Botanical Builder Birthday in Black

The card I posted yesterday used colors from the colorQ challenge, which I love! In yesterday's post I told you I made the card for my daughter only to remember when it was done that she's not a big fan of white cards.  I said I was going to create another one similar to that with a black card base and that's exactly what I did today. 

 I used the sketch from Stampin' Celebration challenge #123 since it was similar to what I made yesterday and I wanted to play with another challenge. :)  

I can't say if I like the black or white card better, but I sure do love the other four colors I used. :)  Ok, I think I like the black just a little better, but don't tell my daughter that or she'll say she was right about those dark colors! ;) 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Botanical Builder Birthday

Today's card is a bright and cheerful card...at least I think it is. :)  I made it for my daughter since she isn't going to be around when it's her birthday and I want to send it with her.  I decided to look through some blog challenges that I follow to help me out since I haven't played with many lately.  The bright colors from the challenge colorQ caught my eye and the sketch challenge at Create With Connie and Mary was just the type of layout I was looking for.

I used colors as close to the ones listed as I could.  I never had Poppy Parade because I was just getting into Stampin' Up! when they had that color.  I used Watermelon Wonder instead since it seems to be pretty close.  I did have Lucky Limeade once upon a time, but I don't have anymore of the card stock left so I used Pear Pizzazz.  I sure wouldn't mind if Stampin' Up! brought these two colors back if they revamp their colors again.

This is the fun sketch that I used from Create with Connie and Mary.  I have to admit I like a sketch that has a little something to it, but not too much to it and this one is just right!

After I finished the card I realized I can't give it to my daughter!  Why?  Because she doesn't care for white cards! lol  She likes cards nice and dark.  I think I'm going to use all of the same colors except the white and create something similar with a black background instead.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Awesomely Artistic Birthday

This morning I've been staying toasty warm in my basement by the wood stove after the snow storm that decided to hit Michigan.  I thought I'd wake up to it still snowing like crazy, but so far just dark and gloomy clouds off to the south.  We'll see if we get more or not.  Since it's just above freezing and is only supposed to warm up it won't last for long, but it's sure going to leave a mess behind!  That mess always makes way to spring...eventually!  And that's what this card reminds me of.  Not of the mess, but spring! Not sure why I chose just blue and green for this card, but that's what popped into my mind while I was creating it.  I hope my friend didn't mind the colors. :)  

I started by embossing the bundle of flowers in white, then filling them in with color.  I stamped the green fern piece in three spots, then stamped over them with VersaMark and embossed them in white.  I stamped the sentiment, then did a watercolor wash over the card, most of it in blue.  Wherever you see the green I managed to pull it out of the leaves a little since I needed to put some color in between the flowers and leaves too.

Oh, I forgot to add that I used liquid frisket on the top of my card before I did the watercolor wash.  When I rubbed it all off, it left a few splotches of white here and there.  I thought I had put more on than that, but I think it turned out fine.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Remarkable You!

Happy Monday, Everyone!  Today I have a short post of a very simple 3x3 card you can make using the stamp set Remarkable You.  I needed a quick thank you for my upline since she was generous enough to let me borrow her thinlits and framelits for my February stamp a stacks.

I stamped the flower using Archival Basic Black ink, cut it out and sponged the whole flower with Crushed Curry, then sponged the tips with Watermelon Wonder.  One last bit of sponging on the stem using Garden Green.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Lovely as a Tree in Watercolor

Today's post is just about me playing around with a bit of water coloring.  I haven't used the set Lovely as a Tree much lately and thought I would try a scene with it.  It's not very colorful, but it's pretty clean and simple.  

I was really trying to work on my trees' shadows and the sun and sky.  The sun is not bright at all and that's what I was going for.  The shadows also aren't very dark, but I kind of like the look of that.  The middle tree's shadow didn't turn out at all so that's where I stuck my sentiment. :)  

Since I thought it was a little boring and too light when I made it I added the candy dots for just a little extra something.  At first I was just going to dump it, but thought I'd sleep on it first and try to  make something out of the next day.  I'm glad I did because it's really growing on me. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Picture Perfect Roses

Today's card is for Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday's sketch challenge #258.  Usually when I have a sketch like this where I have enough room to create a scene I do, but this time I wanted to put flowers on my card.  Why?  Because the theme is Love is in the Air and I wanted to use my new set Picture Perfect! :)  The set has two and three step stamping to give your images more color and dimension. :)

Here is the sketch for this time around.  Make sure you visit the Try Stampin' blog HERE to see all the other great cards created using this sketch.  We'd love to have you play along too!

I didn't do banners on the bottom because they didn't seem right with the flowers.  Instead I used a scallop edge border punch and put pearls on each scallop.  You can't tell it in the picture, but the bottom flower and three of the leaves are cut out and popped up.  Basically that's because I stamped the wrong flower first!  I started with the top flower, then stamped the two on each side of it after I cut out the flower so I could cover it up and make it look like the side flowers were under the top flower.  Just save your cutout of the flower and you have it every time you need to use it instead needing to stamp and cut one out each time.  Does that even make sense? I hope so! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Retired Supplies:  3/8" Taffeta Ribbon Whisper White,
Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad & Scallop Edge Border Punch

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Joyful Christmas

Today I have a couple of Christmas cards to show you that were inspired by the colors over at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge...blue, cream and gold.  I didn't use the bright blue because I don't have a color quite like that so I pulled out my Island Indigo since I haven't used it in a while.  I also looked through all of my Christmas stamps and decided to use the retired set Joyful Christmas.  I haven't used it in a while either and thought the colors and set would make a couple of nice Christmas cards.

I was going to make two of the same cards, but after making the first one I had another idea pop into my head so it's two different cards using the same colors.  They were pretty simple to make other than the fussy cutting and even that didn't take too long.  I stamped 3 leaves on Island Indigo with VersaMark, covered them in gold embossing powder, used my heat gun and cut them out.  I did the same with the "flower" petals on Very Vanilla.  I colored my pearls with a Blendabilities marker that happened to be just the color I needed (not sure what color it actually was though!).  I attached the flower with dimensionals and the leaves with glue dots. 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Retired set:  Joyful Tidings

Retired Blendibilities Marker

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Serene Silhouettes in the Night Sky

I made today's card just because.  That's right!  Just because I saw a picture that inspired me.  I loved the stars in the sky and the colors blended together in the picture along with the silhouette of one main tree and some bushes so that's what I tried to recreate with this card.  I have no idea what I'll use it for yet.  Guess I'll just have to wait for the right occasion to come along.

  

I started by flicking liquid frisket on a piece of white card stock and waited for it to dry.  Ha ha...I definitely did NOT wait...I used the low setting on my heat gun and dried it very fast!  Then I used my brayer to add the colors of the sky.  I started with Crushed Curry on the bottom and brought it about half way up.  Then from the top I brayered Watermelon Wonder, Real Red, Blackberry Bliss and finally Elegant Eggplant making sure to not go down as far as the last color so none of the colors were covered up.  Then I stamped the tree and "bushes" (really the top of the tree) using the Basic Black Archival Stampin' Pad.  This is the first time I used this ink pad other than at convention in July and I have to say I was impressed!!  It went on dark and evenly and that's exactly what I was looking for. The last bit of color was at the bottom that needed to be filled in nice and dark.  I used a sponge and started to rub it back and forth (same ink as the tree and bushes).  I found that it went on better when I just dabbed it with the sponge repeatedly.  

The very last thing I did before layering it and putting it on the card base was to rub off all of the frisket.  I had to make sure my ink was dry.  If it's not it will smear into all the nice white stars. :(  I usually use the edge of my sleeve since my fingers are oily and that smears it too (granted I usually have an old sweatshirt on when I'm doing this!).  I just carefully rub it off, then lightly run my fingers over it to see if I missed any spots. 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Liquid Frisket

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Beautiful Botanicals

I have some cute cards to show you today.  I made them for a swap with a few fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators. :)  I was trying to make something that was quick and simple.  I don't think it was too hard to make.  It did take a bit of time to cut all the pieces out, but not as bad as I thought it would be.  I liked them so much that I also made them for my February stamp a stacks.  

After cutting all the pieces out I sponged around all the edges.  I used Rose Red on all the flowers and banner, and used Garden Green on the leaves.  You don't have to do it on the leaves, but it just gives it a little more detail than if you don't sponge them.  Since I didn't use the stamp set that went with the framelits I sponged instead.

I also  used my bone folder on everything except the banner.  I didn't want all of my flowers flat so I curved them slightly.  They can still be mailed and should pop back up after taking them out of the envelope...I hope! lol

I used glue dots to attach everything and then I was done.  Pretty simple. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

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The Wilderness Awaits in Silhouette

Today I'm going to say it's time for a masculine Monday card.  Only because it's Monday and I happen to have a masculine card to share with you. lol  I made this card for my brother's birthday last week and thought I'd share it since I do love making masculine cards. :)

I have to say I like the angle of this next pic because it makes the clouds across the moon stand out a  little bit more than the pic above. Now why did I put clouds across the moon?  I could say because I really like the look and it just adds to the card, but it's actually because I got a black streak across the top of the bright white moon!  Arrgg! lol  I wasn't happy about it at first after I did all my brayering, stamping, coloring in, shading and anything else I did!  However I think it did add to the card so I can't complain!

I like how this picture shows the light of the moon hitting the elk just right.  I used a white gel pen this get this effect.  I drew the lines on then used one finger to pull the still wet ink into the black to blend it in a little bit.   

What do you do when you make a long card?  Put a big stamp on the bottom of it!  I am just not a writer at all so I never know what to say in a card.  I'm not the sappy type and I don't want to use the same sentiment stamp over and over so just stamp something big on the inside, put a few birthday wishes in, sign it and it's good to go! :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

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Helping Me Grow in Watermelon Wonder

While trying to figure out a card for a card swap that I was in I "watercolored" this card and decided I was going to send it to my aunt for her birthday.  I love the bright color of the flowers and the pale blue in the background.

Definitely an easy card to make!  I stamped the images with VersaMark on watercolor paper and embossed them with white embossing powder.  To get the different shades of color I did one petal at a time.  I'd get the whole petal wet using an aqua painter (or paintbrush if you prefer), then I'd add the color on the bottom of the petal and let it bleed upward.  

I did the same with the "Happy Birthday".  I stamped everything with VersaMark and embossed it in white, then cut it out with the Rose Garden Thinlits.  Then I wet the whole inside and put my color in with an aqua painter using Soft Sky.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

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Merry Everything

It's time for more Christmas cards from 'Tis the Season.  This time around we have a color challenge and I used Mossy Meadow, Always Artichoke, Whisper White and Silver.  It probably should have been Smoky Slate, but I wanted a bit of bling in it. :) I wasn't too sure about the colors, but I think it really turned out quite nice.  It definitely looks darker in the picture than it really is, but that's the way it goes with my picture taking skills. lol

Here are the colors and a pic for inspiration for this challenge.  

Make sure you hop over to 'Tis the Season HERE to check out the other fun creations using these colors. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Dahlia in Bloom

 Today's card is a unique take on Try Stampin' on Tuesday's sketch challenge #256.  This was a fun sketch to work with and for once I made CAS card...kind of! :)

As I was looking through my stamps to see what would fit the sketch my dahlia stamp stood out.  After stamping it once and putting the rectangle over it I decided I needed to see the whole dahlia and did the technique "triple time stamping"...except I only did it once.  Not sure what you call that!  I also added a small strip of white under the blackberry bliss.  It was just too dark to only use blackberry bliss with the flower being so dark too.

I was trying to figure out what to put in place of the circle.  I don't do a lot of buttons and didn't want to do a bow, so I started looking at stamps again and decided a butterfly would be nice.  I stamped it and cut it out, then cut out a white piece to go behind it so it would stand out more.  Then just a quick sentiment and it's good to go.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Stamps used on this card:

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More Into the Meadow

The other day I posted a CAS card using the new set In the Meadow and I told you I'd be posting another card I made with that set.  This one is full of color...

At first I thought about brayering the sky and grass, but decided that I wanted to sponge it since I could control the color a lot more.

To get this look I started by stamping the trees with VersaMark and Old Olive.  Then I embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I did the same thing with the grass, then the flowers and finally the mountains (I colored the mountains in with gray, then colored over them with a VersaMarker before I embossed them with clear).  I punched out a circle and placed it where I wanted the sun to be, then sponged away at the sky using Soft Sky and Pool Party.  I used Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive for the grass.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog