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SYS2 Day 11: Play day!

By KariV on August 19, 2014 in Paper Crafting

Well, I couldn’t wait to get back into the craft room to try out another card once I saw Debby Hughes’ sample!! Wowza. I just love her style. She made a card with sunshine in a soft yellow and soft pink (using Hero Arts colors, I believe). Well, I don’t have much in the way of Hero Arts ink, but I do have some distress inks that I used very SPARINGLY to create a soft look like hers. I love coloring these little Mama Elephant critters! This card was a welcome distraction to my not-so-fun day today (ever have those? Just me?)

I just realized that I used these exact critters on my other card from last week…I guess that poor monkey in the set needs to be stamped up next time!

I love that Hello Friend stamp from Technique Tuesday, and I embossed it with a clear embossing powder, then inked it up with some distress inks in Worn Lipstick and Festive Berries (to match the sun rays). See how soft I got those sun rays? I’m delighted with the feeling of this card.

You might notice that the critters are heat embossed in black. Then I used distress markers to color them in. I really like to emboss before watercoloring, it’s so helpful in keeping the color where it should be!

The “Life is Amazing” is another Technique Tuesday stamp set that I picked up for a song at a sale a while back. I need to remind myself that life really is amazing (today was a good day to use this stamp). 😉

The sequins are Pretty Pink Posh in “Lemon Meringue” and “Pink Blush”…aren’t those lovely names?

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SYS2 Day 10: Floral builders and Foam!

By KariV on August 19, 2014 in Paper Crafting

Catching up on my homework today from Day 10 of Stretch Your Stamps 2. This card is not only simple, but it’s fun because it uses that fun foam (the kind you buy at Michael’s). I did not have any foam in white, so I used this tan color and I think it looks good. Of course, one of my favorite colors right now is yellow, and I only have 1 hero arts stamp pad in “Butterbar” so this card turned out a lovely shade of butter!

Can you see the dimension on those letters?! Awesome.

What a fun way to use some floral stamps…monochromatically!

Linking up to the Paper Smooches anything goes challenge.

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SS2 Day 9 — Gold Gilding builder stamps

By KariV on August 13, 2014 in Paper Crafting

Oh. My. Today was filled with inspiration over at Stretch Your Stamps 2 online card classes. I am in love with Jennifer McGuire’s gold gilding technique on her card! I wanted to give it a try, but I don’t have many floral builder stamps. Luckily, I have the Paper Smooches Botanicals 2 and that is what I used.

I sort of combined Julie Ebersole’s wreath idea with Jennifer’s gold idea and came up with this:

While making this card I realized a number of things:

1) I really need more ink colors
2) I am not great at builder stamp sets
3) I wish I had a Pinstripe Background set

But I did have fun with this and I love the way it turned out. When I showed my husband he exclaimed: “Oh! Can you make our Christmas cards like this?” Ha! Um, no.

This card took longer and created small fits of frustration now and again. 🙂 I’m not sure if builder sets are my thing, or maybe I just need more practice. But I am grateful for the card example by Jennifer and the fun double-stamping to create highlights (see those leaves…they are stamped in 2 shades of green).

The burgundy flowers looked a little dark to me so I added some Stickles. It made them glittery, but didn’t brighten them up. Ok, Simon Says Stamp…I just might be coming for some of your inks!

Linking up to the Paper Smooches anything goes challenge.

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SS2 Day 8 — Watercoloring with geometric stamps

By KariV on August 13, 2014 in Paper Crafting, Uncategorized

Since I had a die cut of the word “Celebrate” already cut out, I thought I’d better use it for something! So I colored it pink and used the watercolor idea from Taheerah Atchia in Stretch Your Stamps 2 online card classes.

It turned out a little “messier” and “splotchy” than I liked, so I took some perfect pearls and mixed it with some Picked Raspberry distress ink and painted right over those lines that made up the triangle shapes. Better.

You’ll still see some of the seeping of color from the watercolor stamping, but that’s just the nature of the technique. I decided that a friendly panda throwing some “confetti” would add to the cheerfulness of this card! And I sent a picture to my mom…she said this one made her smile. So, that’s all that matters, right?

On a side note, did you know that Pretty Pink Posh sequins in Pink Peonies match great with Picked Raspberry distress ink? Well, they do and I’m so pleased. Love that color!

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SS2 — Day 8 Create Borders with graphic stamps

By KariV on August 13, 2014 in Paper Crafting, Uncategorized

I love the bold borders that Kelly Rasmussen created in Stretch Your Stamps 2! I don’t have many graphic or geometric stamps, but I found one that is like a starburst or fireworks and I thought it would work well for this idea.

I used 2 different inks to ink up the starbursts and used a glitter paper for behind the die cut from Paper Smooches. (Sorry for the darkness…the glitter paper really does match the darker ink on the starburst)!

And then, of course, I couldn’t leave well enough alone so I added some Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. Love those sparkling clear ones!!

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