Gina K Ornament Card

Oh, my, spent all day playing with the ornament stamp from the Merry and Bright Gina K Designs Kit to see the kind of effects I could achieve. Finally, after 4 tries, I created cards out of 2 of the 4 attempts. Here are the Gina K Design kits I used:

Merry and Bright

Christmas Script

For the first one, I decided to try embossing the ornament with 3 shades of green. I wanted to match it to the paper that I wanted to use out of My Mind’s Eye Sugar Plum paper pad. (Yes, it’s discontinued, but, if you are like me, I’m sure you have beautiful Christmas paper you’ve been hoarding for that perfect moment.) I used a combo of Wow, Ranger and Zinc powders. I stamped the ornament with clear embossing powder and carefully pored each powder over a portion of the ornament. To make the ornament sparkle a little more I added Clear Spectrum Noir Glitter ink to the center of the ornament. I took a sentiment from the kit and embossed that on another paper from the pad using Ranger’s Liquid Platinum powder (one of my favorite powders). The glitter on the paper is neither silver nor gold, so this color is the perfect match! I backed the image and sentiment with a green scrap paper I had. I added ribbon and Prima crystals and called this one done!

For the second ornament, I used the Liquid Platinum embossing powder again, knowing I wanted to use the Craft Smith Shimmer Noel paper (yes, it probably is also discontinued, sorry)! This paper has a combo of gold and silver shimmery goodness. I selected a paper with a drapery design that I thought would complement the ornament and a gold matte paper. To make the ornament have apthe same silver/gold combo look, this time I used the Silver Spectrum Noir Glitter pen. I painted on a watered down silver darkening the ornament on the lower left side and lifting off some of the paint on the right side. After cutting down all the panels, I backed them with Gina K black card stock. I then used Hero Arts white ink to stamp the sentiment from the Christmas Script Kit onto the black paper and embossed it using another Wow powder, Metallic Silver Sparkle Embossing Glitter. I made this into a banner. I pulled the card together and just added clear crystals.

Okay, now I’m going to go back to see what everyone else created with this beautiful stamp. I know I’ve only scratched the surface of possibilities. As you can see, I love glittery Christmas cards! This stamp just seemed to call for a more elegant card.

Till next time, happy crafting!

Adornment Card

Watercolored another card using a great Unity background border stamp, Adornment. I began by stamping it onto watercolor paper using Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink. I then pulled out my Daniel Smith cards and Schmincke watercolors. I began each ornament by putting down a very light iridescent paint in the coordinating color and then added a darker color or two for shadowing. I sometimes added a second layer if the colors were too pale. I used the pan paints for the stripes and shadows. When done, I used gold and silver glitter pens and a black pen.

Adornment
Sentiment

I used a sentiment from the 9/19 KOTM, stamping it using black Versafine ink and embossing with Ranger Aqua Tinsel powder. I added black pen to shadow the sentiment. I spattered red, blue and white paints over the paper and added white Posca pen dots. I die cut the paper and added a teal and patterned paper to frame the image. Finally, I added a gold ribbon and crystals dots.

My only issue, I need to practice paint spatters... I either overdo it or not enough! However, my hands, tabletop and floor always look very well spattered! Need some tips... better watch some videos or if you have ideas, leave them below! Reminder, if you enjoy my art journey, add your email or follow me for updates! Till next time, happy crafting!

Gina K Merry Christmas Card

Wanted to try something new today! I opened up my new Gina K Warm Winter Wishes Card kit! This kit is so cute with 3 full stamp sets, dies, paper, a stencil, ... will take me a few years to use all these goodies up!

Warm Winter Wishes Card Kit

Used Kraft paper to stamp and emboss the lovely poinsettia flowers and bird, and stamp the leaves and twig on. I used Christmas Eve embossing powder from Brutus Monroe, and Distress Oxide Peeled Paint and Versafine Clair Shady Lane inks. Used another Kraft paper and a paper from the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Christmas pad as a backing. I stamped and embossed the sentiment onto a lighter Kraft paper to make it stand out. I ended up making a frame out of the patterned paper to highlight the sentiment and create a base for all the die cut pieces. I used one of the included green papers as the card base and added some red crystals to complete the card. Pretty easy to make a cute card glittery card! Love this kit so far!

Back to watercoloring tomorrow! Till next time, happy crafting!

Santa Card

Oh my, little rough day today... a mood downer, wrist I broke months ago was aching, no energy... and I was stumped for cards. Watched videos, checked Pinterest and was inspired to check out embossing, in a light color, a joint Brutus Monroe/Unity background stamp, called Christmas Over/Again, using a scrap of white paper. Was going for white or vintage, but ended up stamping it in an Archival pink and using Brutus’s Vintage Sparkle embossing powder on it. Interesting result as it has a cream cast to it, it softened the pink in areas, which I liked. It was too pretty to through away... so next thing... Knowing I needed a baby grandson card, wondered what a snowman would look like with this background.

Christmas Over/Again

Jolly Ol’ Santa

Snow, Snow Cute

So, I then stamped a snowman from Unity’s Snow, Snow Cute Kit using Pumice Stone Oxide ink onto another scrap paper. I used Prismacolor pencils to color the snowman. I used a gray pen to darken the lines a little. I then fussy cut it out. I then stamped a sentiment from the Jolly Ol’ Santa kit using Stormy Sky oxide ink and embossed it with a blue Stampendous ink. I repeated that process with the snowflakes from the snowman kit and fussy cut them out. I used frame dies to create frames around the background and the sentiment. I created a blue cardbase and adhered all elements, using foam tape on the snowman and flakes. I added crystal dots and called it done.

All said and done, it’s not a baby boy’s card, is it? Oh, well, still want to try embossing that background in a lighter color, too... both for another day, I guess! Till next time, happy crafting!

Warmest Wishes Card

Well, I just received another Prima paper pad that I’d been waiting to go on sale, Santa Baby. Loving the colors and papers, I decided to combine it with a beautiful Unity stamp that has many components in common, Warmest Wishes. They’re not identical, of course, but it gave me ideas for coloring this beautiful stamp! I ended up pairing it with the sentiment from another wonderful Unity stamp, Winter Bunny Cuddlebug, designed also by Tierra Jackson!

Warmest Wishes

Winter Bunny Cuddlebug

I stamped the wreath onto off white Kraft paper using Pumice Stone Oxide ink. I then pulled Prismacolor pencils best matching the tones of the paper (I knew I wanted to use the paper as the background for this card). I began first adding white to the individual elements and then working around the wreath, in general, before moving on to the next component. You can see in this pic where I picked up my colors. I used a gray, a green and a brown pen to bring some definition to the elements. (I have to admit I needed this coloring exercise/distraction as I was preparing for a common procedure with a very nasty prep requirement that I always get anxious about! I completed that today and the coloring... once I recovered some! Everything went well today btw, but I found my extra heartbeat had returned...  oh well, more is better, right?)

When I was done coloring, I decided to stamp the sentiment in red, and Momenta’s Rhubarb Stalk is a perfect shade for this. I ended up embossing it with a new Brutus Monroe powder, Vintage Sparkle, giving it just a bit of sparkle. I spritzed a little Perfect Pearls Biscotti mixed with water on the paper. I then die cut the panel using a Gina K die and backed it with the Santa Baby paper. I added crystals and ribbon and called thus one done.

Hope you enjoy this card! That wreath stamp is just beautiful and on sale right now along with everything else on Unity’s site! Till next time, happy crafting!

Simon Says Pinecone Card

Wanting to watercolor again, I stamped on smooth watercolor paper, my new Simon Says Stamp! (SSS) large, beautiful, background stamp, Pinecone. How naive I was! It’s beautiful, but to do it justice, you need to take your time and instead of stamping with Antique Linen, as I did, it needed a darker distress ink (easier to see details). However, I persevered for half the paper and then stopped, getting a little bored and thinking I could use panels instead of whole card front coverage. I used my Schmincke paints for this. I spattered green paint and then spritzed it with water and Perfect Pearls gold powder which I had mixed together in a small mister. I spattered acrylic white paint and then added Posca pen dots. The Perfect Pearls gave it a soft glow.

SSS Pinecone Stamp

I then looked at my new SSS Christmas sentiments and decided on this beautiful one from the Holiday Greetings Mix 1 kit. After thinking about what I could use as a panel for the sentiment, I decided to create my own. I gathered together another watercolor scrap, a stencil, Potting Soil Archival ink and the Perfect Pearls mister. I first added the potting soil in spots using a makeup sponge. I spritzed the remaining perfect pearls solution through the stencil and let the paper dry. I then stamped the sentiment using brown Stazon and embossed it with Ground Espresso Brutus Monroe powder.

SSS Holiday Greetings Mix 1 Kit

I cut the panels down, found paper to back the panels, and another as a background. I added ribbon, and crystal dots.

I think this turned out pretty good, but after working on it so long, it’s hard to tell. Well, enough for now... happy crafting till next time! Again, if you are enjoying my artistic endeavors, sign up for emails updates or follow me!

Hero Arts Christmas Card

Picked up a beautiful Hero Arts background stamp, Forest and Deer, over a year ago and finally had the chance to try it out.

Forest and Deer Stamp

After securing the watercolor paper to my Misti using purple tape, I stamped this very large background stamp onto watercolor paper with black Amalgam ink and clear embossed it. I then added shimmery watercolor in spots from Daniel Smith. I let that dry thoroughly.

After searching my paper stack, I found a DCWV Washi Icon paper pad with Christmas images that worked perfectly as a background. I peeled it off it’s backing and adhered it to white paper.

I pulled out a new to me Simon Says Stamp! Merry Christmas die. I had a scrap mint colored glitter paper that I used first to die cut the words. Wanting a stronger base, I die cut the words again using black paper and adhered them all together with a glue pen.

Merry Christmas Die

To make the shaker, I used 2 dies to create a border large enough to showcase the image. I also die cut, not very effectively, acetate, which I then used a scissors to trim. Before assembling the shaker, I adhered the watercolor card to the paper first, using strong 2 way tape (helps with slightly buckled paper). I then adhered the acetate with glitter glue to the frame and added foam tape to that. I piled snow glitter I picked up from Target onto the watercolor paper, used my embossing buddy on the acetate to try to reduce static, and put the shaker together.

Because I am clumsy getting windows centered, I finally cut the paper down to A2 size when all assembled. I adhered the card front to a card and added the die cut words and crystals and called the card done.

Pretty easy card to make, but takes a few steps! This one will stay close to home for a special someone! Till next time, happy crafting!

Believe Card

Today, I experimented with my new camera holder and trying to video some of my efforts. I’d give myself an E, for effort! But... it’s a start. I still need to learn how to edit and splice videos, but now I have some footage to play with. For the sake of providing a little insight into my process, I included unedited footage. (Feel free to provide input, although I already know it’s bad.)

Inspired by a blue paper I was drawn to, I decided I wanted to try my snowflake card again, only in blue. This time I pulled out a 12x12 paper pack (that again I picked up cheap at Tuesday Morning). I always check to see if the patterns are small enough for cards, but invariably, there’s a few that aren’t usable. I cut one up and decoupaged other paper onto it. I then covered it with clear gesso. After drying it, I stamped a Unity background stamp, Worn Music, all over using black archival.

Next, I pulled out a light blue and a white acrylic paint and mixed them to get a light blue. I scraped the paint on with horizontal and vertical strokes using a palette knife. I let that dry and then stamped again this time using a dark blue Stazon ink. The point is to provide variation in background tones. Finally, I mixed white acrylic paint and an iridescent glaze and scraped that over the top. Not satisfied with the coverage, I scraped more on using the same mixture but with a little silver glitter ink added in. (That’s the video you’ll see... which is mostly offscreen). While still wet, I sprinkled a little blue Stampendous embossing powder over the top and dried/embossed the whole thing.

The final step in preparing the paper is to “vintage” the colors. For that, I took a Raw Umber paint, mixed it with water and painted that over the top. I quickly dabbed unevenly the paint back up to just leave a stain.

After drying, I embossed the snowflakes from the 10/18 SMAK kit using both a white/blue/gold #Stampendous powder and then covering it again with an old Stampin Up white powder. I stamped the Believe sentiment using another all blue powder from the same Stampendous 5 pack.

Next step, I outlined everything using a black Prismacolor watercolor pencil and used a brush and paper to even out the shadowing. I followed that up by using a blue pencil to darken the centers of the snowflakes. I added snow with a Posca pen.

To make the card, I die cut the paper and used a charcoal pencil around the edges and smeared it. I then found paper I thought matched perfectly and used those as a background with eyelash string. I added Kat Scrappiness sequins I just received free with an order and called this one done.

Pretty happy with how this one turned out. If you are enjoying my efforts, add your email above to get copies of my post and click follow! Thanks so much to those of you who already signed up... I so appreciate your support. You inspire me to continue! Till next time, happy crafting!

Stay Cozy and Feel the Warmth

Made a 3rd card for the Coffee Lover Blog Hop! Having already inked up another coffee stamp, Unity’s Hot Mess border stamp, I proceeded to watercolor it, using Christmas colors. Thought it would make a cute holiday card! After it dried, I used my Prismacolor pencils and pens to tighten up the look. I then added white paint spatters.

I then found a great stamp to pair with it, from Unity’s Planner Girl: Stay Cozy Kit. I inked it up with a Gina K red and then embossed it with Brutus Monroe’s beautiful Christmas Eve embossing powder  (red with gold glitter). I decided to add glitter dots all over to spread the sparkly look and used a Wow gold glitter and glitter glue to do this. I also added more white dots and glittered those as well.

Finally, I found the perfect papers to pair with my watercolored sparkly card front... the My Mind’s Eye’s Cozy Christmas paper. The sweater pattern has a red glittery stripe. Felt it paired well with the sentiment and coffee/tea/mulled cider/hot cocoa cups (whatever your preference... I love all of them)!

Stamps used:

Hot Mess

Planner Girl: Stay Cozy

Thanks for stopping by! Happy crafting till next time!

Coffee Card Number 2

Wasn’t going to make a coffee card today in support of the blog hop, but I received my Christmas/birthday present early... yowser, it’s a 36 half pan Schmincke watercolor set! For the small quick paintings I do, the tubes were too cumbersome, however, I wanted a pro set! And, boy, did they deliver! Love them! Hope I can learn to do them justice!

Anyway, I had already stamped out with Distress Antique Linen, the tea cup from the the lovely Unity set, Tea Cup Floret. I decided I wanted to use this card as either a birthday card or thank you card, so I wanted the colors to be bright. I looked around my paper stash and happened upon a My Mind’s Eye pad, called Splendor. I tried to match the colors as best I could with a new set and began painting. Once finished, I fussy cut the tea cup out.

Unity Tea Cup Floret

To pull the card together I die cut 2 sheets from the pad, stamped the sentiment on another sheet from the pad and cut that down. I raised the tea cup with foam tape, added the sentiment and crystals and called it done. Lately, I’ve been adding spatters to the image, but I think it turned out okay as is. (Let me know if you think I should go back and add white spatters.)

That’s a wrap for today! Happy crafting till next time!

Friends of Unity November Blog Hop

Back for another Friends of Unity Blog Hop! This month our theme is Giving Thanks! And we do give thanks for all your support over the years! To celebrate 2 years of hopping, next month we have some special surprises coming your way, so be sure to stop back!

As usual, several members are doing giveaways this month. Be sure to comment on each blog for a chance to win a freebie! Now it’s time for me to announce my winner from last month...

Sandra Van Blaricum!

Step right up Sandra and PM me your address to claim your prize! Be sure to contact me in the next 2 weeks! Congrats!

Now, onto my cards. A little unusual this month as besides focusing on 1 stamp kit, Unity’s Simple Blessings kit, I also decided to use a paper I developed over the summer. I developed it Primary Elements pigment and copper glitter. I’d been waiting till the right time, fall, to use it and so... here we go!

The first card I decided to use it as the background paper for this flourish stamp. I heat embossed the flourish and a sentiment from the Ol’ Fashion Holiday Love kit. I added leaf die cuts from a Bo Bunny paper, black and red paper backings, shimmery paper behind the sentiment and crystals to complete the card.

The second card I just white embossed the pumpkins from the kit of the sparkly paper, fussy cut them out and white embossed the sentiment on wood grained patterned paper. I added a a knitted background paper and ribbons. To complete the card I added crystal dots.

For the final card, I took the leaf stamps, the special paper and several colored archival inks and stamped and clear embossed the leaves using multiple colors on each leaf. After embossing the sentiment on another piece of glimmer paper, I fussy cut and adhered the leaves, added crystals and framed the card using gold peel offs. I mounted it on green corrugated paper.

Had fun using up the paper I created! Now, for your enjoyment, on to the next blog in the hop (be sure to leave a comment before you go!):

Crystal

Eileen

Kim

Alaine

Jeanie

Dawn B.

Bobbie Sue

You are here!

Dawn F.

Robyn

Reminder, we are not sponsored by Unity, but they fully endorse our efforts to share the Unity love! We’re just a team of crafters having fun focusing efforts on monthly themes and sharing our creations, hoping to inspire! Our giveaways are from our private stashes!

Coffee Card using Unity and Picket Fence

Wanting to participate in the blog hop going on over at Coffee Loving Papercrafters, I pulled out the Picket Fence Need More Caffeine stamp. I stamped it using Antique Linen Distress ink onto watercolor paper. After watercoloring it using Daniel Smith paints, I die cut it and started to look for sentiments and backgrounds.

First, I found an embossing folder by Tim Holtz that I decided to try. I ran Gathered Twigs oxide ink pad over the folder, wet down a piece of Kraft cardstock, and embossed the image. I die cut it down and darkened the edges.

I then turned to a sentiment and found the perfect one in Unity’s One Sip at a Time kit. I stamped that using brown Versafine ink on Kraft paper and die cut it out. Finally, I went on a search for background paper and found a My Mind’s Eye sheet that to me looked like a tablecloth! So, not settling for just the paper, I decided to use Unity’s Beautiful Elements Kit and stamped some coffee stains on it.

I pulled the card together using crystals, eyelash string and a small wooden coffee cup. Enough for today, happy crafting till next time!

Art Anthology, Prima and Unity Holiday Card

After being inspired by the card creations of a wonderful mixed media artist on YouTube by the name of Shawn Petite (check her out... love, love, love), I decided to try my hand at recreating one of her cards. Only, with my spin! I used Art Anthology products, a Prima paper and Unity Stamps and embossing powders. This again was a fun exercise!

9/19 UNITY SMAK Kit

So, to begin, I cut off a piece of Prima’s Christmas in the Country paper from the pad. I took out a sparkly Red Art Anthology paint and using a palette knife scraped paint in vertical and horizontal lines on the paper. This created a bit of texture! After drying I then used a palette knife again to scrape white gesso over the paper ensuring parts of the red would still be visible. I had to go back again and go over a few spots after drying the paper. Finally, I used watered down Cocoa paint combined with some Gold to paint over the top of the whole paper... I used a paper towel to lift off some of it. And went around the edges again with just the Cocoa paint, again lifting with paper towels to remove any hard lines.

Pulling out the September 2019 SMAK kit, I first embossed the sentiment using Black Ranger powder. I then stamped the snowflakes from the kit around and used a combo of white Ranger and a white glittery Stampendous powder. I used a dark Derwent Charcoal pencil to give a little definition to the snowflakes and added white Posca pen dots for snow.

I used a green patterned paper from another pad and the red check paper from the Prima pad to back the paper. I distressed both of those and darkened the edges of those and the die cut snowflake paper with Gathered Twigs oxide ink. I pulled the card together only adding a string embellishment.

Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas to make it better, I’d love to hear from you! Have a great weekend and till next time, happy crafting!