Par-tay! Masculine Card w/Kara

February is a very special month. It's my first nephew's birthday. I can't believe his is turning 23! I have had so much fun over the years making boy cards with cute little animals and balloons, but now need something a bit cooler and more grown up, but still fun!

I started with a white card panel and positioned masks in the center that I created using the Whimsy Alphabet Dies. On top of the masks I did my stamping using the Ink Splats stamp set. I chose Lake House, Bo Peep, Falling For Blue and Nautical Navy Dye Ink.

I removed the masks and gave the ink a little time to dry before stamping the sentiment. I used Strictly Sentiments 5 to create a custom sentiment by pairing two stamps from the set.

Once all of my stamping was done I felt his name, Ryan, didn't stand out enough. ; I decided to use the same Whimsy Alphabet Dies to die cut the letters from the stamped panel. I backed the panel with black cardstock and popped the letters up back in position. This way the sentiment matches up perfectly and the name is more prominent.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Masculine cards can be so difficult especially to a person like me who loves to create with flowers! But with a few simple stamp sets like Ink Splats and Strictly Sentiments 5, it's quick and easy!

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 PURE COLOR Lake House Dye Ink Shop at: WP9
Wplus9 PURE COLOR Nautical Navy Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Bo Peep PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Falling For Blue PURE COLOR Dye Ink Shop at: WP9	Whimsy Alpha Die Shop at: WP9
Strictly Sentiments 5 Shop at: WP9	Ink Splats Shop at: WP9

Celebrate Your Day With Kara

Hey! It's Kara. I'm back again, but this time with something much softer. I love bold color, but this subtle watercolor background is just so pretty.

I knew I wanted to use the beautiful Outlined Roses Die. This die set came out several months ago but I never had a chance to use it.  I decided I wanted to back them with some soft watercolor.  I die cut the roses, leaves and buds from white cardstock and moved them around on my panel to decide on placement Once I knew where I wanted each die cut to be I added the appropriate color to an acrylic block in that general position.  For example, I wanted the large rose to be in the upper left hand corner so I added some pink distress ink to the acrylic block in that same area. I added green where the leaves would be placed. Once the acrylic block was coated with ink, I spritzed some water on the ink to activate it's watercolor-like properties. I then placed a piece of watercolor paper onto the acrylic block. I left it there for several seconds applying pressure. When I removed the cardstock from the block some of the ink had started to mix and create a brown color that I did not want. I quickly absorbed some of the color with a piece of chamois and unexpectedly created a subtle texture that I loved!

While I let the watercolor piece dry, I decided to die cut another set of flowers and leaves.  I was then able to layer up the die cuts and make them a bit sturdier.  When the piece was dry, I applied the die cuts using a liquid adhesive. I knew that whatever sentiment I decided to add it had to be just as soft and also not hide the beautiful background.  Vellum was the answer. I used a die cut vellum circle from my stash. It had been cut with the Love Mom Layers die. I stamped a sentiment from Strictly Sentiments 5 in Versamark ink and embossed it in white.  This circle die cut from the Dreamcatcher Die fits perfectly around the circle and creates the perfect frame. I did the same thing, layering 4 die cuts this time to vary the dimension.

You can't see any adhesive behind the vellum because I found that if you run it through a Xyron sticker maker and burnish it well the adhesive coats the back of the vellum entirely and does not show!

I love it and I hope you do too! Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend! See you again soon!

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.

Strictly Sentiments 5	Outlined Roses Die	Dreamcatcher Die	Love Mom Layers Die
Simon Says Stamp STITCHED RECTANGLES Wafer Dies sssd111455 In Stitches	White Cardstock	ZIG Fine Two Way Acid Free GLUE PEN A Must Have 00778	Ranger Inkssentials MINI MISTER Spray Bottle Tool IMMR13593
Ranger Embossing Powder WHITE EPJ36685	Simon Says Stamp VELLUM SSSVEL12 STAMPtember	*Ranger WATERCOLOR PAPER Inkssentials Surfaces ISW39532	Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Watermark VM-001
Inkadinkado Clear Acrylic Block EXTRA LARGE 6.5 X 4.5 Rubber Stamping Stamp 98095	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad SPUN SUGAR Ranger TIM27164	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad WORN LIPSTICK Ranger TIM21513	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MOWED LAWN Ranger Summer TIM35008
Xyron 250 CREATE A STICKER Machine 2.5 Inch XRN250	*Xyron Sticker Maker 250 REFILL Cartridge Permanent

InLinkz.com

VIDEO: Smart Kitty

Hello everyone, Joni here.

I am so excited to announce that I am illustrating for Wplus9 and happy to formally introduce my very first stamp set - Smart Kitty! And, there is a companion die available as well!

The Smart Kitty stamp set contains 7 Sentiments and 17 images.

The Smart Kitty Companion Die comes with 13 dies.

The images and sentiments in this set are perfect for school/graduation themed cards, but also versatile enough to work with many other themes, especially when combined with the other Wplus9 products you already have.

For this card I used watercolor (Distress Inks and Markers) to color this adorable kitty to try and achieve the fading of colors like the fading that we achieve from Copic coloring. In the video below, I show you how I achieve this look. To color these kitties, I prefer the #000 Round Cotman III by Windsor & Newton Watercolor brush. This small brush holds less water and is the perfect size for easily getting in all of the details on these images.

Watch above or click to watch on YouTube

To begin my card I first stamped the kitty onto watercolor paper. I used Distress Ink in Crushed Olive to color in the ground using my paint brush. If you find you have too much water on your brush or on your paper, you can use a paper towel or dry cloth to soak up the excess water and then proceed to achieve the desired color you want. I usually let the paper dry a little bit to avoid mixing with other colors.

For the kitty, I used Distress Ink in Vintage Photo for the body and Walnut Stain for the spots. Remember to dilute your colors first with water as you pick it up with your watercolor brush and add more intensity of colors if you need to. Dab any excess water on your images with paper towel as you go or as needed to avoid puddling of colors.

Next, I stamped the stem with leaves from the set using the Distress Marker in Crushed Olive and for the rose image I used Worn Lipstick.

Don't forget, you can always make small adjustments to your stamped images if needed to fit your composition. I needed the stem on my rose to be just a little bit longer, so I used the pen tip of the Crush Olive Distress Marker to extend it a little - as if the kitty is holding the stem of the rose in its mouth.

For the background, I smooshed the the Peacock Feathers Distress Ink ink pad onto an acrylic block and added lots of water to dilute it. I used a flat watercolor brush to color the background, and used a paper towel to remove any excess water as I went along to get a very soft and faded look. Finally, I added some ink splatters using Wild Honey and Vintage Photo Distress Inks.

Since I made this card for a friend I used the gorgeous sentiment from Lucky Stars stamp set and stamped with my all time favorite brown ink, PURE COLOR Coconut Husk dye ink to finish the card.

While we're her, I have one more card that uses the same technique. For this birthday card, I add a balloon using the Unforgettable stamp set.

For my sentiment, I used the Strictly Sentiments 5 stamp set along with the "Cool Cat" sentiment from Smart Kitty stamp set.

Wplus9 Supplies:

Stamps: Smart Kitty, Lucky Stars , Strictly Sentiment 5   Inks:  PURE COLOR in Coconut Husk dye ink 

Thank you so much for stopping by :)

Design Team Inspiration

Please be sure to stop by and check out the rest of the Design Team's creations for today:

• Kara Vrabel
• Maureen Merritt

Giveaway Alert

I have a Smart Kitty stamp set and Companion Die up for grabs over on my blog! Be sure to head over there for all of the details and to enter!

August 2014 Release - Flora & Fauna 2

Welcome back to the August 2014 Release. Kara here to share a project showcasing the new Flora & Fauna 2 stamp set as well as the Strictly Sentiments 5 stamp set. Flora & Fauna 2 is a set full of beautiful butterfly, hummingbird, and floral images.

I was blown away by the stunning watercolors Dawn shared on Instagram and Facebook using this set. While I'm building those skills I can still achieve beautiful results by stamping the images 'as is' to create a clean and simple design.

I stamped the 3 sizes of butterflies in several shades of PURECOLOR Dye Ink, slightly overlapping from largest {at the bottom} to smallest {at the top} to create the feeling of movement or flight.

I used the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment from Strictly Sentiments 5 stamped in black ink to push the images to the background and make the sentiment stand out.

Recently, I have started to pay attention to the long neglected inside of the card. I added a single butterfly image and secondary sentiment to tie the inside and outside together.

Flora & Fauna 2 has a companion die set that will be available on 8/5/14 as well. While I didn't use the dies on this project, I did use them on another card I'm sharing on my blog today. I'd love for you to come by and check it out!

I hope you are enjoying the release so far. What's your favorite set?

Giveaway Alert

Chupa has some inspiration to share with you as well over on her blog. And guess what, she's got some brand new product up for grabs too! Be sure to check out her blog for details and to enter to win!

Featured Supplies - available 08/05/14

Flora & Fauna 2
6x8" Clear Stamp Set
$21 USD

Strictly Sentiments 5
4x6" Clear Stamp Set
$14 USD

All Featured Supplies

Wplus9 Sweet Gelato Premium Cardstock Wplus9 White Premium Cardstock Wplus9 Sweet Gelato PURE COLOR Dye Ink Pad Wplus9 Flamingo PURE COLOR Dye Ink Wplus9 Sweet Nectar PURE COLOR Dye Ink Wplus9 Miami Spice PURE COLOR Dye Ink Wplus9 Wild Mango PURE COLOR Dye Ink Pad *Hero Arts Memories Rubber Stamp DYE Ink Pad BLACK AF101 *Tombow MONO Adhesive PERMANENT Tape Dispenser

InLinkz.com