CASology: Turquoise

Hello! I'm back today with a brand new cue from CASology!

I love this cue! There's so much you can do with a color prompt! I searched through my stamps and finally settled on this adorable bird image from Clearly Besotted to get the color treatment.

I used my MISTI to stamp my sentiment and then my bird just above it so that it looks like he's coming in for a landing on top of it. I used my Copics to color him in and then simply adhered my panel to a top-folding card base.  A super simple card, but I think it's awfully cute!

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to link up your own creations on the CASology post!

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CASology: Africa

Hello! Two posts in one day?! What? But not only is it Kindred Stamps reveal day, but it's also new cue day for CASology! (You'll see that my brain was still on the underwater theme!)

I decided that a hippo would fit this theme nicely since they're an African animal and MFT has the cutest hippo set, so it was super easy to figure out which theme to go with. Hippos love water and I was already in watery mood so I just kept my blue Copics on my craft table and went to town!

My happy little hippo is enjoying his swim time in the river and he's sending you tons of love! I started by stamping a partial hippo by simply inking up the top third portion of the stamp with Memento Tuxedo black. I stamped it out on a card panel, but left the image in my MISTI so I could go back in after I added my water and stamp the rest of my hippo in a lighter color since he'd be obscured by the water.

I colored everything using what I've learned from the fabulous Sandy Allnock in her mini Copic Underwater Scenes class. I'm not going to go into details since I don't want to give away her hard work, but let me tell you, the class is super fun and it's so much easier than you think it's going to be!

When I liked the look of my water, I stuck my panel back in my MISTI and stamped the rest of my hippo using SSS Stone gray ink. It's not Copic friendly, but I was going for a no-line coloring look, so it didn't bother me that the line essentially disappeared as I colored in the rest of my hippo. I made sure that the bottom two thirds of my hippo were just slightly lighter than the portion above the water to give it that faded look.

I finished everything by stamping my sentiment on the panel and then adhering it to the front of a top-folding card base.

I hope my rambling made sense today! Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to link up your creations on the CASology post!

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Kindred Stamps April Release Blog Hop

Hello! I'm super excited to share with you today a fun new stamp set from Kindred Stamps! I'm in love with this one and I think you will be, too. I present to you - Ocean Royalty!

I used what I've learned in Sandy Allnock's Underwater Scenes class to create a "forest" of kelp behind my mermaid. I thought it would be fun to make it look like she's out exploring because we all know that's what she likes to do!

For my second card, I channeled my inner sea witch and created a fun cavern scene complete with sunken ship. What better place for her to be lurking, right?

So which are you - oceans of fun or perfectly wicked? 😉

The entire Kindred Stamps April release will be available Friday, April 26th at 8am PST/11am EST.  Be sure to subscribe to the Kindred Stamps blog to see a daily line up of sneak peeks from our amazing Design Team and see the full product release on Friday!  Come join the Fan Club and release event to be part of the release fun, and you may just win some Kindred Stamps credit!!

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Spotlight Coloring

Hello! I'm here today with a fun card using the Kindred Stamps set Learning is an Adventure. It's getting to be that time of year. You know the one, when we start thinking of thank you cards for teachers and other staff at our kids' schools. Today I have a card that is just perfect for a bus driver!

I decided to create my own patterned paper by repeatedly stamping the bus from the set across the front of a card panel. I used my MISTI to help me keep things aligned. Instead of just coloring everything yellow, I decided to use the spotlight technique. I think it adds a little something fun. It feels like it's visually saying that they're special; that they're one in a million.

I colored my spotlight bus in the vivid yellow first and then colored the rest of my buses using cool grays. All in all, it probably took 45 minutes to an hour to get everything colored. When it was finished, I used my tape runner to adhere it to a top-folding card base. I added my sentiment by heat embossing the thank you from Video Game Brothers (I masked the sentiment a little bit to get rid of the "for" on the end). I adhered that directly to the front of the card using some multi-medium matte to ensure that the ends of my fishtail wouldn't lift up.

Thanks for stopping by today!

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CASology: Leap

Hello! I'm here today with a new cue from the CASology challenge!

I've had this adorable little frog set for ages and I've never inked it up, so I thought this challenge gave me a good reason!

This was a super simple card to put together. I started by cutting a panel to the size of the front of an A2 card base. I stamped my frog and lily pad using my MISTI and then went back in and stamped the water marks after I was sure of the placement. I stamped my sentiment below everything.

I used my Copics to color in my images and then adhered my panel to the front of a top-folding A2 card base.

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to link up your creations on the CASology blog post!

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G'Day Mate

Hello! I'm here today with a super cute card featuring the G'Day stamp set from Kindred Stamps.

The good news is that I actually remembered to take pictures of my process as I assembled this card. The bad news is that I forgot to take pictures while I was coloring. So I have a tutorial of sorts for the assembly, but nothing for my coloring process! With that said, here's how this card came together.

I started by cutting and folding a top-folding A2 card base and then used my Distress ink, stencil, and ink blending tool to create a soft background for my images.

Next, I cut some foliage from 3 different green card stocks to layer behind my images.

Next came my stamping and coloring and my sentiment. I stamped my sentiment on some brown card stock with Versamark ink and then heat embossed with white powder. I stamped my images with Memento Tuxedo Black and used my Copics to color them in.

Before I adhere anything down, I lay things out where I think they look well-balanced. This is my little trick for layered bunches like with the foliage.

When I'm satisfied with placement, I use post-it tape to keep my pieces from moving around and pick up the whole thing in order to place adhesive on the back.

This is what it looks like when I remove it from the card base. I used multi medium matte on the back of the foliage but left the sentiment strip and my image free of glue. I wanted to mount those with foam tape, so this made it easy to remove. When I was happy with the amount of adhesive, I placed the whole thing back onto my card base and then pressed it down.

When I'm satisfied that the adhesive is holding well, I removed the post-it tape and then pulled up my image and the sentiment strip. I added foam tape to the back of them and placed them back on top of the foliage. I then trimmed the right side of the sentiment so it was flat with the edge of the card.

I had decided that the card was missing a little something, so I went back in and added the little koala and a few sparkling clear sequins to finish it all off.

Thanks for stopping by today!

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CASology: Plastic

Hello! I'm back today with a new cue from CASology!

This one really had me stumped. I decided to go with a very literal translation and added some plastic pieces (sequins) to my design!

This card is super simple to put together. I cut and folded a card base and then cut a panel to the same size as the front of the card. I cut the paw print from the panel and then placed over the top of the base and lightly traced inside of the die cut so I would know where to adhere my sequins. Using the tracing as a guide, I glued all of my sequins down to the card base itself. I stamped my sentiment on top of the panel using my MISTI and then used foam tape to adhere the panel on top of the sequin-covered card base. The effect is quite pretty!

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to add your own creations on the CASology post!

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Magical Shaker

Hello! I'm here today with a card I created using the Park Cuties stamp set from Kindred Stamps. I wanted to create something special, so I thought a shaker card would be fun!

I decided to go fairly clean and simple for this one, so I cut a panel the size of an A2 card and then stamped my castle onto it. I used my Copics to color it in and then adhered it to the front of the card base.

I cut a frame using a stitched rectangle die and then stamped my sentiment onto the front of it. I adhered some acetate behind the frame and then added a layer of foam tape to the back of it, hiding it behind the frame. I sprinkled my mix of sequins onto the castle, making sure to keep the sequins from the edges where I'd be adhering the foam. Next, I carefully placed my frame piece on top of the card front so that the edges lined up.

I wanted to add something else, so I stamped and colored my little dapper man and then cut him out so that I could add him beside the sentiment. I merely used my tape runner to adhere him so he overlapped the acetate and the frame.

Shaker cards may look intimidating, but they're actually not hard to put together! You can even keep them fairly clean and simple as I've done here!

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