{Spotlight Project} Shirley Plays With Stamps And Distress Inks Again!

I can't resist playing with Distress Inks. My latest craze is stamping an image with Antique Linen, then watercolouring using the faint outline as a guide.

{Spotlight Project} Shery Makes Her Favorite Kind of Cards

Hello, fellow stampers! It's my turn to share a project this week. I'm back with another one layer card.

One layer cards are my favorite kind of cards to make but there's another reason I decided to make them this week: my craft area is still a disaster after 2 weeks. I bought crates and a 7-drawer rolling cart a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, I haven't made any serious progress in cleaning, organizing, and downsizing my craft supplies. My craft area is in shambles. Fortunately, I don't need much to make one layer cards...just stamps, inks, and post-it notes.

Here's my card. In addition to the Boxed Blooms & Bold Sentiments stamps, I used Vignette: Eclectic Florals and words from two Sentiment Builders sets, Happy and Thank You. (Shooting videos isn't possible until I could clear my craft table so a photo tutorial will have to do for now.)

1.

I stamped the daffodil three times on my card base,

stamping first in the middle and then with a post-it note,

I masked the image before stamping on the upper left and

lower right. I used jet black archival ink because I will be

watercoloring the daffodil in the middle. [You'll want to 

use ink that's permanent and waterproof for stamping if

you plan on using a wet medium later on.]

2.

Next, I stamped my sentiment. [Tip: If you are using

words from different sets, "audition" them before

stamping by laying them uninked on your card. Try different

orientations. In my card, I let the layout of the boxed

daffodils dictate how I would stamp the words. And

here's another tip: don't be afraid to mix and match different

sizes and fonts. Use the design principle of contrast: bold with

regular, caps with small caps, serif with sans serif, slab with script.]

3.

I then watercolored the daffodil in the middle with

Inktense Blocks. You can also use Distress inks for

watercoloring, but I find the Inktense Blocks to be

more vibrant, especially on cold-press watercolor paper,

like the one I used for my card base.

4.

I masked my daffodils with post-it notes before

stamping my flowers in Memento inks

(Lilac Posies and Bahama Blue).

5.

I added some spatters on my card and affixed a

couple of adhesive gems to the flowers. (I was lucky --

I found the gems in the plastic container that happened to be

on top of one of the empty crates.)

When I'm making one layer cards, masking is my favorite technique to use because it helps create an illusion of depth. 

Here's a second card I made using the steps above, only this time I went all black so the middle daffodil would pop. For texture, I used one of the stamps in the Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds. Instead of watercolor paper, I used 100# (270 gsm) premium heavy classic white card stock and Distress inks to watercolor the daffodil. 

I hope you enjoyed my short photo tutorial and that you were inspired by my cards. Why not try making a one layer card too? See you in a couple of weeks!

~Shery

     

 

{Spotlight Project} Vicki Makes a Trendy Card

Hi everyone! Today, I have a fun tutorial using [my favorite] STAMPlorations set, Sentiment Builders: Celebrate, along with Vignette: Eclectic Florals.

Isn't this fun? Here is how to make this card:

Step 1 

Cut a card panel 4" x 5.25"

Cover a diagonal section with a post it. Tape down so it doesn't move.

Step 2

Using Eclectic Florals, stamp flowers wherever you want.

Step 3 

Using a sponge, ink from the post it upwards for a subtle edging around the border.

Step 4

Using my silhouette, I cut a template for the Celebrate a little bigger than the word. [If you are good with scissors you can hand-cut too.] Temporarily adhere to your panel, and sponge around the template.

Step 5

Finish off  the card.

Stamp the celebrate, add centers on your flowers, and add a ribbon!  

Your trendy card is now complete!

See you next month!

Sentiment Builders: Celebrate

Vignette: Eclectic Florals