My Tribe – Watercolor Backgrounds

July 13, 2018July 8, 2018 curlesuecards1 Comment

You know I’m doing a happy dance, TGIF! Today I have some awesome, easy cards to share with you, featuring My Tribe from Honey Bee stamps. This set came out when I was on my budget freeze, so I wasn’t able to snap it up then. When Honey Bee had a sale for the Forth of July, I took advantage and scooped this set up! Boy, am I happy I did!

Let’s jump right in. The first two cards feature some of the watercolor panels I made for the Daily Marker 30 Day Challenge.

This first card is my favorite (but it’s a close call, they all turned out fabulous)!

This panel was made with Cherry Bomb Nuvo Shimmer Powder on Distress Watercolor cardstock. I sprinkled a little bit of the powder and spritzed it with water to get it moving. That’s it! Super easy with great results.

I stamped the dream catcher border stamp on vellum with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with Hero Art’s Silver embossing powder. The sentiment was also stamped with Versamark and embossed in silver. It looks difficult to read in the pictures, but it’s clear in real life.

I die cut the image from the vellum with the matching die and added it to the watercolor panel with Multi Matte Medium hidden behind the embossing. The watercolor panel was added to a Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card base with fun foam. Some Platinum Jewels from Lucy’s Cards finish off the card, and the envelope is from Gina K Designs (Passionate Pink). That pink watercolor is my favorite color, it’s so vibrant and yummy! You can almost see the shimmer in the picture above (I wish the shimmer photographed better).

Next up is the panel I made with Blue Blitz Nuvo Shimmer Powder. This was the same process, shake some powder out, spray with water and let dry.

This card features another image stamped on vellum and embossed in silver. For this image, I also colored the flower, feathers and circles on the back with Copic markers, for a stained glass look. I added the image to the watercolor panel with clear “foam tape.” This tape is from 3M and I came across it last year. It’s not as thick as real foam tape, but it does add a little bit of dimension.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with more Hero Art’s Silver powder. Pretty Pink Posh’s Sea Glass jewels were added to the front, and the watercolor panel was added to a Gina K Design’s Blue Raspberry card base. The envelope is Simon Says Stamps.

You can see a bit of the shimmer in the picture above, but it’s 100% more shimmery in real life.

The next card is all new.

I started by stamping the border image on Distress Watercolor cardstock with Versafine Onyx ink and heat embossed with Recollections Clear powder. Then I took Catherine Wheel Nuvo Shimmer Powder, and shook it over the top of the panel, where the image was and sprayed with water. This shimmer powder contains several different colors within the one powder. I love the yellows, pinks and oranges, they are so pretty.

I used Versafine Onyx ink again to stamp the sentiment, but instead of clear, I used Wow Holographic Sparkle powder to heat emboss. I love the different colors you get from this embossing powder, and how it changes with the underlying ink.

A thin strip of Magenta Glitter cardstock from Simon Say’s stamps was added to the top of the watercolor panel. I added Pretty Pink Posh’s Buttercream jewels to the card and a Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card base. This envelope is Gina K Design’s Passionate Pink.

Bonus card:

This card was made with the My Tribe set, but it has a background made with ink sprays instead of watercolors. The look is very similar though, but you can see the shimmer a lot better.

I started out by placing my card panel in a box and spraying it with Bubble Gum and Crushed Grape Dylusions Mica Spray. My Crushed Grape spray was a little bit clogged, so I ended up with the large drops.

I used another image stamped on vellum and heat embossed with the same silver embossing powder. I colored the feathers with Copic markers from the back. Then I added it to the panel with more of the clear 3M foam tape.

Before I added the stamped image I die cut my panel with the border die from Concord and 9th’s Confetti Cards (after drying the Mica Spray with my heat gun). I stamped the sentiment from the My Tribe set with Versamark and heat embossed with Hero Art’s Silver powder. Lucy’s Cards Sparkling Bridal jewels accent the card, and the card base is Gina K Design’s Lovely Lavender, with a matching envelope.

I had a lot of fun with this set, as you can see. The first thing I did when it arrived was to stamp several of the images and heat emboss them in different colors on different card stock. So far I’ve only used the vellum pieces.

This is another set that I think will get a lot of use on cards for my daughter. She’s into the tribal, boho, dream catcher look. Not only that, it’s a great set with great sentiments. I love the look of the sentiments too.

My Tribe | 6x8 Stamp Set

You can find the stamp set and matching dies on the Honey Bee site here.

Thanks for stopping by, and sticking through another Friday novel!

Nicole

My Monthly Hero July Unboxing

July 11, 2018 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

Hey guys! Just sharing a quick post with pictures of me unboxing the July Hero Arts kit. This one is adorable (and unfortunately sold out).

Kit contents:

Here is my box:

I love that Hero Arts includes a thank you card every month!

Our first glimpse of all the goodies!

This month we have 2 ribbons tied around the stamps and dies.

I love that happy birthday marquee sign sentiment, how fun! There are some silhouette images and some images to color. A great combination of both.

I like the sentiments that are curved to fit inside the airplane banner too!

This is my favorite part, that background die! That is going to get some use! The label shape is handy too!

Here are the inks and the postcards. The red and blue inks are reactive. I’m not sure about all of their properties but they do react to water.

I plan to use the postcards to send notes to my daughter after she leaves for school. At the rate I’m going , she’ll be getting a card a day 😂.

I’m sorry, I don’t have any cards to share yet. I’ll be sure to share a post once I get a chance to play!

Changing the subject, have you seen the news? Tim Holtz is releasing 12 new colors of Distress Oxide inks! Check out Tim’s Facebook page for the video he posted, then let me know your favorite new color. Mine is Tumbled Glass. I was just thinking that I really wanted them to release Tumbled Glass this past weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Nicole

Challenges · Making Cards · New to Me

Love You Always-Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge

July 11, 2018July 8, 2018 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

Welcome back, and happy hump day! I hope you are dealing with this heat and getting through the week in one piece! I have a quick post today to share with you card I made for this week’s Simon Says Stamps’ Wednesday challenge.

This week the challenge is Red, white and/or Blue and featuring Simon Says Stamps products. I struggled a little bit with this challenge mainly because I thought it was supposed to be Red, White AND Blue. I just couldn’t come up with anything… I even got out all of my SSS products and laid them on my desk. I finally had a spark of inspiration, using a new stamp that just arrived Saturday. I went back to double check on the challenge, and make sure my idea wasn’t actually one of the design teams’ examples, and that’s when I saw that it was “…and/or blue.” Whew!

Here is my card:

I am so happy with this card, it turned out so much better then I expected! I started out by stamping SSS’s Rebecca Lace Background stamp with Versamark and embossing it with Wow Opaque Super Bright White powder (using a powder tool first). Then I took one of the new Distress Blending Brushes and blended Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink from the center of the stamp out, in a ombre effect.

Using SSS’s Love stamp set and matching dies, I die cut Love from MFT’s Wild Cherry card stock three times and layered them together. I stamped the You Always in Delicata’s Ruby Red ink on a strip of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock and adhered it under the love. The card base is also Wild Cherry, with a matching Gina K Design’s Red Velvet envelope. Sparkling Bridal Mix jewels from Lucy’s Cards finishes off the card.

As I mentioned, I was very happy with how this card came out, and it was super easy to do with the Blending Brush. This background stamp is so elegant and delicate, I can’t wait to use it again! I did stamp it a couple more times, since I had it out 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! See you soon!

Nicole

Challenges · Making Cards

Birthday Flyby-MFT Sketch Challenge 392

July 9, 2018July 9, 2018 curlesuecards1 Comment

Oh man, I am not ready for today. Monday…yuck. Well, I have a cute, cheerful card to share today.

The sketch for this week’s challenge is not my favorite. It took me a while to decide to participate, and figure out a design. Here is the sketch.

Here is my card:

I masked off the v shape with Post-it Tape, and used MFT’s Cloud Stencil to add the clouds with Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress ink. I didn’t want to make it too dark, and instead left it too light on the left side.

I stamped the dragon and smoke cloud from Magical Dragon’s in MFT Extreme Black ink, then colored them with Copic Markers. I colored the horns with Silver Wink of Stella, and added clear Wink of Stella to the smoke cloud.

Next I put the sentiment strip together, first stamping the sentiment from Magical Dragons with Extreme Black ink on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock, then using the smallest Stitched Fishtail Sentiment strips to die cut it. Next I used the middle sized Fishtail sentiment strip to die cut some light blue glitter cardstock, and adhered them together with Scor-Tape. I added the sentiment strip to the panel, and then the dragon and smoke cloud with foam tape.

I added the card panel to a MFT Sno Cone card base and added a white envelope. The last step was to add black gel pen to the dragon’s eyes.

Magical Dragon’s was one of the first set’s I purchased from MFT. I find myself reaching for it a lot when I participate in challenges. I guess I’ll always be a fantasy nerd 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! Stop back on Wednesday, I’ll share my card for the Simon Say’s Stamps Wednesday Challenge, It’s so delicate and was so easy to make!

Nicole

Making Cards · Rambling

Random Cards- Leftovers from the 30 Day Coloring Challenge

July 6, 2018July 1, 2018 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

Woot, it’s Friday! Another weekend of crafting and home improvements! This week I’m working on my bathroom. I really don’t have a lot to do, the bathroom was redone a few years ago, and I’ve already done some small things. I need to change out the shower head, replace the light fixtures, and paint. Oh, and put a frame around the existing mirror.

Sorry, I could go on and on about fixing up the house. Back to cards. Since the Daily Marker 30 day Coloring Challenge is over I’ve been making cards with the images I colored. I thought I would share them with you today. I usually try to save my longer post for Fridays, and this one will be long.

Let’s start with the Wonderful cards. I stamped the Wonderful Florals image several times on different cardstocks. Here are a few of the cards. I’ll provide a quick description of what I did, so this post doesn’t become a novel.

The first card is probably the roughest, lol. This one is stamped on Gina K Design’s Kraft cardstock with Versafine Onyx ink, embossed with clear powder, and colored with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. I just got these pencils (well, the full 120 set). I’m still learning how to color with colored pencils, clearly. After I colored the image, I die cut it and added it to a Lawn Fawn Black Licorice card base with fun foam. I added clear Wink of Stella to the letters and White Blizzard Glitter Nuvo drops to the berries.

This one was stamped on Distress watercolor cardstock with Versafine Onyx ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I broke out my Nuvo Shimmer Powders for some loose watercoloring. I tried to somewhat aim the colors, using Catherine Wheel for the flowers, Violet Brocade on the succulent like blooms, and both Atlantis Burst and Green Parade on the leaves. I mixed Cherry Bomb with water and filled in the berries.

This panel was trimmed down with a rectangle die, and added to a Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card base with fun foam, and Morning Dew Jewels Nuvo drops added to the berries.

Last but not least, I this one was also stamped and heat embossed like the others, but on textured watercolor paper. Then I watercolored the flower with pearlescent watercolors (Zig and Gansai Tambi). I used my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils on the leaves. The berries were filled in with Purple Rain Nuvo Glitter Drops. I die cut the image and added it to a Black Licorice card base with fun foam.

Next up, some of the cards made with images I colored. Here we have the Dinosaurs from Stamping Bella. I just got these and they are adorable!

IMG_E2176

This first little guy was stamped on watercolor paper with Gina K Design’s Amalgam ink. This is a great new black ink that can be used with Copic markers or watercolors. I watercolored this one and the guy below with Distress Markers. I added some accents with white and black gel pens. The Dinosaur was added with foam tape.

The mountains and grass are from Mama Elephant’s Kingdom Trio and were blended with Distress Oxide inks. I added White Nuvo Drops the the mountain The birds are from the Hero Arts June kit.

As I mentioned, this little guy was also watercolored with Distress Markers. The leaves are from Hello Bluebird’s Tropical Foliage, and were cut from an Alcohol ink panel. The images were added with foam tape. The Hello is from Concord and 9th’s Everyday Greetings. The card base is MFT’s Cool as a Cucumber.

Last up is this pretty flower card.

This is another of the watercolor backgrounds I made with the Nuvo Shimmer powders. This card features Catherine Wheel, and I used a light hand with the powder. The flower image is from the July 2017 Hero Arts kit, and was stamped with Versafine and embossed with clear powder. I watercolored the image with Faber-Castell watercolor pencils. The sentiment is from the July kit, and was stamped with Versafine Onyx ink and embossed with clear powder. I tied a ribbon around the bouquet, to add a little something to the card. The card base is Gina K Design’s Passionate Pink as is the matching envelope.

That’s it for now. I have so many more images I colored, especially the last night! I did a poor job of sharing my coloring here (I didn’t color every night). But, you can see what I colored from my post on Instagram.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Nicole

Making Cards · New Products

Stencil Practice

July 4, 2018July 1, 2018 curlesuecards1 Comment

Happy Fourth of July!! I hope you have a great day with friends and family! I’m not sure what our plans are for tonight. Where we used to live, they had a block party and fireworks (I lived above a retail area, with a Minor League Baseball stadium a block away). We could also see lots of other fireworks from our second floor condo. It’s weird not to have a party right outside.

I do have a couple of cards to share with you, with new stencils from MFT. Stencils are not a product or technique that I readily reach for, but I am working on that. I made a point to pick up some new stencils and tools to help!

First up is a no brainer, the Cloud Stencil from MFT.

I started by creating the cloud background with the stencil and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I applied the ink with the new Tim Holtz Distress Blending brushes. This beautiful background was so easy to make! The brushes are awesome!!!

Once I had by clouds created, I used the Sunshine Shaker Die-manic to make my shaker window and the rays. I also cut the die out of MFT Lemon Chiffon cardstock. I added the circle shaker pouch with Scor-Tape, and filled it with Hero Arts Celestial sequins.

Next I die cut MFT’s Sunshine from MFT’s Brushed Gold cardstock, and layered it over 4 of the same die cut from Lemon Chiffon cardstock. The “Sending You,” is from MFT’s Full of Sunshine, stamped in Altenew’s Jet Black in. I added a Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardbase to finish off the card. Oh, and I used gold glitter Nuvo drops for the dot on the i. It’s so hard to keep track of those tiny die cuts!

My next card features Nuvo Glitter paste, my new best friend!

I blended Distress ink in three different colors onto watercolor paper (I can’t remember the colors, maybe Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry). Then I added Moonstone Glitter paste with MFT’s Geometric Stars stencil. This is another easy stencil technique that has dazzling results. This panel didn’t turn out quiet like I had planned, so I decided to cut it in half. Here is the pink/purple half.

I decided to add the stenciled panel to a white card panel with fun foam, and added a large sentiment. This is hooray from Concord and 9th. I die cut the sentiment from Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock and Gina K’s Moonlit Fog. I used the Moonlit fog as a shadow and glued the two together, slightly offset.

I added the sentiment to the glitter paste background with strong liquid glue. Then I added “It’s your Birthday,” stamped in Altenew Jet Black ink. The sub sentiment is from Mama Elephant’s Dragon Wishes, with part of the sentiment masked off.

The card base is Gina K Design’s Plum Punch, as is the matching envelope. I added some clear Confetti sequins to finish off the card. I love how the Plum Punch is such a close match to the stenciled piece. And, I still have the blue half to play with!

Thanks for stopping by and spending some of your holiday with me!

Nicole

Making Cards · New Products

New Products: Concord & 9th City Stacks

July 2, 2018July 1, 2018 curlesuecardsLeave a comment

Happy Monday and welcome back! I had a very productive weekend, after last weekend’s drought. It’s tough for me, because I’m torn between making cards and doing home improvement projects. This weekend, crafting won! The only downside is that I didn’t have blog post in mind when I was making cards, so I’m all over the place!

I did end up with a couple of cards using the new City Stacks from Concord and 9th. You will also get another peek at the Star Turnabout die.

The first card I’m sharing was made for a friend’s birthday. This friend is someone I met online, and lives in Illinois. I thought this set was perfect for him!

This card was put together a little clumsily. It’s not quiet a tri-fold card. Since I wanted to watercolor the images, I used some watercolor paper that came with my Faber-Castle Watercolor pencils. I folded the paper in half, and used the house border die to cut the front of my card. Then I stamped the houses with Versafine Onyx ink and embossed it with clear powder.

Next I stamped and embossed the trees on the inside the same way. I used Distress Markers to watercolor both the trees and the houses. Then I stamped the sentiment from the set on the front of the card. I used Happy Birthday stamp that I received from Lawn Fawn for my birthday on the inside.

To create the stars, I used the Star Turnabout die, and did some partial die cutting for the sky. Then I layered MFT’s Silver Sparkle cardstock behind the stars. Since the watercolor paper was so thin, I added a single layers of MFT Kraft cardstock to give the card stability.

For my next card, I used one of the watercolor backgrounds that I made for the 30 Day Coloring Challenge with Nuvo Shimmer powers, which I had shared on Instagram. This one was made specifically to use with the Star Turnabout die.

I started by die cutting the turnabout four times. It’s super easy to line up with the star windows in the middle of the die. I again layered MFT Silver Sparkle cardstock behind the die cut panel.

I stamped the houses on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock with Hero Arts Intense Black ink and colored them with Copic markers. Then I used the matching die to cut them out.

I added the houses to the sky background with Scor-Tape, and added the sentiment from the City Stacks set. I added the “Good friends are like starts…” sentiment to the inside of the card. I think it goes so well with the stars. I also added Glossy Accents to the windows, just for fun.

I really like this set, and will definitely be getting a lot of use out of it. I haven’t even used the city skyline yet, but with my daughter off to New York, it will make an appearance soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nicole