Tree of Life – “Water Color”

Today I am featuring the Tree of Life Stamp Set from Sweet N Sassy Stamps. It is a beautiful stamp and is great for Bible journaling, art journaling and card making. I love when a stamp can be stretched like that!

I decided to go “water color” with my technique today. And by water color, I mean Distress Oxides with water spritzed on before stamping. A little water allows you keep some of the definition of the stamp and a little more allows for a softer look.

My first card is a simple scene. I added a few flowers from the Itty Bitty Blossoms set for some color and a simple sentiment from the Roses For You set. I sometimes go straight to sentiment sets forgetting that there are some really perfect sentiments found in the image sets – note to self…remember to look through sets before “settling” on a sentiment. 🙂 For this one, I used Distress Oxides for the greenery, and Polychromos pencils for the trunk, and Copics for the flowers. I stamped the sentiment with VersaClair Nocturne.

For my second card, I tried out the new technique from SplitCoast Stampers called Starburst Background. I created a circle mask to stamp my image through then cut it out with a circle die just a little bigger so I could get a white ring around the image. I grabbed greens from my stash of scraps for my star burst then added a sentiment from The Future with VersaClair Nocturne..

I love that the technique for the image is similar yet these two cards are so different. I had a great time with this stamp set and hope I have inspired you to try some “water coloring” with your stamps 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!
Lyn

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Tone on Tone Background Technique

Today is my day to host the technique challenge at SplitCoast Stampers. I decided on a tone on tone background using a stamp, stencil, embossing folder, etc., Versa Mark, and Clear Embossing powder. It is a clean and simple look with some texture to keep it interesting. Both cards use the new Background Builder Funky Borders Set

My first card is a Mothers day card. I used the borders to create a background then added a floral image from In this Together which I colored with Polychromos pencils. The sentiment is from Favorite Mom – a digital set.

My Second card is an encouragement card using the Funky border background and the image from Walk Humbly which I also colored with Polychromos pencils (when they are on the desk…).and the sentiment is from Faith Phrases inked with Versa Clair Nocturne.

I hope you are inspired and I would love if you joined the Technique Lover’s Challenge at SplitCoast Stampers this week.

Thanks for stopping by!
Lyn

Embossing Folders Two ways – Masculine Cards

Today I have a couple of cards using the new Birthday Guy Stamp set from Sweet N Sassy. This is the stamp of the month for May so you can get it free with a $65 order.

I made the cards clean and simple(ish) because the sentiments are so bold, they can really carry the cards. However, I decided to add a little texture to the background with embossing folders.

First, I used the new digital paper called Man of the House and embossed it with a birthday embossing folder and then added the sentiment as my focal image. The texture is subtle but it adds the perfect touch.

My second card uses a geometric embossing folder. I added Versa Mark to my folder before I ran it through the machine, then I added black embossing powder when it came out. It is a little messy but that is part of the fun of this technique. I added the sentiment onto a scrap background sponged a little of the same Distress Oxide colors onto the embossed piece to tie them together. That is all there is to this one. I love the black and white color scheme on this one.

I hope these inspire you to grab out those embossing folders (if you’re like me, you may need to dust them before using haha!)

Thanks for stopping by!
Lyn

Wildflowers – Clean and Simple Digital Stamp Techniques

It has been a while since I posted but today I am back and I have a couple of projects to share using the new Wildflowers Digi Set from Sweet N Sassy. The thing I love about digital stamps is the versatility. You can resize them, twist and turn them, crop them and copy and paste as many as you want.

The first card uses just the center of one of the wildflowers (the one on the bottom right). Don’t you love that flexibility? Just crop out the center, copy and paste several copies onto a word file, print it out, and color and best of your MISTI never has to be pulled out to get crisp clean lines!

I used four coordinating color families of alcohol markers (I used Copics BGs, Ys, BVs and Rs) and created four blocks for a simple “Warhol-ish” look 🙂 I added a simple sentiment from Sentimental Wordfetti and that is all I did to this one.

My second card is super fun – I basically copied the various images and pasted, turned, and spaced them appropriately to create a mini (card sized) coloring page. The markers from the first card were still on my desk so I used them on this one too. I plugged in a movie and just colored – my favorite thing!

Note: when I use digis I follow these steps:

1. Drag image onto a blank word doc
2. Wrap the text – I do it “behind the image” (see below) but it doesn’t really matter
3. Now you can move the image where ever you want it on the page.
4. If you want to create a background where you “group” multiple images and copy/paste several copies so you can make more than one card, I found that only pasted images can be “grouped” so I copy, paste, and delete original. I paste more as needed…
5. For this technique, I set up a word doc. I first lay out the look I want, then I put a text box that is 5.5×4.25 into the corner of the page so I can make sure it will look correct when I trim it for my card front.

I hope this helps you with your digis. Once you try them, I know you will love them as much as I do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Lyn

Unicorn Shaker Card

Today I have a fun shaker card. I have been playing with Sweet N Sassy’s  Be Unique stamp set and dies all month and trying to come up with different looks/techniques so they are “unique”.

When I saw the little flower dies I thought that, while I wouldn’t want to fussy cut enough flowers for shaker piece, die cutting them would be perfect for shaker pieces! I grabbed a background card from my stash that used the Grunge Grid stencil and I built everything around that and the idea of shaker flowers haha!

I used Distress Inks in Worn lipstick, Squeezed lemonade, and Broken China (Those were the first blue, pink, and yellow inks I saw.) I stamped all my images on watercolor paper using VersaClair and water colored with the Distress Inks. When I needed orange, purple, and green, I mixed them up with the three colors I had.

When I had it put together, I decided it would be a birthday card so I grabbed a simple sentiment from the Lots of Love set and heat embossed it in white on a black cardstock. It is simple but it is super fun!

Here are the others from this month 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are inspired to try different techniques and stretch your stamps a bit!
Lyn

Watercolor Unicorn

Today’s card uses last month’s “water color” challenge technique at Splitcoast (originally found HERE). Essentially, you add some water based ink (I used Distress Inks) to a craft mat, spritz it, and then use that to “ink up” your stamp. Best of all…you do not have to be exact about this! This technique is so addictive and fun that I have been trying it with lots of different stamps just to see if they work haha!

My card uses a bunch of left over color paper cut into strips for the background then I “water colored” the unicorn from the Be Unique set using colors similar to my scraps. I did a little bit of shading with color pencils, fussy cut it out, and adhered it to my card with foam tape. I added the sentiment from the set to finished it off. I think it is pretty cool looking but what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by – I hope you try out the technique!

Hugs,
Lyn

Gnome For Christmas

My last cards for the fun SNSS birthday month use the Gnomie Christmas Digital Set. These little gnomes are so cute!

My first card is a mini card (2.25″x4″). I colored the image with Copic markers, fussy cut it, and popped it up with fun foam. I used a simple sentiment from the Stamp of the Month Mini Tag Sentiments, It is the perfect size for a gift tag but I think it could be a fun mailed card too.

My second card uses a watercolor background from my stash (extra points for this one!). It uses the Folk Art Snowflakes Set embossed over a distress ink blended background. I colored the image from the Gnomie Christmas Digital Set with Copic markers, fussy cut it, and adhered it onto a white band with the sentiment on it. I am loving the colors on this one :).

I hope you have enjoyed this fun birthday month with Sweet n Sassy and were inspired along the way! Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs,
Lyn

Splitcoast Stampers Tag card – TLC Challenge

Today I am hosting the Technique Lovers Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers. My challenge is to create a tag shaped card. I hope this is a great technique for the upcoming holidays but I needed a birthday card first so that is the theme I went with for my project today.

First cut out 2 tags…I used a tag shaped die for my card, but you can cut the corners off of a rectangle and create your own tag shape.

On one of the tags, score across the top just below the corner.

Add glue or tape to the top piece (above the score line) and add the unscored tag on top. Technically, you now have a tag shaped card.

Now you decorate!!

You can add the hole and ribbons and/or emboss, color blend, stamps, JUST have fun!! For my card, I did some watercolor ink blending on Bristol Cardstock, embossed it with a birthday embossing folder, then added a color hole at the top with ribbons.

I popped up a Birthday Word Die (cut out of a panel of strips of color cardstock) and a “Wishes” sentiment from the Joyful Day set (I also added a sentiment from this set to the inside). To finish it off, I added a “tag” tag using the Mini Tag Sentiment and Die bundle.

Now I can write a not on the inside and still pop it on the package to help decorate it.

Inside the card:

I hope you are inspired – jump over and join the challenge at Splitcoast Stampers!

Thanks for stopping by!
Lyn

SNSS November Instagram Hop

Today is the day for SNSS Instagram hop. There is a lot of inspiration to be found using this months new stamps – clear stamps as well as digital stamps. There is a big prize to be won so head over to Instagram and join us.

I have two cards for you today. Both use the Autumn Beauty Digital Stamp. These cards are all about coloring. I sized them a bit differently and printed one on x-press it blender paper for Copic coloring and one on Neenah Solar White for color pencils.

Here is the Polychomos color pencil version:

Here is the Copic marker version:

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you can join in on the hop – you won’t be sorry!

Hugs,
Lyn

Fall/Winter Coffee Lover’s Blog Hop

Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps is one of the sponsors for the Fall Winter Coffee Lover’s Blog Hop this month [ November 11 – 18.] There is a lot of inspiration to be found and and prizes to be awarded. More Details are on the SNSS Blog.

My Project today is pretty simple. I created a background with some colored cardstock and designer paper which I don’t use too often anymore. It is kind of nice to pull from my stash 🙂

I colored my image from Punny Love with Copic markers then added some coffee stains from Glunge Elements 2 using Distress Oxides in Brushed Corduroy. It is a simple little focal image and that is all there is to it.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have fun hopping and are inspired today!

Hugs,
Lyn