Messing with Sasquatch

Today I have several cards to share so get comfy!  Messing with sasquatch techniques, lighting, angles, etc.  Which is why these photos all look slightly different from one another, because I’m trying to figure out what works!  Don’t ask what the settings are because I have no idea.  However, I do plan on taking a photography class soon, so hopefully that will improve my incredibly mediocre skills!

Love this set from Studio Calico in conjunction with their all occasion card class with Lisa Spangler.  A different color combo too, I’m loving it!  Photo taken near bright window but not in direct light.

This is a card I made for my parents’ anniversary which happens to be on St. Patrick’s Day – I know that’s almost 2 months ago, oh well!  Same set as above, fun little ink splatters serve as ‘confetti’.  Photo..well taken several weeks ago so I have no idea.

Inspired by Maile Belles card on CASE Study, love the technique of fussy cutting around a stamp on the edge of cardstock.  It’s pretty cloudy here with rain all day, so not really a great photo either.

Some masking, such an easy technique with great results.  Colors are pretty close to real life here, I think I did take this during daylight…

Using the built in flash – wow this is bright but so crisp!  I like this a lot, but is it overexposed?

Taking a photo on an angle which I rarely do but like the look of – but they usually turn out awkward or crooked for me.  I like this one though, just wish it were brighter without washing out the light pool and coral colors.

So what do you guys think, how do you take photos of your cards?

PDCC #181

Quick share tonight before I miss the deadline – I swear I will be late to my own funeral

 

The basis of this was the star patterned paper from the Atlantic Collection by studio calico.  I framed it out in some gold glitter paper and anchored by some studio calico wood veneer stars and some kelly purkey sequins. Sentiment is hand created with pebbles alphabet stamps in hero arts soft cantaloupe shadow ink, and the ‘stars’ is dear lizzy.  Thanks for the inspiration PDCC #181!

Feather Cards

Today’s cards all feature the Fresh Squeezed Stamp Set, Tickle My Fancy.  I actually won this set from a fun contest around Christmas <—The challenge was to fill in the blank for the funniest “Dear Santa” letter

Here is a great way to state something powerful, and let the stamps speak.  The cloud background is an Impression Obsession stamp, it covers such a large area!  The feather is stamped and fussy cut, with a simple but strong sentiment from the set.

A fun twist and attempt to make this card more masculine.  The colorful panel in the back is actually a piece of sticky back canvas sprayed with various colors of Dylusions spray ink.

This card (photo obviously taken at night) uses one of my latest favorite techniques.  The two strips that anchor the peacock feathers are two thinly cut pieces of Sook-Wang sticky sheet.  They are burnished with Glitter Ritz and then colored with Copics and blended.  For more on how to do that, go here.

Sympathy cards are always difficult, but much easier to make ahead of time before you need them.  This one is going in a custom set one of my coworkers ordered from me.  The bottom panel is an embossing folder gone through my Texture Boutique. It was then rubbed with Peacock Feather Distress Ink.  The top peacock feather and sentiment give some balance to the business on the bottom, and a aqua colored bow ties it all together.

And now for something completely different!  This card uses a medallion image from a W+9 set to create a dream catcher.  It’s popped up over a panel of actual feathers.  Little beads and a hand written sentiment complete this unique card.

Thanks for the visit, hope you have a beautiful day!

Happy Mother’s Day

Hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day – here’s two quick cards that use Prima flowers, Liquid Pearls, and some washi tape.  Enjoy!

More Mother’s Day Cards

Some more cards with no ‘challenge home’, hope you enjoy – happy Saturday friends!

I masked off the center bar and used a finger sponge dauber with Bundled Sage and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.  The red flower is supposed to actually be some type of coral I think, from a ocean themed set by Kaiser Craft.

This was a great way to use up some cute chipboard pieces I got from some garage sale.

My fave Dogwood flower, colored with Copics.  The centers have dots of Liquid Pearls in Key Lime.

Mother’s Day Cards

Some Mother’s Day cards that don’t have a ‘challenge home’ so just posting randomly today.  Have a great day!

Watercoloring Frenzy

Have you ever stopped doing something for a while, then picked it back up, and wondered to yourself why you had stopped doing it because you enjoy it so much??

Enter:  watercoloring.  Thanks to the recent Moxie Fab Challenge I remember how AWESOME it is!

Watercoloring has got to be one of the most simplest of papercrafting pleasures.  Did you go outside the lines?  Doesn’t matter.  Having a hard time blending with Copics?  Not with watercolor.  Need an inexpensive quick stress relief?  This is the art for you!

Today I’m sharing two cards that use two completely different techniques.  Let me know which you’ve tried!

This card looks like it took forever getting those gorgeous colors to blend just right.  Not so, amigos!  I started with a panel of cold pressed watercolor paper, and stamped with some Ranger Archival Ink (Important – be sure to use archival, because your image will run for the hills when it comes in contact with water if you use a dye ink).  These watercolors are Twinkling H20s.  The colors are vibrant and shimmery – what’s not to love!?  To finish, I added some Liquid Pearls in the flowers’ centers.  I also rubbed the sides of the panel with the black ink to finish without using up more cardstock.

Here’s a close up – check the glimmer and shine!

Completely different technique with this card.  I started by inking a variety of flower stamps from PTI’s Year of Flowers collection in Versamark ink.  I stamped all along the border, then heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I had a reader recently ask me how to get the powder to melt evenly and not give the ‘orange peel cellulite’ look.  This is easy to achieve with a simple trick.  I like to heat my gun up little bit first to get the temperature even.  Then when I emboss, I hold the gun on the BACK side of the cardstock.  This produces an even melting of the powder and less chance of accidental burning – I used it here and the lines are so crisp!

The watercolor here is acutally not watercolor – it is Distress Ink!  Using a water brush, I simply dabbed directly on the ink pad and added color, layer by layer.  A great way to get another use out of your Distress Inks.  Since they are reactive with water, they blend like a dream!  Not to mention the embossed image acts as a resist, so very easy to have a crisp look even with watercolor.  Once I colored in the flowers, I used Tumbled Glass as a background, simply washing it around to create an ethereal effect.  The sentiment is stamped with Hero Arts Shadow Ink in Cornflower, and as you can see did not run with the watercolor behind it.

Hope you enjoyed these two cards, if you have any questions on watercoloring or embossing let me know!

Have a colorful day!