Stained Glass Christmas Card with Avery Elle Stamps

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I couldn’t have expected this card to come out any better! I LOVE how this looks. When I saw the Holiday Glass Stamp Set by Avery Elle I immediately knew what I would do with it.

To see the making of this card, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Here’s a clickable list of supplies :

Avery Elle Clear Stamps HOLIDAY GLASS Set ST-16-33

Avery Elle Holiday Glass Stamp Set ( Buy from us while supplies last!)
Avery Elle Clear Stamps MERRIEST Set ST-16-29

Avery Elle Merriest Stamp Set ( Buy from us while supplies last!)
Chameleon PRIMARY TONES Color Tones Permanent Alcohol Ink Pen System CT0502
Crafter's Companion HEAT RESISTANT ACETATE Pack CC-HRA-5PK
Ranger Archival Ink Pad JET BLACK AIP31468

Buy Archival Ink from us while supplies last! 
Tsukineko VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad VF-82
Clearsnap Colorbox CLEAR Embossing Powder 10175
Bazzill 40 LB VELLUM 8.5 x 11 White 25 Sheets
Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# BLACK Black8
Simon Says Stamp WHITE CARDSTOCK 120 LB Base Weight 12 Pack
Martha Stewart SCORING BOARD Score Craft Tool 42-05002
Fiskars Easy LARGE STAMPING PRESS Stamp Entire Project at Once 08849

Thank you for stopping by! I hope to be back very soon. P.S. Our Baby Girl is due in less than 2 weeks!!!

SSS July 2016 Card Kit Card #4

Here’s the most recent card I’ve made using some of the supplies from the Simon Says Stamp July 2016 Card Kit.

Picture 22

Most of the stamping on this card was done using Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels. It’s super easy to do and the results are awesome! If you would like to see this technique done in a video then make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube. This video will be up in a few days to a week.

Here’s a list of supplies used:

Simon Says Stamp Card Kit of The Month JULY 2016 HANDWRITTEN FLORAL GREETINGS CK716
Prima Flowers ARTIST QUALITY OIL PASTEL CRAYONS 814328
Simon Says Clear Stamps CHOOSE HAPPY SSS101617 Reason To Smile

That’s all the supplies! I used mostly what was in the kit except I used a sentiment from the Choose Happy stamp set and used the oil pastels for the stamping rather than an ink.

Sign Up for the August Kit by clicking the banner below.

 Simon Says Stamp Card Kit of the Month 2016 SUBSCRIPTION AUGUST START DATE

Thank you for stopping by and I’ll be back soon!

SSS July 2016 Card Kit Card #2

Here’s my second birthday card that I made using mostly the items that were provided in the Simon Says Stamp July 2016 Card Kit.

20160625_182632

I started this card off using a piece of 4.25 x 5.5″  120 lb white cardstock that was cut down from a 8.5 x 11″ piece that was included in the kit. These are a nice heavy weight cardstock and they take ink very nicely. They are also super smooth. I was again very impressed with the Simon Says Stamp paper.

I inked up the cardstock using Salty Ocean Distress Ink, Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and the included Hybrid Ink in Slate Grey. Ink it in this order too. Ending with the darkest color just on the edges of the paper. I used a Tim Holtz Ink Blending Tool to get this effect. Dry the cardstock completely with a heat tool or leave it to dry. You need the cardstock bone dry so the next step works the best.

Now you will ink up some of the solid image stamps from the Handwritten Floral Greetings Stamp Set using Versamark ink and stamp them to create a frame. Heat emboss them with white embossing powder. Don’t forget to use an anti-static powder tool before you do this!

Here’s where the magic happens! Now we will color over the white embossed images with alcohol markers. I used Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers to do this, but you can use Copics, BIC, Sharpie, or whatever alcohol based markers you have. This technique will not work with any other kind of medium since we’re essentially coloring on top of enamel. This creates these beautifully vibrant images on your card and it’s a really fun technique!

Lastly, I stamped using one of my all time favorite stamp sets (Seriously, I find myself reaching for this one over and over again!) Handwritten Notes by Avery Elle. The “Happy Birthday To You” stamp was all in one line but all I had to do was selectively ink what I wanted on each line. Looking at the card now I wish I was a little more particular and slid the “To You” over to the left a little bit, but it still came out nice.

I hope you give this technique a try and I’ll be back very soon with another Birthday Card using the July 2016 Simon Says Stamp Card Kit.

To subscribe to the card kit for $24.95 a month, just click the link below.
Simon Says Stamp Card Kit of the Month 2016 SUBSCRIPTION JULY START DATE

Crazy About You Card – Foiling & Vellum

This card went in a completely different direction than I had sketched out. Originally it was going to have a foiled frame and some 3-D flowers. The frame ended up being too big and then I ended up making it a somewhat masculine card so I decided to not use the purple 3-D flowers I made.

20160603_201021

Here’s a clickable list of Supplies I used:

Black Coredinations Cardstock

Core'Dinations HOCUS POCUS 4.25 x 5.5 Black Magic Cardstock 80lb 40 Sheets

White Cardstock
Simon Says Stamp WHITE CARDSTOCK 120 LB Base Weight 12 Pack

Vellum
Bazzill 40 LB VELLUM 8.5 x 11 White 25 Sheets

Salty Ocean Distress Ink
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad SALTY OCEAN Ranger Summer TIM35015

Dots Embossing Folder
Sizzix DOTS 7 Embossing Folder Textured Impressions 660405

Rose Gold Cord (This was in a 3 pack that I got from Michael’s)

Simply Said: Crazy Stamp Set by Avery Elle
Avery Elle Clear Stamps SIMPLY SAID CRAZY Set 023413

Also currently available in our store for $6.00

Stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Memento TUXEDO BLACK INK PAD Full Size me-900

Rose Gold  MINC Foil
Heidi Swapp ROSE GOLD MINC 6 Inch Reactive Foil Roll 312104

Applied using the Heidi Swapp MINC Mini Machine (Click picture for this bundle on Amazon)

Flower Embellishment that was foiled is from the Anna Griffin Minc Bundle. We were selling them and we sold out and won’t be getting any more. Here’s a link to that bundle:

There’s also some floral elements sold in this bundle if you already have the machine:

Here’s what the flower looks like at an angle so you can see the shine of the foil

20160603_201031

I also added this little heart on the inside using an old Sizzix die to die cut some Toner Paper. The arrow was from the pieces that came in the Heidi Swapp Minc Mini Set. I didn’t have my heat on the machine turned up enough so I was left with some black spots.

20160603_201044

That’s it for today! Make sure you subscribe to our Youtube channel so you can see the video of making this card when it goes live. Thank you for stopping by!

“Stronger” Orchid Encouragement Card

stronger

This card came together after I was left with a beautiful watercolored orchid from my last blog post and video. To see how I made the watercolored image using Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels head over to that blog post.

After cutting out the orchid, from the Stampendous Orchid Greetings Stamp Set, I misted it with some spray mist in a nice light tan color to make the paper look aged and add some shimmer.

I adhered it to a piece of brick patterned paper from Authentique’s “Accomplished” collection. I proceeded to put the orchid image on my background paper with the bricks vertical rather than horizontal (oops!). I didn’t realize this until the very end when I was looking at my card and by then it was too late to remove anything. We’ll just pretend I was trying to be edgy and different!

The sentiment is from a 12×12″ piece of paper that is supposed to look like newspaper ads but has all these awesome sayings. It says “Everyday Moments” at the top. Sadly I threw away the strip with the information and I have no idea who makes it or where I bought it from. I think I may have got just this single piece of paper at one of my local scrapbook stores so who knows what company it was (sorry!). I popped that up with some thin foam tape for a tiny bit of dimension. I sprayed this cardstock with the light tan spray mist to match the background of the orchid.

Lastly, I inked the edges with some Donna Salazar Mix’d Media Inx in the color “Vintage”. These inks are by Colorbox and they are sooooo juicy! I don’t really ever see them for sale at the online craft stores or brick and mortar stores but they are really nice. I was able to find this color and many others on Amazon though.

I always forget to make encouragement cards for my stash so I am glad I have one ready to go now. When you have a friend in need you want to be there for them right away and that means no time to make a card. Now I’ll be ready the next time I need a card for this. Even if it’s just a friend trying to get a raise or save money! It doesn’t always have to be a sad situation to get a card like this.

Thank you for stopping by!

Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels Review and Techniques

I recently ordered some Prima items and among them were the Water Soluble Oil Pastels. Since one of the boxes came dented up I decided I would keep that one for myself (since the contents were likely damaged- and they were) and write a review about it. 



These pastels come in a box of 24 and retail for $20.00. Simon Says Stamp sells them. We also sell them but by the time this blog post goes up we’ll probably only have a couple left



Once I opened my box I got right to work seeing what these worked well for and maybe not so well for. 



First technique was general coloring. The pastels are very creamy and would even draw on the tip of my finger. I tried scribbling on a thin sheet of non primed paper and it easily took the pastel. I added some water with my paint brush and it easily made the numbers I had written disappear. They are very soluble even on a non primed surface. 



Second technique was mixing with a gel medium. I chopped off the end of one of the pastels with my palette knife and smashed it into some Prima 3D Gloss Gel Medium . It’s not as creamy as a gelato so it took quite a bit of smashing to get it mixed in. I used the red color and you can see the result of me applying it through a star stencil on the picture below on the right. 

On the left side of the picture you will notice some light green dots over a purple wash of color. The purple wash of color was added on top of some dried Prima 3D Gloss Gel to see how it would react. I wanted to see if the water soluble oil pastels would stay on that medium or if it would act as a resist. It dried and stayed on it just fine. Then I was able to scribble the oil pastel on a non porous surface and mix in some Liquitex Gloss Gel Medium to create another colorful mixture to put through a stencil. This blended much easier than chopping off the end of a pastel. 



For my next technique I thought it would be fun to see how they worked on enhancing texture. I added some Golden Molding Paste to my journal and dried it with a heat tool to create some bubbles and get a lunar type of texture. Then I lightly scribbled on top of the texture, squirted some water on it, and blended it out with my finger. Here’s the effect: 

It really gets into all of those small nooks and crannies and really accentuates the texture! 
 
Next I wanted to see how these worked for stamping. This one of my favorite techniques with these pastels and it’s enough to make me happy to own them! All you do is scribble on the back of a stamp and give it a few mists of water and stamp down. You can then use a waterbrush to draw some of the color from the edges to the inside or even grab color directly from the oil pastel to add to your image. Here’s how it came out on 140 lb watercolor cardstock using a photopolymer stamp: 
 
Lastly I tried it on a rubber stamp with 3 different colors to see what would happen and that came out nice too. Here’s what that looked like with a woodgrain stamp: 
 

If you like these techniques then I definitely recommend checking out the Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels



Prima Flowers ARTIST QUALITY OIL PASTEL CRAYONS 814328

Here’s a video I put together showing all of these techniques in action! 


Fairy Kisses Birthday Card w/ Avery Elle Stamps

This card took me a while to do but it was a lot of fun! Avery Elle has a new stamp set out called Pixie Dust and it’s just adorable!

Here’s the card:

20160107_215540

She’s just so cute! This card did take a while and it’s PACKED with techniques. In order to not make this blog post monumentally long, I am going to to a quick run down of what was done.

  1. Stamp the fairy girl with her wand on 140lb watercolor paper using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.  Let it dry.
  2. Cover the fairy girl with liquid frisket to mask her off from the background spraying. Let it dry.
  3. Mix Luster Mica Powder in Hawaiian Orchid and Deep Sea Dive , or Blue Ice, in a Fine Mist Spray bottle. Spray the background keeping some of each color more concentrated in the top or bottom. Dry with heat tool.
  4. Remove Liquid Frisket with included remover and color fairy girl using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Water Brush .
  5. Stamp stars from the Pixie Dust Stamp set on the top half of the card using Versamark Ink and cover with Embossing Powder Sticky. Heat until it changes clear then cover with glitter.
  6. Spell out “Fairy Kisses” in Silhouette Studio using Blessed Day Font from http://www.urbanfonts.com . Weld the letters together and cut it out using your Silhouette Cameo 2 .
  7. Stamp the sentiment on a scrap piece of paper that you have inked with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. Also ink up the Fairy Kisses sentiment with this ink.
  8. Run “Fairy Kisses” through a Xyron Creative Station with sticker adhesive installed to turn this intricate die cut into a easy to place sticker.
  9.  Adhere other sentiment using a tape runner or liquid glue.
  10. Revel in the beauty of your card! You’re done!

    Here’s a close up of the fairy girl: 20160107_215608Thank you so much for stopping by!

Beary Sweet Wishes Valentine’s Card

20151224_135210.jpg

This card was so quick and fun to make! I’ll be posting a YouTube Video showing exactly how to do it. Make sure you Subscribe to our Youtube channel so you can watch the video when it goes live on 12/26/15!

Here’s the supplies you will need:

Avery Elle Beary Sweet Wishes Stamp Set  ($8.00. Buy one more stamp set and the second one is 35% off. That’s like getting them for 17.5% off each!)

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers 

140lb Watercolor Cardstock 

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Waterbrush

Red Pigment Ink

Lawn Fawn Let’s Polka In The Dark Paper

See you on the 26th!

Lawn Fawn Thanksgiving Card

Last night I made my first Thanksgiving card for the year. I have to admit, I usually skip right over Thanksgiving and move on to making my Christmas cards. It’s not that I don’t think Thanksgiving is important, it’s just so hard to squeeze everything in with how close all of the holidays are together. I just couldn’t resist using this adorable scarecrow for something though!

many thanks

The sentiment, scarecrow and crows are from the Happy Harvest Stamp Set by Lawn Fawn . The Tree is from the Sweater Weather Stamp Set by Lawn Fawn. That little spot of grass under the scarecrow is from the Critters in the Jungle Stamp Set by Lawn Fawn.

For coloring the scarecrow and crows, I used Ergosoft Colored Pencils and blended using Gamsol with blending sticks. Just lightly color and blend for a nice effect.

I decided that I wanted the outline of the stamps to be grey instead of the typical black and I used Memento London Fog Ink. The other inks that were used are Distress Inks. I used Ripe Persimmon on the sentiment, a mixture of Wild Honey and Fired Brick on the leaves and Walnut Stain for the tree trunk.

Those cute polka dot papers are by Lawn Fawn and they’re called Let’s Polka, Mon Amie . To paper piece and make the dots line up when using multiple papers, just cut the paper small and make sure you stamp the scarecrow at about the same spot. I don’t have the dies for this set, so everything was fussy cut (a.k.a. cut by hand with scissors).

I hope you enjoyed seeing my card. I did use a few Amazon affiliate links in this post. If you end up purchasing any other products, I get a very small commission. Intoxicating Arts also sells some of these products and those have been linked too. Thanks for stopping by!

Lawn Fawn Baby Shower Card

This weekend is one of my best friend’s baby showers and I got a card done for her.

I used Lawn Fawn Papers, Lawn Fawn’s Hello Baby stamp set , our NEW Staggered Lines Stencil, Luster Mica Powder in Blue Ice, Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, a white A2 card base, Liquitex Professional Gloss Super Heavy Gel
, a palette knife, black pigment ink, acrylic stamping block, cosmetic sponge, and a blue rhinestone.

20150404_225708 20150404_22581120150404_225830

You can see the staggered lines stencil in the background. The Blue Ice Luster Mica Powder gives it a nice subtle shimmer. This color is much more vibrant on a black background. I also used a cosmetic sponge to add it to the edges of the patterned papers.

Here’s a youtube video showing the whole process :

Thank you for stopping by!