Cuckoo!

Welcome back to my last Dare 2B Artzy blog post for September.
I had so much fun creating with some great Dare 2B Artzy products and sharing my projects with you.

I love the Cuckoo Clock stamp and die set because it is so unique, and it can be used with the enclosed sentiments for a general winter time card, or with the accompanying images to make it more of a holiday card.

I made 3 different cards with this set. I just couldn't stop coloring the adorable cuckoo clock!

The first card was created with the Nesting Rectangle Fancy Frame dies, as well as the new Fun Fold die. The music notes and the sentiment on the front of the card are from the Be Yourself stamp set.

Next I made a card with the little birds "flying" around the cuckoo clock.
I cut a channel into my card front and put foam tape on the back.

I die cut the little birds and sandwiched small disks between a small card stock circle and the birds.

I colored and die cut the clock, and stamp embossed, and matted my sentiment. Then I assembled the card, slipping the backing of the little birds into the channel. The patterned paper, from the Fields in Bloom paper collection, along with the tiny birds, makes for a busy, "cuckoo" card!

I wanted to create another slider card that was a little plainer so you could better see the little birds.  This one uses solid card stock for the card front, and a straight channel for the birds to "travel" on.
Here's a better look at the mechanism that is attached to the bird die cuts.

Here is the card front with the channel cut into it.

My completed card.

One more detail I forgot to mention - I used a "snow pen" on the snow covered roofs of the clocks. It's hard to see in the pictures but it adds a bit of fun texture and dimension.

Thank you for for joining me this month! I had a great time being a guest designer for Dare 2B Artzy!

                  

Stinkin' Amazing

I'm back with my second guest designer post for Dare 2B Artzy for September!
This card features one of their newer stamp and die sets that I think is just so cute!

There are actually two stamp sets that coordinate with the same die set, which gives you so much versatility without having to break the bank. The set I used is called Stinkin' Happy, and here are the images I colored and die cut from that set. (The other skunk set is called Feeling Stinky)

Isn't he/she cute? Almost makes me want to hug a skunk!

I used some D2BA paper for the background of this card. I love that their papers are all double sided and make it easy to combine patterns, something that I shy away from on my own. This paper is from the Summertime Petals collection, and it combines some of my favorite colors - aqua and pink.
I also die cut a frame using a coordinating solid colored cardstock. I stamped two sentiments from the stamp set as well. This set has several choices to create the sentiment that is appropriate for your card.

I assembled the card, popping up the skunk and the little flower pot.

Did you know that Dare 2B Artzy has a challenge for you to enter every month? This month's challenge is Your Favorite Color. Create a project using your favorite colors and enter to win a Dare 2B Artzy stamp set and ink pad!

I hope you enjoyed this project. Please join me next week for another project showcasing more great Dare 2B Arzty products!

Dare 2B Artzy

I am so excited to be a guest designer for Dare 2B Artzy! They have so many wonderful stamps, dies, patterned paper, and more!
Today's card was made with several Dare 2B Artzy products, and it was really fun to make.
The front of the card was made with 2 die cuts using the Trellis background die. This die is so pretty and makes a great background for so many occasions. I recently learned from design team member Melody Blake, that if you turn one die cut around, the two layer to make a  beautiful new pattern.

The pitcher and the flowers were actually die cut from  sheets of Dare 2B Artzy paper using the Water Pitchers dies! Several of their recent stamp and die sets have coordinating paper for use as backgrounds, or when you don't want to stamp and color an image!
I used a Dare 2B Artzy die to cut the word "friends". I layered 4 die cuts, for dimension, and heat embossed the top layer with WOW embossing glitter in Seaglass.

The inside of the card is made with a base from Paper Cuts, in the form of a pop out card. I mounted Dare 2B Artzy papers on all sections of the card. The pitchers are stamped, colored and cut (or die cut from paper) using Refresh the Soul stamps and Water Pitcher dies.

The sentiment and flowers are also from the Refresh the Soul stamp set, and the sentiment is stamped on a shape cut with the Nesting Rectangle Fancy Frames dies.

Be sure to check out all that Dare 2B Artzy has to offer at www.dare2bartzy.com

Simply Watercolor, more day 1, begin day 2

I've realized that there is absolutely no way I will keep up with this class. The good news is, I don't have to!  The bad news is - if I fall too far behind, (which I already have), I will move on to something else and it will be difficult for me to go back and finish. But I'll try not to let that happen!

This first picture is of two lessons from Day 1. As you can see, I still need a LOT of practice! I think my biggest problem is knowing how much water to use - to paint smoothly, and to get a good blend.

This one is also from Day 1, presented by Julie Ebersole. Yep - still looks like a child's painting! Haha!

Today I started Day 2 - Simple Critters and Animals. I attempted to freehand sketch this one, as Kristina teaches, and don't think that went too badly. The painting wasn't horrible either. But it looked a lot better to me, before I attempted to outline the images in black. I definitely need to slow down and take my time a bit more.

I'm hoping to have some time to do more lessons before I leave for Junkie Fest next week, but we'll see!

Simply Watercolor - Patterns and Backgrounds - Plaid

                                                 
                                                                                                                     
I am participating in Kristina Werner's Simply Watercolor class in Online Card Classes this week. It's a simple watercolor class that doesn't use any stamps or dies. I have to admit, I'm a little intimidated by watercoloring to begin with, but I think this will be fun!
I only got around to one of the lessons so far on Day 1. The great thing about these classes is you can go at your own pace, and keep them forever!

Day 1's class was on Patterns and Backgrounds. This lesson involved using the graphite transfer technique to transfer a simple computer printed image to water color cardstock. I transferred the bold number 50 and painted a plaid pattern on it. I did not complete a card using this panel. It was a very rough first practice, and I don't know anyone about to turn 50!

Special Events

There are always a lot of special occasions happening this time of year - Mother's and Father's Day, graduations, weddings. This year I have two additional events to make cards for some very special people for.
I used the Dare 2B Artzy stamp set Refresh the Soul, along with the matching Water Pitchers dies, and the Trellis background die for both cards.

The first is for my daughter and her roommate. They both just graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University, and moved into their first apartment together. It's difficult for their parents to help them too much from different states but they're doing a great job making it a home for themselves!

This card is for my sister-in-law, who is retiring from teaching next week. She has earned the right to relax and refresh!

I am entering these cards in the Dare 2B Artzy monthly challenge, Dreaming of Flowers.
You can find their blog, along with info on the challenge, and a link to all of the
great products in their shop here:http://www.dare2bartzy.com/wp/

Growing in Unity Blog Hop

Hi again, Unity fans!

I'm so happy to be back here sharing a few projects with you for this fun blog hop!
I couldn't create anything too elaborate - I was out of town for my daughter's college
graduation last week, and am spending this week helping her move into her new apartment!
I did, however, manage to squeeze in a little time to play with some of my newest Unity
stamps.

I have a hard time resisting Unity's beautiful floral stamps, especially when they come
with great sentiments. This card is created with an older stamp kit that I have had on
my wish list for quite a while. It's called As We Go Along. I love the sentiment
"Remember everyone else is making it up as they go along too." But I used the other
sentiment that came in this kit - I hadn't even noticed it before and I love it too!
I colored this image with Zig Real Brush Clean Color markers, added the sentiment and
a few embellishments, and mounted it on a coordinating colored cardstock.

I used Zigs to color the next card as well. This is a fairly new kit called Blossoming Beauty. The sentiment is from Hugs, Kisses, and Birthday Wishes. It was so easy to line up the image in opposite corners of my
card front using my Misti. The colors ended up looking a little "fallish" to me, but I like it.

Another kit that I've had my eye on since it came out is Your Own Rainbow. I love the sentiments and the image is so much fun to color.
I colored the image with Zig markers and created my own cardstock rainbow for the background, and added a few red "pearls"

Here is the blog hop order, in case you missed anyone.
I am the last stop on the hop.


1. Shannon Pavlovic Edwards https://lingeringhappinessco.blogspot.com/?m=1

2. Sandra van Blaricum https://cardsandcreativity.blogspot.com/

3. Amanda Garrett https://amandascreativecorner.blogspot.com/

4. Tricia Veinot Moore https://lshdesigns.blogspot.com/

5. Chris Dayton http://www.cattalesandpapertrails.com/

6. Avra Williams https://avrasblog.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to comment on each blog for a chance to win a Unity prize pack!

Crafty Doodle Chick Paw-Fect Challenge

The theme for this month is "Rainbows"
This adorable bunny is from Cas-ual Fridays "Somebunny".
He is colored with Prismacolor pencils on gray cardstock.
The background balloons are from Lawn Fawn and Simon Says Stamp,
and are colored with Promarkers.

Growing in Unity Winners

Congratulations to Julie Ledbetter and Phaline Perry (Mays)!
You are the winners of my Growing in Unity week!
Please PM me your addresses so I can submit them to Unity and
you will receive your prizes.
Thank you to everyone for your support and kind comments!

Growing in Unity, Day 5

Friday, April 6, 2018

Stenciled Backgrounds and Angie Girls

Welcome to Day 5 of my GIU Week!
Please leave a comment each day this week, to be eligible to win a fabulous prize of 25 Unity stamps direct from Unity! Feel free to leave suggestions as well - I am always excited to learn new and different ways of doing things when it comes to stamping and making cards! Also feel free to look for me on Instagram after the week is over, to see what other crafting I’ve been up to!

I wanted to make use of some of my stencils to create quick fun backgrounds. I used Stampin’ Up inks, because for most of them I had matching cardstock for the image and card panel mats. The images and sentiments are all from the So Glad You Were Born sentiment kit, and the Sometimes I Wonder sentiment kit. All images are colored with Promarker alcohol markers, and are cut with various dies. I am obsessed with Unity’s sentiment kits. They are so versatile and contain so many sentiment options that provide many possibilities with just one kit! I am fairly certain that one day I will own almost all of the sentiment kits! If I can keep up, that is - they come out with a brand new kit every month!

What Unity stamp collection is complete without Angie Girls?! I actually don’t own a lot of them, other than those that came in KOTM’s over the past year or so. I did finally get Poppy Girl, which has been on my wish list for some time, as well as several of the new Planner Gals - Be a Beauty, Love Them, Don’t Be Perfect, You Got This, and Cold Outside. For the Planner Gal cards, I colored up the gals with Promarker alcohol markers, and die cut them with various shaped dies. I used some fun embossing folders to create coordinating background panels. I added the black heat embossed sentiments to complete the cards. Poppy Girl, and the girl from the January 2018 Kit of the Month, are also colored with Promarker alcohol markers, and either die cut or trimmed, and mounted on solid color cardstock, or patterned papers. The sentiments (from Poppy Girl and So Very Grateful kits) are heat embossed on vellum in either black or white.

Sadly, my week as GIU Girl has come to an end. I’ve had so much fun inking up so many of my Unity stamps and creating cards to share with you! I hope you saw something you liked! Thank you so much for all of your kind words and encouragement!It really means a lot to me that you took time out of your days to take a look at my work and leave such nice comments!

Growing in Unity, Day 4

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Watercoloring

Welcome to Day 4 of my GIU Week!

Please leave a comment each day this week, to be eligible to win a fabulous prize of 25 Unity stamps direct from Unity! Feel free to leave suggestions as well - I am always excited to learn new and different ways of doing things when it comes to stamping and making cards! Also feel free to look for me on Instagram after the week is over, to see what other crafting I’ve been up to!

Many of Unity’s images are perfect for watercoloring!
I have several examples to share with you today.
First is a floral heart image from the February 2018 Kit of the Month. I colored the image using Brea Reese Glitter Inks, and a Zig Clean Color Real Brush marker for the blue background. The “love ya” stamp is from Life is Better.

The next two cards feature the Done in Love kit. I watercolored the stamped image with Brea Reese Glitter inks and Zig Clean Color Real
Brush markers. The background pieces were created with a stencil and either Ranger Texture paste with Tim Holtz distress reinker mixed in (the pink one), or Nuvo Embellishment Mousse (the silver one). The sentiments are heat embossed on vellum - Hello Friend is from the May 2017 Kit of the Month, and Home Sweet Home is from the March 2017 Kit of the Month.

The following three cards are created with the Happy Moments kit. All three were colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. The orange one was stamped with Versafine black, and the pink and purple ones were heat embossed in gold. I love water coloring an embossed image - the embossing “traps” the color so you can’t go outside the lines. The sentiments, from the same kit, are stamped and/or embossed on vellum and adhered to the card. I die cut and adhered the color coordinated stitched scalloped frames. These are some of my favorite cards from this week!

The next card is from the February 2018 Kit of the Month. I stamped on watercolor paper with Versafine ink, then painted rainbow stripes with Brea Reese Glitter Inks. This is really shimmery and pretty in person!

And finally, I painted this image from Good Days with Distress Inks. I die cut a frame out of Dare 2B Artzy patterned paper and white heat embossed the sentiment on vellum.

Thank you for popping in today; don’t forget to stop by tomorrow!

Growing in Unity, Day 3, part 2

Oops! I forgot a photo on today's post! These are some of my favorites so I wanted to be sure to share them!

These are also created with the distress oxide water painting technique, and the sentiments are stamped on vellum.
The floral image is from Now & Always, and the sentiments are both from the December 2016 sentiment kit, ...special wishes.

Growing in Unity, Day 3

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Distress Oxide Water Painting

Welcome to Day 3 of my GIU Week!

Please leave a comment each day this week, to be eligible to win a fabulous prize of 25 Unity stamps direct from Unity! Feel free to leave suggestions as well - I am always excited to learn new and different ways of doing things when it comes to stamping and making cards! Also feel free to look for me on Instagram after the week is over, to see what other crafting I’ve been up to!

Today I am sharing a fun technique I picked up from Jennifer McGuire’s blog a few weeks ago. On these cards I stamped and heat embossed my images in white.
I then blended various colors of Distress Oxide inks over the panels.
I used a wet paintbrush or a water brush to “paint” areas with water only, where I wanted to remove the color. I love the soft effect you get! The floral images I used on these cards are from Now and Always. The sentiments are from Now and Always, Sweet Owl Just Because, ( heat embossed in white on vellum), Special Wishes sentiment kit, (stamped in black Archival ink on vellum), Bunches of {love} sentiment kit, and Let Your Wishes Fly sentiment kit, ( stamped directly onto card panel with Archival Ink.)

Thank you for visiting today! See you on day 4!

Growing in Unity, Day 2

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Shaker Cards

Welcome to Day 2 of my GIU Week!

Please leave a comment each day this week, to be eligible to win a fabulous prize of 25 Unity stamps direct from Unity!
Feel free to leave suggestions as well - I am always excited to learn new and different ways of doing things when it comes to stamping and making cards! Also feel free to look for me on Instagram after the week is over, to see what other crafting I’ve been up to!

I took advantage of a recent Unity sale on all floral kits and really beefed up my flower collection! You’ll see me using some Unity floral themed stamps almost every day this week.

This was my very first time trying shaker cards, and I’ll be making more. I need to do something with all of the sequins and other doodads I’ve been collecting! It was also my first time coloring with colored pencils on Kraft cardstock.

I stamped and colored the images from Quiet Essence (flower and bee), and Gladness Touch Your Life, with colored pencils on Kraft cardstock.

For the first card, I die cut a frame panel with a stitched oval die. I added some shimmer to the bumble bee’s wings with a Wink of Stella pen, and fussy cut him out. I added some gold “sprinkles” that I got at Target behind the acetate window. Then I cut and popped up the panel frame with foam tape. I also popped up the bee and the embossed sentiment, (cut into a banner strip), Just Saying Hello, from the So Very Grateful sentiment kit.

For the second card I die cut a circle frame, and added a stitched circle die cut frame (2 layers) around that to add dimension. I added some pink sequins behind the acetate window and popped up the panel with foam tape. I used 2 layers of foam tape on this one, as opposed to a single layer on the the first one. This allowed freer movement of the shaker elements inside. I stamped and die cut the Hello sentiment from Best Wishes and Blooms, and popped it up on the front of the card.

Thanks for looking today; see you tomorrow!

Growing in Unity, Day 1

Monday, April 2, 2018

Happy Birthday

Hello, Unity Stamp lovers! I am so excited (and yes, a little scared!) to be a Growing in Unity Girl this week! I am really not much of a blogger, so I dusted off this blog, which hasn’t been used in quite some time, especially for this occasion!
Please leave a comment each day this week, to be eligible to win a fabulous prize of 25 Unity stamps direct from Unity!

Feel free to leave suggestions as well - I am always excited to learn new and different ways of doing things when it comes to stamping and making cards! Also feel free to look for me on Instagram after the week is over, to see what other crafting I’ve been up to!

Now for today’s post -

I’ve got several family birthdays (as well as other occasions) during April and May, so my GIU week came at a perfect time for me to get busy and make cards.
I used the Happy Birthday Balloon kit to make these 3 perfect-for-anyone birthday cards. So many of my cards are very floral and feminine so it’s good to have some cards ready that can be used for a man as well as a woman. I stamped the balloon on patterned papers and cut out the ballon only. (That’s the extent of paper piecing I’ve tried! I’m looking forward to trying something more complex soon, although I’m not a big fan of fussy cutting.) Then I stamped the balloon on the card panel, not worrying about overlapping the balloons or strings. I adhered the balloons in the appropriate places on the card front. For one card I die cut the word “birthday” a few times, adhered the cuts together to give it some dimension, and heat embossed the top layer in black. For another I heat embossed “Happy Birthday” from the Special Wishes sentiment kit in white, on black paper. On the 3rd card I added a touch of black and white twine to coordinate with the black and white striped paper I adhered the panel to.

Another birthday kit that works for anyone is the Hugs, Kisses & Birthday Wishes sentiment kit. The owl image was colored with colored pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits (aka Gamsol) on white card stock. I die cut the image panel, and cut it again out of kraft card stock to create a kraft frame.

Thanks for stopping by today; I hope you pop in again tomorrow!