Bon Voyage

We've had a lot of friends this year move away due to relocation for jobs :( I finally found a cute stamp through Tiddly Inks which makes for a great "Going-Away" card. I have yet to find a "We'll Miss You" stamp so I put two stamps together to create the sentiment I needed. Unfortunately the "bon voyage" Stamping Bella stamp I ordered through Joann's was no longer in stock. I had some fun coloring with my Spectrum markers (I bought more markers at the Crafter's Companion warehouse sale this weekend to complete my set!). I used my favorite Bazzill cardstock in Candy Necklace, Red Stickles, and of course, Wink of Stella glitter pen. I also used the Copic X-Press Blending paper highly recommended by my favorite bloggers--and I was happy to not have any bleeding from the markers. I have just gotten a ton of new cute stamps from Penny Black and Tiddly Inks--I will be excited to share what I come up with!

Name Frame

For weeks I have been trying to think of the perfect gift for a friend's daughter who will be turning one very soon. I have decided from now on to avoid the temptation of giving children birthday presents that will only be used for a short amount of time and then thrown away--and forgotten. I wanted to create something personalized, but I didn't feel like creating another growth chart this time. This is why I love the internet, and blogs in particular. I came across a personalized name frame which you will find here. This blogger got the idea from another blogger, Jayma Malme, who gave specific instructions on how to create the name frame on her blog. I decided to give it a try. 

The only things I had to buy were a frame and an 8 x10 mat, both of which were 60% off at Joann's this week because of Veteran's Day. Score. Everything else I already had...The birthday girl already has her room decked out in a cute owl theme in pinks and purples, so I wanted to create something that would fit perfectly with her decor. Per Jayma's instructions, I cut 20 1.75" squares out of cardstock. The patterned paper I used came from the same 6x6" paper pad called Country Drive from Echo Park. The great thing about these double sided papers is that they already are color coordinated, so there was no need to try to match colors on my own. I dry embossed the solid squares in different patterns using my BigShot to give more dimension to the paper.

I then cut out 5 1.25" white squares out of embossed cardstock scraps I had lying around. These were to act as the base for the letters in her name. Using the Cricut I cut out 1" letters to spell her name, including their shadows. These I glued together and added some Wink of Stella, then mounted on foam dots onto the white squares. For an extra added touch I cut out numbers for her birthday and added Glossy Accents to them to give them some dimension. I used washi tape instead of using a pencil to make a grid on my Bazzill cardstock base in Candy Necklace. This way there is no need to erase any pencil lines later. As Jayme was smart to point out,the inner measurements of the mat usually are less than exactly 8x10", but the squares still fit perfectly with even borders all around. To add some dimension I punched out two layered butterflies using scraps and this Butterfly punch from EK tools. I added some glitter to the body and created flight trails using liquid pearls in white opal.

Almost done!

Glossy accents 

"Wink of Stella"--fied!!

Looks so great in a frame!

I lined the backside of the mat with foam tape all along the inner cut edge. This way, when the Bazzill cardstock is placed behind the mat, it will not move or shift; more importantly, it also allows some extra room for the butterflies and letters to remain raised and 3-dimensional. The letters and the butterflies won't get smushed up against the glass. It makes it look like a very shallow shadow box. Jayma doesn't mat her name frames, but I think it makes the project look a lot more complete and gives it the look of "store bought".

I, of course, had to make the coordinating birthday card--again I used the same papers and Bazzill cardstock. I used my Cricut to cut out the oval, the scalloped oval, and the "1." I used my Stamps of Life Owls2Love set. I stamped and embossed the owl in black and colored it in with my alcohol markers, fussycut it out and added Wink of Stella. I used Versamark to create a watermark using the smaller owl stamp on the Bazzill cardstock. Voila!

Playing with Perfect Pearls Mist

I came across a beautiful card created by one of my favorite bloggers, Jennifer McGuire. She made a beautiful and easy snowy night sky, and I immediately wanted to recreate the look. To do so, I had to buy Tim Holtz Distress Inks in several colors and Perfect Pearls. Jennifer used Perfect Pearls powder and added water--I took the easy route and bought the premade mist spray. Jennifer does what is called an embossed resist technique. First one has to stamp and emboss an image, usually in white. Then one sponges Distress Inks over the stamped image to create a background. Tim Holtz Distress Inks are great because they blend very well and when misted with a little bit of water, or in this case Perfect Pearls Mist, the colors blend like watercolor ink. The white embossed area stays white and doesn't pick up the color. 

My embossed white image using a Hero Arts stamp.

Sponged background using 3 Distress Ink colors

Used some snowflakes from my Stamps of Life Christmas2build set.

Misted with some Pearl Pearls--the iphone doesn't do justice to how shimmery and cool it looks.

I then played some more using my latest favorite flower stamp and other Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

Step 1-stamp and emboss image in white

Step 2: Sponge and blend background using Distress Inks

Step 3: Spray with Perfect Pearls mist on Ranger craft sheet to protect my kitchen surface.

 LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I especially love the bigger blotchy Perfect Pearl spots.

I couldn't stop there. Had to try it with a snowflake background:

Added some Liquid Pearls

 Definitely my favorite new technique!

Craft Day!!

So excited to have had one of my long time buddies over for a crafting afternoon! I began my crafting fetish because of this creative college friend and was also introduced to the world of Cricuting because of her. We created my wedding banners together, and now it's her turn to be getting married! She wanted me to teach her how to create cute cards using stamps and embossing powder. I also taught her how to emboss using my Texture Boutique. We used premade David Tutera cards and a cute flower stamp from Joann's. The cards were simple, elegant and really easy to create. We made "Will you be my bridesmaid" cards for each of her 4 bridesmaids, complete with personalized names cut out with the Cricut. Too bad no one has yet come up with a "Will you be my ___" stamp sentiment for the inside!

We wanted to add shine to the names but thought of this after the fact, so we improvised and used Wink of Stella.

Then I created another card using the same stamp, but this time used her potential wedding colors of gray and orange, and some alcohol markers. Definitely love the color scheme! I also love how versatile stamps can be--so many different potential looks with just one stamp!

My best friend-Wink of Stella-made the petals so sparkly. Added pearl Stickles to accent the flower.

Birthday Girl with Balloons

On call today at the hospital (again!) and that means, time to catch up on some blogging! I created a birthday card using my favorite stamp from  Sparkle N Sprinkle. I tried out this stamp immediately after the Scrapbook Expo and used my Spectrum Noir markers for the first time along with what I thought was the appropriate paper for alcohol markers--Adirondack Alcohol Ink Glossy Cardstock. Unfortunately it wasn't the right paper--the ink didn't blend like I thought it would. I did more research and realized the paper is more for Tim Holtz' alcohol ink, not necessarily Copic or Spectrum Noir markers. Oh well--I still had a really cute colored birthday image. So I used it and created this card...

Used one of my cute Martha Steward punches and some bright pink paper from a 6x6 paper pad.

If you can't already tell,teal is one of my favorite colors.

Loving the Wink of Stella pen more and more--it dries so quickly & it's subtle but just enough to add that special touch.

Adding more dimension with Glossy Accents on the balloons.

Had to add coordinating ribbon of course! I probably could have stamped the greeting a little lower, but oh well!

Doily border on the inside.