My Creative Journey

Hi friends! I have another winter themed card to share. This card was a Facebook make along from the local craft store, Create Escape. I missed the Facebook live so; I am not sure how the card was originally designed. This is my interpretation of how to use the pieces in the make along. I started off by looking at all the pieces in the little bag. I think the mug with whip cream and the bear were my favorite pieces! The pre-die cut pieces reminded me of a present and I went with that idea: a large present with a custom gift tag. I centered the large pattern paper on the card base and built up from there. I centered the “present” pieces on the front and used the leaf and snowflake die cuts as a present topper. I then created the custom tag with the stickers and sentiment. I tied the twine to the tag and then added it to the present with some foam squares. That’s it! I think this design can easily be used for a winter birthday card. I happen to have a birthday in the winter and f

Happy New Year, friends! I really love the start of the new year. I find myself dreaming more and finding inspiration in the little things. The beginning of the year has me embracing the new and looking forward to changes that accompany the new. Today's project is fast and easy and had me mixing and matching from stash. I wanted to really focus on the year, 2024, and so I reached for the large number dies from My Favorite things. These number dies have been in my stash for years and knew they would be the perfect size to be the focal point on the card. I selected some sparkle cardstock and some random white cardstock from the stash then had a die cut session. I love the look of dimension and use the random white cardstock to create; the extra height also provides a little shadow contrast against the background. Next, I selected some adorable little critters from the several Mama Elephant Little Agenda sets from stash. I just love seeing little critters peeking out of letters or sha

Hi there! Today I’m sharing two cards using the same stamp set and same basic design. It’s great to create two cards at once especially when all the supplies are out. In this case, I fell in love with the colors of the ink blending and just had to create two cards. So, let’s get started! To start, I inked up the STAMPtember Avery Elle Holiday Wishes Frame with some Versamark and stamped it in the center of the white panels. Next, I added some Brutus Monroe Alabaster embossing powder and then heat set with a heat gun. Now we are ready for the ink blending! I took Crackling Campfire, Picked Raspberry, and Seedless Preserve Distress Oxide inks and blended them on the panels. One panel is blended from top to bottom and the other is blended left to right to give me one portrait and one landscape panel. I really love to ink blend over white embossing because it is so fun to see the image pop against the colors! I wanted the two panels to be a little more different, so I misted the landscape

Hello there! Today I am sharing a simple mixed media tag that measures 4 ¾ inches tall by 2 ⅜ inches wide. I am not sure what kind of paper it is and think it might be a Dina Wakley mixed media tag. Either way, it has a smooth finish and is thick enough for paint and water!  I started off by adding some Dina Wakley paint, Night and Rosy, to my palette and a ton of water to my ¾ flat brush. Then the fun began!  I simply dipped the brush in the Night paint and used a zig-zag motion from top to bottom. Next I took the Dina Wakley stencil Branches and painted Rosy through the negative long steam branch.  Then, I selected some elements to create a focal point by rummaging through my box of die cuts and images that had not made it to a final project. I selected a fun Spellbinders rose die cut from some Tonic Studio specialty paper, another Spellbinders branch die cut from some pattern paper, and a colored fairy from a Hero Arts MMH kit. I took a few minutes deciding the best placement for th

  Hello! I’m so glad you stopped by. Today I’m sharing a fun shaker card using a background created with alcohol inks.   I had purchased a ton of alcohol inks from Ranger Ink and decided it was time to experiment. I took one crafty afternoon and made a ton of backgrounds on different substrates.  I just love all the different color values from just one or two colors. The alcohol ink blending solution is a great way to achieve this look. I used so much of the blending solution that I had to go out and buy the bigger bottle. LoL  😂    Some of the different papers I used was classic Yupo, translucent Yupo, and sparkle Yupo. Each paper gave me different results from the same colors. The sparkle Yupo adds fun texture to the background. The translucent Yupo would be fun to illuminate with a battery operated candle or tiny lights. The card’s background was created on classic Yupo. I wanted to make sure this background would shine and decided on creating a shaker card. I used some rectangle d

Hello and welcome! Today I have another rainbow-inspired slimline card. The star of the show on this slimline card is the Fern Square die from Simon Says Stamp. I had so much fun creating the Leafy Rainbow slimline card that I searched my stash for another “sleeper die.” I found another square die from Simon Says Stamp called Fern Square. Since this was the same size as the other Leafy Square, I decided to cut them from Concord & 9th cardstock in rainbow colors and then nested them together. I also decided to turn the square on a corner so the fern looks like it is growing upwards. While the rainbow ferns were drying, I dressed up the inside of the card. I love seeing the inside of cards dressed up and I tend to forget this; but not this time! I used a leaf border stamp from the Leafy Frames set and a sentiment from Just Miss You set; both from Simon Says Stamp. The border leaf stamp does not stretch across a slimline so I started in the center then shifted the stamp to either sid