By the Beautiful Sea

Since making the castle bridge card back in February, bridge cards have become one of my favorites!  They are so versatile and you can make lots of different things with them, especially when you add hidden insert tabs like those used in a shadow box card!!  The inspiration for this card was a card I saw on Pinterest made by Monica Maier.  I made a beach scene using the Life is Good stamp set from Lawn Fawn.  It is a cheery little set that is fun to use and to color.  Who doesn't love a day at the beach?!

Before starting assembly I stamped the background with a tiny honeycomb pattern in a color close to the card stock I used.  I stamped some seagulls from the Life is Good set in black ink, too.  I cut some waves using a retired wave die from MFT.  They have this one now and it would look just as good!  I put some insert tabs spaced evenly into the U shape of the bridge card onto which I attached the waves. Next I cut some hills using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside Borders out of a camel colored card stock for the sand and glued them on to form the bridge card.  I just love how the stitching detail looks on my beach!!  I just found Scrapbook Pal for ordering stamping supplies.  They are great!  They have discounted prices, they ship quickly and they offer free shipping on orders over $25!

Next I cut out two little sailboats using the sailboat die from Impression Obsession (IO).  I cut them out of white card stock and used Copics to color the bottom of the boats.  The last step was to stamp and color the cute little beachy elements from the Life is Good set.  I stamped them onto Papertrey Ink's Select White card stock.  It is heavy weight so it's good for die cutting and works well for blending with Copics.  Here is a close up...

I hope  you liked seeing my card today.  Thanks for stopping by, wishing you a happy heart and a happy day!!
Janet

Build-able Bouquet

I finally had some time to play with my new MFT Build-able Bouquet stamp set.  I just love how whimsical they are.  They are beautiful flowers but don't look like any real flower so you can color them any way you want!  I did have one bit of trouble when I went to cut the flowers out with the dies.  When I tried to line up the flowers with stems inside the dies, they didn't line up and didn't cut right.  If I lined up the flowers, the stems weren't right and if I lined up the stems the flowers didn't line up right.  I'll have to give some thought to this the next time so it will work.  I stamped 2 of each stamp in the set and then colored them all in coordinating colors and cut them out.  I used most of the flowers and leaves on my first card.  It was fun arranging them and rearranging them until I got a flowery corner that I liked!  

For my second card, I used the left over flowers and my Blueprints 13 dies.  I used Peerless Watercolors to make both backgrounds.  I got some good news about Peerless Watercolors today.  I've had mine for a long time and I am just about out of my favorite colors.  I contacted the company and found out that they will be selling individual dry sheets of color very soon!!!  I was thrilled!

Thanks for looking and for visiting!

Janet

Supplies Used:

Stamps: MFT Buildable Blooms

Dies: MFT Build-able Bouquet, MFT Blueprints 13, Lawn Fawn Hugs, Impression Obsession 

                 Get Well Soon

Cardstock: Black Linen, SU Garden Green, Canson Aquarelle Watercolor paper, White  

                 Cougar Opaque

Miscellaneous:  Peerless Watercolors

  

Life is Good

I made these cards for two delightful little ones who would like to get some mail!  Since they are brother and sister, I thought they might like getting cards with the same little crab on them.  When I want to make quick and simple cards my go to stamps are Lawn Fawn.  These were fun to make.  I can't wait to hear what Paulina and James think of them :)

Lawn Fawn dies are my favorite.  You stamp the image and then line up the inside edge of the die with the outside edge of the image...so easy, and then you cut and it's perfect, every time.  This set even has a die to cut out the sea gulls.  I didn't use them here but I cut out the tiniest one just to see if it would work and it came out perfect, too!  Amazing!!

I used Papertrey Ink Paper Basics - Stamper's Select White card stock for the pieces that I was stamping and coloring with Copics.  This card stock really helps the Copic ink to blend more easily.  It's the best one I've found.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Have a great weekend :)
Janet

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Life is Good
Cardstock:  80 lb. white Cougar Opaque, Papertrey Paper Basics-white, Stampin' Up DSP
Dies: Lawn Fawn Life is Good dies, MFT stitched rectangles, Stampin' Up Banners Framelits
Miscellaneous: Pan Pastels pthalo blue tint, ribbon, foam tape, 

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

Lovin' the Penguins in Paradise Palm Tree!

I don't know if you are like me, but I am very influenced by my friends.  They buy something, I need it...they make something, I want to make it...they try a new technique, I want to try it!  Well that's been happening to me a lot lately and I ended up making cards because of them!!  First my friend, Tina, has been making and posting some REALLY cute dog cards.  Of course, this made me think of making a dog card.  I had a cute little dog stamp from a discontinued MFT set called Cupcake Cutie and I decided to use that stamp with the MFT Penguins in Paradise palm tree stamp that I LOVE!!  Here is how it came out...

Don't you love that palm tree???  It's so much fun to color and it isn't bad to cut out either.  There are dies to match the set if you don't like cutting, but I didn't want the white border so I cut it by hand. To frame out my scene I used MFT's Stitched Rectangles Frames.  I didn't add a sentiment yet because I'm not sure what I'm using this card for.  I'll add a Happy Birthday or Thinking of You later.  Here's an angled picture so you can see what's popped up.

The right side of the card looked bare so I added the little sand pail.  It's a die from Impression Obsession.  It comes in a set with sand castles, an ice cream cone and the pail & shovel.  Oh...almost forgot the sun, that's a Lawn Fawn die called Spring Showers.  I colored the sky with blue and purple Pan Pastel tints.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Janet

Supplies Used:
Card stock: Papertrey Ink white, Stampin' Up Confetti Kraft, Summer Sun and 
Bermuda Bay
Stamps: My Favorite Things - Penguins in Paradise and Cupcake Cutie (retired)
Copics:  Sand - E42, Water - BG13, Palm Tree Leaves - YG01, YG03, YG 17 & YG67, 
Palm Trunk - E59 & E87, Dog - W0, W03, W05, E42, E43, E44, B23 & E21,
Balloon - RV00, RV02, RV04 & RV06
Dies: MFT Stitched Rectangle Frames, Lawn Fawn Spring Showers, IO Mini Beach Fun Set
Miscellaneous:  Silver metallic Pilot marker, Pan Pastels - Pthalo Blue and Purple tints

Boo-tiful Day

This adorable little Halloween card was inspired by one I saw on Kristina Werner's blog.  The stamps are from a Lawn Fawn set called, Monster Mash. I thought it would be really quick and easy but I couldn't get the monsters as bright as I wanted them.  I tried coloring with Distress inks like Kristina did but I didn't have the right colors.  Next I tried Tombo markers and didn't like that.  Then I tried Copics...didn't like that either because the purples weren't right.  I remembered that reinkers are very vibrant when used as watercolor paint so I tried that and was finally happy with the results! 

Painting with reinkers is easy and fun.  Stamp your image onto watercolor paper (I used Canson Aquarelle that I got at Micheals).  Then use a paint brush and water to paint.  You can blend colors to make new ones, you can add water to soften the color and make it look paler and you can layer colors because they are transparent.  This makes blending pretty easy to do.

Here's a pic of the inside of the card.  Isn't the little baby one-eyed monster cute?  

Thanks for looking :)
Janet

Supplies Used
Stamps:  Lawn Fawn: Monster Mash
Cardstock:  black linen, Canson Aquarelle watercolor paper, purple & green glitter paper, purple swirl paper from a Halloween paper pack
Reinkers: Tsukineko: Lemon Yellow, Poppy Red, Orange, Olive Green, Peony, Chartreuse; Vivid: Purple; Stampin' Up: River Rock
Miscellaneous: Score Tape, foam tape
  

Life is Good

I am still loving my new Lawn Fawn stamps and dies!  There is something about them that makes me want to use really bright colors and when I do, the completed cards make me smile.  I hope the people who receive them have the same reaction.  I used reinkers to watercolor this card because they give me the brightest colors ever.  I think they might even be brighter than my Copics and they are really easy to blend!

Here's a close up of the little crab in the hammock.  I popped up the palm trees, hammock and crab to give the card dimension.  

Thanks for taking the time to visit.  Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Janet

Supplies used:

Cardstock: My Favorite Things: Kraft, Stampin' Up: Pool Party, Canson Aquarelle 

                  Watercolor paper, Core-dinations: Yellow variegated stripe

Stamps: Lawn Fawn: Life is Good, My Favorite Things: Dots Background

Ink pads: Versafine: black, Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap

Reinkers: Tsukineko: Lemon Yellow, Tangerine, Poppy Red, Chartreuse, Olive Green

                 Stampin' Up: Sahara Sand, So Saffron

                 Vivid: Turquoise

Dies: Lawn Fawn: Life is Good

Miscellaneous: Twine, foam tape, Ranger ink tool, paintbrush, 

  

   

Thanks for Volunteers

Today I made a bunch of thank you cards for some wonderful people who gave their time and energy to clean up the yards of some abandoned properties in our neighborhood.  We all appreciate what they did and wanted to let them know so a friend and I got together and made this CAS thank you card for them!

The inside is simple too, I made the message on my computer and then added some color with washi tape!

I needed something to add a little interest to the "thank you" strip on the front of the card.  I tried jewels and buttons but they just didn't give the look I wanted.  I went through my stash and didn't have any black brads, either.  Then I found some gold colored nail heads...and I wondered if I could color them with a sharpie and make them black.  I tried and it worked like a charm!!  They came out very black and shiny and were exactly what my card needed!!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Stampin' Up: Background Basics (retired)
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves 
Other:  Nail heads, black sharpie marker, washi tape, foam tape, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Thank Ewe

I'm still having fun with my Lawn Fawn Critters on the Farm stamps.  Just when I go to put them away, I get another idea.  I had already colored the little lamb and I thought how cute he'd be jumping over the fence...then I thought about vines and flowers on the fence and I had to make a card to see what it would look like!  I made a small version of an easel card. 

When I was looking for a link to the stamps, I found out that they are on sale at Markerpop.com, so if you NEED them...you could get on sale.  The dies are on sale too, but they are out of stock right now :(

To make the lamb look more like he is jumping, I put a double piece of foam tape under his face and front legs, a single piece under his middle and glue dots under his tail and rear legs.  I took a side view picture...not sure if you will be able to see it clearly enough but it gives the effect that I was looking for!

Here's a pic of the card open.  I made the message on my computer.  I found a cute font called "KG Somebody that I Used to Know".  After I printed it out on card stock, I used a Spellbinder labels die to cut it out.

  




































Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good weekend!
Janet

Supplies Used:
Card Stock: Cougar Opaque white, Stampin' Up DSP
Stamps: Lawn Fawn: Critters on the Farm
Dies: Lawn Fawn: Critters on the Farm & Spring Showers, 
         CC Designs: Cutters Leafy Branch, Spellbinders: Labels 16
Copics: W-1, R27, YR24, Black
Prismacolor Pencils PC1063 Cool Grey 50%, PC1094 Sandbar Brown, Black 
         & Gamsol for blending 
Miscellaneous:  Pan Pastels: Phthalo Blue Tint, Bright Yellow Green Shade, 
           Perm. Green Shade; Small flower punch 

Somebody squealed

So Lawn Fawn makes cutesy stamps.  I always loved them but thought they would be best for making cards for children.  Recently I realized that when anyone of any age looked at a card made with them, they always smiled.  Lawn Fawn cards just have that effect on people! I had to come up with a project for a card making day with friends and decided that I would use my new LF set Critters on the Farm.  I found a cute inspiration card on Pinterest made by Annie Rose and loved it.  You can see Annie's card here.  And here is how my version came out...

I used Pan Pastels and one of the Soft Tools to color the sky.  I was in St. Pete at Whim-so-Doodle last week and bought two colors and some Soft Tools to try and I am in looovvee with them!!  The color is so rich and creamy and easy to put down.  I can't believe I've never tried them before.  I know I'll be needing more colors soon! 

Here is  what the inside looks like.  This little piggy looks adorable in his party hat!  The hat is from a Stampin' Up set called Sketched Birthday.  It was a little too big for the pig so I cut off about 1/4 inch at the bottom.

I typed up the messages on my computer and printed them out on card stock.  I'll take some pics of how I folded the banner and post them tomorrow.  
Here are close-up pictures, and a coloring/shading list.  

Hope this card made you smile!!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Cougar Opaque, SU: Night of Navy, Green
Stamps:  Lawn Fawn: Critters on the Farm; Stampin Up: Sketched Birthday
Copics: See coloring sheet
Dies:  Lawn Fawn: Critters on the Farm, Spellbinder: Scalloped Circles and Circles
Miscellaneous: Pan Pastels: Phtalo Blue Tint & Soft Tool