Altenew & Jennifer M. inspiration!

Welcome,
I saw this set of matching stamps, dies and stencil from Altenew, and knew I had to have them! I splurged and placed them together under the Christmas tree. I just had to wait until after Christmas to open and play!  Take a look:

I also purchased the life changing brushes and the Masking Magic sheets to create these. I duplicated Jennifer McGuire exactly to get the hang of the stencils, masking and brushes. I love the look! Thanks Jennifer! You Rock! There are so many other ideas I have for this set! So excited! Thanks for taking a look. See you soon!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Poppy Garden Stamp (Altenew) Sentiment: Trust is (CAS-ual Fridays)  Masking: Poppy Garden stencils (Altenew)  Ink: TH distress inks Paper: Neenah Solar White   Others: Life Changing brushes

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Recycle

Welcome Back!
I am excited to be able to join the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. I have been enjoying my grunge-side of my cardmaking lately. My school just had a local law firm donate a bunch of furniture, chairs and TONS of office supplies to my school (I am a math teacher). Amongst the piles of office supplies was a entire box of dividers that had been removed from years of filing. I grabbed them quick! The dividers were white, but a bit on the cardstock side.  RECYCLE! Take a look:

I started the background with picket fence paint and Tim Holtz alphabet stencil on the recycled divider. Once dried, I blended a handful of bright distress inks. (picked Raspberries, Wilted Violet, Wild Honey and couple others along with a brown around the edges.) I used a handful of other stencils and stamps in the background. I placed the sentiment first and heat embossed it, so that I would room for it!  lol

The wild flowers are mostly Tim Holtz, but I just purchased CottageCuts wildflower die sets. They are awesome! They come with cute dragonflies and hummingbirds! Anyway, I used the technique from Jennifer McGuire to place all the flowers. She uses GLAD Press and Seal to lift all the small pieces and keep them in place. Then I can put glue all over the back-sides of the small pieces, and then place it back in place. What a great time saver! 

Thanks for dropping by!

Jennifer McGuire CASEd!

Hello and welcome back,
I am totally enjoying my summer vacation. I have been crafting, I just haven't been FINISHING projects very well. That being said, I started searching videos for inspiration. Because I love Jennifer McGuire, I dove into her older videos. (2015). I found one that was very straightforward, and totally outside of my usual designing. I didn't need a specific type of stamp set, like many of her videos feature. Here is a picture of the cards from her blog. Click HERE for the post.

The simplicity of the design and the easy supplies helped me get back on track. I was able to focus, design, start, and finish these cards in a couple of hours. It felt good to see cards all the way through! Here is my versions. Take a look:

I didn't get as clean of images as she got, but I like my cards just the same. to be honest, the artsy flowers are the ones that came out the best!  LOL I love the purple too. (of course I do) More to come! Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks Gift Set

Hello,
Welcome back! I am sad to say that my spring break has come and gone. I can't complain though, I made it very productive, and I feel like I got many "to do" items off my list. I even got to go to Indian Rocks Beach, and Sarasota!
On to my cards. I enjoy creating gift sets for different occasions. I am particularly proud of this set, because it uses two new techniques that I learned recently, and I can say (with confidence) that it is absolutely unique from other cards! Take a look:

 Card #1: Spiced Marmalade and Fossilized Amber Oxide Inks
 Card #2: Broken China and Peacock Feather Oxide Inks

 Card #3: Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Oxide Inks
 Card #4: Peeled Paint and Cracked Pistachio

 Card #5: Faded Jeans and Iced Spruce Oxide Inks
 Card #6: Fired Brink and Worn Lipstick Oxide Inks

The box I made out of heavy watercolor Paper, and covered it with SU! Patterned paper. The box holds all 6 cards and then ties closed. Each card was matted with with cardstock and matched with cardstock from Stampin' Up! The Stamp is Whumsy Daisy from Endless Creations.

I love when a look I am going for works beautifully! I cannot say these techniques are my own, I got them from Jennifer McGuire. See below for her awesome blog posts and even detailed videos. She can explain so much better then I can!

Technique #1: Wreath Builder Stamping - Click HERE for the video and blog post
Technique #2: Distress Oxide Water Painting - Click HERE for the video and blog post

I entered one card into two challenges.

• Caswatercolour
• Theflowerchallenge

Thanks for dropping in!

Masking Alternatives: Jennifer McGuire

I am a step or two behind, but I just discovered Jennifer McGuire! She is amazing and her videos are SO rich with information and techniques. I was so inspired by this video. I have to try these three different ways to mask. Thanks Jennifer!