The Smallest Packages - Biggest Blessings

I'm sharing a card that Brandy made with you today.  I think this is such an adorable card.  The toys were stamped using MFT's Hello Little One stamp set and colored with her Copic markers and fussy cut out to place on the card.  The background die is from Lawn Fawn's Quilted Backdrop Lawn Cuts die and mounted onto a dark blue cardstock card base.  What an adorable creation!

Andie for 

Color Swatching

When Brandy (I have to give Brandy credit here) first asked me, "Have you seen the new Waffle Flower video?", I responded no and thought I might have to check that out considering the enthusiasm with which the question was asked.  Then I watched this video.  The amount of anticipation and excitement between Brandy and I waiting for our stamp sets to arrive was significant.  I believe giggles might have been involved as we were both giddy as school girls.  These are my first two swatches that I made.   

I used watercolor paper for both swatches and I think I'll repeat on Bristol which is a better media for the Clean Clear Brush markers.  I'm sure I'll be sharing more when I get a few minutes.  This stamp set is fun!

A New Psalms Card Set

I'm just going to start out saying that there are a few tools I've purchased for card making in the past year that I love. My Papertrey Ink Year of Psalms stamps are one of those tools.  The second is almost anything I've purchased from Concord and 9th.

The Psalms were white heat embossed onto Bristol cardstock which had been ink blended with Distress Oxide inks.  Where the stamped image had a shape, like this heart, I used a waterbrush to "paint" inside and convert that image to the milky, oxide look that happens with the Distress Oxide.  Additionally, as with this first card, the white embossing is slightly tinted with the color so that the final result is almost a pale pink.

The die cut flowers behind the white die cut were all colored with Distress Oxide inks.  Putting these cards together was the height of fun!

This colorful card might just be my favorite.  The background colors and the accent colors all work together very well and the card is beautiful!

However, about the time I pick a favorite I come to the next card and love the yellow and coral and teal in this card.  Oh well, it just means that my vision for this card set worked out to be what I'd hoped. Who can complain?

I'm linking this card set up with the following challenges:

SSS Monday challenge - Stamp On It!
Papertrey Ink's Transformation Tuesday Challenge #18 - I made these cards previously using my Year of Psalms stamps.  I decided to transform the use of these stamps by die cutting the florals to surround the sentiments and white heat embossing the sentiment rather than stamping on white cardstock.  I really don't know which set I enjoy most.

A Set of Cards Made Especially for You

Oh my, have I enjoyed my Simon Says Stamp's Beautiful Flowers stamp!  I'm here today to share with you a set of cards I made from playing around with the stamp set and my Mission Gold watercolors.  These first few cards were white heat embossed onto watercolor paper.  I used a light wash color to create the depth and dimension.  I think this pink one might be my favorite!

I also decided to try out gold heat embossed images.  I'm not as pleased with this one, but it is pretty.

I used my Finetec watercolors with this gold heat embossed image. Much improved and far more impressive in person. It's challenging to get a photo that accurately shows of this card.

So very much fun!  This card set was a blast to create and I intend to use the stamp set again to try some different techniques.

Faux Stained Glass Technique

I decided to play around with a technique shared by Jennifer McGuire called the Faux Stained Glass technique.  I have recently acquired the Poppy Stamps Sweet Pea Stem die and it seemed a good fit for this technique.  I used Brisol paper and my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color the images.  This technique only takes time because of the multiple layers of die cuts and embossing.  Otherwise, it is a fantastic result for only a little effort.

I used Crystal Accents for the "glass" look to the cards.  I really enjoy the results - a crystal clear look that genuinely looks like stained glass.  I used two different shaded of marker, but I don't think these photos do justice to the in-person detail on these cards.

I enjoyed this so much, I think I'm going to pick another die and make another set of cards.  It's always fun to find a new technique and practice a little.