and then started punching out lots of branches.  I lined the oval and glued a piece of music notation (a scrap piece from a public domain song I printed on resume paper a few years ago) behind it.  I added some red glitter gel pen to the stamps (the angel's corset and various flowers) before gluing the front panel onto the card base.  

I very lightly inked three poinsettia flowers (cut on the Silhouette), and glued them together.  I used 3 daubs of a thick gold embossing paint in the center.  I took a sewing pin with a bead on the end and added beads I bought that form an angel and glued it to the back of the poinsettia before gluing the poinsettia to the page.  To finish, I added a few gold embossing dots at the ends of some swirls.

I'm entering this in Simon Says Stamps' Anything Goes challenge as well. 

Snowman Card

This was a pretty easy and fast card to make.  I used a snowman embossing folder and cut out the embossed shape, then coloured the appropriate parts with markers.  I die cut the snow bank and used a gel pen to write the sentiment.  Finally, I embossed the card base with snowflakes (I'd left a bit of border along the top rather than bottom by accident, which is why I used the debossed rather than embossed side for the front)

I'm submitting the card to Simon Says Stamp's anything goes challenge.

Presents Under the Tree Card

Simon Says Stamp is having another 'anything goes' challenge on their Wednesday challenge blog, so I'm submitting this Christmas card.

I started this card by cutting out the window and used a background stamp from JustRite in light blue ink that looked sort of wallpaperish before taping the window back in place.  I used a calendar page of one of Thomas Kinkade's paintings for the view (it's a Christmas scene at central park in NYC).

I glued on the presents (cut and punched squares that I applied glitter glue to) and lots of punched branches (from the bottom up).  For the tree decorations I glued on several punched circles with glitter glue accents, a star and two pieces of nail art tape that approximated tinsel (it was a bit of a pain to attach, but looks really cool).

Frost Fairy Card 1

I started this card by printing out and colouring with markers the digital Lil Lads and Lasses Jackie Frost image.  I added some glitter pen to the wings to make them shimmer a bit.  I die cut the image out using a Spellbinders circle die.

I die cut a Spellbinders snowflake and used a marker to highlight the embossed parts, then added the fairy's circle on top.

For the background, I embossed a sheet of light blue cardstock and added the Casual Friday greeting.  I also added a piece of glitter ribbon before attaching the panel to the darker blue cardstock base.  

I'm submitting the card to Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes challenge.

Look Who's Turning 1 card

This is a card I made for my nephew who turned 1 recently.  I'm submitting it to Simon Says Stamp's Stamp It Challenge.

I started out by carefully stamping a corner stamp all the way around the card, masking it so I could make a full frame (you can see one spot where there's no blue dot between the shapes and another with 2 hearts meeting, showing where the stamp didn't do quite what was needed).  I stamped the hanging moon and stars, and the presents, then started colouring all the shapes with markers.

I stamped the sentiment and ran over the 1 with blue glitter glue and the large moon with yellow glitter glue.  I finished the card by attaching the panel to a piece of light blue cardstock.

Books, Bonbons and Wine Card

I made this card for a friend I hadn't seen in ages.  I'm submitting it to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Stamp-It Challenge.

I started out by stamping the image on a piece of white cardstock then die cutting it out.  With the die still in place I inked the background with a dark blue ink.  I then coloured the image with markers.  I picked the colour scheme to match her former apartment, where she had a big orange couch and dark blue walls.  It sounds strange, but it looked fantastic.

I wanted to use a variegated thread I bought, and so threaded it between and around the holes of the die.  I didn't have my full layout in mind or I'd have had it end in the middle at the bottom with my charm, rather than at the side where it's so close to the faux bonbons.  I tied the string into a series of loops and glued it in place with a piece of shrink plastic.  The plastic has a box of bonbons stamped on it in black ink and coloured with permanent markers, then shrunk down with a heat gun.

For the bonbons, I used metallic cardstock and punched a circle, trimmed on the bottom and three squares with rounded edges.  For the main bonbon I added a paper rosette underneath then put them all into brown crepe paper I coloured brown with a copic marker.  I finished them off with some dimensional glue on top.

I glued everything on my blue cardstock then added a few finishing touches: glossy accents to the wine glass and liquid applique to the slippers (this puffs up if heated once dry, making them look fuzzy).

Two Toned Butterfly Embossing

I saw this technique on this blog via pinterest and loved it, so tried it myself.  I glued some lighter punched butterflies onto the darker cardstock, then, when they'd dried, I ran the panel through my Big Shot with an embossing folder.

I added a piece of sheer blue ribbon with a butterfly bracelet charm off to one side, then glued the panel to a piece of cream cardstock.

I'm entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge, anything goes.