Some News and a New Release!

Good Morning!!! I have some exciting news today! I was chosen to join the design team for Joy Clair! I am so excited to be part of this amazing company. They have some gorgeous products as well as digital stamps.

Today is new release day for them, and my inspiration for this is using on of the new digital collection called Floral Friendship, you all know just how much I love making floral cards and this collection is just perfect for that:

This is just one of the floral arrangements and sentiment from this set, I colored the flowers with alcohol markers, matted it with a coordinating cardstock and added it to a black card base. A few clear enamel dots were all I felt was needed to compliment the image.

For the new release and to introduce the new team Joy Clair is doing a blog hop, click on each of the links and leave a comment telling us what is your favorite product from the release to be entered :

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thank you for stopping by. I will be back during August with more inspiration using the new release. Also my teamies will be sharing with you over on the Joy Clair Facebook Group.

 You can check out the new release and all of Joy Clair's products over in their store.

Items I used:

Copic Markers Purchase From: SSS | AZN	X-Press It Cardstock Purchase From: SSS | AZN	ZipDry Glue Purchase From: SSS | AZN	Translucent Enamel Dots Purchase From: GMD
Joy Clair Floral Friendship Purchase From: JC

Just Hanging Around..........Underwear Bear

Good afternoon! My good friend and digital stamp artist is also a children's book author, Sherry West shared an image from her book, It's raining Cats, It's raining Dogs, It's Raining Bats and Pollywogs with the design team and I really loved it so she let me color it meet Underwear Bear!

Isn't it the cutest! I colored the image with Copic Markers and added it to a card matted with coordinating colors. My sentiment was printed from my pc, matted with same cardstock as my card and added using foam tape. As I finished my card Kev suggested I add string so the hanging line continues off the card. Great idea! I added bakers twine to match the card design, adhered it to the back of the card then glued a piece of cardstock over this so you don't see the ends of the string.

This little guy isn't available in Sherry's Store yet but I'm sure he will be.... In the meantime check out our Facebook page for more inspiration using Sherry's gorgeous images

Thanks for stopping by and if you love what you see, let me know in the comments section

Home Tweet Home

Good afternoon! Despite being stuck at home this year is flying by, I can't believe we are at the end of July already!

Guess what?? Stamper's Delights' Kawaii new release starts now!!!! head on over to the store and check out the cute images they have. For my design team inspiration I have 2 cards to show you using Tweet Kawaii:

Aren't they cute!!!

My first card show one of the cuties singing away in her tree:

I arranged multiple elements from the digital stamp collection onto stamping card, colored them with alcohol markers and stenciled clouds in the background;

My second card uses the bird house as its base:

So I resized and printed 2 version of the bird house, I used one as a template to make my card base, I cut 2 of them from cover stock card, scored down the side of one, glued these together and hey presto! a bird house shaped card base! The second bird house was fussy cut, including the heart in the center. I used alcohol markers to color this and the bird. The house was stenciled with a vine stencil. I then adhered bird in the center of the card base. Foam tape was added to the house and this was adhered so the bird was looking out of the center. The Home Sweet Home sentiment was matted on coordinating card and added using foam squares.

What I Used:

Digital Stamp: Stamper's Delights - Tweet Kawaii

Stamping card: X-Press It

Alcohol Markers: Copic

Stencil for clouds: Picket Fence - Layers of Clouds

Stencil for bird House: Sara's Signature Collection - Enchanted Forest Hanging Foliage

Card base: Neenah Solar White 110lb Coverstock

Blue and brown cardstock for mats: Core'dinations Premium

Glue: Zip Dry

Foam Tape; Dollar Store

Head on over to the Stamper's Delights Store to see all of this week’s New Releases. including these:

                               

Why not stop by the Stamper's Delight Facebook page for regular news and inspiration from my Teamies you can also enter the progressive challenge there, no blog needed and receive freebies! You can also use your Stamper's Delights images to enter the Cheerful Sketches Challenge as we are sponsoring them this month 

Thanks for stopping by and if you like what you see please leave a comment to let me know!

Christmas in July

Good Morning! It's a bit cooler this week than it had been thank goodness!

But Hey it's Tuesday! New challenge starts over at Digi Choosday today! As always it is anything goes but the design team are sharing their Christmas makes with an unusual shaped card, Here's Winnie about to step over the prickly holly on my wreath card:

What I Did:

I started by resizing and printing 2 copies of the wreath and one of Winnie on to stamping card. I then fussy cut one of the wreaths, cut the blue and white flowers out of the other and shaped the petals on these. I colored Winnie with alcohol markers and fussy cut her too.

Using my Cameo I cut 2 rings from cover stock card. I scored about half an inch from the top of one and glued this section to the other making a card base that had a hole in the middle. So that this would stand I cut the bottom half inch off the back one.

The center of the front of the card base was covered with acetate and I added the wreath over this covering all of the ring. The white and blue flowers from the second wreath were then layered on their matching flowers on my card.

Winnie was then adhered to the center of the card on the acetate. I finally added glitter to her hat and collar as well as the flowers on the wreath.

What I Used:

Digital Stamp: Polkadoodles - Winnie White Christmas; Watch Your Step

Digital Design Wreaths: Polkadoodles - Baked with Love Foliage

Stamping Card: X-Press It

Alcohol Markers: Copic

White Coverstock Card: Neenah Solar White Cover Stock 110lb

Actate: From my stash

Glitter: From my stash

Glue - ZipDry and Quicky Glue pen

The Digi Choosday Challenge runs for 2 weeks, it is always anything goes so there is no reason not to enter and you never know you may just win!

Looking for more inspiration? Then check out my teamies designs over on the Facebook page, you can also post your own Polkadoodles' designs on the Craft Stamp and Colour with Polkadoodles Facebook group

Thanks for stopping by, now go join the challenge!

Just for Fun

Good evening! I wanted to play this evening, no reason for making a card I just wanted to play with stash I've not used yet.

I pulled out my Flower forming foam from Crafter's Companion and the Peony dies that came with it:

I made 3 flowers so then needed a card to put them on. I used Tonic Studios Petal Pattern stencil and Altenew ink and made a lace effect background. This was layered on to 2 different shades of purple cardstock and a white card base.

I arranged my flowers and adhered with hot glue to my card. I then used Crafter's Companion Stamp and Die Thankful for You collection, die cutting the thankful in the same purple as my layers

I love how it turned out now to decide who to give it to...............

Thank you for stopping by and if you love what you see let me know in the comments.

Let's Get Together!

Good morning! I wish it would cool down, the temperature is just too unbearable to be out in. I have to make sure the dogs aren't out in it long.

Hey it's Tuesday again which means a new challenge over at Digi Choosday and this time the design team's inspiration is all about getting together with a friend:

What I Did:
I resized and printed Winnie Fruit Punch One for you! onto stamping card along with a sentiment that i felt fit the theme. She was colored with alcohol markers and trimmed to size.
I die cut 2 frames, one in pink and one in blue.Using foam tape I positioned the pink one around Winnie.
My 7x5in card base was matted with blue card and Polkadoodles Digital design paper. I then adhered the blue frame to the card. Winnie was then added both her and the blue frame were positioned at apposing angles.
My sentiment was matted with both the blue and pink card and added using foam squares.
To finish the card I added glaze to the cocktail glasses Winnie is holding and added a Friend die cut.

What I Used:

Digital Stamp: Polkadoodles -Winnie Fruit Punch: One for You!
Stamping Card: X-Press It
Alcohol Markers: Copic
Frame Dies: Gina Marie: Frames, Scalloped Stitched Rectangles
Blue and Pink Cardstock: Core'Dinations Premium
Digital Design Paper: Polkadoodles - Winnie Special Moments Paper Heaven 3
Sentiment: Polkadoodles - Winnie Special Moments Quotes
Glaze: Tonic Crystal Glaze
Friend Die Cut: Crafter's Companion - Essentials Friends and Family
Glue: ZipDry
Foam Tape: Dollar Store

The Digi Choosday Challenge runs for 2 weeks, it is always anything goes so there is no reason not to enter and you never know you may just win!

Looking for more inspiration? Then check out my teamies designs over on the Facebook page, you can also post your own Polkadoodles' designs on the Craft Stamp and Colour with Polkadoodles Facebook group

Thanks for stopping by, now go join the challenge!

Ink Blending Fun

Good Morning! We survived last night's fireworks, Penny is the only pup who bothers and then she barks like she would if someone knocked on the door!

Today's post is showcasing my work for my next Altenew Educator Certification Course. The lesson's this time were Ink Blending Techniques and the tutor was Amy Lee - She did some wonderful work!

My first card demonstrates basic blending techniques:

I started with a 4.25x5.5in piece of Solar White Neenah 80lb cardstock and using my blending tool and Altenew's Ocean Waves ink I blended out from the center, fading the ink as I went by using less ink and pressure on the tool.

using Wings Of Hope stamp set I centered the sentiment and stamped it with Jet Black ink. The flowers and leaves are part of the same stamp set and I just inked these around the sentiment to balance the card. I used Lavender Fields, Deep Iris and Frayed Leaf inks for this. I felt the flower needed something more so I added some white dots to center with a Posca paint pen.

Finally I adhered my design onto a card base that was the same dimensions.

My next card uses an embossing resist technique:

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5in piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper. After I had used my anti-static powder across all of the card I stamped the Moroccan Mosaic background stamp with Versamark Watermark ink. adding Wow clear gloss embossing powder I heated it to activate the powder. I then blended Worn Lipstick Oxide ink over all of the card getting a smooth blend. I darkened the edges with Candied Apple Oxide ink. Once dried I then 'polished' the design to brighten the stamped section. This resists the ink showing the pattern.

For my topper I stamped The Sunflower Daisy stamp flower and leaves, die cut them and arranged using glue and foam tape to give dimension. The Sentiment is from Taylored Expression Simple Strips background and I die cut this and added it with foam tape across my flowers. Finally I added some clear droplets. I trimmed my card down to 4.5.5in and added it to a 4.25 x 5.5in base made from Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock.

My final card uses the faux watercoloring and Ink blending technique from Amy's 5th Lesson:

I loved doing this one, I haven't played much with watercoloring but this has given me the incentive to do more. I started with a piece of 4.25x5.5in Canson XL Watercolor Paper. Using the Paint a Flower Hydrangea stamp set, I followed the emboss resist technique from my last card but used white embossing powder. I then ink blended over this with Altenew Frayed Leaf, Warm Sunshine and Ocean Wave  dye ink. I tried to use a different ink color on each of the flowers and of course the green on the leaves. Then I sprayed the area with water and using a wet paint brush I added more ink just in the flowers and leaves. I left this to dry then again using ink like water color I added Carved Pumpkin, Wilted Violet and Mowed Lawn Distress ink to just the flowers and leaves. Once this dried the added ink colors made the flowers and leave pop from the paper:

Finally I stamped a sentiment from the same stamp set and used a Spellbinder Frame die to decorate the edge of the cardstock. This was then adhered to a 4.25x5.5in card base.

I am learning so many new techniques doing the Altenew Educator Certificate Course, and yes they can be applied to all my card making not just Altenew!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope if you like what you see you will let me know in the comments section.

Happy Birthday America!!!!

Good afternoon - Hope everyone is celebrating safely today, we should all still be social distancing where we can and wear your mask!

My post today is to share a cutie from Sherry West Art - meet Fireworks Girl:

What I Did:

I started by resizing the image and printing her onto stamping card. She was colored with alcohol markers and I foiled her firework - this was a trial and error process. I 'colored' over part of the firework with an embossing ink pen then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. This process was repeated 3 times so a thick layer of embossing. I then covered the area with blue foil and ran through my laminator 3 times. I left this to cool then repeated the process over different parts of the firework with red foil. The result was a bit thicker than I wanted but it worked! The laminator melts the embossing powder making the foil stick.

You can just see the shine this achieves here:

 For the rest of my card I matted a 5x7in card base with with red cardstock and then added a digital design paper. I used paper from same collection under my image and then matted my image and added with foam tape.

What I Used:

Digital Stamp: Sherry West - Independence Girl

Alcohol Markers: Copic

Embossing Ink Pen: Versamarker

Embossing Powder: Wow Clear Gloss Powder

Foil: Minc Heidi Swapp Red and Blue 

White Card Base: Neenah Solar White 110lb
Red Cardstock: Core'Dinations Premium
Digital Design Papers: Polkadoodles - 4th July Celebrations
Glue: ZipDry
Foam Tape: Dollar Store

Growing Friendship

Good afternoon! It's hot hot hot here, Holiday weekend and its going to be in mid 90s. I struggle in the heat so staying tucked up inside with cool air on suits me well.

We've had a shuffle around over at Stamper's Delights and as well as showing the gorgeous Kawaii images I now get the chance to play with the super cute Chibis ones too and today is the Chibis new release so I got to play with Chibi Friendship Grows:

What I Did:

I started by making my design paper, I used one of the images from the set, resized it and copied it multiple times so that I had a random flower pattern. I then printed this and colored the flowers. I resized the Chibi image and sentiment and printed these onto stamping card. She was then colored using alcohol markers, her boots are plain but they just needed to have a matching flowery pattern. I fussy cut her out and put to one side.

I made my 7x5in card base and matted this with pink cardstock and the flowery patterned paper. My sentiment was matted onto the same pink cardstock and both this and my image were arranged and adhered to the card using foam squares.

Lastly I added some yellow nuvo drops to the paper both for texture and to tie the yellow color from the flowers.

What I Used:

Digital Stamps for design paper, Image and Sentiment: Stamper's Delights - Chibi Friendship Grows

Stamping Card: X-Press It

Alcohol Markers: Copic

White Card Base: Core'Dinations Premium Heavyweight

Pink Cardstock: Core'Dinations Premium

Nuvo drop: Tonic - English Mustard

Head on over to the Stamper's Delights Store to purchase this super cute image set, Look at all you get:

Why not stop by the Stamper's Delight Facebook page for regular news on and inspiration from my Teamies you can also enter the progressive challenge there, no blog needed and receive freebies! 

I am Entering into the following Challenges:
                                               Gem of a Challenge: Anything Goes
                                               Color Crazy Challenge: Anything Goes
                                               Polkadoodles: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and if you like what you see please leave a comment to let me know!

CAS Boutique Cards

Good Morning! I'm having a lazy day today, the heat is just too much to get busy!

My post today is all about Clean and Simple Boutique Cards - the third course in my Altenew Educator Certification Program. I have made 3 cards that are all CAS:

My first card was from lesson one simple styling, I've covered this by doing a single rose in the center of my card and a very simple sentiment:

I used Altenew's Painted Rose stamp set, stamping the layers of the rose with Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart and Purple Wine inks from the Rose Petal Mini Cube Set. I stamped the leaves with Frayed Leaf and then loosely drew the outline of them with a Faber Castell Pitt pen. Lastly I used a sentiment from Altenew Heartfelt Sentiments and stamped it with jet black ink.

 For my next card I used lesson 2 - Stamped backgrounds:

For this card I used one of the stamps from Wild Fern Stamp Set and stamped it multiple times on my card in  Just Green Ink. I then mixed some watercolor marker ink with water and, using a paint brush, made splatters cover the card front.

The sentiment, again from the Wild fern Stamp Set, was stamped in versamark ink and I heat embossed this with white embossing powder onto a strip of black card. This was then adhered on to my card.

My last card was my favorite technique and one I wasn't aware of. I added foiling:

This is a great technique if you don't have alternate ways of foiling. I do have a foil press but can't use that with my stamps! 

I used Altenew's Dahlia Blossoms, picked one of the layers of both the smaller and large flower and stamped this in Buttercream Ink. Then came the magic. I used my antistatic bag across my card and stamped the outline of the flowers with Stayzon ink. I heat embossed this with clear embossing powder. I had to repeat this step 3 times to get a thick enough outline for the foil to stick to. Following the embossing I laid Minc foil over the images and sent it through a laminator which had been heating up for a while. Once my card had cooled I removed the foil sheet and was left with a gorgeous rose pink foiled outline on my dahlias.

I went on to stamp the leaves from the Dahlia stamp set and some more from Altenew's beautiful Day stamp set. 

As I loved the foiling so much I had to do more! I chose a sentiment die from my stash. I die cut this in both black and white. I covered the white version in Stayzon ink and dipped it into my embossing ink. Again I repeated this 2 more times then covered it with foil and ran it through my laminator and it worked! I adhered this to the black diecut, slightly offsetting it so I had a black shadow to my foiled sentiment. This was then glued to my card.

This was my favorite lesson from the whole Clean and Simple Boutique Card course and I will be using frequently!!

Thanks for checking out my post - I hope it gave you some inspiration and if you like what you see please leave me some love in the comment section