September garden update

The biggest change with our garden this month is that the sunflowers have finally bloomed! They're so bright and bold -- just looking at them makes me smile. (Is it possible to be un-cheerful around sunflowers?) The bees and butterflies were excited to see them, too, and spent a lot of time flitting from bloom to bloom. Unfortunately, the sunflowers only had a week of warm, sunny weather before our current stretch of cool and rainy days, so I don't know how much longer the blossoms will last. But I'll enjoy them while they're here!

I had trouble picking just a couple of pictures, so here are seven. I hope they make you smile, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

A bright card for a rainy day

We had a pretty heavy downpour this afternoon, and there is rain in the forecast for the next several days, so I think that calls for a bright, sparkly card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Whisper White, Berry Burst, Pumpkin Pie card stock; gold Mirri sparkle paper (The Paper Cut); alcohol ink card stock (YUPO)
Ink: White gel pen; alcohol inks: Wild Plum, Sunshine Yellow, Lettuce (Ranger)
Accessories: Balloon Bouquet punch, Curly Q cutting plate (Taylored Expressions), Scribble Happy Birthday dies (Poppy Stamps), DImensionals, Mono Multi liquid glue, Tim Holtz alcohol ink applicator (Ranger)

Birthday Season has started in our family, so you'll probably be seeing a lot of birthday cards in the coming weeks. And -- surprise! -- this one is another alcohol ink background. I promise that I do have cards to share that don't use alcohol inks, but I had so much fun trying different techniques and color combos that I ended up with quite a few backgrounds.

For this background I used three colors of ink: Wild Plum, Sunshine Yellow and Lettuce. The Wild Plum was definitely the strongest color and kind of took over. The Sunshine Yellow mixed in and turned orange, and the Lettuce almost disappeared, but you can still see hints of it around the letters.

I wanted to use the festive Curly Q cutting plate, so I cut it out of gold Mirri sparkle paper -- it's like glitter paper, but smoother, and it doesn't shed glitter. You can't see the sparkle very well in this picture, but it's so pretty. I adhered that die-cut piece to the background and then attached the panel to a white card base.

I punched three balloons out of Berry Burst and Pumpkin Pie card stock and used Dimensionals to adhere them over the tops of the streamers. The card still needed something, so I die cut "happy birthday" from white card stock and glued it near the bottom of the panel. I think if I could remake this card, I would change that detail because the script-style font looks too similar to the streamers. I think it would look better in a bold font or even stamped on strip of card stock. But all-in-all it's a fun, bright birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall is coming

The calendar may say September, but summer is not quite ready to let go. We've been having beautiful sunny days with high temps in the 80°s F. Honestly, I don't mind the warm weather this time of year because I know it won't last much longer. Full-fledged autumn in all her leaf-changing, sweater-wearing, apple-and-pumpkin-everything glory will be here before we know it -- and winter will be right on her heels. Today I'm going to share two cards that celebrate one of my favorite things about fall -- the gorgeous colors of autumn leaves.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Very Vanilla note cards and envelopes, Chocolate Chip card stock, gold foil, alcohol ink card stock (YUPO)
Ink: Alcohol inks: Watermelon, Sunset Orange, Sunrise Yellow, Espresso (Ranger)
Accessories: Boddington Tree Border die (Poppy Stamps), Big Shot adhesive sheets, Paper Pumpkin leftovers, gel plate (Gel Press)
Other: Hand sanitizer, spritzer with rubbing alcohol

Look -- it's another alcohol ink background! When I made this one it immediately made me think of all the colors of fall leaves. I thought about die cutting the trees from the alcohol ink layer, but I wanted to keep as much of the color as possible. So instead I adhered that piece to a Very Vanilla note card and cut the tree border out of Chocolate Chip card stock and gold foil. I adhered the Chocolate Chip piece to the background and then used the "negative" pieces from the gold foil to selectively fill in some of the openings in the tree border. For the finishing details I raided my stash of leftovers from Paper Pumpkin kits and added a narrow strip of wood veneer along the bottom of the card and two gold pennants at the top.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Very Vanilla note cards and envelopes; Early Espresso, Tangelo Twist, Shaded Spruce card stock; gold foil; alcohol ink card stock (YUPO)
Ink: Alcohol ink: Sunset Orange, Sunrise Yellow, Bottle Green (Ranger); gold paint pen (Sharpie)
Accessories: Build-A-Scene Trees dies (Taylored Expressions), Dimensionals, Mono Multi liquid glue, gel plate (Gel Press)
Other: Hand sanitizer, spritzer with rubbing alcohol

Why stop at one fall card when I can make two? This alcohol ink background is also reminiscent of fall foliage, although the colors are a bit more subdued than the blazing red orange of the previous card. For this card I die cut three individual tree trunks and treetops from coordinating card stock and gold foil and adhered them in the lower left corner of the background layer. I wanted to bring out the gold, so I added a small gold heart to the green treetop and then used a gold paint pen to draw a border around the edges of the background. Unfortunately, the border isn't as vibrant as I would have liked, so it's hard to see in this photo. I may have to go back and add some gold sequins ...

I can't wait until the real trees outside start to show off some of these colors. Thanks for stopping by!

Hydrangea for you

I'm back with another card featuring an alcohol ink background. This time it's the backdrop for a large die-cut hydrangea.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Thoughtful Branches, Inside & Out: Birthday (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Soft Sky card stock; transparent alcohol ink paper (YUPO)
Ink: Soft Suede; alcohol inks (Ranger)
Accessories: Beautiful Branches Thinlits dies, sparkling clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, paper piercer, Dimensionals
Other: Rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, gel plate (Gel Press)

Again, this background is one I made at a class a few months ago, and I don't remember all the specific how-to details. But I love the mix of blue, purple and brown shades that resulted from whatever I did!

For the focal image I waned to pull out some of the light purple from the background so I die cut the hydrangea flowers from Wisteria Wonder card stock. The flowers seemed a little flat, so to add a bit of dimension, I pierced the centers of some of the blossoms with a paper piercer. Then I went over the whole flower with clear Wink of Stella glitter to give it a subtle shine.

I cut the stem and leaves out of Soft Suede and Old Olive card stock, trimmed off the Old Olive leaves and glued them onto the Soft Suede piece. I left all the little "extra" pieces inside the leaves because I liked how it created the look of veins in the leaves.

I love to use pale blue as a card base for cards with flowers, and I was happy to discover that Soft Sky coordinated perfectly with my alcohol ink layer. I trimmed down that layer just a bit and adhered it to the card base about 1/2" from the left edge. I glued the skinny part of the stem piece directly onto the card base and used Dimensionals to pop up the leaves just a bit. I also used Dimensionals to attach the hydrangeas at the top of the stem. 

To finish the card front I stamped "For you" in the lower right corner using Soft Suede ink and added a sprinkling of clear sequins. I think these are my favorite sequins -- they add a fun, sparkly detail without detracting from the focal image on the card.

I used some of the leftover pieces I trimmed off the background by punching out a few tiny flowers. I added the flowers -- with sequin centers -- around the sentiment on the inside of the card. I don't always decorate the inside of the card to coordinate with the outside, but it does make a card seem just a little bit more special.

Thanks for stopping by!

You're s'whale!

A few weeks ago I shared a manatee birthday card where I used alcohol inks and YUPO paper to make the background for the card. In that post I mentioned that I had more alcohol ink backgrounds to share, and I'm finally getting around to doing just that. And here's the first one:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: S'whale (Essentials by Ellen)
Paper: Thick Whisper White, Pool Party card stock; transparent alcohol ink paper (YUPO)
Ink: Basic Gray, Pool Party; alcohol inks (Ranger)
Accessories: S'whale and Strands dies (Essentials by Ellen), sea life wood shapes (Darice), Dimensionals, Mono Multi liquid glue
Other: Rubbing alcohol in mister bottle, hand sanitizer, gel plate (Gel Press)

Ack! I love this card so much I almost can't stand it!

Quick confession before I give you more details: I actually created the backgrounds a few months ago at a workshop during the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo. We tried different techniques and used different colors of alcohol inks, so I don't remember all the specifics. But the best part of using alcohol inks is experimenting!

Back to this s'whale card. I decided that this background had a decidedly ocean-y feel, so I pulled out my Strands die to cut it into waves. I ran it through my Big Shot, but the pieces weren't all cut out. I was going to try running it through again, but I decided I really liked the way it looked like this, so I went ahead and adhered it to a white card base. I added a stamped and die-cut whale to the middle of the ocean and a wooden sea star in the lower right corner. I stamped the sentiment just below the ocean and it was perfect!

Stay tuned for more alcohol ink creations. Thanks for stopping by!