8 Days of Holiday Cards! Day 7.1 - Another Inky Sky Background!

Okay y'all, I must admit I had so much fun with the Winter Owl, but wasn't as pleased with my sky as I would have liked, so I gave it a second go. I followed the same process for making the Leafy Tree Backdrop and Stitched Hillside scene, but this time decided to color in my lights on the tree with only red and 'white' (which was actually white mixed with yellow), colored in with watercolor pencils, and finished with adding some glitter with a clear glitter pen on top for some shine and sparkle! :)

The background on my previous card had a more even green ombre tone to it, which was nice but didn't look as much like the sky as I wanted it to. This time, I decided to use some purple and blue distress inks blended along the card base, and added the additional step of letting some water droplets (sprayed from a spray bottle) sit on the inks for a bit, then dabbing off the water with a paper towel. I LOVE this technique, as it lifts color from the areas that were wet, giving more dimension to the sky! I finished the sky by stamping the snow from the Snow Cool set with the MISTI tool, using Frost White Pigment Ink and stamping it twice to get my desired look. I added the Santa (made from Gnome Sweet Gnome and Hats Off to You) holding his latte (a clear favorite of mine, from Love You a Latte!) with foam squares for dimension, and was finished with the card, lickety-split! :)

I opted not to use a sentiment on the outside of the card, and used the Warm Wishes from the Love You a Latte set on the inside (but forgot to document with photo evidence!).

I prefer this one to the Winter Owl because there's more contrast in the background and more interest with the water droplet technique, and I loved the red and white lights instead of full color. Both will be sent, though - so that's good! :)

This post is being submitted into the Lawnscaping Challenge #143: Let it Snow!

8 Days of Holiday Cards! Day 4: Santa's Cheers

Welcome Back! Today, I have a fun new technique to EASILY ground your stamped and die-cut images, without having to make an elaborate scene!

When I get new sets, I often search through Pinterest, Lawn Fawn's blog, Flickr groups, Lawnscaping's blog, etc., to find fun ideas for using each set. I'll also stamp and die-cut multiple images, so I have them ready to go when making cards later. I followed this same process with the Hats Off to You and Gnome Sweet Gnome sets, ultimately planning on pairing a santa hat on the gnome to make him Jolly Old St. Nicholas, and, of course, giving him a giant latte to prepare him for his Christmas Eve shenanigans! :) I had a large number of these Santas ready to go, without an idea of what the scene should look like, and then I found an awesome card from another Lawn Fawn fanatic, using a simple technique that I knew would work perfectly with this card!

For the background of this card, I simply used a strip of post-it note tape across the card, and blended Distress Ink with an ink blender up from the post-it note tape line. This makes the line darker closer to the tape line, and lighter as you go up so it eventually fades into the card, giving the impression of a wall behind the die-cut image and a floor below. SUPER SIMPLE, y'all - and makes for a stunning pop of color! I stamped the sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, being careful to place it above where the latte would end up so that it has the steam effect. I finished the card by mounting the die cut images with foam squares.

I liked the end result a lot and repeated it for a few cards, but wanted to change it up a bit and use the Cheers sentiment from the Let's Bokeh set. I find that I use the individual words in this set all the time for all different types of projects, and I love the scripted font for the Cheers sentiment specifically. Because it doesn't have the same steam-like effect of the other sentiment, I decided to use it below the images on these additional cards. I was definitely pleased with the results!

Because I loved this ink blended background technique so much, I decided to try it again with another card, and reverse the direction of the blending so it went down instead of up. I used some fun pups from the Lawn Fawn Happy Howlidays limited edition Stamptember set made for Simon Says Stamp, which happen to look like our dog, Penny. :) All of the images in the card below were stamped on watercolor paper and colored with either watercolor pencils or watercolor distress ink. The Santa Paws part of the sentiment was stamped first with red ink, but I didn't like it as much and decided to stamp over it with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink afterward, which unintentionally created the halo effect, so I just went with it. :) All of the cards shown today were on A2 Paper Source Superfine White folded cards.

8 Days of Holiday Cards! - Day 2: Buffalo Check Watercolor

For Day 2 of my 8 Days of Holiday Cards, I'm sharing a buffalo check-inspired card! I masked a rectangle on my A2 Paper Source Superfine White Folded Notecard using post-it note tape, and painted in the watercolor lines for the Buffalo Check background with a wide brush. I die-cut a Tag, You're It gift tag using the Lawn Fawn die, and added a Paper Source Superfine Soft White ribbon to the end. Using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, I stamped the mug and sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Love You a Latte set, then colored it in with Prismacolor colored pencils. I mounted this to my card with foam squares, and was done! SUPER fast and simple, and very easy to replicate!

8 Days of Holiday Cards! - Day 1: Yeti It's Cold Outside

December 1st is finally here, and I'm excited to share some of my 2016 holiday card designs! Each year, I begin making my cards in July (to celebrate Christmas in July, obviously!). I typically start with taking inspiration from some fantastic ideas I've found online from others who have the same or similar papercrafting supplies, and then as I play with my supplies, find my own creations. The cards I'll be showcasing are more from my own designs and imagination. :)

My first card to share made use of the Lawn Fawn Yeti Set Snow set. I'd wanted the set for a few years, and finally got around to buying it this past year, with plans to use it for my holiday cards.

I started by making the scene you'd see through the round 'window', beginning with the Forest Border panel on Paper Source Superfine White cardstock and layering it on top of the Stitched Hillside Border panel (with Paper Source Paper Bag cardstock for the mountains and the same Paper Source Superfine White  for the snowcaps), and adding the light blue plaid from the 6x6 Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Summer pack for the sky. I also ran a piece of Paper Source Spruce coverweight paper through my Evolution die cut machine to make the stitched circle frame for my round window border. After adhering the panels for my scene together with my tape runner, I ran them through my diecut machine with a circle die that matched the same size as my stitched circle frame die. I finished the window by adding the stitched circle frame on top.

On another piece of Paper Source Pure White coverweight paper, I stamped the yeti and his ear muffs/headphones with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, then colored him in with colored pencils and used the coordinating Lawn Cuts dies to cut him out. I laid all of my elements on my card front to determine my preferred placement, and then stamped the music notes and the sentiment directly onto the Paper Source Superfine White A2 Folded Notecard. I scattered some foam squares around the back of my window scene, and adhered it to the front of the card. I then used my tape runner to adhere the yeti, making sure to tuck him in behind the window so he's popping out.

I wanted another sentiment inside, and wanted to use my Lawn Fawn Love You a Latte set (since it's clearly my favorite...), so I stamped the hot chocolate mug, the happy holidays sentiment, and the mustachioed face with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink on the inside. I figured the round window could be in the kitchen, and the recipient of my card could be enjoying some hot cocoa while looking outside - completely unaware of the yeti in the distance. :)

Join me tomorrow for another card!

Caffeine-fueled iPhone Case Background

Now that we've moved on from Easter and the weather has taken a turn towards Summer heat, my phone was in need of a new custom case. This new case design was inspired by the awesome example from Nichol on the Lawn Fawn blog.

I first die-cut the letters from quinn's ABCs, and then stamped them (as suggested from Nichol's video!), which helped with positioning the stamps correctly. For the Love You a Latte stamps, I stamped first and then die-cut. Once I had all of the elements stamped and die-cut, I arranged them on the pre-cut phone background insert to determine placement, so I determine which colors I wanted to use on each element. I opted for a rainbow effect, using watercolor pencils to color each item in and then using a waterbrush for the watercoloring.

The watercolored letters and mugs were attached to the background insert with a tape runner to minimize the dimension since it has to fit between the case and the phone. I also added two of the stamped steam elements above the two open mugs. The background insert was cut from a 6x6 paper pad I'd purchased long ago. I chose the paper specifically for the ombre coffee color.

Here's the final product! I'm definitely going to keep this insert for awhile! :)

Lawnscaping Challenge #123: Sending Love (Entry 1)

02/18/16 Update: My card was selected as an Honorable Gnome for the Lawnscaping Challenge! :)

Original Post:
The current Lawnscaping Challenge is on one of my favorite topics! Being from Loveland, Colorado, I absolutely LOVE Valentine's Day and all things love!

I sent out two sets of Valentine's this year, the first using the Treat Yourself stamp set from Lawn Fawn, and using additional hearts from Love You a Latte and Baked With Love.

I used distress inks to add the watercolor 'splash' effect and to color in the heat-embossed ice cream stamps. I also stamped a variety of the hearts from the different sets on the background using a coral-pink pigment ink, and I embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder. I rounded opposite corners before mounting the panel to the Paper Source mint card (which is my favorite use of a corner rounder!), and added the die-cut images with foam squares.

This was my favorite, but I made a handful of these in a variety of colors.





Enjoy! <3

Happy National Coffee Day!

Today is National Coffee Day - clearly, one to celebrate! It's also a great excuse to make coffee-themed cards!

I've been inspired recently by Starbucks' images they're using to promote their Fall drinks. I love the use of white space surrounded by fall-themed items, and thought they would translate well to a single layer card - which works perfectly with the current Lawnscaping Challenge: One Layer Cards (http://lawnscaping.blogspot.com/2015/09/hi-there-welcome-back-to-another.html).

For these cards, I decided on one image I wanted in the forefront, then gradually added other images using a masking technique. For instance, in the card below, I first stamped the coffee bean, then heat set the image briefly to help the ink dry. I then stamped the coffee bean on a post-it note and cut it out (i.e.- created the mask), then stuck the mask over the coffee bean stamped on the card. Then, I stamped the coffee mug next, so that it partly overlapped the mask of the coffee bean. The effect of this is the opposite, as it makes it look like the mug is BEHIND the coffee bean after you remove the mask (but don't remove it just yet!). I then heat-set the mug image, created another mask of the mug stamp and stuck it on top of the card, being careful to keep the coffee bean mask on the page, and then stamped the next image so it overlapped the mug. 

I continued this process until I'd stamped all my images, and then carefully removed the masks. The end result is a single-layer card that has a lot of dimension without extra layers! Here are a few more Autumn-themed single-layer cards.

"So what's with all of the random falling leaves?" So glad you asked! Unfortunately, I wasn't super careful with my stamp blocks, so when I was stamping some of the images I ended up adding a small bit of ink where I didn't want it. My solution? Just add a leaf on top! This covered the mistake, and then I added a handful additional leaves to make it look more purposeful. Hooray for Happy Accidents! :)

I'vee also decided that I need to get a new black ink, as these mugs weren't as crisp as I wanted them. I think I'll snag a Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, as I see it used ALL THE TIME on the Lawn Fawn blog, and it clearly works well for others!

This last card (above) ended up being my favorite - no surprise there, with it being a Christmas-themed card! :) I can't WAIT for Starbucks' Red Cups and Holiday Beverages to return!

For the cards above, I used all Lawn Fawn stamps (of course!), pulling from the following sets: Love You a Latte, Deck the Halls, Sweater Weather, and Thank You Tags.

I'm also adding this to the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, which I just now discovered!