It's a Good Day to Have a Good Day - More Blended Distress

I have continued having fun with just blending colors through stencils. It's exactly what I want to do right now. I recently got a new floral stencil from Simon Says Stamp called Poppy Bouquet. I kind of love these big floral stencils they have been coming out with lately.

This really took me very little time to make. I used some new little brushes by iCrafter that look just like finger daubers, but are really brushes. There's one for each color family, plus a sort of turquoise one, a pink one, one for neutrals and a clear one that I'm going to use for white. (The brush parts are white, but the holders are in colors). Love these!

I quickly blended the Distress inks and then stamped the sentiment at the top. I think this sentiment from Impress is just great; especially right now. I grabbed it the last time I was there. Who knew it would be the last time? Impress is a local shop that for the time being only has an online presence. That is definitely better than nothing, and they say they will try to find a new storefront soon. I wish them well. You can find them here. 

I cut the panel out with a new die that I got from The Greetery. It's called Crimped Frame Die GD-M-016, and I love the finish it gives to the edge of my card. If you have not encountered this great company that was started up over a year ago by Betsy Veldman, you definitely need to check them out. You can find them here. Betsy has an amazing Design Team and her products are beautifully designed, and very well thought out. Her customer service is second to none. When I made a recent order and then realized that my friend would like one of the stencils, I sent an email to see if they could add it to my order. I got an immediate response from Betsy herself and she added it right away. It was seamless and amazing. 

I mounted the panel with black cardstock and onto a white base card. It was all super fast and easy. Hope you like it!

Products Used:

Simon Says Stamp Poppy Bouquet stencil ssst121482

The Greetery GD-M-016 Crimped Frame Die

Impress Cards and Crafts 5703c It's a Good Day

Distress inks: Festive Berries; Mowed Lawn

Versafine Onyx Black ink

PTI True Black cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

iCrafter brushes

Super Saturday at Magenta: Thinking of You

Hi! I'm over at the Magenta Blog today, and you can see that post here.

During this time of isolation, I have been enjoying making blended Distress backgrounds using blending brushes and stencils.

Magenta has a series of square and rectangle silhouette stencils developed by Nathalie that are perfect for adding a blended shape to your card. I especially like this square TM277 because it's a good size for blending several colors.

I placed the stencil onto a white panel, and taped it down with Post-it tape. I made sure that the tape covered the panel around the stencil.

This is the panel after I finished blending the colors. I then used GinaK Amalgam Jet Black ink to stamp the beautiful Clover Silhouette stamp, by Ellie Knol, and the also beautiful Thinking of You calligraphy stamp by Sally Penley.

I've made a number of backgrounds using the square stencils from Magenta, and I plan to use them in the coming weeks.

Magenta Products used:

TM277 Square Silhouette

48.011.L Clover Silhouette

07.982.E Thinking of you small

Other Products used:

Distress Inks: Candied Apple,

Carved Pumpkin, Mustard Seed,

Twisted Citron, Speckled Egg

Blending brushes

GinaK Amalgam Jet Black ink

PTI Terracotta Tile cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Twin Happiest Birthdays - Distress Ink Blending

We have super sweet and smart twin grandsons who have birthdays in July. I always try to make their birthday cards happy and bright. This will be the second year that I have done this technique for their cards! You can see last year's card here.

The cards are the same except for colors, but I don't think they will mind.

I made 3 backgrounds from the Carta Bella stencil Plaid #1 CBCD58035. A beautiful background could not be easier. Just tape the stencil to the panel on the back of the stencil, turn it over and blend whatever colors you like. 

You can use whatever blending tools you may have. I have been using brushes lately. I flicked water on some of the panels to add speckles to the colors.

For the sentiments, I used a Poppy sentiment from CL490 Greeting Basics, and a Poppy label die from the 2325 Colwell Label Set. These are perfect for adding a sentiment to a busy background.

Products Used:

Carta Bella Stencil Plaid #1 Item #CBCD58035

Distress Inks: Festive Berries, Wild Honey, 

Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron,

Speckled Egg, Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers

Poppy CL490 Greeting Basics Stamp Set

Poppy 2325 Colwell Label Die Set

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables Die Set

GinaK Amalgam Jet Black ink

PTI Terracotta Tile Cardstock

PTI Tropical Teal Cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# Cardstock

Masked Distress Blending - Creativity in the Time of Coronavirus

I have been having so much difficulty lately summoning my creativity and making cards. I am well aware how fortunate I am to be able to stay home and stay safe during this time. I have noticed though that the isolation has affected me in subtle ways. To help me get over this creative slump, I pulled out a pile of stencils, some of which I have never used, and started just brushing and blending Distress Ink onto panels taped to the stencils.  This card is one result.

This stencil is Rose Trio ssst121480 from Simon Says Stamp. It's the first time I have used it, and I was really happy with how easy it was to achieve beautiful results.

I have been seeing a technique on several blogs that I remember from the past: this is where you mask off a section of your panel to have room for your sentiment. This is a great way to make a beautiful one layer card. I masked off a 1" space using post-it tape.

I used 3 colors on this card, and I blended them using some new-to-me tiny brushes from iCraft. I have only found them available on Simon Says Stamp. They are like finger daubers, but instead of sponges, they are fine, dense brushes, like the larger ones I have been using.  They work super well, and so easy! I like that they don't get torn up by the sharp edges of stencils like regular finger daubers.

Here's my panel with the mask removed. I used Prismacolor pencils to darken a few places, but honestly, it needed very little touch-up. 

I added this sentiment from Magenta that I really like to send to someone who is ill or recovering from a health problem. I like it much better than a sentiment that orders them to "get well soon" as I'm very sure they are doing their best to do so already ;-) I stamped the sentiment in Gina K Amalgam Jet Black ink and matted the panel with black cardstock.

Here are some of the backgrounds I have been making with stencils and brushed Distress ink (regular Distress, not Oxides). You will be seeing these made into cards in future posts. Making these masked blends really helped boost me up. I enjoyed doing them so much. 

Made using Magenta stencils TM277 and TM278

Made using Magenta stencil TM187

Made using Carta Bella Plaid #1 Stencil CBCD58035

Products Used for Rose Card:

Simon Says Stamp Rose Trio Stencil ssst12121480

iCraft blending brushes

Magenta 07.973.G Sending you warm thoughts

Distress Inks: Abandoned Coral, 

Carved Pumpkin, Mowed Lawn

Prismacolor Pencils: Apple Green, White

Gina K Amalgam Jet Black ink

PTI True Black cardstock

Neenah Solar White 110# cardstock

Heart Mini-Masterpiece - Thanks Sally Penley

I had the occasion to send a thank you card to my friend Sally Penley, and it seemed like a good idea to use a mini masterpiece, which she taught me to make. I also used one of her stamps that she designed for Magenta. In addition to the real reason I'm sending her a card, I have to also thank her for these beautiful calligraphy stamps. You can see her whole collection on the Magenta site here (scroll through all 4 pages to see all of them). I have them all, and they are among my most used stamps.

To make this card, I die cut a piece of mini masterpiece master sheet with a heart die Deco Heart from Simon Says Stamp. I then stamped a square outline using a Rubbernecker stamp, and added one of Sally's beautiful "thanks" stamps at the bottom.

You can see other mini masterpiece posts here, here, here, here. here, here, and here (that last one is Gnone Tags). There are more too, you can find them all by searching for mini masterpiece on my blog.

Sally still teaches the mini masterpiece class, showing how to create the master sheets that you can use to make beautiful cards. You can access Sally's website here. If you are local to the Olympia area,  I suggest you get on her mailing list (scroll down to the bottom of the page on her site). Once she has this class on the schedule again, you can request information. Actually, all of Sally's classes are amazing.

Magenta Products used:

07.981.G Large Thanks!

Other Products used:

Rubbernecker 904 Freehand Square Frame

Simon Says Stamp SSSD111935 Deco Heart Die

Gina K Amalgam Jet Black ink

Neenah Solar White 110# Solar White cardstock

Super Saturday at Magenta: Distress Ink Blending

I'm over at the Magenta blog today, and you can see that post here.

My go-to simple but beautiful card usually involves Distress Ink or Distress Oxide Ink blending. It's easy, fast, and always gorgeous. This sort of colorful background is always perfect paired with an amazing Magenta stamp, like the stunning English Garden set designed by Nathalie. The beautiful style of this set will work with any sort of card. I made a birthday card, but it would work for Thinking of You, Sympathy, Just a Note, or almost any occasion.

To make this card, I took a panel of white cardstock that was 4.25" x 5.5". If you have followed my blog for awhile, you may remember that my husband made a template for me to use that helps me mask off any desired size strip on my panel. You can see my post describing the process of using this template here. I made several of these panels, and you can see the template in use below.

Something I want to explain to you about this template.: it was printed on cardstock, and you are supposed to peel your panel and masks off of it before starting to blend your colors. It's pretty easy to do, and the masks stay on your panel very well. On one of my panels I forgot move it before blending, and you can see the colors that resulted on either side of my panel here, and on the left side the panel warped a little. I think it will be ok, and if not, I can easily make another one. I'm thinking next time I might apply shiny tape on all the inside edges, just in case I do this again.

Once my inks were blended (I used blending brushes this time instead of foam blending tools), I flicked a little water onto the colored part of my panel. I dip my fingers into the water and flick it off a bit back into the glass before moving my hand to the panel and flicking the water. Otherwise your speckles might be too large and not look as good.

My favorite part of this technique is peeling off the masking paper. Last, I stamped and embossed the sentiment. I have two of this great Multilingual stamp from Magenta, and I cut one of them apart so that I can use the different languages on their own. I sprinkles some gems and matted the panel with a coordinating color.

Here are the 4 panels I made. You can see in the upper right the one where I let a big splotch of water drop. I will still use it though! Stamping or a die cut can easily disguise that place so that it won't stand out so much.

Below I will show the other three combinations of colors I used to achieve these blends.

Next is the one with the big water splotch!

I really can't pick a favorite combination

I hope you will try this technique. Although blending with Oxides is pretty effortless, blending with the regular Distress ink is also very easy now, using these new blending brushes. You can get them pretty inexpensively these days at Amazon.

Magenta Products Used:

C Set 47 English Garden

07.907.L Multilingual Happy Birthday

Other Products Used:

Distress Inks: Picked Raspberry,

Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron

Versamark Ink

Ranger Gold Embossing Powder

Lucy's Little Things Rainbow Jewels

So Silk Beauty Pink Cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# Cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables

Paper Rose: Ella's Garden Leafy Circle

Still can't get enough of the Paper Rose dies, and have ordered some more. Love them all. They are beautiful against backgrounds (and I love making backgrounds) and they cut out really well.

This die is gorgeous! Paper Rose 17964 Ella's Garden Leafy Circle. After cutting the die out of white cardstock, I think it looked best on a darker background. The background above was done with Nuance powdered color, and was a technique taught in a class by Helene from Magenta Stamps. There are layers of Nuance, and a stencil was used to then lift color out. At the end I flicked silver watercolor over it.

Here are all 3 cards I made: the first is a Distress Oxide background; the middle is a stencil stamped regular Distress background, and the third (which is my favorite) was made with Nuance. I actually think this die could make any background look good, but I especially like the bubbly patterns on these.

I tried to take close-ups of these two. They are all a bit shimmery, but the camera can't really capture it.

I cut the white panel to 3.75" x 5" using the Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables die (the largest one in the set). I then cut the Paper Rose die out and stamped the sentiment (from Penny Black). I adhered the white panels to the backgrounds, which are cut to 4" x 5.25". They will be mounted to 110# base cards before I send them. 

I hope you enjoyed these, they were a breeze to make, and a lot of fun.

Magenta Products used:

Magenta Nuance

TM179 Bubble Path Duo

Other Products used:

Paper Rose die 17964 Ella's Garden Leafy Circle

Penny Black 30-286 Heartfelt stamp set

Distress ink & Distress Oxide ink

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

Paper Rose Leafy Circle with Stencil Stamped Distress Background

Another amazing Paper Rose die! I can see this being used for almost any occasion.

You could also use any kind of background or sentiment. The background I chose was one that I made some time ago when I was demo'ing how to do stencil stamping. The cardstock was watercolor, and the colors were added from mini Distress pads, direct to paper. You can see posts describing stencil stamping here, here, here and here.

I sprayed the stencil with pearly water (perfect pearls powder mixed with water), so there is a sheen to the background that I could not capture in a photograph, even with this closeup.

The Paper Rose die I used is 17922 Leafy Circle. Of course I made it a birthday card!

Products Used:

Paper Rose die 17922 Leafy Circle

Savvy 1425D Best Birthday stamp

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Distress ink: Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry

Perfect Pearls powder

Stencil unknown provenance

Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock

Neenah Solar White cardstock 110#

So Silk Glamour Green Cardstock

Happy Birthday with Alcohol Ink Background

Lately I've been making mostly birthday cards, and I always feel like I'm two steps behind; especially when it takes so long for cards to get where they're going these days. I totally understand why that is, and I'm trying to send them earlier and earlier. I sent my daughter a card to Iceland, and it took 5 weeks to get to her (I used to mail cards 2 weeks in advance for Iceland). Many places are now understaffed, and probably cards are not considered a top priority, so account for that when you are mailing cards. I'm quite sure the recipients will be very glad to get a card in the mail; whether it's late or not.

This card is a favorite because it's pretty clean and simple. The die I used is from Paper Rose, which is an Australian company. I love their dies, because they're perfect for a card like this. I first saw this one on Jennifer McGuire's site, and had to have it.

I took a panel of Yupo paper and added various alcohol inks. Before the inks had dried completely...when there were still some sticky spots, I placed gold foil down and rubbed hard to transfer some of the foil to the surface.  Unfortunately, you can't see that in my photo above.

I took this photo at an angle so you can see the gold a little. It's very pretty in real life.

After cutting the die out of a panel that is 5.25" x 4", I stamped the sentiment from Magenta in the lower right corner. I cut the alcohol ink panel to about 5.25"x 2",  saving a nice chunk of it for another project. I glued the alcohol inked piece to the back of the die cut panel, and matted it with a piece of So Silk Black Style cardstock. The entire project was mounted onto a Neenah Solar White 110# base card.

I think this style of card could be good for almost any occasion, and also works for a man or woman.

Magenta Products used:

07.969.F have a Beautiful day!

Other Products used:

Paper Rose die 17874 Gum Leaf Border

Various Ranger alcohol inks

Yupo panel

Deco Foil, gold

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

So Silk Black Style cardstock

Super Saturday at Magenta: Cherry Blossom Chickadee and Distress Oxide Blends

Hello Everyone! It's my turn at the Magenta Blog today, and you can see that post here.

I adore this new bird stamp, Cherry Blossom Chickadee, designed by Nathalie, and it's perfect for a Spring card. Our cherry trees recently blossomed and there's nothing prettier.

My panel was cut to 5" x 3.75" using the Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables. The largest die in this set cuts to this size and adds a nice stitched edge finish.

I colored my panel by blending  Distress Oxide ink, using Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio. I think it's such a beautiful combination.

After the background colors were dry, I stamped the image and sentiment in Versamark ink and embossed with JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder.

I added additional color to the petals by painting on some Picked Raspberry Oxide ink. I tried to take a picture at an oblique angle to capture the sparkly look of the images, but it's really hard to see it in a photo. It's very pretty in real life.

This was a very easy and fast way to make a pretty Spring card for whatever occasion you need. I hope you like it. 

Hope you are all staying healthy and safe, and not taking any chances by going out unnecessarily. Wishing you all the best.

Magenta Products used:

03.127.P Cherry Blossom Chickadee

07.1028.D Happy Birthday

Other Products used:

Distress Oxide ink: Mermaid Lagoon,

Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry

Versamark ink

JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder

Neenah Solar White 80# & 110# cardstock

So Silk Beauty Pink cardstock

Lawn Fawn LF768 Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables