Love & Cherish...

Here's a fun and funky wedding card I made for our cousin's daughter, who will be getting married this coming weekend. First of the cousins of my kids' generation to "get hitched!" We're all excited to attend the celebration.

I worked three challenges:

Colour scheme from "Colour Me...#30"

Card design from Freshly Made Sketches #146

And the Wednesday challenge from Simon Says Stamp: Emboss It.

Here's the close-up:

I stamped some sweet sentiments from Paper Smooches' "We Connect" stamp set onto the card base in the challenge colours and softened that with a vellum over-lay. Some strips of washi tape in Smoothie and gold provide the horizontal elements. The black-board panel uses white heat-embossed words from the same stamp set, along with a gold die-cut ampersand. The black & gold embossed sentiment strip is from Paper Wishes.  For some final (pretty subtle) detail, I used a Heidi Swapp stencil to apply some more hearts with clear embossing paste.

Busy weekend--not sure I'm in time to link up to the challenges, but I had fun playing!

Happy crafting, 

Caroline

Watercoloring with embossing folders

I saw this totally beautiful technique on Heather Telford's blog. She includes links to examples by other crafters as well as the original YouTube tutorial. Check them out!

Anyway, the idea is to smear ink onto the raised part of an embossing folder, spray with water or glimmer mist to make the ink very runny, then slap some paper on, close the folder and simply press...

I used up quite a bit of watercolor paper experimenting. Each panel was unique and made a beautiful card, even if I didn't QUITE follow the instructions right the first time.

First up:  What happens if you run it through your die-cutting machine/embosser. Pretty, but you don't get the full effect of the white design.

Next: version #2 using some grey Smooch Spray as the mister. Pretty but puddle-y!

Version #3: Best of this color-way.

Tried some different color combinations and different embossing folders:

And my favorite:

I used a mini-mister filled with Perfect Pearls powder and water to spray these, and they have a lovely sheen in real life. I used Distress Inks which blend well with water. Final tip: the wetter, the better.

Give this technique a try; it's addictive!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

FMS # 144--Hey!

 Still using up the goodies from June's Simon Says Stamp card kit.

This time, I'm playing along with the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:

I stuck pretty literally to the sketch--matted my patterned paper to make it stand out against the background. I used a Paper Smooches book-mark die to make the banner shape.  Also some loopy coloured jute, to echo the big polka dots on the PP.

TTFN!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp card kit-June 2014 (card-stock, PP, wooden flower, enamel dots, sentiment stamp)

Paper Smooches book mark die

American Crafts coloured jute.

Newton's Birthday Shaker Card

The latest Newton's Nook Inky Paws challenge was to use these luscious summer colours:

I love the image of the kitty hugging (for how long?) the balloon, from this stamp set:

I thought the challenge colours would make great birthday balloons. I also had some sequins in just the right green, so added those in a shaker-window.

The stripy background was done with water-brushed Gelatos. Which also look good enough to eat...

Check out Newton's Nook Designs for another fun challenge!

Happy weekend,

Caroline

Supplies:

CTMH cardstock: white daisy, strawberry embossed paper fundamentals; water colour paper

Sizzix balloon dies #2

Gelatos: yellow collection

Archival black ink

Copic markers

The Twinery: baker's twine in seafoam and strawberry

Pretty Pink Posh sequins: mossy green

Paper Wishes: Emboss-able acetate

Looney for YOU! FMS #143

This is my second go at Freshly Made Sketches design  #143.

 I wanted to play with that circular element as the sun, and also try out my new Tim Holtz layering stencil, RAYS.

For my first try, I used some Distress Mini Ink-pads to create a sunburst (colours listed below). Then I rotated the stencil just a bit, and sponged on Evergreen Bough ink to fill in the rest of the "sky."

The loon stamp is something I found in the dollar-bin at Michael's. It's the perfect sentiment for sentimental Canadians...  Unfortunately, it doesn't stamp very well--maybe the foam is too old, or the rubber is dried out. I had to go over the letters and the duck's head with a marker to make it dark enough. 

 Anyway! I sponged some more Ripe Persimmon ink around the edge of the die-cut circle, and floated the loon on some chevron washi tape strips (sorta wavy).

 For my second try, I used embossing paste with the stencil on some blue card-stock,  then sprinkled on Rock Candy Distress glitter.  The sun is cut from some linen-look card-stock, and the loon was stamped, fussy-cut and layered on top with foam tape. I used some wavy DP to anchor the scene and glued some paper ric-rack for more waves.  Then I added some Jennifer McGuire hearts (die-cut, inked with Distress marker, Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents), to match the loon's red eye.

Which do you prefer?

There'll be another sketch to play with, on Wednesday, at Freshly Made Sketches.

Happy Crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Cardstock: Close to My Heart: White Daisy, Dutch Blue, Footloose DP.

Washi tape: assorted manufacturers.

Looney for You stamp: Kolette Hall/Studio G for Hampton Arts

Ink: Archival Black, Chocolate, CTMH

Distress inks and markers: Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Evergreen Bough, Festive Berries.

Tim Holtz Layered Stencils: Rays

Spell-binders circle die

Lawn Fawn and Paper Smooches heart dies

Sizzix border die

Wendy Vecchi clear embossing paste

Ranger Distress glitter: Rock Candy

Wink of Stella Pen; Liquid Glass adhesive (CTMH).

...Hope...

Happy holiday weekend, crafty friends!

I know all my American buddies will be recovering from a late night watching fireworks.

Here in Canada, we celebrated earlier this week on July 1st. In fact, I had a four-day weekend last week, as the hospital I work at mandated a "slow-down" day this past Monday. No complaints here!

So here's the current sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

That big circle is kind of intriguing...reminded me of a sunrise or sunset.

 I cut a big orange circle from patterned paper and then stamped a beautiful sentiment from Verve. It was anchored with some arrows (strip of DP and washi tape), and a big bright feather cut from the same DP. The bird taking flight, is a piece of embossible metal, from Provocraft. I ran it through an embossing folder, then tinted it with alcohol markers.

I kind of like the collage-look!

Get out there and enjoy the weather!

Happy crafting,

Caroline