Jewel-toned Tangles

 Happy Saturday, crafty friends.

One more water-colored entry to Neat & Tangled's current challenge:

I used the same Tiny Triangles stamp, this time heat-embossed in silver. I washed three jewel-tone inks over top (Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire and Seedless Preserves.  Then I coloured in the outlined triangles with more of those colours, mixing them where the original wash overlapped.

 It gives almost a stained-glass look--love it! 

The sentiment is from a newer Lil'Inker Designs stamp set, "Girl's Best Friend." It was heat-embossed in the same silver, onto vellum to allow some of the colour beneath to show through.

The silver cord finishes the card, along with matting in Rich Razzleberry.

So, two different water-colour looks with one stamp.

Enjoy your day,

Caroline

Supplies:

Colonial white cardstock- CTMH

Rich Razzleberry cardstock-Stampin' Up

Watercolour paper, vellum - Michael's 

Silver cord, silver embossing powder- Paper Wishes

Girls' Best Friend stamp set, Stitched Rectangles die - Lil'Inker Designs

Tiny Triangles stamp - Neat & Tangled

Distress Inks - Ranger

Neat, Tangled and Water-coloured

I seem to be in Valentine's mode, still. Or at least still in love with hearts...

Neat & Tangled's challenge this month is to watercolour.

The N&T design team is also teaming up with Cosmo Cricket this week, to showcase a new CC product: colour-ready paper. It has embossed images; all you need do is add ink or watercolor (or both) for some spectacular but simple-to-do results.

Following along those lines, I played with Neat & Tangles Tiny Triangles background stamp.

Today's card has the triangles heat-embossed in white, with a watercolour wash over top, in shades of pink, merging with red and yellow.

 

The upside down triangles made me think of little hearts, so I punched some tiny ones from water-colour paper scraps, tinted them with the same Distress Inks, and mounted them over triangles of the matching colours.

I like the cascading effect.

Go check out Neat & Tangled's blog for more watercolor inspiration.

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Supplies:

Watercolor card stock- Michaels

Cardstock in Honey, Hollyhock and Baby Pink- Close to My Heart

Distress Inks in Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Fired Brick and Wild Honey- Ranger

Small heart die- Paper Smooches

Stitched rectangle die- Lil'Inker designs

Ewe Herd Me...

Hey there!

I'm sharing a lay-out I completed at the scrap-booking retreat I attended in January with my girlfriends in Wisconsin. It features photos from a sheepdog demonstration we saw in Prince Edward Island last summer.  

I HAD to include one of the cute lil' puppies from Paper Smooches "Woofers & Tweeters" stamp and die set as an accent on my page. It was the perfect finishing touch, and it works for this week's 

Which has the theme:

Here's a look a the complete page:

The shepherdess (?) trains her dogs to herd ducks before they graduate to herding sheep. The ducks were hilarious! Trying to run here, there and everywhere, but no match for the dog.

The companion page still needs some journaling, and some more paw prints, don't you think?

The Wednesday challenge theme over at Simon Says Stamp is also to use creatures, so I'll be linking this up over there, too.

Enjoy your week,

Caroline

P.S.: Credit for the awesome page title goes to my friend the caption queen, Cathy H.

Supplies:
Close to My Heart: all patterned paper, card stock and ink
Paper Smooches: Woofers and Tweeters stamps and dies
The Stamps of Life: arrow die 
Mama Elephant: alpha dies 

All Monsters, Great & Small...

 

Here's a little creature, for this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:

 ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

I'm still using up the supplies from Jen Shurkus's first card kit, featuring the Simon Says Stamp set, Monster Hugs.

I thought this monster, Bruce, looked like he could be juggling, so I gave him a bunch of "Happy Mail" to play with.

He needed something to stand on, so I used the evacuated piece from cutting hearts for my shaker card HERE, mounted it on foam tape and trimmed around his tail so it sits in the panel. The pink baker's twine came in the card kit.

Check out the Simon Says Stamp blog for inspiration every day!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

Monster Hugs

Isn't that lil' monster just the CUTEST??!!

I am a follower of Jen Shurkus aka {Creative Chick}. When I saw her initial card kit/online class, I had to try it out.  The stamp set (designed for Simon Says Stamp by Sandy Allnock, I believe) has the most adorable images! I love the big eyes.  I added a little shading to them, then Wink of Stella, then Glossy Accents to make them shimmer and shiny... But I'm getting ahead of myself!

I made four of the cards in the Valentine's and Friendship Card Kit for my hubby and sons. Then I made a shaker card with little Wendel (yes, those monsters have NAMES!).  I used a trick seen on Jennifer McGuire's blog, where rather than using adhesive foam tape as the spacer between the card base and overlay, she die cut craft foam sheets. This seemed like a good idea to me, as I find my sequins tend to stick to the edge of the foam tape.  

Here's a closer look:

There's the water-coloured Wendel image surrounded by the craft foam cut-out. I used Lil'Inker Designs stitched hearts dies.  Using the actual shape evacuated from the foam, and working from the bottom up, makes it easier to add your sequins and punched shapes because they are contained.  I cut out some little foam hearts to add to the shaker mix, while I was at it. The sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh (came in the card kit) and Neat & Tangled.

Then I die-cut another heart from card-stock, and layered it over the foam, sandwiching the acetate in between.

I wish I'd left a little more space between the shaker box and the sentiment, however its still pretty darn cute, eh?

Since I used Pretty Pink Posh sequins, and Paulina is sponsoring the challenge, this card's being linked up to Virginia's View shaker card challenge. I also hope Jen Shurkus gets to see it!

Happy crafting,

Caroline

And she's back...

I believe this is my first post of 2015!

Sorry to have been MIA the past few weeks. Truth be told, I was a bit burnt out with crafting and blogging after taking on a bigger role in the Caring Hearts Card Drive this year. Lots of work right up until Christmas. Then the holidays themselves, with three adult boys home and parents and sister visiting from out of town.  Plus, I started another contract at work January 5th, and am now working full time for the first time in YEARS. Not sure how everyone else manages it :) I now go to the gym for 7:00 a.m. and do everything else after work or on the weekend. Not a lot of time or energy left-over for creativity...

I DID get to go to my annual scrapbooking retreat with my besties in Wisconsin in January. SUCH a good time. It felt so good to re-connect with my gals, and to remember how much I love scrapbooking.  I'll be sharing a few lay-outs here in the next few weeks.

But today is all about Paper Smooches and Valentine's Day.

Kim Hughes is celebrating four years in business, with lots of extra fun on the PS blog.

I made my Valentine cards this year using the goodies from Jen Sherkus' "Monster Hugs" kit. But I had to get inky for THIS CHALLENGE:

I've been having fun making patterned paper with embossed images and Distress Inks. I learned this technique from the very talented Heather Telford.

Here's the process:

Heat-emboss assorted PS heart images on 5.5" x 4.25" card stock. Blend two-to-three colours of Distress Ink over the embossed images, using a foam tool.  I used Worn Lipstick, Tattered Rose and Gathered Twigs (thinking of roses, chocolate and kisses!). Splatter the panel with water and spritz with Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist. Dry it and add more stamped images in the distress ink colours. Here's a close up of the final effect:

 I then cut the panel into three smaller pieces and used them to make three LOVE U cards.

 This one uses the PS Love die, the U from the new Sassy Script stamp set, and some Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

Number two uses a sentiment from the PS Fancy Frames stamp set, and the heart border from the PS Heart Dies. I used Worn Lipstick to custom colour my row of little hearts. Looking at this photo, I realize I glued my panel on UPSIDE DOWN!

This one's a little over the top, but fun! I cut a stitched heart (Lil'Inker Dies, as is the new stitched rectangle mat) from the panel, and mounted it over matching card stock. The "thanks" is another PS die; I sponged more Worn Lipstick onto white card stock in a gradient of colour before cutting out the sentiment.

A satisfying afternoon's work!  Beats being outside today...-34 C.  Brrr!

Make sure to check out the Paper Smooches blog for more fun and inspiration!

Happy crafting,

Caroline