Gina K Heart Blooms + "Card Try-Outs"

Thanks so much for stopping by my little stamping blog!  

I want to share this pretty card today.  If you asked me how long it took to make, I could truthfully say it took 5 minutes, or I could say an hour. 

I stamped my flower repeatedly on the colored cardstock using Prima Watersoluble Oil Pastels.  This allowed me to get this pretty watercolory look!  I colored on the stamp first, then applied a little water with a waterbrush before stamping.  In the past, I have just sprayed the stamp with water, but since I am stamping on plain cardstock, I felt I needed the extra control over the water. 

Of course, the reason why this took only 5 minutes to make is because I played around first and did some stamping and card "try-outs."** You can see that in my mock-up,  I played with the arrangement and even did some different colors of ink for the sentiment and cut them out and tried them out in place to see which I liked best.  

**I don't know if this is how other people make their cards, but I thought I would just sortof show part of my process here.  My stamping friend, Daniel, posted a long time ago (I think when TwoPeas still existed with it's great stamping board) about stamp try-outs and I still think about it and use this idea.

Supplies: Gina K Designs Heart Blooms stamp set duo, Prima Watersoluble Oil Pastel yellow-green, Gina K Designs Jelly Bean Green cardstock, Versamark ink, Recollections White detail embossing powder, Vellum, Gina K Designs Made With Love stamp set (for the sentiment), Avery Elle Mermaid Ink

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

ModSquad Challenge Blog: It IS Easy Being Green

StampTV Hit That Easy Button (One Layer Card)

March CAS Mix Up

Gina K Designs Folk Filigree - Easy Stamped Card

Happy Wednesday, hope you are doing well!  It is sunny and warm today and I saw that I have one white crocus blooming.  I need to replant some crocuses and snowdrops since the moles, or some creature in nature, has eaten most of them up, but what I have is cheerful!

I have been stamping quite a bit this week and have one project to share.  Sometimes, I really like to use small stamps to create a project because I feel like it is taking me back to stamping roots, where you just have stamps and ink and a folded card. 

Simple and fun!

  I really just do enjoy stamping, so I don't even mind that I had to practice a layout or two before doing the final card.  Imperfect score lines were quickly done on a scoring board with a bone folder.

A tip, I did get some very small smudges of ink where they shouldn't be.  After it had all dried (since these are pigment inks) I took my Prismacolor Magic Rub white eraser over it and, by golly, it actually took up the extra ink!  I was very pleased.

Have a wonderful day!

Supplies: Gina K Designs Folk Filigree stamp set, Avery Elle Inkpads in Sugar Plum, Vino, Celery and Daisy

Pretty Bird Card

ETA (3/9/16):
I was so pleased that the ModSquad Challenge blog picked my card as one of the "Top 3" for the Feature a Creature challenge.  Thank you!

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I originally was going to do this card in much bolder shades, but after I colored the bird with the blue and pink distress inks, it started going in a much softer direction.  The bird still seemed to be sortof just hanging out there after I added him to the ribbon, so I adhered a few old buttons underneath to ground him to the card.  

Do your cards ever go as planned?  I think mine go off in some other direction more often than not...  Maybe I will make the bold colored card in the near future, we will see!

Supplies:  Gina K Designs Winter Wings stamp set, Hero Arts Navy ink, Distress inks in Broken China, Chipped Sapphire and Worn Lipstick to color with Dove Blender pen, Bristol Vellum paper, Purple Onion Designs Damask background stamp, Avery Elle Kraft Ink, Fibers from a Michaels Recollections set, buttons from my stash.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches #226

ModSquad Challenge Blog: Feature a Creature

Masculine Train Card

When I need a masculine card, I have found that I often reach for some patterned paper to get me started.  In this case, I also knew I wanted to use this train stamp.  To put those both together, I then used a sketch.

The other thing I was thinking about when I was making this card was trying to get a sense of space and movement with the train image.  I did that by using generation stamping. I stamped the train first on the circle I popped up, and then again underneath on the patterned paper.  I used distress inks to age all of the pieces.

I did stamp on the inside of my card, and it didn't turn out perfectly (and surely it would have been easy to just leave this out) but I figure this is really no big deal since I will be writing over this portion.

Supplies: Technique Tuesday All Aboard Stamp set, Archival Ink Jet Black, My Mind's Eye Handsome 6x6 paper pad, Distress Inks Tea Dye, Frayed Burlap, Pumice Stone, Sentiments are Gina K Design but I do not know which sets

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:
NBUS Challenge #6
My Never Before Used Stuff is the sentiment stamps.  I won them in a prize grab bag and they hadn't seen ink yet!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I would love it if you took the time to follow my blog or leave a comment!

Clean and Simple with Watercolor Joseph's Coat Technique

Hello and thanks for stopping in!

I had this piece of watercoloring (photo below: I created this with yellow, magenta and cyan watercolor markers, then blended) that I had rejected for another project, but as I am trying to keep my small crafting space cleaner this year, I thought I should try to use it.  I decided on using a silhouette floral stamp for an embossed resist with clear embossing powder, and then applied black over top.  This is basically like what is called the Joseph's Coat technique.  

I used Black Soot Distress ink, and it worked quite well on the watercolor paper panel.  I think it is quite fun to see how different the background looks when you do this technique, it looks less vibrant, maybe, but still very pretty.

Supplies:  Purple Onion Design Flowers Cluster stamp, Versamark Ink, Recollections clear detail embossing powder, watercolor paper, Distress Ink Black Soot, Gina K Designs Assorted Greetings (there is a verse stamped inside the card too), Versafine Onyx Black ink, Spellbinders A2 Matting Basics dies

I would like to submit this project to the following challenges:

Clean and Simple Mix Up March Challenge

Spring Colors

Hello!  Today I want to share a card that took a long time to come together and yet turned out so simple!  I probably was overthinking it...

I started with a panel that I watercolored and then used heat embossing to create my flowers.  Although it took me a while to come up with an arrangement that I liked, it turned out very clean and simple, with spring colors and texture in the white background.  

The butterfly was fun to heat emboss on light green vellum.  I really think it is pretty!

Supplies: Gina K Designs Better With You, Made With Love, Massive Messages stamp sets, Versamark ink, Cuttlebug Decorative Tile embossing folder, Gina K Designs Applemint cardstock, Gina K Designs Applemint ink, Tombow Markers, Watercolor cardstock, My Favorite Things Pierced square Die-Namics,  Recollections Pastel vellum, Recollections White embossing powder.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Touchy Feely

ModSquad Challenge - Use a Creature

Stamping with Watercolor Paint

Hello, there and thanks for stopping by!

Today I want to share a card I made with a stamping technique I tried for the first time.  I saw the Frugal Crafter use pan watercolor paints to stamp with in this blog post, and I was so skeptical about it that I had to try it myself!

The technique is to take a damp (not very wet at all) brush and pick up a lot of color from your paints and brush it right on your rubber stamp.  Since my stamp was so big and I was afraid the paint had started to dry, I went ahead and spritzed it just one time with water, and then I put the watercolor paper OVER the stamp and pressed it in.

My analysis on this technique:
This is not nearly as easy to do as using your watercolor markers or watersoluble oil pastels on your stamps.  In fact, I tried 4 or 5 stamps before I found this one that worked really well with the technique.  However, it is a really lovely look! I love these blues and since I do not have ink pads in the same colors, it was totally worth the effort for me!

The die cut is actually vellum layered over a piece of turquoise cardstock to get the softer color.

Supplies:
Purple Onion Designs Damask background stamp
Mama Elephant Cup Of Wishes stamp set
Versafine Majestic Blue ink
Koi WaterColors Pocket Field Sketch Box (watercolor paints)
Watercolor paper
Sizzix embossing folder
Vellum and cardstock from my stash

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge: Take a Leap Into the Unknown