Studio Calico June kits!

Hi! If you follow me on instagram you may have seen the sneak peeks of the Studio Calico JULY card kits. (The kits this month are just full of awesome. Love.) I’ll do a sneak peek post soon. But first, I wanted to share some cards I made with the JUNE kits as there are still some available — better snap them up, and fast!

First up, my favorite card from the main card kit! For this one, I wanted to try stamping on wood veneer (included in the kit) and coloring with pencils — I think it turned out great!

I used VersaFine black ink to stamp the pup — there is a little bit of feathering, but not too bad. :) The white colored pencil really brings out the highlights. I drew the string with a black pen.

Next up, a little misting!

Now, how about some *sequin stamps*? I helped design these — and I gotta say that I LOVE them! These are part of the stamp set in the main card kit.

Now I can have sequins in any color :)

For my next card, I wanted to play with the paper to turn it into a globe. Gave this one to J before we went on a trip.

The next card plays with the ombre trend. Still loving it.

Next up another birthday card. This one uses twine as string!

Gotta say, I love all the balloon stamps in the main card kit. :) Oh and the twine? I adhered it with little dots of glossy accents.

And last but not least, this little number that uses Candi embellishments. These things are awesome. Love how you can easily cut them with scissors so that they’ll hang off the edges of papers.

And the woodgrain and gray papers in the June card-kit add on just rock. :)

Links

CASE Challenge #145

Hi! How is your week going so far? Mine has been flying by. But I’m happy it’s Thursday, because that means it’s time for CASE Challenge #145! This week’s challenge is based on THIS card that I did a while back, talking about how to get more from stamps and papers that match:

Here’s what I came up with for the challenge! This time around I decided to keep the white embossing and the general layout. But that’s where the similarities end. Instead of using a cream card base, here I decided to use white and then mist it with gold Mister Huey’s. It’s going to be a wedding card for a friend :)

I just love how this turned out! And I wish you could see it in real life, as the gold really shimmers and sparkles. Love the banner stamped in Delicata gold ink, too. (If you’ve never used it, this is my favorite gold. It’s really pretty.) Just so you know, I mounted the “congratulations” on a slight curve on my block — I didn’t want it to be perfectly straight since the banner is hand drawn. So happy to finally get to use the Studio Calico Diamond Background – I have more plans for this one too.

Now, click on over to the CASE Challenge blog and see what the Design Team has come up with for the challenge. Hope that you have a chance to play along with us!

Supplies:

*Hero Arts Cling Stamp DIAMOND Studio Calico 2013 331370 *Hero Arts Clear Stamps MISS YOU SO MUCH 2013 Studio Calico Snippets 331484 *Hero Arts Clear Stamps MONTHS 2013 Studio Calico 331485 *Studio Calico GOLD Mister Huey’s Color Mists 331078 *Hero Arts EMBOSS WHITE EMBOSSING POWDER *Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two Applicators 62191 *VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad Pigment *Colorbox FROST WHITE INK PAD Pigment Stamp 150801 *Colorbox FROST WHITE REFILL Pigment Ink 140802 *Hero Arts NOTECARDS SNOW 10 Cards PS566 White *Hero Arts Layering Papers SNOW PS610 *Krylon 18 KT. GOLD Leafing Pen *Tsukineko GOLDEN GLITZ Delicata Pigment Ink Pad *Tsukineko REFILL Golden Glitz Delicata Pigment Ink Pad

CASE Study Challenge #144

Guess what? I am beyond honored to be the guest muse for June over on the CASE Study challenge blog. When Chupa contacted me and asked me if I’d like to be the muse I was just over the moon. I mean, have you seen the awesome things the team comes up with? (If not, you should check them out! And check out the past muses too. What an honor to be in their company.)

So for this month’s first challenge, Chupa chose this card:

Recognize it? It’s from the Hero Arts Stamp Your Story blog hop. It was the first time I ever used the new daubers on a card. When I made it, first I swiped the daubers on the card, and then I stamped the feathers over top in black.

For my challenge card, I used the same daubers — only with a little twist. This time I stamped the brushstrokes in white first, and then I swiped the duabers over top. Love how it turned out:

Here’s an “in process” shot so that you can see how the technique works! It’s really simple, just stamp the brushstrokes in white, let dry — or if you’re impatient like me you can hurry it along with your heat tool. Then swipe the daubers over top.

And you’ll get a little something that looks like this!

Isn’t that just too cool? :)

Hope that you join me for this challenge! Find all the details right HERE. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with! xx

Supplies

*Hero Arts Cling Stamps BRUSH STROKES AC026 Rubber Unmounted 2013 *Hero Arts Clear Stamps OH SNAP Studio Calico 2012 331234 Hero Arts Paint Dauber NEON ORANGE AD002 2013 Hero Arts Paint Dauber NEON BLUE AD006 2013 Hero Arts Paint Dauber NEON YELLOW AD003 2013 Hero Arts Paint Dauber WET CEMENT AD012 2013 *Hero Arts Paint Dauber BUTTER CUP AD008 2013 Hero Arts Paint Dauber FIELD GREENS AD009 2013 Hero Arts Paint Dauber TIDE POOL Blue AD010 2013 Hero Arts Paint Dauber CUP O’ JOE Coffee Brown AD011 2013 Hero Arts Paint Dauber PALE TOMATO AD007 2013 *Hero Arts KRAFT Cards with Envelopes Notecards PS507 *Hero Arts Memories Stamp DYE Ink Pad BROWN BARK af245 *Colorbox FROST WHITE INK PAD Pigment Stamp 150801 *Colorbox FROST WHITE REFILL Pigment Ink 140802

Daubers and resist technique!

Hi! I’m over on the Hero Arts blog today with a fun Father’s Day card for J’s Dad :)

Come join me over there to find out all about it! :)

AND! I finally got to use my new Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher — gotta say, I love this little thing. What is it about things in miniature that make them irresistible?  Staples are the perfect embellishment for masculine cards, too. Just sayin. :)

Supplies

Simon Says Stamp Summer Blog Hop!

Hi there and welcome to my stop on the Simon Says Stamp Summer Release Blog Hop! You should have arrived here via the majorly talented (and super nice!) Stephanie Klauck’s blog. If you are just joining us, feel free to go back to the start at Simon Says Stamp.

Today we’re celebrating the start of summer and the new summer release. You should have heard me when my new stamps arrived — I was like a kid in a candy store! But as soon as I saw the Petal Pieces and Inside Out Sayings an idea popped into my mind and I just had to try it! Do you know that feeling? :)

I LOVE how the Inside Out Sayings have witty messages for the front — and inside — of your card. (That Kristina is brilliant, isn’t she? I was actually lucky enough to be there when she was dreaming up the set. She is just amazing.)

So anyhow, the name “Inside Out Sayings” made me think that I wanted to stamp the BOTH messages on the inside, but with a little trick! (Don’t worry, you’ll see.)

And then! Then I was inspired by the retro look of the flowers to use a funky color scheme with the new Hero Arts Fresh Peach and Mint Julep inks…

So I went to town and stamped all over a 4×5.25″ panel for the front of the card. I also ended up adding a few touches of Tide Pool ink, just to see how it would look with the Mint Julep. Oh and a little Butter Bar too. I must say that building your own flowers is quite addicting! And quite relaxing, too. So many possibilities!

So now for the tricky bit! After I finished stamping the front, I trimmed out a strip to make room for the message, like so:

Then I placed — but did not adhere — the top and bottom pieces on another white panel trimmed to the same size and stamped the message. If you can’t read it, it says “Thinking of you when I made this card”.

Then I moved the top and bottom pieces aside and stamped “(; which is why I sent it to you ;)” underneath. LOVE this. HA! This panel with the message will become the inside of the card.

To put the card together, I just adhered the inside to an acetate notecard like so:

Then I scored it really well and adhered the two flower pieces to the front! And ta dah!

I can’t wait to send this to a certain someone ;)

And I couldn’t stop there! Those darn Petal Pieces are just too addicting. So I made another card with them and the Happy set.

I love how you can use the little dots in the set just as polka dots! And These colors? They really make me happy!

The way the Hero Arts mid-tone inks seep into the paper is almost like magic. They work especially well for solid stamps like the flowers. Gives a such a nice even coverage. Now for another happy little something!

How about a GIVEAWAY! Simon Says Stamp will be giving away a grab bag filled with stamps, paper, and embellishments (note: not new Summer Product) to one randomly selected commenter on EVERY blog in the hop! The giveaway will remain open until  Thursday June 6 at 9:00 pm EST. So the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to WIN! YAY!

That’s it for me! Click on over to incredibly talented Jess Larsen’s blog to continue on your journey!

Thanks so much for joining me, and many many thanks to Heidi and Simon Says Stamp for having me! I had so much fun, and can’t wait to play with more of my favorites from the release. So many good ones! See below. :)

Happy summer, one and all!

Supplies

More of My Summer Favorites