Clearly Besotted

Let Your Dreams Soar

August 18, 2017

Happy Friday! I’ve got a little pterodactyl to share today because, why not? All of the stamps I used on this card are from one of my favorite dinosaur stamp sets, the Clearly Besotted You Rock set.

This one’s pretty simple. I cut a piece of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock to 3 3/4″ x 5″ and then stamped and masked all of the images.

I airbrushed the sky with Copic E02 and R21 and then airbrushed the ground with E43, E42 and E41.

I colored all of the images with Copics and stamped the sentiment last.

To finish it off, I cut a strip of black patterned paper to 3/4″ x 3 3/4″ and adhered it to the bottom of the cardstock, then matted my scene on an orange patterned paper cut 4″ x 5 1/4″.

Hope your weekend is crafty and fabulous!

Thanks for stopping by!

Avery Elle

Hello

August 16, 2017

Hi there! I’ve got a shaker card to share today using a cute octopus from the Avery Elle Bubbles stamp set.

First, I cut a piece of white cardstock 3 3/4″ x 5″ and airbrushed  in the middle of the piece with Copic R81. Then I die-cut a circle centered towards the top of the card using an MFT stitched circle stax die-namics die.

I die-cut a slightly larger circle from a piece of acetate, applied adhesive just along the outside edge and adhered it to the back of the white cardstock over the smaller die-cut circle to form the shaker window. I die-cut a circular frame from white cardstock using the MFT stitched circle frame stax die-namics die, airbrushed it using Copic R83 and adhered it around the circular window.

 

For the background in the shaker window, I cut a 3 1/2″ x 4″ piece of white cardstock and inked it with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink in Peacock Feathers, splashing a little water on it. I then die-cut seaweed and coral using a Sizzix Seaweed and Coral die set and airbrushed them using Copic YG03 and E02. I adhered both towards the bottom of the inked cardstock piece so they would peek out inside the shaker window.

Then, I adhered the inked background piece to a piece of patterned paper cut to 4″ x 5 1/4″, centered and towards the top of the paper.

To assemble the shaker card, I placed a small pile of sequins in various blues, greens and purples in the center of the inked background, turned the white cardstock piece over and applied dimensional foam tape to the edge of the circle and the outside edges of the white cardstock.

I removed the tape liners and adhered the white cardstock centered on the patterned paper being careful that the sequins were inside of the circular area.

I stamped and colored the octopus with Copics and die-cut the image using the coordinating dies to this set.

I die-cut the hello sentiment from the Avery Elle Sentiment Strips Elle-ments dies from white cardstock and inked it with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink in Twisted Citron.

To finish the card, I die-cut a piece of teal cardstock using the Avery Elle Waves Elle-ments die and cut a few small strips from the die-cut piece to add the hint of waves at the top and bottom.

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by!

Essentials by Ellen

You Are Otterly Awesome!

August 14, 2017

Hi there! Today I’ve got my first slider card to share using the Essentials by Ellen (Julie Ebersole) stamp sets called “Otterly Awesome” and “Otter Ware” available at EllenHutson.com.

I think I’m officially hooked on interactive cards like this! I started by drawing large rocks for the slide using a Copic multi-liner pen and then traced the outline of the rocks on a piece of eclipse masking tape. I then masked the rocks and adhered a couple of cloud masks to the sky background before airbrushing the sky with Copic BG00.

I colored the rocks with Copics in both warm and cool grays and added some texture using a terrycloth towel and colorless blender. Then, I placed a slider die from the MFT Surf and Turf die-namics face down on the rocks, taped it in place and ran it through a die-cutting machine.

Next, I cut and adhered a piece of patterned paper to my card and placed the background piece centered on the paper. I applied liquid adhesive to the back of the cut out strip from the slider die and adhered it to the patterned paper  inside of the slot.

I stamped the otter, lilypad, leaves and 2 sets of waves on Neenah cardstock and colored them with Copics. I used a seaweed technique on the front wave that I learned in Sandy Allnock’s Copic Hex-Art class at www.art-classes.com. Really cool techniques covered, so check it out if you’re looking for an awesome intermediate Copic class.

Next, I applied foam dimensional tape to the outside edges of the background and adhered it centered on the patterned paper. I punched out a small circle (about 1″) from heavy weight cardstock and slid it into the slot and centered on the slot. I then adhered a small dimensional adhesive square to the back of the otter and adhered him to the punched circle.

I adhered the wave in the back first, and then applied a 1/8″ wide piece of Scor-Tape to the very bottom of the front wave so that the otter could slide somewhat between the waves.

I finished it off with a stamped sentiment from the set.

This was super fun to make!

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by!

Waffle Flower

Stay Cool!

August 11, 2017

Happy Friday! Bear is taking a break from cycling and relaxing on a beach today. I love the bear series of Waffle Flower stamps! I’ve used the Stay Cool stamp set on this card and I started by stamping and masking the bear, blanket and palm tree before airbrushing the sky and sand with Copics. The palm tree is from the Waffle Flower Tiger and Lily stamp set.

I stamped a few clouds from an MFT stamp set on eclipse tape and used the masks on the sky background rather than die-cut clouds. Gives it a bit of a softer look. I also used a large piece of eclipse tape to mask off the sand while airbrushing the sky and vice versa.

Then, I colored the images with Copics and stamped the sentiment.

To finish it off, I stamped, colored and die-cut a little tropical drink from this set and adhered it with dimensional adhesive.

Hope you enjoyed and hope your weekend is as relaxing as Bear’s!

My Favorite Things

Be Happy!

August 9, 2017

Hi there! I’ve been playing with watercolor paints again and my card today features the adorable new Happy Hippos stamp set from MFT. I love this little baby hippo holding a cupcake!

I used a violet paint for the majority of the background and splattered a little yellow and pink before it dried. I then matted the watercolor cardstock on a piece of MFT patterned paper.

I die-cut 2 MFT patterned papers with the MFT Fringed Scalloped Borders die-namics and adhered them across the card.

I stamped and colored the images from the Happy Hippo set with Copics and die-cut them with the coordinating dies in this set.

To finish it off, I stamped the sentiments using the MISTI several times for a crisp, deep color and adhered a few sequins here and there.

He really looks like he wants to eat that whole stack of cupcakes!

Hope you have a happy day and thanks for stopping by!

Altenew

Peony Scrolls

August 7, 2017

Hi there! I’ve got a quick card to share today using Altenew’s Peony Scrolls stamp set. Their beautiful flower images are pure joy to color and I decided to use Chameleon pens on this one. Funny enough, one of the pens is called “Peony Pink” and it does closely match the color of peonies, so that’s what I used on the flower.

I’ve played around a little bit with these pens before, mostly coloring small images. This was the first larger image I’ve colored with them and it takes a bit of patience. If you’re not familiar with these pens, they give the ability to transition easily from a light to darker shade of a color by fusing the ink with colorless blender inside of the pen. You do have to constantly fuse the ink though as you’re working on small sections of an image and that takes a few seconds. That’s where the patience aspect comes in.

I used “Green Apple” on the leaves and then added a light blue shadowing around the flower with a Copic B000 and colorless blender to soften it out. You can’t see it in the photos, but I also added clear Wink of Stella to the tips of the petals and leaves for a little shimmer.

I die-cut a Hero Arts thanks sentiment from a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock that I sponged with Distress Oxide ink in Twisted Citron and spritzed with a spray bottle. To make the sentiment show up a bit more, I die-cut the sentiment again from black cardstock and slightly overlapped the two. I also added a light gray shadow under the sentiment once I had adhered it with a Copic W3.

To finish the card, I stamped the small portion of the sentiment from the same Hero Arts stamp and die set and adhered a few flat-back pearls around the image. The patterned paper mat is an Anna Griffin paper that has the same color scheme.

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for stopping by!

Lawn Fawn

Ahoy, Matey!

August 4, 2017
Lawn Fawn Scalloped Pop-up Box card die, Lawn Fawn Ahoy Matey stamp set

Happy Friday! I’m excited to share this little box card I made using the Lawn Fawn Scalloped Pop-up Box card die. I’ve had this die for a couple of months and I have to admit, I was a little intimidated by it. I watched a few Lawn Fawn videos on how to put it together and it’s a good thing I did. There’s no way I would’ve figured out the little tricks to it, so I highly recommend checking out their instructions.

This was a little (a lot) time consuming, but so worth it in the end! I used the Lawn Fawn Ahoy, Matey stamp set and coordinating dies and a tiny little shark in the very front of the scene from the Lawn Fawn Duh-nuh stamp set. All of the images are colored with Copics and the clouds in the background are die-cut using the Lawn Fawn Simple Puffy Clouds dies.

I’ve got 5  layers in the card that I die-cut using the MFT Ocean Wave and Scenic Safari die-namics and inked with Distress inks.

I’ve got a lot of patterned paper in my stash and I found the FancyPants “Down by the Shore” 6×6 paper pad to go perfectly with my theme. I’ve cut out flowers from these papers on some of the flaps and the front of the box for a little tropical feel.

On the back of the box, I’ve left a blank area to write a little message to the recipient. This is a little idea that Kelly Alvarez from Lawn Fawn suggested and I think it’s a great one to keep the message private, but still be able to display this card on a desk, etc.

The whole concept of this die is just fantastic! It folds flat to fit in an A2 size envelope. I found that the weight of the cardstock you use for the box is pretty important. If it’s too heavy, the box may not fold flat. If it’s too light, you may get cracking along the score lines of the flaps. I had to construct 2 of these boxes before this one to figure out what weight worked best and I found a medium to lighter weight kraft cardstock to work quite well.

Here’s what the front of the card looks like folded up:

 

There’s so many different themes and scenes you could make using this die, so I know I’ll be having fun with this again in the future!

Hope you enjoyed today’s card and hope you have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Avery Elle

G’ Day, Mate!

August 2, 2017

Hi there! My card today features another exclusive stamp set designed for EllenHutsonLLC in their United We Flourish campaign, this time from Avery Elle, and it’s called G’ Day Mate! I fell instantly in love with the images in this set and while I have quite a few koala stamps, these are some of my favorites.

I started out by die-cutting a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of cardstock using the center circle portion of the Avery Elle Horizontal Stripes Elle-ments die to use as a stencil for the background. I positioned the die on the cardstock piece so that the center circle was towards the top of the cardstock and centered left and right.

I then cut a piece of white cardstock 4″ x 5 1/4″ and taped the die-cut cardstock piece over the top. I airbrushed using Copic markers in Y11, Y23, YR01 and R21    .

Next, I die-cut a piece of patterned paper with the Horizontal Stripes Elle-ments die and trimmed it off at the top and bottom removing several stripes since I just wanted a portion of it across the card. I lined up the patterned paper around my airbrushed circle and adhered it in place.

I stamped and colored the koalas with Copics and die-cut around them using the coordinating dies that come with this set. They’re adhered with dimensional adhesive for extra interest.

 

I then finished the card with  a die-cut sentiment using the Avery Elle Sentimental Strips Elle-ments dies.

Hope you enjoyed and if you like this set which also includes a really cute platypus and kangaroo, don’t forget to pick these up soon before they’re gone!

Thanks for stopping by!

My Favorite Things

Oh, Happy Day!

July 31, 2017

Hi there! What could be happier than a tiger and a monkey playing? My card for this Monday features some of my new goodies from the latest MFT release and obviously, I’m on a monkey kick right now.

I started by die-cutting a piece of Neenah cardstock and a piece of MFT patterned paper using the MFT Blueprints 31 die-namics. This is the only Blueprints die-namics set that I own as of now, so I do use this one a ton, but it’s very versatile. I’d say, an excellent buy.

Next I Copic airbrushed the cloud background using the new MFT Mini Cloud Edges stencil with B000 and B00.I then stamped the sentiment from the MFT Handwritten Happiness stamp set.

I colored the image with Copics and die-cut around it using the coordinating die-namics to this set and then adhered it using dimensional adhesive. I love how popping up the image creates a little shadow and makes it look even more as though they’re swinging in the air.

I hope this card brings a smile!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lawn Fawn

Limited Edition Lawn Fawn Stamp Set

July 28, 2017

Hi there! My card today features a really cute Lawn Fawn stamp and die combo set called Love Ya’ Bunches and it’s designed exclusively for EllenHutsonLLC. The store has teamed up with several stamp companies in their “United we Flourish” campaign and once these sets are gone, they’re gone, so check them out soon if you’re wanting them.

I’ve used MFT Stitched Dome Stax and Frames die-namics on this one and I started by die-cutting a piece of white cardstock with one of the larger Stitched Dome Stax dies for the background behind the monkeys. I sponged the entire piece with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Wild Honey and then taped a Hero Arts Swirl stencil over the top and inked with Memento Potter’s Clay.

Next, I cut a piece of jungle patterned paper for the mat on the card (this is Paper Studio brand from Hobby Lobby) and adhered this and my inked dome die-cut centered left and right on the card and about 3/4″ below the fold line of the card.

I cut a piece of kraft cardstock 3 3/4″ x 5″ and die-cut using a smaller Stitched Dome Stax die than the one I used on the background about 3/4″ from the top edge and centered left and right. I then die-cut a Stitched Dome Frame from dark brown cardstock and adhered this around the opening.

Before I adhered the kraft cardstock to the card, I die-cut a few leaves from the MFT Wild Greenery die-namics set and adhered them on the dome background and stamped a sentiment from this set on the kraft cardstock above the dome cut out. Then, I applied dimensional tape to the back of the kraft cardstock along the edges and a few pieces around the dome opening and adhered it to the card.

Now the really fun part! Coloring monkeys! I used Copics on the stamped images and then die-cut them with the coordinating dies in this set. The monkey tails are designed to wrap around the vine. Too cute! I adhered the monkeys and vine with dimensional adhesive so they look like they’re coming out of the jungle background.

I finished the card off by stamping another sentiment from this set on dark brown cardstock using versamark ink, heat embossing with fine detail white embossing powder and die-cutting around the sentiment with an MFT stitched sentiment strip. I added a few more leaves around the dome opening with the same Wild Greenery die-namics set.

Hope you enjoyed my swinging monkeys and have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!