Dreamy Watercolor Sky Background on the Pretty Pink Posh Blog

Good morning! Today I have a tutorial for this card on the Pretty Pink Posh Blog - AND - this set is on sale for the next 4 days as well! Woohoo! You can check out the blog post HERE, and find this set in the shop HERE (and dies HERE)!

Thanks for stopping by - have a wonderful day!!!

Let's Travel Together - Simon Says Stamp Good Vibes Blog Hop

Good morning! I'm thrilled to be hopping today to celebrate the BRAND NEW Simon Says Stamp Good Vibes Release with a FABULOUS line up of talented creators! Today is Day 1 of the hop - make sure and check in tomorrow for Day 2 - there is a $25 prize up for grabs from EACH and EVERY stop along BOTH days of the hop!!!

You should have arrived here today from Elena Salo - if you just happened along, head over to the Simon Says Stamp Blog to start at the beginning!

You may notice that there is a coupon code above - enter code PUFFY when shopping at Simon Says Stamp to receive those adorable floral stickers! Coupon expires at 11:59 PM on June 24, 2018.

For my card today - I used the fun and fabulous new Classic Bicycle Die - such a fun and detailed die! It includes a basket, which I ended up leaving off - just couldn't decide where to put it, and liked it as it was, so decided to leave it alone! :)

I die cut the wheels from black cardstock, and the body of the bike in a combination of Tonic Gold Pearl Mirror Satin Effect Cardstock and Simon Says Stamp Lipstick Red cardstock, then just used scissors to trim and piece together the gold parts onto the red. Fun to layer - and infinite possibilities! I glued those pieces all together, and set them aside to dry, and did some blending on my cardbase with Distress Oxide Inks and my current favorite ink blending tool - the Tim Holtz Ranger Ink Blending Brushes! I have one for each of the color families - and they are SOOO easy to use! LOVE! 

I added some gold ink splatters to the background with my Starry Colors Palette (my favorite way to add gold splatters right now!), and once that dried a little, I stamped my sentiment on there using the new Vacation Time Stamp Set. I love this stamp set - so different and unique, and the mix of large and small sentiments is so fun to put together! 

If you are looking for more inspiration - head over the Good Vibes Gallery on the Simon Says Stamp Blog - full of inspiration with this release! And...when you receive your goodies, please link up your creations as well to inspire others! I also have this card that I posted when the release went live if you are looking for more inspiration - this uses the gorgeous Strangeness Stamp Set and Vacation Time Stamp set for the sentiment (like my card posted above for today!) You can see details HERE if you're interested!

Your next stop along the hop is Gayatri Murali - I know she has something fabulous waiting for you - so make sure and head that way next!

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Simon Says will be giving a $25 gift certificate to their online store at each stop along the hop - so make sure and leave a comment before you leave for a chance to win! Winners will be announced next Wednesday on the Simon Says Stamp Blog.

Here is the entire blog hop line up in case you get lost along the way:

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Kristina Werner

Cathy Zielske

Nichol Spohr

Nina-Marie Trapani

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Amanda Korotkova

Suzy Plantamura

Kathy Racoosin

Anna Kossakovskaya

Bibi Cameron

Elena Salo

Heather Hoffman (you are here)

Gayatri Murali

Product links are all below - including affiliate links where possible, which simply means if you use one of the links below that I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!

Wish You Were Here - Simon Says Stamp Good Vibes Release

Hello! It's finally time to start sharing my projects with the brand new Simon Says Stamp Good Vibes Release! YAY!!! Such a fun and happy release - just like the name implies! I have a feeling you will be seeing lots of the stamp set that I used on the card I thought I would kick off with - a GORGEOUS and unique floral set - definitely a unique and different feel to this image! I should also note that it is HUGE! This isn't an A2 card - it is actually a 5x7 card!

I started off by stamping the large floral image from Strangeness Stamp Set on kraft cardstock with kraft in k and coloring with my colored pencils. It took a while - quite a while, but was so fun! Once I finished, I used my MISTI to perfectly line up the image, restamp, and heat emboss in white. At first, I regretted doing that - kind of wished I kept gone more neutral and stamped in gold or something along those lines. But...I couldn't let ALL that WORK go to waste - so I set out to figure out how to use it on a card! :) 

I'm glad I did - because I ended up being happy with the end result! I created a 5x7 cardbase, and stamped my sentiment on there using another NEW stamp set called Vacation Time, and stamping in Khaki ink for the main sentiment, and in black for the mini one. I slightly masked that part off, then added a healthy dose of black splatters on the card base. While that dried, I fussy cut out the floral arrangement (I didn't have the dies on hand) - then mounted that with foam adhesive. All done!

Make sure and go check out the new release HERE - and come back on Thursday when I will be part of Day 1 of a fabulous blog hop to celebrate - and there will be giveaways too! And finally - if you are looking for inspiration, make sure and heat to the permanent gallery for all things from the Good Vibes collection, and add your own projects as well! You can find it HERE!

Product links are all below - including affiliate links where possible, which simply means if you use one of the links below that I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!

Pinkfresh Liquid Watercolor Card Trio

Good morning! A few weeks ago, Pinkfresh Studios released some FABULOUS new Liquid Watercolors! I was going to be a guest on the release hop, but due to some postal issues, I didn't receive them until a little later. Then, life was crazy and it took me a bit longer than I hoped to get them out, play with them, finish some cards, take photos, and NOW finally get those photos edited and this post written! I hope it was worth the wait though - because I LOVE these new watercolors I have to tell you! 

I played with them in several different techniques for these cards, and so enjoyed all the different variations of color, blending, and intensity I could achieve with them so easily! And the colors are so rich and vibrant too!

First of all - I started with just a simple stamped scene on watercolor cardstock using Bloom and Grow stamp set and my MISTI to get a nice clear and crisp impression.

I used a mixture of Aquamarine, Bubblegum, Sunshine, Key Lime, and Sapphire and Licorice for these card. I mixed a few of the colors to get more shades and variation as well.

I particularly loved how well the Licorice worked for adding splatters! Without adding too much water - it stayed nice and deep and dark on my watercolor cardstock - I did add it after everything else dried to prevent the chance of it running. I also added some white gold splatter to this card with my Starry Colors palette for some shimmer and shine! Finished off with a yellow cardbase to make those colors pop!

For my next card, I thought it would be fun to try them out on just some sturdy white Neenah 110 lb cardstock instead of watercolor paper - I was blown away by how fabulously it worked!!!

I heat embossed the large floral image from Fleur 1 in gold on my white cardstock, then carefully added a bit of color to it. I was careful to not add too much water, but was amazed that my cardstock didn't warp or deform - YAY! I also die cut the floral image with the coordinating Fleur 1 dies.

I stamped some of the smaller leaf images from Fleur 1 in black on a panel of white cardstock to fit around the main image, then mounted it with foam adhesive over the top. I heat embossed a sentiment from Word Series: Brilliant on a strip of black cardstock, and mounted it with foam adhesive with a bundle of gold thread underneath. Added a few Pinkfresh Enamel Dots, and a good bit of splatters with some of the same watercolors - adding some gold with my Starry Colors palette again.

And finally, since I had bits of watercolor still on my palette and wanted to use them up, I created my own rough plaid design to use as a background on this next card!

For this one, I added strips of water with a wide brush on watercolor paper, then dabbed my paint in with a brush and let it spread out on it's own. I let the colors dry, then added stripes of black with the Licorice watercolor. I used the last touches of paint in the palette to add some splatters once that all dried.

For the focal point to place over my background, I used the beautiful new Modern Mandala Die cut from white, and tucked a slightly smaller solid circle behind it to keep it from being too busy with the background. I added a leaf cut from black with Botanical Branch (simply trimming off the frame with my scissors), and a sentiment from Be You stamp set heat embossed in white on a square of black cardstock.

And there you have it - lots of ideas and ways to use these fabulous new Liquid Watercolors! I can't wait to play with and use them lots more! NOTE: These are currently a pre-order, but I know that they are set to be shipping in the next week, so if you haven't ordered yet - this would be a great time to grab a few of them to try out without having to wait too long for them! You can find them all HERE if you are interested!

Also, since it's been a while, I thought I would link up with a couple of challenges! First up, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Frame It (last card with Mandala forming a frame around the sentiment):

And Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes:

Product links are all below - including affiliate links where possible, which simply means if you use one of the links below that I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!

Distress Oxide Watercolor Ikat Backgrounds - on the Unity Blog

Good morning! Just popping in to let you know I have a video tutorial for these cards on the Unity Stamp Company blog this morning - using a gorgeous Unity background stamp and my Distress Oxide inks for this technique! You can check out the details HERE!

I also have details for this bonus card over there as well:

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Hello - Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash Challenge

Good morning! Stopping by with a card this morning for this month's Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash Challenge last month was the first month of replacing the SFYTT Challenge each month. So instead of a sketch, there is now a theme for each month!

This month's theme is Hello/Just Because:

I went looking through my Pinterest inspiration boards to come up with some ideas - since this is such a versatile and wide open theme! I came this theme, and knew it was perfect!

{image credit}

I loved the colors and the framed effect with the rustic twine, so I took those ideas and ran with them, but gave them my own twist!

I started off by stamping one of the flowers from Tall Blooms, messy watercoloring with my Daniel Smith watercolors, then die cutting with the coordinating Tall Blooms Confetti Cuts. I cut a square frame from Dark Roast Cardstock using Stitched Squares Confetti Cuts, and heat embossed my sentiment from Tall Blooms on a strip of Sand Cardstock that I trimmed down. I used some woodgrain white cardstock to add to the rustic feel, mounted the flowers with foam adhesive, and the frame directly down for variation in the dimension. To adhere the sentiment, I punched a couple holes through all the layers, and tied it on with twine. Notice how it curves over the top of the flowers that were mounted with foam? I finished off by mounting that panel on a card base created with Mist cardstock.

Here are the Reverse Confetti products I used on this card - click on the picture if you want to learn more about any of these items!

   

Product links are all below - including affiliate links where possible, which simply means if you use one of the links below that I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!

Trio of Watercolor Summer Cards - Simon Says Stamp July Card Kit

Good morning! I'm back to share three final cards that I made with the new Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for July - Cool Summer! This kit has such a FUN and JUICY summer vibe to it - LOVE it so much! My card for today focuses on the fabulous LARGE stamp set - One Cool Pineapple - included in the kit. I'm loving the large stamp sets that are starting to appear more and more in these kits - makes them such an AMAZING value!

For this set of cards, I stamped various images and sentiments on watercolor paper, and colored the fun images in with my Daniel Smith watercolors. Seriously - I don't think there is ANYTHING more relaxing than watercoloring - do you?

I then die cut them down with my Stitched Rectangles dies, and added some stickers from the included Sticker Book in the Kit - I particularly used some of the gold foiled sentiment stickers that paired well with my stamped sentiments. I matted these just slightly with white cardstock - just a simple layer that seems to help them pop - and added a tiny paper clip to the top corner with some jute twine tied on. Finally, I mounted them with foam over some of the various pattern papers in the kit from Carta Bella's Summer Splash 6x6 paper pad. 

Here is a closer look at each of these cards:

Here is the entire kit contents - I'm in LOVE with it all! You can find the entire kit HERE:

Have you ordered your kit yet? These kits have been selling out super fast - so make sure and grab one before they are gone!

Product links are all below - including affiliate links where possible, which simply means if you use one of the links below that I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!!