Azaleas in Vase

Yes – another azalea card!  This time in a more traditional shade of pink.

The image, from Power Poppy, was colored with prisma pencils and came out looking more like watercolors.  I did watercolor the background with shades of blue, pink and green and added the grounding with a mix of watercolors and pencils.   To finish I “spattered” some pink ink on the main panel and the card base.

The lower right hand corner has a letter pressed sentiment – here is a closer look:

Thanks for stopping by today!!  Hope all is going well with you!

letterpress

I picked up some letterpress plates on sale over the weekend and thought I would try them out today!   I’m using the plates without ink for more of a debossed look and paired it with a pretty sentiment from Mark’s Finest Papers.  MFP is having a stamp giveaway with their Friends of Speedy TV challenge each week – check out Speedy TV HERE.

 

The card is for this weeks Clean And Simple challenge at SCS – calling for blue and white.   I used a letterpress plate in the left corner (up close photo down below) along with a sentiment from the Love Remains set from MFP.

The pretty blue cardstock is from MFP as is the white base card.  The main panel uses Cranes Lettra letterpress paper – it works wonderful for letterpressing and dry embossing.  Here is a close up look at the letterpressing:

 

Later on this week we’ll be sharing some sneak peeks from the March release from Mark’s Finest Papers.   I hope you will stop by!!

celebrating autumn

Some parts of the country are almost knee deep in snow, while other parts (here) are basking in temperatures that are hovering around 80.    Then there are those lucky ones who are enjoying perfect crisp autumn weather and celebrating the rainbow of colors that mother nature gives us this time of year.

So today is in celebration of autumn.  A clean and simple card – to go along with the sentiment. 

The colored cardstock is from SU, the white cardstock is Cranes Lettra letterpress paper.

I letterpressed the wavy lines on the side.  The lines are part of a Letterpress Thanksgiving set.  I like how the soft and  curvy lines are almost like a river or stream.  The fern and sentiment are from Flourishes, both stamped with Memento Ink – Dandelion and Rhubarb Stalk for the fern and Tuxedo Black  for the sentiment.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

clean and simple monday

The great outdoors!  That is the theme for this weeks clean and simple challenge at SCS.  Here in Florida we are getting some wonderfully warm early spring weather so I thought I would  take a cue from that.  Here’s my card.

That darling little bunny and flower image is a $1 stamp from Michael’s – sometimes you can find the cutest stamps in those $1 bins!  I stamped in black, rounded the corners and sponged Memento Angel Pink and  Summer Sky for the background.  I also edged the panel with black.  The pink card is from SU and the white scalloped mat was made using nestabilities.

The sentiment is from Mark’s Finest Papers Carnation set and it is the perfect size for this image.  In looking at the final card I realized that this could also work for a baby card.

I don’t know if you can tell from the photo but there is a little bit of embossing on the base card behind the main panel.  This was done with a letterpress plate from the Letterpress Baby collection.  It’s subtle but but adds just a little bit of something.

I hope you will join us this week at SCS for the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by today!

clean and simple monday

Today’s challenge at Splitcoast Stampers was to be inspired by {this card} from the talented Birgit.  I chose to keep the baby theme and created this card using the L Letterpress product.

Most of  the materials are from L Letterpress – the paper, ink and images.  The rectangles were cut using nestabilities and the ribbon is from a package of baby themed ribbon from either Michaels or JoAnns.  The star on the onsie was created with a small punch and simply glued on to the image.

You can’t tell from the photo, but since the diamond pattern, onsie and sentiment were all letterpressed the card has a nice debossed look for those images. 

Have you tried letterpressing?   If you are making multiples of one card it is the way to go. Once you set up the plates and paper you can whip out a bunch in no time. 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you will join us at SCS for this weeks clean and simple challenge!

letterpress reindeer

I’ve taken out my letterpress tools once again and created this latest holiday card. 

The paper, rich red ink, and images are all from the L Letterpress from Lifestyle crafts.  No that is not designer paper in the background!  The damask image, along with the reindeer and sentiment are just a few of the images from the Letterpress Holiday plate.  That background is just gorgeous and can easily be used for a wedding card or pretty birthday card.  This particular Holiday collection also has a beautiful tree which I have not used (yet!).

You can’t tell from the photo but these letterpress plates impress or deboss the image into the paper so its not just a flat stamped image.  The plates can also be used like embossing folders without the ink.

I love the rich red letterpress ink – the photo does not really show its true color  – which is more dark, almost scarlet red.  The die cut label is a Tim Holtz die, the ribbons are from My Minds Eye (the loop ribbon) and JoAnn’s (the grosgrain).  And those red velvet brads are from The Paper Studio Spare Parts collection.  I LOVE velvet brads and which more stores would carry them!

Thanks for stopping by today!

got lemons?

Earlier this year we bought a lemon tree.  We just picked one that looked “good” and healthy.  It said it was a Ponderosa Lemon – which meant nothing to us, but over the months we’ve been watching the tree bloom, then start to grow fruit.  And grow.  And grow.

The lemons are now the size of  large avocados and are nowhere near ripe.  We looked up Ponderosa lemons on the internet and found out they are the GIANTS of the lemon family.  So, we’re not sipping fresh lemonade just yet,  but we are looking forward to it this fall.

And if you have any good lemon recipes send them my way – I have a feeling I will be needing them!

This card is for today’s “ways to use it” challenge, which called for using yellow!

I stamped the image in Memento London Fog and colored with copic markers.  The sentiment was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black.  All images are from Flourishes.

Copics used:  Y15, Y13, Y11, Y0000 for the lemons and YG00, YG13 and YG17 for the leaves.

I sponged the main panel with Memento Dandelion ink.   The white background was pressed out with the Holiday – Thanksgiving plate from Letterpress.  Both white panels are letterpress paper.  The green and yellow papers are (i think) from SU.  A Papertrey die was used for the scallop border on the right side.

The  pretty white and yellow gingham ribbon is from Michaels.

Letterpress Baby

I’ve been playing with my Letterpress plates again – this time with their Baby set.

The card uses Crane’s Lettra paper.  I’ve mentioned this paper in a previous post.  It’s 100% cotton and Crane’s made it specifically for letterpressing.  It is sold in 110lb and 300lb weights – the 110lb weight is very thick and sturdy, yet soft enough (because it is cotton) to take the letterpress plates and make a good impression.

The paper that is sold by Lifestyle Crafts, who make the L Letterpress is very good paper too.  It is thick and soft but it is not sold in sheets.  They sell it in card sizes but if you want a top fold card like this one you are out of luck.  This  is one reason I am using the Crane’s paper.  Both the Lifestyle Craft and Cranes paper are sturdy enough for a no layer card. 

I aligned the letterpress pieces and paper on the plate, inked them with light blue ink and ran it through my Cuttlebug.  The sentiment was done the same way using a Spellbinder oval die to cut the shape first, then press the image.  Here is a close up of the images to give you a better idea of how the machine presses the plate into the paper for a debossed, or engraved image.

For the “onsie” image in the center,  I punched a star using a small hand punch I’ve had for ages and just adhered it onto the image.

Blue sheer ribbon and silver cord are  the finishing touches.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Embossed cherry blossoms

In yesterday’s post I mentioned that we spent much of last week on Pensacola Beach, where the beaches were free and clear  of oil and tar balls.  No sooner had I posted when I turned on the news only to find out that overnight a bunch of oil had washed ashore and that while the beaches were still open, the water was off limits for now because of the oil.  I feel like a jinx!

On to better thoughts….I really love it when a card comes together on the first try.   When I set out to make a card, my usual process calls for a series of samples – testing out the image, coloring and sketches before I decide on the final version.

I had this particular sketch and image in mind and as I started putting it together somehow all the test pieces worked perfectly the first time.

I stamped the cherry blossom (from Stamp Francisco) in versamark and embossed it with a sepia colored embossing powder from BMuse. The image was colored with SU pink markers and an aqua brush for a water colored look.  The pale blue background was also color washed with bashful blue ink.  The sentiment, from Flourishes, was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa.

Here is a close up of the chocolate cardstock.   This piece  is embossed – or debossed really –  with the Leaf plate from the LetterPress Holiday – Thanksgiving set. 

A note about the white cardstock.  For this card I used Cranes Lettra cardstock.  I purchased this specialty paper  to use with my Letterpress kits.  The paper is made by Cranes specifically for letterpress.  It is 100% cotton and has a wonderful softness to it – like, well, cotton!  Since it is 110lb weight it is stiff enough for a no layer card and perfect for letterpressing because the plates deboss, or engrave, so well in this cotton paper.

So – why did I use this paper for “regular” stamping instead of saving it for letterpress?    A few reasons.  I had the top piece left over from another project and I wanted to see how well the paper did with regular stamping, wet embossing and watercoloring.

I am happy to report stamping and wet embossing worked perfectly.  With the watercoloring, I first started with a blender pen and did not get good results, so I switched to an aqua pen and achieved the results you see here.  I’m thinking that because the paper is 100% cotton it works well with a wash of color and water, and while it is not watercolor paper, it held up well.

Since the main panel was the Cranes Lettra paper I decided to make the base card with the same paper.  It is heavyweight, but very soft and because of the high quality that goes into making this paper the overall card ended up “feeling” like a high quality card.    The paper is expensive, but is perfect for no layer cards and letterpressing.

Thanks for stopping by today!

back to stamping!

We had family visiting last week so no time to craft, but what an enjoyable week it was!

We spent just about every day down on Pensacola Beach and I am happy to report that there was no oil and no tar balls!  I  spent most of the time under the beach umbrella, but did manage to get a little color on me.  We saw alot of fish in the water – one day a small group of sting rays showed up and just kept swimming along the waters edge – they did not seem to mind the people in the water – it was a great sight!

Today’s card is based on the sketch challenge at SCS and I wanted to use some of the Stampin Up ribbon I’ve been holding on to. 

The image and sentiment were stamped with celery, apricot and pumpkin inks.  The flower is from Starving Artistamps and the sentiment from Flourishes.  The paper is celery and apricot.   Both the striped and solid ribbons are from SU.

You can’t really tell from the photo but the middle panel has the flower image stamped in white on it. 

The back panel is embossed with a Letterpress diamond plate that is part of their Baby set.  I used this plate uninked to get an embossed (really  debossed) look, but I could have easily used white ink with it to bring out the pattern a little more.  I really like this particular pattern and will most likely use it alot!!  I also like the flexibility of using these plates with or without ink.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!