CASology: Smile

Hey, everyone! It's time for a brand new cue from CASology!

I broke out a seriously old set from Simon Says Stamp for this one!

It was just as easy as it looks to put this one together. I merely cut and folded a white card base and then used my MISTI to stamp my sentiment in black. I went back in with my MISTI and stamped my sun and then used the small stamps included in the set to add the mouth and eyes. That's it!

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

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You're Wonderful

Hello! I'm back today with a new post for the Kindred Stamps Design Team!

I can always use a good thank you card in my stash and this one will definitely be finding its way to someone soon. I used the She's Wonderful stamp set from Kindred Stamps to create this clean and simple beauty.

I actually remembered to take pictures as I colored my image, so I have a little bit of a photo tutorial for you today. I started my coloring by filling in anything that would be "gold" on the image. I used YR 27 as my dark color, YR 24 for the midtone, and Y21 as my highlight.

I followed that up by coloring in the armor and the sword. I used B97 and 99 for the skirt and R37, R39, and R89 for the boots and bodice. I used C1, C3, and C5 for the sword.

Next were the pieces of leather underneath the wristbands and the leather on the shield. I used E29 for my darkest shade, E77 as the midtone, and E25 for the highlight.

Now for skin tone. I added the darkest shadow with E33, and then added some E11 to start blending it out. My lightest shade was E51.

And the hair was the finishing touch. I started by adding my lightest shade, E25, where I was actually going to start layering with my darkest. It gives it a good base in case I miss a little with my dark marker and helps me keep the dark color from getting out of hand and going too far. I then went in with my dark shade, E29, and added some strands with a light flicking motion. I went back in with my midtone, E27, and extended the strands a little bit while still leaving some white paper showing through. I went in again with my lightest color (E25) and completed the strands. Some people leave white highlights, but that's just not my style. I like the look when it's completely colored in.

To pull the card together, I cut and folded a white card base and used a coverplate to cut the background into the front of the card. I cut a banner using some black cardstock and heat embossed my sentiment with white embossing powder. I used foam tape to adhere my image and sentiment to give the card some dimension. I grounded the image by overlapping her feet on top of the sentiment strip.

Supplies
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Keeping Christmas Inspiration Blog Hop

Hello! I'm joining some delightfully talented ladies on the 25th of every month with a fun Christmas creation. I don't know about you, but I always find myself rushing to get things done in the couple of months leading up to Christmas. I'm trying to keep that from happening this year by putting together a couple of creations each month to put in my stash so I won't be crazy busy when Christmas rolls around.

It's the 25th, so it's time for a Christmas creation!

I started my card by cutting a panel using a stitched rectangle die. I used my MISTI to stamp my tree trunk and then the wire for the lights using Memento Tuxedo Black. I then used my MISTI and some Noble Fir ink to stamp the pine needles.

I stamped my sentiment so it looks like the wire from the lights coming from the tree and then stamped the tiny plug onto the end of it. I went back in with the tiny light stamps and a small clear block to add the lights to the wire. I finished the image by stamping the star hanging from the longer branch.

After all the stamping was done, I went back in with my copics and colored the tree, base, lights, star, and plug. I cut and folded a white card base and then adhered the panel directly to the base using my Elmer's glue runner. You can't see it in the photo, but I also added a little clear Wink of Stella to the lights and the star to give them some sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to visit the other stops in the hop!

Kelly Lunceford

Lesley Croghan

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld (You are here!)

Vicki Finger

CASology: Jumpy

It's that time again - time for a new cue from CASology!

I decided to go with a visual interpretation of the cue this time around. I chose my little sheep from MFT Stamps and made her jumping over a fence!

I started my card by cutting out a panel with a stitched rectangle die and then using my MISTI to stamp my fence and my sheep. I stamped them again on some masking paper and then fussy cut around them to mask off my images. After masking, I stamped my hillside. I removed the masks and then used my Copics to color my little scene.

I stamped my sentiment below my scene and then used my tape runner to adhere the panel to a card base.

That's it! Super simple!

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to link up your creations!

CASology: Squiggle

Hello and welcome back for a brand new cue from CASology!

I sat and stared at this cue for a while before a lightbulb went off and I realized that graffiti often looks like a squiggle to me. Following this weird logic, this design formed in my brain.

I used a heart die that has been discontinued for my "squiggle" graffiti. That makes me sad because I actually really love how it looks. It's like splash of paint, which is so much fun and so versatile!

I started by cutting my heart from white cardstock and then using my ink blending tool and some Victorian Velvet distress ink to create a soft haze of color across the image. I then added my stencil to my card base and used another ink blending tool and some Frayed Burlap to softly blend just a hint of brick wall behind where I wanted to place my images.

I added some splatters of Smoke gray ink behind where I was going to layer my images and then adhered my heart die on top with some Multi Medium Matte. I cut my hello die from some Slate cardstock and then used the same glue to adhere it over the top of everything. That's all! Super simple!

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

Keeping Christmas Inspiration Blog Hop

Hello! I'm joining some delightfully talented ladies on the 25th of every month with a fun Christmas creation. I don't know about you, but I always find myself rushing to get things done in the couple of months leading up to Christmas. I'm trying to keep that from happening this year by putting together a couple of creations each month to put in my stash so I won't be crazy busy when Christmas rolls around.

It's the 25th, so it's time for a Christmas creation!

I love this sweet little reindeer from Neat & Tangled. I just can't get enough of how cute he is! I cut a panel using my Stitched Rectangle dies and then used my MISTI to stamp my reindeer in the corner. I stamped another reindeer on some masking paper and then used my scissors to fussy cut around it. I placed the mask over the top of my reindeer and then used some Broken China distress ink to blend a bit of a sky background behind him. This helps to differentiate between the snowy ground and the winter sky. I didn't blend the blue to the top of the panel, but instead made it fade back to white as it got closer to the top. I created a make-shift mask for the ground using a bit of scrap cardstock and one of my landscape trio dies. I wanted a bit of a curve to the ground so it would be a little more interesting.

I removed my masks and then used my copics to color in my image. I added a bit of a shadow underneath it so that it wouldn't look like it was floating. This time I used some blues instead of grays. I just think that blue looks good for shadows on snow or ice.

I used my MISTI to finish stamping the sentiment in the bottom left corner and then adhered my panel to a white top-folding card base.

That's it for this month's card! Don't forget to hop along with the rest of the ladies in the hop!

Kelly Lunceford

Lesley Croghan

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth

Rachel Bergfeld (You are here!)

Vicki Finger

CASology: Thrill

Hello! It's time for a new cue from CASology!

I don't know what's going on, but I feel like I've been riding the struggle bus for the past couple of challenges. This time I just couldn't figure out how to incorporate the cue. I sat and stared at it for several days until I finally decided to just throw caution to the wind and go for a crazy interpretation. What's more thrilling than a good villain?

Maleficent has always been one of my favorite Disney villains. She's just so powerful and when I was a kid, she scared the crap out of me. I think that qualifies as thrilling. I used this picture for my inspiration and came up with this...

I wanted her to be surrounded by a blossom of green fire, but it kind of ended up looking more like she's being birthed from a cabbage. Oh well, nothing is ever perfect.

So here she is. I simply stamped her on a panel cut from a Stitched Rectangle die and then colored her in with my copics. I added the lines to her horns using a white gel pen and then moved on to my fire/cabbage. I used my lightest color to lightly sketch in the basic shape and then went back in with my darker colors to add a little depth and dimension. I finished it off by going back over the whole thing with my lightest color again. Yep, definitely a cabbage.

I added a little shadowing under the image to ground it and then stamped my sentiment beneath. I adhered my panel using my glue runner and that was it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Addicted to CAS Guest Designer

I'm so thrilled to be joining the Addicted to CAS team as a guest designer this week! And here's the code word...

This was perfect because I was in need of a little inspiration for this year's Mother's Day card. This gave me the perfect opportunity to pull out some of my favorite products and create something just for my Mom.

I started this card by cutting a panel to the exact size of an A2 card front - 4 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. I stamped my floral image with my MISTI and then colored it in with my Copics. I adhered the panel to a card base using my glue runner. (I attached it to a card base because the Copics bled through the back and I didn't want it to show on the inside of my card.)

I cut out my Mom die cuts from white cardstock and the shadow from vellum. I used my Multi Medium Matte to adhere the white words on top of the vellum shadow cut. Then I added a little more Multi Medium Matte to the back of the vellum and adhered it to the panel. The sentiment was stamped on Slate cardstock using Versamark ink and then heat embossed with white powder. I used some foam tape to adhere the strip below my die cut sentiment.

Super simple, but the perfect card for my Mom!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you'll join the Addicted to CAS challenge with your own creations!

CASology: Marine

Hello and welcome back! I know you're probably sick of it by now, but I have another underwater card for you today. With the new cue from CASology, I just couldn't resist!

See? How could I possibly resist making another ocean themed card with a cue like that? It's just begging to be colored!

I switched it up a little this time and made my little mermaid sit on the sea floor. I started my card by cutting a panel with a stitched rectangle die and then used my MISTI to stamp both my image and my sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black.

I used my copics to color in my mermaid. This time, I wanted to show a little love to my dark-skinned sisters and made her more Latin inspired. I used brown to color her hair and then thought it was a little too light, so I added some warm gray over the top to tone it down and it created this gorgeous color that I just adore!

When my mermaid was colored, I added in the sea floor beneath her by coloring in the basic shape with a light brown and then going over the top of it with little dots of darker browns. I focused the darker browns where her shadow would fall and then gradually decreased the darkness as her shadow would fade.

I used stripes of blue, blue green, and blue violet to create my ocean water. When I was satisfied with how the color looked, I went back in with my colorless blender, BG11, B93, and a white gel pen to add dots of bubbles surrounding my mermaid. (If you'd like a tutorial for the water portion, I made one in an earlier post. Just click here.)

I added my finished panel to my card base using my tape runner and I was finished!

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

CASology: Jungle

Hello! It's that time of the week - time for a new cue from the CASology challenge!

Oh goodness! I have so many stamps in my collection that could work for this cue! I decided to use one that hasn't seen any love yet. I'm sure you've got a few in your stash like this. I bought it because it was absolutely adorable and then it just sat there unused as I created other projects. Time to show it some love!

I began by stamping the hippo, bird, and sentiment using my MISTI. So thankful for that tool! It makes everything so much easier! Then I lined up my balloons so the hippo would be holding them and used my MISTI to stamp them, too!

I cut out my panel after everything was stamped (which is backwards from what I usually do!). Then I used my Copics to color everything in. I used warm grays for my hippo and then used my cool grays to add a halo around the images so they don't look so flat against the white panel.

I finished it all off by adhering it to a gray card base using my tape runner.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you'll join us with your own creations!

CASology: Parent

Hello! It's time for a new cue from CASology!

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I decided to create a card that I could send for the holiday. (Most likely my mother-in-law because my Mom creeps on my social media!)

I started this card by creating the card base first. I knew I wanted to add an extra little something to it to make it super special. I just love these coverplates from Lil Inker Designs so I settled on this pretty stitched spiral plate. They're a fantastic way to add interest to a plain card base without adding any extra layers or bulk. I simply ran my card base through my Big Shot with my coverplate and I got this incredibly pretty card! I also cut out a circle from some vellum so that my focal image wouldn't get lost in the stitching on the front of the card.

I set these aside and then used my MISTI to stamp my floral image. I colored it in with my Copics and then used my Brother Scan N Cut 2 to cut it out. Then I used my MISTI to stamp my sentiment on a strip of black cardstock in Versamark ink. I heat embossed in white powder and then used my scissors to snip a flag on the end. I added a dab of Multi Medium Matte to the end of the flag to adhere it to the back of my floral image.

I adhered my floral image with attached flag to the vellum circle using some foam tape and then added a little bit more Multi Medium Matte behind the image on the back of the vellum to adhere it to the card base without the adhesive showing through on the front. I finished it off by adding just a few Lemon Drop jewels from Pretty Pink Posh.

I know this is a little more elaborate than I normally go for, but I wanted to make something extra special for Mother's Day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Waving Hello Tutorial

Hello! I'm here today with a photo tutorial for how I colored water from an earlier post featuring a Chubby Mermaid.  I had a lot of people across social media asking me how I created the background, so I decided to create a new card with the same technique and photograph the process. Forgive me if the photos are a little dark, I created this card this morning in my craft room and it was pretty overcast here in Utah. I did the best I could, but the weather just wasn't cooperating!

Here's what the card looks like as a finished product:

Looks complicated, right? Wrong! It's actually really easy to create your own project that looks just like this without much effort. I'll walk you through my creative process below...

Here's what I started with. Simple, really. I just stamped my two images on some plain white cardstock and got to coloring.

I started with my mermaid. (If you'd like another tutorial showing you my process for coloring people/creatures, just let me know and I'll do it another day!)

Next up, my fishies. Still looks a little bare, right? Well, we're about to start on that background!

I grabbed a bunch of blues from my copic stash and set them out on the table. I started with my lightest blue to give it a bit of a base to build on. All I did was add stripes of color coming up from and down from the images. Looks pretty choppy. Don't worry, as you add color, the water comes together and starts to actually look like water!

This is after a couple additions of darker blues. Starting to come together, right? I just kept adding stripes of color on top of the lighter colors. I didn't color it in completely, but left spaces so that the lighter colors shine through from behind the darker stripes.

To give my water some dimension, I also added some blue green and blue violet. If you really look at water, it doesn't just look like one color. If you use just one color, it'll look a little flat. By adding in some purple and blue green, it begins to look shimmery like there's light shining through it.

Okay, now it's time for bubbles. This also helps to break up those stripes of color a little bit and make it look more like water. All this is are spots of colorless blender. I varied the size of my dots because bubbles aren't all the same size. I then went in with my darkest blue yet and added a few varied dots with it. Those bubbles look like they're farther behind the images because they're darker.

Time for some white bubbles. I went in with my Signo white gel pen and added just a few dots of white bubbles. Some of them overlap where my other bubbles already are. These are the brightest bubbles, so they're going to appear closer to you.

Now it's time to cut out my panel. I centered the mermaid within the die and then used my Big Shot to cut it out.

Now that everything is cut out and centered, I used my MISTI to stamp my sentiment. This ensures that the sentiment is straight and doesn't stamp incorrectly. It would seriously stink if I went to all that coloring trouble and then ruined it with a crooked sentiment!

Now I went back in with my colorless blender, darkest blue, and gel pen and added just a few more bubbles around the sentiment to tie it in with my images.

Time to bring it all together into a card. I simply used my glue runner to attach my panel to a white card base. I want to keep it flat because it's going to be mailed.

I finished it all off by adding just a touch of clear Wink of Stella to my fish and my mermaid's fin. It adds just a touch of fun detail. I decided that this was all the embellishment this one needed.

That's it! From start to finish! Simple, isn't it? I bet you could create your own underwater card just like mine! Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

I'm entering this card into the current Addicted to CAS challenge - bubbles. It was just perfect timing!

Thanks for stopping by!