Birthday Cards

Kristina Werner had a really pretty card on her blog that imitates watercoloring but instead uses Distress Inks and water. Here is my version.

First emboss the image in white.

Stamp Distress Ink in various colors onto a Ranger Non Stick Craft sheet and add water.

Use a paint brush to "paint the image" and then fill in the background.

Spray or add water droplets to the page and a cool Distress Ink effect takes place. 

Here are two more Kristina Werner-inspired cards, again using Distress Inks:

My first attempt at a shaker card, which are super popular these days:

The theme on the birthday evite for a friend's 30th was black, gold, and white, so I created a birthday card using the same color scheme.

Stamping Bella stamps are so cute and fun to color...

Engagement Card

It surprises me that I have yet to find a stamp or stamp set that has an engagement sentiment. So far I haven't been able to find a "congrats on your engagement" or "happy engagement" stamp. So I make do with what I have. Got my inspiration for this card again from Kristina Werner. Check out her version here. With watercolor there's no real right or wrong, and every card is always a little different. It was fun to play...

April Birthday Cards

Wow! April came and went! I was so busy last month and only now am able to catch up on my blog posts. It was a busy month for birthdays, from my sister to my father-in-law, to one of my good pals. Here are the cards I made last month for them...

My sister loves cake and cupcakes--guess I am not the only one who knows this. She says every card she received this year had cupcakes on it!

I made this card for my friend Tiffany, such a fun-loving and happy person--I had to make an equally happy card, complete with the color yellow, polka dots, and bees!

When I think of my father-in-law, who turned 69 this year, I think of him growing up in the 60's and being in the peace corp. One of the first things that comes to my mind about the 60's is tie dye! I used an awesome technique I learned in a Distress Ink class and also from one of my favorite card makers, Kristina Werner. You can check out her video here to learn how I made this cool background. The white stars are actually made using a stencil and embossing paste, then covered with glitter. For this technique, check out the blog of Debby Hughes. It creates a little extra dimension, and extra "wow" factor.

Retirement card

My sister asked me to create a tropical retirement card for a coworker, and this is the card I came up with. I wanted to play some more with my distress inks and also use a Lawn Fawn Polaroid stamp set that I have been wanting to use for a long time. When I think of retirement, tropics, and vacation, I imagine taking beautiful sunset photos, these days it's usually with an iPhone, but a Polaroid will do.

Had to add glossy accents to create dimension.

A great quote from Stamping Bella.

More Christmas Cards

Here are a couple more Christmas cards I made for this holiday season. I had to use at least one of my stamps to try out my alcohol markers, so I picked one of the Penny Black stamps and created two different cards with two different color schemes. I love the pink and teal especially--not necessarily the colors you would think of for Christmas, but I think it totally works. I love the sentiment--only $1 at Michael's! The snowflake embossing folder is one of my favorites as well. The extra details are what really make a card, i.e. the glitter from Wink of Stella, Glossy accents for the eyes and nose, and Stickles glitter for the holly.

I couldn't let the beautiful backgrounds I created earlier with white embossed images and Perfect Pearls Mist go to waste, so I created these additional cards. I love the sophisticated look of the gray card, and the masculine nature of the blue card--making it perfect for a male recipient.