Baby Cards with Pretty Pink Posh

Hello my friends! I am so glad you stopped by today to visit. Today I am showcasing baby cards and playing along with Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge and NBUS (my stamp and die set from Pretty Pink Posh).

I began with a stencil from Studio 490 by Wendy Vecchi called Cable Knit. These products are sold through Stampers Anonymous and are new to me. I really love the size of the stencil 4 1/2" X 6 1/2" because it covers a card front perfectly.

I ink blended a light green ink over the stencil onto white card stock using my Wendy Vecchi Make Art-Staytion. I know I've mentioned this several times, but it is a great tool to use for stenciling - no sprays needed to hold your stencil down.

Once I finished with the ink blended stencil, I cut 2 pieces from it using Sugar Pea Designs Stitched Scalloped Rectangles. Lately I've been using this set a lot. Something about the stitching and the scallops just appeals to me.

The main images are from Pretty Pink Posh Little One and coordinating die:

I colored both of the images with Blick Illustrator Markers and a few copics. The Blick markers color beautifully and are very reasonably price. 

Here is the 2nd card made with the ink blended stenciled card base:

I like Clean and Simple cards for the most part and these cards are going into my daughter's new shop, so I wanted them kept generic.

Bonus card!

So that's it for this week's post. Clean and Simple baby cards with a stenciled background. Thanks for joining me and thank you to Happy Little Stampers and NBUS for hosting!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Speed Card for Challenge

Another fun speed challenge! Make a card in 10 minutes or less which includes blossoms. I love these challenges from As You See It Challenge:

I knew I had a new die set from The Stamp Market called Ready to Bloom Cover Die:

Along with paper from The Stamp Market called Miss Modern I started the clock and ran the die through my Big Shot. it took a few minutes to get out of the die and glue flat to an A2 white card base.

The sentiment was previously stamped and die cut from The Stamp Market Oh So Lovely set:

The coordinating die cut it out:

The sentiment was popped up with foam squares. Finally I added Ranger's Gold Stickles to the center of each blossom and dabbed a few here and there:

That's it! A little over 9 minutes...very fast and fun.

Such a quick and yet, I feel a lovely card. Thank you to As You See It Challenge for hosting and to you, dear readers, for stopping by today.

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Celebrate Easter with Whimsy Stamps

Welcome to the Card Concept Challenge #152: Celebrate Easter!  I was inspired by the rabbits and carrots to create This Clean and Graphic card.

I am a fan of digital stamps for their flexibility in printing different sizes and locations. My card is made with the Bunny's Assistant Digital Stamp from Whimsy Stamps. This is from Sassy Cheryl's Illustration who I've followed when she had her own shop and now she is selling on Whimsy Stamps!

I wanted the rabbits to be on the left and with a digital stamp it is easy to make that happen. Once I downloaded the files, I resized the image and flipped it using Word. I printed the design on my Brother Laser Printer using Ranger's Watercolor Paper on the smooth side. I made 2 - 5" X 7" cards.

Here is the 2nd card:

To color I used a new set of pan watercolors from The Stamp Market:

Just look at these colors! Aren't they amazing and vibrant! I have been using them as my go to set lately and really enjoying them. Just take a pipette and drop 1 or 2 drops of water into the pan to loosen up the paint and you are ready to go! I always use my Silver Black Velvet brushes which have such a nice point it is easy to paint into tiny corners.

The sentiments are from the Better Together Stamp Set by the Colorado Craft Company stamped with Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink:

Used this set on the inside, too:

I used my Memory MISTI (the 12" X 12" version) to stamp these sentiments. I know this is a large item for your craft desk, but I have found that the weight of the cover is such, that for the most part I get perfect stamping first time through. Also, since the cards were on the larger side there is plenty of room to work.

To make the card base I used Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 100 lbs. Cut 2 pieces at 5" X 7" and 2 pieces 5" X 7 1/2". I scored at the 1/2" line on the 7 1/2" length pieces and glued them to the 2 - 5" X 7" pieces. You can see the extra 1/2" at the top of the inside picture above.    

Cutie Patoodies!

Lastly, I'll just mention that I often run my watercolored panels (once totally dry) through my Heidi Swapp MINC Laminator using a folded piece of clean copy paper. It is like ironing the paper and straightens out any warping.

Here's a close up:

Thanks so much for stopping by. We'd love to see what you create and tell us what inspired you for our Celebrate Easter challenge!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Easy Beginner Cards

Hello friends and welcome to my blog post for Happy Little Stamper Stencil Challenge:

I wanted to create a few cards for a beginner, someone new to stamping. In my previous life, I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and I do miss the teaching and sharing of my love for paper crafting. I was thinking of teaching classes again and thought Wendy Vecchi's Make Art Stamp Set Country Flowers set would be perfect for a beginner. For the price point of about $14.99 you get an amazing value and great versatility:

The set includes clear stamps, the dies to cut out the leaves, flower and butterfly and a stencil with 4 different sections:

So, if you are a beginner stamper and have limited supplies one set of ink I would recommend is Archival Inks Minis. I used Set #1 for these cards:

The colors are Carnation Red,  Sunflower, Garden Patina and Potting Soil. I am drawn to these bright colors. I also used Ranger's Archival Ink in Jet Black:

Why did I pick these particular inks when there are so many on the market? Quality, ability to purchase re-inkers, value for my money, and size.  The minis are the perfect size. Not too small, so that they would be hard to handle and small enough to be able to afford multiple colors. Also, coordinating products are available such as embossing powders, enamel accents, Blendable Dye Inks and re-inkers.

I made 3 cards - 2 with the stencils so I'll focus on them for this challenge. This happy hello used the large scallop stencil and I ink blended Sunflower Archival Ink onto a panel of white card stock.

The butterfly and flower are a 2 step stamping: I usually stamp the solid image first and then the detailed image over it. For the butterfly, I used Garden Patina Archival Ink and the flower was Carnation Red Archival Ink. Ranger's Black Archival Ink was used for the 2nd part of the stamping:

Country Flowers set also comes with a floral filler stamp as you can see above. Adds just the right background touch and is easy for a beginner. The flower and butterfly were die cut with my Big Shot Machine and popped up with Foam Squares.

This card came together so easily! The stencil in the set was ink blended with Archival Black Ink one way and turned and ink blended the other way. Gives a perfect landing base for the butterflies. The center butterfly was stamped twice and die cut. I fussy cut the white border off and glued the 2 together. This way I could fluff up the wings. A little Wink of Stella was added for shine.

The Just Because Builder Set from Altenew was used on this card. It is a large 6' X 8" set which has over 300 combinations of the words. At the time of this post it is marked down over $10.00 to $14.39. A really good value for a very versatile set.

Ok - 3 cards, 2 with stencils that I believe with a few basic supplies, any beginner could create (with a little direction). I try to buy versatile stamps that have multiple uses and if you check out Wendy Vecchi's Mark Art Stamps, these are a great value. If you don't have a die cutting machine, just fussy cut with a good pair of sharp scissors like Tim Holtz's 7" with non-stick blades - perfect for cutting sticky adhesive:

The card on the left has no die cutting or stenciling, only stamping:

Thank you for joining me today while I ramble about stamping and creating and to Happy Little Stampers for hosting such great challenges!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

The World Needs More

3 challenges today! My NBUS (Never-Before-Used-Schtuff) is my Sizzix Die:

My second challenge is for Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies:

And one more challenge for Happy Little Stampers:

I had picked up this Sizzix Thinlit recently during a sale and as of this posting it is still on sale! It is called Mushroom Wreath by Designer Jessica Scott. My daughter's shop is called The Toadstool Shoppe, so I am drawn to mushroom stamps/dies.

I cut the die out of Ranger Watercolor Paper with My Sizzix Big Shot and water colored it with The Stamp Market Color Crush Watercolor Palette - 24 beautiful half pan watercolors that coordinate with The Stamp Market's colors. That is just why I like it so much - the colors are amazing! Just drop a bit of water (I use a pipette) onto the pan colors you want to use and let the watercolor soften just a bit. To paint I used my trusty Silver Black Velvet Brushes. Love them.

The rest of the card was pretty easy. I stamped the background with a retired MFT stamp called Moroccan Lattice Background with Altenew's Rocky Shore Crisp Ink on a grey paper. I just mounted it on a dark brown backer and mounted that onto a white card base.

The sentiment is from Altenew's Halftone Happy set. The sentiment was stamped with Ranger's Archival Ink called Potting Soil. I wanted a darker brown to stand up against the background. 

Another Friendship Day card ready for The Toadstool Shoppe!

Thanks for stopping by today and visiting! If you have a chance check out the challenges from NBUS and Happy Little Stamper. Always fun to stretch your creative muscles!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.