World Card Making Day Mood Board Challenge at Kat Scrappiness

I don't usually post twice in one day, but I guess an exception can be made for World Card Making Day:) Kat Scrappiness has a cool fall colored Mood Board and a challenge to post a card today and I made this shaker card for the challenge. It uses fall colors and leaves that are curled like real ones to reveal the shaker elements below them. The top picture shows the card "shaken up" and the bottom picture is the card standing up. The leaves stamps and dies are from Fun Stampers Journey and the "thankful" die is from Gina K.

On this day and everyday I am thankful for this creative passion I have found that brings me such joy and lets me share that joy with those who receive my cards and also those who learn from them on my blog and on YouTube. Thanks for helping me share the joy of creativity.

I am also entering this card in the Mood Board challenge at Victorine Stamps. 

Watercolor Powder Comparison- Bister and Magenta Nuance Fall Cards

I posted a new YouTube video yesterday showing the differences between all the watercolor powders I owned with a bunch of card samples. Here is a link to that video:

 https://youtu.be/r3HASHLM_sw

Today I am sharing two of my favorites of the sample cards. The first watercolor powder I purchased back in 2014 was Bister powders which have a wood grain feel to them and are from the Netherlands. They are available for purchase in the USA here.  One of my favorite ways to use Bisters is to create a stormy sky background with the Black Bister powders only as I did above. When dry, I created a circle mask and used bleach on an on old waterbrush to pull some of the color out of the moon. I added a spooky tree, some bats and a ghost from Karen Burniston's Halloween dies, and "Spooky" from Tonic Studios.

I used Magenta Nuance powders and silver embossing powder to create the leaves on this card. For details on the technique, check out the YouTube video here. I die cut a leaf opening with a Fun Stampers Journey leaf die, and placed a gorgeous autumn scene Clear Views Transparency behind the opening. For details on how to order Clear Views, check out the description box on the YouTube video, or scroll down to yesterday's blogpost. The larger Magenta Nuance leaves were cut with Tim Holtz's Tattered Leaves die and the leaf punch is from The Paper Studio. The "blessed" was cut with a die from Simon Says Stamp. Here are a couple more photos of this card: 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and also from clicking on over to check out the new video, leave a comment, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel if you have not already done so. And thanks for helping me #share the joy of creativity!

Butterfly Celebrate Surprise Card

I am going to be teaching a class soon that will feature Karen Burniston Pop It Up dies and this is the third card I have designed for the class. I love butterflies- who doesn't? and am featuring them on this card. The beautiful stamped butterfly is from a set by Fun Stampers Journey and I stamped it once and then a second time without re-inking. I created a belly band out of a floral dp and attached "celebrate" which I cut out with a Tonic Studios die and sponged just the bottom half with a blue ink. The front was completed with a small butterfly punched out of the dp with a Martha Stewart punch. And as always with Karen's dies, the surprise inside is my favorite part: 

I die cut the pop up center of this card with a die from Karen Burniston called Anita Frame. There is a stamp set by Karen called "Occasions" with stamps that fit perfectly on pieces of this die set. I stamped and die cut the "Happy Birthday to you" label and attached it to the interactive right label of the diecut. The die set also included a die to decorate the top and bottom pop outs perfectly. I punched some more butterflies, adhered them and added some pearls to each. The Anita Frame die makes a gorgeous card very easy to make! 

I am entering this card in the challenge at Simon Says Stamp (Wednesday) to use more than one die and/or punch.

Age is Irrelephant Bubbles Card

I recently found a tutorial on how to make a fun bubbly background with Distress Inks and bubbles. For another card with the technique and a link to the tutorial, check out this earlier blog post. On this card front I mixed brown and green distress inks and then dipped it into soap bubbles, then let it dry. I used my MISTI to stamp the super cute elephant and sentiment from Fun Stampers Journey. Then I paper pieced the elephant with grey polkadotted patterned paper. I layered the completed piece on a green cardbase and added a punched greeting in the inside: 

I am going to share this technique and this card in my in home classes coming up.

Music is Life Mixed Media Card

I saw a video here on a background technique that used Distress Inks and soap bubbles and it looked so fun, I just had to try it. I made this card with one of the pieces and if you look in the background, you can see the bubble marks. Here is a picture of some of the other pieces I did with different colors of Distress Ink:

The center one also has dried Elmers Glue on it. The darker the distress ink, the better the results. I will make some cards with these and share them soon. I used Dusty Concord Distress Ink on my Music is Life Mixed Media Card. Before I sponged and dipped the card front into the bubbles, I stamped the lovely musical tree with Versamark and heat embossed with black embossing powder. The guitar and tree (from Fun Stampers Journey) resisted the ink and bubbles. After sponging and dipping in bubbles, I let the piece completely dry. Then I used my MISTI to stamp the sentiment and Postage Stamp (both also from Fun Stampers Journey.) I applied Nuvo's Black Diamond Glimmer Paste though Tonic Studio's Falling Diamond Stencil on both sides. Then I die cut Tonic Studio's Piano Melody Die out of a purple scrap, backed it with white and attached it to the card. The Black Diamond Glimmer Paste (from Tonic Studios) is sparkly and adds great dimension to the card.  I love all the colors of this great new product! It is hard to show the dimension and sparkle in a photograph, but here is a close-up: 

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes (with a stamp) challenge at Craft Stamper Magazine. 

Happy Birthday Simon Says Stamp!

My favorite challenge blog is celebrating their birthday this week and so I am entering this CAS birthday shaker card for a chance to win one of the gift certificates! Happy Birthday to Simon Says Stamp (being celebrated on their Wednesday challenge blog here.)  I love making shaker cards and bought this circular Happy Birthday die from Tessler Crafts with that type of card in mind. I stamped the fun  background from Fun Stampers Journey, then cut the center piece out. I sponged on aqua blue ink and attached the HB circle on the acetate piece on the back. I dumped in a bunch of birthday sequins and attached the shaker front to an A2 card base. Here is another view all shook up:

I am also entering this card in the "Use a Die-Cut" challenge at Creative Card Crew.

Dream BIG!

When I got a chance to look through the newest Fun Stampers Journey catalog recently, my favorite stamp set was this super cute baby dinosaur and his inspiring message. I love how he is in a big dinosaur footprint and dreaming of being big and strong. Great message for kids or anyone! I stamped the dino print stamp with brown ink on a kraft piece, then colored the grass green. I also stamped it on green patterned paper and paper pieced the baby dinosaur. I tore a hole in a plaid dp piece as if he is breaking through. Then I stamped the inspiring "Dream BIG" on another dp piece and attached. CAS and great encouragement for anyone.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Addicted to Stamps and the Amusing Challenge. 

Dreamweaver Fun Fold Card

I have been playing with fun folds, new stamps and Brusho Crystal Colours for monthly classes that are starting again in my home soon. I recently purchased this Dreamweaver stamp from Fun Stampers Journey and knew I wanted to feature it on a card. I heat embossed it with detail black ink on a piece of watercolor paper, then sprinkled orange, violet and blue Brushos and spritzed with water resulting in a beautiful front piece. The fold is created by scoring an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" aqua blue piece at 2,3,5 and 6". This is what the card looks like from the top, showing the folds:

And here is a look with the card spread out so you can see all the details:

The side panels are cut with a Memory Box die called Lucienne Tile. I cut a small feather with an Impression Obsession die, sponged the edges and stamped "Take Care" from Flourishes.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Simon Says Stamp and Jo's Scrap Shack, and the embossing challenge at Virginia's View.

Kitty Cat Diorama Class Card

I have been playing with my NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) and designing cards to teach in my monthly in home classes starting again in March. I created the front of this card with a cute new stamp called Cat's Meow from Fun Stampers Journey, the Kitty Cat Birthday sentiment from Crackerbox Palace and a new Geometric Square die from Leabilities. What's new and teachable you ask? Just look at the inside:

The inside of the card pops up to create a diorama look with the perfect sentiment from Crackerbox Palace in the inside of the popped up diorama piece. I added a Geometric Corner die cut from the same set by Leabilities and a couple punched kitties (Fiskars) to complete the inside.

I am entering this card in the "All Creatures Great and Small" challenge at Simon Says Stamp and the Favorite Color Combo (red, black and white) challenge at Kitty Bee Designs.

Present Card with NBUS for Classes

I saw a present card on Pinterest recently and decided to try making one for the classes I teach in my home. Here is the blogpost with the measurements I used.  For the front of the present, I cut a beautiful snowflake using my new die from Simon Says Stamp out of the navy, then popped in a white snowflake into the negative space. I also put back in the small navy pieces for the inlaid die look. The top of the present has an embossed piece (Sizzix embossing folder), a white ribbon that I colored with blue dye ink and a sparkly bow I cut out with my new Clearly Besotted die. When the front was done, I sprayed it with silver Glitter Dust from thermoweb. This is the best glitter spray I have ever tried!

The top part of the present pulls up and this is what is attached in the inside. I just got a beautiful script Merry Christmas from Fun Stampers Journey and I embossed it with sparkly blue embossing powder from Stampamania (another recent discovery and the best sparkly embossing powder I have ever used.) Still working on my pile of NBUS (never before used schtuff) before I put them away, especially the holiday schtuff:) But since I make Christmas cards all year, if I don't get done, I will play into the new year.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Treasured Times and Vandicrafts Artistry (and the present is square.)