Summer Scraps!

Good morning!

Today I have 2 cards to share with you that I made last weekend while challenging myself to clean up by using up scraps that have been piling up in my craft room! The first card used up some the Nautical Netting I have on hand as well as this main image that I colored a while ago and never took the time to put on a card!

I colored the images with Copic markers and used Stampin Up's Cool Caribbean & Taken with Teal inks to shade the water. The seaweed is from Carolyn's Whimsical Autumn stamp set while the other images are all from Gina's Eclectic Summer Stamp TV kit.

Next up, is a card my daughter Ashley helped me make...


We made the card with one of Sizzix's Window die cuts - she was wondering how they worked (and so was I!) so we cut this card out from a piece of shimmery orange Coordinations cardstock. Since it ended up looking like a window, we made a scene with the Martha Stewart fence punch and scrap green papers torn to look like grass. The sentiment is from Gina's You are My Sunshine stamp set.

I had colored the butterfly from Gina's Take Flight stamp set quite a while ago and was happy to finally get it on a card! I colored it in with Copics and then dabbed Versamark all over the image and sprinkled Stampin Up's Iridescent Ice embossing powder over it for some sparkle that won't ever fall off!

If you don't have this embossing powder from SU, you can actually make your own by mixing 2 parts clear embossing powder with 1 part clear fine glitter. It should end up looking the same as this...

I didn't end up taking photos of the insides of these two cards because they were pretty simple - with nothing fancy added. I gave the fish card to my son Isaiah and this butterfly card to my daughter Ashley. I love those two kids of mine - they both such gifts from God to our family!

Have a wonderful rest of your day and thanks for stopping in! Be sure to check into StampTV to check out Gina's latest technique video - Wednesdays are so fun, aren't they!? A new video every week to check out! I love that!
Jessica

Lemonade Wishes...

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Today's card is a summery one - filled with bright shades of yellow... I wish we had the bright yellow sun shining outside today! Hopefully the rain will be moving through soon - my daughter is dying to go to the zoo! It's the first thing she wanted to do once school was out.

This card is one I made a while ago following a couple of StampTV challenges: color and sketch. All the challenges are archived, so you can reference them if you are in need of some inspiration. I'm the hostess for this week's sketch challenge - I'll share the card and sketch tomorrow here on my blog.

Have you had a chance to play along with our challenges? We have 5 new challenges each week - and the winners all receive a free stamp set! Since the new release is right around the corner, I'm sure everyone would love to win a free GinaK stamp set. Jump in and play along with us - the talent is amazing over on StampTV!!

The stamps I used on my card are from GinaK's You are My Sunshine and Simple Pleasures sets.

Be sure to check out Gina's Blog - she's starting to share one stamp image from each new Release stamp set!! I've been having so much fun stamping with the new sets and can't wait to share some of my projects with everyone!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Jessica

Stickles to the Rescue!

Good morning!

I know I already posted earlier this morning an ultra long post showing my Acrylic book, but I had to show my 'stickle-fied' Peerless Watercolor cards that I shared a few days ago. I didn't want to add any sparkle to the cards until the gals at the class last night saw them with just plain watercoloring. I was afraid that Stickles or any glitter might take away from the vibrancy of the Peerless watercolors.

How crazy was that, right? Glitter is always better - at least in my opinion! So, we pulled out several colors of stickles that Gina carries in her store and went to town adding their yummy sparkliness everywhere! Pink, turqoiuse, light green, orange, yellow, light blue, fruit punch, cinnamon - you name it - we used it!

On the first card, I added water and white perfect pearls to one of my Ranger Mini Misters and misted the mixture over the card a few times. It adds a subtle shimmer over the entire card. I think the camera picked it up a little... so, hopefully you can see it.

One of my favorite 'students' encouraged me to use colored stickles on the silver brads in the prima flowers. I've never used colored stickles on brads - just the clear ones. But, I took Barb's advice and Oh my word!! I LOVE them! Look - they look like faux jewel brads... how cool is that? Thanks for the tip, Barb!

Here's a closeup of the flowers... Then, Rhonda asked about using a heat gun to dry the stickles. She bravely tried it out on her card and it worked great! It's a nice alternative to letting the air dry and then getting them smudged - especially at classes.

So, as you can see - we had a great class! Thanks, Rhonda, Barb, Becca, and Marianne for coming and painting with me last night. I was so bummed that I forgot my camera because I wanted to take photos of their cards to show you today. I'll try to remember to do that next time. I think it would be fun for you to see how everyone's cards turn out - it's my favorite thing about teaching... seeing how different everyone's cards end up being when we use all the same products.

Have a great day and remember to use those Stickles! LOL!
Jessica