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!

Happy (b)Earth Day!

My friend Chris was born on Earth Day - the perfect excuse for using Lawn Fawn's Wish You Were Here set!

I started by stamping and die-cutting the globe, heart, and letters from Owen's ABCs. Once dry, I colored in the globe with watercolor pencils and used a waterbrush to watercolor the image. I wanted the end result to look like the speech bubble was coming out of the globe, so I used the die-cut globe to determine my placement for the speech bubble before die-cutting.

The Paper Source Superfine White folded card's top fold was cut with the speech bubble border, and a corresponding Paper Source Lake blue coverweight notecard was cut with the same border, and the negative space was mounted on the inside of the card. The negative space shows when the card is shut, too, as the speech bubble is now the only part of the card that opens (a technique I borrowed from the amazing Jennifer McGuire!)!

The sentiment was created first by stamping earth using quinn's ABCs with versamark ink and heat-embossing it with orange powder from Paper Source. I then added the other words from Let's Bokeh and the arrow from Wish You Were Here with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink on the outside and inside of the card, and drew in the parenthesis on the inside.

After adhering the blue negative space to the inside fold of the card and laying out my pieces where they would go, I felt like it needed something more, so I stamped with the Argyle Backdrops image in Versamark Ink. I then finished the card by adding all of my die-cut elements with foam squares.

Happy Earth Day, y'all (and Happy Birthday, Chris!)!

PS- Lawn Fawn is also celebrating Earth Day today with a 15% off sale on some Earth-themed items.

Buffalo Check Birthday!

One of my best friends turned 30 recently, and is obsessed with buffalo check, so of course, I had to make her a card with the pattern!

I taped off the rectangle on the card with blue painter's tape before using a wide paintbrush with red and black watercolors to create the background. I wanted to ensure the background would pop so I went with a black-and-white skunk from Stinkin' Cute instead of a more colorful creature, and decided to use glitter paper to die-cut the heart it was holding, since my friend loves a little bling! I added a black-and-white party hat from Hats Off to You, sticking with the simple B&W theme from my skunk. The sentiment is from Avery Elle's Party Animal.






My friend is also a big fan of social media and hashtags, so I made sure to incorporate this with the #awesome images inside the card, die-cut and popped up with foam squares, placed around the curvy sentiment from Pizza My Heart. I also kept up the hashtag fun with the envelope liner, using a # stamp from Paper Source. This stamp is my newest obsession for making backgrounds for cards and signs, envelope liners, and I'm sure some wrapping paper soon! The card and liner are from superfine white text-weight Paper Source paper, and the envelope is Paper Source persimmon.

If/when I make another card with the buffalo check background, I'll probably either make a larger card and/or make the checks a little smaller, so there's more of the pattern to see. (I'll also work on my taping and tape-removal, as you can see that the ink bled slightly and the paper ripped a little...)

Love You S'more Birthday Card!

My nephew's birthday is today, so for his card I wanted to make use of the Lawn Fawn Love You S'more stamp set as well, and create a fun woodsy-themed card.

I first created my card background with espresso ink and the fir stamps from Lawn Fawn's Deck the Halls set. I stamped and heat-embossed the fun images from Love You S'more, and colored in the s'more (inside the card) and the marshmallow with watercolor pencils. I used the coordinating dies to cut out the images, using the largest flame die with Poppy Paper Source paper, and then stamped one of the smiles from Pizza My Heart.

I adhered the various images using 3M foam tape on the outside of the card before working on the sentiment inside.

For the sentiment, I created a hybrid sentiment by using elements from two sets. I spaced these out on a stamp block and then removed the large S'MORE before stamping and embossing with espresso ink and clear embossing powder. (For the sentiment, I used HAVE from Sweet Smiles and the rest came from Love You S'more). I then stamped S'MORE with VersaMark ink and embossed using both a bright orange and a yellow embossing powder from Paper Source, which gave a fun finish. I then added the s'more to the inside with a foam square to finish off the inside.

The front of the card didn't quite look finished to me, so I decided to add the two strips of paper diagonally across the front. I had a scrap of Red Paper Source paper that had been stamped with the gingham background using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink that I paired with a solid Clover Paper Source paper to add to the card's front, which worked perfectly to finish out the card.

This card is being entered into the current Lawnscaping Challenge #126: Sweets.

Let's Toast!

For the current Lawnscaping Challenge (Sweets!), I decided to create a congrats card, and finally try out the Lawn Fawn scripty congrats die. I was wanting to find a use for the Perfectly Plaid and other patterned 6x6 papers, too, as I often create cards without patterned paper and wanted to challenge myself to use them for something other than my iPhone case!

I started this card by creating a card base from Superfine White Paper Source paper, then cutting the blue plaid sheet down to match the size. I found two corresponding green patterned papers to use for the grass, and die cut them with the Speech Bubble Border die to create the hills (one paper was sent to me from Lawn Fawn with an order a while back, and the other from a random assortment of 6x6 patterned paper packs that got jumbled together). I stamped Let's Toast! inside the card with Memento Tuxedo Black ink at this point, too. I then rounded the bottom corners of the card base and the patterned papers, and set them aside.

I stamped the fun images from Love You S'more in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Superfine White Paper Source paper, and colored in most of them with distress ink 'watercoloring' (with the exception of the marshmallows and s'more on the inside of the card, which I'd colored in with watercolor pencils), and stamped the brown sticks/logs stamps with espresso ink before die-cutting all of the images with the corresponding dies. I also used the smaller two flame dies to cut out the flames from Sunshine and Poppy Paper Source papers, as I wanted them to stand out a bit more. Lastly, I die-cut the scripty congrats four times - twice from white cardstock and once each from Clover and Sunshine Paper Source paper. I glued the congrats with the green on the bottom, whites in the middle, and yellow on top to give them dimension.

I then began adding the various elements using a tape runner for most of the elements, and using foam squares to pop up the elements that are raised. The green bird on top of scripty congrats and the S'more inside the card were popped up with 3M tape, as I wanted them to have less elevation than the scene at the bottom of the card.

This card is being entered into the current Lawnscaping Challenge #126: Sweets.

Thankful

One of my favorite Lawn Fawn sets is Blue Skies!

I made this simple card with the yellow splash of color for the Lawnscaping Challenge #125: Color Splash! I lightly colored in the larger balloon with watercolor pencils before die-cutting it, and adhered it to the card with foam squares. I used Butter yellow embossing powder from Paper Source on the sentiment, and trimmed the black paper into a flag before adhering with a tape runner.

I'm really enjoying this challenge, and excited to work on a few more cards using this technique!

Fall Leaves Pop-Up Thank You Cards

So at my side hustle at Paper Source Austin, I have the fantastic opportunity to teach crafting workshops, thus learning fun crafting techniques in the process. This pairs my passion of art and creativity with my passion for teaching and learning - thus, the perfect side gig for me! :)

At our recent Fall Cards Workshop, we created some beautiful and fun pop-up cards using the our pre-cut Small Paper Leaves packs. One card featured a pennant-style banner that read "FALL" with some leaves hanging from either end. The other had three of the maple leaves attached together and popping up when the card is opened.  I loved both so much, and wanted to use the maple leaf idea in some 4-bar Wedding Shower thank you cards.

A video posted by Paper Source Austin (@papersourceaustin) on Sep 10, 2015 at 4:21pm PDT

I started by masking a border on the front of the cards with masking tape, then using distress inks with water to create my 'watercolor' effect, simply painting them on with a wide brush. I did all three cards simultaneously and had them side-by-side, which made it easy to drag the ink across the cards and masking tape between them, which allowed me to have very similar finishes. The brush I was using had firm bristles, which created a fun bit of splattering on the cards as the bristles brushed over the masking tape, so that added more fun dimension. I heat set these briefly, then let them completely air drive overnight before embossing the beautiful scripted Thank You Handwritten rubber stamp with versamark ink and Gold Superfine Detail Embossing Powder.

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While the ink was drying, I cut leaves using my Silhouette Cameo from Persimmon, Curry, and Papaya coverstock papers (although I'd recommend using text-weight papers instead - I just didn't have any handy!). You don't have to have a Cameo for this project, since Paper Source sells the pre-cut leaf packs in-store (which are text weight! Yay!)! I took one of each color, and determined the order in which I wanted the leaves on the inside of the card (in this case, I alternated the order so that each card had a different order). Then, I took the middle leaf and used a ruler and bone folder to create a score line down the middle of the leaf. I then took the leaf that would show on the left side of the card, and made one score line that extended diagonally on the RIGHT side of the leaf from one ridge of the leaf to the stem of the leaf, and another parallel to this one about a quarter inch beside it. I repeated this with the right leaf and mirrored the score lines so they'd be on the LEFT side of the leaf.

Once you crease these score lines, you end up with a leaf that kind of curls up over onto itself. I adhered the smaller portion of this leaf curling up over onto itself to the back of the middle leaf (they should match up perfectly), and did the same with the other side, so that all three were attached together. The end result is a grouping of three leaves glued together. I took this grouping and placed six foam squares (three on each of the outer leaves), as shown in the picture, without removing the covers so the adhesive wasn't yet exposed. To install, I opened the card and lined up the score line on the middle leaf with the card's fold, then removed the three foam square covers for the leaf that would be on the RIGHT side of the card, and adhered it to the inside panel. To adhere the other side, I removed the covers to expose the adhesive on the LEFT side leaf, and then I CLOSED THE CARD on top of the leaves instead of simply sticking the leaf to the left side of the card. This insures that the leaves and card will open simultaneously when you open the card.

See? SO SIMPLE! (Okay, maybe not so simple - but it's honestly not hard to learn once you've completed one card) While my simple write-up is possibly confusing and missing some potentially helpful pictures, I hope it was helpful! I'd much rather teach it to you in person - so come check out a workshop sometime! :)

Watercolor Sugar Skull Birthday Card

I put together this Dia de los Muertos-inspired birthday card for my good friend KC, using two of my FAVORITE stamps from Paper Source: the sugar skull stamp  and the Marquee Happy Birthday stamp, and using the arrows from Lawn Fawn's Blue Skies stamp set and the frame from Sweater Weather. I used a watercolor technique with Tim Holtz Distress Inks to color in the stamped images, and also to get these vibrant background stripes, using washi tape to mask. I used Gelly Roll moonlight gel roller pens to fill in the 'lights' on the sentiment (one of my favorite tricks!), which added a neon kick to compliment the watercolor background lines.

I learned the fun masking watercolor technique from this fantastic video by Nicole on Lawn Fawn's blog!  I've really been enjoying watching these videos and picking up tips and tricks to enhance my paper-crafting skills!

Inside, I practiced my handlettering with le pens, and went over her name with a Gelly Roll Clear Star gel pen.

For the envelope, I used versamark ink with Quinn's lowercase letters for the sentiment, and added the Paper Source piñata stamp to finish it off.

I'm submitting this watercolor birthday card as an entry into this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Watercolor on their blog!

Happy Birthday, KC! :)