Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Shine like the Stars in the Universe in Bokeh

Well here I am with yet another Banner Blessings card.  I absolutely LOVE this stamp set!  I used a brand new to me technique today.  I know the Bokeh technique has been around but today was the first time I had tried it and I really had fun creating with it.  I started with a base of whisper white cardstock and sponged in tempting turquoise, soft sky, and so saffron in various areas.  I made a template out of a window sheet that I had cut out the 3 smallest sizes of circle framelits.  I sponged whisper white craft ink into the circles in various sections, going with a lighter touch on the larger circles and heavier on the smaller ones.  I then used a sponge dauber with an even heavier coat of the white craft ink in a few areas.  After allowing the craft ink to dry, I heat embossed the Shine sentiment using Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.   I added some punched as well as die cut stars from the brushed gold cardstock.   I also added a few gold flat sequins cut from the gold sequin trim.   Easy Peasey and lots of fun!

Here's my card..

If you haven't already tried this technique, I hope you'll try it.!  It really is a lot of fun to make!

Blessings,

Tina

Stampin' Up! Materials Used:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog





Non Stampin' Up Materials Used:

Little B's Stitched Star Dies

Monday, February 16, 2015

Fun with Watercoloring Backgrounds and Banner Blessings

One of my very favorite of the newer Stampin' Up! Stamp Sets is Banner Blessings.  I am thrilled for my sweet friend Holly Stene because she designed that set.  Any time you can add some of the God's Word to a card, it is a good thing in my thinking and this set is all about that!

The background panel was a watercolor technique that was achieved by putting 3 colors of Stampin' Ink on an acrylic block and then spritzing with water and pushing or smooshing the block down onto watercolor paper.  I also spritzed a little water directly onto the paper after the ink was smooshed onto it.  I then ground up a little sea salt over the background and allowed the dry.  The salt absorbs some of the water and makes a speckled effect on the background. One the background is dry, just brush off the salt.   It is a super fun technique.  I hope you'll try it!

I've also used the Butterfly Basics stamp set, as well as a Vintage Stampin' Up! Set called Of the Earth.



The card base was Coastal Cabama with a layer of Mossy Meadow.  The watercolor background was created using water color paper.   Ink colors used in the smooshing were Mossy Meadow, Tempting Turquoise, and Hello Honey. The flower image was stamped with Stazon Black onto the watercolor paper after the background technique was achieved. The butterflies were stamped with Stazon onto Gold Cardstock The greeting was stamped onto Naturals White Cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.  Both the greeting and the watercolored panel were mounted on a layer of Basic Black Cardstock for contrast.

Hope you love the way this card turned out as well as I did.

Blessings,

Tina


Sunday, February 1, 2015

CanYouCaseIt on Super Bowl Sunday? Well I'll sure try!

Everyone loves a Challenge Right?  Well today is Super Bowl Sunday and since the game doesn't start until later tonight it seems like this afternoon is a good time to take on CanYouCaseIt's Sunday Challenge.  You can find it here

This week's challenge is a great sketch and I love all of the cards posted by the Design Team so please make sure you check them all out!  Here is the sketch that I am casing:





One of my new favorite Stampin' Up! Stamp Sets is the Butterfly Basics Set and it currently offered as a bundle with the Butterfly Thinlit Dies.  It is an amazing set with great images as well as sentiments.  It really is a must have!  

Here's my card for today using the Butterfly Basics Set as well as the medium butterfly thinlit die:


Now I have a confession to make.  I absolutely love the look of a cut apart sentiment like I used on my card and I've done it many times but for some reason it never occured to me to do it with this sentiment.  A sweet facebook friend Holly Stene had done it on a fabulous card that she made a few days ago and I told her I would definitely need to case it.  Well since she gave me the inspiration, please check out her blog here

I hope you have a wonderful day and can celebrate your pick's win in tonight's game!

Blessings!

Tina



Materials Used today:

Stamp Set: Stampin' Up! Butterfly Basics Stamp Set

Dies: Butterfly Thinlits

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Mossy Meadow, and Gold Cardstock

Ink: Stampin' Up! Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey, and Soft Sky