More of Anita Jeram

I have another card made using the Conga Line stamp set from Colorado Craft Co. designed by Anita Jeram.  I posted one a few weeks ago that I painted with watercolours, and wanted to give it a try with my Copic markers - so here is my Copic version:

Such a great image!  And it works well as a slimline card.  I made sure to use fairly neutral colours so it can be a masculine or feminine card... and, I managed to get two of them made!

Ai Matchbooks

 Have you tried the Art Impressions Matchbooks, yet?  Everything 'mini' is big right now, and these are quick and easy to assemble.  Here is 5320 - Kitchen Set:

It all starts with the 5318 - MB Envelope Dies set, with includes the main die for the envelope, and a bunch of small dies to decorate it with - I added a coordinating bow:

You open the flap to see a little folded card inside!

The 5317 - MB Template Die is the base of the card, and works best in double sided paper:

                              

Just open the flap, and the tiny card unfolds.

All of the pieces pop up to make a darling 3D card that is about 2" x 2 1/2".  The Kitchen set includes all the little pieces that you see here, plus their coordinating dies - you can cut and stamp them all at once, then quickly colour them like I did with Copic markers, and a little paper piecing for the tablecloth.  The kitten is from the 5324 MB Cat Accessories Set.  Each piece has a flap that folds back and glues onto the base.

A close up of those adorable windows!

There are all kinds of Matchbooks to choose from, you can find them on the Ai website here!

Ai Simple Scene

  I will be sharing this on the Art Impressions blog this Saturday for the 2nd February Watercolour Weekend.  Time for another scene today, using the 5431 - WC Simple Scene Rocky River:

I coloured the entire scene stamp in Tombow #969/565, stamped it off, and then onto my Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  I added in the two deer from 5427 - WC Silhouette Deer both coloured in #969 and placed with my stamp positioner.  The mountains were painted with #533 for the farthest one, as it is a lighter shade, and #565 for the closer one, appearing a little darker.  I added shades of #N65 and #969 to my rocks, adding layers to build up the colour, and using #565 for the shadowy parts.  The hillsides and grassy areas were painted with #177 and touches of #076, again making it a little darker in the foreground.  I used 5010 - WC Tree Set 1, colouring 2 of the trees in #249 to add in the pine trees, and used the marker directly on the paper to add the trees way in the background.  I used one of the bare trees from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage to add in the bushes and gave them a few berries and bits of grass around their base.

I wanted the stream to contrast with the hills, so used #526 to paint in the water and dabbed it onto the sky.  I darkened up the undersides of the deer, and added a slight reflection in the water.

Pinkfresh Studio Butterflies

 I am in love with my newest Pinkfresh Studio stamp set: Butterflies!  I used the matching stencils to add colour with my mini ink cubes, and fussy cut the butterflies out.  The Diagonal Stitched Plaid die was used on white cardstock for my background, and then I ink blended some Slumber ink onto white cardstock, and cut out my hearts and the stitched frame.

I gold embossed the Perfect Sentiments stamp set and cut them all out with the matching die - and chose two of them for my cards.  I added light blue jewels to the heads of the butterflies, and sprinkled a few around my Sending Hugs card.

I am entering the February challenge on the Pinkfresh Studio blog - the theme is All About Love.

Hot Chocolate Bombs!

 Well this was hilarious, fun and very messy!  Hot chocolate bombs became all the rage about a year ago... so when we saw a kit with the molds on sale for $8, my daughter & I thought, why not?  So we learned a few things.  Those Youtube videos that look effortless when people put them together aren't exactly the reality!  But definitely listen to what they say regarding ingredients and how to temper chocolate.  We didn't want to buy expensive chocolate to start, so grabbed what we could find to give it a try.  I would definitely not use milk chocolate next time!  Even though it contained cocoa butter, as they said - it was melting as soon as we touched the chilled cups, so I think that dark chocolate would be the way to go.  Here's what our efforts produced:

We put the empty 1/2 shells into muffin cups, and in a muffin tin to support them while we filled them with hot chocolate powder, mini marshmallows and skor chips.

We took the top shells, held them with paper towel (this stopped them melting from the warmth of our fingers), spread a thin layer of melted chocolate around the rim, and added them to the filled cups.

Finished efforts!  We haven't sampled them yet - but you add about 1 cup of hot, steaming milk to a mug, then you drop the bomb into it, and it should melt/explode.  

Deepest Sympathy

 They are the hardest cards to make, but we all need them from time to time.  I made up a couple of sympathy cards for coworkers this week.  I kept it simple, and used this beautiful paper from One Canoe Two, and a sentiment & die cuts from Verve.

My Spellbinders Hemstitched Rectangle die provided this pretty eyelet detail for a little contrast with the dark blue background.

Pamper Your-Shelf

 I am doing a guest post on the Art Impressions blog today!  I am a long-time Try-fold fan, and the mini ones are especially fun to do.  I work in a library, so made this for a coworker!  Here is 4853 - Pamper Your-Shelf MTF:

The Try-folds come with wonderfully clear directions - so I followed the cutting & stamping guides to stamp each of the 3 images on my cream cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and coloured them all with my Copic markers.  I wanted the shelves to look like wood, so I used streaks of colour in various shades of brown.

There are two small dies in the set that are easy to fit over the stamped images, and they create the little windows that allow you to see through the flaps to the cute little mouse image on the inside of the card.

Since Copic markers can either bleed or show through to the back side of your cardstock, I cut out pieces of patterned paper to fit the inside of each flap, using the die to cut through that layer as well.  It makes for a prettier card, and gives a clean, finished look to your project.  There are two sentiments in the set, so I matted one for the inside of my card.

I adhered a piece of ribbon to the back side of the try-folded cream panel before attaching it to my single background sheet, so that when the card is folded up, I can tie a neat bow to hold it together.  The finished card size is just under 5" square.  You can find all the Mini Try-Folds on the Ai website here!

Valentine Hedgehogs

 I made a couple of sweet "Galentines" today for a couple of friends.  These little Hedgehogs from Lawn Fawn are favourites of mine!

I used six Distress Oxide inks and blending brushes with the Garden Peony Blossoms stencil from Memory Box to create my pastel background, and inlaid the heart die into the background.

The hedgies are coloured with Copic markers and adhered with 3D foam adhesive, along with the sentiment.

                             

My Pinkfresh gems added a little sparkle to finish things off.

A Formal Bouquet

  It's the Watercolour Weekend this Saturday on the Art Impressions blog.  I created a formal bouquet today, as I wanted to showcase some of the wonderful new flower & foliage sets, and used the limited edition Column stamp to give my bouquet some height:

I coloured both the column and container from 4111 - WC Containers in Tombow #969/565, using my stamp positioner to get the container placed perfectly, and then used my damp brush to pull out the colour, concentrating it in the indents to indicate shadows.  I stamped the trailing ivy from  5476 - WC Foliage Set 5 in #177, then using #725 and #606, I used the tiny circlet stamp from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 stamped in clusters and the Leaves from Flower Set - 4052 in #533.  The stemmed flowers from 5475 - WC Flower Set 6 was stamped twice in #565/177, and the two sprigs from 5474 - WC Flower Set 5 were stamped as foliage fillers in the bright #126 green.  A wash of #536 was painted in as the sky.  The grasses from 5007 - WC Foliage Set 3 were stamped around the base in #177/126.

Don't forget to check out what Dot & Tricia have to share on the blog this Saturday!