A Little Whimsy

These cards are just adorable.  I really enjoyed making these cards and look forward to purchasing more stamp sets from the Whimsy collection through Unity Stamp Co.

Lot's of Yellow...

My family and I took another short trip out of town this past week. Knowing where I would be I placed an order through Amazon for some Zig Clean Color brushes and sent then to my sister’s house so that we could play with them and so that she could decide if they were something she would use on her own crafts. Being sisters we didn't get much done but we also didn't give ourselves much time. 

Tonight I decided to sit down and color a stamp with my new zig brushes, water coloring is still very new to me and these brushes are going to take some getting used to. I can't tell you for sure which colors I used as I put them away before taking note of it. At first I really wasn't sure that I wanted to use my finished image on a card but after stepping back from it for a few minutes I decided it wasn't all that bad.  The stamps used on this card are from Unity Stamps Smile In Your Dreams. I stamped the images with the help of MISTI using Stampin Up's Early Espresso, and then re-stamped with VersaMark to allow for embossing. The image was embossed with a clear powder and the sentiment was finished in silver.  I also added a strip of washi tape that I had picked up at Tuesday Mornings awhile back, but I don't recall the manufacture name. The yellow background layer is from Heidi Grace Designs Sunshowers paper pack, which I had also picked up previously at Tuesday Mornings. All in all I like the card, but I feel like it's missing something. Please leave me a comment and tell me what if anything you think this card is missing.

A Little Encouragement Through Cards

 I believe personalized cards can be emotionally healing and a great way to provide encouragement to our loved ones. Here is a card that is fit to do just that.

Today I found some quiet time that allowed me to  sit down and play with some inks and came up with this beauty.  I wanted to create a nice soft background and was tempted to try it with watercolor until I came across the ink daubers that had been sitting a drawer. I don't have much experience using the daubers but I now see myself using this technique more frequently. Here I used the daubers to apply the grassy area using Stampin'Up Certainly Celery (a retired color) and then a VersaMagic Dewdrop Chalk Sea Breeze. I was a little heavy in spots with the ink and found it to be a bit difficult to blend the color when that occurred. 

Prior to completing my background I stamped the tree image. The tree is part of Unity Stamp Company’s Itty Bitty collection, and is called “Pain & Strength.”  I then colored the tree using my Spectrum Noir markers. I am starting to understand the process of blending with these markers but improvement is being made with each attempt.  The sentiment is one of two that is included with the Pain & Strength stamp set. I stamped the sentiment using my Misti and Memento Tuexedo Black ink and then restamped it using Versamark. I then coated it with clear embossing powder and hit it with my heat gun to give it a nice shiny look.

Once the image was completed I used Jaded Blossom's stitched card mat dies to cut out the card front and then applied it to the front of an A2 sized top fold card that I cut from 110lb cardstock.