Love And Happy Wishes with Kara

Hey Guys! Kara here. A few weeks ago I shared one of the methods I use for getting my card making creativity going again, Stamp Set Roulette. Today I have another little tip that always helps me when I'm feeling a little stuck.

I knew I wanted to use all of the sentiments in the Unconditionally stamp set to create a background. The font combination is awesome and the sentiments are very sweet! After that I had no clue what I wanted to do with it or how I would turn it into a card.

For the background I started by arranging all of the stamps on a large acrylic block, including some of the heart stamps in the set. I inked everything up with some black ink and stamped in the center of the card front. I loved the look of the background but had no idea where I wanted to go from there. This brings me to my tip. We all have those left over die cuts that didn't make their way onto a previous project. Some are just cardstock, some have been stamped and some have even been colored. Grab that stash and start placing things on and around your project and I guarantee the ideas will start to come.

Even if you don't end up using the actual piece from your stash it will spur an idea and you can get to work.  In my case today the flowers, leaves and yellow bird came directly from my stash. There were some Whimsy Alphabet letters in there, but not these. I liked the look of the letters with the design, but I decided I wanted to spell 'love' and would need to die cut those letters. Because the Happy Wishes flowers were already stamped in Hayride and Mojito, my color scheme was decided for me. I sponged some Mojito ink onto my letters to match. I decided I wanted another little heart so I die cut one from the Love Notes die and colored that with Mojito as well.

Finally, I positioned all of my die cuts on the stamped background strategically highlighting certain sentiments.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope this tip is as helpful to you as it is to me!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of featured supplies (or equivalents) used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase. Please note: this list does contain some affiliate links.

Unconditionally	Happy Wishes	Happy Wishes Die	Whimsy Alpha Die
Birds & Branches Frame Die	Love Notes Die	Tsukineko VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad VF-82	Mojito Dye Ink
Hayride Dye Ink	White Cardstock	Black Cardstock	Simon Says Stamp STITCHED RECTANGLES Wafer Dies sssd111455 In Stitches

InLinkz.com

 

Faux Watercolor Floral Valentines with Yana

Hello friends! This is Yana.

For my today’s post I wanted to show 3 different ways to do quick background stamping for simple one- and multi-layer cards. I adore stamping patterns that cover the entire background of an A2 card front (or a bigger card), but sometimes, some patterns take too much time and effort to create. In cases like this, I like to fill just a part of the background with stamping.

I used the Watercolored Anemones stamp set for my background stamping. You might remember my very first post here where I shared a Mother’s Day card using this set plus a technique that shows how to get more out of your inks using a white pigment pad. That card, just like the 3 projects I am sharing today, is a good example of a partially filled background.

For my first project I covered the entire front of an A2 card with beautiful stamped flowers. I used several colors of ink for my stamping - Miami Spice, Sweet Nectar, Flamingo, Shell Pink, Little Piggy, Sweet Gelato, Sea Breeze, Ocean Drive and Coconut Husk. Instead of greens I used aqua for the leaves and instead of black I went with dark brown for the flower centers.

To create a second project, I re-stamped the same pattern but kept the bottom left corner free from any stamped impressions. If you look closely you’ll notice I didn’t “re-invent the wheel” but simply stamped a portion of an already existing pattern to create a background for the second project.

And finally for my third card I took one of the floral clusters and placed it in the bottom middle section of a card front. You can also have it at the top middle or on either sides for a clean and simple look.

All 3 of these projects use sentiments from the Valentine Wishes stamp set. I stamped them using black ink and added a die cut banner stamped in Sweet Gelato for a pop of hot pink.

To finish these I adhered clear droplets in two sizes scattering them around the front of each card.

Have fun stamping!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of featured supplies (or equivalents) used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase. Please note: this list does contain some affiliate links.

Wplus9 Watercolored Anemones Clear Stamps Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Valentine Wishes Stamp Set Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Valentine Wishes Designer Dies Shop at: WP9	WPlus9 Coconut Husk Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	WPlus9 Miami Spice Dye Ink Shop at: WP9
WPlus9 Sweet Nectar Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	WPlus9 Flamingo Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Shell Pink Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	WPlus9 Little Piggy Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	WPlus9 Sweet Gelato Dye Ink Shop at: WP9
Wplus9 Sea Breeze Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	WPlus9 Ocean Drive Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Spellbinders Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SC | AZ	Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink Pad Shop at: SSS	Simon Says Stamp Vellum Shop at: SSS
Neenah 80 Solar White Paper Pack 250 Sheets Shop at: SSS | AZ	Sakura Quickie Glue Pen Shop at: SSS | AZ	Pretty Pink Posh 4MM Clear Droplets (small) Shop at: SSS	Pretty Pink Posh 6MM Clear Droplets (medium) Shop at: SSS	Best Creation Big Squares 3D Foam Tape Adhesive Shop at: SSS | AZ
Martha Stewart Mini Scoring Board Shop at: SSS | SC | AZ	Be Creative Tape 3mm Sookwang Shop at: SSS

VIDEO: Hello Beautiful! Rainbow Watercolor with Kelly

Hello Crafters! How was your weekend?

It was sixty degrees in January for two days straight. I feel like I won the lottery. It is going to go back to the lovely frigid snowy Ohio I know, but man what a great weekend!

Speaking of cold weather, this time of year I seem to struggle with my mojo pretty regularly. Anyone else have this problem? I don't know what it is, but January and February just sap my creativity. I can't live without my favorite hobby though, so I've come up with a few tips to help myself out.

First things first - use things you love. I make a little mental check list and then get to work. My go tos are one layer, brightly colored, floral cards. I like to try new techniques to mix it up some too. It usually takes me a bit longer to create something I love when it's different but it's almost always worth it.

For today's card I wanted a really bright loose watercolor background. Something fun and relaxing, no stress. :) You can see how I approached my stress free florals in the video below.

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

I really love how easy this was to create. It didn't take a ton of time or planning, and I still ended up with a card I love. Isn't it nice when it works out like that?

hat are some of your favorite ways to break out of a slump? Let's help each other out huh?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Featured Supplies

For your convenience, here is a list of featured supplies (or equivalents) used on today's project(s), along with links to purchase. Please note: this list does contain some affiliate links.

Beautiful Bouquet: Ranunculus Beautiful Bouquet: Dahlia Greetings & Salutations Whimsy Alpha Simon Says Stamp LARGE GRID PAPER Pack Pad SGRID1 The Color of Fun Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# BLACK Black8 EK Success WRITING PEN FINE TIP 55-30080 Inkadinkado EMBOSSING MAGIC Powder Bag 05847 Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Watermark VM-001 Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER WHITE Fine Detail WhiteEP2 Canson MONTVAL SPIRAL WATERCOLOR 9x12 Pad 7026761 Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET 15 X 18 Reusable NSC20677 Ranger Studio Paint ARTIST BRUSHES Brush BRU40842 https://www.simonsaysstamp.com/product.aspx?id=342224 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PICKED RASPBERRY Ranger Summer TIM34995 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad WILTED VIOLET Ranger TIM43263 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad BLUEPRINT SKETCH Ranger TIM43195 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MERMAID LAGOON Ranger TIM43256 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad PEACOCK FEATHERS Ranger Spring TIM34933 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MOWED LAWN Ranger Summer TIM35008 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad FOSSILIZED AMBER Ranger TIM43225 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad CARVED PUMPKIN Ranger TIM43201 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad CANDIED APPLE Ranger TIM43287 3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent Pretty Pink Posh SPARKLING CLEAR MIX Cupped Sequins *Pretty Pink Posh 4MM SPARKLING CLEAR Cupped Sequins *Pretty Pink Posh 6MM SPARKLING CLEAR Cupped Sequins Copic Sketch MARKER 100 BLACK Copic Sketch MARKER C5 COOL GRAY Grey Copic Sketch MARKER C3 COOL GRAY Grey Copic Sketch Marker C1 COOL GRAY Grey

InLinkz.com