Awesome Butterfly ~

I’m slowly but surely working on that birthday card list!  This one is for a special girl about to celebrate a very special birthday – sweet 16!  I went with a CASE of Danielle Flanders because I just wanted something fun and fresh without putting my brain into too much turmoil. 

I opted for a springy color combo of Coastal Cabana (SU), Berry Sorbet (PTI) and Weathered Wood (Ranger Distress).  The sentiment is a combo of that fantabulous ‘Awesome’ word die from Lil Inker Designs and a PTI stamp. 

     I left the tops of the wings and the antennae free from dimensional foam tape so I could pop them up a bit.  Probably will be lost on her since I had to package it up and send it off in the mail, but it definitely makes a difference in a photo!  Ha! 

The inside is then decorated to make a statement!  I just adore word dies and the font on this Mama Elephant birthday one is gorgeous.

I hope she loves it!  Now off to make 3 cards for some lovelies that have birthdays back to back to back – March 3, 4 & 5.  Wonder if they can guess who they are?    Thanks for popping by!

 

Alyssa

Birthdays ~

Hi!  So I haven’t posted here in over 4 months!  Crazy!  I’m trying to get on track with my crafting.  We card makers have kind of dug ourselves into a hole when it comes to birthdays.  I feel so guilty if I don’t have a special card made for all the wonderful people in my life…it’s like cutting off an appendage to go buy a ready made card at the store, a cop out.  So I’ve made myself a list of the people I need to make cards for this year and I’m going to get ahead of the game! 

When I need to jumpstart that mojo, I tend to either look on Pinterest (and get sucked into the void), or I find a fun sketch.  Sweet Sunday Sketch #251 is just that!  I don’t normally go for tilted layers but this one just worked for me.  So much so that I knocked 2 cards off that long list!  The first is an image I colored almost a year ago and finally made myself make into a card for my mom. 

It’s an azalea stamp set from Power Poppy, and I colored it based on one of the DT member’s own cards.  I’ve never thought to put brown in the leaves before and it just made these leaves so much more real.  I also never, never ever, would have used E07 (a brown!) to use for shading in a pink flower.  Nuts!  Copics used: RV00, RV02, RV04, RV17, R02, R05, E33, E37, E07, Y04, Y32, YG61, YG63 & YG67

This second card is from a bunch of scraps I have around.  I’m such a miser that I tend to keep every little thing.  So I was digging through drawers and little baskets for this and that to add to this card. 

All I had leftover from another project was one water colored violet and one leaf.  The MFT leafy scrolly vine thing seemed to balance it out without going overboard.  I was going to send this to my MIL for her birthday next week, but then realized that I sent a clock themed card with this sentiment to my FIL last month.  In fact, I stamped this clock and sentiment when I was making his card.  See?  Scraps all around! 

Well, I hope to see more of you all this year.  I’ll try to post more than once every 6 months.  lol

Alyssa

Persian Motifs ~

Hi there!  A sweet friend gifted this gorgeous Altenew set to me, Persian Motifs.  I couldn’t wait to emboss and watercolor it but just couldn't get up the mojo to get into my crafty cave – it’s too damn small!  Then a big wig plucked the card I was imagining right outta my head!  So I had to change things up and try it with color pencils.  I haven’t played with them for quite a while, so it was a bit of trial and error. 
Since I chose to color on kraft card stock, I stamped the images and then bleached the paper.  It helps the colors to really pop. I just use an old aqua painter filled with bleach to paint in between the lines of the stamped image.

I jacked up the stamen (?) on the flower so I had to draw in a couple of flourishes.  Not my most favorite thing to do, but it was better than scrapping the whole thing since I’d already spent a good deal of time coloring it.  I’m linking this up to the Simon Says Stamp Challenge : Anything Goes. 
Thanks for stopping by!  Have a super day!

Alyssa

Flagging Thanks ~

Do you ever see an inspiration pic that you just have to make, but the more you think on it, the more you can’t decide exactly how you’re going to make it relevant or what sentiment you’ll use?  Well, that is what has happened with this pic for me.  I found it just after the 4th of July last year and have been sitting on it waiting for the perfect opportunity to make the card.  Then, Lil’ Inker Designs came out with their new word dies!  LOVE!  I went a little LID crazy with this card but it’s exactly how I originally intended it to come out minus a couple of mistakes.  Shhhh!

The inspiration photo is this gorgeous herringbone quilt that I found on Pinterest – the demon thief of time!  Immediately, all I could think of is the Pieced Chevron cover up die and the Starry Sky die paired to make an American flag.  The sentiment is what threw me

Once I got my grubby little fingers on that gorgeous ‘thanks’ die, I knew just what to do with it!  I actually made this card on the 4th of July this year.  It’s my little thanks to all those wonderful men and women that serve our country {along with their families who sacrifice so much as well} so that we can live in the freedoms that we do!!

I thought I’d enter this into a couple of challenges for die cutting…especially since there isn’t an ounce of stamping on this!

Virginia’s View Challenge #5

Cutting Edge Challenge #3

Thanks for stopping by!!  Have an awesome week!

Alyssa

Roses aren’t just for Valentine’s ~

Hi there!  Thought I’d pop in with a watercolor rose card made for my mom’s birthday.  The rose is embossed in white on watercolor paper and painted with everything from my son’s Crayola watercolor set to a very nice set I received from a friend.  The roses use a mixture of pink, red, orange and yellow while the leaves are two different greens, brown and even a little black.

Once I’d tweaked the colors to a semblance of how I wanted them, {I find watercoloring a bit of a pain, but worth it in the end!} I embossed a sentiment from the Winnie & Walter set – The Big, the Bold & the Happy.  I sincerely adore this set for the fun large sentiments and the plethora of phrases that you can create.  The only issue I ran into was when embossing the sentiment over the embossed rose, the two melted together and didn't give the crispness I was after.

  These colors fit well with both the Winnie & Walter Playdate 2 challenge as well as the inspiration photo for the Fusion challenge for June.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

  Have a wonderful weekend!

Birthday Violets ~

Hellol!  I haven’t been doing much in my craft room lately, even though I’ve been buying tons of stamps/dies/inks/stencils/etc.  Ugh, the life of a crafter {wink}  I thought I’d show you a CAS card I made for a special someone back in March. 

The large violets and leaves are stamped and colored directly on the card front.  I normally don’t do this because of how the Copics bleed through the paper.  I thought I’d experiment and see what it looks like.  Kinda cool, actually!  It’s like no line coloring, lol.  The violets at the bottom are die cut and arranged. 

               

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you’re having a super week!

 

Alyssa

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop Challenge ~

Hey there!  I just had to play along with the Papertrey Ink blog hop this month.  The inspiration picture is just too lovely!

I used the colors as part of the jump off for a quick card I needed for my brother’s birthday as well as the design from this amazing card done by Amy Sheffer.  I couldn’t think of any arrow type stamps that I had except for the PTI Ikat set.

It’s stamped in Stampin’ Up’s Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe.  The smaller one is stamped in Memento Dandelion.  I only had a couple hours to make a few cards needed, so I really CASEd every little detail on Amy’s card.  The numbers are from the By the Numbers border die.  The buttons are Melon Berry, Spring Moss and Hawaiian Shores.  Sorry for the quality of the photo – I couldn’t find my camera, so I snapped this on my craft desk with my phone. 

I really loved the look of this card, so I did another one for Zane’s Kindergarten teacher.  I added Strawberry Slush into the color combo on this one and love, love, LOVE it!

The sentiment came from the Wonderful Words: Teacher stamp set along with the die.  It is cut 4 times and glued together to give it even more dimension as well as stability.  The buttons are Hawaiian Shores, Berry Sorbet and Melon Berry.

Have fun on the hop!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Alyssa

Watercolor Class Days 1 & 2 ~

Hey there!  I needed a quick birthday card for my step-daughter that turned 19 on the 4th of this month and thought utilizing the class I was taking would be nice and trendy for her!  One of the first videos is by Laura Bassen and uses an acrylic block, Distress inks and a mister – perfect for a quick, CAS card.

The only problem I ran into with this was the heaviness of my paper – it’s 140# which means it can get worked a bit more without pilling.  I didn’t feel like it took the color in the same way as the sample video. 

    I didn’t have a Mustard Seed ink pad, but I do have the marker.  I colored the acrylic block with the marker and stamped, then Squeezed Lemonade, Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers. 
  Her favorite color is lime green so I was trying to achieve that in the blended parts.  I ended up using a waterbrush and some extra ink to make it a bit more continuous in color.  The happy words are from Wplus9 and the birthday is from PTI.  Super simple and nice to have on hand in a variety of colors!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Alyssa

20 Minute Card ~

Hey there!  I have a few posts that will go up this week – I’ve been into the whole water coloring trend here lately, so I signed up for the Online WaterColor for Card Makers class.  If you haven’t already, you should sign up and learn some of these fun techniques!  While watching the first couple of videos and playing around making my step-daughter a birthday card, hubby asked for a Mother’s day card as well.  Since I only had an hour to make two cards, I opted for a CASE. 

I chose to CASE this card by my old teamie, Maureen Merritt. I still had the Stampin’ Up In Colors out from the last time I got crafty so I went with the color combo of Strawberry Slush (totally in <3 with this color!), Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding.  It really is so nice of those peeps at SU to come up with colors that go so well together!  {wink}

I apologize for the quality of the photo – I took them with my phone and emailed them to myself.  Aaaannnddd promptly deleted them from my phone.  This is the worst one and the only one that went through the email properly.  :-/  I love the Mom word die from Lil’ Inker Designs, so even though my MIL got a card with this die for Mom’s day last year I went ahead and used it again.

    I cut the die out 4 times and stacked them atop one another.  It’s a much easier way to add dimension to these thin die cuts rather than trying to add foam tape to all the little places. 

    So that’s it for me today!  Since we are having a super crummy weather day here in Colorado (sleeting/snowing, freezing temps), I am headed to the cave to catch up on the watercolor videos and have a little fun time! 

    I hope all you mothers have a wonderful Mother’s Day!! 

Alyssa

Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop Day 3 ~

Hey there!  Welcome back to not only the last day of the April release for Lil’ Inker Designs but my last day as a designer for this amazing company!  You should’ve arrived from Laura’s inspiring blog, which is where you can also head for the full list of the dynamic design team!  After you’re finished here, you can follow on to Amazing Amy!  Don’t forget to comment along the way for your chance at one of three $15 gift certificates to the store.

As my last card, I wanted to say ‘Thank You’ to Lil’ Inker Designs, Laura and the Dream Team that she has put together.  It’s been so wonderful being part of such an incredible group of talented and motivated women! 

This card uses some of my favorite goodies!  The new Quilted Stitched Pattern die is a must.have!  Laura is having a little contest about naming this die, so you should definitely check that out!  Like I said before, this die is the perfect backdrop on a card.  I used more of the flowers and leaves from the Frames & Flowers die set along with the Modern Mehndi stamps and dies.  The sentiment is from the new stamp set, Quick Notes.  This font is so versatile!  I love the little distressing in it too – adds just the right touch!

Thanks so much for stopping by and supporting all my time with LID! 

 

Alyssa

Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop Day 2 ~

Welcome back to the April release hop for Lil’ Inker Designs!  This is a release hop - you should’ve arrived here from Laura’s fabulous blog if you’re hopping along the entire hop.  Your next stop will be the Amazing Amy!  Don’t forget to comment along the way for your chance at three $15 gift certificates to Lil’ Inker Designs!!

The new Frames and Flowers is such a fun new set of dies!  Not only do you get the amazing frame but the piece that pops out has the fabulous stitching as well, so it’s really two in one!  I chose to use the frame to make a shaker card

A lighter pink frame was adhered to the card base first to allow me to center my sentiment correctly and add foam tape to create the pocket of sparkle and shine.  The sentiment is from Shiny Happy Sentiments and is embossed on the card base.  I added a little extra shine with the Wink of Stella glitter pen to the circles inside ‘Sparkle’.  The frame is cut out of an embossed piece of Bazzill cardstock and backed with a recycled piece of acetate. 

The inside is filled with microbeads, sequins and even some flower shaped rhinestones.  Super fun and sparkly!!  The flowers are from both the new Frames and Flowers and Spring Flowers.  They compliment each other so well!

That’s all for today!  Don’t forget to comment along the hop!  Thanks so much for stopping by,

 

Alyssa

Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop Day 1 ~

Welcome to the April release hop for Lil’ Inker Designs!  This is a release hop - you should’ve arrived here from Laura’s fabulous blog if you’re hopping along the entire hop.  Before I get started though, I thought you should know that this will be the last hop for me with Lil’ Inker.  I’ve decided to step down from the team and focus my brain on my business.  (I recently inherited the family business after moving it across the state.)  I’ll be taking a bit of a crafty break to build the store and recharge my mojo.  I’ve loved working for Laura and Lil’ Inkers!!  I couldn’t have asked for a better ‘boss’!  Thank you for giving me this fabulous opportunity!  Ok, on to today’s card

Lots of new and old LID dies on this one!  To begin, I cut the new Quilted Stitched Pattern die onto the card face.  Umm, I LOVE this die!  It is the perfect background to me – not to fussy, not too understated, just right!  The pattern paper rectangle is cut with Stitched Mats Rectangles.  I wanted a thinner one though, so I cut it and then slid the paper to the desired width and cut again.  The stitching doesn’t meet up perfectly, but with this busy of a pattern you don’t notice unless I tell you to look…so don’t! ;)  Next up is one of the new Glassine Envelopes – perfect for a little lunchbox note, goodies or to hold a tag like I did here.

The Anytime tag is stamped with a super cute sentiment from the new stamp set, You’re My Favorite, and adorned with the flowers from the Frames & Flowers die set.  I attached a duplicate of the flower and leaf cluster to the front of the envelope to hide the foam dot.  One last little detail of the Mom word die across the layout finishes it off!  WooHoo!  One of my mother’s day cards done early! 

Your next stop on this hop is Amazing Amy!  Don’t forget to comment along the way for your chance at three $15 gift certificates to Lil’ Inker Designs!! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Alyssa

Poppies, poppies everywhere ~

I have a very favorite poppy stamp that I’ve used a ton.  Instead of boring you over the next several weeks with the same stamp over and over, I thought I’d just post them all in one post.  This first one is a “Do Over” from a card I made here.  I didn’t love the layout of the card.  I was also in need of a birthday card, so I ripped that one up and repurposed it here.

The lighter background showcases the red of the poppies better.  This image was embossed on kraft paper, painted with bleach and colored with Copics.  As was the next one, except for the fact that it was colored with pencils instead.

This one was for a publication submission, hence the stark background.  It was rejected, unfortunately, and still sits awaiting the perfect gift to be stuck inside the bag.  It’s hard for me to not go back and add more color to the flowers…hmm, maybe I’ll do that now!  Ha!

This next one was created while playing with the metallic watercolors I’ve used recently.  The splatter background is so big right now as is gold.  So I swirled the brush in the gold paint and flicked the paintbrush to get the splatter.  Let me tell you, this is probably not the best technique, as I ended up with paint on my face, the wall in front of my desk, the dies and whatnot scattered on my desk, etc.  After splattering, I decided to use the poppies for a sympathy card.  Poppies are a symbol of remembrance after all, so it just felt right.

I hope the splatter doesn’t come across as too free and artsy for a sympathy card.

The gold is really pretty and showed through the Copic coloring.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope your week is marvelous!

 

Alyssa