Random "Stamping" meets Some Kind of Wonderful

I had so much fun creating the cards for my Random Stamping Class.  Since I used retired stamps and paper for the class, I wanted to re-create the project with current paper.  It's funny though, because for these cards I didn't random stamp anything.  Instead I switched out the randomly stamped paper for Some Kind of Wonderful ((X7217B) Background and Texture paper.  I'm in love with the results!

Black and White Dots (Z3314) were my accessories of choice.  Some of the sayings are raised with Thin 3D foam (Z2060).  The bottom right card was embossed with Dots (retired).  Some of the Lemon cardstock (X5786) was treated with Lemon ink (Z2808) direct to paper technique to add a little visual interest.  Most of the sayings come from the Flower Market Cricut Collection (Z3290 - Digital; Z3285 - physical cartridge).  The thank you stamps are from retired sets.

Anyway, I wanted to share some sunshine with you today.  Enjoy!

Home is Where Your Heart is

I really like the Flower Market Cricut Collection.  : )

I have a realtor friend who asks me to make cards for her business.  This is the card I made for her this time around.  The tulips, vase, and saying are from Flower Market.

The outside tulips are made from Blossom and Smoothie cardstock.  The center tulip has added the colors Cotton Candy (retired) and Pixie.  The stems are New England Ivy.  The vase is Sea Glass, as is the heart of the saying (double meaning there!).  The band and saying are cut from Pomegranate cardstock.  The background and texture paper is from Wanderful (retired), but pairs quite nicely because it's Crystal Blue.

The last thing to know about the structure of the card is that it's an 8" x 3.5" card found in the pattern book Wishes.  The title is Top Band which is located on page 100.

After cutting out and gluing the pieces together, I assembled the vase.  Each card is slightly different in the angle of the flowers themselves and how they were glued into the vase.  I tied White Twine around the center of the vase and then Thin Mounted the vase and flowers.

Yes, making 50 cards was labor intensive.  But it's a labor of love and I really like the way they turned out.  On to the next thing... my niece's wedding invitations!

Good Times... March Stamp of the Month Card

Since I was super late last month posting a sample, I'm getting it done early this month!

I'm super excited about my card.

Let me tell you about it.  This is the front of the card, made from Make it From Your Heart Volume 1 (pattern #25).  The striped paper is from the Whimsy Fundamental paper (Z3255) - I think we tend to forget about those great Creative Collections.  Sweet Leaf (X5771) and Glacier (X5770) cardstock finish off the colored paper (along with White Daisy(1385)) for the card.  The tea cups and flower were stamped with Memento ink (Z899) because I was going to add water.  The saying I just used Black ink (Z2805).  And I stamped the whole saying in Glacier ink (Z2841) on the Glacier cardstock for some visual interest.  Speaking of visual interest, I sponged the bannered Sweet Leaf and Glacier with the respected colored ink (Sweet Leaf's part number is Z2853).

I added dots with the journaling pen (Z1767) to finish the front and to add the saying inside.  The cups and flower were colored with the watercolor pencils (3505) -- Sunkiss Yellow, Spring Iris, Crystal Blue, Citrus Leaf, Bubblegum, and Holiday Red -- and blended with the Small Round Waterbrush (Z3224).  I've really been enjoying watercoloring!

My original intention was to stamp the flower on the bottom right of the saying.  Unfortunately, I didn't do a good job of masking "Good times" and a little of the bottom showed.  So, my flower went above the saying in an attempt to hide some of the black.  It mostly worked, but it's overlooked because of the flower.  : )








I used just three of the 11 stamps in this set.  Tea-rrific (S1703) will work well with tea and coffee lovers.  Here is the entire stamp set.

Isn't this a cute stamp set?  You can add a tea bag to the inside of the card as a thank you.  A gift card can go inside too.

Seven Things to do with Watercolor

I used my watercolor pencils on my February Stamp of the Month sample card and my March sample (I'm into the look!!).  Jill from Close to my Heart shows us seven ways to use watercolor paint.  What she shows is just the tip of the iceberg for watercolor paints!

Jill mentions using the paintbrush set.  You might prefer to use our line of waterbrushes instead.  Those work too.  Think ideas rather than specific projects as you watch.  Some product is retired, but the ideas are still good!


General Supplies for these projects:
Z2045  All-Purpose Mat (love this!  Makes clean up a snap.)
Z3188  Paintbrush Set (you could go with the line of waterbrushes if you prefer
OR
Z3224  Small Round
Z3225  Medium Round
Z3226  Medium Flat
Z3132  Watercolor Paper (regular White Daisy doesn't absorb quite as well, but it is an alternative)
Z3167  Cricut Artistry Collection

Project 1: Striped Card
Z3167  Artistry Collection page 13 for the diamonds, cut at two sizes, page 1 for speaker bubble
retired stamp set

Project 2: Feel Better Soon Card
Z3167  Artistry Collection page 34 for the banner, page 43 for the circle
retired stamp set - could use B1543 Get Better

Project 3:
Z3167  Artistry Collection page 8

Project 4:  Heart Background Layout  (pause the video at 5:24 to get a good view of the layout)
Z3167  Artistry Collection page 27 for the heart.  Jill was mistaken saying the hearts was an overlay.  The heart overlay was created by adding enough hearts to fit the 10.5" x 10.5" paper.
retired stamp sets

Project 5: Be happy and Bright Card
Z3167  Artistry Collection page 21 for the flower, 27 for the leaves, 34 for the banner (cut two different sizes - see the carrier sheet for the size of the saying), and 46 for the background.

Project 6: Happy Layout
Z3167  Artistry Collection page 20 for the background
D1660  Ink Blot stamp set

Project 7: Tu Tu Cute Card
Z899  Black Memento Ink Pad
OR
Z3271  Archival Black Exclusive Ink
A1180  Safari Ballet stamp set