Baby Pink Card - Two Ways

I'm a card designer who likes to explore different styles. My favorite style by far is mixed media, followed closely by shabby chic because both seem to come naturally to me. It's like my brain thinks in layers. 

And while I admire clean and simple cards, the style is as elusive to me as liking exercise. I swear to goodness, I just LOOK at some white space and BAM! an inky thumbprint appears. 

So since there are a bevy of challenges I wanted to play along in this week, I decided to try my hand at creating both shabby chic AND clean and simple cards. 

My shabby chic card is inspired by the swath of pink flowers in the inspiration image at Inkspirational and the sketch challenge at Beccy's place. 

 

I wanted to create an uplifting card and I bought a brand new kit from Unity Stamp Company that's perfect for anyone worrying in this time of uncertainty. 

I'm in loooove with all the texture in this design and also with that big scrawly sentiment. 

My next card was inspired by three different challenges: STAMPlorations CAS card challenge's current theme is anything goes with the option of baby pink. I'm also using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. 

 

And there's a really cool technique challenge at the CAS Mixed Media Challenge that I've never tried before: gesso resist. 

I've done resist with a lot of things, but I've never tried it with gesso. 

I painted a stamp I had from the STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies stamp set with a thin layer of gesso and then stamped it into the center of my paper. I apparently hadn't cleaned my stamp from the inking before and so it turned out a little gray - which I actually didn't hate. 

Gesso resist definitely isn't as foolproof as embossing resit. I found that I couldn't quite wipe away all of the color, but nonetheless it was pretty. 

I sponged it with some Distress Inks, splashed with a little bit of water, and then used some Pink Distress Oxide Spray Stain to add a little bit of darker splatter. I finished it with a simple sentiment.

It was a fun challenge to try such different styles! Which one do you like best?

Wooded and Healing Herbs

There are two brand new stamp sets on the block and they are BEEEAUUUUUTIFUL!!! 

Over at STAMPlorations we're releasing Wooded and Healing Herbs, designed by Deepti! 

 

These stamp sets are so versatile and you can build your own little scene with them. I got to play around with Wooded and couldn't wait to make these two cards. 

For my first design, I used these dainty little flower sprays and paired them with branches. I "watercolored" with Distress Markers and, since I stamped the branches with Distress Inks, I just applied a little bit of water over the top to make them less of a perfect impression and let the colors bleed onto my paper. Teeny little pearls finished off this pretty, girly design. 

I'm going to add this card to the Watercooler Wednesday - Feminine challenge and Creative Inspirations Spring Greens challenge.

For my next design, I went with something a little more clean and simple because I wanted to play along in the Cardz 4 Guys Challenge. This design is a whole lot of versatile and perfectly masculine and earthy.  

I repeat stamped the wood circle rings with Distress Oxde inks, then spritzed liberally with water so it would bleed. I splattered it with some white Distress Spray stains and added some fussy cut leaves.


Make sure to go check out this special release and leave a comment on the STAMPlorations blog because you could win a $20 gift code to the STAMPlorations store!

Fun Stampers Journey + Coffee Loving Papercrafters Blog Hop

Today the Coffee Loving Cardmakers team is pairing up with Fun Stampers Journey for a super fun and inspirational blog hop. You should have come here from Lori Turner's blog.

I absolutely love, love, love the quality of FSJ products. Their stamps are sooooo fleepin' cute and I can't wait to show you what I made with thier die cuts, too!

I inked up the Coffee Helps stamp set using some Walnut Stain Distress Inks. 

 

I painted in the plate using some gold Distress Paint to give it a pop o' elegance and then I splashed the same gold paint on a Hello Word Bubble wooden embellishment. 

A little stamping in the background with the coffee stain stamp, and then some more gold paint and viola! I a clean and simple mixed media card with a whole lotta personality. 

Since clean and simple cards are the complete opposite of my normal style, I had to go back to layering it up and my next card is a shabby chic creation. 

Layers and layers and burlap and twine and lace and die cuts - oh my!!! 

I used the Coffee Helps die set and some pretty paper from Bo Bunny to create my coffee mug.

Fun Stampers Journey is giving away a $25 gift card to a lucky hopper! So hop along, comment on all the blogs, and get some inspiration! Comments close on July 27.

Next up is Dana Gong's blog. 

Happy Hopping!

Shabby Chic Tea Stamped Card

Well now that Watercolor Week is over, I'm going back to my shabby chic/mixed media roots for ya'll. 

There's a whole new challenge up at the Fusion blog and I absolutely LOVED the soft romance of all those purple and pink blooms pouring out of the adorable polka dotted teacup. 

 

If you've never played along at Fusion, I love it because you have options. You can either choose to play along with the sketch, or you can choose to be inspired by the image, OR you can mash 'em both together and create a true fusion.

I chose to use both the sketch and the image for my card. I stamped and colored the pretty little teacup from STAMPlorations Always Tea Time Set and also added in a sweet sentiment from the Strong Women set. 

I used some vintagey patterned papers and then added a swath of flowers to complete my look. 

Pssst - if you are interested in either of these stamp sets, you can get them for 20% off in the STAMPstore by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout.

It feels good to have a little shabby chic play time under my belt again!

I hope you'll head on over to Fusion and play along!! :)

Spring has Sprung - Fusion Challenge Card

I don't know about you all, but Spring has officially come to North Dakota. It's a whopping 45 degrees out this morning, so I shrugged off my jacket and enjoyed the crisp morning air. I LOVE this time of year - no mosquitoes, no hornets... only a teeny bit of mud to deal with. 

So when I saw the inspiration image for the new Fusion challenge, my spring-filled heart sprung a spring-filled beat. 

ALL THE AWESOME PEOPLE WHO TOOK MY LATEST CARD CLASS!

I haven't had much time to play in my craft room in the last two weeks. Between meetings, prepping for and teaching a cardmaking class, a new workout regimen, and some volunteering I have been running around and crashing as soon as my little legs carried me home. Last night, I finally ducked into my craft room for a play session at around 9 p.m. and I didn't come out until the clock chimed midnight. :o 

I was too busy playing around with the beautiful inspiration image and sketch over at Fusion Card Challenge. 

It's so springy and fabulous! If you haven't played along at Fusion, you can use either the sketch OR the inspiration image OR both! 

I loved the woodgrain, mixed with the bright fun florals so that's how I was inspired by the image And I used the sketch, too. Bah-blam! Fusion!

That big ol' sentiment is from the Winnie and Walter The Big, The Bold, and The Happy sentiment stamp set. 

I hope you'll all go check out what the rest of my teamies have made and play along yourselves. The gallery holds some FANTASTIC inspiration!

I'm going to play along in these fun challenges, too!:
Try it on Tuesday - Botanical
Simon Says Monday - Things with Wings
Deep Ocean Challenge - Flowers Everywhere


Thanks for popping by!

Mixed Media Mother's Day Card with SO MUCH Texture!

You guys, you guys, you guys, I'm doing so many happy dances over this card I'm about to show you. I. Absolutely. LOVE IT! 

Look at all that texture - isn't it so dreeeeammmy? Ok, I'm a little bit of a freak for texture and I found a really awesome combo that I WILL be using again (and again and again). 

How did this happy circumstance come about, you ask? I'm glad you asked. 

Take a look at this STUNNING inspiration image from the new The Card Concept challenge. 

There are so many ways to be inspired here. If you haven't played at The Card Concept yet, it is fab. The design team is made up of card artists who span from clean and simple to mixed media and everything in between! So no matter what style of cards YOU make, your designs will be ogled and admired!

Now let me show you how I made my card! 

I rubbed some Dina Wakely gesso onto a piece of kraft cardstock with my fingers and then stamped some grunge.

Next, I added a layer of Ranger texture paste through the STAMPlorations Dots All Over stencil. 

And over the top of that, I drizzled some Dusty Concord and Tattered Rose Distress Spray stains. 

I used a concentrated spritz of water over the top of my drizzle lines, and let it drip down the page. 

Over the top of that I added some FaberCastell Glass Bead Glitter Gel. And ohmygoodness guys! This is the first time I've used this glass bead glitter gel and I'm in <3 <3 <3! It's so sparkly and adds a GREAT texture. 

Over the top of my mess, I added some gauze ribbon that I pulled apart and then I added a vellum sentiment overlay (this sentiment is from the Verve Button Best stamp set. 

Definitely gaga over this one, so I'm not even sorry for the picture heavy post! 

I'm going to link up my design to these awesome challenges:
Craft Stamper Take It Make It - Anything Goes
Inky Chicks - Flowers (stamps or as embellishments)
Crafty Calendar - Mum's Day or Special Female
Creative Artiste - Anything Mixed Media

If you like it then make sure to put a PIN on it! 

Also, definitely go check out the magnificently pretty inspiration my fellow Card Concept teamies made! 

Love & Romance - Shabby Chic Card

I am in my favorite zone right now - all things red, pink, and heart-shaped!! That's right, Valentine's are in the house and I'm having a blast.

I have a big thank you to give out to The Card Concept challenge this week because they are feeding my V-day addiction with their new inspiration image.

Seeing that vintage paper in the background made me want to go all shabby chic with my designs, so that's exactly what I did.

I incorporated the vintage paper, the notes of green, pink and beige, and brought some beautiful paper flowers (by Recollections) into the mix.

The sentiment is from a set I designed for STAMPlorations called Strong Women. I love how mushy gushy it makes me feel. 

But listen, friends, Valentine's day isn't all about being mushy. If you've visited my blog a time or two, you know by now that I LOVE humor. 

Enter: 

This sentiment from my A Funny Kind of Love stamp set. That set is FULL of fun sentiments for lovey-dovey occasions.

So there you go - two similar cards, one sweet, one snarky.

By the way - for my bloggy followers, you can get 20% off these stamp sets in the STAMPlorations shop by using my personal code: STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout.

I'm going to enter my cards into the following challenges:
Frilly & Funkie - Shabby Chic Valentine
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Color of Love
Try it on Tuesday - Hearts and Flowers

 Now get your beautiful behinds over to Card Concept and check out all the inspiration from designers who have super diverse card-making styles! 

Shabby Chic and Pink! New Fusion Card Challenge

Hello Friendly Friends! 
It's a whole new day and a whole new chance to make a pink card! 

There's also a brand new challenge on at Fusion and boy! is it ever a doozy! 

 

Check out that inspiration image! It's a gorgeous bouquet of pinks and creams! At Fusion,  you can either play with the sketch OR play with the inspiration image OR fuse the two and create a card based on both (hence Fusion). 

I just chose the inspiration image because I decided I needed a good shabby chic crafting session. There's something so fun about layering on a bunch of flowers and getting all messy with some mixed media! 

I began by taking a rustic looking piece of paper and adding a layer of gesso to selected areas and some splashes of Distress Spray Stain in shades of pink. 

I was also inspired by Pixels and Papers Frames challenge, so I busted one out. 

I also found a frame that I wanted to use, but it was more of an orangey coral than a pink, so I gessoed that up, too. Gesso will eventually rule the world because it covers EVERYTHING! 

I added some spray stain over the top of my frame to make it blend in more with my card and give it a rustic, antiquey finish. 

Oooooh! I tattered up the edges, added some crinkle ribbon and layered on the flowers. The sentiment is from Winnie & Walter's This Awesome House stamp set. 

Shabby and chic and oh so pink! 

I'm also going to link up to the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp: Think Pink
Fab 'N Funky - Fabulous Flowers

Unicorn Challenge Blog - Pretty Pinks or Halloween

Corrosive Challenge Blog - Pink for Awareness

Dragonfly Dreams - Think Pink

Allsorts - Pink October

Thanks for popping by!  

Make sure you stop by the FUSION challenge to see all of the pretty makes the rest of the design team came up with! 

Gorgeous Stamped Sympathy Cards

I FINALLY have a weekend all to myself - no obligations, no projects, just me and my craft room. Unfortunately, my craft table was littered with the remnants of past cards. So on Saturday I slogged through some heavy-duty cleaning and organizing and today I was able to have a nice clean crafty space to mess up all over again. 

Which ALSO meant that I actually have time do work on something other that design team commitments. BRING ON THE CHALLENGES! :) 

The oh-so-fantastic Darnell is hosting her NBUS challenge again and I went rummaging around to see what stamp sets I had in my stash that hadn't been inked up.

Whoa... looks like I have my work cut out for me! 

I decided to start with a brand new Verve stamp set, Forever in Our Hearts. 

I ordered this set because I was blown away by the beeeeeautiful sentiments, especially the one on this card. 

  

I've seen many a sympathy stamp set, but I haven't found one that takes on the anniversary of a sad thing. I never know quite what to say on these occasions, but this sentiment encapsulates it perfectly.

I'm going to link this design up to Sisterhood of Crafters "Ribbons" challenge.  

Both of my cards were inspired by the Viva La Verve sketch:

I was so engrossed in the lovely sentiments (and so short on sympathy cards in my stash) that I decided to make another design, too!

This one is more pastelly in tone and I love how the palette takes over the somber sentiment. 

I'm going to link this card up to Allsorts - Use at least 2 dies

I am feeling SO much better now that I got a little crafty time under my belt... but I also just realized I only knocked out one of my NBUS sets. Whew!