Kennedy Grace Creations- Beautiful Blooms- Sweet Rose

Welcome to my Blog-

Here's my first card using stamps from Kennedy Grace Creations.  I wanted to create a window card with the sentiment on the inside panel. For the window, I used a MFTs die (I die cut it at the end of  making the card).  First off, I stamped and masked the rose images (three in all), then used an Altenew stencil with their shimmer ink spray for the background.  It is very shimmery, which you can't really see here. Once dry, I removed the masks and began my Copic coloring.  I wanted the yellow roses to be very light, so I left some white edges along some of the petals. However, they didn't end up as light as I had wished.  The pink is a nice dusty rose color which I think complements the yellow quite well.  Once the leaves were done, I went to work on the window portion of the card.  I die cut the window, then mounted the panel onto some fun foam for dimension. I then mounted that onto a NSW #110 card base that I had die cut out the window in the same location as the stamped panel.  I then stamped and embossed the birthday sentiment inside the window.  I added some sequins from Kennedy Grace Creations as well.  It was a complimentary pack, so I don't know the name.  I also decided to cut down the size of the card so that the stamped panel was only 4" in height. That allowed me to color the bottom edge of the card with the Gold Wink of Stella, which I also added to the middle of the flowers.  I was very happy with how this card came out, using products that I had never used before.

I hope you enjoyed this, happy stamping!

Jill


Supplies:

Kennedy Grace Creations (KGC) Stamp- Beautiful Blooms- Sweet Rose
Altenew Metallic Shimmer Ink Spray- Sea Glass
Altenew Stencil- Watercolor Lines
MFTs Stitched Sentiment Window
Fun Foam
Copic Markers
Wink of Stella (clear and gold)
KGC sequins
Versafine Onyx Ink
Clear Embossing Powder
Ranger Multi-medium Matte

Stamping bella card

Here's a relatively simple, single layer card I made from one of my favorite stamp companies, Stamping bella.  I actually made it for my niece's birthday.  I first stamped and masked the main images, then drew in the baseboard to delineate the wall from the floor.  I then used my Copic markers and airbrushed the background while masking off the areas of different colors.  Once the airbrushing was done, I removed the masks and proceeded to color the stamped images.  I really wanted the light to pop off the page, so I tried coloring the images with that in mind.  After stamping the sentiment, I added clear Wink of Stella to a few select areas. I mounted my NSW #110 panel onto some Stampin' Up! orange card-stock, and it was done.  Ready to put in the mail!

Supplies:

Stamping bella - tiny townie Dorthy the Dreamer
Stamping bella - tiny townie room decor lamp and frames
Copic Sketch markers + compressor for airbrushing
Simon Says Stamp Masking paper
Hero Arts Intense Black Ink
Copic Black Multiliner 0.1

The Ton's Anemones and Distress Oxide Inks+

Adventures in Coloring!

Welcome to my card-making blog. For those of you new to my site, today I hope to inspire you a bit to try something new.  This card was definitely a first for me.  First time using The Ton's Fresh Cut Anemones (layered stamp), and first time using my Distress Oxide inks for stamping (I'd used them in other techniques, but not this one).  Since I am not very familiar with anemones, I checked out images in Google Chrome.  I came across a picture of several different colored anemones in a bed of foliage (like you were looking down at them).  They were gorgeous, and I loved the green foliage background against the deep/bright colors of the flowers.  So I now had an idea for my card.  I figured I would need to watercolor the background and then stamp the actual leaves on top of that.  I started with some Arches Cold Press watercolor paper and pulled out my MISTI as I figured I'd need to re-stamp the images several times to get a good, solid impression with the Distress Oxide Inks.  That was an understatement!!  I re-stamped 4 or 5 times the first layer, and even then it was not solid.  So I decided to get out my paint brush and let the water smooth out the color.  That it did nicely, but I lost some of the white lines intended to be there on that first layer.  The available colors of the Oxides made it a bit hard with the color layering to achieve the colors I was envisioning. I ended up using more than 3 colors, as I needed more contrast.  I ended up using a couple browns on the 3rd layer of the purple flowers to achieve the contrast I wanted. The orange flowers were the easiest (I changed my mid-tone color to one that was deeper in color, though) and the pink flower was difficult too, as I wanted it to stay very light.  However, the Oxides don't have a lot of light pinks, so that flower I was not very satisfied with in the end.
Once the flower stamping was done, I created masks to go over each flower for the foliage stamping. Before I could stamp the foliage though, I needed to create a green background with Distress Inks and water coloring.  The background needed to have a variety of greens loosely flowing into each other.  I needed some deep, shadowy areas, a little light area, and a lot of mid-toned areas.  A lot of the leaves were going to be fairly light, but with shadows.  Well... Either my background was not dark enough, or the Twisted Citron Ox. ink is not as light as one would think.  Either way, when I stamped the first layer of the leaves, you could barely see them.  I re-stamped several times, but they just didn't show up.  I went ahead and stamped the second layer in Lucky Clover, and that color just didn't look right.  At this point, I'm beginning to think all my work would be lost on a botched background!!  
I decide to change over to brown and to really bring out the shadows and the contrast around the leaves making them appear lighter.  So I re-stamped first with Frayed Burlap, then Walnut Stain.  It was beginning to look better!  I decided to really darken the shadow areas between the leaves and painted on some Ground Espresso Distress Ink.  Still not satisfied with the overall contrast, I looked around at my stash of markers and decided my Tombow's would work.  I selected several colors to experiment with, but ended up primarily using a deep red and a medium brown.  I went over the leaves, the shadows, even the flowers for more contrast and lining on the petals.  I decided the stamen needed to sparkle a bit, so I used a Sakura Jelly Roll pen in Silver Star to make dots all along the area the stamen were.  That made a big difference.  My last Tombow marker was a light yellow that I used on the lightest parts of the leaves.  I even stamped the stems in the background with Fossilized Amber Distress Ox. ink to help them show up more.
Satisfied with my flower panel, I die cut a white frame from MFTs, stamped silver dots onto it, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  After adhering the frame, I adhered my panel to some deep purple card stock from Stampin' Up!  I then die cut the 2 piece Hugs sentiment from Avery Elle. The Orange card stock pieces I die cut 3 times for a bit of dimension, then layered on some clear Wink of Stella.  Lastly, I gathered some sequins and glued them into place.  Another card saved!!
I learned a lot on this venture.  It was fun experimenting and trying different color mediums.  Don't be afraid to change up your coloring if it isn't working out.  Lots of times a completely different color or product might just be what's needed.  My next step had my Tombow's not worked was going to be colored pencils. Well, that's it for today.  Won't post until I get my products list included below.

Happy crafting,

Jill

Supplies List:

The Ton Stamps: Fresh Cut Anemones
Stampin' Up!:  Warmth and Wonder (for the dots)
Avery Elle:  Simply Said Hugs Die
My Favorite Things Die-namics:  Rectangle Frames
Distress Oxide Inks:  Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans, Spiced Marmalade, Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Fossilized Amber, Black Soot, Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover
Distress Inks:  Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso
Tsukineko Encore! in Metallic Silver
Stampin' Up! Clear Embossing Powder
Tombow Dual Brush Pens:  027, 090, 847
Sakura Jelly Roll:  Silver Star
Wink of Stella:  Clear
Assorted Sequins

The Ton's August Challenge - My "Guest Designer" debut!

Hello again friends and crafters,

I have been working fervently the last couple of weeks designing my card for The Ton's August Challenge as a guest designer.  For August, the cue word is "SUMMER".

​ ​

As I began thinking on this challenge and looking at my stash (of growing) Ton stamps, I couldn't help but think of summer vacations in Maui with it's beautiful beaches and HUGE waves.  One of my recent acquisitions was their Wave stamp (it's amazing!).  I also recently got their Palm Tree stamp and I went to work designing a card using those two stamp sets. They are Layered stamps, so this card is not my typical kind of water-colored or Copic-colored card.  Needless to say, the stamps are amazing.  I did hand color the background of the card, but the card took longer to make than some of my fully hand colored cards.  I experimented with ink colors, material for the oval frame, etc.  This was the first card that I made a practice card first, again playing with color and layout.  So here it is, as my guest designer debut (drum roll, please!) - this is my first one, don't tell!

Products and Techniques:

The Ton Stamps:  Wave and Palm Tree

The Ton Adhesive Foil Paper in Royal Blue (used on oval frame)

The Ton Burnished Foil Tape in silver (on R side of base card-stock)

The Ton Inks:  Couture Color - Sky Blue Collection (Cali Blue, Azurite Dye, Deep Sapphire Dye), Lofty Mint Dye and Bright Emerald Dye.

Sequins from The Ton Couture Mixes: Winter Thaw and By the Moonlight

4.25" x 6" Strathmore Series 400 watercolor paper

4" x 5.75" Fun Foam layer

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White #110 card-base folded to 4.5" x 6"

For my card, I wanted cool color tones, so I started with the watercolor panel and applied the ink fairly randomly with a mini ink blending tool over some small palm trees that had been heat embossed first with some clear embossing powder. I varied the intensity of the ink to be lighter at the top compared to the bottom.  I then spattered some water onto the panel and blotted it away, however not much color was removed.  So I then decided to add some DIY shimmer to the panel by spraying some Perfect Pearls and water mixture onto the panel.  I then used my heat tool to dry it.  With my base layer done, I stamped the Palm Tree images on a separate piece of cardstock with the blues and greens listed above then die cut them out. Next, I stamped The Wave with the Blue Sky Collection, but I added the Bright Emerald Dye ink to the second layer of the stamp before using the Azurite Dye ink to that same layer.  That gave the wave a similar blue/green look that the trees had.  I die cut the wave out with an oval die, then stamped the sentiment in Versafine Black Onyx ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  For the oval frame, I used 2 oval dies, one inside the other with an even reveal.  Previously I had adhered the Adhesive Foil Paper to a similar color blue card-stock, then die cut it with the 2 oval dies to give me a pretty foiled oval frame (without white edges) for my wave.  After deciding on the placement of the die cut images, I stamped the 2 trunks of the palm trees and the hammock, then the grassy mound (in green and blue). Next, I adhered the large palm tree to the upper right corner, overhanging it a bit, then adhered the oval wave piece, then the frame using Ranger Multi Medium Matte adhesive.  I then added some dimensional adhesive to the small Palm trees.  Next, I prepared my #110 NSW card base, laying a strip of the Burnished Foil Tape to the right side of the panel.  I cut some Fun Foam to layer between the base card-stock and the watercolor panel for added dimension.  Not yet satisfied, I finished the card by applying the darkest blue ink by hand to the palm trees to really make them POP and go better with the dark blue foiled frame.  I then added some sequins and other small elements from a couple of the Couture Mixes I had on hand.  Lastly, I stamped the small seagull near the wave. Now I was done!  I hope you enjoyed my card, and that it gave you some new inspiration when using the Wave and/or Palm Tree stamps.

Good luck and happy crafting,

Jill