A Swirly Valentine

Paper Players want a Valentine this week.

A friend wants to buy some Valentine cards from me and I don't have that many Valentine products so borrowed some from my dear friend, Loll Thompson.  One of her dies was the beautiful swirly heart that I used here:

I kept it very simple as the die is so beautiful and should stand in its own right.   I die cut it out of dark red cs, glued it onto white, added a sentiment, trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangle die, and popped it up with fun foam.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps - PTI sentiment

Ink - Memento Rhubarb Stalk

Paper - white and dark red cs

Size - A2

Accessories - heart die, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Love You Just the Way You Are

It's February so what better theme for the CAS Watercolour challenge than "heart"?

I used a never-before-used older SU stamp and sentiment:

I put the stamps in my MISTI and used my Zigs, a mini-mister, and watercolour paper.  I coloured the stamps with my Pale Pink Zig first, misted it, and stamped.  I then repeated the process with Pink, but not covering the stamps completely.  And a third time with just a bit of Carmine Red just on the top of the heart and on the sentiment.  The misting each time gets the colours to blend nicely.  I wanted to darken up the sentiment a bit so scribbled some Carmine Red and Dark Grey on my palette and applied it to the sentiment with a small paintbrush.

I had a perfect scrap of coloured cs to border the panel and then popped it up with fun foam on a larger piece of the same watercolour paper.  It looked too bare (too CAS!!!) so I found a perfect little scrap of ribbon to add as a banner and a few tiny hearts die cut in white shimmer cs leftover from a larger die cut.

Here's a close-up showing the blending of the colours on the heart and the embellishments:

We hope you'll link up your cards inspired by the word "heart" at CAS Watercolour.  There's lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Sue (of Sue's Card Craft).  You have until February 24th.  Don't forget to keep your cards clean and simple!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Sprinkled Expressions

Paper - watercolour paper, cream and dark burgundy cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Zig watercolour pens, scrap of ribbon, Nesties perfect layers rectangle dies, white shimmer cs hearts left from a previous die cut

Love Notes

The current Paper Players challenge is:

My dear friend, Loll Thompson, recently gave me a heart die and I put it to good use today to make two cards.

For this one, I started by spraying red spray on a piece of white cs, and then removing the sprayer and dropping colour off it to get some larger dots.  I added a heat embossed sentiment.

I die cut my new heart die out of white shimmer cs.  And then traced the outline of it on red glitter cs and hand cut that for the backing.  I added foam tape to the upper part of the heart and double-sided tape to the bottom so that it is stuck flat on the bottom but raised at the top.

I was left with a piece of white shimmer cs with a heart cut out of it, and a whole bunch of tiny white hearts so created my second card out of that:

I trimmed the white shimmer panel down with a stitched square die, layered it over red glitter cs, attached three of the small leftover hearts to the inside of the heart, and used a red cs card base.  The sentiment is stamped with StazOn to stop it smudging on the shimmer cs.

I love finding ways to use the negative and positive parts from die cutting!

Supplies:

Stamps - PTI sentiment (first card), Tim Holtz sentiment (second card)

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black (first card), StazOn Jet Black (second card)

Paper - white cs, white shimmer cs, dark red cs, red glitter cs

Size - A2 and 4.75" square

Accessories - Ali Express heart die, Lil Inker stitched square die, embossing powder, red spray, fun foam

Reverse of Yesterday's Card

Yesterday I posted this card and explained how it was made (see here):

I had a lot of spritzed red brushos on my stencil after I finished it so before cleaning it up, I flipped it over onto another piece of watercolour paper and used the stencil to do a stencil monoprint background to make this card:

When dry, I added a bit of very pale text stamping and a postmark.  Then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment.

I'll link it up with the CAS Watercolour challenge since it is a watercolour technique and it fits the February theme of "Love":

If you want to join in, you have until February 24th.

Supplies:

Stamps - Tim Holtz sentiment, text, and postage mark

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Adirondack Lake Mist

Paper - watercolour paper, white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - TCW stencil, clear embossing powder, red brushos, fun foam

CAS Watercolour "Love" Reminder

Have you joined us in the February CAS Watercolour challenge yet?

Here's  a reminder card to help inspire you:

I started out by laying my stencil over a piece of watercolour paper.  I sprinkled two shades of red brushos over the openings in the stencil, spritzed with water, and quickly removed the stencil.  When it was dry, I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment.  The watercolour panel is popped up on fun foam for some dimension.

For a tutorial on this technique, please see Loll Thompson's video here.

The Design Team has created some more wonderful cards to inspire you so be sure to head over to CAS Watercolour and check them out.

Supplies:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - watercolour paper, PTI Vintage Cream cs

Size - A2

Accessories - TCW stencil, clear embossing powder, red brushos, fun foam

Valentines

Since it's February 14, I thought I should post some of the other Valentines I've made this month.

I did this first one for the SCS Color Challenge - "What's Black and White and Red All Over?" (with hearts for dessert).  And for the CAS Watercolour Challenge  - "Love".

I took a stencil with a section of little hearts on it, masked off the non-heart parts, sprinkled red brushos over the stencil and spritzed with water to activate them.

When dry, I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment over them in black, bordered with black, and popped up on fun foam.

It's for my best friend - love that sentiment for a really close friend.


Next up is one I made from a piece of watercolour paper that I used to mop up the leftover brushos sitting on the stencil after I made the previous card.

When the brushos had dried, I stamped my text/heart image on it and heat embossed it with sparkly embossing powder.  I trimmed around the edge of the image, popped it up on fun foam on a stitched square die cut, and popped that panel up on the card base.


And last up, for the SCS Mix-ability challenge - "Have a Heart" - a mixed media card with a heart theme:

The central panel is made by stenciling some hearts with embossing paste, then sprinkling some mixed glitter over it. I then sponged with two shades of old rose ink and splattered with some water drops. I added some random text stamping.

I wanted to keep my card very CAS but the panel looked lost on the card base so I ran a strip of red ribbon under it and added three punched glitter hearts. My sentiment is too low down - but too late now to fix it.

Wishing all of you love, friendship, and chocolate for Valentine's Day!
 

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - watercolour paper, black and white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Heidi Swapp "confetti" stencil, red brushos, clear embossing powder, fun foam 

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Clearly Perfect

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - white cs, watercolour paper

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - clear glittery embossing powder, Lil Inkers stitched square die, fun foam, red brushos

Supplies for card 3:

Stamps - Wendy Vecchi text stamp, SU sentiment 

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black, Distress Tattered Rose, Vivid Tea Rose

Paper - white cs, scraps of different red glitter cs

Size - A2

Accessories - SU heart stencil, Dreamweaver embossing paste, heart punch, glitter, ribbon





 

Old is New Heart

This week's SCS CAS challenge is called "Old is New Again".  We were to find a love or heart card in our own SCS gallery from a few years back and use the same image to create a card in the style we work in today.

I found a card I made in 2013:

It is typical of my style in 2013 - stamped, heat embossed, bordered and layered, with some decorative paper on the cardbase.

I used the same stamp to create today's card:

Today's version shows my new preference for interesting techniques and a more CAS style.

I used Heather T's technique (seen on her blog here) of painting on the stamp with a paintbrush and water, stamping it, and then sprinkling brushos on the wet impression of the image.

I painted my stamp carefully with water (not too much and not too little water - it is a Goldilocks technique!), stamped it onto watercolour paper and sprinkled two shades of red brushos on the wet areas. I left it to dry, then brushed off any stray bits of brushos.

I got a nice watery look - none of the text that is the background to the heart is legible and in some areas barely shows. There was a perfect blank section in the bottom right that was just the right size for me to stamp my sentiment in black - I kept it on the same angle as the lines of text in the stamp.

I bordered with black and popped it up on fun foam on a white cardbase.

I like it so much more than the card made with the same stamp back in 2013!

Because it uses watercolouring, it's also perfect for CAS Watercolouring's February theme of "love" so I'm linking it up there.

There's no deadline for doing the SCS challenge, but the CAS Watercolouring one ends on February 24th.

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Stamps - Clearly Perfect "Dream of Love", SU sentiment

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, white and black cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - brilliant red and scarlet brushos, fun foam

Watercoloured Love

February's CAS Watercolour challenge is, very appropriately, "love".

This does not have to be a Valentine - it can be any card with a theme of love.  But I chose to go with a Valentine card.  And I chose to try last month's CAS Watercolour winner's "water stamping technique".  Heather Telford made this beautiful snowflake card by painting on the stamp with a paintbrush and water, stamping it, and then sprinkling brushos on the wet impression of the image.  Here's my heart done the same way:

As Heather pointed out in her blog post, it's tricky to get the right amount of water so I did a couple of practice attempts and then did this one and was pretty happy with the results.

I used two shades of red brushos on watercolour paper.  I left it to dry, then brushed off any stray bits of brushos, and stamped my sentiment.  I backed it with fun foam and then popped it up on a layer of red cs that has very subtle gold shimmer in it.  I added three gold sequins for embellishment.

Please come and visit us at CAS Watercolour to see the rest of the beautiful cards by the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Michelle Lupton.  You have until February 24th to link up your card - please make sure it includes some kind of watercolouring, relates to the theme of "love", and is clean and simple.

I'm also taking my card over to Darnell's playhouse for her NBUS ("never before used stuff") challenge as I'd never used either the heart or the sentiment stamp before.

Supplies:

Stamps - Tim Holtz Heartfelt stamp set

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - white cs, red cs with slight gold shimmer, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - brilliant red and scarlet brushos, gold sequins, fun foam

A Valentine Balloon

This week's Less is More challenge is to use one or more balloons on a card.  I went with one balloon.

I put the stamp in my MISTI, inked up the girl and string in black and the balloon in red, using the little Memento dew drops ink pads - made it easier than my big ink pads. Added a simple sentiment and popped it up on fun foam on a red slightly shimmery card base. I added Glossy Accents to the balloon.

I'll be back with some more Valentine cards soon.

Supplies:

Stamps - Viva Las Vegas Banksy Balloon Girl, PTI sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Lady Bug

Paper - white cs, red with slight shimmer cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Glossy Accents, fun foam

Cards for CASology and Merry Monday

I'm posting cards for two challenges that close today.  First up is CASology "Valentine".

 

Friends of mine and their black lab, Sally, are arriving to stay with me today, and since it's Valentine's Day and I thought it would be fun to give them a card.

When I was at Loll Thompson's house recently, we did some embossing folder stamping. I inked up a hearts embossing folder with various red inks, very lightly spritzed, and then stamped cs with it. Because it was a portrait-oriented ef, and I wanted this card to be landscape, I trimmed it down to just a small background piece.

The hearts were punched from a leftover piece of smooshing on watercolour paper.

It's also for the SCS CAS challenge "Won't You Call Me Sweetheart?".

Next up is Merry Monday's "Chalkboard" challenge.  Not my favourite technique to do, but I thought I'd give it a go.

 

I have a set of sentiment stamps by Whimsy called Christmas Chalkboards so this seemed the perfect opportunity to ink up one of them that I'd never used.

I stamped and heat embossed it in white on black cs, then smudged some white ink around it and added some snowflakes just using the ink.

I then die cut it, added it to a dp background, and embellished with a die cut branch and snowflakes. If I were to do it again, I'd leave off the branch as it makes it a bit too cluttered for my tastes!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Supplies for the Valentine:

Stamps: SU D is for Dog, SU sentiment

Paper: white cs, watercolour paper

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, various red Distress inks

Accessories: hearts embossing folder, heart punch, red marker, Sizzix label die, foam dots

Supplies for the Chalkboard:

Stamps: Whimsy Chalkboard sentiments, Judith and Rubber Stamp Tapestry snowflakes

Paper: black and white cs, Pixie Press dp

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Hero Arts Snow

Accessories: Sizzix die, white embossing powder, Cheery Lynn snowflakes die, Tim Holtz branch die