Polka Dot Orchard ~ Spread Your Wings ~ Happy Mother's Day

Hi crafty friends!

I have my first Mother's Day card of the year to share with you today! I just love how this mixed media card turned out... but guess what? It's using digi stamps and copic markers! Yes! So... I guess it's more of a faux mixed media card LOL! Anyhow, I love it! 

The Spread Your Wings digi stamps by Polka Dot Orchard can be found... here!

When Jessica, the owner and artist of Polka Dot Orchard, shared a little sneak peek of this new digi set I fell in love! I love the designs of the stamps included and the possibilities are endless when combining them together in a word document. 

I started by adding the scribbled background stamp keeping it to one side of what would be my card front and then added the flowers stamp over top adjusting the size so a good amount of the scribble background showed through. I included some more digis on my page and then printed it off. I trimmed my cardstock down to four card fronts and then for this particular one, I ran it through my big shot with the MFT In & Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle die.

I had so much fun coloring the flowers... I decided to go with warm oranges and yellows. I used the following Copic markers ~ Y000, Y06, Y15, Y17, Y28, Y38, E15, E97, YR14, YR21, YR24, YR27, G99, YG93, YG95.

I then colored my background alternating between the B000 and BV000 copic markers. I also added some V000 and some colorless blender to take away some color. To finish off the background I made a mask to cover up the flowers and then I added some Martha Stewart Metallic Champagne acrylic paint splatters, as well as some white splatters.

I wrapped some black metallic thread around the die cut panel and adhered the ends in the back with some tape. I adhered the panel on a black mat and then adhered the entire panel on a white card base. The sentiment... also included in the digi set of stamps... was also printed on my sheet of digis and I just trimmed it down and popped it up on the card. I added a skinny strip of black card stock underneath the sentiment to break up the white. My final touch was a few Nuvo glossy black drops.

I have plans to make a few Mother's Day cards this week to share. I hope 

you'll come back to check them out.

Thank you friends for checking out my blog post!

See ya next time.

Inky Hugs,

Crystal

~ Friends of Unity May Blog Hop ~

Hello! It's one of my most favorite times of the month... the first Saturday of the month means it's time to do a blog hop with my Unity loving friends!! Woohoo! Our theme this month is Motherly Love... sadly this is my first Mother's Day without my Mum. 

But rather than dwell on the sadness, I just wanted to make a pretty card that I think she would have loved. She loved roses. We talked about them a lot on our last visit together. We'd sit out on the back patio and enjoy the garden and chat. 

A sweet memory I'm glad I have and it helped to inspire my card.

I knew that I had to use the gorgeous flowers in the Mama's & Grandma's sentiment kit. I started 

by die cutting some Canson XL watercolor paper using the Stitched Arch STAX die. I colored the image using ZIG clean color real brush markers directly on the red rubber stamp. I spritzed the stamp very lightly and then stamped the image. I decided it was a little too light so I stamped the image again which was super easy since I was using my new Tim Holtz Travel Stamp Platform! Loving this smaller version of the platform! Well, the flowers were still too light... so I decided to just add some more color with the markers. I scribbled some of the color on an acrylic block and picked it up with my water pen... cleaning the block in between colors. I added more and more color until I was happy with the results. I started to get worried that the paper would get ruined, but it held up pretty well. I added just a bit of blue around the flowers and set the image to the side to dry.

Now to add my layers... I am loving the Spring Market papers from Carta Bella! Oh my goodness... so many pretty papers in this paper pack!! I thought the roses on this particular paper was perfect for this card. I cut it down to 2-1/2" x 5-1/2". I cut a strip of the pink paper and die cut it with a stitched border scallop die. I adhered those two pieces together and then adhered them to a cardfront piece of Natural card stock by My Favorite Things. I die cut the black print paper using a stitched banner die and then adhered it to the cardfront. I wrapped the card front with twine a few times and tied a bow to the side. 

I adhered the cardfront to a white card base using mono multipurpose liquid glue. I popped up the roses panel using dimensionals. I then stamped the sentiment, also from the same sentiment kit, using versamark ink and heat embossed some ultra fine white embossing powder. I trimmed the sentiment down and then popped it up on the card. My final touch for this card was a little bit of clear wink of stella on the roses. You can kind of see that in this last picture.

Well, that's my card for this month's hop. I hope you like it... I'm sure my Mum would have loved it!

Now, let's go hop along to see what all my friends made - shall we?!

Eileen Mathys

Crystal O. Minkler <--- you're here

up next ---> Robyn Jordan

Wynne Grob 

Jeanie Hays

Dawn Fields

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Make It Monday #281 ~ Happy Mother's Day!

It has been a very long time since I have played along with Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday challenge. I used to play along but didn't have a blog to share and actually enter my creation. I'm excited to actually be able to enter my card.

My die cut window was made with just a regular stitched rectangle die cut. I used it on both the Soft Stone patterned paper and the kraft card stock. I also cut out the Floribunda Frame die in kraft card stock. I sponged Fresh Snow, Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, and Harvest Gold on the flowers. I used Always Artichoke and Wild Wasabi markers to color the leaves. I added some white gel pen to the centers of the flowers to help make them pop and then added some sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella pen. I stamped the sentiment using Raspberry Fizz ink directly on the patterned paper. I adhered the Soft Stone die cut piece on a white card base. I popped up the kraft layer with dimensionals. I then cut tiny pieces of the dimensionals to pop up the center pieces of the Floribunda Frame die cut piece and glued down the outer portion using liquid glue. For a last little touch, I added some white gloss Nuvo Crystal drops.

Here's a close up of some of the sparkle. It was difficult to get a picture since it's cloudy here today, but you can see a bit of it.

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Cutaway Tags: Spring (PTI)

Card Stock: White, Kraft, Soft Stone patterned paper (PTI)

Inks: Fresh Snow, Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, Harvest Gold (PTI), Always Artichoke, Wild Wasabi markers (SU!)

Tools: Stitched Rectangle Stacklet (TE), Floribunda Frame die (PTI), 

Miscellaneous: Clear Wink of Stella, White Gloss Nuvo Crystal Drops (SSS)

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

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal