Everyday Card using Watercolor Technique

Hey there! Tonight I was inspired to pull out some products/techniques I haven't used in awhile. Here is a card I made this evening using some oldies but goodies!

I began by choosing some nice solid image rubber stamps - in this case, Three Silhouettes by Hero Arts. I mixed some inks (wild honey, milled lavender and victorian velvet) with some water from a mini mister. I stamped all three stamps in a random pattern onto smooth white cardstock cut to 3.75 x 5.25". Once I covered the entire paper, I used a paintbrush to splatter the  three ink mixtures from my craft mat. When I was finished, it looked like this:

I used an ink blending tool to cover the entire paper with antique linen distress ink. I LOVE the look of this ink blended over the light lavender color!

Next, to add the dramatic flair I wanted to acheive, I pulled some HUGE Heidi Swapp flowers out of my stash. I've had them for awhile - checked the copyright date to find 2002. :) About time I put them to use! Though I was seeking drama, the flower was actually TOO large to fit, so I trimmed it in have with some precision scissors. I adhered it down smoothly using my ATG. The flower was the perfect addition to my feminine card...it's so fun pulling out older products and putting them to use! I added some Rock Candy distress stickles to the petals for a muted sparkle.

On top of the flower I wanted a sentiment. I chose "lovely" from Hero Arts' Heyday Sentiments. I stamped it  on white cardstock using Jenni Bowlin's Malted Milk ink. I trimmed it into a half banner and blended some more antique linen ink on top. Finally, I used some Buttercup Liquid Pearls to make random and various sized pearls around the sentiment and center of the flower.

I had a lot of fun working with the watercolor technique I hadn't tried in awhile, and some products that had gotten dusty. Thank you so much for reading along with me!

Happy crafting! I hope you create something beautiful today.
xoxo
Emily

Vintage Lady Thank You Card {Hero Arts + Lawn Fawn}

Hello there! Here is a thank-you card I put together last night. My mom's coworker sent me a sweet Vera Bradley (one of my favorite things!) key fob and it completely brightened my week. 

I began with a pre-cut, pre-scored kraft A2-sized card. I stamped a Hero Arts wood mount stamp* using my Stamp-a-ma-jig and Memento Rich Cocoa ink. The stamp-a-ma-jig made it super easy to line up the lady just as I wanted her.

Next I used the same ink to stamp some Lawn Fawn stamps onto Sweet Blush cardstock. The banner is from Home Sweet Home, and the sentiment is a freebie that Lawn Fawn sent to me when I ordered from them. (!) I cut out the banner using my Cutterbee scissors and popped it up on foam adhesive.

Finally, I wrapped the card length-wise with 3-4 layers of pink Doodlebug baker's twine. The whole process was stress-free, fun, and I love the final look. Hurray! I love when that happens. :)

Thanks SO much for reading. Please comment if you have any questions or requests.

xoxo,

Emily

* I don't know the actual name of this stamp. It is by Hero Arts, and is a wood mount stamp. The image of the lady in it is also included in a HA Acrylic set, called "Sew Stylish".

Merry Christmas!

Hi there! Merry Christmas Eve! I got to work early on some Christmas thank-you cards -- here is a video and a few pictures.

Here's another card -- a regular sized one to pop in the mail, with many of the same features.

MATERIALS USED:

Cricut/Winter Lace Cartridge (Provo Craft)

Cuttlebug/Snowflake Embossing Folder (Provo Craft)

Various cardstocks (Bazzill Basics & Core'dinations)

Adhesive gemstones (Recollections)

Foam Adhesive (Paper Studio)

Pumice Stone ink (Ranger)

Classic sentiment clear stamps (Hero Arts)

1/4" Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Crystal Stickles (Ranger)

Patterned paper scraps

ATG (Scotch)

Thank you so much for reading/watching. May you all have a blessed Christmas with warmth and loved ones.

Lots of Christmas love,

Emily

some updates :)

Hello my bloggy friends! I hope everyone is keeping warm in this blizzard that seems to be sweeping the nation. It's a mess here! I had the flu last week, and immediately following my recovery, I began my new job. :) I've been working LOTS, and loving it. Not much craft time (as in none), but good things come to those who wait..

During the new year, there was an amazing sale on cartridges at www.cricutmachine.com. (If you're not signed up already, you'll want to get their e-mails. ..Rumor has it that this, along with other sites and eBay accounts are run by ProvoCraft. This may seem sketchy, but...I'm not sure I care, haha. I have ordered from all 3 rumored sellers, each time with great success.) At any rate, there were loads of cartridges for $14.95, so I got 3. :) One of these was Happily Ever After. WHAT?!, you may be saying, how did Emily, the world's biggest Cinderella fan not have the cartridge where Cinderella and Cricut collide? The answer is I do not know. But I have it now. ;) Of course, I couldn't wait to play, so during a mini-visit to Archiver's I picked up the bazzill colors I would need to create the princess, Gus, and Jaq.

loooove this cardstock!

These are not, I repeat, not easy! But very fun if you have the time. The results are adorable, and I can't wait to make projects out of these. :)

I also got a new HA stamp set, Just My Type, that has been on my wishlist - this vintage typewriter comes with 3 type font phrases that fit in the page space. Love!

Also got a fun tutorial for these hearts!! Hellllo, valentines for my students! :)

I didn't exactly *JUST* go to Archivers... :) This is how we spent our Saturday:

Sadly, we did not bring much luck to the COLTS with our mere presence. But we had a BLAST! :)

Thanks to my new Followers - I'm so happy to have you! :)

xoxo

Emily

Back in business!

After begrudgingly dropping some cash on a replacement camera charger, I am back in business. At the end of the day I decided the pictures I missed out on taking (including CHRISTMAS! Grr..) were worth more than the charger costs.

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Since my family members aren't craft-obsessed like I am, some of them decided to give me gift cards and so on to purchase my own craft gifts this Christmas. They know how happy it makes me - so sweet. I used them to get supplies for my next project: December Daily. Woo hoo!

I'm currently working on Christmas thank-you notes. So fun! I began by making a batch of identicals for the students in my class - they presented me with such sweet things the day before break. The excitement in children that young, about giving a gift to someone else, really shows the spirit of Christmas. What a gift in itself. I wanted to make them some really cute thank-you's that would be appropriate for both the little ones as well as their parents! I've had a lot of fun! In doing these, I was able to utilize the cartridges I got for Christmas. :-D

* kraft, pink, black cardstocks by the paper studio

* stickles
* border punch (Sorry, I do not know the name!)

* Mary Engelbreit snowflake stamps, white embossed.
* Simple Sentiments by Hero Arts, Archival Ink

This one is for someone else:

* kraft, brown, red, and cream cardstocks by the paper studio

* ric rac stamp by stampendous, white embossed

* glossy accents

* seeing spots embossing folder

* Simple Sentiments by Hero Arts
* scrap from my stash

* Inkssentials white opaque pen (this did not show up well on the cream CS - not sure what I was thinking)

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And also..

These don't have an exact location yet, but my boyfriend got me a scoring tool for Christmas - sooo excited - and I have been popping these out like crazy. Love their pretty, sophisticated finished look!

I'd love to go on, now that I'm back with all my photos - but it's REALLY late! Thanks for sticking with me through the absence of my camera! :) Hope you're all having a lovely Thursday!

xoxo

Bon Voyage cards

As this school semester comes to an end, our school will say "see you soon" to 2 sweetheart students and their mom - they will be living in another country next term. They are special to me, and I'm making them cards before they go.

* This is a white 4x4 (fits A2 envelope!), with a grey 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" mat.

* The grey mat is stamped with Hero Arts Friend Definition in Milled Lavender, and the edges are ink blended with the same.

* The pearls in the upper corners are self-adhesive & lavender, from Recollections.

* The ribbon was sheer white, but I inked it with Dusty Concord. I hadn't yet done this with ribbon - love it!

* And last but not least, this chandelier, which I am in love with, is cut at 3" from the Summer in Paris cartridge. Cut out of DCWV paper from Pocket full of Posies stack.

^ Close-up of ribbon detail. I love this - I bet I will rarely use ribbon now, without inking it!

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2 of these -- one for each girl:

* This is a white 4x4. The bottom is punched with a fiskars border punch (sorry, I don't know the name).

* The rainbow heart and all its layers are cut from the Create a Critter cartridge, at 2.5" (+ shadow). Glitter paper is DCWV.

* Coordinating eyelets are The Paper Studio and I love them.

* Purple scrap inside card to emphasize border punch, and edges are blended with Tumbled Glass.

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I'd like to take a sec to talk about the cartridges I used for these cards, because they're 2 of my favorites.

First, Summer in Paris is one I bought back before I really got into using my Cricut. I think it was my third cart. ever - found it on sale at Archiver's. This cartridge is SO GORGEOUS, and semi- hard to find. All of the images are VERY intricate (so I wouldn't advise very small cuts). There are options for several 3d projects as well - this chandelier is one of them. The images are actually pretty versatile - there is a phone, hot air balloon, male & female silhouettes, bike, car, perfume, phrases, several Parisian landmarks, and more. It's not everyone's style, but if it's yours, I'd get it while you can. I love mine! You can read more and see the images here.

Second, how about that Create a Critter? This is BY FAR my favorite cart of my collection. It is filled with adorable animals, phrases, accesories and more. The card I've made here shows that there is a lot more than just critter layers on it. In fact, I love this cartridge so much, I'm tempted to write Provo Craft and suggest/ask if they have thought of coming out with a second one. I'm just sayin', if they can make a second Paper Dolls, there are tons more critters they could give us to create...You know it would sell like hot cakes.

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I want to give a big friendly THANK YOU to Sammye Jo at 62 Cards. She put a link of my blog on hers to get some followers for me. :) She does the most beautiful work - and right now she's doing 12 Days of Giveaways! You've gotta see her. :)

Gotta get to work now. Many thanks for reading!!

xoxo

Fun Tuesday Things.

Check out this fun birdcage I made! I love the shabby look it turned out with (shocking, I know).

- Basic cream, lt. blue, teal, and kraft cardstocks.
- Aqua and Silver paint (I used a very light hand!)
- Rock Candy <3>
I made this with my new Cricut cartridge, Straight from the Nest – this was one of my Black Friday gifts to myself. :) It was one I hadn’t heard of before; I think once upon a time it was an HSN exclusive. It’s one of those that at first glance, looks pretty basic, but if you take a closer look it’s got lots of fun functions on the dedicated buttons. Ribbon Sliders, Corners, and more. I’ve been having fun experimenting with it. I also used it to make these Christmas accents for my December Daily album I’m working on:

Speaking of December Daily – what a fun idea! I first read about this in BHG Scrapbooks Etc. The whole idea of it is a low-stress way to create a keepsake album that displays all your holiday traditions for the year. The key to the low stress, as I understand it, is the fact that you are supposed to create the album pre-December 1st, so that you’re not all caught up in the pressure of coordinating everything. Haha, well…I didn’t discover the wonderful idea of December Daily until after Thanksgiving, so, I am just recording my thoughts each day, and I’ll make them into a project later. It’s not really my style to dive into something without a plan, so this is working out. I am making some embellishments as I go. Fun. :)

Amazing sale right now at CRICUT MACHINE. Free shipping on all orders, and amazing prices. I got Everyday Paperdolls (for a Christmas gift) for $21.95 total. Gadzooks!

Things I’m Loving:
* Tim Holtz’ 12 Tags of Christmas. I’ve never seen so much inspiration packed into such a short amount of time! Tons of fun ideas there to try. :)
* The DCWV package I got from HSN today. Umm - $45 worth of gorgeous paper for 10 bucks. Yes.
* My cricut Tool Kit. At first glance I thought it was another ploy for money – but as it turns out, those gadgets all really do serve a purpose!
* My recent Hero Arts clings!!...

GLEE Thoughts:
Well, I love Christmas, and I love Glee. It’s no surprise that the combination of the 2 left me giddy. I have no complaints – although I’m still not happy with the Finchel storyline. A smirk in her direction at the very end, while they’re huddled around the Christmas tree? That doesn’t cut it! However, love the Brittany/Santa plot, and in keeping with tradition, Artie’s Christmas gift and Becky’s “Christmas came anyway” made me burst into tears.

And just so everyone knows...it's seven degrees outside right now. Seven.

xoxoxxoo