Color Burst Butterflies

Not everything is bad about this crisis. Hear me out. 

All over the world, people are coming together in unique ways. Zoom rooms, Skype chats, FaceTime - people of all ages are getting in on a real technological revolution. And we're finding out just how many of those meetings could have been emails after all. 

I'm so pleased to say that tonight, the technological revolution allowed me to "meet" one of my bloggy idols, Lauren Bergold of ...all the GOOD blog names were taken. I've followed her for years and gushed over all her amazing cards. Her instagram account is my absolute favorite because she's just a one-woman explorer of all things colorful. 

As I said on my last blog post, I've been playing along with some of the challenges Paper Anthology has released on their Facebook page. And they also also do nightly Zoom calls! So this North Dakota girl had fun crafting away in isolation, while getting to chat with some amazing crafters from New Jersey. 

I decided to play along with the You're not the Emboss of me challenge. 

Since I was feeling especially Springy (even though it definitely snowed today *facepalm*), I pulled out these gorgeous butterflies from the STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies 2 set along with some classy gold embossing powder. 

I used mixed media paper with the sole intention of breaking out the vivid loveliness of Ken Oliver Color Bursts. 

I dipped my paintbrush into the water and wet the paper before sprinkling on the powders. 

Then I used a damp paintbrush to spread the powders. In order to create a gradient with watercolors, I rinsed out the paintbrush and then pulled out the color along the edge. Repeat the rinsing, and continue to pull the color out by running a wet brush along the edge. 

These are the colors I used for my creation and I think they're lovely. I was just going to use one, but the owner of Paper Anthology, Elizabeth, told me to use at least two colors, probably three. Boy, was she ever right. See? The magic of technology at work. 

I stamped the butterflies again on some vellum so I could do an overlay and add a little bit of dimension. 

Ta-daaaa! I finished this little lovely with a gold border and an embossed sentiment from Verve (now retired, sadly). 

I'm going to end this bliggity blog with a little PSA - support your local stamp and papercraft store right now because they absolutely need it in order to survive! Paper Anthology is a prime example. They are currently shut down now due to shelter in place mandates, and that has cut off all source of income. They've created some classes in a kit that they will mail right to you! 

Also linking this up to the current STAMPlorations Theme and Sketch Challenge, where I used their theme of Stamps and Flight. 

Clean and Simple Rainbow Watercolor Card + PRIZES

Water water everywhere - at least here in Grand Forks. We're getting some super high river crests and I'm very thankful for the flood wall our city built nearly 20 years ago because tomorrow they have to close down bridges! 

But spring is also a time for celebrating because this winter brought historic snowfalls - the 3rd snowiest winter on record! 

At STAMPlorations, we have a Spring Fling hop going on  and today we are giving away a stamp set of your choice from the Bee's Knees line.  For my card, I decided to make a rainbow in reminder of the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I stamped a rainbow from the Wonderful Life stamp set and colored it in with Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks. 

If you've never used Scribble Sticks - they are awesome! You can go over them with a little bit of water and they create these vibrant, gorgeous colors. 

I stamped a sentiment from the same set below it, and then also added three little rows of watercolored rainbow strips. 

Perfectly Springy - there are still 5 whole days of the Spring Fling with a brand new prize EVERY day! So come play along!!

I'm going to link this up to AAA Cards - Made in Minutes challenge (23 minutes! - a record for me!) and CAS on Sunday - Spring challenge.

It's Springtime Flingtime + Prizes

Hello Friendly Friends!
It's springtime, and around these parts where it often gets to -35, that is DEFINITELY something to celebrate! 

STAMPlorations is ringing in all things flowers and bunnies and color - oh my! with a Spring Fling celebration filled with 12 days of prizes and bold inspiration. You're not going to want to miss it! 

For my card, I pulled out some of the brightest colors I had in my stash and got to work. 

I embossed this gorgeous flower mandala from the Bloomfull STAMP club set, using clear embossing powder. 

To use the words "zen" and "relaxing" would be an understatement. It was so much fun watching this image come to pretty life with each drop of the Color Burst watercolors. 

I used the thanks word die and cut out the word in a bright pink and then added a second layer of just white to really make it pop. 

I'm playing along in the Paper Players challenge and used a die-cut, embossing, and floral elements for their tic-tac-toe board. I'm also playing in the Cardz 4 Galz Flora or Fauna challenge. 

I am in LOVE with this big ol' springy mandala and maaaaaaay have made 3 more of these cards. :) 

Now hop on over and get to playing! These prizes are serious and every single designer has some gorgeous inspiration for you. 

PSSSTTTT if you're looking to do some spring shopping, everything in the STAMPlorations store is an additional 15% off using code STAMPGIRLBECCA. 

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!

Get Outside Your Comfort Zone - Eclectic Ellapu

Big NEWS!!! >>> I am not the only one who didn't know how to do masking <<<. A couple of weeks ago, I featured the masking guru herself, Miss Laura Jane Head, on my blog and I had to CASE one of her cards. So I set out to learn how to mask. 

Honestly, I love the effects but it is a very time-intensive, perfection-required, un-Becca-like thing to do. (Hello, Damsel of DISTRESSED anyone?!)  

However, I got to choose the challenge theme over at Eclectic Ellapu this month and I have chosen:

"Outside Your Comfort Zone".

We want to you try something you're not entirely comfy with. Something you haven't mastered yet. Get outside that space that makes you relax and get really really worried that your project is going to turn out like a Picasso print (except for not worth as much money). 

Which brings me back to masking. After seeing my CASE of Laura's card, my awesome, gorgeous, talented, amazing (have I thrown enough good adjectives out there yet) cousin asked me if I would show her how to mask. 

My first thought was, WHYYYYYYYyyyyyyyyYYyyyy?!?! Now I have to do that whole shindig all over again?!? Definitely outside my comfort zone! And my second thought was to sigh in resignation and start working on a masking tutorial. Since my cousin lives in North Carolina, that's the only way I can "show" her. 

Step One:

The key to masking is to choose which things you want in the forefront and to stamp those images first. For example, I knew that I wanted a frame for my sentiment in the forefront, so I stamped that and then I stamped the image again on a piece of scrap paper and fussy cut it. 

 

Then I positioned my frame over the frame I'd already stamped on the card. 

TIP: If you use sticky back Post-Its, this is much easier. Since I haven't invested in those, however, I just used scratch paper. 

Step 2:

Stamp the next image you want. This image will be behind the foreground image. 

 

Repeat the process of stamping on a scratch piece of paper, fussy cutting it, and masking the stamped image already on your card. You can see that the area over the frame would have been ruined if I'd stamped directly onto my card. By masking, the frame is protected from any unwanted ink. 

Step 3 through 9,123

 (at least that's what it felt like in my head) 

Continue stamping and fussy cutting as needed. Remember that each layer you do will be BEHIND the images already stamped. For me, I was using the same stamp over and over again (From STAMPlorations Bloom Sketches). Because of this, I was able to use the masks I'd cut and move them along my design as I went, so I really only had to cut out the two daisy masks. 

I colored my daisies all in with some BRIGHT neon Spectrum Noir markers, stamped a sentiment from STAMPlorations SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Celebrate and...

VOILA!

I've got an incredibly bright, fun springtime card. It was super fun to do something outside of my normal wheelhouse, AND it's sort of doubly outside my wheelhouse because you will notice that it is only >>>ONE<<< layer!! Unheard of. I painted in the centers of the daisies with perfect pearls for extra shine. 

What new thing can you add to your bag of tricks? Or what old thing can you give a second chance? Show us over at Eclectic Ellapu!

As for me, I will be linking up to these incredibly cool challenges:
Inkspirational - Neon Colours 
Sentimental Sundays - Spring plus a sentiment
Pile it On - Easter/Springtime
Corrosive Challenges - Hop into Spring
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes


Thank you for stopping by and a HUGE CRAFTY THANK YOU to my newest followers! Follow my blog or leave me a comment and I will try to return the favor!