Unity Stamp Company ~ Frankly Said ~ Watercolor Wash Birthday

Hello there! I'm dropping in with a super quick card... seriously, this is really quick! The most time-consuming part of this card was the dry time for the watercolor washed background.

I could have dried the background with my heat tool, but I decided to let it sit overnight so that I didn't re-heat the embossed sentiment from Unity's Frankly Said sentiment kit. So, to start I heat embossed the black sentiment onto the watercolor paper. Using painters tape, I taped down the watercolor panel to my board and wet the paper with a clean watercolor pen. I got the paper very wet... and funny note here... that's when the pizza delivery guy arrived with our dinner. LOL! So... after all that fun, I came back to my watercolor paper that was still a little wet and brushed more water on it. I scribbled my orange ZIG over my acrylic block and picked up the ink with my watercolor pen. I then brushed over the background. I went over it a couple of times to intensify the orange on the top, but I didn't want it too dark and I wanted to go with an ombre look... and the pizza was getting cold! LOL

The next day, I came back to my watercolored panel and I love how the background turned out. I die cut it with the Big and Little Chain Rectangle die by Gina Marie Designs. I die cut a piece of black card stock with the largest die in the set and then I adhered the black layer to a kraft card base. I popped up the watercolor panel using foam tape and that was it! I love the sassy sentiment on this card and I know the recipient will get a kick out of it!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

Unity Stamp Company ~ Cat's Meow ~ Hello Friend

Hello there! I have a sweet CAS card to share for the CASology Cue Card: Furbaby challenge. Once seeing the cue card for the challenge this week, I thought it was a great excuse to ink up this cute Cat's Meow stamp set from Unity Stamp Company.

I stamped the kitty and the sentiment using Memento tuxedo black ink and then colored in the kitty using the following Copic markers ~ R00, R20, R21, N0, N2, Colorless Blender. I got to thinking that the kitty really wanted to send some love so I stamped the heart stamp using Ink on 3's Fadeout No Line Coloring ink. I didn't want the black outline around the heart so that's why I chose this ink and it was a great excuse to try out this ink on a very simple image to color. I used R000, R14, R27 to color the heart. I think it's really cool how the lines from the Fadeout ink just faded away. I'm anxious to try it again with a different image. Anywho, back to the card... I wanted to give the kitty a little ground to sit on so I used W00, W1, W2 for a subtle ground that would contrast the grays of the kitty.

I die cut the card front with the large stitched panel from the My Favorite Things Blueprint 31 die. I adhered it to the white card base using mono multi purpose liquid glue. So cute! I love this adorable kitty stamp! I will say that I wish the coloring on the red heart had a smoother edge to it, but I still love how the card turned out!

I got an early start on this week's challenge so there's lots of time still play! Go check it out 

here ---> CASology Cue Card: Furbaby challenge.

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

The Rabbit Hole Designs ~ Caffeinated Octopus ~ Gets me Kraken!

Hello there! Today, I'm sharing a card I made with the fabulous Caffeinated: Octopus set from The Rabbit Hole Designs for the CASology Cue Card: Wave challenge. I am loving all the fun Caffeinated stamps from this new stamp company!! And thought this octopus would be perfect for this challenge!!

I blended Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink over the My Favorite Things Make Waves stencil being sure to keep the blending light. I then stamped the Caffeinated: Octopus twice... once over the stenciled background and again on a scrap piece of white card stock. I knew that I didn't want to fussy cut around all those wayward hairs poking out of the octopus' curlers so I could fussy cut those right off but still have them on the card.

I colored in the octopus using the following Copic markers:

Octopus ~ BV04, BV31, BV34, R000, R11

Curlers ~ BG000, BG13, BG15

Coffee Pot ~ E44, E47, E49, N0, N1, N5, N8

Mugs ~ RV0000, RV17, RV19, RV21

I also used a touch of white gel pen on the mugs and coffee pot. The red in the eyes was made using a Paper Mate Ink Joy pen. I colored around the outer edges of the eyes with the R000 and R11 copic markers and then made tiny squiggly lines with the red pen. I fussy cut the octopus and then adhered it over the image I had stamped on the card front. I then ran the card front through the Big Shot with the My Favorite Things Wonky Stitched Rectangle die. I stamped the sentiment in the top right corner and then adhered the whole piece to a white card base.

Here's one more look at the finished card... pretty simple, but oh so fun!

Love this Caffeinated: Octopus!! 

There's still a little bit of time to play along with the CASology challenge! 

You can check it out here ---> CASology Cue Card: Wave challenge.

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

The Rabbit Hole Designs ~ Love You More ~ Love Is In The Air

Happy Valentine's Day!! Today, I'm sharing a sweet card using the sweetest set from The Rabbit Hole Designs called Love You More. I just adore this stamp set and had a fun idea to use this set with some Glitter Glaze from Brutus Monroe!

Ever since I created my first card using this stamp set... you can see that on my Instagram here ---> Love You More card... I had the idea for this card in the back of my mind. I really wanted to play with the Glitter Glaze from Brutus Monroe again. I used a heart stencil from my stash and masked off the portions I didn't want on the card. I taped the stencil down over the top folded 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" card of Alabaster card stock and then used a palette knife to apply the Scarlet glitter glaze over the stencil. I set the card aside to let it dry and then stamped the adorable images on a separate piece of Alabaster card stock. I then colored all the images with the following Copic markers:

Skin ~ E000, E00

Girl's Dress ~ BV31, BV34

Girl's Hair ~ E55, E57, E59

Boy's Shirt ~ YR16, YR27, N0

Boy's Jeans ~ B95, B97

Boy's Hair ~ E43, E44, E47

Balloons ~ R000, R14, R27

Clouds ~ BV20, BV23

Bird ~ R20, Y11

The clouds got a little too dark for my liking so I went back in with a white Gelly Roll pen and it turns out, I liked the texture that it gave to the cloud so that's a win win there! I fussy cut all the images and adhered then with mono multi purpose liquid glue. I trimmed off the excess cloud on the right side. I then stamped the sentiment with Clear Embossing Ink and heat set Alabaster embossing powder. I die cut the sentiment with a banner die and then trimmed off the left side. I adhered it to the card using the liquid glue and there you have it! I love this card!

Here's a close up of the coloring and you can see the pretty glitter in the glitter glaze hearts!

Love it! I sure hope that you like my card, too! 

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

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Scrapping for Less ~ January 2019 FOTM Card Kit ~ Let's Do Coffee!

Hello there! I just had to revisit the January 2019 Flavor of the Month card kit to make a couple more coffee themed cards for my stash. I'm not sure if I admitted this yet, but I believe that Brew It, Anya just may be my favorite stamp in this kit... very closely followed by the sweet Melting Snowman stamp set in the Banana Split subscription. But for today's post, I have created two cards using Brew It, Anya... both using the same sketch.

Since I was using my favorite stamp from the kit, I thought it only natural to use my favorite paper... Coffee Time by Scrapping for Less from Collection One. I can't get enough of this paper and I was excited to find that it's available in the store right here ---> A La Carte . I cut the necessary pieces for my cards and adhered them to white card bases from my stash.

I then searched through my leftover pieces of card stock from the kit to stamp Anya onto. I chose Whip Cream and Sno Cone card stock. I die cut her out using a scalloped circle die and then die cut the image again with a circle die (cutting out the center of the circle that I popped up on the cards). I stamped Anya again (twice) on Neenah 110# Classic Crest Smooth Solar White card stock included in the kit. For my first card, I kept Anya neutral to coordinate with the colors in the papers.

I colored my first Anya card with the following Copic markers:

Skin ~ E000, E00, R20

Hair ~ E41, E42

Clothes ~ E43, E44, E47, E49

Cup ~ E44, E47, E49

For my second card, I tried to use similar colors to the paper so I added some blue to this one.

I colored in my second Anya with the following Copic markers:

 Skin ~ E000, E00, E11, E13

Hair ~ E41, E42

Clothes ~ E44, E47, E49, B000, B00, BG0000, BG000, BG10

Cup ~ E43, E44, E47, E49

As I mentioned earlier, I popped up the circle portion of the main image using foam tape and then I adhered the scallop with just a little bit of liquid glue. I love the dimension this gives to the focal image! I found a couple different sentiments in the kit to use for each card. I stamped them and then die cut them out using a banner die. I also popped the sentiments up on the card using foam tape.

To finish off the cards, I added some glossy accents (from my stash) to the little bear barrettes and also added some sequins from Collection One. And that's it! A couple more cards using the fabulous January 2019 Perk Up and Start the New Year Card Kit!

I love this kit so much! There's still a few card kits available... get yours before they're all gone!!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

Scrapping for Less ~ January 2019 FOTM Card Kit ~ Alternative Cards ~ No Coffee Here!

 Hello there! Today I am sharing a couple more cards that I created using the January 2019 Perk Up and Start the New Year card kit. I challenged myself to create a couple of cards using the kit that didn't actually have any coffee related items on it. I know that not everyone loves coffee as I do, and I have a few friends who won't touch the stuff, so I thought it would be fun to create a couple of cards for them. And to my delight, it was very easy to design these two cards.

You'll notice that both cards have very similar design with just the slightest of difference being the placement of the elements. The reason for this is that I had to cover some portions of the papers that had been used in other cards - for example a small circle is hidden in the paper underneath the hummingbird. Easily covered up though... and I like that the cards are similar, 

but ever so slightly different. 

And how sweet is this hummingbird from the Humming Along stamp set by Scrapping for Less in Collection One of the card kit. I think it's just so cute! I will admit that finding a sentiment among the kit that wasn't coffee related was a challenge, but then I realized I could mask the first portion of the "Coffee and Friends are the Nectar of Life" sentiment... and it would work perfectly with my card design! So using a post it note, I masked the "Coffee and..." portion of the sentiment and then inked up the rest of the sentiment. I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment. Easy peasy! I die cut the sentiment with a banner die and trimmed off the end. I adhered all of the elements of my cards to a couple of white card bases from my stash. Challenge complete! And I'm loving how these turned out!

I used the following Copic markers to color in the hummingbirds ~ R01, R05, BG93, BG96, BG99, YR15, YR21. And I used B0000, and B000 for the blue in the background.

Here's a close up picture of the second card. I think this one is my favorite. I love how it looks like the hummingbird is getting ready to land on those flowers to get a drink! I hope these cards inspire you to maybe look at your card kits in a different way... I know my friends will love these cards and I bet they would be surprised to know that they came from a coffee themed card kit. That's it for me this time!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

Polka Dot Orchard ~ Penguin Love ~ Be My Penguin

Hello there! Today, I'm sharing a sweet Valentine's Day card using the adorable penguin from Polka Dot Orchard's Penguin Love digi stamp set. Just like my All You Need card from the other day using the same digi stamp set, I made card fronts using this sweet penguin and an assortment of sentiments right in a document so I could print these off and have 4 card fronts ready to color and create with.

So, I had a few questions about the digi card fronts I created last time... I thought I'd share a picture to hopefully clear up any confusion. I resized the penguin and the sentiments to fit on a 8-1/2 x 11" piece of card stock. Once printed, I can trim them into card fronts measuring 4-1/4 x 5-1/2", color, and make into cards. Typically though, I keep them in a full sheet and do all of my coloring at once and then cut them into card fronts. I have found that my measurements in the document aren't always perfect so sometimes the images need to be cut smaller than a card front, but that's fine because I prefer to use pretty stitched dies to die cut them out. I hope this helps those that asked!

Onto the card I created... I absolutely adore this penguin! How sweet is this little guy?! I colored him using the following Copic markers ~ N0, N1, N2, N5, N8, Colorless Blender, R000, R14, R27, YR15, YR27, YR68, W2, W5. I die cut the card front using a stitched rectangle die and adhered a few heart sequins. And then I started searching through my limited Valentine's papers... I really need more Valentine's papers! I chose the red and white heart paper from the My Funny Valentine paper pad by Pebbles. I adhered that to a white card base and got to thinking I wanted to mat the focal image... but I didn't want to cover up all the pretty hearts in the background. My solution to this was having my 'mat' off set a bit. I adhered the focal image to the off set black card stock and then adhered them to the card base. I was then able to trim off the edges of the card base - trimming off the excess black card stock.

Here's a close up of the sweet penguin! So stinkin' cute!

I hope that you like my card and found the information on my process for digi stamps informative.

Be sure to check out this sweet digi stamp set in the Polka Dot Orchard Etsy shop!

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

Polka Dot Orchard ~ Penguin Love ~ All You Need!

Hello there! I have a quick card to share with you today using a sweet new digi set from Polka Dot Orchard! I just love the combination of images in the new Penguin Love set... and it's on sale this weekend for 70% off!! What an amazing deal! Now before you run off to buy it... let's look at my card real quick.

I wanted to make some easy card fronts so I resized this cup and a couple of sentiments all onto a 8-1/2 x 11 size document so that all I had to do was print it off and cut the sheet into four. I could then color and trim (or die cut) them to add to a card base. Easy peasy!

So this is my first card to share from that sheet. I colored the cup using the following Copic markers ~ R000, R14, R27, V15, V17, W00, W2, N1, N4.

My inspiration for the color combination is a cup that I use for watercoloring that was given to me by my kids for Mother's Day a couple of years ago. It's very similar to this cup... even with the stripes on the handle! So I thought it would be perfect to do a similar cup with the love theme! I kept the colors light for the coffee because I imagined it was topped with a whipped cream... yum! To finish off the card, I added some Nuvo purple rain glitter drops on the stir stick heart and here and there on the card. It was very hard to get a good picture of the glitter drops, but it's all glittery! I promise!

Well, that's it for me today. I hope to share another card using this adorable set later this week!

Now, run and go get your digi set before the sale is over! :)

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs!

Crystal

~ Friends of Unity February Blog Hop ~

Hello!! I'm so excited to share my cards for our Friends of Unity blog hop this month! The cue this month is Friendship... I am very blessed with many friends! I'm also blessed to do this hop with a bunch of my crafty friends!! I had no idea when Amber and I came up with this wonderful hop that these amazingly creative and artistic women would become such dear friends to me. A bonus also is the fantastic group of crafty friends that follow us and support us so I just want to (again) say thank you to all of you fabulous peeps!

It's been a while since I did some mixed media art for a card... or at least it feels like it's been awhile so I just had to get inky with my oxides for this one!!

I trimmed a piece of Ranger Mixed Media cardstock down to a cardfront panel measuring 5-1/2 x 4-1/4". I painted on some clear gesso to prepare the paper, but I honestly don't know if that step was necessary since this paper is made for mixed media art. I just did it out of habit. I also painted an extra large tag from Unity that was in my stash with the same clear gesso. I dried both pieces with my Ranger heat tool. I then blended Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick, and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide inks on the piece of card stock I had prepared. I then sprayed the paper with water to let the colors move around and blend. I dried the paper with my Ranger heat tool and then grabbed my stamps. I decided to use Unity's Better with Friends stamp set by Jolande and Marleen. I love the mix of stamps in this fabulous set! Perfect for the card I wanted to create! I stamped the script background with Spiced Marmalade oxide ink. I then stamped the splatter with Worn Lipstick oxide ink in a few different places on the paper. I spritzed some water into the palm of my hand and clapped over the card front... a fun way to add splatter to your creations! I then dabbed the splatter dry with a paper towel and set the card front aside.

I stamped the flowers on the extra large tag with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine black embossing powder. I dabbed the Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide inks on my glass mat and used the inks to watercolor the flowers. They seemed to get 'lost' in the background of the card front so I decided to add some Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide ink. I fussy cut the flowers and set them aside. I wanted to add some more black to the card front so I added this beautiful die cut from the Tim Holtz Mixed Media Thinlet die set that I trimmed and adhered to the card front. I then stamped the sentiment with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed a fine black embossing powder. I got to thinking... this needs more splatter so I grabbed my black acrylic paint, watered it down a little bit and splattered away. The top right corner needed a little something so I was looking around my studio and saw my very neglected Stampin' Up! Spiral Border punch. Perfect! All that was left was adhering the flowers... I got distracted by one of the kids while adhering this and it ended up more to the left of the card then I wanted but it was stuck. 

Oh, well... I still love it!

My second card has a pretty simple design to it... I stamped the gorgeous flowers using VersaMark watermark ink on Canson XL watercolor paper and then heat embossed a fine black embossing powder. I then watercolored the flowers using some new watercolor markers that I recently purchased that were recommended by a crafty friend. They're called Staedtler Marsgraphic Duo Double-ended watercolor brush markers.... quite a name, huh?! But I have to say, I loved watercoloring with them. I didn't color direct to the paper. I scribbled the watercolor markers on my acrylic block and then used my watercolor pen to lift the color and paint. I sometimes use this technique with my ZIGs so I wondered how these markers would do and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. Next time, I think I'll color direct to the paper and see how they work.

So... want to hear a funny crafty story?! I got done watercoloring these flowers and had the crazy idea to add my nuvo crystal drops right away... well, I realized after my first couple of drops that I hadn't trimmed my panel. I had planned to die cut it with a stitched die or some kind of rectangle die... LOL! Nope, couldn't do that now! So, I carefully trimmed it with my cutter (the following day so the drops were completely dry) and ended up matting it on black and popping it up on a stitched scallop die cut piece of a fun new paper I found at Hobby Lobby by The Paper Studio called Stargazer. Oh my goodness... this paper is so beautiful! I saw it while I was trying to avoid buying paper and I just had to bring it home. My crafty friend, Dawn, can tell you it's true! Right, Dawn?! She was there with me listening to me say, "No more paper. No more paper." And then I saw it and my chant ended and the paper was mine forever and ever! LOL! Anywho, back to the card... I adhered the whole panel on a True Black card base. Since I had the True Black card stock out, I decided to stamp the sentiment on a scrap and heat emboss a fine white embossing powder. I trimmed it up by hand and adhered it to the card. Done!

So my color challenge last month was a bit of a flop. Or possibly, I've misunderstood the power of a hashtag... LOL... since I haven't seen many projects using the hashtag. But I want to say a big thank you to my sweet blog hopping friends that played along!! I so appreciate you all!

Now for a little bit of business... this is actually business for Jeanie's giveaway from last month. She wasn't able to hop this month so she asked me to share her winner. 

And the winner of a random itty bitty stamp is... 

lrkmtJanuary 5, 2019 at 10:09 AM

Wow this card is awesome. I love the gold and the festivity and energy I feel when I look at it!

lrkmt, please contact Jeanie at jeaniehays00@yahoo.com or via Facebook messaging.

Speaking of giveaways... I hear there are a few along our hop! Be sure to hop and comment on our blogs so you can be entered to win a prize!

Now, I think it's about time to start hopping...

~ Blog Hop List ~

Crystal <--- you're here

up next ---> Dawn

Joyce

Kim

Bobbie Sue

Eileen

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal