Happy Father’s Day | 2023

Hi Friends! This year’s Father’s Day card for my amazing Dad was inspired by a cute card I saw on IG created by Nina Marie Tripani (@ninamariet) – if you haven’t checked out her Instagram page you are truly missing out!

I started by selecting a color palette from Sarah Renae Clark’s Color Cubes – I selected card number 022. I used Distress Oxide in Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed and blended those onto a 4-1/4” x 5-1/2” piece of white cardstock and set it aside to dry.

Next, I used the Simon Says Stamp “A2 Marquee” dies (the medium sized one) and used it to diecut a piece of watercolor paper. I used Distress Oxide Faded Jean and smashed it onto my glass mat so I could use it to watercolor the card panel. I applied the Faded Jeans with a watercolor brush and applied it as a paint around the outside edges of the panel and set that aside to dry naturally as to reduce the amount of warping.

I, then, used the Simon Says Stamp “Sending Sunshine” stamp set and a piece of white cardstock to stamp the kitty holding a flower using Lawn Fawn Jet Black ink. After I heat set the image, I used Copic markers (oranges, yellows, cool greys and a couple greens) to color the image. After the image had been colored, I used my Brother Scan N Cut machine to cut out the image since I didn’t own the dies for this set.

I splatter the Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed Distress Oxides inks across the water-colored card panel and when it was dry, I used Lawn Fawn’s “Happy Happy Happy” stamp set and selected the cursive happy and Father’s Day stamps and stamped those to the upper left-hand corner of the water-colored panel. To adhere the kitty, I used Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares and placed those on the back side of the diecut then adhered it to the lower right-hand corner of the card panel. I used Simon Says Stamp Big Momma Foam tape to stick the water-colored panel to the ink blended card front panel.

To complete the card, I glued some clear baubles and a clear heart shaped gem to the card front and wrapped it up.

I hope you enjoyed the card. Thank you so much for stopping by to see me - I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…

Bulldog Bunny Slimline Card | 2023 Easter Series #1

Hi Friends! Today I want to share my first Easter card for 2023. The stamps I used aren’t new ones, but well-loved stamps. I think I’ve had the Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz “Crazy Things” stamp set for many years. Like I said, well-loved and will never get rid of it in a random de-stash. Let’s get started.

Firstly, I created the slimline card base by cutting a piece of 110# cardstock to measure 8-1/2” x 7” and folded the cardstock in half – maintaining the 8-1/2” length which resulted in the card base measuring 8-1/2” x 3-1/2”.

I used the Whimsy Stamps “Slimline Cornered Rectangle” die set – the two largest dies – to create the base of this card front. I cut a piece of purple cardstock from the largest die and used the second largest die to cut a piece of white cardstock. I used my ATG gun to adhere the purple diecut to the slimline card base and trimmed the card base corners to match the purple diecut piece.

Now it’s time to start coloring the decorative panel. I used the Trinity Stamps “Slimline Layered Eggs” stencil and Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Oxides (Shaded Lilac, Kitsch Flamingo, Tumbled Glass, Twisted Citron, Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, Saltwater Taffy). I used a blending brush to apply color to each of the eggs using the stencil. Once the ink dried, I splattered Kuretake Silver Mica Brilliant Silver Ink all over the card panel and set aside to dry.

My next step was to stamp the Whimsey Stamps “Doggie Birthday Party 2” bulldog stamp onto alcohol marker cardstock and stamped it a second time onto masking paper. Using scissors, I cut out the dog from the masking paper and adhered it to the dog image on the cardstock. I then grabbed my Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous “Crazy Things” stamp set and used the rabbit ears stamp from that set and stamped it carefully above the bulldog’s head. I removed the masking paper from the bulldog image and colored the images using Copic alcohol markers. For a bit of ‘pop’, I used black Ranger Enamel Accents on the dog’s nose, white Ranger Enamel Accents on the dog’s teeth and black Sakura Glaze pen on the dog’s eyes. Then I got a little festive and added a layer of Distress Collage Medium to the edges of the rabbit ears and heavily dusted the gluey ears with Pink & Main Sparkling Cottontail flock to give them a fluffy, cottony appearance. CUTE!

Next, I stamped the large, solid HAPPY stamp from the Honey Bee Stamps “Happy Happy Happy” set onto a piece of white cardstock using Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Oxide in the color Wilted Violet. I stamped the Easter word stamp from that same set and cut both the HAPPY and the Easter using the coordinating dies from the collection. I backed them with Simon Says Stamp 3D Foam Squares (as well as the bulldog image) and adhered them to the egg-decorated card front panel.

To wrap up the card, I used the ATG gun to adhere the decorated card front panel to the purple cardstock on the card base. I added Trinity Stamps “Cave Crystals” sequins in random locations to give the card front its finishing touch.

I hope you enjoyed the card. Thank you so much for stopping by to see me - I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…

Happy Valentine's Day | Valentine’s Day Series #3

Hi Friends! I’m here to share my third Valentine’s Day card with you for 2023. When Mama Elephant released this stamp set, I knew I had to have it. The critters as cupids are just so adorable!

For this card, I started out by stamping Dark Room Door’s Love Word Block Stamp onto a piece of off-white watercolor paper using Altenew’s Clear Embossing Ink and Hero Arts’ White Satin Pearl embossing powder. I heat set the embossing powder and used blue masking tape to temporarily adhere the embossed watercolor paper to a hard board. I applied a generous amount of water to the embossed panel and sopped silver Iuile watercolor paint and Cherry Pie and Wild Rose watercolor paint from Art Philosophy’s Confetti set. I set this aside to allow it to dry while I worked on the other card elements.

I stamped all the little critters from Mama Elephant’s “Love Cupids” stamp set onto some Canson XL Bristol Smooth cardstock using Lawn Fawn’s Jet Black ink. I colored the images using Copic markers, applied Nuvo Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer to the cupids’ wings and cloud, then covered all the hearts with Ranger’s Glossy Accents. Lastly, the koala’s nose and all the critters’ eyes received a coating of black Sakura Glaze.

Using Trinity Stamp’s “Modern Embossed Rectangle Stack” dies, I die cut the black and water colored/stamped card panels for the card front. Next, I cut the Cardstock Warehouse Stardream Silver cardstock to a US A2 size panel (4-1/4” x 5-1/2”). I glued the three panels together and onto the A2 card base.

I used my Brother Scan ‘N Cut to cut out the images of the Mama Elephant critters since I didn’t own the coordinating dies and put Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares on the back of each of the elements I was going to use for the card. I also cut out the Happy Valentines Day sentiment from Paper Rose’s All Occasions Sentiment Sheets and put the same foam squares on the back of it. Lastly, all the critters and sentiment were adhered to the card front.

Thank you so much for stopping by to see me - I appreciate you doing so!

Until next time…