Sweet Strawberry Greetings

Is it summer yet?! Yes, I'm wishing the winter away. I can't help it. These strawberries remind me of sweet summer days. Soon enough. Soon enough.

I found a technique on the Spectrum Noir website that I wanted to incorporate in this card. Here is the original post for Watercolor Stripes. I decided to do some striping, but I made mine into more of a plaid design to go along with the summer theme. Most tablecloths you think of for picnics are the iconic red and white gingham/plaid. I just used more of a pink palette. I wanted it a bit softer behind the big strawberries. It was so easy, and I'm definitely going to use more of this technique in future projects.

You'll draw lines, either freehand or with a ruler (I used a ruler for spacing) with your colored pencils and depending on how much water or how think you'd like your stripes is up to you! This was done on the Spectrum Aqua Watercolour Cardstock. It's THE best cardstock for watercoloring. I love it. I think I need to buy it in bulk...

I used 3 strawberries I stamped onto the watercolour cardstock and colored in with the Spectrum Noir AquaBlend Pencils. I used a water brush pen to move the color around and blend them.

I adhered them onto my striped background with some foam adhesive and snuck the sentiment in below. I scattered the sequins around to give it a little sparkle. I hope you enjoyed seeing my take on a technique from the blog.

SUPPLIES USED:

• Spectrum Noir AquaBlend Pencils: Soft Red, Cherry, Watermelon, Strawberry, Bison, Pesto Green, Spruce
• Spectrum Aqua Watercolour Cardstock
• Versafine, Onyx Black Ink
• Water Brush Pen
• Unity Stamp & Jillibean Soup Itty Bitty Sweetest Day Stamp Set

Teacher Thank You Cards

Good morning! I don't know about you, but I appreciate my children's teachers greatly. I volunteer once a month this year for my youngest's classroom by coming in to listen to him and his classmates read to me for an hour. I have never volunteered, and I am honestly regretting not doing this sooner. I love going, and I'm so in awe of how the teachers run the classroom so smoothly. It makes me really appreciate what they do every day. 

I wanted to make his teacher and teacher's aide thank you cards to show that I appreciate them. I think I'll include a gift card inside for them. Any suggestions as to where? I'd love to give them for Valentine's Day. I think it makes them smile when you drop off little treats like this. I hope they understand how much I do appreciate what they do. 

For this, I used a cute little bushel of apples and the sentiment that it just perfect for this card! (I did make two of these cards; one for each teacher.)

I chose the lined patterned paper behind everything and added a small heart in the lower right corner.

I used a messier look to watercolor the image in with my Spectrum Noir Aqua Markers. I color a swatch onto an acrylic block and pick up the color with a water brush pen.

For the blue background around the bushel, I flicked on the color for the dots of blue. I love watercoloring so much, so plan on seeing a lot from me using this coloring method! It's just too fun.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my cards for these patient and loving women that teach 20-something 7 year olds day in and day out! I can't wait to give these to them.

SUPPLIES USED:

• Spectrum Aqua Watercolour Cardstock 
• Spectrum Noir Aqua Markers: Burgundy, Crimson, Blossom, Fawn, Sepia, Chestnut, Slate, Bud Green, Evergreen, Aquamarine
• Water Brush Pen
• Memento Luxe, Love Letter (small red heart)
• Versafine, Onyx Black 
• Lawn Fawn, Thanks a Bushel Stamp Set 

SPECTRUM NOIR

A Smile is the Key to Everyone's Heart

I adore this sentiment on the card I created. It's so true, too. I wanted a softer look since I used a black cardbase and black and white twine. He just begged me to watercolor him. I obliged.

He looks dapper in his little suit tossing some nuts and fruit up in the air. Made you smile, right? Perfect.

I hope you smiled when you saw this today. Totally what I was going for! Make the folks over at Crafter's Companion smile, too, and take a look around what you'd like to order. There is so much stuff there, it's awesome.

Happy crafting!

SUPPLIES USED:
Brambly Hedge, The Secret Staircase
Spectrum Watercolour Cardstock
Versafine, Onyx Black
Spectrum Aqua Markers: Terracotta, Fawn, Boulder, Bud Green, Leaf Green, Moss, Burgundy, Chestnut, Desert, Slate, Black, Peacock Blue, Teal
Spectrum Sparkle Pens: Red Berries, Smoked Quartz, Crystal Clear

Lawnscaping Challenge 135 Sponsored by Ellen Hutson

The wonderful, fabulous Ellen Hutson! is sponsoring this challenge!!! Certainly you are familiar with her and her store, but if not, a little bit about the store in her own words:

Ellen Hutson, LLC began their adventure in November 2006 as an online web store committed to bringing you the finest paper crafting products and related product education. They are always looking to provide their customers with quality products, excellent customer service, and education and inspiration for the products they carry. You can shop with Ellen by clicking HERE. As well please join them to be inspired and learn some fun techniques in the CLASSroom, or stay up-to-date on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and/orPinterest.

Ellen Hutson issponsoring our first challenge of each. The prize? A $25 gift certificate to the online store! Thank you Ellen!

 

Now on to my project!! I had a lot of fun with this one. I wanted to create a very simple patterned paper with a sentiment stamped below it. I love creating my own backgrounds. I think it's a challenge in itself.  And I'm so happy with how this card came out!

 

We fish in this household and we all enjoy it. Well, I think my husband enjoys going alone more than going with us just because he's always untangling line, putting worms on the hooks, getting fish off the hooks, etc. BUT we do like it. I grew up with a dad who enjoyed fishing and I did as well. I was the only one that would sit with him for hours on end, patiently fishing.  So I wanted to use this part of the Lawn Fawn Dad + Me set. I kept it simple, but really masculine and fun. Love the sentiment. Very punny ;)

 

Another angle. I kept the color palette more neutral and not very bright since lake fishing around here have these colors. I hope you enjoyed seeing how I made my card pattern and that you're inspired to join in on the fun! Swim on over to the Lawnscaping Challenge blog to see the rest of the amazing design team's projects and enter your own project for a chance to win! Remember, just keep swimming. I'm here all day, people. ;)

SUPPLIES USED:

• Lawn Fawn Dad + Me
• Lawn Fawn 6x6 Paper, Let's Polka In the Dark
• Mister Huey's Water Cooler Spray Mist
• Versafine Ink, Onyx Black
• Spectrum Noir Watercolor Cardstock
• Staz-on Midi Pad, Cactus Green
• Spectrum Aqua Markers

Take Time Card

 

Happy Saturday everyone! Today's card is a quick and pretty springtime card I created using another Bebunni set! It's the perfect time of year for bunnies, anyway...

On to my card.

 

Doesn't this make you want springtime to just get here?? I just love it! And the sentiment is something I think we can all live by. 

I diecut a simple tag shape out of watercolour cardstock, stamped the Bebunni image onto it with Versafine in Onyx Black. I colored him in with my Spectrum Aqua Markers and water brush pen. I punched a hole in the center of the tag at the top and tied a charcoal color piece of twine through it. 

I used a simple white cardstock base trimmed, scored and folded to 4.25x5.5. I chose a pretty piece of patterned paper to use and glued that down to the center of the base. For some interest, I embossed a piece of smaller vellum and then glued everything down. I added the row of pearls at the bottom for that feminine touch. 

 

Grab all your crafting needs at Crafter's Companion!! Perfect for building up your stash of cards to have on hand to send whenever you need a card. Handmade is best! 

SUPPLIES USED:

• Bebunni Floral Collection, Bloom & Grow
• Rock-A-Blocks
• Versafine, Onyx Black
• Embossalicious Vintage Blooming Wonderful Embossing Folder
• Spectrum Aqua Watercolour Cardstock
• Spectrum Aqua Markers: Slate, Charcoal, Spice, Peach, Moss, Sunflower, Aquamarine, Boulder, Topaz

Lawnscaping Challenge #117: Thinking of You Sponsored by Ellen Hutson

Good morning! Today is another fun challenge day with Lawnscaping. Today's challenge is Thinking of You (Hope, Love or Encouragement).

The wonderful, fabulous Ellen Hutson! is sponsoring this challenge!!! Certainly you are familiar with her and her store, but if not, a little bit about the store in her own words:

Ellen Hutson, LLC began their adventure in November 2006 as an online web store committed to bringing you the finest paper crafting products and related product education. They are always looking to provide their customers with quality products, excellent customer service, and education and inspiration for the products they carry. You can shop with Ellen by clicking HERE. As well please join them to be inspired and learn some fun techniques in the CLASSroom, or stay up-to-date on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and/orPinterest.

Ellen Hutson will be sponsoring our first challenge of each month in 2015! The prize? A $25 gift certificate to the online store! Thank you Ellen!

Having cards of encouragement are always great to have on hand for when you need them! Sometimes a pretty card in the mail is just the pick-me-up someone could really use.

I created this with a lot of white space but yet with a lot of color! Here is what I made:

What I did was create a mask from a sticky note so that I could overlap my flowers from the Flutter By set on the right edge of the card. I colored them in using my Twinkling H20s. They're these beautiful watercolors with a brilliant shimmer to them. Sadly, you can't see that in the photos, but they're so pretty in person. Then I cut out the negative space left in between them. I did this so that I could sneak a patterned paper behind them so they would pop off the card. Love this technique. 

For the sentiment, I masked out part of it so that I could stack it. It comes all in one line. You can always cut apart your stamps, but I wanted to leave it all in one line and this is a great way to do that. Just mask out what you don't want to stamp. I used Golden Glitz on this for a sparkle to coordinate with the colored flowers on the right.

I simply flicked on some of the turquoise blue H20s with my water brush pen. Simple look and it adds some bright little dots of color to your projects. 

To finish off the card, I added some simple rhinestones in the center of each flower and tied on a twine bow next to the sentiment. 

I hope you're inspired to have a fun time creating for this challenge! Make sure you check the Lawnscaping Challenge blog for full details on entering to win. 

SUPPLIES USED:

• Lawn Fawn Flutter By
• Lawn Fawn Twine
• Watercolor Cardstock
• Spectrum Aqua Markers
• Versafine, Onyx Black
• Delicata, Golden Glitz
• Twinkling H20s, Summer Fun

Lawnscaping Challenge #114: One Layer

It's that time again - challenge time! So, this challenge from Lawnscaping Challenges is a great one. Most of us create dimensional cards, with many layers and elements. Not today!! Think CAS! I knew exactly what I wanted to do and the new set I wanted to use for this card...come check it out.

We are sponsored by the always amazing Lawn Fawn! Those folks just rock and they are sponsoring this challenge with a free stamp set of the winner's choice! So many stamp to choose from, I know. It's tough. We just heart them! Thank you Kelly Marie and gang for sponsoring us! YOU ROCK!

Here is my project for this one layer challenge:

I LOVE this set, can I just say that?? It's seriously adorable. All the little sheep and fun elements are too much. It's the Lawn Fawn Baaah Humbug set. My hubby and I give each other a card in our stockings on Christmas morning, so that was my inspiration. I wanted a CAS card since, let's face it, he's a guy and isn't about all the frills and fancy stuff. He likes simple, straight to the point. This fills the bill!

I took a piece of watercolor cardstock and made that my card base. Since this is a single layer card, I knew I wanted to use my Spectrum Aqua Markers for this card anyway, and I generally will stamp that, cut out and adhere to another piece of cardstock, but I just removed that step and stamped right onto my card base! I created my little scene here with the sheep and placed mistletoe and the ribbon between then. I stamped the sheep with Versafine in Onyx Black and colored in with my Spectrum Aqua Markers. 

For the mistletoe, I used Staz-On Midi in Cactus Green and the bow for the mistletoe is Memento Luxe in Love Letter. The sentiment is also in Versafine, Onyx Black. I simply curved it to my liking on my clear block and stamped that my card right above the mistletoe. 

It needed a little something, so I used some painters tape (some people use washi tape as well) to mask off a stripe and I colored it in with a Bronze Metallic Sharpie. 

There you have it. A totally cute, one layer card. 

Have fun with this challenge and be sure to check out the rules to enter your card into this challenge over on the Lawnscaping Blog!

Lawnscaping Challenge #113: Texture

Good morning! Today is another fun challenge day with Lawnscaping. Today's challenge is Texture, Texture, TEXTURE. Just add texture to your creation.

The wonderful, fabulous Ellen Hutson! is sponsoring this challenge!!! Certainly you are familiar with her and her store, but if not, a little bit about the store in her own words:

Ellen Hutson, LLC began their adventure in November 2006 as an online web store committed to bringing you the finest paper crafting products and related product education. They are always looking to provide their customers with quality products, excellent customer service, and education and inspiration for the products they carry. You can shop with Ellen by clicking HERE. As well please join them to be inspired and learn some fun techniques in the CLASSroom, or stay up-to-date on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and/orPinterest.

Ellen Hutson will be sponsoring our first challenge of each month in 2015! The prize? A $25 gift certificate to the online store! Thank you Ellen!

Now, on to what I created for this challenge. 

Since this is a new set from Lawn Fawn, and it's Halloween, I HAD to have it. I couldn't wait to make something with it, so I decided on an idea I had to add texture by using embossing powder for the background. 

Here is what I came up with:

To create this, I used the new Lawn Fawn set, Booyah. I chose some fun orange and black papers to coordinate with this Halloween card. 

I used the Happy Halloween sentiments from the Booyah set and stamped in Versarmark on my black piece of cardstock. I embossed those with a clear embossing powder, so when it's dry, it appears to be a shiny black; very subtle! I wanted one of the sentiments to pop out, so I used a white embossing powder on just that one. I love the way it came out!

The ghost has her trick-or-treat bag, which I just stamped onto a piece of scrap Halloween paper and cut out. I cut off the handle so I could add a simple orange and white twine handle for a little fun element.

She has on her bride of Frankenstein costume, which I love. I colored her and her hair in with Spectrum Aqua Watercolor Markers (begonia, black, slate and charcoal) after I had stamped them with Versafine in Onyx Black onto watercolor cardstock. I fussy cut them out, but you can definitely use the coordinating dies for this set! Makes it much quicker!

For the white stripe in her hair, I wanted something fun, so I used some Stickles to add a sparkly accent! I also popped on a few black sequins from my stash as well. 

I hope you're inspired to have a fun time creating for this texture challenge! It's a favorite thing of mine to do. So use that imagination and have fun creating. Make sure you check the Lawnscaping Challenge blog for full details on entering to win. 

With Love Lilies

Good morning! I have a really soft and soothing card today up that I actually created for a friend who is dealing with a loss in her life. I think sympathy cards should be just that - soft and soothing to look at. After all, any loss is difficult and little pretty card in the mail that makes you smile just a little when you open it is just what that person needs. 

I used the Sheena A Little Bit Floral Lily set today. I stamped it onto the Spectrum Aqua Watercolor Cardstock in Versafine ink in Onyx Black. I then started to color my lilies with Spectrum Aqua Markers in just four colors - Wildflower, Magenta and Blossom. I used Aquamarine around them to give them just a pop of soft color like the sky. 

For the sentiment, I also used the Watercolor Cardstock and the With Love from Me to You is from the Bebunni Floral, Sweet Friend set. I used a bit of the same Aquamarine to match and cut it into a pennant shape. I used a Gold Sharpie on the end of it to match the stamen inside the flowers I had colored as well. I used some foam adhesive behind it to pop it off the card. 

I chose a very subtle patterend paper to glue to my base and then rounded just one corner of my watercolored lilies panel and glued that down with the Extra Strong Permanent Tape Runner. I love using this with any watercoloring I do because even with thicker cardstock and adding water to it, it's going to warp it a bit. The strong adhesive definitely helps with making it nice and flat! This is one adhesive you don't want to be without.