It's a Blogiversary Celebration ~ Day 3 of Technique Tutorials

Hello, again! It's our third day of technique tutorials and today I'm going to show you how to make a Galaxy Background. I'm sure you've seen these beautiful backgrounds!! I love them! Let's get started!

First, I pulled out four distress inks for this technique - Black Soot, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, and Picked Raspberry. I also grabbed two blending tools and a piece of white card stock from Papertrey Ink. You are also going to want to work on a surface that you can wipe clean or one that you can replace like my grid paper pictured.

I started with the lightest color, the Picked Raspberry. I got my blending tool nice and inky, but to avoid an obvious circle when I start blending I dab the sponge off once. Now with a circular motion I lightly blended some ink in the center of the card stock. 

Now onto the next color, Seedless Preserves... I got the blending tool nice and inky, and then with the same circular motion I blended this color around the first color. At this point in the blending it's okay that the color is lighter because we'll be adding more and we don't want it too dark.

Now we'll be basically repeating the last step again with the Dusty Concord ink. This time we'll blend ink all the way around to the outer edge.

Now, onto the Black Soot ink... with the same circular motion, I just blended the black ink around the outer edges. 

Now I did the same things again... I blended a bit of the pink in the middle and then added some of the lighter purple blending it a bit more with the pink. I went back over with the darker purple blending it into the lighter purple and into the outer black edges. I also did a little bit more blending with the black on the edges but it really didn't need much.

For some reason, this is my favorite part... haha!.. the water splatter!! I sprayed just a little bit of water in my hand and then clapped my hands over the paper. I let it set for just a few seconds and then laid the paper towel on the card stock to soak up any excess. Since I'm not using watercolor paper, I've found that it's important to use the paper towel to soak up that excess water. Otherwise, the card stock could warp and that would just be terrible after all that work blending the inks. 

Now, I grabbed my palette... it's well loved, but clean. Haha! I added just one little drop of white acrylic paint. That's it, just one tiny drop!

I then sprayed that little tiny drop of paint with a little bit of water. Not too much, just enough to make it easy to splatter.

For this technique I just use a cheap paint brush. One that my kids would use for their watercoloring. Nothing fancy at all... I used the brush to mix the paint with the water.

I love to splatter so I have a box just for this purpose. I keep a paper towel in the bottom of my splatter box to catch the extra wet stuff. It may be time to change out this paper towel. :) I placed my card stock in the box and grabbed the palette.

Now, the fun part... splatter!! I dipped my paint brush in the mixture and flicked it. You'll see that some of the splatter is bigger and some is teeny tiny... that all depends on how wet your paint brush is and/or how hard you flick the paint brush. You may want to practice this step on some scrap pieces before trying it on your background.

After doing the paint splatter, I set it aside and let it dry. I think in this picture you can see that after the paint dried, the white splatter is a bit brighter.

Now for the card I created using the Galaxy Background... I love it!! I die cut the background using the Blueprints 31 dies from My Favorite Things. I adhered that to a True Black card base and set it aside. I have just been itching to ink up this new owl stamp from Unity called Everyday Wonderful Owls. Isn't it the cutest!! I colored it in using Copic markers {0, N0, N1, N3, N4, E95, E99, V05, V06, V09, Y06, Y11, Y13, Y15, Y35} and then I fussy cut it out. I then stamped the sentiment from Unity's February 2017 Kit of the Month called Unexpected Places in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it in white. I die cut that piece using the Blueprints 14 die that just happens to be a part of my giveaway mentioned on my Happy Blogiversary post. I adhered the sentiment and the owls to the card and then decided to add a few drops of Violet Galaxy Nuvo Crystal Drops. 

And there you have the final technique tutorial for my Blogiversary Celebration!! Thank you so much for joining me for these tutorials. I've had a lot of fun doing them for you and I do intend on doing more in the future!

Please leave a comment letting me know what you thought and if you haven't already, click on the Follow button on the right hand side so you won't miss my next post... it just may be another technique tutorial!! 

 Did you comment on my Happy Blogiversary post for your chance to win a prize?!  Check out the details ---> here! Today is the last day to enter!!

If you missed the first technique tutorial, you can find that ---> here.

And the second technique tutorial can be found ---> here.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI163 - We Salute You!

Hello again! I have a patriotic card for you today. I had planned on making something else but just yesterday I received this beautiful Angie's Girl from Unity Stamp Company called America Girl! I just had to ink her up! 

I stamped America Girl in VersaMark ink and heat embossed her with fine silver embossing powder. I then used Ken Oliver's Color Burst in Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue to make my watercolored background. I'll admit, it was difficult keeping the red and blue from becoming purple, but I think I did okay. In the picture the red kind of looks pink but it's really more red in person. I die cut the watercolor panel using My Favorite Things Blueprints #31. I then added some Pure Platinum Nuvo Mousse over a star stencil I have from Stampin' Up! I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it with fine silver embossing powder. I trimmed the sentiment and cut out a banner by hand. I then adhered it to the watercolor panel. I decided to also die cut a piece of Brushed Silver card stock using the same Blueprints #31 die set. I offset those two pieces and adhered them to a true black card base using stampin' dimensionals.

Here's a picture that shows the shine on the America Girl and the stars.

 I can't wait to see what you create using this fun color combo as your inspiration!! Be sure to join our Facebook group so that you can see the Design Team creations and enter the challenge... Can You Case It? Challenge Group

 Please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI160 - Another Birthday Card!!

It's another lovely Sunday with another Birthday card!! I never seem to have enough on hand!

My card today was pretty quick... I know I've said that before, but this one was seriously quick! Outside of the drying time... I'd say 6 minutes TOPS! This is one of those quick ones that you can duplicate... which is what I'm doing. Haha! 

I still had the Floral Bliss stamp set on my desk so... I stamped the image of the flowers onto watercolor card stock in Archival jet black ink. I colored the panel by sprinkling some of the Color Burst pigment and then spraying it with my water bottle. I let the pigment do it's magic and soak into the paper for a few minutes. I then soaked up the excess water with a paper towel. I set it aside to dry and die cut the 'happy birthday' words in Brushed Silver card stock. Once the panel was dry, I adhered it to a piece of Brushed Silver card stock. I then adhered the strip of silver and the words. All that was left to do was adhere the entire piece to my white card base. Seriously quick card!

 I can't wait to see what you create using this color combination as your inspiration!! You have 2 weeks to enter this challenge... lots of time to be creative!! Be sure to join our Facebook group so that you can see the Design Team creations and enter the challenge... Can You Case It? Challenge Group

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Floral Bliss (SSS)

Card Stock: White (PTI), Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor (SSS), Brushed Silver (retired SU!)

Inks: Ranger Archival Jet black (SSS)

Ken Oliver's Color Burst: Ultramarine Blue, Violet (Blitsy)

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multipurpose (SSS)

Tools: Ways to Say: Birthday die (PTI)

 Please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

I'm so excited! It's time for another Papertrey Blog Hop challenge!! Here's the inspiration for this month's hop... 

Beautiful colors, am I right?! I absolutely love the blues in the leaves... gorgeous!

I recently received my latest Papertrey Ink order and was able to ink up this stunning set, Gran's Garden! I have to admit it took me a few tries lining up the flowers just right, but I finally got the hang of it. I evened used the assembly suggestion on the packaging of the stamp set as my inspiration for the layout of the flowers. Overall, I had some inking fun and really love the way it turned out! I tried to duplicate the blues in the inspiration but I guess in my mind it had some green to it, so I chose Ocean Tides with a touch of Dark Indigo to the edges. I have to admit... I absolutely love this combination!! I loved it so much that I added some more to the layout by using the flower center... I think it looks like tiny flowers! I also used another new set to me for the sentiment, Keep It Simple: Thank You II. Love the fonts in this set!! I actually messed up when I stamped the sentiment... I didn't mask enough of the area so some residue ink was left behind but luckily I had just ordered the Tombow Mono Sand Eraser and it came right off, like magic!! Love it! I die cut the sentiment using Stitched Circles. When I put the card together, I decided to offset the sentiment so some of the Melon Berry color could peek through! I adhered the whole panel to a white card base and BAM!

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Gran's Garden, Keep It Simple: Thank You II (PTI)

Card Stock: White, Melon Berry (PTI)

Inks: Sweet Blush, Melon Berry, Hibiscus Burst, Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz, Ocean Tides, Dark Indigo (PTI)

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue (SSS), Stampin' Dimensionals (SU!)

Tools: Gran's Garden die (PTI), Stitched Circles (SSS)

Miscellaneous: Tombow Mono Sand Eraser (Blitsy)

 If you have a minute, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI146 - A Wonderful Birthday!

I can't believe that it's already time for another CYCI challenge, can you?! Time is just flying by... 

We have another color challenge for you this go around... Curry Yellow, Teal, Orange, and Burgundy! Isn't that a gorgeous group of colors! I love it! I think Amber nailed it with this combo.

It took a couple tries to get this background the way I liked. I used Ken Oliver's Color Burst - Yellow Ochre, Turquoise, Orange, and Merlot. These are very rich colors and for this card I wanted a softer more feminine feel, so I dabbed the watercolor paper with paper towel to get just the right shade. 

I pulled out my neglected January 2017 Kit of the Month from Unity and stamped this sweet sneaker stamp in Memento Tuxedo black ink using the Stamp Perfect tool so I got a nice clear stamped image. That can be difficult to achieve with the texture of watercolor paper so using the tool really helped.

 I'm loving Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside border dies... if you hadn't noticed... I think I've only used them twice to make an actual hill. I cut the top of the watercolor paper with the hillside die and also cut a scrap of True Black card stock with the same die, layered them and then ran them through the big shot again with Taylored Expressions' Stitched Rectangle Stacklets. I die cut a piece of white card stock with the same rectangle die and layered the watercolor piece on top. I stamped this sweet birthday sentiment from Unity's Butterflies and Sunbeams kit also in Memento Tuxedo black ink. I adhered the whole panel to the white card base and added a few charcoal sequins... Voila!

Here's a look at the color challenge. Be sure to click on it and you'll see all the wonderful creations from the CYCI Design Team! I sure hope you'll play along.

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: January KOM, Butterflies and Sunbeams (Unity)

Card Stock: white, true black (PTI), watercolor paper (SSS)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black (SU!)

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multi (SSS)

Tools: Stitched Hillside Border (LF), Stitched Rectangle Stacklets (TE)

Color Burst: Orange, Turquoise, Yellow Ochre, Merlot (Blitsy)

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal