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! 

Vintage Chic Card - Valentine

I know... I know... it's the day after Valentine's Day and I should stop already, but I just can't! I've whipped up SO many valentines this season and I've still got a few more to showcase. 

Case in point? This one that I designed for the latest The Card Concept challenge, which hit the internet TODAY. 

Isn't that inspiration image a beaut? I love all the vintagey goodness going on and was super inspired by the scrawly script and leather heart. 

So I decided to make some paper leather. 

Check that out! This was made with a combination of Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, and Tea Dye Distress Inks - using the Distress Ink Double Dipping technique. 

Next, I brought out a lovely little cardboard heart and did some alterations to give it texture and life. 

I started by using Vintage Photo Distress Paint over the surface of the cardboard and, while it was still wet, sprinkled some Rust Embossing Powder over the top. I heat set it with my embossing gun and edged the heart with a coppery InkaGold. 

To bring in the scrawly script, I used a big background stamp and added a layer of Distress Crayon and Distress Spray Stain splatters, edging the whole panel in InkaGold to tie it in. 

Put it all together and what do you get? Taaaa daaaa! 

I hope you'll go check out the other awesome inspiration on The Card Concept blog and then play along! 

I'm going to enter my card at the following challenges:
Mixed Media World - Anything Mixed Media Goes
Try it on Tuesday - Let's Get Messy with Paints/inks

Snowflake Card with Distress Ink Smooshing Technique

Today, I've got a super awesome tutorial to share with you and it's all about altering chipboard with perfect pearls. 

I really love to use wooden veneer or chipboard. It's a really simple way to give a clean and simple card a little something extra. Sometimes I'll use the plain old wood, and sometimes I want to do something a little fancier. This happened to be one of the fancy times. 

Our current challenge at STAMPlorations happens to be Clean and Simple (or you can choose to use the sketch) (or you can do both) (I just like parentheses). 

I chose to doll my wooden snowflakes up by using Perfect Pearls. There are many different ways to use Perfect Pearls but today I'm going to show you how to create a shimmery, metallic look with them. 

It's easy! Hardly any steps are involved - just pour a little bit of powder into the cap and mix with a few drops of water to make a paste. Then apply to the chipboard. You can use as many coats as you want to build up the opacity. 

I used a shimmery white and a shimmery turquoise and then I added some rock glitter while the pearls were still wet. Because why not? It turned out really cool! (pun intended)

I also knew that I wanted to play along with my girl Jenn Shurkus's and her friend Audrey's Coolest Card Series challenge. This week they are focusing on watercoloring techniques - and using snowflakes/snow/snowmen.

I made a watercoloresque background using the Distress Ink Dipping Technique and Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, and Evergreen Bough. 

Then I embossed a sentiment from the STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2 stamp set and put the whole kit and caboodle together. 

You've still got plenty of time left to play in the STAMPlorations challenge! I hope to see you all there!

As for me, I'm also going to play along with:

Clear it Out - Winter theme with snowflake stash

Sparkle N Sprinkle - ATG with loose glitter & embossing

Card and Scrap - White and Blue

Creatalicious Challenge - Snowflake

Southern Ridge Trading Company - Winter

Thank you for popping by! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! 

Becca's Birthday BASH!!! woohoo!!! +PRIZES+

Hullo Friendly Friends!!

This week is extra special for me because it's my BIRTHDAY WEEK! That's right, even though my birthday doesn't happen until Friday, I celebrate for a whole week! Don't judge. :) 

I was pondering what I should do for my birthday to celebrate with you all and then I thought - I know!! I'll have a big giant giveaway with some of my favorite birthday sets! I'm SO beyond grateful for all the friendships I've made over the past almost year of blogging and I want to do something special for YOU!

So that's what's going on. 

I decided to put together a mood board with all of my favorite things and ask you to celebrate with me by making a card that's inspired by the board. If you link it up here and help me celebrate, you'll be entered to win! 

Here's the board:

Let me break it on down for you. Here are a few of my favorite things (represented with pictures of course). 

>Purple and teal color combos

>Watercolor washes

>Fun, bright, eclectic clean and simple cards 
>Polka Dots

>PUNS!! :)

>Typography

>Distressed, vintage cards full of texture

...You can use one, two, all of these things... 
Whatever inspires you!

For the next couple of weeks I will be sharing some inspiration from my mood board. The card I made today combines the watercolor wash, purple and teal color combo, and typography. It's a three-for!

I started by doing a wash with the Distress Ink Dipping technique. Here's how you can get the same effect:

Smoosh Cracked Pistachio, Dusty Concord, Shabby Shutters, and Salty Ocean Distress Inks onto a craft mat and then spritz with water. The more water you add, the more the colors will meld together. Since I wanted these to run, I sprayed quite a bit. 

Dip number one: 

Press the paper into the mixture and wiggle side to side *slightly* You don't want the colors to get muddy. Then air dry or heat dry. As you can see, the round one dip was really pretty, but I wanted some depth and layers so I took the dried papers back to the craft mat and dabbed them in the ink again.

Dip number two: 

See what I mean by depth and layers?! You can continue the drying and rounds of dipping until you are satisfied, but I was happy with my results.

I used the STAMPlorations Hashtag Authentic set to create a positive, uplifting sentiment and added some wooden corners to complete the look. I kept it simpler than I usually do, but that's because I didn't want to cover up any of the wash. :)

Ta-daaaa! I hope you like it!

I'm going to enter it into the following competitions:
Through the Craftroom Door - ATG
Simon Says Stamp Monday - ATG
Try it on Tuesday - In the Frame
613 Ave Create - A2, Encouragement, Watercolor


Ok - now to give YOU the details of how the Birthday Bash Linkup will work. I'm giving away ALL of these sets PLUS Shery from STAMPlorations is throwing in a $10 gift card, too! (Isn't she the very best!?!)

PRIZES!!!

 


If you click on the image, it will take you to the STAMP shop to view these and other birthday-related sets. I want to spread the wealth around, so I will be doing a drawing for >>7<< different winners! Woohoo!

RULES:
>You MUST use an image from my mood board to inspire you
>You MUST display the mood board graphic in your post
>Although being a follower of my blog is not required, it would be a really AWESOME birthday present to me. :D
>You may enter as many projects as you like (cards, scrapbook, ATCs, Mixed Media projects)
>You MUST link back to this blog post
>Deadline to submit cards is July 31, 2015 at midnight CST

Link up your mood-board inspired cards here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for celebrating with me!

Distressed Frilly Card - STAMPlorations June Challenge

Ok, I am going to share my new favorite card with you crafters. Every once in awhile I get done with a card and I just sit back and say, "wow! I'm glad my brain still has some beauty left in it after all those terrible puns it has to make room for!"

I was over-the-moon elated about the July challenge happening over at STAMPlorations. 

Hulllloooooo?! Damsel of Distressed anyone? Hooray! Sometimes I go through phases where I keep things pretty clean, and I feel like I've been in one of those moods lately, so this card really helped to spur the distress comeback. 

I started by smooshing Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks onto my craft mat and then I spritzed it with water. 

This technique is called Distress Dipping (at least in my brain). It's a really easy way to create a gorgeous watercolor-esque background. 

Lay your card stock into the inky mixture and press down and move it left to right, trying to get all of the white area inked. 

Lift up and dry (air dry or heat dry works). I usually repeat this step 3-4 times to add lots of pretty layers and depth to the background. 

Next, I sprayed the background with Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain to add a little white. Please note that you should not just do this anywhere, as you will wind up with white splatters all over your ink pads. *Ahem*


Next, I added a layer of Mixed Media Grunge stamping and applied a layer of white gesso through the Gridlocked ARTplorations stencil. 

 

Before that layer dried, I added some rock glitter to it. Then I die cut a frame (coated with perfect pearls) and added some flowers, an embossed gold butterfly from the Trendy Butterflies and a sentiment piece from Hashtag Authentic. 

I really enjoyed getting back to my Distressing roots! 

I have to give  BIG shoutout to {PIN}spirational challenges for giving me this awesome inspiration image to work with:

I'm also going to join the fun at:
Frilly and Funkie - Sentiment as the focal piece
613 Ave Create - Use Roses or pearls 
In the Pink - Shabby Chic/Vintage
Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It - Take a Stamp

Thank you for popping by and I totally think you should try distressing. If you need any tips or pointers, I'd be happy to help you out and there are several tutorials you can find on my blog! 

Once you're done, make sure you link it up to STAMPlorations for your chance to win some awesome prizes! You can use ANY product or ANY brand of stamps.