Copic Balloons

Trying my hand at blending copics...

Copic Jumpstart with Sandy Allnock

So, many of you probably know Sandy Allnock... "artist and paper crafter" she always says about herself. I say "Extraordinary!" I am taking her Jumpstart Copic class. Here are some of the color charts and blending I have done so far.

 

           

Birthday Tweetings

Happy Memorial Day! My husband, who is a veteran himself, had to work today, so I was in and out of the craft room. Normally on Mondays, I babysit my grand-daughter after kindergarten, but she was off today which left me with the whole day to putter around the house. Lovely!

I finished another card for the MFT Sketch Challenge #282. When I saw the challenge, I started thinking what images I wanted to have "running" across the card ... almost immediately I thought of the birds from "Tweet Friend." Geez, I bought this stamp set when it first came out and hadn't had a chance to use it yet! Disgraceful!  All of the products are listed below the picture.

I'd like to give you some details about the green background part of the card. I had seen a video by Jennifer McGuire called Easy Distress Ink Background ( a You Tube link for you) and tried her technique one day. I created several backgrounds using different stencils and colors of distress ink. The panel behind the birds is one of those. You can just about see the leaf design and the shimmer.

Products - MFT "Tweet Friends", MFT DieNamics Musical Notes, 

MFT 6x6 Plaid Pattern Paper, MFT Die Namics Blueprint 27 for the scalloped rectangle, 

 

Memory Box Woodland Branch, and some Copic markers.

<----------- Here is the sketch for My Favorite Things.

I'm also going to enter this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ANYTHING GOES

Joy - Christmas in May

Morning! I took a page out of my friend's book - she is making 5 Holiday cards every month - so I worked on mine now that May is almost over! I decided to use the current Tic Tac Toe Challenge as a guide. I am entering this card in the  Tic Tac Toe Challenge #10. Check it out!

            

I used the bottom horizontal line: Bow, Texture, and Vellum. The Texture is hard to see but it's the right corner. I used a stencil and texture paste colored with green distress ink to create the pattern paper. The poinsettias are from a Hero Arts Kit. "Joy" is from Little Green Bicycle embossed in Brutus Monroe "Scarlet." The bow is a die from Stampin' Up. The striped paper was in my stash. Add some sequins and it's complete!

I Love Mew

For this week's My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #282, I created a birthday card for my daughter. She loves cats so naturally I used MFT "I Knead You" for the focal images. I used copic markers to color the kitties and then placed them on the bench from MFT "Spring Garden" cut from some word grain paper. Distress inks sponged on for the background and a few springs of grass added for detail.

Check out the MFTSketch #282 Challenge page for all the entries and fantastic inspiration from the DT. MFT also has a Color Challenge you might like. The link is on the same page. Have a great weekend!

 

Happy Graduation

Hi Bloggers. This is a graduation card for a friend who requested it for her grand-daughter who loves reading! One of her school colors is blue so I kept the color scheme simple: black, white, and blue (with a little dark red and tan for the owl!) This stamp set is from Sunny Studios. I used the small diploma for the background, then stamped and colored the owl, cap, and books with copic markers. The books are not part of the set. They are from Avery Elle. I wrote the year on the bindings so it would be part of the card!

I am entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ANYTHING GOES!

Birthday Wishes

This card is for a friend's birthday, and I also want to add it to the 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Make A Wish!"

I decided to build a scene with some items I had previously colored and cut. I used a SAVVY die for the tree with some paper I made with the gellie plate and acrylic paints. It's got lots of browns and grays, plus a hint of green. And, the die has cut outs so there's lots of texture.

Squirrel/Envelope - W Plus 9
"Sending"- Simon Says Stamp.
Bench - Impression Obsession
Trees on Hill - Lawn Fawn
"Sweet Birthday Wishes" - Sunny                               Studio

Float My Boat

Hello card makers!

 Another card for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge ANYTHING GOES!

I used several stamp sets to create this scene, a wavy die, and some pattern paper I created using a   gellie plate and a stencil.

Lawn Fawn - Ocean Wave Border
Lawn Fawn - Float My Boat
Inkadinkado - Seagulls & sand dollars

Birthday in Blue

Hi Blog land. A quick birthday card with pattern paper, punches and dies 

which I finished a few days ago is finally get up on the blog. 

I'm entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp 

Monday Challenge Make A Wish!

Congratulations!

I made this card for an adorable little family who just had their second son! Their first is only 21 months old, so you know they have their hearts and hands full! Best wishes to them all.

 I am entering it in the Tic Tac Toe #10 Challenge 

And also the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes!

     

For this challenge I use the right side going down on the tic tac toe. Obviously it's a baby card! Then for a "grid" I used a die with three circle cut out. The vellum is used for the sentiment. Turned out pretty good!

Purple Hydrangea

For Simon Says StampWednesday Challenge ANYTHING GOES!

Don't you love the Mondo Hydrangea, Essentials by Ellen from Ellen Hutson! I made several cards with this wonderful stamp!

I water colored it with a combination of Zig Markers and Daniel Smith water colors because I wanted the shimmer of Iridescent Lilac. Check out the close up below. This image was cut and adhered to some glitter paper from DCWV and purple pattern paper from My Favorite Things.

You're Fin-tastic!

Hi crafty friends. Here's a card I created using the Lawn Fawn Stamps/dies and Avery Elle fishies! The background paper was created using a gelli plate and acrylic paints. You use stencils over the paints, press the paper into it, and then "pull" the paper up with the pattern/color combinations. I cut the paper to resemble coral or sea weed and placed the critters among it. A few sequins and lots of Wink of Stella for shine. It's very hard to show the shine here ... sorry!

I am entering this card in the Lawnscape Challenge #130 SPARKLE IT UP!

               

Christmas in May!

Christmas! Well, yes... getting a jump on the holiday! Here's a card which uses both Essentials by Ellen and Savvy Stamps, fulfilling the elements of the Ellen Hutson May Mix-It-Up Challenge.

It's hard to see in this photo, but the black base has a sheen and the die cut "Merry Christmas" is glitter card stock. Plu the stars on the Savvy die cut trees are sparkly so there is a festive aspect to this card even though it's fairly simple. I am entering this card in the EH Mix It Up Challenge for May.

Hey There

Hi crafting friends! I created this card for the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #280

For a focal point I chose the boot with flowers from You Gnome Me from MFT and colored it with copic markers. The back ground panel was created with a gelli plate and acrylic paints. I took the Brick Wall Cover Up from MFT and cut a stencil with it. Using several colors and another stencil with leaves I "pulled" this design from the gelli plate. Lastly, I sponged some Distress Ink in Bundled Sage around the panel leaving the center fairly light. I really liked the way it turned out, especially the dimension.

The final steps for this card - I used MFT Wavy Greetings for the sentiment and MFT Grassy Fields to create the grass on the bottom and appearance of leaves at the top. Here's the sketch challenge .... I hope you have a great day.

I would also like to enter this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge FLOWERS

Spring Wreath

I am entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge FLOWERS!

I was on a circular kick for a day or two and didn't even realize it! When I stopped to check out my recent projects, they were all square cards with round designs! LOL

This one uses Simon Says Stamp hybrid inks and My Favorite Things Spring Wreath. I thought the black would compliment the pastel colors, hence the black circle and polka dot paper. The sentiment is from Echo Park, stamped on a distress inked banner. I think this font is beautiful.

Birthday Tag

Hi, blog land. I made a card with more white space than I usually leave. Still not sure how I feel about it, but I didn't want to take away from the tag which turned out so nice. The tag was created after I watched Gina K on Stamp TV doing Embossing Over Water Color (here's the link Embossing Over Water Color.) I then added the Happy Birthday die cut and adhered them to a card base, leaving the white space around both. For the Tic Tac Toe Challenge #9, I followed the middle row across: birthday (the sentiment), sponging (part of tag), white space. Thanks for checking out my blog today! I hope you are having a great week!

             

Wanted to say...

Back to the Sunflower Sweetheart stamp from MFT. I love this little girl. Here I colored her with copic markers, not worrying too much about the shading, and added some lace to her sun dress. I thought it was so cute! I popped her up on a panel which came from my gelli plate fun. I had used a Crafter's Workshop stencil called "Willow" on top of the My Favorite Things Brick Wall Coverup which I made into a stencil! I added a few more stems of leaves for more dimension and adhered the panel to a piece of My Mind's Eye pattern paper which inclues browns, tans, blues and greens.  The greeting is from a different MFT stamp set and leaves the card open for several occasions. I can use it for lots of reasons, making the inside specific to that occasion.

I am entering this card in two challenges this week: 

My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge # 279 and

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Stencil It!

Happy Mail

   

Hello Blog Land! Remember that blended, stenciled paper I created ... well this is the rest of it. I created a scene with the W Plus 9 set called "Happy Mail" All of the images were colored with copic markers. The "Woodland Tree" is from Savvy Dies (isn't it cute!) The back ground was created with a MFT stencil and distress inks. The panels were cut with Lawn Fawn Scalloped Rectangle Stackables, one of the dies I use all the time.

I am entering this card in two challenges, 

Lawn Fawn Lawnscape #129 Challenge CALLING ALL CRITTERS 

and the Tic Tac Toe #9 Challenge

For the Tic Tac Toe challenge I used the diagonal line from top to bottom, 

flowers, sponging, and scene.   

Sending...

Hi crafty friends. I had a lot of fun creating this ink blended paper by using a stencil and distress inks in several colors. I also used some perfect pearls to add a shimmer to the paper! I cut the panel into two pieces, and this is one of the cards I made. Unfortunately, the yellow embossed back ground isn't clear in the photo, but it complimented the blended piece and gave the card lots of dimension. I added a water color flower (from one of the Essentials by Ellen stamps) and the word "Sending" at the bottom of the panel.

I am entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge STENCIL IT!

 Sometimes I make cards like this and then create several different "inside panels" so I have the right card available for a certain occasion. I' sure you have done this as well. For this card, I created "Thank You," "Congratulations," and "Happy Birthday" for the inside. I'll save them until I need one.
Here's a close up of the blended stencil pattern - maybe you can see the shimmer.

Pin-Sights Inspiration

Water coloring lately and having so much fun! Here's the Mondo Hydrangea from Essentials by Ellen as a Thank You card (the sentiment is from Echo Park.) I used silver embossing powder to frame the flower before water coloring it, for the sentiment, and around the card base. My photos don't always do my cards justice so check out the close up below.

I am entering this card in the Ellen Hutson Pin-sights Challenge. 

I was inspired by the colors and images.