12 Days of Christmas--Day 6!

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Happy mid-point friends! If you have been following along so far, thank you so much! If you are just joining today, make sure to go back and see what you have missed from myself and Melanie @melsinkyfingers

Switching gears a little bit today—I mean I LOVE card but I also like to use my supplies in other ways. My friend Cindy Schuster shared a version of this project a while back and I fell in love! THIS is what I love about our Stampin’ community! Sharing and inspiring each other!

Cindy’s original project had a photo in the center and was a bit of a different color scheme. I liked the idea to be a tag for a gift bag or box or something pretty to hang on your tree.

I started with the Christmas Classics Dies—truly, they are a must have! You should definitely #addtocart if you have not already!

I started with a base of Shaded Spruce for the main panel. I added the another layer with a different die from the set, cut in Basic Black. I love how I was able to incorporate black into this design by using the Black & Very Vanilla Large Check Ribbon as the hanger.

I added a panel/square of DSP from the Joy of Christmas collection. Using Very Vanilla as a base I stamped the large image from the Joy of Noel stamp set in Memento ink and used the ‘lazy watercoloring’ method to color the image in Shaded Spruce and Cherry Cobbler ink.

Once done coloring with the Shaded Spruce and my Water Painter, I flicked it across the background. I could not love it more!

The shape is die cut using the Classic Christmas dies. Fun FACT: I also cut a back piece to cover up and finish off the back of this piece using the same die in Shaded Spruce. This way if the project gets flipped on its back, it has a more professional finished feel.

Joyous is stamped with White Craft Ink and embossed. I fussy cut it out with snips and added it with a couple Mini Dimensionals.

My intention with sharing this project is that you are inspired to use your supplies for MORE than just cards! Who would not love to have this hanging off of their gift?

What does Melanie have to share today? Let’s head on over to check it out!

Please consider shopping my store if you are thinking you want to make these too for your family and friends! You order allows me to keep doing what I love! Thank you in advance!

Color Fusers--January 2023

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Hello friends and welcome back to another year of the Color Fusers Blog Hop! We are so happy to have you here and we have some new friends joining us from around the world. So make sure to go all the way through the hop!

I was very excited about this color combo of Fresh Freesia, Rich Razzleberry and Granny Apple Green, however…I did cheat, I added in a fourth color because I really needed it to bring my card vision alive! I hope my fellow teammates can give me a pass for creative inspiration!

My card features a fourth color—Coastal Cabana! I had a summer sunset over the mountains in my mind and I really needed it to bring my card background to life.

This card reminds me of my recent trip I took w one of my besties—we drove through the rocky mountains, down through washington, idaho and montana. it was beautiful!

I started with a card base and first layer of Fresh Freesia. I then used our Watercolor Paper to create my background. I started by spritzing the paper with water and then I added in Coastal Cabana with a Water Painter to the top half of the watercolor paper. I then blasted it with my heat tool.

Next I added another spritz of water to the mid section of the card and added some Rich Razzleberry ink with a Water Painter. I made sure that these two colors ran together to create a ridge line. I wanted my mountain range to look like it was fading into the background. I stamped a few little stars from the Greatest Journey set on the sky part of the card.

I then spritzed the bottom half of the watercolor paper again and added my Granny Apple Green color to the bottom.

look at my well loved ink pads! I think i need to a magic eraser to them!

I used two stamp sets to complete this card—the ever fabulous and will never leave my stash stamp set, Mountain Air! I stamped the tree line in Rich Razzleberry ink. The mountains are stamped in Fresh Freesia and then I took a finger dauber in Rich Razzleberry to the tops and filled in a bit of the white space. The mountains were then die cut using the Majestic Mountain Dies.

The trees in forefront are stamped in Granny Apple Green—two full strength and one set stamped off. They were stamped using the new Greatest Journey stamp set and die cut with the coordinating dies.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set and I inked it up in Fresh Freesia and then took my Rich Razzleberry marker over top of the ‘Mountains of’ portion of the stamp to get that two-tone look. The sentiment is cut using the new Something Fancy Dies. I flicked my Rich Razzleberry marker over the sentiment and added a bit of white bakers twine behind.

I wanted some embellishments on my card so I used my Parakeet Party and Rich Razzleberry Stampin’ Blends to color some of the vanilla Classic Matte Dots so they would coordinate.

I LOVE how this card turned out and its really one of a kind, because as you all know with watercoloring, you can rarely repeat the same thing twice! Or I cannot at least! I had a lot of fun making it and my hands were a complete mess. But really, if your hands are inky, did you even really craft? Hahaha!

 

Don’t you love how many uses we have for our Stampin’ Blends? I love that we can create so many custom things such as the Classic Matte Dots, or color over our many ribbons, or on Window Sheets (a tip I shared for one of my Artisan assignments last year), we can use them for flicking/spritzing, highlighting words, doodling and so much more!

I can’t wait to see what Bonnie O’Neill creates so make sure to hop over to her NEXT or you can be a rebel and go PREVIOUS to see what Sue Vine has designed. Either way, I know you will be impressed so make sure to visit everyone on the hop to see what they have made this month! And thank you again for checking in to see what crafty projects I have been up to!

 

12 Days of Christmas--Day 4

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Welcome to Day 4 of 12 Days of Christmas! I hope you have been inspired so far! I am curious to know what your favorite thing has been? I am torn between my first project and the North Pole Sacks!

Every year I have to create at least one Christmas card that is on a black card base! This year I decided to pair up Basic Black with Orchid Oasis, Night of Navy and Silver Foil. I think it has a really unique look for a holiday card! I hope you like it too and will consider making a black Christmas card as well.

I added a first layer to this card in Basic Black and used a Water Painter with Whisper White ink to spray it it across the card front. If you mix the reinker with some water to make the consistency of milk, it will spray nicely over top of the card base. I was sort of going for a stars in the night sky look.

I added 3 3/4 x 3 1/2 strips of the Brushstroke 12x12 Specialty Paper to the base. If you haven’t order this paper yet—add to cart! You can get a piece of Blushing Bride, Soft Succulent and Night of Navy. It has this gorgeous swirly texture to it, but its nice and lightweight.

I die cut the large sprig from the Decorated Pine Dies in Silver Foil paper and added it directly over top of the Brushstroke paper. The sentiment is from the Christmas to Remember stamp set and I stamped it in Orchid Oasis ink and used the light Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blend to highlight the words ‘Christmas’ and ‘Cherish’. Its cut out with the Stylish Shapes Dies. A definite craft room must have!

Behind the sentiment I added the Silver Metallic Edge Cotton Ribbon that I tied with the Orchid Oasis Bakers Twine.

I hope you like this dramatic holiday card and make sure to visit Melanie and check back tomorrow to see what we are both sharing!

 
 

Color Fusers--August Blog Hop!

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Hello friends! Welcome to another Color Fusers Blog Hop! Each month a bunch of us crafty friends from around the globe each create unique projects using a fun color combo! I hope these color combos inspire you to try some new options!

This month we are creating with Mint Macaron, Pacific Point, Highland Heather and Mossy Meadow. This combo was a little tricky for me so I decided to lean into our amazing Perfectly Pencilled DSP to be the star of my project!

Do you ever find that you get hooked on using certain products? For me right now I am hooked on the Diorama Dies! I have used two of them here to create this elevated background for my DSP flower showcase! I thought it was a subtle way to give this card some texture. The top diorama shape I also flicked with my Mossy Meadow Stampin’ Blend as well and surrounding the flowers I added some of the Iridescent Pearls, one of my fav new embellishments in the Annual Catalogue.

The sentiment is from the Charming Phrases bundle—it is stamped in Versamark, then Mint Macaron ink and topped with Clear Embossing Powder and heat set! This is the easy way to turn any of our inks into sticky inks for grabbing embossing powder!

I decided to apply my fav technique, "Lazy Watercoloring” to the flower image from the DSP. I love this DSP as it is all black and white designs which means unlimited potential for coloring! After I colored the flowers using all four of our challenge colors I hand trimmed the flowers and added them to the diorama shape, only applying adhesive to the very middle. I wanted to flowers to feel fluid.

‘Lazy Watercoloring’ is so easy! I simply smash my ink pad colors on one of our large blocks and add a pool of water with a Water Painter. I then dip my brush into the water to add color to my image! You can easily layer on the color to create depth and dimension and this method is SO FAST!

I can’t wait to see what everyone else on the team creates this month! I hope you are having an awesome summer and make sure to go follow me over on Instagram @stampwithbrenda as I share alot more on that platform.

Of course you can always shop with me directly here or reach out to me through email!

Next up on hop is Bonnie

If you want to go in reverse, I mean hey—why not? Just make sure to visit us all the way around, you can go check out what the fantastic Tami has created!

Color Fusers March 2022

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Hello friend and welcome to the March edition of the Color Fusers Blog Hop! We are all so happy you have decided to check out our Hop and projects! I love this Hop because it helps me focus on NEW color combinations instead of using my go to favorites all the time!

Our color combination this month is a fun one as it includes 2 of my favorite In Colors—Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen paired up with Rich Razzleberry! I can’t wait to see what the team comes up with this month!

Isn’t this a great combo? Now when I was considering my design, I knew I wanted my card base to be Evening Evergreen and upon searching my Designer Series collection I realized that I had few options for Soft Succulent patterns and decided this was a great opportunity to create my own!

It was easy to create my own stripy fun background with a Soft Succulent ink pad and the largest brush tip from the Water Painters. I just love how we have 3 brush tips to choose from! The widest makes creating a fun background so EASY!

To create the background, I used an acrylic block and stamped my Soft Succulent ink pad onto it, to create sort of a painters palette. I squeezed a bit of water from my Water Painter beside the ink and dipped my brush into the water and then into the ink.

 

I just swiped my brush across the Basic White card stock, starting at a different end each time. I don’t worry about the stripes being too perfect, I think it adds to the uniqueness and charm when they don’t. So its easy to create your own background using any of our colors!

I also decided to use my favorite bundle on this project as well—the Artfully Layered Bundle! It just has so much potential and it makes me think of vacations, the beach and sunshine!

I added some die cut shapes in Rich Razzleberry and Evening Evergreen, however I think the best part of the card is the large leaf (I am sure it has a fancy name but don’t ask me what, hahaha!). I stamped it on Basic White card stock with Rich Razzleberry ink and then used my Blending Brush with a light hand and Rich Razzleberry ink to add a light dusting of color over top! It is such a nice way to add a hint of color to the shape.

I stamped the sentiment with Evening Evergreen Ink on Soft Succulent card stock and added some Evening Evergreen Open Weave Ribbon and Linen Thread behind.

The final touch was to add some bling—of course! I used the In Color Jewels and the little teeny leaves that you can die cut with the Tropical Layers Dies. I always like to add a few little bits and bobs to my cards, I can’t help myself!

Because this card is made with a dark color as the base I find you always need to add a light layer on the inside to write your greeting. And its another opportunity to STAMP! I stamped the large leaf in Soft Succulent ink on the same color layering piece. I added Thank You in Evening Evergreen ink over top.

I hope this project inspires you to try making your own fun background! I can’t wait to see what the rest of the team designs this month! Please feel free to comment, I love to hear what you have to say!

You can hit NEXT to see what Bonnie has created or you can go in reverse and see what Tami has designed. Either way, make sure you pop around to each of our blogs! Thank you so much!