sympathy

I was cleaning and organizing and came across a negative image stamp that I haven't used in years and years!  This didn't really start out as I had it in my head - I was going to make a small tag - but with a very pale yellow-white flower.  But the flowers simply didn't show up!  As I added more color, they began to appear.  The process was to stamp the paper with the music, heat dry, then stamp the negative stamp over the music with clear embossing powder, let cool.  I started off trying to put a dark green watercolor pencil on the stems, and they got rather lost as the flowers got darker.  

So, what do you do with such a dark image? Rather than throw it away, I decided to go "elegant" and used the black glossy over matte pattern paper (CTMH), a ribbon from my stash, the sentiment is from a CTMH stamp set (retired, I believe).  I am getting to the age when I use a LOT of sympathy cards - so now I have one for my stash. 

Found treasure

Cleaning closets the other day in Steve's house and I came across three embroidered flowers.  I asked - he didn't know anything about them, so I decided to make quick use of them on a trio of cards!  

The blush design paper and zip strip are from Charlotte papers (retired) and the black design was from another retired CTMH paper pack (can't remember the name!).  I had some die-cut felt leaves, and rose-gold sequins.  The Thinking of You and the Happy Birthday are CTMH stamps.  The You Remind me of the Person I'd Like to Become is a stamp from the set "Carpe Diem" made by Verve.  I love that set!  

I am surprised how different they look just by changing up the arrangements on the card - and for the birthday one, making the size square rather than A2.  I used the black design and zip strip along the bottom edges of the insides to carry the theme over.  

Don't you love it when you find something so cool!?!

Create Kindness

These little M-size stamps from CTMH that are available in the September Create Kindness promotion are just adorable!  I cased a card made by Julie Carriere .  Julie has a lot of great ideas for using the stamps!  This was my first attempt - I simply used a piece of scratch paper at the place where the Raspberry cardstock would be, and stamped part of the "Love" stamp as a border.  I cut one of the 3x3 card bases in half to make a mat, and colored just the focal image. The card base is Slate with a White Daisy piece on the inside for writing. Easy!

Playing with smooshing again

I saw a card on Julia Aston's blog here. Julia has inspired me since before I began blogging - in fact, I copied her blog design because I admired it so much.  She's updated hers, and I haven't, but I must tell you, she has provided so much support and guidance and is so gracious about it all!  So, you won't be surprised when you go look at her post and find it is a whole lot prettier than mine.  But you will see the sincerest form of flattery in my imitation.

Buttercup, Blush, and Cashmere inks to smoosh in.  The stamps were done in Cocoa ink.  I also used a Chocolate cardstock for the 5 1/2" square card, and stamped a floral border in Chocolate ink all around the outside.  

Halloween

The set is called Monstrous Halloween - and these cute little monsters seem to be all the rage right now!  I've seen them on blankets, pillows, and birthday cards!  LOL  This was another "fancy" fold card.  When pushed flat is is the dimension of an A2 card.  When you open it, it can stand up by itself, which is fun for showing off.  The papers are Jeepers Creepers from CTMH in the brand new Holiday Expressions idea book.  

See ya later, Alligator!

I saw a card like this on Pinterest a long time ago and saved the idea.  While organizing all my stamp sets into Evernote (awesome tool!) I realized that I have a super alligator stamp - so I gave the card a shot!  The only tricky part was the reverse image stamp of the alligator who is going the other way.  What I did was get the stamp good and juicy, then stamped it onto a clean, blank acrylic block and then onto the paper.  You have to be careful to stamp straight down and up - to avoid slipping.  I love that my reverse alligator looks a little different - all fancy with puckers and a darker green color (the color was planned, not the puckers!).  Fun!

Still playing with watercolors.

I love images where the background was created by simply letting watercolor flow over the paper.  This one turned out neat - it looks like there are white clouds.  The "tree" looks wonky - in real life it has a lot more variation in color.  I inked the stamp three times - once in Saffron, once in Sunset, and once in Poppy.  The tree trunk was done in Saddle and the sentiment (from a Petite Perks reward package) was stamped in Cocoa. 

The background (first mat) is a woodgrain paper in the new Fundamentals package. I thought you might like to see something other than the rose-gold vellum!  The card base is a design paper from last fall, Zoe.