Botanical Blossom

 Hello there!  Thanks for coming for a visit.  What do I have for you today?  A super fabulous card featuring the new Botanical Blossom digital stamp set from Rachel Vass Designs!

I don't have any process photos for this card but it is a simple one to recreate.

I created the background by putting adhesive all over a 4 1/2" x 5 3/4" cardstock panel.  Then I picked three different patterned papers that coordinated.  In this case, I used papers from Sunny Studio's Polka-Dot Parade 6x6 cardstock pack.  I cut several 1/2" wide strips from each color of paper.  Then I created the starting pattern by laying down 3 strips in different directions.  I have seen this done by lots of people on YouTube and having been wanting to give it a go.

I just continued adding strips to the panel until it was completely covered.  Then I went around the edges to trim off the overhanging pieces.  I used the largest die from the Hero Arts Infinity Nesting Rectangle set to cut the panel down to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  I went ahead and adhered it to a top fold, A2 sized whate card base.

Now onto the star of the show.  The Botanical Blossom is absolutely gorgeous!  I only wanted to add the barest hint of color to the blossoms so it would stand out from the colorful background.  Frequently I will reach from my gray Copic markers but not today!  I opted to use graphite pencils and paper blending stumps.  I really love the simplicity of this method.  And if I mess up, I can just erase and start again!

Once all of the gray details were added, I used a yellow-orange colored pencil for the flower centers and a pale green for the centers of the leaves.  After that, I used my favorite scissors to fussy cut the image out.  Next I added foam tape to the back and added it to the card.

At this point I decided I need something more.  Enter all the splatters!  I thinned down some black acrylic paint and added a generous amount of splatters.  Once those were dry, I added more splatters with Sparkle Shimmer Spray.  I sprayed a small amount onto my craft mat and splattered with a paint brush.

To finish up the card I only used a portion of a sentiment from one of Rachel's other sets (forgot to write it down!) and cut it out with a banner die.  I glued it to the card base and called this beauty done!

Thanks for checking my card out!  Be sure to head to the Rachel Vass Designs store to check out all of her great digital stamp sets.

~Kristina

Supplies used

Compensated affliate links may be used - I may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you should you make a purchase using my link.

Teflon bone folder Shop at: EH	Neenah Solar White Shop at: SBC | EH	Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue Shop at: SBC | EH	Therm O Web Foam Tape Shop at: SBC | EH
Blending Stumps Shop at: EH	Sheer Shimmer Spritz, Sparkle Shop at: EH	Cutter Bee Scissors - EK Success Shop at: SBC	Infinity Rectangle dies - Hero Arts Shop at: EH

Darling Flowers for Mom

 Have you seen the brand new Rachel Vass Designs May release yet???  It is jam packed full of gorgeous floral designs PERFECT for spring cards and occasions!

Today I am using Darling Flowers to create a mini slimline Mother's Day card.

Purchase HERE

And my card!

I took the open flower and flipped the image.  I placed them at opposite ends of my image.  Then I added the Mom sentiment over top.  I printed it out onto Neenah Desert Storm cardstock.

Before coloring, I went ahead and cut my panel out with the scalloped panel die from Trinity Stamps Mini Slimline Card & Envelope set.  This way I would be sure to not mess up my coloring when I die cut it.

For the white on my flowers I used Prismacolor pencils.  White, Warm Gray 30% and Warm Gray 50%.  I started with very light layers.  I used the Warm Gray 50% to lay in some petal details.  I continued layer the three colors until I got the perfect blend.

For the flower centers I also used Primsmacolor pencils.  Pumpkin Orange, Yellowed Orange and Sunburst Yellow.  There is just a tiny bit of the stem and leaf bits in the image.  For those I used Marine Green and Celadon Green.

I adhered the panel to a piece of black cardstock.  I put foam tape on the back of the black panel and added it to the Desert Storm card base.

The last details I added were Gloss White Nuvo drops.  And that's a wrap!  May your day be full of crafty fun.

Toodles

~Kristina

Supplies used:

Compensated affliate links may be used - I may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you should you make a purchase using my link.

Teflon bone folder Shop at: EH	Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue Shop at: SBC | EH	Lawn Fawn Black Licorice Cardstock Shop at: SBC	Therm O Web Foam Tape Shop at: SBC | EH
White Nuvo Drops Shop at: SBC | EH	Desert Storm Neenah Cardstock Shop at: EH	Mini Slimline Card & Envelope dies - Trinity Stamps Shop at: EH | T	Set of 150 - Prismacolor Pencils Shop at: EH

PDO Collaboration Wednesday - part two

Kirsty Lowden and I had SO much fun the last time we did a collaboration, we thought we'd do it again!

We are both using the Polka Dot Orchard Cake for Me stamp set illustrated by Jeanie Hays.  Which you can purchase HERE in the PDO store.

We are also using sketch 22 from Freshly Made Sketches.  You can check out all of their awesome sketches HERE.

And the Color Throwdown palette #548.  You can find many more palettes on their page HERE.

Let's take a look at the card I came up with.

I have to say this is not a color palette that  I would normally work with but it's always good to go outside your own creative box!

When I started looking through my paper stash for the right colors, I wasn't really happy with anything I found.  What's a gal to do?  Create her own paper of course!  I got out a ruler and three Copic markers, RV21, V12 and BG32.  I thought these were a pretty close match to the color palette. I just kept making repeating lines diagonally until I was happy with the result.  

Next I printed the cake and sentiment out onto Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock.  I rummaged around in my Prismacolor pencils until I had two pinks, two purples and two aquas.  The pinks are PC993 and PC1012.  The purples are PC934 and PC932.  And the aquas are PC992 and PC905.  I concentrated the pencil coloring where I wanted it to be the darkest.  I used a blender stub and gamsol to blend the color out.  I went back and added more color until I was satisfied with the blend.

I colored the sprinkles on top of the cake with one of the purple pencils and went over it with a Stardust gelly roll pen.  I used the same Stardust pen to color in the "white" portions of the plate.  I also dotted it over the pink cake section to give it a bit more bling.  

I fussy cut the cake out and went around the edge of the cut piece with a black marker.  I then cut the plaid paper I created down to two 1" x 2 3/4" pieces.  I went around those edges with a black marker.  I then cut the aqua dotted paper to 3 1/4" x 2 3/4"and repeated the black marker around the edges.

Now let's make a card!

I started with a white landscape, top fold card base.  I lightly sponged lavender ink along the top and bottom to reduce the starkness. Next I cut a piece of pink cardstock down to 3" x 5 1/2".  I glued this to the card base in the center.  Before I added the patterned papers on top of the pink, I sponged the edges.  Aqua on the aqua dotted piece and pale pink over the plaid piece.  I put foam tape on the back of the colored cake image and added it as well. 

I went back to the Happy Birthday sentiment and cut it out.  Since the sentiment is slightly arched, I decided to fussy cut it instead of making a rectangle piece.  I then glued this to lavendar cardstock and fussy cut again.  And just to give it a bit more pop, I sponged a darker purple along the edges.  I added foam tape and stuck it in place.

For the final touch I found several sequins in my stash that made a good match!

Want to see what my partner in crime Kirsty came up with??  You know you do!  Head on over to her blog right HERE and check it out.

As always, I appreciate your visit!
~Kristina

PDO - Valentine's Day tags

Welcome back to my little crafty corner of the world!  Polka Dot Orchard has just had a HUGE release of brand new digital stamps in their store.   Click HERE to check out all the new goodies.  Today I am using Love and a Fabulous Cupcake illustrated by Crystal O. Minkler and Love Grows Here illustrated by Kimberly Wiener.

I cut two tags 2 3/4" x 5" out of a pale pink cardstock.  Next I measured the space available to put the digital stamp.  I had drawn out a quick sketch so I had some idea what I wanted to do.  Next I reduced the size of the cupcake and printed it out on Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock.  I set this aside for the moment and went to work on the background.

I had two different ideas for the background and I just couldn't decide.  So I did both!  I used red ink with a brush and stencil to create the one on the left.  For the one on the right, I used the same stencil but used Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Raspberry Rhodolite instead.  I laid them both asided to air dry.

Now back to the cupcake stamp.  Like the backgrounds, I couldn't decide on which medium to use.  I thought I would use colored pencils to create a softer look to go with the tag on the left.

I used Gamsol and Prismacolor pencils.  The colors used were: 

Wrapper - PC947 and PC1082. 

Frosting - PC992, PC995 and PC105. 

The cherry/heart - PC1030 and PC925.

For the glimmer paste tag I used Copic markers.  I love the bold colors you can get with them.

Colors used:

Wrapper - T7, BG78, BF75 and BG72.

Frosting - W5, W3, W1, W0 and 0.

Heart/cherry - R59, R37 and R32.

I fussy cut them both out with scissors and added some detail with white gel pen.

While the gel pen dried, I got back to creating the sentiment.  Like I said at the beginning of the post, the sentiment is from the Love Grows Here set.  I wanted the tag backgrounds to shine through so I thought printing the sentiments onto vellum would be perfect.  And it was!  I trimmed them down to thin strips and wrapped them around to the back of the tag.  Then I used a strong adhesive to keep the strips in place on the back.

I cut out pieces of foam tape to add to the back of the cupcake.  Even a tiny little piece for the cherry stem!  Peeled of the backer pieces and added them to the tags.  I searched through my ribbon stash and found ribbons to work with both of the tags.  And that's all there is!

Here is a side-by-side comparison.  Can you pick a favorite?  I can't!

Remember, head on over to the Polka Dot Orchard shop to check out the latest and greatest!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristina

A Sprinkle of Happiness

Happy day after the Fourth of July!  I do enjoy some good fireworks but I think my cats are ready for the noises to come to an end!  I managed to sneak away to play in my craft room and I'm here to share the results.  This card features a relatively new digital stamp set from Polka Dot Orchard called A Sprinkle of Flowers.  This set features an absolutely GORGEOUS floral image and a variety of sentiments.  Let's get to my card.

I came across this Copic color combination when I was scouring the internet for inspiration.  Since I'm a huge fan of purple, I fell in love with this blue-violet combination.  I managed to snap a photo after I finished the Copic coloring and right before I added some colored pencil for more definition.

I printed the digital stamp out onto X-Press It cardstock and got right to coloring.  

Flower- BV0000, BV00, BV02, BV25, BG000 and a touch of YG01

Leaves-G40, G43, G46 and a touch of YG01

Background-T0 and Colorless Blender 0, plus dots of all the above colors except BV25 and G46.

Prismacolor Pencils

Flower-Dioxazine Purple Hue PC132

Leaves-Kelp Green PC1090 and Limepeel PC1005

I think I added a touch of Y15 at the very center of the flower.  The card layers were created by using square dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs.  I colored the edges of the paper with the matching Copic marker so they would match the flower.  That way I didn't have to hunt through my paper collection.

After the card layers were all put together, I added the sentiment piece.  Also printed on X-Press It cardstock and the layer underneath colored with Copic.  I did add foam tape just to give a little bit more impact. 

For the final touches I added Wink of Stella all over the flower petals and Glossy Accents in the very lightest of the petal highlights.  If you look closely or enlarge the picture, I think you can see it.  It is very noticeable in real life.

Oopsie.  I did notice after I edited this picture, I took it before I added the sentiment.  My apologies!

I hope you'll check this Polka Dot Orchard digital stamp set out as well as the other 30 sets or so available in the Etsy shop!

See ya!

~Kristina

Supplies Used:

Elizabeth Crafts Designs Stitched Squares Shop at: Dies R Us	Elizabeth Crafts Designs Dotted Scallop Squares Shop at: Dies R Us	Neenah Solar White Shop at: SBC | EH	Tombow Mono Multi Liquid glue Shop at: SBC | EH
Therm O Web Foam Tape Shop at: SBC | EH	A Sprinkle of Flowers Polka Dot Orchard digital stamp Shop at: PDO	Copic Marker G40 Shop at: EH	Copic Marker G43 Shop at: EH
Copic Marker G46 Shop at: EH	Copic Marker BV0000 Shop at: EH	Copic Marker BV00 Shop at: EH	Copic Marker BV02 Shop at: EH
Copic Marker BV25 Shop at: EH	Copic Marker YG01 Shop at: EH	Copic Marker BG000 Shop at: EH	Copic Marker T0 Shop at: EH
Copic Marker Colorless Blender Shop at: EH	X-Press It Blending cardstock Shop at: EH