Monday, April 29, 2013

Gold Feather Tutorial

One of my favorite trends right now is using gold on pages! I have recently bought gold ink, gold pigment, gold markers, gold glitter and gold glitter paper. Love them all! Not too long ago, I created a page for the Crate Paper blog blending my love of gold with another fun trend - feathers.  Here's the result.

 To make the feather, I started off with some DIY paper. I cut it into two pieces.
 Next, I used a gold pipe cleaner as the spine. I adhered it to one of the leaf cutouts.
 Using a glue stick, I adhered the other cutout on top of it and flattened it out so that the 'spine' would show.
 Next, I just cut along the edges and then I used my fingers to ruffle it up and give it some texture.
 Finally, I made a mixture using gloss medium and Pearl Ex gold pigment powder. I brushed it onto the leaf.
 Here's the final result!
 I added some wood veneer stars that I painted with the gold mixture, too. They turned out really sparkly, though it's hard to tell in this photo.
 I embellished the page with some glittered elements from DIY Shop as well as some goodies from the Maggie Holmes line.
 And here's a close up of the feather on the page.
Well, that's about it for today. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Watercolor Love

One of the hottest trends right now is watercoloring. I love it! One of my paper crafting goals this year has been to do more stamping. This goes hand in hand with using different watercolor techniques. I spent some time on Youtube the other night and learned a technique that many people already use. But, it's new to me. I used markers and colored on an acrylic block. Then, I spritzed it with water. Finally, I placed my paper onto it and lifted it off to find a beautiful design. When it was dry, I stamped my flowers onto it and cut them out. It gave the image a soft , gorgeous look. I did this a couple of times and here are the cards I created as a result.

 I used Papertrey's Year in Flowers Violet for my flower. I cut several of the images out and layered them with foam adhesive. The sentiment is from WPlus9 Very Vintage Florals.
To add a bit more texture, I glued some beads onto the center of the flowers. 
This card also was inspired by the WPlus9 Monday Mood Board.
I loved the blues and the painted look on this!

 Here's another version of the card. Using different colored markers gave me a different look.
Both of these cards were also made for Moxie Fab World's Watercolor Challenge. I've been having so much fun playing along with Cath's challenges and have been thrilled to be a 'Trigger Target' twice in the past several weeks. (See my side bar!)I'm so glad she posted this one because it really forced me to learn something new and to try it.

That's about it for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Tuesday Trigger

Happy Thursday! It's almost the weekend and I'm so excited. :) I'm ready to relax and do some scrapping. Not much but the usual grind going on this week. Work, gym, get ready for the next day, repeat. It has been really nice outside, though. The birds are singing and the daffodils are in full bloom. I love that!

I had the chance to play along with a couple of challenges. This card is based on the colors in this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. It's also based on the Sunday Sketch at Studio Calico.


 Most of the items on here are from the SC Spencer's Card Kit. The stamp was from the Block Party kit.
I added the glitter paper and used lots of foam adhesive on it.
 And here is the Trigger that it was based on. I wanted to use the blue background and have the yellow polka dots, too.
I find that I've been making a lot of birthday cards lately. It seems like you can never have enough of them!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day. :)

Sunday, April 14, 2013

WPlus 9 Monday Mood Board

Just jumping on for a quick share today. We had a big party last night for Fran's graduation (he got his doctorate) and his brother's retirement. It was a really fun time. There were many family members we hadn't seen in a while. But, I am soooo tired. I'm hoping to squeeze in a nap.

I did this card for the Monday Mood Board over at WPlus9 stamps.

 It was based on last week's Studio Calico Sunday sketch. I used some Amy Tangerine papers along with the stamped images.
I added vellum tag and pocket and some Webster's gems. Rather than gluing a lot of it on, I stapled it. I love the look that gives it.

This is the image that gave me the inspiration for the colors:



Thanks for stopping by today. Off for that nap!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Paper Sweeties Blog Hop



Hi! I'm so excited to be included in the Paper Sweeties blog hop today.  I have a fun card to share that I made using some of Debbie's adorable stamps.




I started off creating the base of the card using some Crate Paper DIY Shop papers and layered stickers. Then I stamped the banner from Pennant Party.  I added a few yellow gems for a touch of bling.

 The sentiment comes from Happy Fall Y'All. I thought it worked just as perfectly for a spring card as it would for a fall one. 

As far as shop news goes:  April release design team peeks begin on the 13th through 14th.  New stamps release will be on the 15th.  And the design team wrap up will be on the 16th.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a great day. :)

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Tuesday Trigger and SSS Birthday Bash!

I'm on a roll. It's my second post this weekend! I decided to play along with Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger and create a birthday card for the Simon Says Stamps birthday challenge.  Here is the result:




And here is the Trigger:


I was inspired by the die cut felt and the colors.  I used a Papertrey die and felt to create my layered flower. I topped it off with a button and added an enamel dot.

The stamps are from the SSS Kelly Purkey Autumn (tag and leaves) and Rad (sentiment) sets. I used Prima chalk ink.

I love the wooden circle thing-y that I layered the tag onto. It came in a Studio Calico add on kit and I'm hooked. I love the dimension it added.

Thanks for stopping by today. Come by tomorrow, too. I'm going to be a part of a special blog hop. :)

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Monday Mood Board: WPlus9 Challenge

Well, this was a wonderful week! My birthday was on Thursday and I received lots of great wishes and fun gifts. Ryan's birthday party was last night (his b'day trumps mine anymore, LOL). We started out with 6 boys sleeping over but only 4 ended up making it through the night. Fun was had by all, though. So, while those 4 sleep I am popping on to add my card that I made for WPlus9's Monday Mood Board Challenge.

I just received my first set of their stamps and just love them. I used the Very Vintage Florals stamps and dies to make this card.

I chose to focus the colors on the peach, coral and aqua aspects of the inspiration board. I added some Webster's Pages paper and flower. I have been loving lots of white space, so I left plenty of it around my cluster.
I added a few pink gems to extend the look of the WP flower.
It was a lot of fun playing along with this challenge. I definitely think I'll be doing it again for sure!
Thanks for stopping by. :)