A Blog Called Wanda

Tropical Leaves - watercolor style!

Hello my dear crafty peeps! Hope you're having an awesome week! I went out to dinner with a girl friend last night and we had such a lovely conversation. She is so super busy, and I hardly ever get her all to myself, so it was a real treat. Don't you love that? We got caught up on loads of gossip and it was wonderful!  It's hotter than heck here still and I'm hibernating indoors as much as possible. The great studio purge of 2016 was under way all weekend. OY. I got rid of a lot of old paper, and old cards... And made a big bag of things to sell later too. Now I feel like I can think again in here. I am definitely at my most creative in a tidy space. I went to Container Store yesterday and picked up a few odds and ends. I'm sooooooo happy we finally have a Container Store in my town. Now I can just go buy what I need and not have to drive 80 miles each way. Yay! I'm trying really hard to get organized before the big holiday crafty season begins. You know what I'm saying!! Next week is August! For you local stampers, the Sacramento Rubber Stamp Convention is this weekend! I'll be working the front table - so say howdy!!

The last Simon Says Stamp release was quite possibly my favorite release ever! I'm saying now, and I'll probably say it again... My absolute fav thing from the release is the Tropical Leaves stamps and dies. They are sooooooo pretty! (CLICK HERE for my other post made with these stamps). I have had the idea in my head of water coloring these stamps and I finally sat down and made some cards in that style. Hope you enjoy! I made two - with different word dies and different colors. Everything else is the same!

I started with a nice crisp white card base. I die cut a Stitched Rectangle from Slate Cardstock and another one from Watercolor paper. Then I used mini distress ink pads to ink the stamps and stamp them onto the watercolor paper. I used a water brush to slightly soften the color and move it around. After the leaves were completely dry, I went back with pretty blue ink and watercolored the background. The trick to this is to let one layer dry first, so the leaves and the background don't blend together. 

 

 

Here is the other color scheme! Same technique... Can't decide which one I like better!!! 

 

 

I die cut the Painted Hello and Painted Thanks dies from crisp black cardstock. You can see that I added spritzes of bright white mist on both the card and the die cut. I really love this look! I don't know why, maybe it looks artsy or something? I also added just a few sequins to each card. The word dies are layered on with tiny strips of foam tape. 

 

 

 To make my watercolor background, I smushed two colors of blue ink onto a clear stamping block. With my water brush, I added just a touch of water and to the ink and then picked up the  color with my brush. Easy and fun! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one orange leaf didn't stamp perfectly, but I just left it. Seems sort of batik?? That carved pumpkin distress ink is my favorite orange for sure. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To assemble my cards I adhered the slate cardstock panel first with tape runner. The top, watercolor layer, is attached with foam squares for a bit of height and dimension. Have I ever made a card without foam squares? I think not!! LOL. 

Thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome day and I'll see you soon! I have two projects on the Simon Says Stamp blog this week - one on Friday and another one on Saturday! Take care. XO

REMINDER! RANGER SALE! Everything Ranger is on SALE at Simon Says Stamp until 7-29! Great time to stock up on Distress Inks, paints, stains, watercolor paper....EVERYTHING! Use code CHEM25. Click on the link below to go straight to the Ranger section of the store. YAY! 

 

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Beautiful blue daisies!

Hello crafty pals! How are you? Happy Sunday! Did you see my post on the SSS Blog yesterday? I hope so, because I LOOOOOOOOVE that project! (CLICK HERE) And if you leave a comment you could win a prize. It was super fun to make that one! Is it hot where you are? It's been 105 every day here. Whew. I did some organizing in the studio yesterday and stayed inside! I made one mistake, though. I had planned a casserole for dinner! Ack, so I had to turn on the oven! I have been making tons of recipes off Pinterest! So far, they've all been pretty good! I hope you are keeping cool and having a fun weekend.

Today I'm sharing a pretty, clean and simple card made with the lovely Stitched Daisies Dies from Simon Says Stamp. I used a new paper collection from Doodlebug called Smitten Kitten! It has all kinds of pretty pastels, and the prettiest shade of blue. So I made blue daisies! Is there such a thing?? Oh well, there is now! I love to combine patterned papers and this paper pad has been calling to me all week. This is a good card layout, too, if you have some papers you want to use up. 

I started with a Bazzill Rock Candy card base and layered the floral paper and then the white paper. Then I had fun cutting out and assembling the flowers.

 

 

I attached the daisies to my card using foam squares to make them pop off the page. It gives a bit of dimension, but the card will still fit in an envelope! I adore this paper! (Maybe I already mentioned that!) LOL. 

 

 

This birthday stamp is from the Simon Says Stamp Birthday Bits stamp set. The stamp set also comes with the splatter stamp used here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for spending part of your weekend here with me! Best wishes for a great week ahead! XOXO

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My Favorite Things - Twice the Wishes!

Hi everybody! Dang, Thursday already! Hope you've had a great week! Our washer died about a month ago and we had to buy a new set.... Well, today our TV died! I hate dealing with stuff like that, don't you? Luckily TV's are pretty inexpensive nowadays. Our old TV should be in the Smithsonian anyway.... I guess it was time. But, it's never a good time! I will look forward to watching movies in HD now though! And, please pray for us that we don't need to involve Comcast in the process! Oy.

I'm here today with a post to help celebrate the 10th Birthday of one of our very favorite stamp companies - My Favorite Things! Yes, they are ten! Isn't that awesome!? They launched a beautiful new card kit for July to help you craft and celebrate the birthdays in your life. I made a bright and happy giant birthday cake card today with lots of color! I used my distress inks to color the die cut pieces... And threw in some glitter for good measure.  Supply links are at the bottom of my post. 

I started with a pretty teal card base and layered that gorgeous striped paper on top. I always love a good stripe paper! I used the colors in the stripes to match my ink colors to tie the project together. The die cuts were cut out from watercolor paper. 

 

 

How cute are those candles!? EEP. My cake is strawberry pink with chocolate frosting! In this photo you can see I added Diamond Stickles to the frosting and the candles. My circle was splattered with watercolor paint first, and set aside to dry. 

 

 

 

 

 

To do my watercoloring, I used the wet on wet technique. I got the paper wet with clean water first and then added the ink. This gives a nice flowy effect I think. I want to bit right into this big ole cake! CHOMP. 

 

 

 

 

 

I was going to stamp my sentiment onto the cake but it didn't quite look right to me... So I cut a strip of vellum and used my MISTI tool to get the exact placement I wanted. I adhered the vellum to the top layer by wrapping it around the back and gluing it down out of sight. I seriously adore this font!! 

You, my friends, take the CAKE! Thanks for coming by today. I hope you have a great day and an awesome weekend to come! By the way, for everyone asking, my back is doing much better! THANK YOU LORD! I am back in action! Take care. XOXO 

 

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Sunday Favorites! And a neon pineapple?

Hi crafty friends! How is your weekend going? That Simon Says Stamp blog hop yesterday was really something! WOWZA! So many projects! My head is spinning from all the inspiration. You still have time to leave comments on all the blogs for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate! What a really fun thing to be involved in - I'm so fortunate! Our world is going crazy this past week and I'm hiding out in my studio with Buddy and coffee. My heart is heavy and sad and I'm not sure how much more violence and evil we can all process. I have been praying hard for all the suffering we are witnessing and hoping that some time soon we can all turn it around and go back to loving each other and acting out of respect and kindness. I just really don't even know what to say. So... I try to turn my mind to happy things and leave the rest to God.

I came in my studio this morning and was looking around and some things jumped out at me. Some of my current favorite things. I thought I would post about them. I made a crazy neon pineapple card! HUH? That sounds funny. It's funky and happy and BRIGHT! I kinda like it. I am presently obsessed with pineapples and flamingos on anything, and I LOOOOOOVE this Hero Arts Layering Pineapple stamp set. I also LOOOOOOOVE the Hero Arts Ombre Neon ink pads! Other favorites used today - probably my favorite cardstock ever - Juicy Pear from Bazzill, and the MISTI tool. I can't stamp without it now! Especially with these layering stamps. One of the SSS Masterpiece Box products I hadn't used yet is this cool alphabet from WPlus9. I decided to put all my favorite things together. Wanna see? :-)

 

OMG I LOOOOOOOVE these neon colors!!!! And, yes, I grew up in the 80's! I wore neon clothes and knew all the words to every Duran Duran song! Maybe neon is part of me because of that! LOL. I used the new Alphabet from WPlus9! This alphabet is currently only available by purchasing the SSS Masterpiece Box. It will be available for separate purchase at a later date. 

 

I stamped the pineapple and leaves using the ombre neon ink pads. The stamps have three layers each (photo below) but I only used two layers, because I really wanted the neon to show through. I also stamped and die cut the little flower that comes with the stamp set. 

 

Here is an image of the pineapple stamp set: 

 

 

 

 

This card is pretty out there and funky for me! What do you think? It's not my usual style, but I sure had fun making it! Do you call your spouse or best friend funny names? My hubs is either potato or pineapple! HAHAHA. Don't tell him I told you that. 

So let's all go out and make something fun and crafty. And let's all be kind to one another and treat each other with love and respect. The world needs it. You never know when you will make a difference in someone's day. Let's do that. I love you guys. Thank you for supporting me here! XOXO
 

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Simon Says Stamp Masterpiece Box Blog Hop!

I am SO happy that this blog hop day is here! There has been a lot of work going on to making this a fun event for everyone to enjoy! Many brands from the crafting industry have all come together to create one exciting "Masterpiece' to share with you! Well...The time has come! The full list of all the blog links is at the bottom of my post! SO many fantastic bloggers are participating! 

The blog hop today is to celebrate the launch of an awesome LIMITED EDITION collection of products and it's called the Masterpiece Box!  The box features 15 products from 10 different manufacturers and it sells for $199.99. This is a savings off the full retail of all the products... However, the box isn't about savings.  It's more about about bringing you something super special and exciting. The Masterpiece Box features new releases from many of the industries finest brands! Simon Says Stamp, Tim Holtz, Hero Arts, Altenew, Mama Elephant, Altenew, Clearly Besotted, WPlus9, Reverse Confetti, and Memory Box. 

The box contains never before released stamp sets, dies, and ink pads. If you get a Masterpiece Box, you are receiving all of these products before they are released to everyone else. Please note that supplies are LIMITED.  Once SSS is sold out of the Masterpiece Box, they will NOT be restocking.

I have three cards to share with you today - made with some of the awesome new stamps and dies from the Masterpiece Box. My cards today feature the products from Altenew, Reverse Confetti and Hero Arts! I shared three other cards yesterday made with products from Simon Says Stamp, Tim Holtz, and Mama Elephant! CLICK HERE to see my other post!

My first card today was made with the lovely new Altenew stamp set called Floral Frame! I chose to use just the leaves from this set because they were so elegant and pretty. I wanted somewhat of a vivid Fall look to my card, so I used my Kuretake Zig Markers in shades of red, yellow and orange.  

 

The first step was to heat emboss with white embossing powder the leaves randomly onto watercolor paper. Then I die cut the panel using the Stitched Rectangles dies from Simon Says Stamp. I had a lot of fun watercoloring with my markers and some clear water. Kept it very loose and free form. After the yellow, orange and red were dry I used a teal color to fill in the spaces. I really love this color combination. Warm, yet still fresh and happy! 

 

I mounted my watercolor layer onto a Fog card base using foam squares. I added a few Droplets from PPP for some sparkle and dimension! (supply links at the end of my post!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

My next card is a baby card featuring the Cute as a Button stamp set and matching onesie die from Reverse Confetti! SO CUTE! One of my go to themes for baby boy cards is to use nautical elements and colors. I love blue, red and kraft together with these adorable sailboats on the paper! 

 

I started with a crisp white card base and layered kraft onto it first. Then I used my patterned papers to create a horizontal point of interest. I stamped and die cut everything and attached it all to my card. Some red and white twine and a few enamel dots finished off the project! 

 

 

 

 

My third card today featured the beautiful Hero Arts Layering Cardinal stamp set! SO perfect for Christmas! The main bird stamp has three different layers and it comes out so beautifully! I used my MISTI to get exact placement and alignment of my stamped layers. I used two shades of red, and then a deep rich black on top. This is quintessentially Christmas! 

 

 

I used the branches and leaves to create a little place for my cardinal to rest. This is a square card - finished size is 4.5 x 4.5 inches. I used a few enamel dots to mimic holly berries and to add a touch of red to the branches.

 

 

 

 

So those are my cards for today's blog hop! I'm so glad you came by today! As always, Simon Says Stamp is very generous with prizes for today! Each stop on the hop will give away a $25 gift card to the Simon Says Stamp store.  We will draw winners from the comment section on each blog and the winners will be announced Monday afternoon (the 18th) on the SSS Blog! Good Luck!

The next stop on the hop is the super lovely

and talented JANA MILLEN! 

*** Note about the Crazy Dogs stamp set:  SSS started taking pre-orders for the Tim Holtz Crazy Dog stamps last week.  Since this stamp set is included in the box, anyone who purchased the box can cancel their pre-order for the stamp set. The Masterpiece Box is on sale NOW!  

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FULL BLOG HOP LIST & LINKS!

Simon Says Stamp Blog

Jennifer McGuire

Kristina Werner

Laura Bassen

Yana Smakula

Debby Hughes

Nichol Spohr

Yoonsun Hur

Shari Carroll

Amy Rysavy

Virginia Lu

Chari Moss

Kelly Latevola

May Sukyoung Park

Nina Marie Trapani

Heather Ruwe

Kathy Racoosin

Wanda Guess

Jana Millen

Caryn Davies

Barb Engler

Heather Hoffman

 

Simon Says Stamp Masterpiece Box Reveal!

 

I am SO excited to share what has been going on behind the scenes at Simon Says Stamp the past few months!  Many brands from the crafting industry have all come together to create one exciting "Masterpiece' to share with you! Well...The time has come! Heidi has been working on coordinating this launch all year! We've been teasing you on Facebook and Instagram... But it was worth the wait!

What is going on? It's the launch of an awesome LIMITED EDITION collection of products and it's called the Masterpiece Box! WOOHOO! The box features 15 products from 10 different manufacturers and it sells for $199.99. This is a savings off the full retail of all the products... However, the box isn't about savings.  It's more about about bringing you something super special and exciting. The Masterpiece Box features new releases from many of the industries finest brands! Simon Says Stamp, Tim Holtz, Hero Arts, Altenew, Mama Elephant, Altenew, Clearly Besotted, WPlus9, Reverse Confetti, and Memory Box. 

The box contains never before released stamp sets, dies, and ink pads. If you get a Masterpiece Box, you are receiving all of these products before they are released to everyone else. Please note that supplies are LIMITED.  Once SSS is sold out of the Masterpiece Box, they will NOT be restocking.

I have three cards to share with you today - made with some of the awesome new stamps and dies from the Masterpiece Box! I have more projects to share on Saturday morning when we are doing a HUGE blog hop to share ALL the products! Can you tell I am super excited? LOL!

First up - introducing for the first time Crazy Dogs from Tim Holtz! Yes, he did birds, he did cats.... Now there are dogs! They are so happy and silly looking and I couldn't wait to ink this set up and use some of my favorite Distress Inks to watercolor.  

 

 

I stamped and watercolored my dog and his tennis balls and then hand cut them out. I made a clean and simple layout with some kraft cardstock and another watercolor panel. I used the Tim Holtz Hashtags stamps - I thought this one was perfect! (supply list below)

 

 

 

I added some linen ribbon ti mimic a leash and a typed token that says "play" of course! I mounted my elements to my card using foam squares for dimension. EEK. 

 

Here are my Distress Ink color choices for this project!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next card was made using the NEW Exclusive Simon Says Stamp floral set! SOOOO pretty! I used my Kuretake Zig Clean Color Brush Markers to watercolor the flowers in bright tropical colors and then hand cut them. This is a square card and my card base was made from nice gray cardstock to 'ground' all that bright color. 

 

 

 

 

And, lastly for today, NINJAS! Oh my gosh, these are so funny! Mama Elephant does it again with their cute drawings that capture a child like quality. I think I'm going to save this one for a Valentine card! I used a clean color palette of grey, white and pops of red and black. 

 

So! What do you think? Isn't it super cool to be able to get products early? The best of some of our favorite companies all together like this? There is a brand new Simon Says Stamp ink color too - Lemon Zing. It's so refreshing! I've already used it a bunch. Here is an image that shows everything you will receive in your box. Have a great Friday! XOXO 

 

*** Note about the Crazy Dogs stamp set:  SSS started taking pre-orders for the Tim Holtz Crazy Dog stamps last week.  Since this stamp set is included in the box, anyone who purchased the box can cancel their pre-order for the stamp set. The Masterpiece Box is on sale NOW!  

 

    

 SUPPLIES FOR TODAY'S CARDS!

 

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Simon Says Stamp August 2016 Card Kit! Seeing Stars!

It's that time again! Yay! Time to announce and introduce the newest Simon Says Stamp Card Kit! The kit for August 2016 is called Seeing Stars! A beautiful stamp set, pretty ink pads, cool papers and so much more! The theme is red, white and blue and stars. Summer crafts, patriotic crafts, Olympics themed crafts....Nautical.... I could go on and on. Such a fab kit. It's available now in the SSS Store. As always, you can buy just this month's kit or subscribe to get them all sent to your home automatically each month. It's always such a cool surprise every month when that box shows up at my door. I practically rip the box open like a kid on Christmas morning! 

I have three totally different cards with three completely different looks to share today - all made with the card kit supplies. CLICK HERE to see and order your own kit! 

When I saw the beautiful starry stamp set the first idea that came to my mind was to make a 'galaxy' card with a cool watercolor background! So that's the first card I made to share. I started with watercolor paper and white heat embossed the stars and the constellations in a random pattern. Next I used some vivid colors of distress inks to make my cool background. (colors listed in the supplies list). I found it easiest to start by wetting my paper with water and then slowly adding the different colors. I let the first layer of colors dry and then went back with more black ink to make it a bit darker. This is so fun and free form. I love it. After that part was dry, I used some white mist to add flecks of white to look like more stars.  

 

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on crisp black cardstock and die cut a banner shape. I wrapped this part around my 'galaxy' after I trimmed it to size. I adhered it to a bright white card base made from the paper included in the kit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next card ended up having sort of a country feel to it because of that pretty floral paper! I love red and blue together with kraft. All of the papers used on this card come with your kit. I layered some of the papers together onto a navy blue card base. Then I stamped my sentiment onto a stitched circle and layered that with a red stitched circle. Two kraft banners complete this look. 

 

 

 

 

 

For my last card I went WAY patriotic and happy! Some of the included papers are white/white embossed like this star paper. I used the included blue ink pad and a sponge dauber to turn the paper blue! Then I paired it with one of the papers that had red stripes and voila a flag! I layered a piece of vellum that was die cut using the included star die. Here's one of my tricks - I used tiny bits of clear glue to hold the vellum down... And the glue is underneath the sentiment and the gems so you can't see it! 

 

 

 

 

Hope you've enjoyed this little peek into the new card kit! Tomorrow something MAJOR is launching at Simon Says Stamp and I will have all the details right here. And, plan on joining us in a big blog hop on Saturday too! Hope your day is awesome. Thank you for coming by! XOXO

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It's my anniversary? Feeling grateful today!

Hi everyone! Happy Sunday! Happy weekend! How are you?! It's been a week since I've blogged, and it feels weird to have been away so long! Thank you to everyone who sent me a nice note or left a comment about my back being hurt. I spent all last week in a lot of pain. It's the kind of pain that never lets up and it's so frustrating. If you've ever had low back issues, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The thing is, I'm super busy right now too, so I had to keep going. I started stamping standing up which helped (and actually made it easier to go grab things!) and then rested a lot. I think I have turned the corner because it is slowly feeling a tiny bit better. Thanks for the kind wishes!! I am now the expert at Googling back exercises too! LOL. 

Something else has been on my mind all week... Today is an anniversary of sorts for me! I don't know if you would call it an anniversary, or maybe a BIRTH day? Today marks one year since I quit my job to become a creative professional! I think about it every day and especially so this week. CLICK HERE to read my post from last year. So today, if it's okay, I thought I would write a little from my heart. (I have a card to share too!)

Last year on this date I was a complete mess and a shambles and scared and yet excited all at the same time. I took a huge leap of faith and quit my job without anything lined up. Me. That was so unlike anything I would ever do. I am a 'low risk' kind of girl in general. But I had reached my breaking point and I had to take action! I struggled for months before making my decision and the one constant was prayer. I have been a Christian my entire life and God has always been a part of my daily life. During the hard times at my job, I had Bible quotes taped to my computer, to my phone, to my cubicle walls....in my planner... Everywhere!! It was how I survived. Prayer. 

My faith was taken to a completely different level last year. I never really fully understood when people would say that in their darkest hours they felt peace. How can you feel peace when you are so tormented inside? But that is what happened. After I stopped struggling, and after I surrendered, a complete peace came over me and I knew. I KNEW. That if I jumped off the cliff I would be fine. And here I am, fine. Better than fine. Excellent, happy, grateful, wonderful! I had planned to start my own company and had a million ideas... But God sent work to me. It was as simple as that. HE sent me work. Enough work from enough people to keep me busy all the time. Isn't that amazing? I think that's called a miracle! There is no other explanation. Lots of hustle, much hard work, determination, prayer, and a miracle! 

My life is so very different now! In ways that I didn't think of. There are things I miss for sure - my work friends, Starbucks, daily chit chat, and the office buzz. I get kinda lonely here in my studio sometimes because it's so dang quiet! When you've worked in an office with 100 people for a long time, it is really weird to be alone every day!! Buddy is an awesome office assistant, but he doesn't talk much! Things I didn't think of.... Saving tons of money on gas and by not buying Starbucks! LOL. Also, saving money by not doing errands on my lunch hour! Those were bonuses for sure. The things that are the best? Being creative on a daily basis, making my own schedule, and sleeping in! I am not a morning person and it was literally killing me to wake up at 5am every day!! Now I get up around 6:30 or 7:00 with no alarm clock. But, even better, I can ease into the day and not have to experience road rage on the way to the office! Also, now I cook dinner almost every night which makes me feel like a good wife. I am working the same amount of hours as I was before, but now I can work on Sunday afternoon if I feel like it... Or at midnight! My schedule is my own and it's just as awesome as I thought it might be. Truly what I had talked about for years was an integration between life and work. Lifework. NOT work/life. Not a balance, but a life in which work flows with your daily life and vice versa. 

I have learned so much about myself in this past year. What matters to me, and what does not. What I have to put up with and what I do not. How strong I am, and how weak I am and that both are valuable attributes. For the first time in my life I feel like I have had time to think, and process a lot of stuff. Stillness was a foreign concept to me before. I have 'kept moving' at a fast pace since I was a young person running from my thoughts and traumas. Now I can ponder and let some things go without worrying about being 'perfect' for work the next day. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but maybe me writing this will touch someone. I have discovered that I was Created to Create and to hopefully uplift and inspire others. That is truly what means the most to me now. How can I be a blessing? It's an extension of the gratitude I feel in my heart for what I have been given. 

So, thank you God, and thank you lovely people who have hired me for work in the past year. I love you! I'm grateful and honored and humbled (again). Always humbled. My life has had a lot of heartache and weird situations and I have persevered, and here I am. By the grace of God. Thank you to all of you who have lifted me up for the past seven years here on my blog. What an amazing journey of love and happiness this has been. You just never know what might happen if you believe. XOXO

Okay, so I promised you a card too! This card expresses how I'm feeling today. I busted out some supplies that had never been used and made a cheerful, happy card to share. I hope that things are good in your corner of the world today. The stamps, dies and paper are all from Papertrey Ink! The other supplies are all from Simon Says Stamp - links at the bottom of my post.  

 

 

So I think this stamp set came out last Summer! EEK. I hadn't even used it yet! PTI released a new color a couple of months ago - Green Parakeet. LOVE! I used that as my starting point - the stamp set and the green paper. I die cut a Bandana Cover Plate out of crisp white paper and layered that over the green cardstock. Then I used my MISTI stamping tool to stamp the cherries onto white paper also. The MISTI really helped get the stems lined up just right! 

 

 

I like how this ombre 'enjoy' word die came out! I die cut it from white paper and then used my finger in the ink pad to add ink to just the bottom of it! I might do this again! It looks really fresh. Also, it made it match the cherries! I used two colors of pink and two shades of green to stamp my images. I stamped my sentiment in brown also, instead of black because it was softer. 

 

 

A pretty bow of Lawn Fawn Cord adds just another little bit of pink to the card! And, you know it.... I added a couple of enamel dots. I think that's my signature move now! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This coming week is going to be VERY busy! A new SSS Card Kit launches on Thursday and then a brand new top secret release is coming from SSS on Friday, with a blog hop on Saturday. I promise you will not want to miss that! When I'm not blogging, I hope you will keep up with me on Instagram! I try to post something every day there! You can also find me over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog (posted a birthday card yesterday!).  Until we meet again, I send you love and good wishes. XOXO

 

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Pretty Vivid Butterflies! Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Hello everyone! Where have I been? I just realized it's been a while since I did a blog post. Time lately is going so quickly. Never enough hours in the day, right? The summer is flying by and here we are at 4th of July weekend! Wow! What are you doing this weekend? Our heat wave broke today and it's the first day that it's not over 100 degrees in over a week. YAY! We are having a low key holiday, mostly hanging out at home. My back is out and I have been in a lot of pain. I'm not really very good at sitting still or taking care of myself. I am learning to take it easy - but mostly because I have no choice!! It's one of those things where it hurts to stand, it hurts to sit and it hurts to lay down - so I'm just really frustrated! Usually I can get my mind off of things by heading into the studio, so that's what I did last night! 

I have a pretty basket I keep on my desk with all new stamp sets that I haven't used yet. Some of my assignments for Simon Says Stamp and some things I had to have because they are so fun and gorgeous. So last night I reached for this gorgeous new Butterflies stamp set from Avery Elle. My card was inspired by THIS POST by Kathy. DANG! When I saw her butterfly coloring a while back the image really stuck in my mind! It was so vivid and pretty. That's what I was going for on my card to share today. 

I stamped and colored three of the butterflies with my Copic Markers, then die cut them out with the matching dies. Then I added pretty white accents with a white gel pen. I left a lot of white space on my card to give all the color some 'room' to breathe! 

 

 

The large butterfly was colored in shades of aqua...so pretty! This is my favorite color, so I had to make the large one this color! The three butterflies are attached to the card using foam squares for dimension. The little trails are a stamp from a different Avery Elle stamp set and I thought it worked just right! (see stamp sets below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added just a bit of a black and white gingham border to bring in some black to the white card layer. Then I added a few matching enamel dots...just because!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not really that great with the white gel pen. I tend to make a big mess!!! Do you have troubles with this too? Maybe I just need to practice more and work with it some more.... I sure do love the effect you can achieve with it!

 

Thank you very much for popping by to see me this weekend! I hope you're having fun in the sun with your friends and family! I have a coooooool coffee card up on the Simon Says Stamp blog today too if you want to check it out! (CLICK HERE) Until we meet again! XOXOXO

 

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