Inspired By All The Little Things #32 & SSS Flicker Challenge #58

As soon as I saw the image over at Inspired By All The Little Things, I started trying to formulate an idea in my head.  In fact I have a few ideas so you may very well see more than one post for this challenge.  Everything about this image says "snowy winter scene" so that is what I wanted to convey in my card.

While I was checking out some of the other challenges yesterday I came across this card by Vika Salmina, a member of the My Favorite Things Design Team that was done for one of their recent Color Challenges.  The colors she used here completely influenced own my color choices.  I don't have any paper from MFT and only a few dies, but I immediately set out to grab what I did have in similar colors to this gorgeous card.

I used Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select White, Scarlet Jewel, Smokey Shadow, and SU's Smoky Slate cardstocks.  I also (don't faint here), actually used my Copic Markers to color with.  I KNOW!  The thing is, I feel like I've learned a little bit more about how to do it and was inspired to try again for a few reasons; Kathy Racoosin's current challenge (#thedailymarker30day), and a card I received in the mail from my scrappy friend, Barb Engler.  It was so beautiful and I know it was colored with Copic Markers.

I started by selecting similar cardstock colors for my project. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Smokey Shadow, Stamper's Select White, Scarlet Jewel and SU!'s Smoky Slate.  Next, I stamped my selected images from WPLUS9's Winter Pals Stamp Set in Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink (Copic or other Alcohol Marker friendly) onto Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  I made my white card base (also Stamper's Select White), a Scarlet Jewel Background Panel and a Smokey Slate panel that was just a tiny bit smaller. Next I cut three of the stitched circles frames from #140 Watercolor Paper using the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Circles Dies. I also cut another solid stitched circle using an in-between size from the MFT Stitched Circles Stax from the same paper to be my background "snow". It needs to be slightly larger than the opening so that you can put it behind the circle frame.  I cut this circle again with the "slope" die which is part of the Mama Elephant Landscape Trio Die Set. Last but not least, I cut three of the banners from the Paper Clippings: Joy to the World Detail Dies and layered them together for a thicker element.  I also glued the circle frames together in this way and then spritzed all of these pieces with shimmer spray.. These would be pieces to help build the scene on my card so I set them aside to dry while I did my coloring.

I colored in all the images using Copic Markers in Cool Grays with the exception of the obvious bits of color on the accessories. Mostly I stuck with C1, C3 and C5 along with colorless blender. I also used C7 on the Penguin. One of the things I have learned by observing lots of Copic Coloring is that I tend to be a bit heavy handed.  So I worked very hard last night to use a delicate touch and I felt like I did much less blending than usual with great effect.  I'm so happy with how these turned out that I am planning to Copic color something again soon!

Once I had the stamped images colored, I die cut them using the Winter Pals Coordinating Die Set. I added a few little details with a Black Polychromo Pencil.  As you can probably tell, I am trying to use all the supplies I have in my studio.  I don't need to use them all at once, but I love finding new ways to use "old" tools.  Marika Rahtu made that technique famous with her gorgeous images and tutorials.  If you haven't seen them, you can check out her YouTube Channel HERE!

I mounted the Scarlet Jewel panel to the white card base with a slightly smaller rectangle of black fun foam behind it. The one I used here came from Darice and is 3mm thick - about 1/8th inch. This makes the whole panel nice and stable and great to build onto.  Next I adhered the Smokey Shadow panel on top of that using Scor-Tape and then started adding my elements to the card to create my scene.  I used Thin 3D Foam Squares to adhere nearly everything.  In some places I used a double thickness but I even used a triple thickness in one place so that everything would lay flat and stable (the little girl bears' head is so far off the card base, it actually required regular thickness x 2).  The sentiment is from the What The Doodle Ornament Stamp Set and was stamped using Scarlet Jewel Ink with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder over the top.  I love that little pop of color on the banner and the dimension achieved by stacking the die cuts. A few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh finished off this card.

There were so many little details to create this and it was definitely one of my more labor intensive cards, but I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.  I'm planning to branch out into a slightly larger image for my next Copic Coloring project. Be sure to check out all the beautiful projects at both the Simon Flickr Challenge and Inspired By All The Little Things. If you've stayed with me through this whole post, thank you so much.  Every kind and encouraging comment is read and very much appreciated.

Clean and Simple for the New Year

Unlike some card makers, I tend to mail out nearly everything I make.  I donated a few cards at the end of the year to a Hospice that goes through a ton of cards, so I didn't have any left from last year.  I made a ton of cards last year (I made 60 of them just for my sisters-in-law) but I also mailed a ton of cards.  I have several friends who have been going through a tough time, either due to health issues, or from the loss of a parent, spouse or child.  It's nice for them to get a card in the mail saying hello or I've been thinking of you.  One friend in particular left a big part of her life behind and moved back home to care for her mother who had a rare type of cancer and also help with her father who is disabled.  She has quite the collection of cards that I have made. Just so-so cards in the beginning but now some small works of art.

This particular friend had a ton of art classes and things as a child and enjoys paper crafting and scrapbooking.  In fact, that is how we met several years ago. We are "scrappy" friends.  Whenever I use that word, I am referring to a friend that I met through Scrapbooking or Paper Crafting.  So when my friend relocated a few years ago, all of her paper crafting stuff went in to storage in their old hometown.  Recently they added a building at their new home that will be a dedicated craft room. Electricity will be installed in the next couple of weeks and then she will be anxious to go and get her things out of storage.  I can hardly wait for this to happen as we seem to feed off of each other's creativity.

Having had so many art lessons she especially enjoys it when I send her a watercolor card. I had noticed recently that a color that appeared to be a kind of brownish red is actually a very mauve-y color when you use it to watercolor with. I thought this color would make a beautiful flower, so I sat down to paint it last night after stamping the Mondo Magnolia by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson, LLC and heat setting it with gold embossing powder.



I've gotten where I really like a certain kind of water brush when I watercolor images.  It is made by Kuretake and comes in three sizes - Small/Fine Tip, Medium and Large.  I have 1 of each, but the one I reach for over and over again is the Small/Fine Tip brush.  Simon Says Stamp carries one like it HERE except that the handle is more compact and I like the longer length brush.  My hands are large and capable so I'm more coordinated with the longer handle.  If you need the longer handle, check Amazon.

You can also use a traditional brush (I have a #2, #4, and #8 Silver Black Velvet Round Brush), but for card making, I love the convenience of having the water in my brush.  It's light, compact and I can take it on the go.  When I was painting my Christmas Card fronts a couple of months ago, I had several of them stamped and heat embossed to take with me to a car show we attended in Kansas City.  It was awesome and I was able to watercolor during all of  the sitting around time. Then when we got home, all of my front panels were ready to finish to mail out. It was the perfect thing to do.

I have a small cutting board with a handle that I can tape my panels to for my work surface.  I just use my masking tape over and over as I complete each one. This also works great if you are coloring more than one image at a time as you can set one aside to dry while you work on the other.  If you have the stuff out, it's just as easy to make two cards.  I often stamp and emboss 2 images in case I mess one up, but that rarely happens anymore.

This particular panel has some of the gold embossing powder that I don't like too much, but it was ready to go so I just went with it.  Since I thought my granddaughter was going to be painting it, I had embossed it on Canson XL 140# Watercolor Paper which takes more water better than the 96# Bristol I usually use. I've found that if I just work my way around the image one petal at a time, by the time I get to my 2nd layer of color the first layer is dry.  This works for me on Canson Regular and Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper.  It helps that I'm so familiar with how each of my water color mediums works.  I do not wet my paper for this method.  I put color down at the base of the petals and pull that out with water.  I'm using only color and a water brush.  For this image I used Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Aged Mahogany.  I absolutely adore the ease with which I can water color using the Distress Markers.  After it was painted, I went over the entire flower with my Clear Wink of Stella Pen for that shimmer that you all know that I love.  I left it overnight to be thoroughly dry.

I came into the studio this morning and cut the panel with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle in the largest size. I die cut the Mama Elephant "hello" from some DCWV Gold Foil Card Stock and then laid my die cut across that panel where I wanted it to go and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Embossing Mat instead of the Cutting Mat to impress the image into my panel rather than cutting it. That makes it easy to get your die cut greeting in exactly the right place.  I adhered the front panel to a 110# Top Folding Card Base.  A few faceted gold gems in a visual triangle finishes off this card.



Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed yet another watercolor card.  In case you hadn't guessed it, Watercolor is my favorite technique!  Please feel free to comment if you stop by and I'll see you again soon.

Just For You

I have a super quick post today.  As I was perusing Pinterest the other day to get ideas for the gift tags I was to make, I came across a larger tag designed to hang on a bottle of wine.  I thought that was such a cute idea so I set out to make a few this morning.

I used all the same basics as I used on yesterday's post about gift tags such as double thickness of all the papers, etc.  I have these QuicKutz Label Dies from several years ago so I used the largest 2 sizes to cut my tags.  Since the ribbon would have a loop to slip over the neck of the wine bottle, it didn't matter that the labels didn't have a hole, but you could easily put one in using a hole punch, a silent setter or whatever method you have.  I just happen to like the little criss cross of the ribbon on the center of the label.  Simon Says Stamp has labels dies in a wide variety of styles and sizes.

I cut my favorite "Thanks" die from Mama Elephant using Bazzill Marshmallow 100# Card Stock.  I laid the die cut on my craft mat and inked it up with Versamark, then put Ranger Super Fine Detail Silver Embossing Powder all over it and heat set it.  I repeated that process two additional times but I didn't really notice the third time making much of a difference.  I like to do this to get a very three dimensional type of decorative element.  Silver embossing powder melts the smoothest and fastest of any embossing powder I have and I actually tried several including a new sparkle embossing powder from Tsukineko, Iridescent Sparkle, Diamond Sparkle and Opaque White.

This tag went together fairly quickly once I finished cutting all the pieces.  We all get those last minute invitations to dinner or a party during the holiday season and I thought it would be handy to have a few of these ready to go and slip over the neck of a wine bottle as a hostess gift.  I used a combination of Ranger Multi Medium Matte, Glue Dots and Foam Squares with ribbon I already had.  A few fun little sequins to make it feel festive and I was finished.

Black is always in style but you could make something similar in any colors you like.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Merry & Bright

This tag will be entered into the 25 Days of Christmas Tags which is an annual event hosted by Tracey McNeely over at her blog "In My Creative Opinion".  Whenever I am in a class, I have several of those "parts & pieces" laying around from attempts at a certain technique or style.  This post is all about one of those but my attempt to reclaim this particular part was inspired by Tracey herself and her tag from Day 9.

I really messed this panel up the other day when I ran it through my die cutting machine after heat embossing the silver snowflakes and attaching them to my card front which today became my tag.  I put it in to cut the edges off of the snowflakes in alignment with the scalloped rectangle. So all of the silver embossing had lines and creases in it from all the lines and creases in my cutting pads.  I should have had a thin sheet of printer paper in there to prevent this from happening, but I don't normally cut after the fact, so I had forgotten this one little detail.

This panel was laying at the top of my trash can when I had a sudden thought that maybe, just maybe, I could use my heat tool to re-melt the embossing powder and salvage this panel that I liked so much.  BINGO!

The card stock was inked up with a Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool using a bit of Thistle in the very center and Audrey Blue all over the rest of the tag.  I then stamped several of the Stamps from the Simon Says Stamp Lots of Snowflakes Stamp Set in Versamark and heat set them using Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Detail White Embossing Powder.  There are 17 stamps in this set. Next I cut the Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Snowflakes Eliza, Abby, Alexis and Kate in heavy white cardstock.  I inked up each of the snowflakes using Versamark and then put Fine Detail Silver Embossing Powder and heat set them and repeated that. This gives your die cuts so much dimension; it's really beautiful!  I attached them all to the Scalloped Stitched Rectangle from the Sunshine Layers Die.  Then I popped it back into the die and ran it through to cut off the overhanging edges. That is when I saw all the creases in the silver embossing.  So I tossed it in the trash and went on to the next card front.

I don't know what made me think to try reheating the embossing powder to see if it would melt again, but I had nothing to lose.  It worked like a charm and after seeing Tracey's cute tag from day 9, I had to make it into a tag even though I don't seem to have a cute little snowman like she does.  Ya'll know I love my snowflakes!

Since it wasn't in the shape of a tag and I don't have a tag this large, I slipped a My Favorite Things Stitched Oval over the top portion only and cut it to get the arch. I could have used a circle die but I came to the ovals in my binder first. Then I reheated it to smooth out all of the silver embossing.  I cut and stamped my greeting using the Mama Elephant "Merry" die with Silver Glitter Paper and two stamps from the Papertrey Ink Sparkle & Shine Stamp Set for the "& Bright" that are heat embossed in the same Simon brand Silver Embossing Powder on a strip of paper inked up with the same Audrey Blue Ink that I love and adore so much! It is such a beautiful color. I have a banner punch that I used to make the swallowtail end on the banner strip and adhered it to my tag with foam squares. A few silver sequins and Voila!   I used ribbon from my stash.

It's not captured very well but I'm really happy with all the texture and sparkle on this tag and will be uploading it over at the 25 Days of Christmas Tags on Tracey's Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Share Handmade Kindness

I'm participating in a month long event that was developed by and started yesterday over at the Jennifer McGuire, Ink blog.  I've mentioned before that she is my absolute favorite paper crafter to follow.  There are several bloggers that I like and follow, but Jennifer's style more closely matches my own and I also relate to her because, like me, she doesn't come from an art background.  Also like me, she started when she was making scrapbooks for her family.

The challenge is to make something (anything) by hand with love.  It could be dinner, dessert, cookies, taking photos, creating a scrapbook page or a card or just a handwritten note.  People just love to get "real" mail and for some of us, the joy is in creating those things.  I know I groan every time I see how much junk is in the mailbox and what a delight it is anytime I get something besides a bill or junk.

I have someone special that I want to reach out to for this challenge.  This person makes an impact on so many lives but she has no idea just how much!  I'm sending a card that I made to say thanks and to try and tell her how much she has impacted my life in a positive way.

I made this card with the same technique that I used to make the Audrey Blue Ornament Card. Using a piece of chipboard that came in a package of paper, I cut the heart out for my mask this time.  First I used a Mini Ink Blending Tool and Simon Says Stamp Thistle Ink to color in the heart.  I stamped the flourish in the heart and heat embossed it using WOW! White Pearl Embossing Powder. Since my ink was already down, it gave the flourish a tone on tone look.  I applied Versamark using a Mini Sponge Dauber all over the heart, then I used Interference Red Perfect Pearls over that.  A very light misting of water helps to set the Perfect Pearls. As you blend in the Perfect Pearls, the color looks different depending on what light is shining on it.  The Interference Red gets a beautiful kind of rose colored shimmer in the right light and I like that it changes as the light does. I wanted to make the heart seem like an ornament, so I used the ornament topper die from another set.  I wasn't sure it would work, but it was perfect.  I ran the rose colored ribbon through that ornament topper to make it look like it was hanging.

I used the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles in the largest size to cut the background panel and then the next largest for the card front panel and tucked the ribbon behind the background panel with a couple of glue dots.  Then I cut and added my sentiment.  This is my favorite "thanks" die from Mama Elephant cut from the same Bazzill Marshmallow as the front panel for a perfect match.  I cut all the little hearts in some Creative Memories Thistle colored paper that I had also added the Interference Red Perfect Pearls to using the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Shapes Hearts and Stars die and the Simon Says Stamp Large Holiday Shapes Hearts and Stars die.  Those two die sets give you 8 different sizes of each shape and are something I use frequently.   Once I had everything assembled I added the hearts to my card front using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  For my final touch I gave all of the hearts a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents to give the hearts a little dimension, then set it aside to dry for a couple of hours.

I hope some of you who are reading this will go check out Jennifer McGuire Ink (link on the right hand side) and join in the Share Handmade Kindness Challenge.

Watercolor Glads

I started today's card by stamping the Gladiolus image from the Clearly Besotted Friends Forever Stamp Set on Canson XL 140# Water Color Paper, heat embossed it with Judikins Fine Detail Silver Embossing Powder and set about to watercolor it for my card front.

I love to watercolor.  It is so soothing to me and I know my friends & family enjoy the mini works of art I send to them.

Whenever I see Gladiolus, I think of my Grandpa Shaver who named them as his very favorites.   He was killed by a drunk driver when I was 13, but I still remember seeing these flowers bloom in their special section of his vegetable garden.  "Glads" he called them and they were prolific at his funeral.   I have a really incredible number of memories with him for having lost him at such a young age.  For much of my childhood, they lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, while we lived in a Kansas City suburb.  I started 4th grade when we moved to a different suburb because my dad became a police officer in that city.  My grandparents moved from Florida to be closer to us grandkids.  The six of us were the only grandchildren for them.  After they moved to the same town, I would go to stay at their house on the weekend and they would always take me to this truck stop/diner they liked for Fried Chicken (still one of my favorites) with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy.  When quizzed about what dessert I wanted, I would always ask for more mashed potatoes and gravy rather than a dessert.  So many of my memories are connected to that place in my mind and heart.  At that age I also didn't realize that my mom made the best fried chicken on the planet!

As you can imagine, while I was coloring this image I was visiting that place and time in my memory.  And as always happens when I think of flowers, I got a little curious about the specifics of that flower.  I was surprised to learn that Gladiolus are a member of the Iris family while Amaryllis is not.  You know, because Glads look like Amaryllis and vice versa.  I figured they would be of the same family but they aren't.  And Iris are perennials while Glads are annuals. Once I get a question in my head, it will not leave until I look it up, so that is your science lesson for the day.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Markers in Mermaid Lagoon to color the flowers while the leaves were done with Peeled Paint.  I used a Yellow Stardust Gel Pen for the Stamen because they are so small.  I love sparkly pens!  I bought this set a number of years ago and they still work.  I handed a card to a friend the other day and she opened it and said, "You even have sparkly pens!"  It wasn't a question as she is my nail tech and I usually get a sparkly finish on my nails called (quite appropriately) "Fairy Dust".  *Wink*

Next I took one of my many water color "experiments" where I was doing the splattering technique in blues and purples to make a night sky.  My base color wasn't really dark enough for a night sky, but I still liked the effect and it was a perfect match to the flowers I water colored here.  I cut each side of a 2 inch wide piece with a scallop border die, then cut it down the center as if it was printed paper for a decorative strip on each side of the watercolor panel.  Then I mounted that to a top folding A2 card base in Simon Says Stamp Island Blue Card Stock misted with some Tsukineko Sparkle Shimmer Spray.

I cut the Mama Elephant "hello" greeting in DCWV Silver Foil Card Stock to match the silver embossing and attached it near the bottom of my card.  I cut another "hello" for the inside of the card.  I used a white panel to go inside the card since I used a colored card base this time.

I enjoyed perusing Pinterest to see all the many colors and varieties of Gladiolus out there and pinned a few favorites to my Flora & Fauna Board.  I actually didn't see any in blue, but they certainly exist in my imagination.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Feel free to leave a comment for me when you do.  I enjoy them very much.

Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge

The Simon Says Monday Challenge for this week is Ombre.  Ombre is a french word for color with a shaded tonal value, such as from light to dark or dark to light.  Since I've been working with watercolors for the past week, I stayed with that medium for this challenge.

I started with a panel of watercolor card stock.  Using 2 reinkers in Wild Wasabi and Tempting Turquoise I put one drop of each on an acrylic block and mixed it with a solution of Perfect Pearls to get this color.  I decided to do my Ombre in a slightly different way than you usually see it.  I went from light to dark to light again going in layers of watercolor so that it would get darker just where I intended it to.

Once my paint was dry, I used a Jennifer McGuire trick and put Versamark all over the whole panel then heat set it using Judikins Iridescent Sparkle Embossing Powder then cut it with one of my favorites, the Stitched Rectangles from Simon Says Stamp.  This panel was cut with the second to the largest size.  I cut three of the Mama Elephant "thanks" dies and glued them one on top of the other for a thicker embellishment.  Again, I put Versamark over the whole die cut and heat set it using the same Iridescent Sparkle Embossing Powder.  This makes it very dimensional so I could go ahead and attach to the top panel using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

Next I cut a piece of fun foam slightly smaller than the Ombre panel and adhered it using my ATG gun.  ATG is a super strong adhesive, but there is no room for error so it always makes me a bit nervous.  You cannot lift it up and move it the way you can other types of adhesive.  But you need a strong adhesive when working with Watercolor Card Stock because of the 140# weight and usually a little warping from the water.  After that, I cut the largest Stitched Rectangle in Simon Says Stamp Mint Green Cardstock and attached all of that onto the panel using foam tape. The layers of foam really make it thicker and more dimensional. I'm sure extra postage will be required.

I used one of the floral die cuts from the class I took last week from an Altenew Stamp and Coordinating Die Set, and adhered it using dimensional foam squares.  This particular flower was colored using Mermaid Lagoon Distress Marker with a water brush.  I used Shabby Shutters on the leaves and stem.  

That finishes up this card but I might be back later with another post.  I have a special wedding card to make if I can ever get my idea fully formed.

Sending Thanks

Today's card is a simple thank you card using a couple different dies.  It gives a really fun look to be able to mix fonts and these two work particularly well. The Sending Die is a Simon Says Stamp Exclusive and the Thanks Die you've seen before as one of my favorites from Mama Elephant, also available from Simon Says Stamp.  

I used a few techniques today that I always love and I'm always happy with the results.  I started with a Canson Watercolor Card Stock Panel.  I try to keep several of these ready to go and I pre-cut larger sheets into approximately 3.75 x 6 inch panels.  I put some Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Peacock Feathers on an acrylic block, touched the very tip of my Aqua Brush into my Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder and mixed it all together with a mist of water.  Then I applied it to the watercolor panel for a soft wash of color.  When you add the Perfect Pearls, it adds a lovely shimmer to the water when then goes to the paper.  There are a variety of Perfect Pearls Pigment Powders in gorgeous colors and as a girl who likes sparkle and shimmer, I love using them.  A little goes a very long way and I feel it gives you a lot of subtle bang for your buck!   I planned to die cut this panel so I wasn't really trying to do any specific thing with the wash; just something lovely and soft.

Once I had the color wash applied to my satisfaction, I put more Peacock Feathers Distress Marker Ink on my acrylic block.  I have several acrylic blocks but my favorites are the wavy edged ones that have the finger grips on the sides for easy handling and maneuvering.   They also have a grid on them to help line up your stamps which is very handy as well!  I put just a drop of water on my block by squeezing my Aqua Brush until one drop of water came out.  I wanted a higher color concentration so that I could put spatters on my panel in a darker shade of the same color.  I use a #2 Script Watercolor brush for this.  It is similar to this brush found at Simon Says Stamp.  I already had this one.  If I wanted bigger drops, I could use a larger brush, but I was going for a speckled look rather than larger spots of water.  I just spattered the color mixture until I was happy with the results.

Once I had finished my speckling, I cut my panel using Memory Box Stitched Rectangles in the 2nd largest size.  It is important to note that you need to keep within the same set/brand of dies to keep the sizes proportionate to each other.  For instance, I can't use the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Set which has the stitching on both sides of the cut line in combination with the Memory Box Stitched Rectangles because the sizes are not proportionate to each other.  So it does require a bit of pre-planning.   Next, I cut my largest rectangle using the same set of Memory Box Rectangle Dies.  For the outside mat, I cut a panel out of American Crafts POW Glitter Paper in Silver.  All of the hearts are from the same Silver Glitter card stock and are attached with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. My white card base is a top folding 120# 4.25 x 5.5 inch card. Simon Says Stamp has top scored or side scored card bases in this weight available for purchase as well as single sheets available in a 12 pack which can also be used with Copic Markers. 

Whenever I use watercolor paper, I have a bit of trouble with the watercolor panel warping a bit because I always rush it by using my heat tool to dry it.  I hear that if you let it dry naturally while it's taped to a flat surface that it doesn't do this, *Ü*.  So *I* have to use a super strong adhesive for my cards so the panels don't lift up.  That means I am using either a liquid adhesive like Ranger Multi Medium Matte or I'm using my ATG (Advanced Tape Glider).  The thing about the ATG is that you had better have your panel lined up when it touches your card base because there is NO repositioning it.   Coming from a scrapbooking background I was used to being able to reposition things until I pressed it down.  This is definitely not the case with the ATG.  But the biggest perk to it is how long I can go between adhesive refills.  With other adhesives, I go through quite a few of them, so I was trying to find a more economical adhesive.  I think it is, but it's also a little hard to get used to and handle.  

I had to edit this post to tell you that I used Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen on the words (just in case you didn't notice)!

I wasn't trying to achieve any particular look with this card.  I only want the recipient to open it and think "FUN"!  I have to dash off and write a note, but I hope you enjoyed today's post.   Happy Sunday!