Enjoy the Waves

The Paper Players Challenge #PP635 this week is Any Colors in Pastel Shades...and I thought of some shell dies I have yet to use. Spring break is over and it is only a little over a month until summer break starts, so why not think of the beach?

Products I used:

Papertrey Ink: Summer Shells dies

Distress Oxide inks

Vellum

Concord and 9th: Dew Drop dots

Ink blending brushes

White Acrylic Paint

Aqua pen

Versafine: Onyx Black Ink pad

My Favorite Things: Life's A Beach stamp set

I die cut all of the dies in the set out of white cardstock. After removing each shell from the cardstock, I ink blended each one in the colors I wanted. I watered down some white acrylic paint and after dipping my aqua pen in the watery mess, I tried to spatter all over the die cuts. While they dried, I cut them again out of vellum. I ink blended some aqua distress ink across the middle of my card, then arranged the shells over it. I adhered them here and there and added dew drops. Last, I stamped the sentiment and the project was complete!

Are you thinking of the beach these days?

-Carol

Happy Easter Egg Hunt

This stamp set was my last order from Jane's Doodles as she just closed her rubber stamp business. Now I wish I had ordered more from her over the years! She will have digital stamps in the future so her art will carry on. I tracked this order as it left her hands in Croatia, then accepted the package on Friday from my mail carrier, and had to make a card right away with these cute stamps! I CASEd a card on Jane's Instagram by Claudia Cubas here and tried to (hopefully) color it only half as well as hers.

Products I used:

Jane's Doodles: Happy Easter stamp set

Simon Says Stamp: Wonky stitched rectangle dies, Custom Copic Friendly White Cardstock

My Favorite Things: Grassy Fields die

Ranger: Distress inks

Ink blending brushes

Copic markers

I bought this Copic-friendly cardstock a while ago and decided to try it out with this card. It is MAGICAL! I can't even believe how well it colored and did not bleed AT ALL! The colors blended easily and I just can't get over it! I am no Copic expert, but it made blending colors so much easier for me.

I used the side of a piece of random cardstock to freehand ink blend the sky, moving it over for each color with no real measuring or color planning. (Risky tactic!) It's a rough version of a rainbow, but I just wanted a colorful background if possible. I fussy cut the image carefully before I popped up the Easter egg hunt scene on foam tape and mounted it on a white card base. 

Thanks Jane, for all the heart you put into your business as well as helping with the war in Ukraine. (She has been donating money/her proceeds to help the Ukrainian people.) 

I hope you are having a nice Easter Sunday. 

See you back here soon,

-Carol

Hello Sunshine

As the hostess for this Just Us Girls Challenge Word Week #674, I chose Sunshine. I'm hoping that where you live you are getting more and more of it with each passing day. I love when we change the clocks and have more sunlight in the evening. As a teacher it used to remind me that summer was on its way! Just wait until you see all the ideas the team has for you! I used a photo frame die that I have had for a while and have used it in a variety of ways.

Products I used:

Simon Says Stamp: Hello Sunshine Frame

Memory Box: Marine Sailboat die

SugarPea Designs: Wave Stencil

Concord and 9th: Dew Drops

Ranger: Distress oxide inks

Ink Blending brushes

I thought of the photo frame as soon as I picked sunshine for the challenge. I ink blended my panel first, using the stencil to add waves with the same colors as the sea base colors. Then I popped up the frame to have the sunset (or sunrise) in the middle. Last,  I arranged the sailboat and dew drops where I wanted them.

Please take a look at all the design team ideas because you will be inspired!!! Join us in the gallery!

-Carol

Girls Just Want To Have Sun

Our Just Us Girls Color Week Challenge #673 is Terracotta and Green. I am CASEing Hannelie Bester's fabulous card from not long ago that I just love (here.) The team came up with a great variety of ideas for you this week and we hope you will join us! My plan was for my CAS card to look like a terracotta tile courtyard with plants here and there.

Products I used:

Spellbinders: Shopping Run dies

My Favorite Things: Perfect Pool Water stencil

Poppystamps: Whittle Sealife Sentiments

Concord and 9th: Mini ink pads

Stampin' Up!: Brown marker

Ink blending brushes

This is the first time I am using these plant dies and it was fairly easy. I ink blended the leaves and terracotta pot, then assembled them into one unit. I stenciled the "tiles" on the left bottom corner then tried some arrangements of the plant and the sentiment until I was happy with it. I couldn't resist the pun when I was looking for a sentiment. Hope it made you smile.

Looking forward to seeing your ideas in our gallery this week!

-Carol

Eggstra Special Easter Wishes

My friends came over to stamp recently and we made an Easter card with these adorable bunny ears and some darling stencils. I cut a few extra sets of bunny ears because I wanted to try to use them again. A few days later I thought the ears would fit the giraffe dies and they do! I decided to share my clean and layered card over at The Card Concept 192 where I was inspired by the bunny taking center stage on the mantel with pops of white (and tan) amongst the other neutral colors/patterned background, like my card. Happy Easter Everybunny!

Products I used: 

My Favorite Things: Joyful Giraffe Die-namics

Waffle Flower: Bunny Ears die set

Sugar Pea Designs: Stitched rectangle die

Stampin Up!: Sentiment

Patterned cardstock

This giraffe die set is fun to put together. When you die cut the head and neck it leaves embossed marks so you know where to put the spots. So easy to piece together! I hope MFT makes comes out with more animals like this one! 

Wishing you a blessed Easter 2023.

-Carol

Goin' Coastal

This might sound familiar to you if you are a cardmaker. I bought this row of houses die eons ago and am just using it now for the first time. I felt like it was supposed to be for a winter snowy scene, but I pictured being able to make a row of beach huts. You know that for spring break people are "goin' coastal" to escape winter weather where they live! I made this card for this week's Just Us Girls #672 CAS theme: 1/3 or less. You've got to see all the different ideas the team and our talented guest Michele Ferguson came up with for you! I am also playing along over at Addicted to CAS: Spring and Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies.

Below is my "vintage" wooden stamp from a store called Stampa Barbara in Santa Barbara, California...a gorgeous coastal city north of Los Angeles and the destination of many road trips taken long ago for stamp shopping. Seeing this stamp in my stash brings back good memories with friends!

Products I used: 

Memory Box: House in the Country die

Stampa Barbara: Seashore scene (palm trees)

Ellen Hutson: Everything's Beachy stamp set (sentiment)

Concord and 9th: mini ink cubes

Ink blending brushes

The first thing I did was die cut the scene from the bottom of the front side of an A2 card base. Using post it notes, I masked off each house to ink blend them in red, white and blue. Then I masked off the houses to be able to ink blend some sand and water beneath them. I adhered the scene to the bottom inside edge of the card back. With the card open and lying flat on my work surface, I ink blended the sky and stamped my trees and sentiment. I left a little white space between my sand and water to look like the white foam that hits the sand. (As you can see in the photo of my stamp above, the trees were part of a scene, so I just inked up the top of the trees by dabbing my ink cube corner carefully so that I would only get palm leaves. Then I penned in the trunks.) I stamped my sentiment and the card was complete!

We hope you will join us on this CAS week challenge, using 1/3 or less of your card and following our definition of Clean and Simple. Can't wait to see you in the gallery!

-Carol

Spring Cleaning with Paint

The As You See It Challenge #294: Spring Cleaning theme caught my eye because putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls of a room and organizing all of the contents in said room are the perfect refresh to do at this time of year. The challenge is to spring clean the stash and these paint chips have been staring at me for a long time. I got them to use with this paintbrush die set and I am happy to use both together today!

Products I used: 

Spellbinders: Artful Tulip die set

Stampin' Up!: Work of Art stamp set, Coastal Cabana ink pad, sequins

Silver cardstock

Versafine Onyx Black ink pad

Sequins

I made a 5" x 7" card base so the whole paintbrush would fit with a stroke of paint above it. I cut the paint chip in half and staggered the two pieces to go with the direction of the paintbrush mid stroke. I hoard some of my sequins too and these are some that I have had forever in my stash.

Speaking of spring cleaning, I need to get out of the stamp room and get to work on drawers and closets to be cleaned out! Do you do this every March/April?

-Carol