GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Hello & Thanks w/Norine Borys

Hello friends, this is Norine Borys and I’m very happy to be back with you again today for a guest post. I have 3 cards to share with you, because as usual, I couldn’t stop at just one stamp set or card design. I stamped all of today’s cards onto Strathmore Bristol smooth card stock and colored them with Distress Markers and a water brush.

The first two cards are a variation of each other, one being a vertical design and the other a horizontal card. I stamped the images for each with the MISTI so that I could get the same placement for each one.

For both cards, I stamped with Versamark Ink and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I began by stamping the Fierce & Fabulous sentiment, but I wanted to simplify the sentiment by letting it just say “you are fabulous”. I did this by placing my stamp in the MISTI, then covering the “fierce” and “amazing” with two strips of tape, inking up the rest of the stamp, removing the tape and then stamping on the card stock and heat embossing. Next, I put the card stock back in the MISTI and stamped again with two of the floral sets from the Hello & Thanks stamp set again, positioning them to fit the arrangement of the word “fabulous”.

For the card above, I colored the flowers and leaves with some of the same colors as I used on the first card I shared. I used a water brush to blend and move the color, and shared some of that color to blend into the background behind the flowers and the sentiment words and finished off with some water brushed ink splatters. I used a stitched rectangle die to cut out the card panel and popped it up onto a card front covered with a couple of coordinating patterned papers.

For the second card, I left a few of the flowers white, lightly shading them with some grey ink so it didn’t look like I just forgot to color them (grin), and color-painted the leaves blooms and background as I did above. I die cut this panel smaller and aligned it on a portrait oriented card front with a coordinating cardstock mat and some striped patterned paper. Once again, some Tonic Studio Nuvo Drops complete these cards.

The last card I'm sharing today, again uses the Hello & Thanks stamp set, but this time I've paired it with the Tossed Florals stamp set.

The background is stamped all over with the Tossed Florals stamp using Versafine Onyx Black ink and the focal image is a combination of images masked and built with the Hello & Thanks stamp set, the teacup, saucer, one of the floral bouquets and the “hello” sentiment.

I used the same colors of markers for the teacup image as I’d used for the background to keep everything cohesive, and once colored (painted?) and dry, I splattered with the same colors by scribbling onto my splat mat and picking up the color with a very wet paint brush and tapping lightly above the paper to rain down tiny sprinkle dots. Then I stamped the sentiment over top and heat embossed with clear embossing powder to help it stand out. I die cut the focal image with a stitched square die and matted it with a grey card stock that matched my ink color and popped that up with some dimensional foam tape. A few Tonic Nuvo Drops in silver grey complete this card.

Thanks for stopping by today and thank you to WPlus9 for the invitation to be a guest designer today! I always love playing with WPlus9 product and I’m delighted to be able to share that with you! If you’d like to see more of what I do, you can find me at www.thevelvetlemon.com or on Instagram: @norinehope. Have a wonderful day!

Norine

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Watercolor Markers w/Carissa Wiley

Hi everyone! It’s Carissa Wiley here with you today. I have a fun project to share with you featuring the easiest watercolor ever, using water-based makers.

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

Honestly, I like to refer to this as the lazy watercolor method.

I think a lot of times as crafters, we over think things. We think things have to be complicated or time consuming to get great results. I fall in to this trap a lot and I have to remind myself that sometimes simplicity is best for me….even when it comes to techniques.

I don’t want to downplay the beautiful results that you get with traditional watercolor methods…they are absolutely stunning. But if that is something that is intimidating to you, I want to show you that you can still achieve beautiful results with simple techniques.

This card features just a few supplies, including the Hello And Thanks stamps and dies, and Citrus Background Builders stamps from WPlus9 - linked at the end of this post. I added a simple banner from the Bountiful Blooms die set to ground my sentiment.

I’ll walk you through the creation of this card in today’s video tutorial, so be sure to check that out. I’ll talk you through how I created beautiful watercolor images with just a couple water-based markers and a brush. If you want to watch this video in HD on my YouTube channel, click HERE. While you’re there, don’t forget to hit that thumbs up, subscribe and turn on the notifications.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed this project. Until next time, I hope you have a fabulous day!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 Bountiful Blooms Die Shop at: WP9	Citrus Background Builder Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9

Love You w/Kara

Hey guys! Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I needed a card for my husband, Ryan. This card mixes a ton of amazing stamp sets!

I started by stamping the large 'love you' sentiment from Biggest Fan in the center of a white card panel. I positioned it slightly closer to the top because I knew I wanted to accent the bottom with a banner and other details. This way the entire design is centered.

I used the banner from Autumn Blessings. It has a cool tattoo like vibe that I think works really well with the 'love you' font. On it I stamped the 'there's no one else like you' sentiment from No One Else. Again, I think this font really works well with the design.

Using my Copic markers I colored flowers from Hello & Thanks to place behind the banner. On top of the banner I placed a butterfly from Butterfly Mandala. Since the butterfly was placed on the right I accented the left of the design with a few hearts from Biggest Fan to balance it all out.

I just love how these classic images, when used together with a few more modern styles, take on a much more updated look.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Black Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 4 Bar Stitched Rectangles Die Shop at: WP9	Biggest Fan Shop at: WP9
Autumn Blessings Shop at: WP9	Autumn Blessings Die Shop at: WP9	Butterfly Mandala Shop at: WP9	Butterfly Mandala Die Shop at: WP9
Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9

Beautiful Birthday Girl w/Kara ft. HELLO & THANKS

Hello! I'm back again with a clean and simple card design that reminds me of a Victorian style photo frame. A lot of the detail is created with texture from some of my favorite dies. Brightly colored florals accentuate the focal point and make it pop. With the help of the many customizable sentiment stamp sets, this is a design that can be used for any occasion.

To begin creating the 'frame' I die cut a piece of white cardstock using the Sunshine Layers Die, a real classic. I placed the large oval die, from the Basic Labels Die, in the center and ran it through my die cut machine again. Using a scrap of black cardstock, I die cut the oval once more in order to place behind the opening and add a shadow to the left side.

Again in black, I die cut the word 'beautiful' from the Beautiful Butterflies Die. I positioned the letters inside the oval window and adhered them to the card base beneath with some liquid adhesive.

To add that pop of color I used floral clusters from Hello & Thanks colored with Copic markers. I added a hint of shimmer to the flowers with a clear Wink Of Stella pen before adhering them around the oval opening with dimensional adhesive.

Finally, I added the secondary sentiment to the inside using the Hand Lettered Hello stamp set. This is when you can really customize the card to your recipient and the occasion. I love being able to create a card in advance and then decide later how I'll use it.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Black Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Basic Labels Die Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Sunshine Layers Die Shop at: WP9
Beautiful Butterflies Die Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9	Hand Lettered Hello Shop at: WP9

Creating Flower Wreaths w/Joni Two Ways

Floral stamps are so versatile, especially if they include individual blooms or smaller clusters. You can build bouquets, use them separately, create all over patterns, or create wreaths.

For today's projects, you can easily use any flower stamps and dies you already have on hand. For my first project, I've used the Modern Petunias stamps and dies. And for the sentiment I used the Birthday Wishes stamp set.

To begin, I used Wplus9 Nautical Navy cardstock, distressed it with Distress Oxide Ink in Peacock Feathers around the card and left the middle card dark. Because the Distress Oxide Inks have both dye and pigment ink properties, I was able to "brighten" up the edges of the darker cardstock with the lighter color. I then splattered it with water and Gansi Tambi Starry Colors.

I colored the flower images with Copic markers, then die-cut them using their matching dies.

Next, I added some Pretty Pink Posh Jewels in Pearl White Jewels. To finish off the card, I heat embossed the sentiment "hope your birthday is extra" in white on black cardstock, fussy cut it out, and adhered it using foam tape.

For my next project, I used the Hello & Thanks stamps and dies. This set doesn't have individual flowers, but it does have several smaller clusters of flowers that can also be combined to create a wreath.

I first distressed the white card panel with Distress Oxide Inks in Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade, then splattered it with water.

Next, I stamped the images on white cardstock in black ink. Again, I used Copic markers to color them and then die-cut each image using their matching dies.

For the sentiment, I used the larger "thanks" included in the same stamp set, and heat embossed it in Aqua Tinsel. For the smaller sub-sentiment, I used white heat embossing on a black strip of cardstock.

To really kick it up a notch, I added some Diamond Stickles selectively on some of the flowers and leaves.

Finally, I added some Pretty Pink Posh Ivory Jewels for added interest to finish off the card.

I hope you guys enjoyed, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of the featured Wplus9 supplies used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase.

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Black Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Birthday Wishes Shop at: WP9	Hello & Thanks Shop at: WP9
Hello & Thanks Die Shop at: WP9	Modern Petunias Shop at: WP9	Modern Petunias Die Shop at: WP9