Paper craft project no. 159: One layer mixed media card for mom [with video tutorial]

It’s the 3rd Monday of the month, which means a new sketch challenge at the STAMPlorations challenge blog. And as what seems to have become the usual for me, I made a one layer mixed media card with a video tutorial. It was a challenge for me to come up with a one layer card because the sketch is layered. (I have myself to blame for that because I created the sketch LOL!) My brain still a little numb from the tax work I did last week, so I sort of winged it with this card and I had a few lapses moments while I was shooting the video yesterday. I felt like I was moving in slow motion (well, you won’t be able to tell in the video since I have it in fast-forward motion as usual). For this card, I wanted a bold vintage look so I used darker shades of red, yellow and green, and then brown in a couple of shades. I also wanted to create a faux tissue effect on the side with the flowers so they’d look like parts of them are underneath and some of the petals are peeking out. To see how I created this effect, you’ll have to watch the video. It’s 9 1/2 minutes long, and like the previous videos I did for my 5 other one layer mixed media cards (you’ll find them all here), it’s in fast-forward motion, captioned, and accompanied by Mozart (if you don’t hear any music, it means YouTube is still working on adding it to my video). Watch the YouTube video tutorial HERE.

Here’s the sketch:

I hope you’ll check out the beautiful projects that the STAMPlorations girls created and then come join us, yes? We’re also joined by awesome guest designer, Deepti.

Cornelia Wenokor
Debra James
Kylie Purtell
Maria Fischer
Monika Skinner
Nonni Niskanen
Sandie Munro
Shery Russ (that’s me!)
Shirley Bampton
Vicki Dutcher

Supplies:
Stamps: Newspaper Background (Hero Arts); VIGNETTE: Eclectic Florals, MOM Subway Art #2 (STAMPlorations)
Inks: Toffee Crunch, Rhubarb Stalk, Cantaloupe, Cottage Ivy, Northern Pine Dew Drops (Memento/Tsukineko)
Other Media: Inktense Blocks (Derwent); Antique Linen Acrylic Paint (Plaid); Bronze Perfect Pearls Mist (Ranger)
Card base: 140-lb Cold-Press Watercolor Paper (Canson)
Tools: round and flat brushes; Heat-It Tool (Ranger)

My card fits a few fun challenges: Scrappy Hands – Mixed Media; Fusion Challenge #6 (I was inspired by the flowers in the inspiration photo); Simon Says Wednesday Challenge – Mother’s Day/Special Girl ; That Craft Place – Flowers and/or Mother’s Day (my card fits both); Emergency Crafters – Flowers; Imagination Crafts – Imagination in Bloom March Challenge; Natalie and Amy’s Challenge #18 – Flowers; Stempelgarten Challenge #23 – One Layer Card; and The Cupboard Trilogy Challenge #20 – Mothers.

Thanks a bunch for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful week!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 102: Life is better because of you

Here’s an A2 card I created as an inspiration project for the STAMPlorations December Challenge: Stamps and Silhouettes. When you have a moment, do check out the STAMPlorations blog, as my card is just one of 3 inspiration projects featured in this post. The other two cards are by DT members Nonni and Vicki. The challenge ends December 31st and there’s a prize for the winner — 2 Vignette stamp sets of his/her choice.

To create this card, I channeled my inner Heather Telford, but instead of creating snowy or wintry scenes like she did here and here (aren’t those cards incredible?), I went with a sunny scene — one with blue skies and green grass…no snow!

I first masked the lower portion of scrap watercolor paper with a thin sheet of paper then loaded my brush with water and painted teal zeal dye ink on the upper area. Next, I cut out a mask shaped like a cloud and with a sponge, I applied nautical blue dye ink lightly, moving my cloud mask across the top. I blended the dark blue ink with my water brush. With the lower portion still masked, I stamped the tree silhouettes in different shades of green. I removed the mask and painted the foreground by brushing water on the area first before layering and blending different shades of green again. I used my heat tool to dry the area. Using the black soot distress marker, I added some black on the tree silhouettes and the ground.  I then stamped the sentiment and trimmed my watercolor panel down to 2.75″ by 4.25″ and rounded off the corners. I thought that the ground needed some more color in addition to all that green grass so I painted in some flowers in nautical blue, love letter, tangelo, and dandelion dye inks. I added some faux stitching around my panel using one of the stitch stamps in the Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Pentagons set (a new set from STAMPlorations that will be available in January). I adhered DSP and ribbon on my card base before adhering my watercolor panel on pop-up foam dots.

I’m linking up this card to the following challenges: Emergency Crafters: Anything But Christmas; Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #76: Anything Goes; ScrapbookerPhD Challenge #5: Anything Goes; and Simon Says Monday Challenge: Use a Stamp. I thought this card also fits Keep It Simple #29: Warm — the sentiment implies warm thoughts and my stamped watercolor image shows a warm day. I grew up in a tropical country and I’ve never really gotten used to the 20-degree-and-below temps in the winter months here in the valley even though I’ve lived here for years. Creating this little “art” was my escape.

Supplies
Stamps — VIGNETTE: Tree Silhouettes [trees, sentiment], PATCHWORK FRENZY: Graphic Pentagons [stitching] (STAMPlorations)
Inks — Teal Zeal, Nautical Blue, Pistachio, Cottage Ivy, Olive Grove, Northern Pine, Love Letter, Tangelo, Dandelion (Memento); Black (Hero Arts); Black Soot Distress Marker (Ranger)
Paper — 140-lb Cold-Press Watercolor Paper (Canson); Designer Paper (The Paper Studio)
Other — Ribbon (The Paper Studio); Glossy Accents (Ranger); Water Brush; Corner Rounder Punch

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 100: Be merry

Here’s an A2 card — my 100th paper craft project I’ve blogged about! I’ve made more than that since starting the blog in July — but being able to share my paper craft projects regularly every week is infinitely satisfying. It gives me a sense of accomplishment…and I finally found something I can blog about consistently!

Anyway, for this card, I stamped paint brushes, ink blots, and ink spatters in alternating emerald green and rose madder archival inks on the bottom area of my card base. On scrap watercolor paper, I stamped a newspaper background in gray flannel ink. I trimmed it to size and rounded off the bottom corners with my corner rounder punch. I then adhered it to my card base. Next, I stamped a wonky double running stitch all around the panel in love letter ink. On scrap watercolor paper, I stamped the winter words in tuxedo black ink (Memento), cut it out using a 2-inch circle punch, and lightly sponged the edges with love letter ink. To create the 3 strips, I used the chevron stamp with the love letter ink. I adhered them to my card using foam dots. I stamped the sentiment in tuxedo black ink. I finished the card by rounding the bottom corners with my corner rounder punch.

I based the layout of this card on the current Fusion Card Challenge sketch. I’m linking up this card to the following fun challenges: Brown Sugar Challenge #72: Christmas; Chocolate, Coffee & Cards Challenge #54: Happy Holidays; Dream Valley Challenge #72: Christmas; and Sister Act Card Challenge #37: Anything Goes.

I’m also linking this card to 2 challenges that my good friend Nonni is hosting at her blog: Let’s Get Inky: Stamp a Happy Christmas and Christmas Cards Out of Old Stash/Scraps. I hope you can join us over there by the 24th! Nonni will be randomly drawing a winner for each challenge and the winners will receive the It’s All About YOU! rubber stamp set from STAMPlorations.

Supplies
Stamps – Winter Wonderland [round image] (Fiskars); Newspaper Background (Hero Arts); Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares [stitches], Holiday Artsy [paint brush, ink blots, and ink spatters], VIGNETTE: Chevron & Arrows [chevron] , and Oh, Christmas Tree! [sentiment] (STAMPlorations)
Inks – Emerald Green, Rose Madder (Ranger); Gray Flannel, Love Letter, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper – 140-lb cold-press watercolor paper (Canson)
Also – 2-inch circle punch (Fiskars); corner rounder; glue dots; foam dots
*****

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 97: Merry Christmas

Another one layer card before I call it a day. It’s been a long, exhausting day, so I’ll keep this post short and sweet. I used the colors in The Paper Players Challenge #175: Pink Pirouette, Old Olive, and Raspberry Ripple for this card. “Snowflake” is the cue word in this week’s CASology Week #74 challenge and “Snow” is the theme over at Keep It Simple Challenge #28.

I stamped (and shadow-stamped) various images to create the background. The solid squares and circles, ink blots and spatters (Holiday Artsy set from STAMPlorations) are stamped in pink pastel (ColorBox chalk ink) and soft olive (Hero Arts). I stamped the snowflakes (Fiskars) in raspberry jam mid-tone ink (Hero Arts) — I stamped with bit more pressure than usual because I wanted the ink to bleed to make it look like the snowflakes are sort of melting. Then I stamped the sentiment (from the Holiday Artsy set) ombre-style — I kept stamping until there was no ink left on the stamp. I finished off the card by rounding one corner with my corner rounder punch.

    

Thanks so much for stopping by. Lights out for me! :-)

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 96: I miss you

Here’s a one layer card (4.5″ by 6″ Canson 140-lb cold-press watercolor paper) featuring stamps from Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Squares set (one of two STAMPlorations stamp sets coming out in January).

To create the card, I diagonally masked the center so I’d have the upper and lower areas for stamping. Next, I stamped the squares in alternating colors — green hills (Hero Arts), soft granite (Hero Arts), and rouge (ColorBox). Then I stamped the wonky double running stitch in tuxedo black (Memento) to create a patchwork effect. I masked the upper and lower areas before placing the mini splat stencil (The Crafters Workshop) and sponging black soot distress ink. Then I stamped ink blots and spatters (from the Holiday Artsy set) in soft granite. Finally, I stamped my sentiment 3 times in rouge, tuxedo black, and green hills.

The colors I used are from this week’s colors at The Dynamic Duos Challenge #82: Bold and Cheery Week (Primrose Petals and Gumball Green), plus I used 2 neutral colors — black and soft granite (gray). Then there’s the current Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Create Your Own Background, with the option to use stencils and/or Gelli plates. (I’ve got my Gelli plate stashed away because I needed the table space for all the Christmas cards I’ve been doing so I went with a stencil.) And then there’s the Allsorts Challenge #236: Anything But Christmas. (I really needed a little break from all the Christmas cards so this was a welcome challenge!)

I’m also entering this card to the following challenges: Created with Love Challenge #70: Anything Goes; Make It Monday Challenge #170: Always Anything Goes; and Scribble & Scrap Challenge #7: Always Anything Goes.

    

Thanks for stopping by!

~Shery

Stamps used:

  

Paper craft project no. 93: Holiday cheer – CAS(E) This Sketch GD

Today, I’m honored to be the guest designer over at CAS(E) This Sketch, one of my favorite challenge blogs. I’m quite new to the card-making/paper crafting blogging world; in July, I challenged myself to create a one layer card every day for 30 days and it’s the reason I started this blog. (I’ve blogged in the late ’90s, and while I had several blogs, I blogged sporadically until I simply stopped.) One layer card #12 was the first card I’d entered to CTS, which is the first challenge blog I’ve ever participated in! So you can see why CTS is one of my absolute favorite challenge blogs. I hope you’ll pop on over there, check out all the awesome cards the CTS design team created, and enter this week’s challenge!

For this card, I used my go-to card base of late: 140-lb cold-press watercolor paper, which I cut to create an A2 tent-fold card. I took another piece of watercolor paper, angled it over the card base for how I wanted it and then trimmed it to size. Now the fun part — stamping (I used STAMPlorations stamps)! I stamped my arrow border stamp in Hero Arts shadow inks (pale tomato and field greens), shadow-stamped the ink blots/spatters and floral swirls in ColorBox pigment inks (silver and old gold), and stamped the holiday cheer sentiment in Memento tuxedo black ink. I wrapped jute twine twice on the side of my panel before mounting the panel to my card base with pop-up foam dots. I finished off the card by affixing green and silver sequins.

   

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you’ll play along at CTS this week! I’d love to see your take on the sketch :-)

~Shery

Stamps used:

   

Paper craft project no. 92: Merry Christmas, love

It’s been a while! I finally was able to sit down earlier in the evening to create this card (although I’ve been making cards and doing a gazillion other things after Thanksgiving). So here’s an A2 one layer card I made while the hubby and I watched an episode of Chuck on Netflix.

For this card, I stamped the couple (in the Ever After clear stamp set from STAMPlorations) in Memento tuxedo black. I stamped it again on a post-it note, fussy cut it, and used that as the mask before stamping the mistletoe stamp (Heidi Grace Design). Then I stamped my sentiments in Memento tuxedo black and Hero Arts pale tomato inks. (The “Merry Christmas” stamp is from the Holiday Artsy set and the “Love” stamp is from the Ever After set). Then, I channeled my Inner Nonni and colored the mistletoe with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I used CG2, JG6, and DG2 (for the leaves), CR8 (for the berries), and FS2 and EB1 (for the background). I affixed Candi paper brads and finished the card by using a Fiskars decorative corner punch that also embosses (not sure if you can see the light embossing on the corners but it’s there).

I’m entering this card to Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #74: Clean and Simple; Bearly Mine Challenge #115: Christmas Sentiment; Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #105: Clean and Simple; and Created with Love Challenge #69: Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re having a wonderful week!

~Shery

Stamps used: