Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hope your Valentine’s Day was sweet!

Here are a few more cards I sent to girl friends and want to share with YOU:

Love this new die from Spellbinders! I die cut it from white cardstock, layered it on white, and added an embossed heart (Hero Arts heart embossed with Ranger Pink powder.) The Dew Drops are from Robin’s Nest,

This simple card uses a Hero Arts heart die cut, a sentiment (Hero Arts) and some sweet pink sequins from Doodlebug Designs. Fast and easy! I glued the die cut down using a Quickie Glue Pen.

And last … a fast and easy top folding card using washi tape from Paper Source.

Happy Valentine’s Day from my heart to yours!

Straight From the Heart

Yikes! It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I’ve only posted one of the many heart cards I’ve made! I love making Valentines, and I love sending them to my girlfriends.

Let’s kick off my Valentine extravaganza with these fun ones made using Simon Says Stamp’s Hearts on Parade die (and lots of scraps!):

I love making these cards (as you can see by the assortment!) Piecing the cards together reminds me of the puzzles I used to work on with my mother — such pleasant memories. There is something so relaxing about matching pieces to die cut openings.

Here’s a closer look at just one card:

As I was die cutting the pieces, I wound up with odds and ends. Never one to let anything go to waste, I used some leftover pieces on this tag …

… and on this kind of strange card:

I’ll be back with more Valentine’s day cards, using another Simon Says Stamp die.

Multi Media Valentine

This card started with the mess on my desk. I wanted to play with some new product from Faber-Castell and Ranger … and I wanted to make Valentine’s Day cards.

Here’s how it happened.

I started by playing with some Faber-Castell Gelatos (read more here, here and here). I rubbed some color on my craft sheet then spritzed with water to create a paint, which I spread on watercolor paper. I knew I wanted some texture, so I stamped it with Old Letter from Hero Arts:

Next step was to die cut the hearts (using an old Sizzix die):

I REALLY wanted to try the new Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain Spray from Ranger, so I masked a stripe along the edge of a piece of Ranger Watercolor cardstock. (I tore a long strip of low-tack painter’s tape to create the mask.)

You’ll notice there’s some background stamping goin’ on there, too. After I sprayed the card, it felt bland, so I used Wendy Vecchi’s Archival Watering Can and a Stampendous! stamp to add some interest.

Note that the stamp is a rectangle, but I didn’t want hard lines, so I inked just random portions.

Next, I needed a sentiment. I tried various inks and paints (including the new Cracked Pistachio Distress Paint) but finally went with the Watering Can grey for the contrast.

I edged the hearts with gold metallic marker and added some Doodlebug Designs sequins to finish the look. Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Cosmo Cricket

The watercolor look was in style at the Craft & Hobby Show last month, and Cosmo Cricket is right on trend with some great new products, including this cool resist-infused watercolor paper that is so fast, easy and fun to personalize.

I played with various coloring mediums, including:

… Faber-Castell Gelatos in two shades of pink and a coral. I scribbled them on a craft sheet, then spritzed them (and the watercolor cards) with water. I picked up the color with a water brush, then brushed on the card.

The next two cards I went retro and pulled out my old Sparkling Pastelles Watercolor Palette from USArtquest. I had forgotten how much I love these watercolors!

(I also swished a bit of these colors on the envelopes, which I forgot to photograph.) I could have made a dozen in a few minutes.

For my fourth card, I spritzed first with water, then sprayed with Ranger’s new Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain Spray. Yum. I love this color! Because I wanted a touch more glitter I added a light spray of Perfect Pearls Blue Smoke.

On all these cards, I wiped away bits of color that landed on the white and gold resist parts, just to give them more clarity. I especially wanted the white to pop.

I used another nifty new Cosmo Cricket product — the Splatter Caddy.

The white plastic-lined container is a great spray box … and when you’re done, it folds into a neat package for easy storage:

Thanks for stopping by! There is still so much more to report from CHA.

Fabulous Finds — Ken Oliver Colors, Stamps and More

Another crafting star was born at the Craft & Hobby Association Show … Ken Oliver. It was Ken’s first time starring in his own booth, and he did it with flair, introducing several cool new products, including coloring agents, papers and stamps.

Let’s start with his exciting Color Burst color treatment. Color Burst is a concentrated watercolor product in a powder form. To use it, first spritz your watercolor paper with water. Then squeeze the Color Burst bottle to spray out the colored powders. The powder reacts with the water and … POW! Bursts of color!

You can use Color Burst with stencils, over an embossed or wax resist, etc. You can spray more water to help blend the colors, move the color around with a brush or even a heat tool, and more. The vibrant colors make fast, easy, beautiful backgrounds and designs. As Ken says, “just sprinkle and spritz.” Color Burst will be available by mid-March.

Check out these samples:

And these pretty blooms:

Ken also introduced his Click It ink pad, a retractable, pivoting 1 x 1 inch raised dye ink pad. The velveteen pad gives a great color application whether you are stamping an image or edging a tag. It’s compact and I love the hangable chain that is attached.

PEGz™ stamp sets are individual letters that you click together to form words. Have you ever tried to line up alphabet stamps to create a greeting? Not so easy. Until now. (Look for them in your stores by the end of February.)

Look how easy they are:

Then there’s Stick It, a thin, dry adhesive specially formulated for use in intricate die cutting. When you first lay it down, Stick It is repositionable, giving you some sticky wiggle room. After a while, it becomes permanent. You apply Stick It to your cardstock before die cutting, then just peel off the liner after it is cut.

As for stamps and paper … Ken has definitely mined his small town roots. His Hometown images are vintage, nostalgic and beautiful, whether on paper or stamps. Paper designs include the Studio Collection (a soft, more colorful vintage feel), Watercolored Memories (vibrant botanical prints) and Pitter Patterns (geometrics.) I’m hoping to play with these soon!

Check out Ken’s blog at www.kensworldinprogress.com. His products are being distributed through Product Performers.