Cheerful Little Cards

I have two simple cards to share with you today.  Both were made to cheer up friends who are going through a rough time.  The first card used a bathing suit stamp by Lizzie Anne Designs.  I looked for a  link but couldn't find one :(  For the background I used a textured stamp by Savvy Stamps called Patterned Tic-Tac Background.  I couldn't find a link to this stamp either.  I used 3 different colors of Distress Ink.  I used the mini pads to make it easier to get the color onto the stamp.  The colors are Spun Sugar, Cracked Pistachio and Brushed Lilac.  I like how using multiple colors on the background stamp gave me something to match when I was coloring the bathing suits! 

I used Copics to color the bathing suits and a retired Stampin' Up card stock for matting called Almost Amethyst.  It was one of my favorites so when I heard they were discontinuing it, I bought a lot!  It goes well with the Brushed Lilac Distress Ink.  I used an MFT die called Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle STAX to get the scalloped edge and the stitching.  Stitching adds so much to a card!

For my second card I used one I saw by Kay Miller for inspiration.  I absolutely love the cards she makes.  You can see Kay's card here.  I have to admit, Kay is one of my favorite designers.  I love everything that she makes!  I used leaves from an old Stampin Up set called Best Blossoms.  It's a leafy branch.  I'm sure if you look in your stash you have something similar.  I used Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink on the tips of the leaves and inked the rest with Mowed Lawn to get the two-tone look.

The rest of the stamps are all from My Favorite Things.  The dog is from a set called Lucky Dog, the cat is from the Cool Cat set and the flower is from a set called Blissful Blooms.  I colored them with Copic markers and cut them out so I could raise them up with a little foam tape.   The sentiment is from the Lucky Dog set, too.  I used the Misti to stamp the words so I could get them nice and dark to show up on top of the leaves!

I hope you enjoyed the cards today and I hope that you are finding some time to stamp!

Janet 

Butterflies & Watercolor

This is the second project inspired by my friends.  This time it was Judy who helped me along!  She showed me a watercolor butterfly card that she'd made and I just loved it, especially the butterfly!  She used the new butterfly dies from MFT...Flutter of Butterflies.  There are two different sets that go together, one is solid and the other is lace.  What she'd done is cut a solid one in white and then a lace one in black...glued them together and used Copic Markers to color in the spots on the butterfly in different colors!  A simple idea with a big impact...and what's even better...you can make the butterflies match ANYTHING!!  I loved it and was really happy that I already had those dies!  Judy also covered the entire butterfly with Crystal Lacquer.  I loved that too, but had to get these card in the mail so I didn't have time to do that.  I had some watercolor backgrounds left over from the day I played so I cut those up to use with the butterflies.  It was fun to play with the colors and make them match!  Here is how they came out...

Here are close-ups!  When I was making the watercolor backgrounds, I wasn't sure if I liked the graininess of the paint but I really like the effect it gives on these cards

Thanks so much for visiting. hope you are having a good week!

Janet

Supplies Used:
Card stock:  Strathmore Watercolor paper, Cougar Opaque 80 lb, assorted colored card stock for matting and die cut words
Dies:  MFT Flutter of Butterflies - Solid & Lace, Lawn Fawn Hugs die, Lawn Fawn Thanks die, MFT Blueprints 13 and Blueprints 20, Stampin' Up small circle punch to cut corners of watercolor paper & mat
Paints:  Koi Watercolors set of 24
Miscellaneous: Assorted Twine

Twine Flower

My friend, Mary, found the directions for making a twine flower embellishment and I wanted to try it.  It was fun and much easier than I thought it would be!  Isn't it adorable??!!  I can't find the specific link right now, but I Googled "twine flower" and found some instructions, so it's not too hard to find if you want to try it.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  My Favorite Things - Vertical Greetings, Essential Sentiments

                    & DC Notched Tag Sentiments 

Cardstock: Stampin' Up - Ruby Red, Cougar Opaque - White

                    K & Company - Que Sera Sera 12 x 12 pad

Inks:  Ranger Distress Ink pads - Shabby Shutters, Tattered Rose

                    Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold & Fired Brick

Dies: My Favorite Things - Die-namics Button Border

Miscellaneous: Red Twine