Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Life's Lemons



Hi everyone!

Isn't this the perfect mid-week sentiment?
A, I love lemons, and b, if I'm going to have a drink, I really do like vodka.
And, I've had my fair share of lemons thrown at me in my life, so a reminder to make the best of it all is a great thing to keep in mind.

When I saw the current Mix It Up Challenge at Ellen Hutson, which incorporates Avery Elle with Essentials by Ellen, these great lemons came to mind.

For the background I used one of my very favourite stamp sets for creating beautiful backgrounds.  The Bohkeh Dots set is full of possibilities!

I decided to heat emboss the sentiment in black, and set one lemon on dimensionals to bring it to the forefront.  I felt the bright green and yellow were perfect companions for the sunshine lemons.


I gave this lemon a bit of twine to bring in a bit of an organic feel and I love how it looks!

For the inside, I stamped the lemon again in a light grey ink, and repeated the bright yellow circles.


This is just such a happy and bright card, it brought a smile to my face.  My 25 year old son, Mike, complimented me on it as well, and that was a happily accepted reward.  He doesn't compliment often!

Have a great week, everyone!
Beth



Find me on...

YouTube

Instragram

Pinterest


Facebook




Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Welcome Baby Using Pointillism and Copics



Hi everyone and happy Mother's Day!

I thought it fitting to post this seeing as it's Mother's Day.  A friends of mine just had her second baby, Norah, so I'll be popping this in the mail tonight.

As well, this one is going in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, so head over there to see some amazing cards.

My wonderful husband took me out for a great dinner last night.  We never go anywhere on Mother's Day because everyone else is going there!  This way, it's much more relaxed. 

I "borrowed" this idea from the talented Jennifer McGuire.  When I saw this I thought it would be perfect for this stamp set, so I decided to give it a try.  I think the results are great, and it's a technique I'll definitely use again.


The technical term for this is pointillism because you use dots or "les points" to create shading in your image.  It works amazingly well with Copics, and by using the same concept as regular colouring with Copics, you get great shading results.

I also used fun foam as a way to give my card dimension instead of foam tape.  I cut both the fun foam and the frames for the card stock using stitched rectangle dies.  Cutting the foam is just as easy as cutting paper!



For the inside of the card, I cut a matching rectangle and stamped three more of the balloons, used the same three pinks, and the same colouring technique.


I'm really thrilled with the way this card turned out.
It's just adorable!

Take a minute to watch the video below to see how everything was done and how it all came together.


Have a great day!
Beth



Find me on...

YouTube

Instragram

Pinterest

Facebook





Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

It's 5 o'clock somewhere!




Hey everyone!

Well, it's hump day and I'm popping in to post this card I painted for the watercolour challenge at livelovecards.com, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

I was especially excited because, as I mentioned awhile ago, my husband got me this for my birthday back in March!


I've been playing around with them, and this is the first card I've made with these watercolours.

Let me tell you - if you're into watercolours, these are CRAZY nice!

I'm so happy with them!

So.  For this card I used Madison has a Margarita.  I have a definite soft spot for the Uptown Girls from Stampingbella!



One of the things I really enjoyed about using watercolours was mixing colours to create the skin tones I was looking for.  There isn't a "skin tone" per se, but my husband got me the big set, so there's definitely enough colour options to mix it up and create whatever colour you're looking for.


The sentiment that comes with this stamp is probably my favourite too!  I mean, really...  Who hasn't said this at one point in time??

I used Tim Holtz watercolour paper.  One of my favourite substrates, it's really white and has a nice smooth side that's perfect for stamping and painting.  I also stamped the image in Versamark and heat embossed it in black.  I really wanted her to stand out.

I used Neenah Solar White 110lb card stock for the base, and I really like this weight of paper for card bases.

I also added some little rhinestone jewels from Stampin' Up!, and coloured them with a Copic marker to match Madison's drink.

Hopefully in the next photo you'll be able to see the sparkle from them in the light.


For the inside, I spent some time trying to decide what to do.  I wanted it to be feminine, since Madison is definitely a girly-girl.  I didn't want to go crazy, because I wanted to leave lots of white space so I could write a good long note to a friend.  I took one of the flowers from A Bunch from Waffle Flower and created a bit of a border in Basic Grey dye ink from Stampin' Up!.


For most of the flowers I stamped off once, but left three of them at full strength to add a little variety.  Come to think of it, it would have been cute to stamp those three in pink!

Oh well.  Next time!

Have a great day!
Beth


Find me on...

YouTube

Instragram

Pinterest

Facebook

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Happy Vibes




AHHHH!  Fun, fun, FUN!!

Does it get any cuter than this?

This is my first card with front/back images, and I love it.
As usual, I have another idea for this particular image.  This is one of those times when you make the card and then come up with a bigger, better version of it (so stay tuned!).

I just adore this particular set from MFT.  It's got a ton of different images and possibilities, and that makes your dollar go a lot further.

For the outside of this one, I used my Cuttlebug and a Stitched Rectangle die to cut the window and did some very simple colouring with Copics on the pooch.  

I stamped the Happy using Happy Everything from Mama Elephant, and placed it right in the centre of the window.


The pooch got his head put on straight on the inside, so he's looking in at the treats.  And seriously, what a makes cute little pup happier than a bunch of bones to eat?


I cut out a handful of his bones using the dies, as well as a bowl to hold one.  I wanted to keep the colour palate fairly simple, so coloured his bowl red to match and gave it some oomph with a good layer of Glossy Accents.


I so wish it was Saturday instead of Sunday so I could get busy with ramped up version of this one, but I guess it's going to have to wait.

Back to work tomorrow...

See you later!
Beth

Find me on...

YouTube

Instragram

Pinterest

Facebook


Posted by at No comments:

Thank You Card with "A Bunch" of Heat Embossed Flowers


Hello!

I've got another card for the Waffle Flower Challenge, using the A Bunch stamp set.  

I LOVE the technique I used for this.  

The flowers were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and then coloured in using pigment inks.  Because pigment inks stay wet longer, I heat embossed them with clear embossing powder which gives them a delicious shine and texture.  

Voila!
(You can see the shine in the photo below.)




I fussy cut the flowers and leaves, and adhered them to the card stock, popping one up on dimensionals.

I absolutely love the colours for this challenge.  They're soft and so, so pretty!


And of course, it's the perfect card to use one of my favourite embellishments on - linen twine.
Oh, how I adore linen twine!


Hope you enjoyed!

Beth

Find me on...

YouTube

Instragram

Pinterest

Facebook


Posted by at No comments:

Love You a Bunch with Copics, Creating a Background, and Masking






Hi everyone!

The nice weather is here and I've got flowers to celebrate!

The stamp set I used is called A Bunch from Waffle Flower, and I used a bunch of the stamps to create this card for Waffle Flower's challenge which you can find here!

I loved the inspiration photo for this challenge, and if I can find time, I've got another idea for another card.


Time seems to be an issue these days for me these days!

To make this card, I used a few different techniques: Copic colouring, stamping to create a background, and masking to reshape the desired image.  These are all great techniques to get a good handle on.  The open up many more possibilities for you in card making.


Check out the video below to see how it's done!





See you next time!
Beth


Find me on...

YouTube

Instragram

Pinterest

Facebook


Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, April 26, 2015

You Make My Tail Wag





It's a Clean and Simple Sunday with this little hound dog, and he's headed to the Sketch Challenge at My Favourite Things.


Where else would you want to go on a Sunday?

I do love designing CAS cards, I really do.  They're honestly my absolute favourite cards to make, and this one was no exception.

First of all, the little hound reminds me of my "heart dog", Trap.  Trap was a retired greyhound that we adopted from Florida.  He was three when we got him (he was a terrible racer and retired early), and then we had to let him go 5 years later as he was suffering from cancer.

I miss that guy to this day.

Anyway.

I'm off on another sketch challenge, and I think I've followed the sketch more closely than I usually do.






There weren't a lot of materials used for this one, making the term "simple" more apropos!

And simple is good these days!  It's AprilMayJune at school, (teachers will completely understand my lack of spaces there) and things are CRRAAAAZY as they are every year at this time.  Add in there that I teach grades 7 and 8 - which means that the grade eights will be having their graduation and us wonderful teachers do all the work and planning for that, the year end 3-day trip is coming up, which I'm planning, and we're trying to cram everything in before we run out of time.  There' a million other things going on in the school as well, and...  well...  it's just a ridiculous time of year.

Its was really nice to sit down and have some ME time in my craft room!

So, the video is below!  Give it a watch to see how the card came together!



See you next time!
Beth


Stuff I used...




Find me on...

YouTube

Instragram

Pinterest

Facebook


Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Love is in the Air with Mama Elephant


Hi again!  

I've got a really fun card for the Mama Elephant Challenge!  Again, I started with absolutely no plan. All I had was the stamp set sitting in front of me, and I just started working from there.  

I really think this is my favourite way of creating these days.  Just sit down and see what happens.

I used the Carnival Cupcakes set and Copics to create my "balloons".  The sky background is Peacock Feathers Ranger distress Ink.  I drew some cloud shapes on post-it notes, cut them out and used them as masks while I blended the ink over the card.  It's really easy to do, and you can create whatever image you like, anyway you like.

My only regret on this card was using the linen twine to hold the balloons.  I think next time I do something similar, I'll choose something different.

So as this is just a quick "drive by" post, I'll be off!

I've got some watercolours to play with!

See you next time!
Beth

Posted by at No comments:

Maisy and Madeline have a Stampingbella Challenge




It's Sunday again, and I keep wondering how that happens!  I swear it was Sunday 2 days ago...


Regardless, I have a card all ready for this week's Stampingbella challenge.  It's a sketch challenge and Maisy and Madeline are coming out to play!  This stamp is just danged cute!  And so fun to colour as well.




As usual, I didn't completely follow the sketch (I'm such a rebel...).  A little creative liberty is allowed, right?

I remember having this argument with a prof I had in a photography class.  Apparently he didn't like my work, and I argued that just because he didn't like it, didn't mean that it wasn't good.  He, I guess, thought he was the definitive voice on photography.  

Uh huh.

Anyway, I'll be back with another challenge card, and then I'm off to play with my new watercolours!!

See ya!
Beth


Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, April 18, 2015

We Are Purr-Fect Friends


Hello and bonjour!

I've got another card today and some exciting news!  Well, it's exciting news for me, anyway.

News #1:

A few weeks ago (back in March) I told you that my husband had ordered a set of Kuretake Gansei Tambi watercolours for my birthday.  He ordered them right from Japan, and they finally arrived!


Can't wait to get busy and start practicing with them!

News #2:

A little while ago I entered a card in a Simon Says Stamp Challenge, and it was a featured card!  WooHoo!!!  It's so exciting to have your hard work recognized and featured!  The post for that card, can be found HERE if you're interested in checking it out!

News #3:

When I started my YouTube Channel, my first goal was to get to 50 subscribers and I've surpassed that.  There's so many crazy talented card makers out there, I felt that getting to 50 would be fairly difficult.  I know that I'm constantly finding new artists to watch, so to have 50 people interested in watching what I do is amazing!

So,

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!


Ok.  Onward!


This card was designed for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and the challenge is to create a background and use products from My Favourite Things.  So that's what I did!





For the background I used the Plaid Background Builder from MFT, and three dye inks from Stampin' Up!; So Saffron and Daffodil Delight - both beautiful shades of yellow, and Smoky Slate, a pretty mid-tone shade of grey.

By laying down different inks in a vertical pattern, I created a striped background perfect for my little cats to sit on.  The background certainly isn't perfectly straight or evenly spaced, but who wants it to be!  When things are a little off, it just screams hand-made, and more importantly, made with love.



The cats are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink which is a Copic-safe ink and won't bleed or smudge with Copics.  The colouring for this card was very simple - nothing fancy and no shading. Just simple colouring.  The cats were die cut using the coordinating die set, and I stamped, coloured and fussy-cut two little bows for them to wear in their... hair?  Fur?

I also used a white Gellyroll pen to give the bows a little pizzazz and to give the cats some whisker and tummy dots.  (just because I thought it would be fun!)


I also wanted to add a banner of sorts for the sentiment, so I chose to heat emboss in white on velum, and I hid the glue marks under the velum with enamel dots in a matching yellow colour.  The yellow is actually almost spot on!



For the inside, because you know I can't just leave it alone, I used the same cat and Smoky Slate.  I stamped off once so that the images would be lighter and fainter.



Well, that's it for this one.  I hope you'll check out the video below!

See you next time!
Beth




Stuff I used...




Find me on...

My Stamping' Up!® Website

YouTube






Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Unforgettable Petunia and the Stampingbella Challenge


Happy Tuesday, fellow crafty people!

I think I'm developing an addiction to challenges...

It's true!  But I love the "challenge" of coming up with new cards and having to work within a set of parameters, although those parameters are sometimes pretty loose.

So, I inked up the lovely Petunia and set to work last night to come up with something for the Birthday Wishes for the Bellarific Friday Challenge.  I'm adding this one to those submitted by the other sistahs.

Petunia has stolen my heart in so many different stamps.  She's just so adorable and loveable.  She's in a little world all her own and doesn't care who knows it!

Petunia and her little friends are all Copic this week, with a patterned paper from Momenta, and wrapped up with a hot pink bow.  Simple!


There's one thing I love about these stamps.  They all work extremely well in a clean and simple card, and let's face it: clean and simple is definitely my thang.  

So with that I'll leave you with a clean and simple post as well. 

Until next time!
Beth


Stuff I used...


Ranger Craft Sheet
Fiskars SureCut Paper Trimmer
Martha Stewart Score Board
Scotch Brand ATG Tape Gun - Simon Says Stamp

Copics:


Bg13, 15, 49
B000, B00
RV21, 25, 29
Y35, 38
YR00, 000, 02, 04
E000, 21, 31, 33, 35, 37, 51, 


Find me on...

My Stamping' Up!® Website

YouTube


Posted by at No comments:

Monday, April 13, 2015

Just for You - A birthday Card for MFT Challenge





Hello!

It's time for another challenge with My Favourite Things, and it's a sketch challenge.
These are the ones I have the most difficulty with, but I'm getting better!

On a side note, the weather has been beautiful, and the cat is beyond annoyed that no one in the house will let him out in the backyard.  He's sitting at the door staring mournfully at the dog sleeping the day away in the warm sunshine.  I'm sure the little guy is going to have a breakdown soon.

I know what he's up to though...  Our yard is filled with birds of every colour and variety, and yesterday we were treated to the peck-peck-pecking of our resident blue jay and the Star Trek calls of the cardinal who seems to come back to our yard every summer.  

It's ok, my feathered friends.  I've got your back.

So, back to the card.



This is the sketch for this week.  I think I came pretty close even without the star.

I started again with no plan.  I just dug in and got started.  I don't really recommend this approach, unless you've got some time to waste!  Fortunately, I did!

I started off with cutting a stitched circle and stamping it with Versamark on a Swiss Dots background stamp from MFT, and heat embossing it with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder.

I used the Overflowing Joy stamp set from MFT and set about colouring with Copics.  I stamped a few extra times so I'd have extra prezzies (and who doesn't like extra prezzies!), and altered the colouring of them just a little to add a tad of variety.


I used a white Gellyroll pen to add some texture with dots to the wrapping and her lovely little smock.  (Who says SMOCK anymore!  I'm showing my age here...)  I also added some clear Wink of Stella to the same areas.

It seems I just can't leave the Wink of Stella alone these days...

Last but not least, I created a banner from Audrey Blue (Simon Says Stamp) card stock, used on of the sentiments from the same stamp set, and heat embossed it in white.

Everything was mounted on a white card base, topped with Audrey Blue card stock so everything came together nicely.  I popped up the girl and one of the present stacks on dimensionals for a little oomph.  

For the inside, I used another sentiment from the set, and stamped it in Stazon Ink.  I used an old Stampin' Up! stamp from the Delight in Life set for the for the little explosion of colour in Simon Says Stamp Maliblue.





And there it is!


I'm just tickled pink with the finished card!

See you next time!
Beth

Supplies



Find me on...

My Stamping' Up!® Website

YouTube



Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)