Spotlighting a Split Image

Hello and I hope you had a good holiday!  A friend from my online stamping group challenged us to use a technique she called Split Image stamping.  It is a type of spotlighting.

I cut a rectangle about 2.25 x 3.5 inches (it is not exact) and temporarily adhered that over a card front.  I then used my stamp platform to stamp the sunflower over top. I didn’t reink, but I did stamp several times to get a good image at the edge of that panel.  

I then colored just the smaller panel, matted that in green and adhered directly to the card front.  

This is a really pretty set from Power Poppy In Praise of Sunflowers and I hadn’t used the images yet.  And so many cute and different sentiments.  I know I am at a point in stamping that I do like sentiments that are a bit unusual.

I’d love to enter Word Art Wednesday’s Anything Goes challenge.

Camping Card with Brusho Background

Hello!  I was feeling sad recently that I won’t be sending any camp cards this year, because all sleep away camps are cancelled this summer.  (There are a couple virtual activities we are doing, which I applaud all these creative folks for trying!)

So I decided to make a camping card anyhow.  

I had this scrap of watercolor cardstock where I had tested some Brusho.  It has been sitting on my desk for a while, as I knew I would use it or something.  Well today was the day!  

I colored my tent and raccoon with markers. I then paper pieced the sun. (All Purple Onion Designs.)  I had this saying (Power Poppy) that I thought would be good for any kind of summer greeting.  I put the whole thing over top of patterned paper from Pink Paislee Outfitters.

I would love to enter Cute Card Thursday’s Anything Goes challenge, and SimonSaysStamp’s Wednesday Bright and Cheerful Challenge..

Thanks for reading my blog today. I hope you are safe and keep on stamping!

Thank You Cards

Hello all!  I hope you’ve had a good weekend.  We were able to safely visit some family, using social distancing, and then also get a lot of stuff done around the house.  

I have two Thank You cards to share today.  I colored the focal images for these, but the colored matting is part of some Distress Stencil backgrounds that I made a while back. These were the ones that didn’t work well, but I was still able to cut them down to use part of them.  

Stamps are from Power Poppy. 

I would love to enter Cute Card Thursday’s Flower Challenge and Word Art Wednesday’s Anything Goes challenge.  Also, Pixie’s Crafty Workshops Snippets challenge.

Thank you and have a great day!

Rainbow Card Backgrounds

Hello!  Today I’d like to share a couple cards made with some rainbow backgrounds.  First, I heat embossed my very old Hero Arts stamp on watercolor paper.  I then applied distress inks to just a thin portion of a long acrylic block, and spritzed this with water. I applied this to the paper starting at the top, and changing colors as I went down. I made sure that the ink was watery enough to blend between colors.  

I finished off one card with a simple sentiment from Power Poppy, and the other with some images from a Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kit.  I think these are super fun, and my teenage son told me that I could give them to girls or boys, so that felt like a really big win!

I’d like to enter A Blog Named Hero’s Old and New challenge, and Word Art Wednesday’s Anything Goes Challenge.

Thanks for visiting!

Double Background Stamp Background

Hello!  In my stamping group, we were challenged to use the following technique to create a background with two background stamps.  I dug deep into my older stamps to find these two - they have to be at least 5 years old, if not 10.

I first stamped my Hero Arts tweed stamp with Versamark ink.  I then applied chalks all over this. Then, I inked up my Hero Arts Stitched Floral stamp with navy ink and stamped over top.  I thought this looked summery and girly.  

So I decided to simply finish it with a fun brushstroke sentiment from Power Poppy.  

I would love to enter WordArtWednesday - Anything Goes, Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes, SimonSaysStamp’s Monday Challenge - Create Your Own Background and RetroRubber Challenge - Summer.

I hope you are having a nice weekend. It is pretty hot and humid here.

Take care!

Heidi

Ombré Watercolor Background

Hello everyone! I hope you had a good Monday.  Mine was filled with some cardmaking, but also a bunch of errands and cleaning.  It was really nice summer weather.  Not too hot and not too humid.  Can’t complain about that!  

I have been admiring the stamps that Technique Junkies makes, as I am a long time reader of one of their Design Team member, Beth. I finally decided to make a purchase, and used this gorgeous bird stamp first!

I first created an Ombré Watercolor background with my pan watercolors.  These can be fun to do. You start with a lot of color, and then use more and more water as you go.  After it dried, I stamped right over top.  I then used watercolor markers to fill in the colors, and I blended the colors with a water brush.

The sentiment is one from Power Poppy.  I thought it went right along with this image.  

Supplies: Technique Junkies Watercolor Birds, Power Poppy Woodland Carpet stamp set, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Koi Pan watercolor travel set, watercolor paper, Tombow Water Based markers.

Thanks for visiting today!  I feel like I am back in the swing of things.  How about you?  Have you had time for crafting lately?

Spring Primrose Card

Hello!  So, we woke up to more snow this morning, and I find myself reaching for floral stamps even more often now!  I keep seeing pretty pots of Primroses for sale at the grocery, and today I decided to use this pretty stamp!

Supplies:  Power Poppy Potted Primrose Stamp set, Memento black ink, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangles dies, sequins from my stash. 

I would love to enter Freshly Made Sketches #377, Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes and Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes.

Thank you so much for visiting! I hope you will have time to leave a comment or subscribe to my blog.  Have a crafty day!

Distress Oxides Smooshing over Gesso Technique

Hello everyone!  I hope you are doing well.  

I have been working on the administrative side of my blog.  I continue to investigate commenting issues, and I think I have a fix as I have been able to comment on more blogger blogs today.  Yay!

Also, you might know that Google+ is closing up shop, and so many of us that use Blogger have widgets and things that are connected to Google+.  So I went ahead and removed those.  

The rub is that people who have been following me via Google+ and won’t find me anymore.  However, I have gone through and tried to find all those blogs that I followed on Google+ and added them to my regular reader.  I now follow about 120 blogs!  

Anyhow, I have shared this tip before, but I have an easy hack for doing the smooshing technique with Distress Oxide inks.  The trick to getting lovely layering (I think) is to first coat your cardstock with gesso and letting it dry.  Then do the smooshing as you usually do, drying in between colors.  This background was done using Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves and Salty Ocean Distress oxide inks.  

I then stamped and colored my snowman.  I added glitter pen in certain spots.  I cut out the snowman just on top, creating a hill below.  

Supplies: Power Poppy Snow Kissed Stamp set, Memento and Versafine Black inks, Distress Oxide Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves, Salty ocean inks, Sakura Stardust gel pen, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers

Thanks for visiting today!  If you aren’t already, consider becoming a follower!

Bandana Card

Howdy, stamping friends!  Today, I created a card as a sample for the Free for All Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers - A Western Cowboy/Cowgirl theme.  My very first thought for Cowboy was a bandana, and I have the perfect stamp for this. 

Everything here is stamped, no patterned paper or embellishments.  I stamped the bandana over red cardstock and added details with my white gel pen.  I planned to cut it up and create a layout with this, but I just couldn’t cut it up!  So, instead, I matted it, added my sentiment and a little stamped flower.  

Supplies:  Stampendous Bandana background stamp, Power Poppy Folk Heart stamp set (sentiment and flower), Versamark black ink, Memento Black ink, alcohol markers, Signo white gel pen, other items from my stash.

Thank you for your visit and all your kind comments.  I really enjoy reading each one!  See you soon!

May Flower of the Month - Lily of the Valley

I’m back with this month’s Flower of the Month post!  This is my self-imposed challenge to make at least one card a month using birth flowers and stamps I already have.  

You can find all my Flower of the Month posts HERE!

This month’s flower is Lily of the Valley and it is a favorite flower of mine. I love the scent, and the sweet little blossoms.  My patch is currently in bloom, but is just fading. 

I colored this sweet little image with alcohol markers.  I had an idea on how to create some texture in the sky. I first colored all around the flower with light blue, then I went over the area with my colorless blender marker. It looks almost like watercoloring, and I love it!

Supplies: Power Poppy Natural Beauties stamp set, Memento and Versafine black inks, Spellbinders Oval and Scalloped Oval dies, Recollections Backyard Table 6x6 paper pad, Scrap of light green vellum

I would love to play along with Snippets #326 (the floral paper and the vellum are scraps).

Thanks so much for stopping by, and a double thanks if you subscribe or left a comment!

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Daffodils and more - Flower of the Month 2018

Hello!  Hope your day is going well.  I am using this flower garden as double duty - Daffodils for my Flower of the Month theme, as well as a fun challenge from Power Poppy to get inspiration from fabric.  I was not sure if I should go upstairs and dig around to use fabric on my card, but I ended up playing it safe and grabbed colors from the fabric shown in their inspiration pinterest board HERE.

 Last week, I got a surprise package in the mail from Cat! She sent me a bunch of die cuts since she knew my Cuttlebug was broken! How sweet of her. I used the sentiment die cut here, colored it yellow with a marker and then added stickles glitter to help it stand out.

Supplies: Power Poppy Natural Beauties Stamps set, Memento black ink, Spectrum Noir markers, KI Memories 6x6 paper pad, thanks die and Stickles glitter glue

Thanks for stopping by!

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Springtime Happy Wishes Card

Get out your patterned paper - it’s time for the new March Challenge at CraftyHazelnut’s Patterned Paper challenge.  I got out what may be my oldest patterned paper pack - DCWV Citrus Stack!  Remember them, they were glittered.  I still enjoy these pretty colors!

I used an old sketch from Cardabilities.

Supplies: Power Poppy Simply Camellias stamp set, Memento black ink, Spectrum Noir and Copic alcohol markers, DCWV Citrus stack, Fiskars Scalloped Edge punch.

Thanks for stopping by!  I wonder if you remember what your oldest patterned paper pack is? Do you still have it?

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Folksy Bluebird card

Hello!  It feels like spring here, and I have been seeing bluebirds regularly.

I simply colored this stamp with my markers and found a piece of bird themed patterned paper to pair it with.  The sentiment banner was colored with markers to match, exactly.  I think it feels just as springy as this first warm, sunny day of the year.

Supplies: Power Poppy Folk Heart and Natural Beauties stamps set, Memento black ink, KI Memories Doilies 6x6 patterned paper, Avery Elle Wonky stitched rectangles dies

I would love to enter these challenges:

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge - Add a Die Cut

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes 322-323

Thanks so much for your visit today!

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Birdie Love

Happy Friday!  As you will see from my photos, it has been dreary today!  However, it is warm.   How is your weather?

I have been continuing to color away!  I was lucky to win the prize in Power Poppy’s challenge for January, and let me tell you, it didn’t take me long to place my order! (And they came fast, too!)  I almost always feel like their stamps are easy to color.  So I did enjoy myself coloring this sweet little bird.  

I used more of my new marker colors.  I liked this look and paired it with this Hero Arts background that looks similar to the little berries in the wreath.  I added sparkle to the berries and shine with these cute butterfly stickers that a stamping friend gave me.  

I did have the aid of a sketch for this card!  I can be indecisive about arranging cards, so using a sketch saves loads of time.  

Supplies: Power Poppy Folk Heart and Natural Beauties stamp sets, Hero Arts Berries background stamp, Memento Black Ink, Gina K Designs Applemint ink, spectrum noir alcohol markers.

I would love to play along with these challenges that helped inspire this card.

Power Poppy February Love to Sparkle challenge

Freshly Made Sketches #324

Thanks so much for your visit! Have a great day!

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Chinese Lanterns

A couple years ago, we had some Chinese Lanterns growing in the garden as weeds.  That was a fun surprise, although they have not come back again.  

I used colored pencils on this beautiful stamp.  It was such a lovely day yesterday, I was able to sit outside with a few pencils to color.  How is the weather where you are?

Supplies:  Power Poppy Sunny Day stamp set, Sentiment is from Simply Camellias, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Prismacolor pencils , My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose 6x6 Paper pad.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I am happy to participate in the Power Poppy Power and Spark Cozy Crafty Coloring challenge and The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge.

Autumn Birthday Card

Hello stamping friends!  I hope you had a good weekend.  Ours felt busy with sports and other events, but it was lovely weather with a bit of time to relax too.  I made a card yesterday afternoon that I think will work well for my mom's fall birthday.

I kept it very clean and simple. I colored the image with pencils.  After experimenting with different colors for the word die, it worked out well to just layer the green happy over a black happy.  A few Nuvo glitter drops finished off the front.

I do not often share the inside of a card, but I especially like this one. I used the second generation stamping of the wreath.  The happy die I have is part of a combo stamp set, so I was able to stamp that on the inside along with the word, "birthday."  It was easy and it goes perfectly.

Supplies:  Power Poppy Sunny Harvest stamps set, Hero Arts Happy stamp n cut set, Versafine Onyx black ink, Prismacolor pencils, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched rectangles dies, Nuvo glitter drops in Copper

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

I am happy to enter these challenges: SimonSaysStamp Wednesday - Clean and Simple, Tuesday Throwdown - Happy Birthday, The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge

Forget-Me-Not Heart Card

Hello stamping friends!  I can already tell that August is going to be a low production card-making month for me.  There is so much to do outside and we need to make the most of the end of summer.  On the flip side, I also am low on cards to send!  Maybe I will be able to prove myself wrong.  Is this a slow period for you too?

I made this card using a mix of a digi image and a clear stamp.  I colored the image with a few alcohol markers, then just added a die cut frame and some colored cardstocks to bring out the flowers.  I love forget-me-nots and wish I had some in my garden. They are so cheery.

Supplies: Power Poppy Forget Me Not Heart digi, Sunny Harvest stamp set, Versafine black ink, Gina Marie Loopy rectangle die, cardstocks all from my scrap box.

I would love to play with Power Poppy's Mix and Match challenge, and Pixie's Snippets Playground.

Thanks for visiting my blog!  I know your time is important and appreciate your visit and comments!

Christmas in July - Two (Candy Canes)

Here is my second card for my Christmas in July series. I don't have a specific goal of how many I want to get done this month, just want to get lots done!

I had this candy cane digi stamped leftover from last Christmas so I colored it up with pencils.  I was inspired by a decorated cookie tin project from Allison Cope and changed it to be a card design.

Supplies: Power Poppy Candy Cane digistamp, Hero Arts Joyful Christmas Season stamps, Versafine Ink, Prismacolor pencils, Heidi Swapp Marquee Love paper pad, EK Success tag punch, Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies, Gina K cardstocks

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Power Poppy On the Case
Happy Little Stampers Christmas in July

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

June Bug and Tea Challenges

Hello!  I have a quick share of a card I made for some fun challenges.

I watercolored the stamped image and trimmed it out.  The background is all from an older patterned paper pack.  

Supplies: Power Poppy Short Stacks stamp set, Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Sentiment set 1, Versafine Onyx Black ink, watercolor paper, My Mind's Eye Be Amazing 6x6 paper pack

I would love to play along with these challenges:

Power Poppy June Bug challenge (I had to include my bug in the patterned paper!)

2017 Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Mystery Flowers - Solved?

I was cutting some flowers from my garden the other day, and as I was setting them on the sidewalk in a little pile, I realized they looked just like a stamp I have.  If you were here a few weeks ago, you might have seen a flower silhouette card. I had been wondering what flower it was supposed to be and now I think I know.

Pansies and Violas!

I got that stamp out again to make a card. I stamped with purple Distress Oxide ink and embossed with sparkle embossing powder.  I had trouble getting the sparkle to show up on camera.  I then used my favorite frame die on this card and a snippet of purple cardstock from my scrap box.

Supplies: Purple Onion Designs Flower Cluster, Power Poppy Simply Camellias stamp set, Distress Oxide Wilted Violet, Versafine Onyx Black, Recollections Sparkle embossing powder, Echo Park Victoria Garden 6x6 paper pad, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangles die, EK Success Circle punch

I would love to join in with these challenges:

Power Poppy Frame It Up

Tuesday Throwdown Anything Goes

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!  I really appreciate your support!