CASology: Aquatic

Hello Everyone,

Just dropping in quickly to get this card into the CASology challenge for this week. The cue card word is Aquatic. This made me think of the Simon Says Stamp Stencil "Waves". I love this stencil. First I masked off my panel and sponged the area completely with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. Then I layered the stencil over and sponged again with Salty Ocean - I love this colour and the way it combines so beautifully with Peacock Feathers. I die cut the Simon Says Stamp Daisy and layered it on top of a fun foam die cut to give it dimension. I couldn't resist adding some Wink of Stella to the flower. I capped everything off with the bold black sentiment from Altenew's "Label Love" - this set has been out for awhile, but I just got it and am absolutely loving it.

I think the flow of the waves, the delicate glittery flower is the perfect juxtaposition for the bold sentiment. I am thrilled with this simple card. I will be making more with different colour combos. Thanks  CASology for the inspiration. Thanks also for stopping by and commenting!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Paper Smooches Sparks: Anything Goes

Hello Everyone,
I am posting a card for this week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge. I find this summer I am really struggling with my creative mojo. For this card I am following a tutorial that you can find on Jennifer McGuire's blog: here. She created this really cool faux metal look with Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls.

For my card I masked off the center of my cardstock piece and sponged Squeezed Lemonade in a circle in the middle. Next I added Spiced Marmalade around that and finished with a bit of Festive Berries just around the edges. While everything was still masked off and the Distress Inks were still wet, I added some gold Perfect Pearls over the top and burnished it with a paper towel. I embossed the panel with an embossing folder. Finally I die cut the word Hello from Paper Smooches "Hello Words" die set. I think the swirly hello fits with the embossed pattern. I layered several of these die cuts together to add some dimension. Finally, I covered the sentiment with versamark ink and then brushed it with white perfect pearls. Here is a better look at the metallic sheen the Perfect Pearls gives:

It is hard to capture, but trust me it is spectacular. I am thrilled with the way this turned out - simple and classic.

Thanks for stopping by - feel free to comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

OCC Background Check Day One/Two

Hello Everyone,
Back again with a couple more cards for OCC Background Check. We have had some very creative techniques demo'd over the last two days. My cards are a combo of my own twist on some that Laura B and Jennifer McG demo'd. I have to admit that my first attempts all ended up in the recycle bin and just when I was about to get frustrated that nothing seemed to be turning out, I heard Laura B;s voice in my head saying something about how fun it is when you are creating a plaid background and you layer two different colours on top of each and create a new one. This idea stuck with me.

Instead of plaid, I inked the entire panel in Spiced Marmalade DI. Then I took the fabulous stencil From Simon Says Stamp and placed it over the panel. I sponged on some Picked Raspberry and it created this beautiful coral colour - Peel off the stencil and the fabulous orange shows through. Since it is such a bold graphic BG, I decided the simple Paper Smooches "Hello" and the Simon Says Stamp daisy were perfect.

I did the same technique for the second card, only reversed the order... I sponged Picked Raspberry first and then stenciled the Spiced Marmalade on top. I am not sure which one I like best. Super-easy and really striking results!

Thanks for stopping by - feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

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OCC Background Check Day One/Two: Ink Blending Backgrounds

Hello Everyone,
My oh My! It has been way too long since I last checked in. I have to admit, life got busy and stressful and my stamping mojo left the building. I thought for sure once the school year was over and summer hols were here I would be stamping up a storm. Alas, Life does not always follow our plans. However, a stamp room overhaul, and some new stamps for inspiration and I think I am getting back into the swing of things.

I am participating in the Online Card Class Background Check. The first day was reviewing some ink blending - I love to blend... Especially  with my Distress Inks - God bless Tim Holtz for creating these inks. For my first card, I was inspired by Laura Bassen's demo of simple ink blending. I pulled out my favourite combo: Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmon, and Spiced Marmalade. I also decided to add in a touch of Emboss Resist. I just got the Altenew "Persian Motifs" and "Label Love" stamp sets. I coveted these for a while and finally got to order them. I knew that I wanted to create a background with the beautiful stylized flowers, so I took all the sentiment from this set off the backing and simply inked all the flowers up with versamark - they are already placed in the perfect balance. I stamped and clear embossed them. Then I went to work blending the inks. This card came together so quickly, all I had left to do was adhere it all together and attach the sentiment!

I love the juxtaposition of the bold black sentiment against the colourful and delicate back ground. I will definitely be recreating this in different colour combos.

Thanks for stopping by and welcoming me back into the blogosphere.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Stretch Your Dies Day 7: Alphabet and Number Dies

Hello Everyone,
Last day of class :( I have to say that I am so grateful to Jennifer and Kristina for starting these classes because I love them! Today's focus is on alphabet dies. I was really pleased to see Kristina demo how to use freezer paper to create a mask that would work with water colour - I don't have any freezer paper, so I will have to wait to try that technique out. So I decided to make a shaker card. The one that Jennifer showed us, had the die-cut letters from her sentiment as the shaker windows. I decided to go a more traditional route. I did combine this with the sponged background technique that Laura B demo'd yesterday...

My Bestie's daughter turns fourteen this week, so I took this opportunity to make her this card. I die cut all the letters and the circle window and placed them all out until I had the spacing just right. It looks a little off in the pic, but that is just the angle I got with my camera. I love the way this turned out.

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave some feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

More Background Techniques from Stretch Your Dies Day 6

Hello Everyone,
I headed to my craftroom again after lunch with the intention of making a shaped card using the technique that Karolyn Loncon demonstrated; however, my obsession with sponging won out. I decided to experiment with the technique from my previous post a bit and I am thrilled with the results. Here is the first card:

I used the same stencils I made from the post below and sponged over the Hugs sentiment by rotating the position of the stencil. I think the result is really neat. I had also seen on Laura B's blog the use of glossy accents to create dew drops, so I decided to try that too. I inlaid the flower die cut and layered the sentiment die, adhered everything and finally added the dew drops. Here is a close-up of the sentiment and the dew drops.

For the second card, I used this card for my inspiration.

I loved the swoop of colour. I started out with the flower from the Penny Black Pinwheel die - thanks to Lisa Adessa who recently celebrated her bogaversary... she had a give-away and I won this die. i die cut it out of white fun foam and coloured it with my copics. Then I used the hill stencil and inked up the sunshiney swoop. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink (Hello Sunshine). I put it all together and then layered Glossy Accents on the flower and added some dew drops to the sunshiney swoop.

I was too impatient to wait for the glossy accents to dry fully so it is still a little foggy in the photo.

I am so glad that I signed up for this online card class - I almost didn't, since I have done them all, I was thinking there might not be a whole lot more to learn... WRONG! I encourage you if you haven't taken one, to give it a try - they are fun and creatively invigorating.

Thanks for stopping by; I hope you will let me know what you think by leaving some feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Stretch Your Dies Day Six: Border Dies

Hello Everyone,
Today at Stretch Your Dies the focus is border dies. The techniques demo'd are all great, but the one I love best is by Laura Bassen - she is so talented and I love her videos... she is just so real. She used a curved edge border die to create a stencil or mask. The she did her sponging  magic.

Of course I had to try it out. So, I used my supply of acetate to create a stencil and die cut the edge using a "hill" die from PTI. I masked and sponged with my go-to Distress Inks and here is the result:

I cut the sponged panel I made down and adhered it to the white cardstock. I die cut the "Hugs" from white cardstock and from black fun foam - I offset them slightly when I glued them together in order to create the shadow effect. I also mounted the whole panel on a fun foam mat and adhered it all to the card base. I love the way this card turned out. 

Thanks for stopping by and as always, I love to hear your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Stretch Your Dies Day Five

Hello Everyone,
With this card I am combing a few things from Stretch Your Dies. One is a "window" card that Jennifer McGuire did on her blog a while ago - they had a link posted in class for more inspiration. The second was a card from day three that showed  how to make window flaps. here is my card:

The first photo gives you an idea of the card overall and the second shows the window with the sentiment peaking through. This was pretty easy to do. I sponged the stripe on the front by masking it off and using my Distress Inks to blend (Peacock Feather, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Picked Raspberry. Then I die cut the window. I held the card closed with masking tape, then stamped the "Happy" through the window. Finally, I opened it up and stamped "birthday" inside. I felt it needed a little something, so I added to silver circle frame to the front. I love the way this simple card turned out.

Thanks for stopping by - feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Stretch Your Dies Day Five and Time Out Challenges: CAS Black and White with a Splash of Colour

Hello Everyone,
Another fabulous day at Stretch your Dies. Today they were showing us how to use stamp companion dies to create unique backgrounds/images. The technique that really knocked my socks off was demo'd by Dawn Woleslagle of WPlus9. She used the dies to accompany a floral stamp set to create masks. She places the masks randomly on a piece of white cardstock to create a pattern and then sprayed the whole thing with her Copic air brush system. Finally, she peeled off the mask to reveal the white space underneath and stamped in these spaces with the corresponding stamps. You can see the result below.

I loved this idea! The only problem is that I don't have any die/stamps set combos that would work. So... I modified a bit. I cut a circle mask with one of my circle dies and placed them "randomly" on my focal panel. Then I sponged over the whole thing with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I peeled a way the masks. I got out my Neat and Tangled "Everyday Circles" set and stamped a few of the sentiments inside the masked area. Here is the result:

I love the retro funky feel of this design. When I finished, I thought it would be perfect for Time Out Challenge this week: black and white with a splash of colour. Now I will admit that this has just a tad more than a splash of colour, but I don't think anyone will mind!

Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse: You are my Sunshine

Hello Everyone,
Today I am playing along with Muse. I am also using a technique from yesterday's Stretch your dies class where you use your standard shape dies to emboss a frame. Here is our muse card by the uber-talented Marion Vagg:

It is such a bright sunny card I decided to use a long-neglected Lawn Fawn set called "Sunny Skies". I CASEd Marion card pretty directly - I don't think the inspiration will be difficult to figure out! 

I loved the idea of creating a Polaroid. I actually used a 3.25" square die to emboss a frame around my image, then I masked it off and sponged on some Broken China Distress Ink. I stamped the clouds on Vellum and fussy cut them out. I stamped the sunshine on scrap and coloured it with copics, then cut it out. I stamped the two little birds and coloured them with copics too. I am having trouble with my lighting so the colours in the picture look a little dull. In real life they are bright and vibrant.

Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Time Out Challenges: Black and White with a Dash of Colour

Hello Everyone,
Today I am playing along with Time Out Challenges: Black and White with a Splash of Colour. I decided to go on Pinterest for inspiration and was immediately drawn to this card. I cased it almost directly:

My lighting is a little off, but in real life the blue of the butterfly really pops off the black and white background. I love this simple graphic card. Thanks Time Out for this challenge - it really filled my crafting fix for the day!

Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Stretch Your Dies Day Three and CASology "Blossom"

Hello Everyone,

One more from Stretch your dies Day Three and for CASology "Blossom". I wanted to use the technique of using my dies to create an embossed frame. So, I channeled my inner Maile Belles and made this very CAS card with her "Gracious Vases" Stamp set from Papertrey Ink.

I love this stamp set and haven't used it in awhile. I kept it very simple - just a little copic colouring and the embossed oval frame around the image.

I think it makes for a very elegant combination. I made one with out the frame, but I think the frame just adds a certain "je ne sais quoi".

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear your feedback.

Happy stamping,

Meg

Stretch Your Dies Day Three and Paper Smooches Sparks: Anything Goes

Hello Everyone,

Today at Stretch Your Dies online card class the teachers were showing us how to use our basic shapes dies in new ways. Two of the demonstrations were about window cards and while I did try one - it just did not work out. I decided to do a variation of the third demo which was to use your dies to create a masked frame. Since it is "Anything Goes" week over at Paper Smooches Sparks, I decided to use my PS stamps. I used three different PS sets on this card: Bold Buzzwords, Sentiment Sampler and Reflections.

I cut a mask for my main panel using my large oval die (Spellbinders). Once the mask was in place, I stamped the sentiment and then filled in all around with a variety of stamps and leaves. Very simple, but I think altogether effective. I actually used my distress inks to do the stamping: Ripe Persimmon, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn, and Mustard Seed. These inks are not really designed to be used for stamping, so I did have to double stamp. 

Thanks for stopping by and as always, I love to hear your feedback.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Stretch Your Dies Day Two, Part Two

Hello Everyone,
One more card to show from today's class at Stretch Your Dies. Kristina showed us how to die cut a collection of dies into a shape.

I cut a bunch of butterflies from a watercolour background that I created. I laid them out in a circle and placed some masking paper over them to pick them up. The I die cut a heart out of the masking paper - so the butterflies end up in a heart shape. I used the negative space heart mask to sponge a heart onto my card  with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. I put foam squares on the back of all the butterflies (still stuck to heart mask) and adhered them over the sponged heart. I felt there wasn't enough definition, so I added the black dash lines. Finally I popped on the sentiment and put the rest of the card together.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think. I am so looking forward to see what they have in store for us tomorrow.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Stretch Your Dies Day Two and CASology Blossom

Hello Everyone,
It is another day of crafting for me - This online card class is fantastic. If you have checked then out, You really must. These classes are a treasure trove of tips and tricks. So, today Jennifer showed us how to layer parts of a die one on top of the other to create depth. Yana Smakula showed us how to  use the negative space from a die cut to create a dramatic background. So, I combined the two  to make these two cards.

For the first one, I cut out six of these flowers (Memory Box Tilth Flower) and kept the negative space of the petal inside. I coloured one with my Y15 copic and then layered that with the trimmed down negative space coloured with my Y17 copic. To get the negative petals in exactly the right spot, I put glue only on them; pressed the whole die down and then carefully peeled away the "flower". I added the touch of YR09 to the center of each petal for a little added shadow and ten popped the black fun foam centers in - I also covered these with Glossy Accents. This was quite a time-consuming card to make, but I love the result.

For the second card, I cut the flowers out of the white panel and stamped the sentiment. I popped it up on a panel of yellow fun foam. Then, I added the flowers back in and added the black centers - a much quicker card, but equally effective - I think!

Thanks for stopping by, I think I am going to add this to CASology as well for their blossom cue card.

Thanks for stopping by and as always, I would love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Online Card Classes: Stretch your Dies Day one

Hello Everyone,
I am so happy to be participating in another Online Card Class. It just happens to coincide with my March Break, so I can play along without having to juggle work too! Today Jennifer McGuire showed us this great way to "shrink" fun foam die cuts. Essentially, you cut your fun foam with your chosen die and then heat it up with your heat gun - magically it shrinks... Tons of fun! Here is my first card (pretty much a direct case of JM's - different word die):

I die cut the hugs sentiment from black fun foam and punched the flowers. I cut extra hugs from white cardstock to make the background. I shrank the foam pieces and adhered the card together. The black strip at the side was stamped with Hero Arts "Swirled Background" and then heat embossed with white and attached to the back of the main panel and finally, I added the strip of gold paper. I also coated the Hugs with Wink of Stella.

You can see a bit of the shimmer in the close-up. I am thrilled with this new technique - I just added a whole bunch of fun foam to my collection - gotta love the Dollar Store! I had some extra fun foam die cuts left over so I made this simple card:

Thanks for stopping by; I love to hear your feedback, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology Tropical and Time Out Challenge

Hello Everyone,
Happy Saturday! I am so excited that the March Break has finally arrived. Today I wanted to play along with Time Out Challenges - they have an inspiration photo:

I love the bright colours and the geometric shapes so that is what I chose as my inspiration. I decided to play along again with CASology where the cue card is "tropical". So here is my card:

I masked off the center and created the design inside. I used Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, and Broken China Distress inks. Then I masked off the outside and did the same thing with Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Picked Raspberry Distress inks. I die cut the Hello out of the middle. I die cut 5 more Hellos from black cardstock and layered it in. Then I offset the original to create a shadow.

I think the colours are very tropical and the "frame" and geometric shapes are inspired by the photo.

I am happy with the way it turned out - Please feel free to give me some feedback and leave a comment.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology: Tropical

Hello Everyone,

It is time to play along with CASology! This week's cue card is Tropical - what a great inspiration word. You have to head over to check out the design team's cards - they are, as always, fantastic. My design focuses on the colours of a tropical sunrise or sunset.

I had the heart die cut left over from some shaker cards I had made for Valentine's. I inked it up with Picked Raspberry and Spiced marmalade Distress Inks. The colours don't show up as vibrant in the photo as they are in real life. I also used Ardyth's card as inspiration which is where I got the idea for the black silhouette flower. I popped the heart up on foam. The sentiment is stamped in behind the heart and then I lined it up and stamped it on the heart too.

I am pleased with this simple card - hope you like it too!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Little Tangles: Anything Goes

Hello Everyone,
I am happy to be joining Little Tangles challenge this week. It has been awhile since I last played along. I used Neat and Tangled's "Ink Splat" and "Everyday Circles". The You Rock part of the sentiment is from Paper Smooches "Sentiment Sampler".

I stamped the splat with Distress inks: Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Peacock Feathers - normally I don't use these inks for stamping, but I think they worked out well.I will be sending this little gem to my bestie this week. I think she will get a kick out of it!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to head over to Little Tangles to see the fabulous cards! Please feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

One More CAS for the Card Concept

Hello Everyone,
I am playing along again with the Card Concept "Thinking of You" challenge. With this card I am using the clean and simple style. A very straight forward card. The flower dies are Simon Says Stamp, as is the sentiment die. The sequins I used are from Neat and Tangled.

I love the way this card turned out - I send cards each week to family and friends and this one will go to my wonderful Aunt Nuala! I like its springy feel and I think she will too!

Thanks for stopping by - I would love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse and The Card Concept: Thinking of You

Hello Everyone,
I have been busy these days with school, so not much time to stamp. I have to say that I am really looking forward to March Break. Today I am playing along with Muse and the Card Concept. Here is the Muse inspiration card for this week.

I am taking some liberties with my design... I love the long image in the center and sentiment across it. This is what I chose as my inspiration.

I used this gorgeous stencil from Simon Says Stamp. I love this tulip - I blended Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks. I sued Mowed Lawn for the stem. Then I stamped the sentiment right over the middle with Versafine ink. I am entering this into the Card Concept Challenge too - the theme this week is "Thinking of You". This is a simple card but really stunning IRL. The sentiment is from Hero Arts "Fancy Basics".

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse: Marion Vagg

Hello Everyone,
I am playing along with Muse to day - the inspiration card was made by inimitable Marion Vagg. Here is her card:

I actually made two cards and I will confess that I did not really mess with perfection - both are pretty close cases of Marion's card.

This was the first one I made. I used Peacock Feathers and Crushed Concord for the sky and a faux tile technique I learned from Online Card Classes. I gave a step by step a few posts ago. I used Paper Smooches "Scripty Sayings" for the sentiment. When I was sponging, I forgot to unmask the door and the window in the house and I didn't like the way it looked white, so I decided to colour them - not sure that I like that  either. That is what led me to make my second card. That and the fact that I had a bunch of blank hearts lying around on my craft table...

I think that i like this second attempt better. This time I used Spiced marmalade and Picked Raspberry Distress inks (on the background panel too).

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are cozy wherever you are. We have been in a bit of a deepfreeze in my neck of the woods - this morning when I got up it -38 degrees celsius!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Paper Smooches Sparks: Anything Goes

Hello Everyone,

Today I am playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks - it is an "Anything Goes" challenge this week. I created this card:

I took Online Card Classes' Clean and Simple Techniques last week ( or was it the week before) - anyway this was one of the techniques called faux embossing. You simply cut out a bunch of die cuts the same colour as your card base and adhere them down in any pattern you like. The die cut is from "Hello Word dies". I simply inked up an extra one with some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and adhered over one to create my sentiment. I love this simple look. Super-easy but striking result!

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out PS Sparks to see the amazing DT cards and the gallery. Please feel fre to leave some feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg