One-layer card: blue and green wreath

As I mentioned in my last post, this morning I had a chance to make two clean and simple (CAS) single-layer cards for Challenge #166 at the Addicted to CAS blog. The first card featured some happy yellow flowers and no-line coloring. For this card I used heat embossing and some light watercoloring:

Supplies:
Stamps: Weekend Doodles (Altenew)
Paper: Solar White 110-lb card stock (Neenah)
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black (Tsukineko); ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens - 036, 041, 033 (Kuretake)
Accessories: Clear embossing powder (Stampamania), clear droplets (Pretty Pink Posh), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute), water brush (Kuretake)

I used the same stamp set for this card as I used for the first card. I just love the images, and there are great sentiments, too. I chose one of the wreath images for this card, stamped it in the middle of a white card base with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.

I wanted to try a little watercoloring with this image, but since I didn't stamp on watercolor paper, I knew I had to be careful with the amount of water I used. The ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens worked perfectly for this card. I chose a green, a light blue, and a teal pen and then started filling in the leaves.

For each leaf, I added a few strokes of color at the base of the leaf. Then I used a water brush to pull the color toward the tip of the leaf. I didn't blend it out too much because A) I didn't want to add too much water on the card stock, and B) I wanted to keep the look of the strokes. Once the blended color was mostly dry, I added a bit more color, again at the base of the leaf, so there a few shades of color. (A few of the leaves have a tiny white spot in the middle. That's from stray embossing powder - I forgot to check for any renegade granules before I heated the powder. It's just extra character, right?)

With the coloring done, I stamped and embossed a sentiment below the image and added three small clear droplets around the wreath. I'm really pleased with the way this single-layer card turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!

One-layer card: yellow flowers

I had a little time this morning between chores and errands, and it was the prefect chance to make a couple of clean and simple (CAS) single-layer cards for Challenge #166 at the Addicted to CAS blog. I learned about the challenge through another blog I follow, Stampin' with Jaydee, and I think I'll have to try more of these challenges in the future, because CAS cards are some of my favorites. I'm going to share the cards in two separate posts, so here is the first one:

Supplies:
Stamps: Weekend Doodles (Altenew)
Paper: Solar White 110-lb card stock (Neenah)
Ink: Fadeout Ink (Ink on 3); colored pencils - PC916, PC1003, PC1002, PC911 (PrismaColor); Basic Gray (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Washi tape (Stampin' Up!), sparkling clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Gamsol kit (Taylored Expressions), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute)

I make CAS cards often, and they don't usually have too many layers. But I do like to add a little dimension by popping up the sentiment or focal image on a card. So to make a card with only one layer was a fun little challenge.

I started by pulling out the Weekend Doodles stamp set from Altenew, which I've had for awhile but haven't used yet. It has perfect images for one-layer cards. I selected this pretty bunch of flowers and decided to have a go with a technique I think I've only tried once before: no-line coloring.

I stamped the image with Fadeout ink and then traced over the image and colored it in with colored pencils. I also blended the pencils with Gamsol to soften the lines a bit.

I like how the flowers turned out -- yellow flowers are so cheery! -- but the leaves aren't quite right. I think the outlines on the leaves seem a little too dark. But for a second try, it's not too bad. I just need to practice more. (Practice is not something I'm good at. Not because I don't want to do the work, but because the perfectionist in me wants to be able to do something perfectly the first time I try it. Silly, I know, and also a little frustrating.)

To finish this CAS card, I stamped a sentiment next to the flowers, added a few tiny clear sequins and adhered a strip of gray striped washi tape along the bottom of the card to coordinate with the color of the sentiment.

And that's it! You can check out my second card for the Addicted to CAS challenge in my next post: "One-layer card: blue and green wreath." Thanks for stopping by!

Check You Out

When I first looked through the 2019-20 Stampin' Up! catalog a few months ago, one of the sets that jumped out at me was Check You Out. It has adorable book-related images, including an owl and a book worm, and some great sentiments that make it great for school- or library-themed cards or even cute notes for everyday occasions.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Check You Out
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Whisper White card stock; Solar White 110-lb card stock (Neenah)
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Poppy Parade, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Accessories: Glitter enamel dots, linen thread, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), Dimensionals

Eeep! Aren't they cute? I have to say that I absolutely love these two cards. They're nothing fancy -- just stamping and fussy cutting -- but clean and simple cards have always been some of my favorites.

I don't think I need to explain everything step-by-step, but here are a few notes:
- The glasses on the owl are a separate stamp, so you could leave them off and/or add them to the book worm. (Speaking of which, I forgot to take a picture, but I stamped the bookworm on the inside of these cards.)
- I stamped the library pocket twice: once with Crumb Cake and once with Coastal Cabana. I trimmed out the card part from the Coastal Cabana image and adhered it to the Crumb Cake image to create the two-color effect.
- There aren't any dies for this stamp set (one of the few times I wished for coordinating dies!), but the images are easy enough to hand cut since they mostly have smooth edges.
- The font of the sentiments is sized to fit on the library card. Cute!

I have a good friend who is an elementary school media specialist, and these cards are perfect for her. I'm going to put one in the mail tomorrow to wish her luck during the new school year. Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak peek: Snow Front

If you are a fan of the scene-building stamp set Waterfront from Stampin' Up!, then you will definitely love its winter counterpart, Snow Front, which will be available in the upcoming 2019 Holiday Catalog.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Snow Front, Hardwood
Paper: Cajun Craze, Pool Party, Very Vanilla
Ink: Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Pool Party
Accessories: Layering Squares dies, Stitched Shapes dies, braided linen trim, Neutrals Candy Dots, foam tape (3M)

There are so many different cozy winter scenes you could create with this stamp set, but when I sat down to try it out, I decided to make a couple of autumn-themed cards instead.

For the first card, I started my scene by stamping a stream, a small grassy hill, and a cluster of three trees. One of the stamps in the set is a cluster of small dots; I assumed it was meant to be snow, but it works perfectly as leaves for the bare trees. I stamped the image two or three times before re-inking to create depth of color and fill out the trees. Finally I added the two little deer by the stream. I cut out the scene with a stitched square die and matted it with a Pool Party scalloped square.

For the rest of the card, I stamped a Cajun Craze card base with the Hardwood background stamp. I cut three strips of linen braided trim, unraveled the ends, and adhered them slightly above the middle of the card front. I attached the focal image over the trim using foam tape and added two brown Candy Dots in the lower right corner.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Snow Front, Check You Out
Paper: Very Vanilla, thick Very Vanilla, Soft Suede card stock
Ink: Pool Party, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Pinewood Planks embossing folder, Stitched Nested Labels dies, burlap ribbon, clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen

For the second scene I stamped a pond instead of a stream and placed the deer on the grassy hill under one large tree. I also painted the pond with my clear Wink of Stella pen to give it a little sparkle, but I couldn't quite capture it with the camera. I used Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze together -- again stamping multiple times before re-inking -- to create the leaves on the tree. I also added a small sentiment to my scene and die cut it with the largest Stitched Nested Labels die.

For the card base I used thick Very Vanilla card stock and added a layer of Soft Suede embossed with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. I wrapped a piece of burlap ribbon around the top of the embossed panel before adhering it to the card. I trimmed off the top point of the die-cut focal panel and adhered it just under the burlap ribbon.

I love the versatility of these scene-building stamp sets, and I hope new ones keep coming! Thanks for stopping by!

Variations on a sunset theme

When I shared the cards I made for the card contest at the stamp show last month I mentioned that I made several versions of the first card. Here are the rest of those sunset silhouettes:

Supplies:
Stamps: 3201 Organic Set (Rubbernecker Stamps)
Paper: Watercolor paper (Somerset Velvet), Basic Black card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black (Tsukineko); Gansai Tambi watercolor paints - 31 Cadmium Scarlet, 33 Cadmium Orange, 63 Cerulean Blue, 67 Indigo (Kuretake)
Accessories: Sparkling clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), clear embossing powder (Stampamania), foam tape (3M), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute Glitter)

This card is almost identical to the one I submitted for the contest, so I wasn't sure if I should even post it. But I think it's neat to see the variations in the background colors, even though I used the same paint colors. The sequins also give a little different feel from the clear droplets in the first card. Since the sequins have a little sparkle, they make me think of stars twinkling in the sky.

Supplies:
Stamps: 3201 Organic set (Rubbernecker Stamps); Twinkle, Twinkle Background (Taylored Expressions); The Shape of Things (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Blueberry Bushel card stock (Stampin' Up!), watercolor paper (Somerset Velvet)
Ink: Blueberry Bushel (Stampin' Up!); Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko); Colorburst powders - Cadmium Scarlet, Alizarin Crimson, Orange, Marigold, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Violet (Ken Oliver Crafts)
Accessories: Clear embossing powder (Stampamania), white/silver twine (Stampin' Up!), Ice White Pearl Pen (Viva Decor), foam tape (3M)

Speaking of twinkling stars, I decided to stamp a starry night sky background for this sunset card. I also added a few tiny white dots to the background with a pearl pen.

For this card and the last two I used a different technique to make the sunset panel. I placed several different colors of Colorburst powder in a pallet and added a few drops of water to each color. I painted the colors on a solid rectangle-shaped rubber stamp, spritzed the stamp with water, and then stamped it onto watercolor paper. It's a little harder to control how the paints mix with this method, but it's fun to pick up the stamp and see the results.

Once the "sunset" was dry I stamped and embossed the silhouette image and the sentiment. To finish the card I wrapped silver and white twine around the card front and tied it in a bow. I used foam tape to attach the watercolor panel over the twine.

Supplies:
Stamps: 3201 Organic set (Rubbernecker Stamps), The Shape of Things (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Blueberry Bushel, Basic Black card stock (Stampin' Up!); watercolor paper (Somerset Velvet)
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko); Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko); Colorburst powders - Cadmium Scarlet, Alizarin Crimson, Orange, Marigold, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Violet (Ken Oliver Crafts)
Accessories: Clear embossing powder (Stampamania), sparkling clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Ice White Pearl Pen (Viva Decor), foam tape (3M), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute Glitter)

These last two cards are very similar; I basically just changed out the images and sentiment.

For the background, I used VersaMark to stamp a few of the foliage images from the stamp set all around the edges of the Blueberry Bushel card base and then embossed them with clear embossing powder.

I matted the focal layer with Basic Black card stock to give it a narrow frame and added a few clear sequins for a simple embellishment.

Supplies:
Stamps: 3201 Organic set (Rubbernecker Stamps), The Shape of Things (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Blueberry Bushel, Basic Black card stock (Stampin' Up!); watercolor paper (Somerset Velvet)
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko); Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko); Colorburst powders - Cadmium Scarlet, Alizarin Crimson, Orange, Marigold, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Violet (Ken Oliver Crafts)
Accessories: Clear embossing powder (Stampamania), sparkling clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Ice White Pearl Pen (Viva Decor), foam tape (3M), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute Glitter)
And here is the last card. I think the focal image I used on this card (and several of the others) is my favorite of this stamp set; I love the long stems and the combination of flowers and leaves.

I also really like the vibrancy of the Colorburst powders on the watercolor paper. But I do wish the colors had blended together a little bit more instead of leaving the harsh lines. I think I just need a little more practice.

So, what's the verdict? Do you think I should have entered one of these other cards instead of the one I did? (Although honestly, I still don't think I would have won, because the cards that did win were a very different style from mine.)

Thanks for stopping by!