I am needing to make several baby cards. It seems many of the young couples I know are having babies all within two months of each other. They are young, married and quarantined, something was bound to happen sooner or later.

Today’s card I made using two absolutely darling stamp sets by Simon Says Stamp. I used Woodland Whimsy and the trees and butterflies from Bunny Blessings. These two stamp sets just make me smile!

To color theses darling writers, I used my Copies. I used E59, E57, E55, E53, E51, RV11 and RV00 for the Bear. I used RV23, RV24, TR24, Y08, YG07 and G17 for the floral bunch the bear is holding.

For the deer, I used E29, E37, E35, E33, RV11 and RV00. I used a white gel pen for the spots on the fawn’s back.I used YG07 and G17 for the leaves around the fawn’s neck.

For the bunny, I used W5, W3, W1, W0, RV11 and RV00. I used a black gel pen for the bunny’s eyes. I used YG07 and G17 for the leaves and B26 for the blueberry.

I used W5, W4, W2, YG07 and G17 on the birch trees. I used Catherine Pooler’s Cummerbund ink and the cloud stencil from honey bee stamps to create the sky background. I used Lawn Fawn Lawn Cuts Mushroom Border for the grass and the mushrooms.

I colored the grass using Catherine Pooler’s Grass Skirt and Garden Party, I colored the mushrooms with E35 and E33. The red dots are from R27.

These critters are just too cute!

I fussy cut everything out and glued it to the background. I trimmed little off each edge to create a border around the card panel. I glued the card panel to a slimline card base. I stamped the sentiment using Versfine black ink. It was so nice and relaxing to create this card and to color at a relaxing pace.

I have more baby cards coming as well as a birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed week!

patty

Hello and happy St Patricks Day! I am not a lick of Irish, but I enjoy the day.

Today I am sharing a card I made from a challenge. The challenge was for StampNation members. You could use two items to create your card, plus accessories (colors, inks, watercolors, sequins etc.). The two items I chose were a some what intricate die cut and a stamp for the sentiment.

For my die cut, I used Catherine Pooler’s Garden Gate die.

I embossed the die in my Gemini. I colored the raised area’s with Copic markers, using two colors per area.

Shortly after this photo, my V09 exploded all over everything and I had to start over. This is why my finished design is different from this one. The Copics used are as follows…The blues are B23 and B97. The pale green is YG11 and YG41. Purple is V04 and V09. Blue Green is BG13 and BG18 and Pink is RV13 and RV25

Once I completed coloring the embossed panel, I ran the Garden Gate die through my die cutting machine and sprayed the die cut with Elmers Spray adhesive. I lined everything up and glued it to the embossed panel. I colored the entire thing with Clear Wink of Stella. I then adhered the die cut to an A2 size cardbase.

My sentiment is from the Catherine Pooler Sincere Thanks stamp set. I heat embossed the sentiment with Lime Ricky embossing powder. I adhered the sentiment, then trimmed the sides to match the shape of the die cut. I added some Blackfoot Sequins and my card was complete.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great rest of your week!

Patty

Today I am sharing with you a card I stamped using Fun Forest by Catherine Pooler. I always pictured using this stamp set with bright colors and embossing powder. But I saw a watercolor done by FNK Designs. The colors were bright, but translucent. I was inspired by the watercolor and decided to go for softer colors. More translucent colors.

I used these stamp colors plus Over Coffee for the trees.

To get started, I just started stamping. I sort of had a layout in mind, but not really. I alternated colors, generally overlapping but sometimes standing alone. I stamped the shape of the trees at a slant on some white card stock. Which brand, I do not know.

Once I finished stamping, I started adding the trunks. The side ways oval was not the original intention of the stamp. So I wiped away the top part of the trunk and stamped it. Other wise, I just stamped the set as it was created. I stamped the sentiment using Over Coffee as well, cut it out and adhered it to the card using 3D foam squares.

That is all it took. I love the pattern I was able to create with this stamp set. I even have white space, which is so hard for me.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!

Patty

I decided to plan ahead and create some sympathy cards.  Hopefully, I won’t need to use them.  Unfortunately, I am at the age where my friends are losing their parents. 

I created a couple of backgrounds using the Catherine Pooler Music Notes Background stamp.  I made these backgrounds in January (see January 25th blog post). I foiled them with Deco Foil Opal, inked them with some Catherine Pooler inks and sprayed them with some water.

 

To get a little more dimension in the florals, I took my Uniball Signo Angelic Colour pen and drew some white lines on the back of the embossed florals. It’s easy to do and it adds a lot to the images. I used Hero Arts Florals Rose Stem for the sentiment.

I adhered the images to A2 card bases and I was done.

Thanks so much for stopping by. 22 more days until Spring. But whose counting? Me!

Patty

Hello! Hope you are all safe. Currently, weather everywhere in America is horrible. It is 46 degrees warmer in my freezer than it is outside in Minneapolis. Not good. I do not like 25 below zero.

But, I have rainbows to cheer me up if not warm me up a little. I made three cards, one for my husband and two for friends. I had already created two of the backgrounds using foil and Catherine Pooler inks. I posted about those on January 25th.

For the other background, I used Catherine Poolers Mariner stencil. I just love the shapes! You can mask off and ink them individually and add hooks on the top so they look like Christmas ornaments. Or, you can make a rainbow background!

I taped the card stock to the stencil. If I am not applying a really wet substance to my stencil, I do not use Pixie Spray. I used Catherine Pooler inks for the rainbow. First I used Suede Shoes, then Grape Crush, followed by Flirty Fuchsia, Pucker Up, Orange Twist and Catching Rays. I cleaned up my stencil, then lined it back up, taped it down and applied embossing goop using Rangers Embossing Dabber. It worked great and it was easy to clean off the stencil.

I sprinkled WOW! Halo embossing powder over the inked area and heat embossed the card panel. This embossing powder is fabulous! I trimmed 1/4 inch off of the sides of the panel and adhered it to the card base.

I pulled out the Simon Says Stamp “You Are Loved” die. I did direct to paper ink swiping with Grape Crush and die cut my sentiment out. I cut the shadow out using vellum. I glued my sentiment on to my vellum using Bearly Art glue. I glued the entire sentiment to my card panel using the same glue.

I used a couple of Nuvo Crystal Gems to finish the card.

The other cards, I just added the sentiments and gems the same way.

I used Catherine Pooler’s Flirty Fuchsia on the sentiment. It’s the Hey There Friend die from Catherine Pooler. I also used her Merry Label dies on the vellum. Glued everything together and added some gems.

I used Catherine Pooler’s Suede Shoes on this sentiment. This one is called Well Hey There. I love it’s hexy shape. I cut the die out twice and slightly offset the colored sentiment from the white. It’s nice having backgrounds pre-made so you can just throw a sentiment on the card, a couple of accents and be done.

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my rainbows. Take care!

Patty

One of our fellow crafters lost her dad to Covid 19 the day after Christmas. Those of us who have lost our parents, or any loved one for that matter, know how difficult it is. Kari (Sunshine In My Pocket is her blog name), has asked that fellow card makers make cards that include bears in their design. Post the cards on Instagram with the hash tag #bearcardsfordad and tag her@kariavan. I don’t know Kari, but I do know that it is always worth the effort to help someone through a difficult time.

I cut the card panel out using Catherine Pooler’s Starry Night background die (my favorite).I attached the card panel to the card base with a liquid glue. I stamped the bears and the trees from Lawn Fawns Winter Skies stamp set using Memento Tuxedo black ink. I colored the bears using Copic C00, C1 and C3. I used G06, G09 and G17 for the trees. Y06, Y08 and Y19. I used a Uniball Signol white gel pen for the polka dots.

I used Lawn Fawn’s Stitched Hillside Borders to create the snow drifts. A little B000 to create the shadow in the snow. The final touch is the sentiment from Lawn Fawn’s Super Star stamp set. I used a black Gelly Roll pen to color the bears nose.

I appreciate you all stopping by! Please help Kari get to 74 cards.

Patty

Over the weekend, we received several inches of really powdery, sparkly snow. It is one of my favorite kinds of snow. It sparkles in the sun light, the moon light and the yard lights. I really enjoy looking at it. I also felt like crafting, but you can’t see snow from our bonus room. So I decided that I would foil some backgrounds in the kitchen, so I could enjoy the beautiful view. I don’t use my laminator anywhere else, I am worried I will damage something. FYI, my other favorite kind of snow is the melting kind.

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I used Deco Foil Transfer Gel and Deco Foil Transfer Gel Duo. In all the photos, the left background is the Duo and the right background is the transfer gel. I wanted to see which gel worked best. They both worked great, I just needed to figure out my process to get the best results. All of the backgrounds are from Catherine Pooler. I used some Deco Foil, Gina K and Heidi Swapp foils for these backgrounds.

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To apply the mediums, I used the very inexpensive and disposable make up sponge. I pounced the make up sponge in the jar and then pounced the medium inside the lid. I then took my Scrapbook.com applicator and pounced it in the lid to get the gel onto the applicator.

To apply, I would pounce the applicator on the background. Depending on what kind of look I wanted, I would also smooth it across. If I wanted a more distressed/not perfect look, I just pounced (diagonal stripes – Catherine Pooler’s Peppermint Stick and cable knit sweater Catherine Pooler’s Sweater Weather backgrounds). If I wanted a smoother, more completely foiled look, I would pounce the product on then smooth it across (Love Note and Music Notes backgrounds). I had my cardstock in my Misti and stamped each background using my Misti. It worked beautifully!

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I learned the the Transfer Gel Duo gets sticky quickly. A couple of backgrounds stuck to the stamps if I did not use a nice amount of product or if I did not work quickly. I was really happy with Deco Foil and Gina K foil results using my Royal Sovereign laminator. Heidi Swapp foil was not made for that laminator. All foils worked great with the Transfer Gel Duo and running them through my 12 year old Big Shot. I washed my backgrounds in warm, soapy water and they cleaned up beautifully.

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To finish off some of the backgrounds, I inked over them. I have to say, the foil stood up to my inking. There were a few, tiny flakes that came off, but it did not ruin how the foil looked at all. Below are the inked backgrounds.

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As you can see, the foil is still intact. On the firstcard panel, the cardstock was already red. I added Catherine Poolers Rockin’ Red ink in the middle and Cranberry Fizz around the edges. For the pink, I used It’s A Girl in the middle and Pucker Up around the edges.

For the rainbows, I used Cathing Rays, Pucker Up, Flirty Fuchsia, Grape Crush and Suede shoes on the stripes and Cathching Rays, In The Park, All That Jazz and Suede Shoes on the dots.

I used blue cardstock and left it as is on the first cable knit sweater and added It’s A Girl for the pink. I love how they look!

I do recommend the Transfer Gel Duo over the regular Transfer Gel, if you need to pick one. The foil adherence was about the same, but you can use any foil with the Duo and you do not need heat.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy your week!

Patty

Hello,

Welcome to rainbow season in Minnesota!  There are many things to be grateful for in my life, but I was still feeling a little low this weekend. To perk my self up, I made a rainbow card using @catherinepooler inks and dies.

I figured If one rainbow brought joy, more rainbows would be the way to go.  To get started, I ink blended @catherinepooler Something Borrowed, Party Dress, Orange Twist and Rockin Red on 4 sheets of Bristol Smooth card stock. One color per sheet.

I took the Over the Rainbow die and cut out a rainbow from each sheet of ink blended card stock.  I took some scrap card stock and added adhesive to each little scrap.  I built my rainbows using on these scraps.

After I built the 4 rainbows, I ink blended with my Honey Bee Stamps Outdoor Scene Builder stencil on a card panel. I used Its A Boy ink. I attached my rainbows to the card panel and trimmed off the extra.  I then attached the trimmings to fill in spaces on the cloud panel.

Using the same Rainbow die, I cut out a cloud. I inked some Twighlight ink to add a little depth to the cloud and stamped my sentiment from the Outside Your Window stamp set from Catherine Pooler.  I added some foam tape to the cloud and attached to the card.  I added some Wink of Stella to the cloud and attached the entire panel to my card base.

That completed my card.  Not sure who to send it to just yet, I may just look at it for a while.

So happy you stopped by. See you soon!

patty

 

 

Hello!  It is finally May!  The flowers are starting to bloom so I thought I would do a non-rainbow encouragement card. I also decided to go “old school”.  No Misti, no fancy techniques, just old fashioned card making the way I did it 10 to 20 years ago.

I used Simon Says Stamp “Thankful Flowers” stamp set.  It has a wonderful variety of florals, scripts and sentiments.  You could make amazing cards just using the sentiments from this set!

To start, I stamped the cluster of florals on Cornflower Blue card stock using Catherine Pooler Black Jack ink.  I grabbed my Luminance colored pencils.  Normally, when coloring on colored card stock, I use a white colored pencil.  This time, I used a Dove Gray (Sterling Gray 002).  It wasn’t as bright so the colors show a little deeper and richer.

For the florals, I used Sepia 407, 50% Sepia 906 (flower centers).  For the petals, Perylene Brown 585, Cornelian 850, Orange 030, Golden Bismuth 820 and Bismuth Yellow, 810.

For the leaves, I used Olive Yellow 015, Grass Green 220, Moss Green 225 and Dark English Green 729.  To outline the bunch, I used Prussian Blue 159 and Middle Cobalt Blue 660.  I also used Prussian Blue 159 to color the stripes. To create the stripes, I drew lines every half inch and colored in every other one.

For my sentiment, I stamped the phrase on some vellum with Versamark ink.  I embossed it with Brutus Monroe Gilded embossing powder.  I attached it to my card panel using my Xyron sticker maker.

I trimmed down my card panel and mounted it to some scrap gold paper left over from Christmas.  I attached that panel to some Tonic Navy Blue shimmer paper.  I attached all of that to a top folding card base.

Inside the card, I stamped a sentiment from the same stamp set using Black Jack Ink from Catherine Pooler and Rockin Red for the heart.

To finish the card, I dug through Catherine Pooler’s Kitchen Sink sequins and used the matte gold sequins from that set.  I attached with glossy accents and called it a day. Thanks so much for stopping by.  I really appreciate it!

Patty