Bridal Buttercup card

My daughter was in need of a wedding card, and I had just been playing with the beautiful Fresh Picked Buttercups die from Spellbinders, when I had the idea that it would look stunning in all-white.  The set did not disappoint!  I cut the entire die out of Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock, and glued it onto my 110lb base.

Since the bridesmaids are wearing pink, I decided to add just a hint of Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink to the flower centers and buds, and then for a little glimmer, the centers were coated with clear Wink of Stella.

The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio's Perfect Sentiments, embossed in gold, and stacked with 3 layers to give it a little dimension.  When I attached the flowers, I only added glue to the centers, and bent the petals upwards which gives the card a lovely delicate look.

Congrats Nik & Naza!

Citrus Bloom

Last week I pulled out a new-to-me stamp set from Pinkfresh Studio, inked up a bunch of florals to have on hand for cardmaking, and today I made one of my colourways into a card.  Here is Citrus Bloom:

I created my background by using Ocean Breeze and Fresh Pear inks on the top and bottom, then ran the panel through my Big Shot with the Diagonal Stitched Plaid coverplate. I used four of the Braided Circle dies and cut out my decorative circle from some cardstock in my stash.  I attached the floral sprays to the circle, and popped everything up with some 3D foam adhesive.  I used some gold metallic paint to add some soft spatters to everything.  

The sentiment is the Perfect Sentiments stamp and die set, gold embossed, and I added some Sparkling Champagne Metallic Pearls to finish it off.  I am entering this into the April monthly challenge on the Pinkfresh Studio blog - which has a circle theme.

Gardening Girlfriends!

I've always loved the Art Impressions Girlfriends!  This is the new 5798 - Gardening Girlfriends Set.  I haven't done a lot of Copic colouring in the last few years, so it was lovely to pull them out and colour up one of the images that comes in this set (stay tuned for more!):

This set works really well done with the Ai Watercolour line, as the pots are empty - and you can stamp in your choice of flowers.  I just sketched in my own, and used my Copics to colour them, and then outlined them with a black fineline marker.  I've used the 5835 - Mini Paperpack from Ai to put my card together, and popped up the image and sentiment (from 5817 - Potting Garden Shed Set) with 3D foam adhesive.

Donation cards

 In the midst of doing a craft room purge, I stopped to create 9 cards to donate - likely to Valentines for Veterans next winter.  I like to either give away or sell product that I don't want, but if paperpacks are already used, I'll use them up for something like this, rather than throw anything away.  Hoping I'll have a good pile of cards ready to go after a few months.

Buttercups

 A few weeks ago I posted another colour version of this card, and it's just so pretty, that I had to make a new one.  My daughter needs a wedding card, and this may end up being what she uses.  This is the Spellbinders Freshly Picked Buttercups die set, cut out of a warm green and pale blue, then a little ink blending was added to give some shading.  I used a wonderful gold glitter cardstock to cut out the centers, and everything was glued onto some textured turquiose cardstock.

The sentiment is from the It's Your Day Betterpress plate set.

Ombre Floral J

 Another of my Betterpress experiments, today!  I wanted to see if I could press an ombre effect, so I sponged three colours of Distress Oxide Inks (regular distress inks just bead up on the plates), onto my Floral J and Sentiment press plates.  I used Peacock Feathers, Wild Honey and Abandoned Coral - all of which create other colours when overlapped.  It worked really well!

I used regular cardstock, so there isn't much of an impression - but it really gave a nice crisp image, so I'm really happy with the result.  I pulled out some Watercolour Wishes patterned paper from Lawn Fawn from my stash, and layered a few colours to match my inks.  I added a few sparkly enamel dots, and added Stickles to the flower centers.

You can find all of your Betterpress supplies (and Distress inks!) at the Papercrafter's Workshop.

Floral Z

 A Zillion Thanks!  This is the Floral Z and Sentiment press plate from Spellbinders.  This started out as an experiment with their Pebble Cotton Card Panel, to see how Distress Oxide inks would blend on it - and it worked out really well!  

I used Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar and Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide ink - just doing a soft blend in a blotchy pattern on my panel.  Then I ran it through my Betterpress machine using their black ink.  I then used regular distress ink smooshed on my palette as watercolours - and painted in the flowers, following the same gradient as my ink blending.  You can see it a little better in my close up:

Finally, I die cut my panel and mounted it on black and periwinkle cardstock.  I still may go back and add some sparkle to the flower centers...  You can find all your Betterpress supplies at the Papercrafter's Workshop:

April Watercolour Weekend

I am up on the Art Impressions blog today with two projects for the Watercolour Weekend post!

My first card features the wonderful 5435 - WC Foundations Potting Bench.  What I love about the Foundations stamps, are that they take all the guesswork & planning away - you get a substantial scene planned out for you, no figuring out if something is the right size, or how many pots you can fit!  You still get to customize it with whatever colours and flowers you want to use - but you can get right down to business, and start painting.

I picked out my colour palette first, choosing yellows(991/993)/blue-greens(312/407)/purple(565)/brown(969/947)/grey(N55/N57).  I wanted a softer outline, so I stamped my image using N55 using my Misti - which is really helpful for such a large image, incase you miss a spot.  I began painting my pots first to plan out my colours, giving them all a base coat.  I decided to add my critter from 5425 - WC Peeking Animals to one of the pots, so I used my stamp positioner to place him perfectly.  

I used 7 different stamp sets to create my pots!!  I won't go over each flower, but did want to mention how I did the pansies in the box on the middle shelf.  I used the daisy bunch from Flower Set - 4052, colouring the top of each flower in 993, and the bottom in 565 - I'm quite happy with how they turned out!  The other stamp sets I used are 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4; 5475 - WC Flower Set 6; 4868 - WC Flower Set 2; 5476 - WC Foliage Set 5; 5474 - WC Flower Set 5; 5828 - WC Poinsettia Set.  I stitched my scene to a brown mat with my sewing machine, and used some 3D foam adhesive to adhere it to my base.

This month, I wanted to give some love to one of the Ai Bible Journaling sets - so I pulled out 5127 - Build My Life Set, and created a little scene.  

I stamped the window, pots and puppy (5016 - WC Mini Critter Set) after colouring them with 969/565 (masking the pots as needed).  With masks in place, I also masked the window, and then inked up the brick texture stamp that comes in the set, with N57 - not colouring it completely, being a bit sporadic, as I wanted an aged look to the stones.  I used the leafy branch from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 in 249, and stamped it repeatedly to create my vine.  For a little different leafy detail, I used both vines from the set, and stamped them in 249/126.  I purposefully left a few open areas, so that I could stamp the daisy bunch from 4052 - Flower Set in 993 to add flowers to the vine.  

After using a damp brush on the foliage, I continued with my brush to pull out the colour from the lines of the bricks and the window - then filled the bricks in with N57 and 977 to add some warmth to the bricks.  977 was also used on the pots, and N57 on the puppy.  I used both grasses from 4051 - Foliage set, in 249/126 around the pots, and pulled out the colour to ground the scene.  To create a little view out of the window, I used 5789 - Hot Air Balloon Set, to stamp two hot air balloons in the sky, and painted in the hills (249/126) and sky (493).  I used 933/493/993 to paint in the balloons.  I went around the scene with 565 - adding it as shadows on the window and bricks, and on the undersides of the pots.  The sentiment is from 5797 - Little Things Sentiment Set, and the image was die cut with 5062 - Rounded A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies.

Oh Sing Window

I like to colour while I'm watching TV or Youtube videos, so I recently found these two Windows to the World images, stamped and half coloured in my stash.  So I pulled them out, and finished colouring them up.  These are M4878 - Oh Sing Window, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and coloured with Copic markers:

I used several pieces of Art Impressions patterned paper for both my backgrounds, and a couple of stitched flag pieces for decoration.  I'm having a good time using older products this week!

Floral Q

Quintessentially yours!  What a great sentiment.  This is the Floral Q and Sentiment press plate from Spellbinders.  I'm loving working my way through a bunch of different letters that are part of this collection.

The letters/sentiments come on two separate plates that easily fit together on your Betterpress platen.  I once again decided to do this like the registration plates that are intended to be more than one colour.  I wanted the Q to be bright pink, but thought that the words would look better in black - so I inked them up separately, then carefully nudged the sentiment into place to press them both at the same time.

This is the Bisque colour of Cotton Card Panels - which is just barely off white, and the deep pink ink is Raspberry Bliss by Pinkfresh Studio.  The black is the Betterpress Black ink.  This set is quite large, taking up the better part of a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" panel - so I kept my card design fairly simple, just adding a strip of checked paper above and below, then mounting it all on black cardstock.  I used tiny black jewels as the flower centers, and added a few larger jewels for decoration.

You can find all of your Betterpress supplies at the Papercrafter's Workshop!

Beautiful Blooms

There's something about making a set of cards that just makes my brain happy!  I recently acquired the Beautiful Blooms stamp/stencil/die set from Pinkfresh Studio, which creates six pretty floral images.  After doing a test run using them in some soft ink colours, I started creating a card with each one. 

Using the colours that I stencilled the flowers with (all Pinkfresh Studio inks), I pulled out soft cardstock colours to match, and set about creating my backgrounds.  The blue card base was made by diecutting PF's Braided Circle dies repeatedly, then created a frame using the Stitched Scalop Rectangle die, backed with a white piece cut with Slim Stitches.  The pink card base was cut with an Altenew Coverplate die, then Spellbinders Hemstitched Oval die matted in a pale green.

For the Thank You card, I started with a warm yellow card base, which I softly ink blended the bottom using PF's peach-toned inks, then added a blue Stitched Scallop Rectangle frame layered twice for some dimension.  The Just a Note card started with a pale green base, then a layer of peach cardstock and finally a white piece cut with the PF Slim Stitches die.

The Congrats card may be my favourite in the set!  I used Spellbinders Essential Arches dies for the green and blue panels, which are popped up with 3D foam adhesive over a white base cut with the PF Diagonal Stitched Plaid coverplate.  The floral is also on 3D adhesive, tucked inside the window.  The two negative arches were used for the second card, adhered with 3D adhesive over a peach cardstock panel cut with an Altenew coverplate die.

All of the cards were splattered with gold paint, and had gold pearls added for decoration.  The sentiments are all PF's Perfect Sentiments that were gold embossed, and all attached with 3D adhesive.
 

Floral D

 I had fun experimenting with my Betterpress plates last weekend, and wanted to try doing two-toned pressing using my Floral D and Sentiment press plate from Spellbinders.  It worked really well!  I inked the D in Faded Jeans Distress Oxide, and the words in Hickory Smoke - then carefully nudged the words into place beside the D.  

I've used a Pebble Cotton Card panel, and matted it with a couple of colours that coordinate with my background paper (old One Canoe Two!).

I can't help myself, and have to add something to each of the flower centers... so this time it was tiny white pearls.  The flowers are coloured in with Copic markers.

All things Betterpress can be ordered from the Papercrafter's Workshop!  Happy pressing!

Another Floral J

 I created a second version of my Floral J and Sentiment press plate card - exactly the same design as my previous post, just with a different colour theme.  Here is the bright version:

Background paper is Simple Stories, Colorvibe.  Frame is Stitched Scalloped Rectangle die from Pinkfresh Studio.  Stargazed ink by Pinkfresh Studio.  Pebble Cotton Card panel, Floral J and Sentiment press plate and Holiday Blooms dies all Spellbinders.

Everything can be found at the Papercrafter's Workshop!

Just a Note

 Today I'm using the Floral J and Sentiment press plates from Spellbinders - and one of my new obsessions is the Pebble Betterpress Cotton Card Panels.  As opposed to the White (Porcelain) or Bisque (Cream) card panels - this is just the barest hint of grey!

I started by cutting my 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" card panel in half - I was able to get two of these out of one piece!  After some careful alignment, I pressed the two plates using Pinkfresh Studio Stargazer ink - which has become another obsession of mine - the navy ink on the Pebble card panel is just perfection.  I adhered it to my Simple Stories Colorvibe Bold card base, and added a Stitched Scallop Rectangle die frame (doubled up for some extra depth!) in navy.

I pulled out my Holiday Blooms die set from Spellbinders, which is intended to be a Christmas set - but works beautifully here, to create a little floral spray across the bottom.  The sprigs are cut from some silver glitter paper, all the rest is just regular cardstock.  To finish things off, I added some silver rhinestones to the smaller flowers, as well as all the flowers that decorate the J.

All my supplies are from the Papercrafter's Workshop - they have all things Betterpress (and everything else) that you need to put your creations together.

Delivering Happiness

I had a fun Betterpress session this weekend (is it just me, or does everyone like to press a TON of stuff at one time??), so will be sharing lots of projects over the next few weeks.  Here is the Floral D and Sentiment press plate from Spellbinders.

I started by doing some Distress Oxide Ink blending on Bisque Betterpress cardstock - this is such great cardstock for blending!  I used Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers, overlapping just a little to achieve the great blended tones.  I sprinkled a little water over the whole panel to add a little more interest.

I pressed the D and sentiment using Black Betterpress ink, then ran it through my Big Shot using the Hemstitch Rectangle die for the diecut detail, then adhered it to my black card base with 3D foam tape.  A few white Liquid Pearls were added as the centers to the flowers.

The Papercrafter's Workshop is my go-to store for all things Spellbinders! (Okay, for all things, really...).  Their selection is great, and their shipping is fast.  Stay tuned for more Betterpress cards!