He Is Risen Two Ways w/Joni

Hello Everyone! Today I'm sharing two cards that use the same base images. By simply switching up the placement and using different bases, I'm able to achieve two totally different looks. Both cards feature the stamp set He is Risen stamps and die.

To begin, I first ink blended Distress Oxide Ink in Abandon Coral onto pink cardstock for my background. I then stamped the lilies with black ink, colored them with Copic Makers and cut them out using the companion die.

Next, I stamped the sentiment - included in the He Is Risen stamp set - in black and colored the banner with Copic Marker for interest. I then adhered the flowers and leaves with foam tape for dimension. To finish off the card, I added a few jewels from Pretty Pink Posh.

For the second card, I also distressed the card base with Distress Oxide Ink, but this time I used Black Soot, Faded Jeans, and Peacock Feathers.

Next, I splattered a little water on the card base to give it interest, since the Distress Oxide Inks react with water. The flowers and leaves were again colored with Copic Markers, but I changed the placement of the images to give it a different look.

I also switched up the sentiment on this one. I used another sentiment, also included in the same set, and heat embossed it in white on a black cardstock to make the sentiment pop. I adhered everything with foam tape and again, added some jewels from Pretty Pink Posh to finish off the card.

What do you guys think? I hope you enjoyed!

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.

He Is Risen Shop at: WP9

He Is Risen Die Shop at: WP9

ANNOUNCEMENT: Store Updates and Possible Outages

Hello crafty friends!

We will be performing maintenance on the Wplus9 Store over the next couple of days. This may cause the site to be intermittently unavailable and/or our mail to be down.

Don't worry, we are not going anywhere!

In fact we will have a new release coming up at the end of the month, which is why I wanted to take care of these necessary server changes now.

I apologize for the inconvenience this might cause and appreciate your patience.

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

Black And White Birthday w/Kara

Hello! Today, I thought I'd have a go at taking a feminine set - Flock Yeah! - and giving it a masculine feel.

Now, I said I was going to challenge myself not to use black on my next project and I failed. Even though I failed my personal challenge, I was successful in creating a card that I love. These flamingos in shades of black and gray look so cool! As they say, If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I started stamping my background by placing the main flamingo in the center of my card panel. Working off that main image I stamped vertical rows of flamingos. I stamped them head to head and toe to toe. I knew that center flamingo was going to be my focal point so I stamped and die cut another and colored it with gray Copic markers (T1, T4, T6). I added black Copic coloring to all of their beaks and some clear Wink Of Stella because it just looks so pretty. I finished off the design with some party accessories and a sentiment from Oh My Gostrich! (the "brother" set of Flock Yeah!)

Speaking of Oh My Gostrich! This design would look equally as great swapping out the flamingos for the ostrich.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas. Take a look at your stash and see if there are any "feminine" sets that could fit a masculine theme just by switching up the colors.

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 4 Bar Stitched Rectangles Die Shop at: WP9	Wplus9 PURE COLOR Black Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Flock Yeah! Shop at: WP9	Flock Yeah! Die Shop at: WP9
Oh My Gostrich! Shop at: WP9	Oh My Gostrich! Die Shop at: WP9

Using Small Images w/Kara ft. GARDEN BUDDIES

Hello again. It's Kara. With Spring fast approaching, I decided to bring out another great set centered on gardening called Garden Buddies.

This is such a cute set. For me, the best feature of this set are all of the small details. The watering can, spade, bird... All these tiny images are so adorable and versatile.

I used them here to create an all-over background design as well as part of the focal point. For the background I added all of the stamps to an acrylic block and stamped them all at once. Then I just kept turning the stamp until that background was full. It looks random, but took no time at all to stamp.

I love this little girl with her arms outstretched. She appears to be juggling all of those little images. I colored them with Copic markers. The circle was cut with the large circle from Love Mom Layers and colored with a little yellow Distress Ink.

Super simple to create, but an adorable way to send some sunshine to a friend or loved one!

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	Wplus9 Love Mom Layers Die Shop at: WP9
Garden Buddies Shop at: WP9	Garden Buddies Die Shop at: WP9

Craft Studio Makeover - Before & After w/Dawn

I've got a different kind of post for you today. I hope you don't mind.

One of the questions that I've received many times over the years is "What does your craft space look like?" or "What are your top organization tips?" And I really had to laugh to myself.

1. My craft studio was a blight on our home. You know...if someone showed up unannounced, the first thing I did was b-line it to the studio to make sure the door was closed.

2. I should never, ever, under any circumstances be allowed to offer organization tips. Ask my husband.

Don't judge me. Hey, I had matchy-matchy bins. And in my defense, I knew where every single thing was in each matchy-matchy bin and stack of papers.

For a long time this did not bother me. I'm a create, create, create type of person. I can usually block everything out around me and completely immerse into what I am doing. Stop and clean? What is that? And then it's right into the next thing.

However, for several months, I had found myself burned out and not even wanting to enter the studio. So when my husband and my boys went skiing with the Scouts in January, I decided to tackle the studio. Now, mind you, it started with, I really need to clean and organize, maybe buy a few more baskets. It was reaching hoarder status.

I didn't take any true "before" pictures, because, well, I was just going to clean it out. Once I had removed all of the piles, I proudly sent my husband a picture (see "before" pic above) and my bestie, Kelly. To which they both replied with "are you feeling well?" Given their reactions, to truly appreciate the journey, I'm going to share this in stages of completion. It's going to be picture heavy and I apologize up front. Feel free to skip my banter and just look at the pictures, no offense taken.

With most everything cleaned out, I thought "I really need more organization units/furniture. And maybe a new craft station. (see old writer's desk on risers above)" So, I enlisted my mother and I hit up Pinterest for inspiration. And I fell into the hole of "IKEA hacks". Yes, if you don't know this hole I speak of, save yourself now. But, if you've got a few days to spare, by all means, go ahead. But, I came across this beauty at landeelu.com

Y'all, $160! It is inexpensive, counter height with a large work surface, has a smaller footprint and it has built in storage! Disclaimer: as with most things Pinterest, I have no idea if she is the originator of this idea, but it is where I saw it and I followed her recommendation. Don't @ me. I sent another picture. My husband is worried, but not wanting to jinx the momentum.

I made a run to Michaels. I had a coupon and all of their organization was on sale. I ended up grabbing several organization units with shelves and drawers, as well as a bunch of baskets and bins. I think I ended up spending around $200.

Mom and I assembled and then loaded up the closet. For maximum space, we took out (ripped off) the closet doors. Don't worry, we did not leave the closet open in the end...keep reading as they are the pièce de résistance of the room. ;o)

Now that everything was organized and I was on a roll, I decided it was time to tackle the elephant in the room...that oh so lovely shade of green paint left over from my son. His favorite color is green, he chose it, I begrudgingly obliged. By the way, my husband is delighted but seriously worried at this point. He suspects a "project" will be coming for him soon. And he's not wrong.

Because this just started snowballing and if I have to stop and make a choice at this point, it may never happen...I grabbed the leftover paint from when we redid the laundry room last year and started painting.

I really love the color - Arid Landscape by Behr- so it worked out well. I also rearranged the furniture at this point. I decided to have the craft table in the center, like an island with walking paths all around. It does make the room seem smaller, but it works best with the way the rest of the room is set up and is the most functional for my flow.

With all over the major elements done, it was time for the fun part, decorating and final touches!

This is the view from the doorway. Straight ahead is the crafting/filming station. Directly behind the craft table is one of the bookshelves my husband made for me years ago. My box lights are tucked out of the way on either side, but easy to pull forward when in use.

All of the canvas storage boxes were purchased from Amazon. I just ordered a bunch all at the same time so I would have matching ones as I grew into them.

The cubbies on the craft table are accessible from both sides, so I have crafty items in the cubes. Colored pencils, pencil sharpener, blender stumps, gamsol, etc in one. Laminator, Minc, foils etc in another. Yo get the point. My most used tools are housed on the bookshelf. Easy to reach and easy to store. Win-Win.

My video camera lives on the tripod there, but, I do eventually want to take out the ceiling fan and mount the camera from the ceiling. I haven't asked for that yet...but it's on the list.

I opted for a black top on my craft desk because I wanted it to tie in with my work desk which is black. So if you pan to the right of the room, you'll find said work desk.

I picked this up from Ballard Designs about 10 years ago. It's a classic piece that was NOT inexpensive so the rest of the room had to work around it. Side Note: when I went to grab this hot link, I noticed they are having a 20% off sitewide sale + an extra 5% off $500 or more. Lord help me. This isn't sponsored or affiliate linked, but it is my favorite store.

The shelves above and the filing bin above the desk are also from Ballard. The chair and lamp are both from IKEA. The farmhouse sign and the frame holding the cards below were both coupon buys from Michaels.

While I was ordering from IKEA, I also picked up this set of Alex Drawers. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with it at the time, but figured I could work it in somewhere. That somewhere happened to be at the end of my work desk and fits my printer perfectly. This freed up a ton of space on my desk that was previously housing the printer. All of my fine art supplies and printer supplies are in these drawers.

So that brings us to the final piece. The big ask. Which, I just casually mentioned to my husband "would be nice", and to my surprise, he agreed. Right away. Remember the open closet from earlier. Well....

I am beyond excited to have these guys! My husband and I built them and hung them over two weekends. We purchased the hardware from Industrial By Design. We ended up buying the 8' rail and trimmed it down to a little over 7.5'. I opted for 3 smaller doors instead of door standard ones to give the most access when fully opened. And they kinda make a "W" when closed. LOL

I went back and forth on whether to stain or paint the doors, but in the end went with painting as we could use cheaper pine wood. Instead I splurged on the header board, choosing cedar and stained it. I love the way cedar stains and having the wood element makes my earthy Taurus heart happy.

The majority of all of my craft supplies are stored here in the closet. I really don't have an excess of supplies and I don't suffer from "full set syndrome". So this setup works perfect for me. However, I still have plenty of room to grow if needed.

All in all, I love the way it turned out. I did not intend on doing a complete over haul when I started, but like I said, it just kind of snowballed. There are still a few things I want to do, like the ceiling mount I mentioned. I need to hang the rod and buckets sitting in the chair in the corner, and I'd like to recover that chair cushion as well. And, since I just noticed that Ballard is having a sale, well, I know where I'll be looking for the fabric!

I love the simple high contrast color palette. As much as I love working with color, I can not live with color. Over the years I've learned that being surrounded by lots of color over stimulates me and sends my anxiety into overdrive. I need to be surrounded by neutral earthy tones. So this new space is perfect and already working it's magic on me. ;o)

I hope you enjoyed today's post, I know it is much different than usual. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're having a great day!