OHC 32 - Home-made (with SOG)

Today was a very long, very busy and very stressful day. It was one of those days where I'm just playing catch-up, and even though I'm getting a ton done, it feels like there's an infinity more to do. Eventually, though, the day ends and I take a few minutes to rest and relax (instead of just falling asleep out of sheer exhaustion).

Tonight, I put on some quiet music and grabbed my knitting needles. Now, I an not a knitter by any means. About all I can manage is a simple European knit, long enough to make a wonky scarf. But that clinking of needles and repetitive motion calms me down and lets my brain recharge. And, as always, that led to that creative burst of inspiration where I just had to make a card. I pulled one of the themes from my One Hundred Cards challenge box and came up with "home-made". That just fit so perfectly with what I was doing!

I wanted to do something knitting-related, and Sweater Kaylee was the right stamp. Not only does it feature Kaylee sporting a rockin' sweater, but it has wonderfully punny sentiments that even non-knitters would appreciate.

After stamping Kaylee out in brown hybrid ink, I colored her in with Copics. I went for a combination of teal, purple, brown and golden yellow. I think this colorful combination is fresh and summer-like - even if sweaters aren't particularly summer-y. After I was done coloring, I carefully cut her out, leaving a small white border.

I found a fun crochet patterned paper from Simple Stories Homespun collection. It featured lovely neutral colors and fit perfectly with my theme. I matted the paper onto a cream-colored card base. Then I adhered Kaylee with foam squares.

I stamped the sentiment onto a thin strip of cream cardstock and matted it with a yellow gingham from the paper pad. I cut one edge at an angle and adhered it to the card base. as a last touch, I added 3 enamel dots near the sentiment, using the colors from Kaylee's outfit and the patterned paper.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

OHC 72- Black

Today's card is another one in my One Hundred Cards challenge (read about it here). When I pulled out the theme "black", I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. My first instinct was to make some kind of starry sky, but I'd already done that with a different OHC card and I didn't want to repeat myself. So, I decided to go in an different direction and explore under the sea.

I started by preparing my top-folding A2 card base (4¼x5½") out of black cardstock. I made sure to line the inside with some white cardstock so it was simpler to write in. I then die-cut a stitched rectangle out of black cardstock. It looked a bit too plain and too severe for the fun card I had in mind, so I flicked some pearlescent white and turquoise paint thinned with a bit of water over it. This created a spotty effect that softened up the panel. The color was very bright when I was applying it, but it dried to a more subtle tone -- something to keep in mind when deciding how much color to add.

I'm sure most of you have already seen the super adorable Lawn Fawn set So Jelly. This cute set is both mega adorable and very inexpensive, so it's a great set to add to your stamp collection. I stamped 3 jellyfish and decided to do two-tone coloring on them with my Copics. I blended orange and pink, blue and purple and yellow and blue-green. This gave the jellyfish a fun rainbow-like look. When doing this kind of blending, you want to choose shades that are relatively close together in brightness, and just go back and forth with the two colors until they look blended. After they were colored, I added some details with a white gel pen and die-cut them with the So Jelly dies.

Since I really loved how the rainbow looked against the black, I die-cut a scalloped rectangle out of rainbow-striped paper. This paper is from a Lawn Fawn collection that's been retired (Hello Sunshine Petite 6x6), but you can find a similar stripe in the new Beachside paper set.

I adhered all of my elements together and added them to the card front. I wanted to add a sentiment, and I thought "thanks" was the perfect one. I die-cut the sentiment out of some gray striped paper (Hippo Line Dance) and adhered it to the card.

As a last touch, I scattered a few sparkly clear sequins around the page.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SB- Follow Your Dreams

Today's card features another Tiny Townies stamp set from Stamping Bella -- Dorothy the Dreamer. Out of all the stamps I got from this line, Dorothy is the one that echoed with me the most. The minute I saw it, I felt that happy feeling. This is how the universe ought to be, with an abundance of book universes we can get lost in, and a dreamy and clever companion to help us navigate it.

I wanted my card to reflect this feeling that seems so simple, yet is impossible to put into words. I stamped out Dorothy in brown hybrid ink and colored her with Copics. I did a bit of messy coloring on her puffy skirt, tying for a loose coloring method I've seen a couple of crafters use with Stamping Bella stamps. I don't know that I was very successful, but I left it as it was. When I was done, I carefully cut the image out, leaving a small white border.

I wanted the image to stand out, so I chose two patterned papers with simple and neutral colors. Going too bright or complicated with the background wold have taken away from the image, so I went with more subdued tones. I layered the two papers together, going for a slightly different layout, then adhered everything onto a white A2 card base (4¼x5½").

For the sentiment, I used Clearly Besotted's Say It In Style stamp set. It had a lovely dream sentiment that seemed just perfect for the card. I stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock, which I cut at an angle and added to the card with foam squares.

I wanted some embellishments on the card, so I adhered 3 wood veneer stars and 3 purple enamel dots.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

OHC 76 - Pear

Today's card is another entry in my One Hundred Cards challenge (read about it here). When I pulled out the "pear" theme, I knew just the perfect stamp set to use -- Avery Elle's Berry Good. This set features some lovely images of fruit that are perfect for practicing your coloring, as well as some great sentiments. I especially love the whimsical font in the sentiments, and I can really see myself reaching for them often.

For this card, I decided to use my Copics and practice coloring some semi-realistic textures and shading. I stamped out two pears onto some Copic marker paper in black hybrid ink. I used a variety of Y, G and YG markers for the pear body, then added a few dots of soft orange. After I finished coloring, I carefully cut the pears out, leaving a small white border.

I wanted the pears to be the main focus of the card, so I kept the rest of the card super simple. I die-cut a piece of patterned paper into a stitched rectangle. I stamped the sentiment onto some white cardstock and die-cut it with a stitched circle die.

I wrapped a piece of green grosgrain ribbon around the top of the patterned paper and adhered the sentiment over it. I adhered that panel to a chartreuse top-folding A2 card base (4¼x5½"), then added the pears on foam squares.

BUDGET TIP: Look for stamp sets that combine something unique with something simple and practical. For example, Berry Good set that I used in today's card has unique, quirky-styled sentiments and simply-drawn fruit. The fruit can be stamped and colored in many ways -- Copics, pencils, watercolor, even paper-piecing.

BW- Panda Love

Fair warning, everyone! This post is about to get pretty lengthy. If you just want details on this card, skip down to Card Details.

If there's one thing I wish someone told me when I was first starting out in Card-Making, it's that paper crafting is a very expensive hobby. At the same time, it's also a hobby that most of us will find to be personally rewarding - to a great degree, at that! The process of creating can relieve stress and help your creativity blossom. And nothing says "I care" quite like a card you've created with someone specific in mind.

But even with all the amazing and positive effects paper crafting can have, it's still very expensive. Trends change rather quickly, new tools are coming out all the time and every day there are tempting must-have stamps released monthly from your favorite stamp companies. It can quickly get overwhelming and lead to that pattern where we buy and hoard great supplies only to destash them a few months later, still unused.

Even for those of us who are blessed with virtually unlimited pockets, it's impossible to keep up with all the products and still make good use of them. And if you happen to be a beginner - or even a seasoned card maker that's switching to a new card style -, the amount of information you will find is going to be dizzying and massive. You will feel like you need everything and you will undoubtedly find yourself with a stash full of supplies that you can't quite figure out how to use.

With this in mind, I think it's really important to always be spending smart. For me, that meant changing a few of my habits as well as looking at how and what I buy in a different light. One of the biggest changes I made was putting myself on a budget. 9 months ago, I set myself on what I figured to be a good crafty budget. After a rather rocky start, I finally got into a pattern that I consider healthy and balanced.

I also happened to pick up a ton of tips about budgets and staying on-budget. Over the next few weeks (or months?!), I will be sharing these tips with you and chat a little about what helped me out the most. I will also be sharing several cards created with budgets in mind. And with that...

 Card Details
 Today's card is a very clean and simple card, using a panda theme -- something that I've seen pop up in several cards lately. I don't know that the panda trend is super new, but it's a really cute one and I wanted to create something sweet and fun.

I started by die-cutting a piece of black cardstock and a piece of mint patterned paper with stitched rectangle dies. I matted them and adhered to a Kraft card base. Then, I die-cut two circles out of black and white cardstock -- they are going to be my center panel. I also adhered them together.

For the panda, I used a sticker I bought at my local craft store. This sticker set features several cute pandas plus accessories, and it only cost 1$! Great value, as I can create several cards with it.

The card looked too plain without some embellishments, so I added a white mini doily, a piece of flair from Lawn Fawn (retired) and some enamel dots. 

BUDGET TIP: Full-sized stamp sets at full price might be out of the budget for several crafters, especially if you think you'll only make a couple of cards with the set. Stickers aren't as impressive as your own stamping/coloring, but they can still be a cute addition that makes your card's layout and style really shine.
Stickers are also a great small surprise gift to include in cards. If you've made a card for someone who loves pandas, adding that panda sticker they can use elsewhere will be delightful.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~ 

WW-Happy

I'm still in the land of so-busy-with-work-I-can-barely-breathe, but I had to take a super quick minute to share a card.

This card uses two super fun products from Winnie & Walter -- Happy die and Sugar Rush stamp set. I love the whimsy of the stacked letters in Happy. They cut out perfectly and they're large enough to be glued down with regular adhesive or strategically-placed foam pieces.

Sugar Rush is one of those sets that has a ton of little stamps that can be used for decorating or for creating your own patterned paper. Sets like that are essential in the crafting room, because you can really get a lot of mileage out of them.

To finish off the card, I scattered a few sequins around the front panel.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

BB-Let's Party!

Today, I've got just a quick card share. I'm about to hit another super-busy patch at work which might mean another random posting schedule for my cards. We've also got a whole bunch of other things going on at home that are making things even more busy. So, please excuse me if I'm less-than-quick to respond or post a card or 2.

This card uses the set from Birdie Brown called The Whole Herd. I also used the Grassy Fields Die-Namics die to create the little grass edge.

I did some quick Copic coloring on the cow and the milk pail, and carefully cut them out with a pair of sharp scissors. I layered all of my elements together and stamped the greeting. As a last step, I added some silver sequins.

Thanks so much for reading!!
~Elle~

Sneak Peek!

I've got a fantastic card over on the Some Odd Girl blog! (It's my first solo guest DT post,  I'd be super happy if you hopped over and checked it out!)

Mae in Red

Some Odd Girl is having another fabulous digi release! This week, we're playing with Breezy Mae, who looks like she just stepped out of a grand ball.

After resizing and printing Mae, I started coloring. I used my usual skin combo (E00, E11, E13, E15 and R20) and bright blue eyes (BG01, B05). For the hair, I played with some of the newest colors I got (E74, E57,  E77) .

The dress was a bit of an experiment. I wanted a deeper red, but my go-to dark red combo just didn't seem right. So, I first colored the dress completely with Y14, then used warm grays (W2, W4, W6, W8) to do my shading. After all of that was done, I went over the entire surface with R29. This gave me that perfect dark red I was going for.

Now, I know what you're thinking... How in the world do you get that from using just one red color? The answer is in one of the properties of Copics that I don't often see mentioned: color opacity. Copic markers aren't completely opaque. They're a bit like watercolor, in the sense that you can layer them on top of each other and end up with a brand new color. I'm not sure whether Copic is the only alcohol marker with this property as I don't own any other alcohol marker brands. But I encourage you all to test it out!

This property is also good news for those of you on a small budget or those of you just starting out with alcohol markers. It means that you can grab a set of grays (you can grab a very nice set on Amazon at a discount) and some bright primary colors, and you've got a good base to work with. Make sure you add in some skin colors if you plan on coloring people.

After all of my coloring was done, I carefully cut Mae out and set her aside to work on the rest of the card. I found the perfectly muted and distressed paper in my stash, and I die-cut two pieces with some stitched shape dies. I layered them together and adhered to a standard teal A2 base (4¼x5½"). I added Mae with foam squares.

Since Mae is wearing such a lovely rich dress, I decided to add extra embellishments. I scattered a few paper flowers from Prima to the left of the circle. As a last touch, I used some liquid pearls to add pearl accents around the card, including Mae's earring.

And that's all there is to it! Please make sure you check out Some Odd girl blog and see what amazing creations the DT members have come up with.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SOG - Giggle

Every card-maker knows, mistakes happen - and sometimes it really sucks when they do! I can't even count the number of times I've messed something up. Whether it's the splotched greeting or matting the layers crooked, I've done it, let the frustration get the better of me and thrown away the card.

Chucking that card into the trash felt great emotionally, but I often wonder if that was the best decision. The fact of the matter is ... Not every card is going to be perfect. In fact, even those cards that felt perfect in the moment they were created might look completely horrible a year from now when I have more experience or when the trends change.

And to add to that, having to work with a mistake is a limitation that could prove great for my creativity. Having to change plans and make something different from my original vision could result in a better-looking card - and, if I'm perfectly honest with myself, the few times I covered a mistake, I did end up with a better card! So, I decided to try and push myself to fix a card first before throwing it away.

With the rambling bits out of the way, let's talk about today's card. I am using Some Odd Girl's Giggle Fairy digi stamp. I printed her out onto some Copic X-Press it cardstock and colored her in with Copics. I wanted to do some fun gradients, so I used a variety of color - orange and pink for the dress, purple and teal for the wings and a few slots of teal on her feet and ears. To make her look more magical, I used my white gel pen to add some sparkly dots. Then I carefully fussy-cut her out with scissors, leaving a small white border.

Since the fairy is so colorful and bright, I wanted to keep the rest of the card very simple. So, I die-cut a piece of neutral blue patterned paper with a curved edge die. I adhered it to a green top-folding A2 card base (4¼x5½"). I adhered the fairy with foam squares, then went to emboss a sentiment at the bottom right of the card.

And that's where I messed up and the sentiment came out a blobby mess. Since I really liked the coloring on the fairy, I first tried to very gently take her off the card. It worked ok at the bottom, where she was touching the cardstock. But I'd pressed down really hard at the top and there was no moving her from there! I really liked the way I'd colored her, though, so I decided to be creative and see if I can fix my mistake.

I die-cut another piece of that patterned paper with the curved edge die and adhered it just under the fairy. Then I added a piece of flair as sentiment and a few enamel dots as a decoration.

Once the card was done, I really like how the new version turned out. It was a lot more interesting visually, and it really allowed the fairy to shine.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SB- Blossom

Today, I'm sharing another card from Stamping Bella's new release. This time, it's Tiny Townie Blossom loves Balloons. Tiny Townies are a new stamp style for Stamping Bella, but I really love how they've turned out. They're a bit like kid versions of the Uptown Girls (and guys), but their smaller size makes them perfect for standard A2 cards. I personally find them to be very sweet and whimsical.

I started the card by stamping out Blossom onto some Copic Marker paper. I stamped her in black hybrid ink, then colored her in with Copics.To make the balloons a bit more interesting, I added stripes and polkadots with my white gel pen.

Since the stamp has some very delicate and thin parts (ex. Blossom's hand, the balloon strings, etc), I decided against fussy-cutting. But I still wanted that part of the card to look interesting, so I cut the panel at an angle and went around the edges with a mini ink blender and Faded Jeans distress ink.

I cut a piece of wide-striped neutral paper to 4 x 5¼" and adhered it to a standard top-folding A2 base. I added the stamp panel with foam squares. For the sentiment, I grabbed Lawn Fawn's Flying By stamp set and stamped onto a thin cardstock strip. I snipped off an angled edge on one side and adhered it to the card with foam squares.

For decorations, I went with something a little different. I had a pack of very large enamel dots from Webster's Pages that I've held off using for a while due to their size. But they seemed to fit here perfectly. I also added a few smaller enamel dots and some wood veneer stars.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SOG - Love

Some days (like today) are just plain busy. I often find myself running from one thing to the next like the Energizer bunny. From trying to catch up on work, to fixing dinner and getting kids ready for bed, it feels like I never stop. But then, late at night, the world quiets down for a moment and I can sit down and let my creativity flow.

For this card, I turned to Copic coloring -- an activity I find incredibly relaxing and rejuvenating. I grabbed the Hand Holding Mae & Kody digi from Some Odd Girl which I'd printed earlier in the week and colored the couple in. After I was finished, I carefully cut around the image with a pair of scissors, leaving a small white border.

I kept the rest of the card really simple. I used a couple of pretty patterned papers as a background, and added a few enamel hearts as a decoration.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Birdie Brown- Chill

Today's card is a simple summer card featuring the newest release from Birdie Brown - Penguins in Paradise.

I started by stamping the penguin and the tree onto some Copic marker paper. I colored them in with Copics, then carefully cut them out with scissors, leaving a small white border.

For the center panel, I die-cut a piece of white cardstock to a 3x4" rectangle with rounded corners (I used a die to make this process faster). While I had my Bigshot out, I also cut a stitched rectangle from a subtle blue patterned paper.

Then I grabbed some masking paper, my distress inks and blending tool. I started blending color with Wild Honey for the sandy beach, going in from the sides and the top. I like Wild Honey in particular because it's a rich yellow with a touch of orange - which makes for great contrast with the sky and sea. For the sea, I used Peacock Feathers and for the Sky, I used Broken China.

I adhered the patterned paper with my regular adhesive and added the center panel with foam squares. I then added the palm tree, the penguin and a sentiment from the stamp set.

Lastly, I put a few enamel dots in the upper left corner to balance out the image.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

CM - Sally rides her snail

It's Monday, and it's time for another color card! this week, I decided to play with watercolor, as well as the super adorable brand new stamp I got from Stamping Bella - Tiny Townie Sally Rides Her Snail. This adorable stamp is from their newest release, and I grabbed a few more gorgeous goodies I will be playing with in the weeks to come.

Now, I am a true watercolor beginner. I started playing with watercolor only a few months ago and I'm still working on discovering all the different tips and techniques. I've also started to slowly collect supplies and figure out what kind of watercolor tool is going to work for me the most.

Today's card uses a new set of watercolor brushes I got: Akashiya Sai watercolor brushes. I picked these particular brushes because they both had great reviews and an affordable price. I've also seen Zig Clean Color brushes used a lot lately, but I found them very pricy. In the reviews I've watched for both products, there didn't seem to be any difference between the two. So, I went with Sai brushes, and I'm super happy with my purchase.

I stamped Sally in brown archival ink, then got to coloring. I used distress inks for her skin and Sai brushes to color the rest. I went with bright colors, and layered color for shading. There's a couple of things I noticed - first being that it was tough to be precise enough to color tiny areas. And the second is that I need to account for possible color bleeds when I put down the color. I happened to put the color way too close to the stamp lines and ended up with a bit of color bleeding here and there.

After my coloring was done, I let it dry and added a couple of details with a white gel pen. I die-cut the watercolor paper with a stitched rectangle die from Mama Elephant's Femme Frames. Then I die-cut a piece of blue vellum paper with the scalloped rectangle. I adhered everything to a white notecard.

The sentiment is from WPlus9's Bubble Talk stamp set, and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.

Thank you for reading and have a creative day!
~Elle~

TI - Birthday Ellie

Birthdays and thank you cards are my most-created cards, so it's with no big surprise that I have a huge collection of birthday stamps. I love having a stamp for every lucky birthday guy and girl, and I love even more that I can color them to look like the recipient.

Today's card features a Tiddly Inks stamp called Ellie Says Happy Birthday. Aside from being a super cute stamp, this is also a special stamp because we have an Ellie in the family and I could totally color the girl to look like her! How cool is that?!

I stamped Ellie in black hybrid ink and colored her in with Copics. I went for bright and happy colors, and I used a slightly different combo for the pink dress. I combined RV11, RV42, R85 and RV66 for a peachy-pink look. I then used my white gel pen to add some highlights and polkadots.

I die-cut a circle out of a festive birthday paper and matted it to a warm grey circle. For the rest of the background, I used a cool gray paper that was die-cut into a stitched rectangle. And I added all of it to a warm grey card base (standard A2 4¼ by 5½").

After adhering everything together, I added a sentiment strip. Since the card had a lot of circular elements, I added a piece of flair, a couple enamel dots and clear sequins as a final touch.

Thanks so much for reading!
~Elle~

Gorjuss: Tea

Today, I'm sharing a card with another Gorjuss stamp I recently got -- Sweet Tea. This time, I decided to pair up the coloring-I-have-figured-out with a more modern background print, and I like how it turned out!

I stamped the girl in brown hybrid ink, then colored her in with Copics. I went with happy tones, keeping the image pretty light. I carefully cut around the image, leaving a small white border. I grabbed a kraft card base and adhered a piece of patterned paper to it. I added the girl on some foam squares, then scattered a few enamel dots as decoration.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Budget Wednesday - Taco' Bout

It's Wednesday, and it's time to talk about some penny-saving!

Today's card is a super simple card, featuring a cute set from the Sweet Stamp Shop called Give Em Tacos. This adorable mini set is only $3.95 and it includes both the taco and the sentiment. I colored my taco in with Copics, carefully cut around it and adhered it to a white notecard I found in my crafty closet. Then I stamped the sentiment and added 3 little enamel dots. Easy peasy! And looking good. 

If you're not familiar with the Sweet Stamp Shop, it's a small shop that has both very affordable and completely adorable stamps. They have what we consider "regular" stamp sets (4x6") for $14.95, half-sets (2x6") for $7.95 and minis (3x3") for $3.95. This makes it easier to stay within a budget, but still pick up something super adorable. They also feature planner stamps, so if you're into planners or need a bunch of teeny images, definitely check them out.

There is one downside to their shop.... The stamps are only available for limited time. The designs do get retired, which means you might sometimes need to rush and get them asap. But they do feature retiring sales, too, which is an extra chance to save up.

Another thing that really helps save is to practice clean and simple cards with minimal design. This kind of design is all about using a very few carefully-placed elements to create something dramatic or eye-catching. I'm planning to write a post that goes more in-depth about clean and simple designs, so keep an eye out for that.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

TGF: Poppy

Today's card is a super quick one, but its timing is great. It features Poppy, one of the stamps in The Greeting Farm's Secret Stamp Club -- which is taking subscriptions right now.

Poppy was the May stamp, and she's a part of the charm school line. I love how adorable all the girls in this line are, and Poppy is no exception. Someday, I'm going to make a massive card that features all the girls. But until then... let's go back to today's card.

I stamped Poppy out with some brown hybrid ink and colored her in with Copics. I used brown and yellow for her outfit and bow -- those seemed like good school colors. And then I colored her hair minty green. I think it makes her look super fun! And a bit like she came straight out of a cartoon. After she was all colored in, I carefully cut her out, leaving a small white border.

Since Poppy was so bright and lovely, I decided to keep the rest of the card super simple. I paired a neutral gray patterned paper with a yellow one, and added a die from WPlus9 as a sentiment. I put Poppy on foam squares, and added a few black liquid pearls as decoration.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Pearl Mae

Mermaids are one of my favorite mythological creatures, so it goes without saying that I was absolutely thrilled to see the Pearl Mae digi. Aside from her lovely flowing hair, Pearl Mae also features an amazingly detailed mermaid tail and a scale cover-up for her chest. I love how natural and organic it looks! And the pearl she's holding is just perfect for practicing shading of round objects.

Since Mae had so many different parts to her, I really took my time coloring her. My inspiration for her colors were the gorgeous betta fish - which come in such a variety of colors. I went for a minty teals (BG11, BG23) and darker violets (BV17, B99), as I found they contrast fabulously with each other. I made Mae a blonde, as that's a shade I've found myself wanting to practice more. I chose bright blues for the pearl, keeping the coloring relatively simple and shiny. After Mae was colored in, I carefully fussy-cut her and set her aside.

As Mae was very detailed, I knew I wanted to keep the rest of the card very simple. I chose a white woodgrain cardstock for my card base, and I matted it with a piece of colored vellum which I die-cut with a scalloped rectangle. I die-cut a stitched rectangle from a simple striped patterned paper, as well as a couple of dark purple hearts.

I assembled everything together with my regular adhesive and with some foam squares. Lastly, I added a few enamel dots just under the hearts.

For more amazing inspiration, visit Some Odd Girl blog, and see what amazing things the rest of the girls on the design team have done. And if you get a spare moment, check out the Oddies Facebook group - a fabulous place to share your creations and to find even more inspiration!

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~