Neon Embossing // Hero Arts + WPlus9

It feels like I haven't played along with a non-design team challenge in forever, so I'm here today with a pretty vibrant and funky card.

I wanted to play with my el cheapo embossing powders in a funky way, so I pulled out some bright cardstock scraps and went to town. The powers are from Hampton Arts - I like their gold, white and clear embossing powders, but their colored embossing powders aren't very crisp (luckily that's okay for this card). They also smell kinda funny, like chalk.

To make sure that the sentiment could be distinguishable from the distracting background, I stamped the sentiment on vellum and framed it with a black cardstock die cut circle. I had the "for everything" banner already stamped from a previous project, but I didn't like how it turned out for that project. However, since this was just a quicky project, I decided to use it - I really love to use up my scraps, imperfect as they are.

This card is for the WPlus9 Get Sketchy #4 challenge, the Simon Says Stamp thanks challenge, and the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge (neon).

Thanks for stopping in today and God bless!

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: Canson, Bazzill
Stamps: Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain, WPlus9 Hand Lettered Thanks
Ink: Versamark, Stazon
Other: embossing powders (Hampton Arts), sequins (Avery Elle), vellum

Tools: Cuttlebug, Lifestyle Crafts circle dies

Tri-fold Card // WPlus9

First off, a disclaimer for the post title - this card actually only has two folds, despite it technically being a tri(three)-fold card.

I don't know if maybe the people who came up with this term were counting the panels of the card, not the folds, because there are three panels. Just not three folds.

Anyways, with that fish out of the boat, the card, using WPlus9's Get Sketchy sketch and for Virginia's View 100% Stamping challenge...

I folded the card as shown, then, using washi tape on the inside of the card to hold the two front panels together, I heat embossed the flower image in gold.

I then watercolored the flowers - I used watercolor cardstock, which works well with watercolors.
But of course.

I heat embossed the sentiment on black, and then adhered one half of it to the top panel of the card, and added a slight bit of temporary adhesive to the bottom, just to make sure the panels stayed down.

This floral image by WPlus9 is so gorgeous - I don't think there's any possible way to not make a beautiful card with it!

Thanks so much for stopping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson, Bazzill
Stamps: WPlus9 "Botanical Bunch", Papertrey Ink "Tweet Talk"
Ink: Versamark
Other: embossing powder

Tools: heat gun, water, paint brush

Small Stamp Focus // WPlus9

You probably don't remember THIS card.
It's okay - I didn't particularly want to remember it either.
However, to be fair to the pin that inspired it, I gave it another go, which is today's card.

Lots of second and third generation stamping to achieve a light and airy look. I didn't want to try masking again, so I went with a bold die cut sentiment backed with vellum, and kept it simple with just a few gems.

This is for WPlus9's Throwback Thursday #5 - I know I keep using Fresh Cut Florals, but it's my only "old stamp"! The other three stamps sets I have are newbies. ;) This is also for Virginia's View 100% Stamping challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping in today and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson, Bazzill
Stamps: WPlus9 "Fresh Cut Florals"
Ink: Papertrey Ink
Other: gems (Darice), vellum

Tools: Cuttlebug, Mama Elephant "Inline Letters" die

Stamped Focal Background // WPlus9

Happy hump day!
Just popping in with a quick and bright card for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (create your own background) and for the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge (in the middle)

To make sure the area behind the sentiment was white, I did some simple masking of the flowers. You could skip the masking and just cut a piece of cardstock to go behind it, but I wanted to be more techniquey. ;)

Thanks for stopping in and God bless!

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WPlus9 // Fresh Cut Florals

Hello lovelies! Just popping in real quick with a simple card for WPlus9's Throwback Thursday #2 challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Spring Pinterest Inspiration challenge.

Just some simple stamping with the WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals stamp and a sentiment by Papertrey Ink. I added a very slight blue patch of watercolor in the center, just for kicks.

Yesterday morning I looked out my window to see big, fluffy white snowflakes dusting our driveway, but thank goodness, it's warmed up (again) and we have rain.

Thanks for stopping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson
Stamps: WPlus9 "Fresh Cut Florals" and Papertrey Ink "Wet Paint"
Ink: Tim Holtz, Papertrey Ink, Versafine, Stazon
Other: vellum

Tools: paintrbrush, water

Lawn Fawn // Hello Baby

Another scrappy card! I tell ya, I'm on a roll! Today's card uses some leftover die cut flowers from THIS card.

I'm playing along in the Simon Says Stamp and Lawn Fawn Flickr Co-challenge that my sweet friend Barb is co-administrating. Just use some kraft paper/ink and Lawn Fawn and/or Simon Says Stamp product!

I used the Lawn Fawn Hello Baby (the images are SO cute!) and Simon Says Stamp Inside and Out Sayings (one of my favorite sentiment stamps sets) sets for my card, as well as the SSS Mini Hearts die...

Momma bunny accidentally got some blush on her nose, so pay no heed to that. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping in today and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson, Bazzill
Patterned paper: DCWV, Crate Paper (both retired collections)
Stamps: Lawn Fawn "Hello Baby", Simon Says Stamp "Inside and Out Sayings", WPlus9 "Fresh Cut Florals"
Ink: Versamagic, Stazon, Tim Holtz

Tools: Cuttlebug, circle die, WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals die, Lawn Fawn Hello Baby dies, Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts die

Swing of Things

...it's hard to get back there. I tried taking photos this morning of all the cards I've made since I've been back from Austria, and wow, I must be missing something, because my camera was not having it! The photos looked completely narsty! So now I need to figure out a different way to photograph them...or at least remember how I was doing it before.

These flowers were left over from another card, so I put them together right here to make an easy and simple card. I zapped the sentiment with some Wink of Stella for that extra little zinger!

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Cardstock: Canson
Stamps: WPlus9
Ink: Tim Holtz, Versamagic
Other: vellum, Wink of Stella

Tools: Cuttlebug, WPlus9 dies, MFT die

Freshening Things Up

As forewarned, this blog has been sadly neglected, but since I'm sick and not feeling very studious, I thought I'd pop in with a nice bouquet of flowers to freshen things up. :)

I made this card quite a while back, inspired by THIS pin,

Stamping and arranging these flowers was so fun and relaxing.

I hope you all are enjoying all the fabulous new stamp releases I've seen come out!

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Cardstock: Canson
Patterned paper: Crate Paper "Styleboard"
Stamps: WPlus9, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Tim Holtz, Studio Calico, Brilliance, Stazon
Other: gems

Tools: Cuttlebug, WPlus9 dies, Nestabilities 

Happy

...keep those sunglasses on, because I've got another super bright card to share with you today!

I was playing around with WPlus9's Fresh Cut florals (hello, I need their new Fresh Cut Containers...but seriously...too bad I have to save for Austria), trying to achieve THIS look. It's probably just my color choices, but I'm not super pleased with how it turned out. The Studio Calico inks are awesome for the second generation look, and I took advantage of that here, but particularly with the navy ink, the stamp would pick up some of the ink when I stamped the flowers partly over an already stamped image, so the inks started running together, giving it a rather blobby look.

I plan on giving that pin another go, and also posting it here, so you can see the results. ;)

Thanks for stopping in today and God bless!

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Cardstock: Canson
Stamps: WPlus9 "Fresh Cut Florals", Hero Arts "Sundrifter: Love This", PTI "Mini Blooms"
Ink: Studio Calico, Versamark
Other: vellum, embossing powder, enamel dots (My Minds Eye)

Tools: Silhouette Cameo, heat gun

Four down

...one more final to go! Woohoo!!

Anyways, I'm taking a break from studying to post this card for this months CAS-ual Fridays challenge (three colors and three enamel dots), Less is More challenge (three colors) and the Simon Says Stamp challenge (anything goes)...

This was SUPER fun to make! I made a little trio using the same basic design - I'll pop back in later to update that.
ETA - here's the second one promised...

I used some older stamp sets, but they're so versatile and classic, and they fit perfectly.

When I layered the sentiment, instead of die cutting the red cardstock (which has a white core anyways) a million times, I just cut some thin cardboard packaging three times, and adhered those together using my mini Xyron sticker maker.

Anyways, I gotta get back to studying, so enjoy your day and (if you wouldn't mind) say a prayer for me on this last stretch! ;)

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Cardstock: Canson, DCWV
Stamps: My Favorite Things "Framed Greetings", WPlus9 "Heartfelt Holiday"
Ink: Studio Calico
Other: pearls, nail polish

Tools: Cuttlebug, Paper Smooches "Quote Tag" die

Special Day

...I had one today - my university finally closed for the day due to terrible weather!

This is for WPlus9's birthday challenge - comfort zone.
The thing is, I don't have a comfort zone, a set style.
I used to be a pretty much shabby chic kinda girl, then I got more simple, then graphic, and now I just kinda wander from one style to another. I do like detail though, and that's pretty much the only consistent thing you'll see in my cards. ;)

I have absolutely no idea how to make the cool "scattered thread" thing look so perfectly imperfect, but here's my go at it. ;)

To continue on with my little "500th post" celebration, today, I'll be giving away a goodie bag filled with embellishments! Just leave a comment, and maybe tell me what your favorite type of embellishment is, and you'll be entered!

Also, I just want to thank you again for all the kind comments - I really appreciate your encouraging and thoughtful responses to my feelings concerning "rejects".
I thought I'd share this little graphic while I'm on the topic...

...it's something I'm really trying to make second nature to me. Till then, the struggle is real. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping in today!

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Cardstock: Strathamore, Bazzill
Stamp: WPlus9 "Fresh Cut Florals"
Ink: Versamark
Die-cuts: Dear Lizzy "5th and Frolic"
Other: string, embossing powder (Martha Stewart), doily, enamel dots (My Minds Eye)

Tools: heat gun, Cuttlebug, MFT Framed Greetings die

Just Awesome

Popping in to share a card I made for two challenges; the WPlus9 Monday Mood board...

...and the Sketchbook Saturday challenge #109...

I love all the sentiments from THIS Hero Arts stamp set, but this one is a particular beaut...

The font, the sentiment itself - I know so many people that this card and sentiment would be perfect for (what can I say? Awesome people just tend to congregate around me ;))

That's all for me today! Thanks for stopping in and God bless!

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Cardstock: LSS
Stamps: WPlus9 "Fresh Cut Florals", Hero Arts "Snippets Miss You So Much"
Ink: Tim Holtz, Papertrey Ink, Stazon
Other: kraft paper (SEI), glitter tape (American Crafts), enamel dots (My Minds Eye)

Papertrey September Blog Hop Challenge

I was supposed to be working on Photoshop last night, but I saw a couple things on the Internet that sparked my cardmaking mojo, and I couldn't help spending an hour to just make this card.
Honestly, I don't know if this card helped me destress by just the process of making it, or stressed me out because I was thinking about the hour I was wasting on it the entire time! But whatever! It's done!

The first thing that triggered my mojo was (fittingly) this Tuesday Trigger photo - usually I kinda scroll through, but this photo just caught my eye...

...and before I knew it, I was making this card! The funny thing was I didn't realize it was a Tuesday Trigger until after I had made the card and was looking to link back to the original blog post.

For the Tuesday Trigger (of course), CASology Cue Card: Autumn, for CASual Fridays: Fall Colors and a Leaf, Ready-Made Embellishment Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, and the Papertrey Ink blog hop (I have a flower wreath of sorts)!

I'm actually posting this in computer lab - I'm working on a project for graphic design class, and while working on it, we have to really implement the design principles we've learned so far. Which is why I'm looking up at my card now and thinking "hm, when I got home, I'm switching those two green cabochons around...I need to shift a couple of the other flowers around as well", because there are some things going on in this card that are throwing some of those design principles out the door. ;)

I hope this post makes sense and doesn't contain too many errors, as I'm in a rush, and I gotta go back to working on my project - wish me luck (and prayers!)

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Cardstock: Canson
Stamps: WPlus9
Ink: Tim Holtz
Patterned paper: Crate Paper
Other: cabochons, embossing powder, wooden frame

Tools: heat gun, WPlus9 dies, Cuttlebug