Mixed Media: Two Ways Tutorial

Hello Friends! 
It's been awhile since I've written, but I've decided to hop back into the bloggy world with both feet and have lots of great makes I'm excited to share with you. 

I've created two awesome cards using the STAMPlorations Wild and Free stamp set, with full mixed media tutorials over on the STAMPlorations blog. 

The first card showcases what happens with loads of inky goodness and layers in a full blown mixed media montage. 

The second card features the pristine, crisp lines of a clean mixed media card. 

Go check them out! Thanks for popping by! 

Sailing Away

Hello lovelies! 

Week four of social distancing. I'm doing far better than I was two weeks ago. No shower crying and TONS of house projects being done. 

I've loved seeing how all of my artist friends and cardmaking friends are chugging along in creative land and using this time to create beautiful things in the midst of chaos. 

And I love how all the crafting companies are coming together to build community. One such company is Paper Anthology. They're giving four challenge prompts per day and hosting nightly zoom calls! You can participate in some or all of their challenges. 

 

One of the challenges today especially caught my eye. Can you tell why? I dusted off my Distress Inks and even threw in a Distress Oxide and used the smooshing technique to create a watery background full of inky depth. 

After everything dried, I added in a little bit of Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain (don't mind the terribly messy bottle - inky fingers are a real thing). 

I stamped a ship from the STAMPlorations True North set in Blueprint Sketch. 

 One of the reasons I like Distress Inks so much is because you can use them in so many ways - like watercoloring! I just wet my brush and pulled in the blue stamped edges to add some shading. 

 Then I smooshed some Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto a craft mat and picked it up with my paintbrush to color in the woody part of the ship.

I made some waves using the STAMPlorations A Ton of Fun stamp set and then added sentiment to finish it all up.  

I'm hoping to join in one of the Zoom calls on Sunday so maybe I'll see some of your smiling faces there!

Magical Unicorn Card

You. Guys. 
I can now die happy. Why? Because I created my very first ever unicorn card! 

I never knew how much I needed a unicorn stamp in my life until I got the Visible Image Believe in Unicorns set. The second I got this in the mail, I immediately went off to my craft room to ink it up. It's just so beautiful. 

I inked up a sheet of heavy weight white card stock using the Distress Ink double dipping technique. Colors here are Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon, and Cracked Pistachio. 

Next, I used swathed some metallic shimmer white embossing paste through the Fibres stencil to create some shine and texture. 

Just look at all that shimmer! Oooooohhhh

I embossed and fussy cut my prancing unicorn. 

I put it all together and what did I got? An amazing magical unicorn who's taking center stage in a shimmery, color-filled design. I completed my look with a scrawly sentiment from the Go To Words set. 

So majestic. I hope you all enjoyed this design! :) 

Distress Oxides + InkaGold + Autumn Leaves - Oh My!

Inky goodness happened in my studio earlier this week thanks to a super fantastic inspiration image from the Fusion Card Challenge. I almost couldn't wait to share it with you all because I squealed all over the place when I finished it.

The gorgeous inspiration image I referenced is this one from Fusion:

 

I just loved that blue bokeh background. If you have never played along at Fusion, you can choose either the inspiration image OR the sketch OR mash 'em together and create "Fusion" in your design.

For my card I chose to use both the sketch and inspiration image, because I'm an overachiever like that. 

I made my leaves by using the STAMPlorations Trendy Leaves stamp set. I love these artsy leaves, and I double stamped them, once with the solid base and then again in a different color with the text overlays. 

 I used a variety of red, yellow, and orange Distress Ink and Distress Oxides. 

 

 Then I splattered them with a coppery InkaGold and water slush.

I used a combo of blue Distress Inks and Distress Oxides along with the Distress Ink Double Dipping Technique to create a background filled with depth and vibrant color. 

As you can see, I also sprinkled the background with InkaGold. Oooo

I put it all together, along with some gemstone embellishments and funky bits and bobs. Charming, nontraditional Fall! All in one little card. 

I'm also going to join the fun of playing along in some bloggy challenges. 

Shopping Our Stash has a theme called "That's Sketchy" this week and wants you to choose a sketch challenge to play along with (I'm obviously using Fusion). 

Country View Crafts has a challenge all about Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues. 

I hope you all consider joining us for Fusion this fortnight!

Coffee Lover's Blog Hop - Day 1!

>insert music notes here<

It's the most wonderful tiiiiiime of the year!

>end music notes< 

I know you all didn't come here to get some Christmas songs stuck in your head, but that's just a little bit of a side bonus of knowing me (you're welcome).

 

If you're in the cardmaking blogosphere at all today, you're going to quickly realize that it's been taken over by caffeine-crazed dynamos who love to bust out those stamping blocks and make some cards. The brainchild of the ever fabulous Amy Tsurata and Chaitali Narla -  it's the Fall Coffee Lover's Blog Hop! 

 

To celebrate fall, my card features all the warm, rich reds, oranges and yellows of the season. I created my background using the Distress Ink Double Dipping technique. 

I stamped some leaves from the STAMPlorations Trendy Leaves stamp set in the background. 

And you can see I also brought them into the foreground too! My big ol' coffee mug is from the STAMPlorations Sketchy Coffee Cups.

PSSTTTT - if you are looking for some new coffee stamps, you can get 20% off in the STAMPlorations store by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. 

Now don't let me keep you! Go check out the rest of the hop and make sure to stop by all of our AMAZING sponsors for the Fall Coffee Lover's Blog Hop. 

If you want to win one of a ka-bajillion prizes (I may be exaggerating a little, but it's close) go link up a Fall-themed coffee/tea/cocoa card. Do it! Right now! Why are are still reading this? You should be linking up a coffee card! 

Growing in Unity Gal - Guest Designer

The first time I ever laid eyes on a Unity stamp, I fell in love with the sketchy, pretty designs. My aunt is a Unityaholic and she let me use some of her stamps while I was slowly growing my own collection. 

It seems like Unity is always having one sale or another and my wallet complains to me every time I go check out their deals (but my heart rejoices... so suck it, wallet!) 

This week, I get the opportunity to be a guest designer for Unity *happy dances* and I'll be sharing a new design every day this week! 

I haven't played much with my Distress Inks lately - gasp! - so I remedied that but doing some Distress Ink watercoloring. 

I stamped a floral arrangement from the First Friend, Best Friend, Forever set. Next, I smooshed three different colors of pinks onto my craft mat, then used a wet paintbrush to pick up the ink.

This is why I love Distress Inks - you can stamp with them, but you can also do so many different techniques like watercoloring. 

I also used some Distress blues and greens to color in the leaves and water. 

 

Since I had a lot of color left over on my craft mat after I was done watercoloring my image, I used the Distress Ink double dipping technique to marble a piece of paper. 

 I layered my focal image with black, white, and bits of gold, adding in a strip of my marbled panel. I finished it off by stamping a sentiment from the For the Guys stamp set. 

This whole design was inspired by the latest challenge at If you Give a Crafter a Cookie. 

I loved the combo of patterns and colors going on and HAD to try to replicate that on a card

I'm also going to enter my card over at Seize the Birthday. I'm not using the Aqua/Green optional toppings, but I wanted to play along anyhow. 

Also, if you're feeling like leaving some extra bloggy love today go check out my fellow GIU gal for the week - Rebecca Wong Pui Yee. Who doesn't love a Rebecca?! 

And make sure you leave a comment on my blog!! Unity is giving away two stamp sets to those of you who are kind enough to drop some lines below! 

Rainy Day Card - Card Concept Challenge

I don't know about you, but this neck of the woods has seen a strong drizzle and cloudy skies over the last week. What's a girl to do other than to hole up in her crafty room in pure happiness? :)

Luckily, The Card Concept gave me the perfect way to channel my inner creative superstar into a card that could brighten up any rainy day! 

The new challenge has this fantastic inspiration image: 

I adore the mix of bright colors and patterns. I decided to pull out my Rain or Shine stamp set from Verve and paper pieced a polka-dotty umbrella. 

I created a background using a combo of Distress Inks and Distress Oxides. 

For more on how to create this background you can see my technique tutorial on Distress Ink Double Dipping.

I added some fun colors pulled from the inspiration image, and used a the Mojo Monday sketch:

to create my sunny rainy day card. 

Thanks for popping by my blog. I hope you pop over to The Card Concept where our brand new designers are being welcomed in their first challenge! 


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On a second note, I'm up at the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog with a whole tutorial on how to make this watercolored simple and chic design!

I made this card because of some awesome inspiration from the City Crafter Challenge. I cased this monochrome beauty designed by the oh-so-talented Marina. 

I'd love for you to pop over to CLC to check out my tutorial and let me know what you think!

Distress Oxides - Take 2! Sponging on Kraft

As you may have known (by the large earthquakes stemming from North Dakota) I have been jumping up and down in my excitement to finally have time to break out my brand new Distress Oxides and play. 

I'm planning on having tons of time this weekend to explore some of the other things, but I really wanted to give these babies a whirl on kraft paper.

Guys. Guys. Mind = Blown.

I cannot believe how pretty they look when sponged over kraft paper.
If you're new to the Distress Oxides, what rock have you been under? Haha - just kidding. If you're new to Distress Oxides, they are a pigment + dye based ink fusion. What that means is that the pigment portion of the ink sits on top of the paper. Which means that you can use it on kraft & black cardstock. 

But before I get tooooooo far, I also want to say that this card was made for the brand new challenge at STAMPlorations. 

 

The theme & sketch challenge is exactly what it sounds like. Choose the theme or the sketch OR use both! There's prizes for the winners and you can use ANY brand of stamp you want! So, what I'm saying is... YOU should go play! 

I chose to use the theme: Spring and picked out these pretty little daisies from the Pocket Blooms stamp set. I embossed them in white and then began sponging. 

See how well that color shows up? You'd never be able to get that with a dye based ink, and pigment based inks leave an oily little residue that doesn't dry for...like... ever. Distress Inks dry within a minute! 

Like all Distress products, Oxides react uniquely with water, too! I sprinkled some water over the ink and dabbed it up. That's when the magic "oxidization" happens. 

Yeah.... I love this technique with Distress Oxides. Definitely going to be using this one again. 

I added the Thanks Word Die cut to the center panel.

I used Worn Lipstick and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxides for these two cards. 

Blam! Two super pretty and relatively easy cards to make! 

If you are thinking about buying any of the stamps/dies used here, just know that my bloggy subscribers get 20% off ALL the things in the STAMPlorations store by using the code STAMPGIRLBECCA. 

I'm also going to link up to:
Addicted to Stamps and More: Anything Goes
Paperminutes: Spring

Thanks for popping by!

Distress Oxides! My First Play Session

Hello Friends! 
I am popping in to share a card I designed for The Card Concept's new challenge. 

I jumped up and down and up and down when I got my Distress Oxides in the mail and I had a first initial play around with them. I'm planning to do a detailed tutorial sometime within the next week of all the various techniques and give a full review - so stay tuned!

I started by doing a sponging and spritzing Distress technique using Tumbled glass Distress Inks and Cracked Pistatchio Distress Oxide Inks. 

I should probably have started by saying my colors were pulled from the inspiration image for The Card Concept's new challenge. Isn't it puuuurty?

I also loved the style lines in that image, so I wanted to do a curved blue in the background of my card. 

Next, I created a mixture of greens and amber and used a die cut to create teeny daisies. I stamped and watercolored a jar using the STAMPlorations VIGNETTE: Eclectic Florals set and then I glued and put things together. 

The sentiment is from my Strong Women stamp set. As you can see, I also used a die cut from Stampin' Up to create a die cut in the background, too. 

I'm going to link this up to:

Little Red Wagon - March Birthstone Aquamarine
Happy Little Stampers - Watercolor Challenge with Smooshing

Thanks for stopping by. 

By the way - if you're looking for some more inspiration, I'm up on the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog today showing off how to stamp on coffee mugs! Go check it out!