Farmhouse Style w/Dawn ft. FAUX SHIPLAP

Hello crafty friends! I hope you are doing well!

Christmas is nearly here. Are you ready yet? For the first time in what seems like forever...I am! I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my children and nieces and nephews are older now, and so the hustle and bustle of the holiday prep is much more low key. Can we say "cash & gift cards"? I hate just giving cash or gift cards, but that is legit what they've asked for. Oh well...more time to do family stuff then!

Since we are so close to Christmas, I thought I'd pop in and share some "thank you" cards. We will be needing those, right?

How fun are those? And easy too! I love the farmhouse style signs, so why not bring that into my crafting? The big star here is that faux shiplap and woodgrain texture. It is the perfect starting point for a variety of cards and can be done with supplies you probably already have in your stash.

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

In today's post, I'm sharing a trio of cards featuring the Everyday Alpha and So Very stamp sets. Each card is just a little bit different, but all super cute. I love the big script sentiments in So Very, and the Everyday Alpha font is perfect for creating my own farmhouse style sentiments.

Each card starts with the faux shiplap technique. I scored my card stock to create "planks" of wood and then added distressing using Warm Wool ink. For the first card, I stamped directly onto the shiplap panel. I used the Mini MISTI to arrange and stamp my sentiment. I was able to stamp out several of my focal panels quickly and easily that way.

I elevated the design a bit by stamping the laurel of greenery and bow, both from Heartfelt Holidays, around my sentiment.

For the other card, I added more distressing and a woodgrain texture to my shiplap panel and used it for my card base. I then stamped the same sentiment onto a 4 1/4" x 3" panel. I added a different wreath from the same set, and then distressed the panel just a little bit.

The final card is exactly the same as the previous, but I left off the extra stamping. I really like the clean look of this and love that it can be used all year round and is gender neutral.

Be sure to watch the video for tips and tricks on how to create these, as well as several more examples and a couple of glittery Christmas versions too. I got a little carried away and had to make myself stop! I have several more stamp sets in mind to create more.

As always, thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful Holiday!

Featured Supplies

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

Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Shop at: SSS | EH	Precision Heat Embossing Tool Gun Hero Arts Shop at: SSS	3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Shop at: SSS	Wplus9 Oatmeal Cardstock Shop at: WP9
Sizzix BIG SHOT Shop at: SSS	We R Memory Keepers TRIM AND SCORE Board Shop at: SSS	MINI MISTI PRECISION STAMPER Stamping Tool Kit Shop at: SSS | EH	Last Leaf PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9
Cranberry Crush PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Warm Wool PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	So Very Shop at: WP9	Be Merry Sentiments Shop at: WP9
Merriest Snowflake Shop at: WP9	Fiskars Paper Crimper Shop at: EH	WOW Embossing Glitter Platinum Sparkle Shop at: SSS	Tonic Studios Mini Guillotine Trimmer Shop at: SSS
MISTI Creative Corners Shop at: SSS	Everyday Alpha Shop at: WP9	Under the Mistletoe Die Shop at: WP9	Heartfelt Holiday Shop at: WP9
Ranger Stickles Christmas Red Shop at: SSS

GUEST ARTIST FEATURE: Emily Midgett

Hi there! Emily Midgett from Sixth Street Sundries here with you today, and I’m thrilled to be back again as a guest for the Wplus9 blog.

Watercolor has been an obsession of mine for the last several years, and after learning the basics, I began to experiment with different ways to add depth and an element of realism to my projects. The florals from Wplus9 are gorgeous, realistic botanical drawings, so I always enjoy playing with new techniques with them!

Today, my goal was to add some more variation to the colors of my flowers by taking advantage of the transparency of the watercolor medium and adding multiple layers of color to achieve lots of depth and dimension. Here’s a video showing the technique:

Watch above or watch in HD at YouTube

In case you can’t watch the video, here’s a basic rundown of the technique:

I began by saturating my watercolor paper with clean water until it was shiny, then dropping a few different shades of watercolors (Daniel Smith Quinacridone Lilac, Naphthamide Maroon, Quinacridone Purple, and Indanthrone Blue) onto this very wet panel and muddling them with my wet paintbrush until I had achieved a mottled, ethereal background. (I like to choose colors that blend nicely together to avoid a muddy mess!) After allowing this panel to dry completely, I heat embossed the floral swag from Wplus9’s Kind Soul onto the background using silver embossing powder.

I then used the same 4 shades of watercolor to add details and depth to the floral images, focusing one color on each type of flower or foliage. The transparency of the watercolors allows that first layer to shine through, and adding the stamped image over the top of this background wash helps to take the guesswork out of where to add different variations of color on each individual flower! I added a sentiment from the recently released So Very stamp and die set.

You might be wondering... what is the point of adding that first layer of watercolor? Well, I have always struggled with adding color variation to my florals. I tend to stick with the same color/s on each petal of the flower, which can result in my flowers looking a little flat, in my opinion. But, in reality, there are many different colors on something that might, at first glance, appear “pink.” My goal in adding these extra colors on the first layer was to provide some additional undertones to create variation and interest on each flower.

In my experimenting for today’s post, I also created this project using Wplus9’s Christmas Rose using the same technique. I chose reds, pinks, and purples, which all blend nicely together, to create this project, adding in a sentiment from the new Sending Cheer die.

Well, that’s all for me today! I hope you found this post interesting, and maybe will try to add some watercolored layers of your own! Thank you so much to Dawn for having me back as a guest! ~Emily

For more of Emily's work, be sure to check out her blog.

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.

Christmas Rose Bouquet Shop at: WP9	Kind Soul Stamp Set Shop at: WP9	So Very Shop at: WP9	So Very Die Shop at: WP9

Fun Background Stamping w/Dawn ft. HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS

Hello, and Happy Holidays! The Holiday season is in full swing around here, how about you? This time of year is always crazy for me. I 'not so successfully' try to juggle work and family. Christmas is BIG in my house and I'm trying to keep it special and full of traditions as long as possible. So hopefully you'll forgive my absence around this time. ;)

In the spirit of busy, I wanted to drop in to share several cards, that believe it or not, are actually quite quick to make even though they are all quite different. The key? They all start with the same background and utilize the ever so useful, MISTI.

All of today's cards were created using the Holly Jolly Christmas stamp set along with various different dies. I started by setting up my background pattern on my MISTI.

I arranged all of the different icon elements from Holly Jolly Christmas onto my MISTI door. I started with a 6 x 6" square jig. I drew a pencil line down the center vertically and horizontally and then placed an image in each of the for quadrants until all of the images where placed.

I closed the door to pick up the images and then started stamping. (You can test your pattern on scrap paper first to make sure the images don't overlap and adjust as needed) I inked them up with one color, stamped, turned the cardstock 1/4 turn, inked with another color, stamped, turned again, and so on.

For the sentiment on this one, I used the Holly Jolly Die. I die cut the label, stamped the greeting from Holly Jolly Christmas and then replaced the "holly jolly" with the die cut from the Holly Jolly Die.

While I had the images all set up on the MISTI, I stamped out quite a few more.

This next card, uses the same colors (Gala Red, Falling For Blue, Last Leaf, and Warm Wool) on white cardstock, but I changed up the greeting a little.

I die cut the "Holly Jolly" greeting twice and stacked it with a "Warm Winter Wishes" banner from Merriest Snowflake between them.

Next, I decided to stamp onto some Coal Mine cardstock. I love Christmas cards on dark backgrounds and Distress Oxides make stamping on dark colors a breeze.

Again, I inked, stamped, turned, inked, stamped and turned until the pattern was complete. This time I used the negative from the "Holly Jolly" letters and paired it with the "Christmas" die cut from the Christmas Tag Die.

For the last card, I decided to use our white pigment ink on colored cardstock. This is the simplest of all and makes creating those last minute cards a snap.

For the sentiment on this one, I die cut the "Happy Holidays" banner from our Holiday Presents Die twice. Once out of glitter cardstock and again from white cardstock. I replaced the letters from the glitter one with the white letters along with the border and popped it up with foam tape.

So there you have 4 different card designs all starting with the same basic stamping.

Featured Supplies

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

Wplus9 White Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 Black Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Shop at: SSS | EH	Precision Heat Embossing Tool Gun Hero Arts Shop at: SSS
3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Shop at: SSS	Sizzix BIG SHOT Shop at: SSS	Wplus9 Christmas Tag Die Shop at: WP9	WOW Super Fine Bright White Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS
Wplus9 Dove Grey Cardstock Shop at: WP9	Last Leaf PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Falling For Blue PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Warm Wool PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9
Tombow MONO Adhesive PERMANENT Tape Dispenser Shop at: SSS	Inkadinkado EMBOSSING MAGIC Powder Bag Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad PEACOCK FEATHERS Shop at: SSS | EH	Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad CANDIED APPLE Shop at: SSS | EH
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pad PEELED PAINT Shop at: SSS | EH	Gala Red Pure Color Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	MISTI Precision Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | EH	Ranger Distress Oxide Ink Cracked Pistachio Shop at: SSS | EH
Holly Jolly Christmas Shop at: WP9	Holly Jolly Die Shop at: WP9	Holiday Presents Die Shop at: WP9	PURE COLOR White Pigment Ink Shop at: WP9