Smooshing at Scrap 'n Stamp

It's my turn to be up on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog today, and my two cards are all about ink smooshing! I've got a card for a friend as well as a Father's Day card for the pandemic working-from-home kind of dad. I hope you'll pop over and take a look! 

Pin It Now!

Color Hues: Aqua and Black

Here we are into the second half of June, and time for a new Color Hues challenge! Teammate Sheri has picked AQUA and BLACK for our new duo. Leading me once again into the dilemma of the many many shades of blue. :D I decided a sea-themed card with a watery-named ink would definitely qualify:

I am also continuing to have a lot of fun playing with my new Whittles dies! For my watery background, I smooshed some mermaid lagoon distress oxide ink plus a few drops of sparkle mist onto watercolour paper, crumpled some plastic wrap over top, and left it to dry. This gives me lots of tonal variations, even using just the one colour ink. While that dried, I cut out my shark and painted him with the same mermaid lagoon ink as well as some silver paint for his belly. Of course, then I added a bit of silver to his top half too - a shark this cute is happy to be sparkly! :D Once the smooshed panel was dry, I cut out the wavy backdrop, then for good measure, added some waves to the white panel with an embossing folder. To add a little more contrast between the shark and his ocean, I also cut him from black cardstock and used it as a shadow layer. That led me to shadow everything else, too! Not so much an innovative design choice as perhaps a little weird, but I went with it anyway. With a leftover of the smooshed watercolour paper, I stamped and embossed a punny sentiment. 

Lots of aqua and black inspiration from my Color Hues teammates! And I hope we will see your contribution in our gallery. 

Supplies: Neenah white & Stampin' Up basic black cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Poppystamps Whittle Sea Life Sentiments, Versafine onyx black & mermaid lagoon distress oxide ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Poppystamps Whittle Shark & Whittle Wave Background & MFT wonky stitched rectangle dies, Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirl embossing folder, Imagine Crafts sheer shimmer spritz, foam tape

Pin It Now!

Pretty Pansies

I'm back with another card using the Pressing Thoughts stamp set, part Of Ellen Hutson's new Essentials by Ellen release! Pansies are such a cute flower - we had them in our back garden when I was small, and I would look for the faces hidden in their petal design. :) And have you noticed, nature does not worry about colour blending in pansies? So neither did I! :D 

I stamped and embossed one large and two small pansy blooms, colouring each in purple and yellow (my preferred pansy variety) before die cutting them. From my white panel, I die cut three hexagons, using the Essential Hexagons from last month's release. I also cut them from gold cardstock, then fit everything together after stamping and embossing my sentiment. For a finishing touch, I sprinkled a few gold confetti sequins. 

To celebrate the new release, there is an Instagram hop with three $25 prizes up for grabs for commenters! If you are interested, start here to see all the beautiful creations! You have until tomorrow to comment for your chance to win. 

Supplies: 

Solar White Heavyweight 110 lb - 25 pk, Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock

Twilight Purple, Memory Box 6 X 6 Paper Pad

Polished Foil, Memory Box 6 X 6 Paper Pad

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

WOW Embossing Powder, Super Fine - Clear Gloss

Pressing Thoughts by Brandi Kincaid, Essentials by Ellen Clear Stamps

Pressing Thoughts by Brandi Kincaid, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

Essential Hexagons, Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies

BV00 - Mauve Shadow, COPIC Sketch Marker

V17 - Amethyst, COPIC Sketch Marker

Y06 - Yellow, COPIC Sketch Marker

Metallic Gold Confetti Mix, Pretty Pink Posh Sequins

Tonic Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive

Pin It Now!

The Textured Snarky Stampers

It's a Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Saturday, and our newest challenge to you is T is for Texture! I added two kinds of texture and a little bit of snark: 

Look at the texture on those hearts! I used a new-to-me product, Nuvo expanding mousse. After adding some woodgrain texture to my panel, I spread a thick layer through a stencil, added a dusting of gold embossing powder to help keep them shiny, and then heated the whole mixture with my heat gun. It bubbles up and adds great dimension. I even added a little bit to the pup's ID tag. To my panel, I added my mini crazy dog - popped up, he's on about the same level as the hearts! - and the sentiment. I've flipped - and taken a few liberties with - the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also adding my card to the current Furbabies challenge at Shopping Our Stash. 

My sisters are as talented with texture as they are with snark! We also have a returning Queen and guest designer, Tristan. Grab your favourite texturing technique and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white, Stampin' Up smoky slate & scrap green cardstock, Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz Mini Crazy Cats & Dogs stamp & die, Technique Tuesday You Aren't Normal stamp, MFT extreme black & Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss & pirate's gold embossing powder, Copic markers, Heidi Swapp confetti stencil, Nuvo Tuscan gold expanding mousse, PTI woodgrain impression plate, MFT stitched rounded rectangle die, foam tape

Pin It Now!

Inkspirational: Slimline

Happy weekend! Today starts a Designer's Choice challenge at Inkspirational, and my teammate Marlena has chosen Slimline Cards! Slimline cards seemed to start as a trend, but they certainly haven't faded away as most fads do, so I may have to start making them more often. :D Here's mine: 

Thanks to another teammate and friend, Carol, I had this pretty butterfly set to ink up for the first time. (So this card will be winging its way to Darnell's June NBUS challenge!) After die cutting the white panel, I randomly stamped the three large branches included with the set. Then I heat embossed the butterfly in gold on vellum - I picked this butterfly of the two as it had larger solid areas where I could hide my adhesive when it came time to add it to the card! The die cut sentiment is also embossed in gold. I layered the white panel on some brushed gold cardstock, then put everything together on a white card base. 

Beautiful makes by all my Ink teammates, as always! If, like me, you haven't ventured too far into the slimline world yet, you're bound to find a card that inspires you. 

Supplies: Neenah white & Sizzix gold brushed metal opulent cardstock, vellum, Colorado Craft Company Blissful Butterflies stamps & dies, Versamark & Catherine Pooler melon ice inks, pirate's gold embossing powder, Pinkfresh Studio slimline stitched die

Pin It Now!

Essentials by Ellen June Release!

The new Essentials by Ellen release is available now - only at ellenhutson.com! And I am thrilled to say I am playing a small part in it, by getting to create with one of the brand new releases, Pressing Thoughts by Brandi Kincaid! This is a beautiful pansy set that also comes with a number of mix-and-match sentiments for different occasions. Here's my card: 

I wanted to let that pressed pansy stem shine, so I started by blending three shades of ink on my card panel, Bellini, Tiara and Melon Ice, all by Catherine Pooler. The pansy is stamped then embossed with some clear sparkle embossing powder. Next I trimmed the panel, adding a fancy border to the right side. The sentiment is also stamped in black and embossed.  To add some extra interest to the card base, I added some diagonal striped patterned paper. Finally, all that was needed was a few clear drop embellishments! 

This is just one set in the June Essentials by Ellen release - you can find the full release here! 

Solar White Heavyweight 110 lb - 25 pk, Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

Sparkle, Hero Arts Embossing Powder

Bellini, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

Tiara, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

Melon Ice, Catherine Pooler Ink Pad

Slimline Basics Borders, Sunny Studio Dies

Black & White Stripes, My Favorite Things Paper Pack

Clear Round Drops Mix One, Studio Katia Crystals

Pin It Now!

Seize the Birthday: Nautical

Ahoy! It's a Seize the Birthday Thursday, and my turn to pick the optional topping! Since I live near a freshwater bay perfect for boating, I chose a NAUTICAL theme. Not to worry, though, if the topping doesn't exactly float your boat, we love seeing all birthday cards in our link-up. (Full rules, of course, are on the Seize the Birthday website.) 

Even when I picked the theme, I knew I'd be using my Paper Smooches Wicked Nauticool stamps and an old Anchors Away paper pad from Authentic. I ended up making SIX cards and had a lot of fun! 

Here they all are - while tied together thematically, none of them are exactly the same. A separate look at each card: 

The added sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

This time the sentiment is a die from Concord & 9th
with a small stamp from Simon Says Stamp. 

Going old-school with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.
Another Clearly Besotted sentiment.

This time, a sentiment from a mini Technique Tuesday set. 

A sentiment from my "other" nautical set,
Sailmate from Neat & Tangled. 

And then I went totally wild and made
a mini slimline card! 

If none of my cards have inspired you :( - be sure to check out the cards my StB teammates have made, as well as our newest surprise party guest, Melanie! Nautical or not, I hope you will join us! 

Supplies: see above, or ask if you are wondering about something! 

Pin It Now!