Spring Fairy card

Hi everyone!
Today I'm sharing a card I finished last night. I ordered 2 digi stamps from The Greeting Farm, Spring Fairy and Autumn Fairy. They are SO cute! I love how sassy they are! I haven't had a chance to color up Autumn Fairy yet, but couldn't wait to show you Spring Fairy! I am submitting her for the very first TGF Farm Fresh sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers (TGFSC1).

The Copics I used were:
Skin: E00, E11
Hair: R81, R83, R85
Dress: BG11, BG13, BG15, BG45
Wings: BG11, BG13, YG06, 0 Colorless Blender (to add tiny dots to the tips of her wings)
Highlights: At You Spica pen, Clear

After I colored her I cut her out with my detail scissors. Following the sketch, I used Lemonade paper from Basic Gray to add the layers. (I love this paper, and have been hoarding it...I really should just track down another 6x6 pad! :) ) I sponged the edges of some white cs with Pixi Pink ink from Stampin Up and layered this little fairy on top. It's a very subtle change in the texture and thought I would give it a try since I didn't have my dimensionals handy.  I tried dyeing the fabric flower (also from SU) with Lindy's Stamp Gang mists, but once it dried it was far too light (and purple-ish) for the look I wanted. I used the same Pixie Pink ink to sponge over the flower and got a much better result. I then just used some adhesive pearls to finish it off and called it a day!

My family think she looks very mermaid-ish, and I can see how they think that with all the aqua tones I used. I'll have to play with some other color combos and see if I get a different look. Watch for more posts soon! :)
Enjoy!

Making cards

I made a few cards recently...it's been hard to get the time to work on projects but I finally had a bit of time to work. I've been in the mood to work on "romantic" cards lately. Perhaps because of Valentine's Day, maybe because I've been watching too many sappy movies! :) Anyway, here are the cards I came up with:

I broke out my Copics for the first time in ages...I love this sweet stamp I found at Hobby Lobby, and have lots of plans for it. I was really pleased at how the shading on the umbrella turned out. :)

Once it was colored, I cut it out and popped it up with dimensional adhesive. I stamped the image on the card front before I layered the cut image and did some quick coloring to match the layered image, although I didn't color the center and I didn't do the same amount of shading as on the top image. The sentiment stamp is from American Crafts, and maybe it's just me, but I never seem to get a crisp image from these clear stamps.

I found this quote on Google some time ago and knew it would be great for a card. I printed it on vellum with my computer, and next time I think I would try to print directly on the card...I really don't like the vellum tape that I had to use to secure it. Maybe it's time to invest in a Xyron sticker maker? The background script stamp is a retired stamp from Stampin' Up. The little heart is from a set of small enamel sticker set I found at Joanns ages ago (I think in their dollar section?)

This image from Stampin' Up was colored with Prismacolors and mineral spirits. I'm really loving the blending abilities with these pencils...so worth the money! (especially with a 50% off coupon from Michaels!) 

I used a Lawn Fawn stamp set for the background and the sentiment stamp is from the dollar bins at Michaels. The Memento ink in London Fog was a little darker than I expected...I was hoping for a more subtle look, but nevermind! I used the same tiny dimensional heart sticker as I used in the second card.

It was great to finally spend a bit of time getting inky fingers. I've missed it, and really need to set some more time for myself to work on things like this. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day. :)

Happy Birthday card

I found a tutorial on YouTube by SplitcoastStampers on the Embedded Embossing technique. I was intrigued so I gave it a try. All in all it's a fun technique, but for the work involved I think I would rather stick to stamping my images and then covering the entire image in clear embossing powder. I felt there was really no difference in the effect and found that I lost some of the crispness of the stamped image. Once I stamped over the clear and used black powder, I found that the image started to spread as the black powder melted. I noticed it in both the flowers and especially in the sentiment.
Here's the card:


I started with white cardstock and used Distress inks (Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Barn Door) to create a sunset/sunrise effect. I put two layers of clear embossing powder on the card and once cooled stamped the flower (Stampin' Up) and sentiment (Ali Edwards/Technique Tuesday) with VersaMark. I used black detail embossing powder and heated it. At this point I lost the fine lines of the flower stems and sentiment. I have to admit its really cool to watch the black sink into the clear.


I wanted to machine stitch around the image with black thread so off I ran to my sewing machine. Lesson learned: my sewing machine does NOT like embossing. Instead of sewing it gummed up in the embossing and nearly ended up sawing through the bottom 1/4" of the card. Ooops! So I had to hide it. Ribbon would be too wide, so I dug through my collection of fibers and found this one. I wanted it to be secure along the length of the card but also discovered that Tombo Mono glue didn't really want to stick the fiber and embossed surface together so I ran my tape runner in spots on the fiber and finally had some success. For a little extra something I used my Tim Holtz Mini Attacher and stapled the ends of the fiber.
Once all of that was done, I used some Basic Grey paper on the front of my card and popped the embossed image up with dimensionals. Whew! Crafting is an adventure!
I think if I try this again I will stamp everything first and switch to UTEE for more depth. Simpler technique, but I think I would like the effect more.
On a side note, I have a strong desire to try some embroidery. I used to cross stitch as a kid, but I don't even know where my floss has ended up now, years later. I want to try something like the pillow I made from my kids handprints (I have a video up on YouTube), perhaps using my kids drawings as the pattern. I saw something like this in the current issue of Create With Me by Stampinton (I totally LOVE this publication!). I'll have to dig through their sketchbooks for something. :) I've been looking through YT videos (naturally) and Google for ideas. We'll see.