HI!
It has been really quiet around here this last week...I've sort of been in a little slump and am struggling to pull myself back up out of it.  It's always frustrating when the desire to work and create is there and absolutely zero ideas come to mind...I just stand at my desk and stare at things, getting more and more frustrated with each day that passes and I haven't pulled anything together?

Do you struggle with lost inspiration?  How do you overcome it?  I feel like I've tried everything, and I'm still drawing a blank...super frustrated!

I did find a little relief from my "crafter's block" this week with Sami's new release - Halloween Mermaids!  I'm thankful to be on this wonderful team!  Sami always manages to put together the exact thing I need to get my craft on and this release really helped to get a little creativity flowing.

I used the beautiful Pumpkin Mermaid 2 image for my card.  As I looked her over and tried to pull some sort of idea together, the thought struck me that she sort of looked like she could be floating in the water on that pumpkin.  So I rolled with that and absolutely love how it all turned out!

I started by creating a little mask so I could get a nice horizon line on my water.  Inked up the water with Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon and then spritzed it with some shimmer mist.  Once that was dry, I reversed my mask so I could make the sky.  Added a little Squeezed Lemonade and Spiced Marmalade for the sunset and then Spun Sugar and Stormy Sky to finish out the sky.  I adore how this all turned out!  I really looks like a sunset on the water!!  Made me so happy :)

Then I colored up my mermaid using some new ShinHan markers my fabulous husband bought me to try and help me out of my funk :)  I love him so much!  Not chocolate or flowers...markers :)  He knows my heart!

Once I had finished coloring my image, I trimmed it out and layered it onto my sunset inked panel.  Trying to create that background without full adhesive sheets to use as a mask would have been a super pain, so I just opted to color the image separate and add it on top.  I did add a water line on the pumpkin...but then I covered it up with the sentiment...oops :)

To finish off the card, I wanted to still stick with the fall theme, so I used the Falling into Autumn set from Newton's Nook and chose several of the smaller leaves.  I did some rock and rolling with those stamps onto some Stampin Up ink pads and then cut them all out to arrange them along the sides of the image.  That was a lot of cutting, but I think these leaves add the perfect finishing touch to this card!

I used a sentiment from that stamp set as well and heat embossed it in liquid platinum onto vellum before adhering it down and adding a few clear sequins.  I did add some sparkly stars in the sky and a few shimmer details to her fins.

I hope you enjoyed this card!  Hopefully I will be over my crafting hurdle soon and back to posting more regularly...it's been a frustrating couple of weeks and I'm ready for it to be over, but I also know that I need to take some time to refocus on me in order for the creativity to flow properly.  Hang with me! <3

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Crafty Cardmakers #150-Autumn Colors
    Craft Your Passion #285-Anything Goes
    Penny's Paper Crafty #251-Anything Goes
    Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #207-Anything Goes

Be sure to check out the rest of the release at Sami Stamps and thanks for visiting! <3

Hellooooo!!!
It was lonely today without any internet...and that also means I'm super late getting my post for our new Tuesday Throwdown challenge up!  Oops :)

The theme for this week is You Have My Support.  You can interpret this however you wish :)

Our fabulous sponsor this week is CraftyGirl Creations!  I'm using the Rose with Heart image.  I decided to do some fun watercoloring for the image after I found out the markers I wanted to use were dry...boohoo...

I added a bit of shimmer to my grey watercolor before painting in the rose.  I love the little bit of sparkle that gives when the light hits it.  The background has a light pink blended over it and then I used some embossing paste over a dot stencil for some texture.  I also covered that in some sparkly embossing powder and heat set it once everything was dry.

Ever since getting this Hero Arts stamp and die set, I have been obsessed with it.  So of course, I used it on this card too :)  I die cut the 'prayers' and then stamped over it with the coordinating stamp in a light pink again.  Layered that die cut up a few times for dimension and then adhered it right over the center of the rose.  The rest of the sentiment is clear embossed around that die cut.  I also added a few little hearts to finish everything off.

Stop by and join in this awesome challenge!!

Thanks for visiting! <3

Happy Friday!
This week has been very unproductive for me...lots going on but none of it has really been at my work desk.  I'll get a few projects started, and then pulled into something else and everything gets put on hold.  But that's okay.  Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the cards and focus on other things :)

I did manage to get a card put together for this weeks Halloween Re-Release at Sami Stamps though!!

Whenever there are kitties involved, I can never resist.  Sami has a great collection put together for this re-release, but I chose the kitty :)

This image is Cozy Pumpkin.  I started by embossing a spider web onto my paper and then inking over it with Seedless Preserves, Chipped Sapphire, and Black Soot.  I added a few droplets of water to pull some of the color away and give it a little more creepy vibe...but I think it just made it cuter :)

I colored in my image with my markers and cut it out, backing it with some vellum.  Then I added a simple sentiment from Create with TLC along with a black sparkly stripe of paper as well, and that was pretty much it!

Hope you will stop by Sami Stamps to check out the DT's awesome creations with these fabulous images!  And be sure to join in our Anything Goes challenge this month too!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    AAA Cards #50-Clean and Simple Halloween
    Artistic Inspirations #142-Anything Goes/Halloween
    Chocolate Coffee Cards #102-Halloween
    Fussy and Fancy #150-Orange, Black, or Purple
    Retro Sketches #185
    Word Art Wednesday #205-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting!! <3

Hi Everyone!  Happy Friday!!!
I'm excited for this weekend, are you?  Matthew has his possible last flag football game on Saturday (unless they win, then their in the playoffs for next week...fingers crossed!)  Then on Sunday I get to hang out with my bestest friend in the whole world and be crafty!  I'm so excited!

But first, I must share a card with you.  Have you ever thought up an idea and started to execute it, not really knowing how it would look in the end, debating it the whole way until that last piece is added and it's so amazing you want to cry?  Yeah that happened with this card.

I did some things I don't normally do on a card, second guessing them each time and doubting that they would all work together in the end.  But I'm so glad I stuck it out.  I can't tell you how happy this card made me when I put everything together.  It just...well...kind of takes my breath away :)

Ok, I may have been dramatic...but look at that card!  I feel like I got everything right on it for once.  I love a lot of the cards that I make...I wouldn't share them if I didn't.  But this one...this one takes the cake.

So to start, I took a piece of white cardstock and spritzed it from the side with some Amethyst Heidi Swap shimmer spray.  I wanted there to be a concentration on one side and then have it fan out from there, so I also added a lot of larger dots on that left side to build up that idea.  Then I cut of scallop border from the Mama Elephant Borderlines Trio set from black and layered that behind my spritzed panel.  I also added a thin strip of black glitter paper along that edge.

For my cups, I did a fun watercolor technique onto a half sheet of watercolor paper.  First I pressed my distress ink onto my plastic mat...I used Seedless Preserves, Milled Lavender, and Picked Raspberry.  I misted all that ink, and then pressed my paper down onto it, swirling it a little to get the color to move.  When I pulled it up I had nice coverage on my paper, but wanted more, so I misted the ink a little more and pressed my paper into it again.  Then I dried it a little so the ink on the paper wouldn't move so much anymore, and continued to press the paper into the ink left on my mat.  This helped give it some speckles and variance in the colors.  I also added little drops of black to the puddles of ink on my mat.  I didn't want there to be a lot of black, just little dots.

Once that was all dry, I added some water droplets to lighten and remove some of the ink, and also splattered some of the Heidi Swap shimmer inks in the black and amethyst for a little bit of sparkle.  Set that aside so it could completely dry and worked on my kitties.

I adore these little kitties.  They are so precious and reminded me of Storm and Cloud.  Sami always gets it right, I swear!  So using my ShinHan markers, I colored them up like my babies.  So precious!  Oh, the image is the Cup Kitties 4 image from our most recent release at Sami Stamps!

After everything dried, I cut it all apart so I could piece them all together.  I did add a little bit of Seedless Preserves around the edges of the bottom cup, and Picked Raspberry around the edges of the top cup, just to help separate them a little.

The final thing I added was this Prayers die cut from Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp.  I just got it in the mail and couldn't wait to break it out!  I took some of the Amethyst Heidi Swap shimmer spray and painted it onto some watercolor paper and waited for it to dry.  Then die cut it out, along with 2 more in just regular cardstock.  I layered all of that together, which gives the die cut some really nice dimension, added it to my card and covered it with glossy accents.

By the end of this card, my fingers were covered in purple and black ink and I had to be really careful to not snudge it all over my kitties.  But sometimes getting inky and messy can produce the best product!!

I hope you've enjoyed this sweet little card!  Remember we have an awesome Anything Goes challenge running at Sami Stamps so go join in!  Just be sure to use a Sami Stamps image :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    CAS-ual Fridays #144-Tic Tac Toe (spritzing, coloring, die cutting)
    Chocolate, Coffee, Cards #101-Animals
    Creative Fingers #95-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #204-Anything Goes

I'm also entering this into the Damsel of Distress' Hop to Stop.  This is a great blog hop to help draw attention to Domestic Violence.  I encourage you to check it out!

Thanks for visiting! <3

I admit...I've caught the Christmas card bug...I tried so hard to avoid it!  Willing it to hold off for just a little bit longer...but alas...the crafting world has broke me and I now find myself dreaming up wintery cards and Christmas scenes...

I will try not to bombard you with too many (after this post :) ) for a little while longer...but they are coming!

I have had this gorgeous stamp set from The Cat's Pajamas called Elegant Christmas since last year (unfortunately it looks to be sold out...).  When I purchased it, I absolutely adored it and felt I had a ton of ideas for using it...but it sat on my desk and I barely touched it.  Nothing ever seemed to click or I got wrapped up in other things and couldn't get around to using it.  I think the main reason I bought this set is for this stunning poinsettia image.

With the spark of Christmas hitting me this week, I decided it was time to put this set to use.  So I pulled it out and started playing around with this poinsettia.  I stamped it with distress inks so I could do some watercoloring.  While my post yesterday was about simple watercoloring, this card is the opposite :)

I wanted to avoid all those perfect swirls so that they stayed nice and crisp white.  Doing that was super easy with a really fine point brush and a steady hand.  But you have to have patience!  You can't rush or use too much water or the whole thing blobs out and you have to start over.

The flower was first stamped in Abandoned Coral distress ink to get the base color down.  Then I went in with Fired Brick for my darkest color in the center and Barn Door for my mid-tone.  Once I had those blended nicely, I came back in with some more Abandoned Coral and blended it all out to get a nice smooth finish.  I trimmed around both flowers and layered them together.

The challenge over at The Cat's Pajamas is to case one of the DT.  I fell in love with the layout of Christine's card and decided to use that as my guide.  Of course, I got the placement of my sentiment wrong...but I think it works out better at the top for my card anyhow :)

The white background was embossed using the Simon Says Stamp Triangle Pattern die.  I backed that with some Lawn Fawn paper and added a few sequins and that wrapped up the card!!

Thank you so much for stopping by! <3

Hi Everyone!  Happy Wednesday!
Wet and rainy here in Washington!  After such a gorgeous week it's hard to see the rain...but it wouldn't be the Pacific Northwest without it :)

As you know, I love watercolors.  My brain automatically goes to them whenever I start to think of a card idea.  It's just natural...I'm addicted.  But sometimes I want it to be quick and simple without too much fuss.  That's hard for me because I want to control it all and have it look exactly the way I want, but that's also the beauty of watercolor.  You can keep it simple and quick, or mess with it till it's perfect.  It just takes the willpower to leave it alone!

So I tested myself with this card, and let it be simple.  It was tough!  I wanted to fuss with it!  But I controlled myself this time instead of the watercolor.

The very first thing I did with this card was add a super light wash of blue and purple to the background.  I didn't want the flowers to be on stark white so the super light colors were perfect.  Once that was completely dry, I started stamping the outlines of my flowers and leaves from the Pretty Little Peonies set from WPlus9.  Those are heat set with clear embossing powder.

Embossing images that you plan to watercolor can be a great way to keep the water contained so it doesn't spill out of your image.  For this particular technique, it worked really well and was almost a necessity to keep everything within my flower lines.

To get the color into my flowers, I took the sold images from the same stamp set for each of my flowers and colored in little bits of detail with my Distress Markers.  I didn't color the whole flower, just around the centers.  Then I spritzed it with some water and stamped it down onto the embossed flower, rocking it a little to push the color into all the petals.  Once I lifted the stamp up, the color would move just a little bit within each petal giving the flowers nice variation.

Since I only colored in the centers of the flowers, the outsides faded off nicely leaving the centers bold.  I did the exact same thing for the leaves.

After everything was stamped, I felt I needed a little filler between the peonies.  So I grabbed the Fresh Cut Containers set from WPlus9 and used a cute little flower cluster and leaf set to fill in the gaps.  I did the same thing, colored the stamps with my markers, misted, and stamped.  Since these don't have an outline, they were just solid stamps and didn't have much variation in color, but misting them softened them up and gave them a watercolor type look to match the rest of the peonies.

For my sentiment, I created and cut out the large Happily word with my Silhouette a couple times and layered the pieces together.  Before adhering it down, I swirled some silver thread behind it for an elegant touch.  Once the word die was stuck down, I covered it in Wink of Stella clear glitter and glossy accents so it would shine.  After that dried, I added my little white embossed vellum strip and a few pearl dots to finish it all off.

I am in love with this card!  And this fun technique!  It was quick and simple and made a gorgeous card!

I'd love to enter this card into the following challenges:
    AAA Cards #49-Word Play
    Cas(e) This Sketch #143
   
    Craft Your Passion #282-Anything Goes
    Penny's Paper Crafty #248-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #204-Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by! <3

Hi everyone!  Happy Tuesday!
We have a fun new challenge for you at Tuesday Throwdown this week - Sports Fan!  Perfect for this time of year, right? :)

Our sponsor this week is MyGrafico and they provided us with some super cute images to use on our projects.

I struggled to get this card put together.  The ice skating deer were super cute, but sports fan to me just screams something else...but I pushed myself and finally got something put together at the last minute.

Maybe my issue is that it's another winter card and I'm just not ready for those yet.  I haven't really even done any Halloween cards!  Those have to come first!  But at the same time, inking up this gorgeous wintery sky for this card was super fun and kind of started to get me more in the mood.  It will take a little bit, but I'm getting there :)

So I started by inking up my background with some distress inks to create a gorgeous bright winter sky.  Then I dabbed some white pigment ink over the very top to try and mimic clouds.  It didn't turn out quite like I wanted but it's still cool.  Then I added some embossing paste through the Winnie & Walter Scenery: Big Bang Circle Creative Screen to get my snowflakes.  I didn't put them all the way to the top because, again, there's supposed to be the look of clouds up there...oh well.  It's still gorgeous.

I printed off my image and colored it in with my pencils.  Then added foam adhesive to the back and stuck it to my Stitched Rectangle vellum die cut from Lawn Fawn and added it to my card.

The finishing touch was a big white sparkly snowflake and a few little snowflake embellishments.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    613 Avenue Create #144-Anything Goes/Pink
    Chocolate Coffee Cards #101-Animals
    Crafts 4 Eternity #246-Woodland

I hope you stop by and join in this fun challenge!  Thanks for visiting! <3

...but I'm sharing a Christmas card with you today!!  I apologize...I usually do my best to put that sort of stuff off until after the other holidays...but these adorable new images from Sami Stamps just screamed Christmas!  Please forgive me :)

So I hope everyone is well!  We've had a pretty mellow week...until yesterday when we woke up to the sound of gushing water in our bathroom.  Well, not in our bathroom, but under it.  Yup...broken pipe...ugh...Matthew thankfully was able to stay home from work and get it patched, but even with the fix, it still highlights a much larger problem with our pipes that neither of us really want to deal with, but know we should...someday.

It was awesome having him work from home though!  Being in the office together..me crafting, him clicking away on the computer.  It gets a bit lonely here at home all alone, so having him here was nice.  And it kept me motivated to get my work done!  I cranked out this card showcasing the new Cats in Cups release from Sami Stamps:

I have used the very sweet Cup Kitty 1 image.  It's just so precious!  I, of course, colored her in like my sweet little Cloud.  Then fussed over the cup...I tried coloring it solid with my markers but I couldn't get the blending right and it just looked horrible...so then I decided to paper piece it with some fun Lawn Fawn paper and only added shading around the bottom.  That worked pretty well so I pieced it all back together.

The shape of this image just seemed super perfect to try and make an ornament from it!  Sandy Allnock has a "Go for the Gold" series going on right now and her first card/lesson was about making an ornament and adding it to a card.  Figured I'd give it a try.  To fit some of the gold in, I embossed little hearts on the cup in Enchanted Gold embossing powder and added little gold dots around them, though it's hard to see those in the picture.

I did add a little adhesive behind the image to help it stick to the card, but I rubbed it against my shirt a few times to take most of the sticky away.  My sentiment is from Pink Cat Studio which I printed on vellum and embossed in clear.  This panel is what should be used to hold the ornament in place, but mine isn't super tight.  I did add the little gold brads to help tighten it a little and it's fine, but the adhesive behind the ornament was definitely needed.

Finished the whole card off with some sparkly gold enamel dots!

Be sure to stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of this adorable release!  And check out the rest of the DT's creations!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Fab n Funky #275-Anything Christmas
    Penny's Paper Crafty #247-Anything Goes
    Sandy Allnock's Go for the Gold Day #1
    Simon Says Stamp-Anything Goes
    Tuesday Morning Sketches #320

Thanks for stopping by! <3