Blue Daisy

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (white, blue, yellow, green), Techniques (die cutting, dimensional flowers), Elements (background circular die cut, dimensional bouquet of flowers tied with blue gingham ribbon)

INCLUDE: white, blue, yellow, die cutting

MODIFY: stenciled background instead of die cut, flat (but popped up) single flower instead of bouquet, 

EXCLUDE: green, ribbon

SPIN: square card, added jewels

The dramatic bouquet in the inspiration card is amazing! I love the pop of white and yellow against blue and I immediately thought of this daisy shaker die I have. 

I used a circle mask and a stencil to create my blue background element, using two shades of blue to add subtle interest. 

I backed my daisy die cut with a circle die cut, to keep all the petals in place (they would normally pop out if you're making a shaker with this die). I used another circle for the base of my flower centre and then one of the fancy flower centres that came with the daisy die set.  I finished it with some white gems.

Happy Birthday Daisies

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (coral, white, blue, olive), Techniques (die cutting, stamping, embossing), Elements (flowers, scalloped circle mat, lots of layers, embossed background, ribbon, stamped sentiment on rectangle strip

INCLUDE: flowers, coral, white, stamping, die cutting

MODIFY: masked flowers, freshened the blue and olive to aqua and lime, created 'texture' on my background by doubling up the flower mask with a stencil, flowers are white, colours in the background, sentiment is stamped on rectangle with negative frame

EXCLUDE: scalloped circles, embossing, layers, ribbon

I reversed my inspiration by having white flowers on a coloured background. I reduced layers a lot by masking my flowers and then stenciling the 'texture' in my background. I simplified my sentiment by cutting a framed rectangle out of my panel, and then leaving the frame out when I popped everything up. 

Illusion Love You

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (pink, white, gold), Techniques (die cutting), Elements (mosaic background, darker frame, 3 glitter hearts, valentine's theme, pink cardbase)

INCLUDE: pink, white, gold, die cut glitter hearts

MODIFY: valentine to 'love you', used masking and stencilling for background, one big white heart, 5 small gold hearts, added black and yellow/orange

EXCLUDE: 

SPIN:

Darlene's inspiration card is full of energy and love. I masked a large heart on my panel and then I blended pinks and one orangey-yellow ink through my illusion Rippled Squares stencil from A Colorful Life Designs. I trimmed it down to follow the ripples and stamped a bold black sentiment before putting it on a black rectangle mat. I added 5 little gold glitter heart die cuts as my embellishments. 

Craft Room Splurges

Today I'm talking about some of the splurges or investments I've made in my craft room. 

Recently, I made a BIG change to the pocket system I was using to store my stamps and dies, and that's the topic of my presentation at the upcoming Paper Crafters Get Organized summit, happening April 19-21. Not only will I show you my old and new system, but I'll be sharing 5 steps for how you can find YOUR perfect storage solution. You can register for a free ticket HERE.

Sunflower Thanks

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (yellow, red/orange, green), Techniques (ink blending, colouring), Elements (tall flower with bees on blended background. stamped cut out sentiment)

INCLUDE: yellow, red, orange, green, tall flower, 

MODIFY: stenciled instead of stamp, layout has blending on edges, sentiment stamped directly onto panel

EXCLUDE: bees

SPIN:

I don't want to get ahead of myself, spring is just arriving, and this inspiration (and my case) both have a distinctly fall feeling! lol! I used a stencil for my sunflower and then combined a leaf shape stencil with the flower stencil to create leaves that had a similar look.  I kept my blending on the edges of the card to allow for more white space.

Shimmery Thinking of You

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (blue, brown, copper, cream) Techniques (die cutting, stamping) Elements (flourish, daisy, die cut flower with circle frame, ribbon)

INCLUDE: blue, copper, die cutting, circle frame

MODIFY: water stamped background, stencilled daisy, one daisy, added sentiment

EXCLUDE: ribbon,

SPIN:

I was really attracted to the tone-on-tone look of this card, even though it has more than one colour. I started by blending a panel with blue and orangey-brown, and then masked a circle and water-stamped with a background stamp. 

I stenciled my daisy with Lisa Horton Interference ink (shimmery ink that changes colour depending on what's underneath it), and added a heat embossed sentiment.

Quilty Happy Birthday

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (red, white, green, yellow blue), Technique (disappearing 9, embossing, stamping), Elements (geometric panel, embossed background, birthday theme)

INCLUDE: red, white, green, yellow, blue, disappearing nine, embossing, geometric panel

MODIFY: die cut birthday sentiment instead of stamped, square card, embossed the geometric panel instead of the background

EXCLUDE: mats/frames

This was a really easy but fun technique! The only tricky thing is that you really need exact measurements on your squares and your cutting, for all the pieces to fit together properly. I also found that when I embossed the panel, it almost pulled the pieces away from each other a little bit, so I would probably leave that out.

Instead of using patterned paper, I used some almost-solid coloured gel print panels I had and added some darker ink blending through various stencils.

Merry Snowman

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this layout as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (white, aqua, pink, green), Techniques (digital scrapbook), Elements (dotted letter sentiment plus 'typed' sentiment, person, aqua background, dots around the edges, flowers, leaves

INCLUDE: white, aqua, pink green, aqua background, dotted letter and stamped sentiment

MODIFY: person is a snowman, dots around edges are pink on white.

EXCLUDE: flowers, leaves

I loved the whimsical feel of the colours on this layout and I changed my theme to Christmas and used a snowman die cut as my 'person'. I used several of my older supplies - the snowman die, the circular alphabet stamps and the starry stencil - it's so fun to dig out the old favourites!

Card Making Illusions

 

We all know that card making is magic! Layering inks to create the look of embossing is a really great card making illusion, and today I'm sharing tips for this PLUS 8 other cardmaking illusions in a video on my YouTube channel. I think a few of them will surprise you! This video is part of the Winter Wonder hop, hosted by Robin, The Delta Crafter so there's even more winter inspiration when you hop along! 

The Lord Is Come

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (persimmon, yellow, blue, gold. white), Techniques (die cutting) Elements (nativity scene with circle around, pine trees, script die cut sentiment, shooting star, interesting background)

INCLUDE: persimmon, yellow, blue, white, nativity scene with circle, interesting (if I do say so myself!) background

MODIFY: stencil technique, added Joseph, embossed and inkblended frame, stamped sentiment, my star is not 'shooting'

EXCLUDE: pine trees

SPIN: square card

The non-traditional, but rich colours of this Christmas card really caught my eye. And the name of the colour - persimmon - it just sounds nice, doesn't it? lol!

I used a new layering stencil set from Concord &9 and then layered on some radiating glow by using some masking stencils and added a sentiment from Waffle Flower.  I used a smaller circle stencil to create a glow around Baby Jesus.  I spritzed the panel with shimmer spray - this adds shimmer and a velvety finish to the cardstock.

For my persimmon frame, I inkblended yellow, orange and red onto it, then embossed it with an embossing folder and spritzed shimmer spray and then splattered some gold watercolour on it.

Card Roulette #185 - Joy

 

Well, it's always a joy to be on Craft Roulette and last night was my 10th visit! The wheel was pretty friendly, and the parameters were:

Project: card with a pocket

Colours: Fresh & Clean

Element: rhymes with -ool

Random: Columns

You can watch the episode here if you missed it.

I made a one-layer square card with a self-folding pocket on the inside for a gift card. (Started with a piece of white cardstock 4.25x10, scored at 4.25 and 8.5, leaving 1.5 to fold up as the pocket).

I blended fresh & clean blue CP inks  (the ink sponsor of Craft Roulette), through the Driven Snow stencil from A Colorful Life Designs (a spin sponsor), both on the outside front and back, and the whole inside of the card as well.

I used another ACLD stencil (Festive Stripes) on the front of the pocket as little columns.

I masked the sides of my card (again, outside and inside) and blended more blue ink along the taped edges to create another column. 

And, my stamped sentiment from Mama Elephant also has a columnar feel.

My die cut sentiment is a retired die from Winnie & Walter, inked with Fiesta Blue.

Super Smooth Gel Blending

I found a faster way to ink blend perfectly smooth panels - only one of these panels was ink blended - the other two were 'gel-blended' - can you tell which is which? 

6 NEW Ideas for Getting More from Stencils

 

Today I'm sharing ways to stretch your stencils and I'm not just talking about spinning, flipping or shifting, either. Let's take a look at 6 NEW ways to get more from these craftroom basics.

Continuous Stencil Technique (collab with Sasha Reade)

 I made a new friend and I learned a new technique! And then, I had to put my own 'spin' on it, of course! 

Watch my video here and then use the link provided to see Sasha's take on one of my favourite techniques:

FASTER Layered Gel Prints

 

Do you get bored when you have to watch paint dry? In today's video, I'm sharing a much faster way to get the same look as my layering print video from last month. (Remember these?)

Stencil Mat Comparison

I recently realized that I own pretty much every product designed to hold your stencil while you're ink blending - but which one's best? Watch my video to find out, and get a FREE downloadable comparison chart so you know too!