Petal Prints in 3's

This was not a hard card to make for the most part. I punched the Basic Grey "Blitzen" collection designer paper out with a square punch and the black cs as well. Then I ran the dp squares through the Cuttlebug using the "Mesh" embossing folder.

The reddish background is Ruby Red and I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Perfectly Paisley" embossing folder. Glued everything down (using Dimensionals for the squares) and put the whole thing on black cs.

The main piece was the only part that was a bit difficult. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig, which I cannot live without, and stamped the top flower first. The flower is from the SU Petal Prints set. Since I was going to heat emboss it for a dramatic effect I first dusted the vanilla cs with my embossing pillow and then stamped the flower in Brilliance Graphite Black ink. The neat thing about Brilliance inks is that they stay wet just long enough to heat emboss with them, but do dry soon enough if you just want to use them as a regular ink. Since I was heat embossing and didn't want to smudge the other flowers I did them one at a time, heat embossing each and letting them cool in between so nothing would smear or smudge.

Once I got that done I needed to hide some stray flecks of ep, so I used a couple of the speckled stamps from SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds with the Brilliance ink and just let it dry. That did the job.

I wanted to oomph it up a bit, so I did 3 black eyelets in 2 separate places. But there was too much black. I had gotten rid of almost all of my colored eyelets awhile back and only kept my black, white, gold, silver and copper ones; and now that I have a Crop-a-Dile I wish I hadn't. Oh well. So I covered the eyelets up with some clear gems. That fixed it pretty well. You can hardly see them. And it saved me from having to start over on that piece.
I had wanted to use a different-colored ribbon than the one I chose, but nothing else looked as good to me. Black stamping accessories are like the little black dress of stamping. They go with everything and always look good. Plus they flatter everything around them. How could I not use them? ;)

To set the main vanilla piece off I put black cs and then a different dp (from the Basic Grey "Urban Couture" collection) behind it, then added the polka dot ribbon. I mounted it on to the squares with Dimensionals.

That's about it. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: SU Petal Prints, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

CS: Black, Ruby Red, Vanilla, Basic Grey "Urban Couture" and "Blitzen" designer papers

Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black

Other: Cuttlebug "Perfectly Paisley" and "Mesh" embossing folders, Square punches, Detail Black embossing powder, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Clear gems, Black eyelets, Polka dot ribbon, Dimensionals

Friendship birthday card

This card design is similar to another one I did for Amy Westerman's Sunday Sketch Challenge. I don't think she does those anymore. Nevertheless, I felt the flower from Doodle This was perfect for this design.

To do the flower, I stamped it 3 times on glossy white cardstock and cut 2 whole flowers out and the center on the third one. I watercolored them using a water brush and the Ruby Red, More Mustard, and Close to Cocoa markers, building the color intensity a layer at a time. Once everything was good and dry I curled the petals back with a pencil-type object. I connected the layers with mini Pop Dots.

For the main part of the card I used Ruby Red cs. I stamped Canvas in Ruby Red on it. For the Cuttlebugged part I used Apricot Appeal cs and ran it through the Cuttlebug using the "Birds and Swirls" embossing folder (so pretty!). Then I sponged (more like rubbed) black ink over the cuttlebugged part.

I used a black polka-dotted ribbon, gluing it down to the Apricot Appeal and black cs before adhering that piece to the Ruby Red.

I stamped the sentiment from Birthday Greetings on white cs in Basic Black dye ink and stamped one of the swirls from Doodle This in Ruby Red and then lightly sponged a little black ink on the stamp, huffed and then stamped it on the white. It toned down the Ruby Red just right. I stamped the sentiment area with the speckled stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in More Mustard with a light sponging of black ink. I mounted the sentiment on black cs and used Dimensionals to adhere it to the card.

Recipe:

Stamps: Doodle This, Birthday Greetings, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
CS: Ruby Red, Black, Apricot Appeal, White, Glossy white
Inks: Basic Black, Ruby Red, More Mustard
Others: Markers: Ruby Red, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa; Cuttlebug embossing folder "Birds and Swirls", Stamp-a-ma-jig for sentiment, Polka dot ribbon, Dimensionals, Pencil for curling flower petals, Sponge

Watercolored Flowers Card

I did some stamping yesterday afternoon as I had been wanting to play with the Cranberry Crisp cardstock ever since I bought it. It's not very impressive by itself, but it takes VersaMark ink very well and really comes alive under its influence.

I'm really liking the combination of Canvas and Print Pattern stamps. They really look awesome together. I hadn't played with my Petal Prints set in so long. I love that set. I need to play with it more often.

I did some more watercoloring with markers and a water brush, once again, layering and layering the colors for a richer look. Since Cranberry Crisp doesn't have a marker to go with the ink and cardstock, I used a combination of colors to achieve a good match. I used Really Rust, Baroque Burgundy, Ruby Red, and Chocolate Chip for the pseudo Cranberry Crisp tones. I used Pumpkin Pie over those colors to warm it up a bit more. (If you try this, you've got to wipe off the tip of the PP marker as you go because it picks up the darker colors. Or just use your re-inker and a water brush if you like. I prefer the marker and the water brush together.) I used Apricot Appeal and Pumpkin Pie on the lighter flowers and in the middle of the darker flowers.

For the tag, I ran black cardstock through the Cuttlebug with the tag die and then ran the tag I created through with the Script embossing folder.

Recipe:

Stamps: Petal Prints, Summer By the Sea, Print Pattern, Canvas, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: Black, Cranberry Crisp, Glossy white Inks: VersaMark, Basic Black

Markers: Really Rust, Baroque Burgundy, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal

Accessories: Dimensionals, Cuttlebug tag die, Cuttlebug Script embossing folder, sm. rectangle punch (for notches), 1" square punch, black hemp cord, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Technique: Watercoloring

Roses friendship card

Recipe:

Stamps: Print Pattern, Roses in Winter, Espress Yourself, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Paper: Black, Rose Red, glossy white

Ink: Versamark, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Basic Black

Accessories: Black organdy ribbon, polka dot grosgrain ribbon, small rectangle punch, 1&1/4" square punch, 1&1/4" square punch, Dimensionals, Inkworx art gun, Basic Black marker, Chocolate Chip marker

Here's another card with the triangle feature similar in style to my previous card. On the roses I inked the stamp with Rose Red dye ink, then colored around the edges with the Chocolate Chip marker, huffed on the stamp, and stamped the image onto the glossy white. The darker edges looked pretty cool.