Make it Monday #258 Spritzed Stamps

This will be a super quick post today. I took a couple of days off this week and now I have several other projects on my agenda for this week still, so I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

This week on the Make It Monday over at Papertrey Ink, Melissa Phillips did a technique featuring spritzing stamps.  This technique really requires at least a two step stamp set and I used one that has been on my desk a lot lately, Friendly Flowers.  I've done this technique before so I knew a lot of what to expect as far as the behavior of my inks when spritzed.  My spray bottle happens to have a very fine mist sprayer which I think makes for smoother and more predictable results. I also used watercolor paper which helps the water move although in my case, it didn't move too much because my mist was superfine.  Mostly it only softens the hard lines of the stamps.  If you used more water, it would feel a lot looser and more like watercolor.  

I combined two of the stamps from Friendly Flowers for the blooms and only one layer of the leaves. The Blooms are stamped in Lovely Lady and Hibiscus Burst.  I tried a 2nd layer of the leaves (stamped in New Leaf) on another card but I didn't like the look. For this card, I stamped the base bloom then the dotted petals on top of that.  For my third layer, I stamped the dotty petals again with Versamark and heat embossed them with WOW! Neutral Ultra Shimmer Embossing Glitter.

For the greeting, I cut three of the "Hugs" and glued them one on top of the other for a thicker embellishment.  Using Hibiscus Burst Ink Cube direct to paper, I colored the sentiment.  When that was dry, I inked it up with Boss Gloss Liquid Embossing Ink from Stampendous and sprinkled it with the same WOW! Neutral Ultra Shimmer Embossing Glitter.

I cut the stamped panel down with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die and adhered it to a Noted A2 Card Base cut from Hibiscus Burst Card Stock. If I hadn't done this technique before, the card would have taken me a lot longer just to learn and understand how the inks work when combined with water. It was a quick card to make although I must admit, it really isn't my usual style.

I'll be back soon with another project or two.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Stamping Patterned Backgrounds

I have to say, one of the hardest things for me to do is to use patterned papers. Very often, they simply are not the colors I want or I feel that they are "watered down" versions of the colors I'm using. So when I saw the video that my friend Yana posted on her blog yesterday morning, I wanted to give it a try.  What could be better than stamping your own patterned paper in bold and vibrant colors?  I enjoy participating in Challenges and I saw that the CAS on Sunday Challenge Blog the theme is Sequins with a Clean & Simple card.  There is nothing simpler than a single layer card but that doesn't mean it can't also be pretty.  

Having had a portrait studio before, I have used the rule of thirds or what many in this industry call a "visual triangle" since I started making cards last year.  It's just a guideline for what is naturally pleasing to the eye. We're human and while precision and symmetry is admirable, it's often not as pleasing to us as something that has a more asymmetric or random look to it.  Yana mentioned this as one of the guidelines to use when stamping your own backgrounds in addition to using a stamp that has a lot of surface area.  With these two things in mind, I looked through my stamp sets to see what I had that could be used in this way.  It was pretty easy to decide on the Friendly Flowers Stamp Set from Papertrey Ink.

As I continue on this card making journey, I find that the one thing to pay the most attention to is those in this industry whose work you admire.  I love everything Yana creates and I enjoy watching her creative process. I also feel that her style is a pretty good match for what I like and what I want produce in my own studio.  So, imitation being the most sincere form of flattery, that is what I do.

I was so happy with the first two of these backgrounds that I made, that I went ahead and did 4 more.  I make sets of note cards as Christmas gifts and this year I am planning to make a bigger variety rather than just "thank you" or "thinking of you" cards.  I'm planning to include this style in that selection.  Additionally, they are a single layer which makes them easily mailable.  

Since I was experimenting with color combinations I really decided to go for broke this time and get really out of my wheelhouse for these.  For the blue toned colors, I used SU! Pistachio Pudding, Cracked Pistachio, Ocean Tides, Hawaiian Shores and Peacock Feathers.  I wish I would have used Vintage Jadeite instead of Pistachio Pudding, but there's always next time.  

Next I used a combination of pinks & rose with Spun Sugar, Lovely Lady, Hibiscus Burst, Autumn Rose, and Picked Raspberry.

  

And last but not least I used Pale Peony, Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet, Worn Lipstick, and Ripe Persimmon.  This turned out to be my favorite.  As Yana mentioned, the most important thing is stamping in a visual triangle.  It's less important how many colors you use although I think having four to five is awesome.  You don't have to worry about colors overlapping, or masking which I mostly don't like doing.  I love how the colors overlapped and became a new color in those areas. For the sentiment I used a smaller size of flower in the set with the sentiment, stamped them in Versamark and heat set them using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  

I really like the variety of colors I was able to use to achieve these backgrounds. Someone on Instagram commented that Yana's looked like watercolor while mine don't.  I used much more vibrant and varied colors than Yana did because that is what I wanted.  You can change up the look by using more muted colors, more vibrant colors, soft pastels or any combination of colors you like.  The sky is the limit so give it a try.  I'm planning to try this technique using only Distress Inks on a piece of watercolor paper this week.

To finish off the cards I mounted them to a top folding 5.5 x 4 inch top folding note card and placed one 6 mm. gold sequin to the right just below the sentiment. The background stamping only took a few minutes to do.  It actually took me longer to figure out which colors to use.

This concludes the first card of "The 12 Cards of Christmas". These won't be Christmas Cards, but the set will be a Christmas Gift.  I'm planning to showcase each card as I complete it for the set of 12 that I give to each of my sister's in law. July is half over already and I like to get an early start on the cards I make for them. I am not a procrastinator.

I hope you enjoyed today's cards and I'd love to see any cards that you try using this technique. Just be sure to leave me a link in your comment so I can follow you back and see what you've done.  You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram.  I read every comment and it means the world to me when you take time to do it.  I'll be back soon with another project.

I decided to edit this post to show one more card I created with a colored casrd base. I used the Noted: Scalloped A2 Dies to cut a card from Hawaiian Shores Cardstock.  I love this look and will be creating more of these.

Simon Says "Anything Goes" July 1 - 2016

I love the weeks on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is "Anything Goes" because it means I can create anything my heart desires and it qualifies for the challenge.  I have several things sitting on my desk right now that I've been trying to get to, so this weekend will be a great time to play and upload to their Challenge Blog.

I've been wanting to play with this stamp set, Background Basics - Sheet Music for a while. Dawn McVey created a card during the last Papertrey Release in June and I've been wanting to play with it since then. So yesterday I sat down and created a couple of backgrounds to use for some cards I was putting together.

I stamped the Sheet Music onto a piece of watercolor paper with Versamark and heat embossed it using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder. Next I did some ink blending using Lavender Moon Ink with a Mini Ink Blending Tool on that panel and set it aside to dry so that I would be able to stamp and heat emboss my greeting after it was dry.  While I waited for that, I created the blooms and leaves using the technique that I developed called Watercolor Detail Stamping where I emboss the outline layer then add a detail layer to "watercolor" those images. I'm actually stamping that 2nd layer into the outline image of Altenew's Beautiful Day Stamp Set by lightly misting my paper with water and then stamping that layer in.  I used Lavender Moon Ink for these and New Leaf for the leaves.  This simply moves the water a bit for that hand watercolored look.  I confess, I need to be a lot better about leaving more white space when I am watercolring.  This technique makes it easy to do.

Once the flowers had dried I die cut them with the Altenew Beautiful Day Coordinating Dies then returned to my background panel so that I coulds stamp the Sentiment from the Papertrey Inspired: Grace Stamp Set.  I stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  Beautiful Day is my 2nd most favorite stamp set and my very favorite of the sets I have from Altenew.  You can find this at Simon Says Stamp or Altenew.



My card base is made from Stamper's Select White and the Noted: A2 Dies. The largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Regtangle Die is nearly the perfect size to fit on top of the stitched outline on the note card.  I just realign the paper back into the die (lining up the stitches too) and cut about 1/8th of an inch off from one end to make it fit perfectly.  I love it when I can mix several products across different manufacturers.  That makes it a win-win for everyon, but especially for me.

I love being able to make these horizontal note cards with this die but I am very much hoping for the release of a top folding vertical card die as a companion piece to this one.  I think my cardmaking world would be complete with that.

I have several other things on my desk this morning that I am planning to use this weekend so I hope you'll come back soon to check them out.  Meanwhile, I will be posting this over at the Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog.Thanks very much for stopping by today!