Color Burst Butterflies

Not everything is bad about this crisis. Hear me out. 

All over the world, people are coming together in unique ways. Zoom rooms, Skype chats, FaceTime - people of all ages are getting in on a real technological revolution. And we're finding out just how many of those meetings could have been emails after all. 

I'm so pleased to say that tonight, the technological revolution allowed me to "meet" one of my bloggy idols, Lauren Bergold of ...all the GOOD blog names were taken. I've followed her for years and gushed over all her amazing cards. Her instagram account is my absolute favorite because she's just a one-woman explorer of all things colorful. 

As I said on my last blog post, I've been playing along with some of the challenges Paper Anthology has released on their Facebook page. And they also also do nightly Zoom calls! So this North Dakota girl had fun crafting away in isolation, while getting to chat with some amazing crafters from New Jersey. 

I decided to play along with the You're not the Emboss of me challenge. 

Since I was feeling especially Springy (even though it definitely snowed today *facepalm*), I pulled out these gorgeous butterflies from the STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies 2 set along with some classy gold embossing powder. 

I used mixed media paper with the sole intention of breaking out the vivid loveliness of Ken Oliver Color Bursts. 

I dipped my paintbrush into the water and wet the paper before sprinkling on the powders. 

Then I used a damp paintbrush to spread the powders. In order to create a gradient with watercolors, I rinsed out the paintbrush and then pulled out the color along the edge. Repeat the rinsing, and continue to pull the color out by running a wet brush along the edge. 

These are the colors I used for my creation and I think they're lovely. I was just going to use one, but the owner of Paper Anthology, Elizabeth, told me to use at least two colors, probably three. Boy, was she ever right. See? The magic of technology at work. 

I stamped the butterflies again on some vellum so I could do an overlay and add a little bit of dimension. 

Ta-daaaa! I finished this little lovely with a gold border and an embossed sentiment from Verve (now retired, sadly). 

I'm going to end this bliggity blog with a little PSA - support your local stamp and papercraft store right now because they absolutely need it in order to survive! Paper Anthology is a prime example. They are currently shut down now due to shelter in place mandates, and that has cut off all source of income. They've created some classes in a kit that they will mail right to you! 

Also linking this up to the current STAMPlorations Theme and Sketch Challenge, where I used their theme of Stamps and Flight. 

Oh Deer! Growing in Unity + Prizes

WATERCOLOR ALL THE THINGSSSSS!!!

When I devised my Growing in Unity plan, the above statement was not a part of it. But then after two days of watercoloring with different mediums, I said "hey self! This could make a cool week-long exploratory series." My self agreed with my self and thus, the past week has been spent in splishy splashy bliss.

On the docket for today's watercolor medium: Ken Oliver Colorburst Crystals. 

If you want to talk about creating gorgeous, vibrant, unexpected backgrounds or watercolored images, these Colorburst crystals are INSANE! My bloggy friend Lauren Bergold's instagram feed is all full of Colorburst examples and I finally had to break down and buy all the colors. No Ragrats!

Also, I wanted to play along with The City Crafter's latest challenge, which is to mimic one of these splashes as a background on your card. 

Obviously, you can tell that I chose the green splatter for my design. 

Here's how I made this background.  

Step One: 

Use a wet paintbrush and apply water around your stamped image.
P.S. this deer comes from Unity's Woodland Deer stamp set.
Be careful not to get the water inside of your image.

Step 2
Add a teeeeny bit of Ken Oliver Colorburst Crystals.
Seriously. A teeeeny bit. A little of these babies goes a LONG way. 

Step 3
Cry a little bit, restamp your image and repeat steps one and two because you added too many crystals.

Step 4

Use a damp paintbrush to move around the color, carefully

Step 5:
Oooooh and aaah over your final creation.
So stunning without even trying! 

I love how this little card turned out. It's CAS but packs a wallop of intensity. I also really like that it's appropriate for the fellas because I have SUCH a hard time not going all frilly on things. 

If you're interested in getting some of your very own Color Burst Powders, Amazon has sets of them for a decent price. (ps - I use affiliate links to help support my blog)

 

I'm also going to enter this into
As You Like it - Flora or Fauna (I like fauna better because you never know what you should expect from animals)

Cardz 4 Guys - Something Beginning with "D" (Deer!)

Also - thank you to those of you who followed my blog yesterday! I'm just >>ONE<< measly follower short of my 300 goal. Can you help a girl out?!?!

Don't forget to leave a comment down below because Unity is giving two lucky commenters some pretty sweet swag!

Growing in Unity + Card Concept + Prizes

Today, I'm combining both my Growing in Unity post PLUS announcing the return of The Card Concept Challenge! So ya'll get a double huzzah!!

My card today is brought to you by the new inspiration image up at The Card Concept challenge, which is back from its summer hiatus. 

Look at all that lovely texture, woodgrain, and pretty florals - there are so many different things you could be inspired by and we would LOVE to have you come play along. 

I guess this week I have been unintentionally exploring different watercoloring mediums. 

Yesterday, I showed you how to use traditional watercolors to make a splashy card and on Day 1 of my Growing in Unity posts, I showed you how to watercolor with Distress Inks. 

Today, I'm going to talk about my latest watercolor effect medium obsession: Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks.

People. People. 

If you want to talk about the easiest way to watercolor EVER,
These. Are. It.

Like their name implies, you just scribble around with them. Originally I thought these would be like gelatos or Tim Holtz Distress Crayons but they are far from it. The scribble stick is hardened and if I was going to compare it to anything, it would be a watercolor pencil (although these are MUCH more vibrant). 

Once you have a little bit of scribbled color down, take a damp brush and just pull out from the center of the color. Easy peasy gradient that looks oh-so-lovely! 

If you're wondering where that big ol' beautiful flower came from, it's a design by Donna Downey for Unity Stamp Company called Wild & Free. This set is PERFECT for dramatic cards and is large enough for mixed media canvases or art journaling, too! 

Once I had my poppy all watercolored, I added a teeny bit of texture to the center with some white acrylic paint. 

I wanted to incorporate the burlappy (that's a word if I say it is) texture from the inspiration photo, so I used some burlap cardstock from DCWV. I embossed a lovely sentiment from the same kit and viola! 

This card is also going to go play along at Craft Stamper Take it Make it Challenge and Artistic Inspirations Anything Goes Challenge. 

PSSSTTT... check out my followers section in my right sidebar. Do you see that I am only >>SIX<< bloggy friends away from hitting 300!? Can you help a girl out and help me hit that milestone? I'd be ever so obliged! I love making new bloggy friends!

Growing in Unity Gal - Guest Designer

The first time I ever laid eyes on a Unity stamp, I fell in love with the sketchy, pretty designs. My aunt is a Unityaholic and she let me use some of her stamps while I was slowly growing my own collection. 

It seems like Unity is always having one sale or another and my wallet complains to me every time I go check out their deals (but my heart rejoices... so suck it, wallet!) 

This week, I get the opportunity to be a guest designer for Unity *happy dances* and I'll be sharing a new design every day this week! 

I haven't played much with my Distress Inks lately - gasp! - so I remedied that but doing some Distress Ink watercoloring. 

I stamped a floral arrangement from the First Friend, Best Friend, Forever set. Next, I smooshed three different colors of pinks onto my craft mat, then used a wet paintbrush to pick up the ink.

This is why I love Distress Inks - you can stamp with them, but you can also do so many different techniques like watercoloring. 

I also used some Distress blues and greens to color in the leaves and water. 

 

Since I had a lot of color left over on my craft mat after I was done watercoloring my image, I used the Distress Ink double dipping technique to marble a piece of paper. 

 I layered my focal image with black, white, and bits of gold, adding in a strip of my marbled panel. I finished it off by stamping a sentiment from the For the Guys stamp set. 

This whole design was inspired by the latest challenge at If you Give a Crafter a Cookie. 

I loved the combo of patterns and colors going on and HAD to try to replicate that on a card

I'm also going to enter my card over at Seize the Birthday. I'm not using the Aqua/Green optional toppings, but I wanted to play along anyhow. 

Also, if you're feeling like leaving some extra bloggy love today go check out my fellow GIU gal for the week - Rebecca Wong Pui Yee. Who doesn't love a Rebecca?! 

And make sure you leave a comment on my blog!! Unity is giving away two stamp sets to those of you who are kind enough to drop some lines below! 

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 4

Ho. Ho. HO. 

Meerrrrrryyyy Christmas.

Oh  you think it's not Christmas, yet? Well you, good friends, are sadly mistaken. Because if you look at the sheer amount of green and red and glitter happening on my craft table right about meow,  you'd know that Christmas is indeed a'comin'. 

Up on the STAMPlorations blog, we're helping to give you a gentle reminder that now is the time to start on those much procrastinated Christmas cards. We're enabling you with some pretty awesome holiday stamps and die cuts to get your creative brains a'workin'. 

Today, we're celebrating two new stamp sets - Homespun Christmas and Winter Chill - designed by our fearless leader, Shery Russ.  

From the second I laid eyes on Homespun Christmas, I was in love. The artful sentiments and the peaceful little scenes had me dreaming of sugarplums and all that jazz. 

The scene was so pretty and serene, that I just HAD to keep my designs running in the same vein. So this card is SUPER CAS compared to my normal mixed media everything. 

I watercolored my scene, using a healthy does of glittery white watercolors to add some sparkle. I added some acetate and some shimmery sequins to make this into a wintry shaker. A simple sentiment completed my look. 

I'm going to play along in the following challenges:
The Merry Christmas Challenge - Sparkle
Tuesday Throwdown - Anything Goes

Make sure you head on over the STAMPlorations blog because you're not going to want to miss this week-long party. Just look at all these prizes!!

Prizes:

**Winners will be randomly drawn from all comments left on the STAMP blog and participating designers blogs

- THREE (3) winners of a $10 gift certificate to the store

- ONE (1) winner of her choice of 1 stamp set and 1 CUTplorations die from the new release

- ONE (1) winner of a $25 gift certificate to the store

**Extra prizes:

- TWO (2) winners of their choice of 1 CUTplorations die from the new release -- drawn from our Facebook page (for commenting, sharing, and tagging a friend)

- ONE (1) winner of her choice of 1 stamp set from the new release -- drawn from our Instagram post (commenting, liking, tagging a friend)

So what are you waiting for? Get to hopping already!  

Oh and double PPPSSSSTTT: You can get 20% off any stamp set in the STAMP shop by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. Happy shopping! 

Creamy Color Burst Coffee Card

Hello citizens of the Blogosphere!

Today, I've got an awesome tutorial up on the Coffee Loving Papercrafters blog showcasing the many uses of Ken Oliver Color Burst crystals. 

Pop on over if you want to know how I achieved this glorious look!

This card was inspired by the goodness going on in the inspiration image from Victorine Originals: 

Check out that bottom right corner. I instantly spotted the coffee and just knew I had to play along!

Happy Monday, fellow crafters. I hope you'll pop over to CLP for some inspiration!

Day 4 - International Mixed Media Week + FUSION!

I am continuing the International Mixed Media Week festivities (you can read more about this farce in my blog post from Monday)!!

It's also another day of celebration because the latest FUSION challenge has arrived!

 

If you haven't played at FUSION before, you can choose either the sketch OR the image, or you can mash them both together and create a fusion! I hope you'll come play along with me! 

Just look at that dreamy inspiration image!! I was totally and completely inspired to create a watercolor piece using the bright colors. 

If you were here earlier in the week, you would have seen the two Ken Oliver Color Burst backgrounds I created, along with my promise to tell you what I did with the second one later. Welp, it's later.

For this card, I wanted to let the Color Burst crystals do the shining. So I decided to add some mixed media bits and bobs, but made sure to keep a lot of color as the focal point. 

Like my first card, I used some glossy black embossing paste, but this time I used it through a delicate Winnie & Walter stencil and only in selected areas. 

I grabbed a bunch of different buttons and metal gears and started painting them black. 

If you want to paint metal successfully, add a layer of gesso to it first. Then let it dry and paint over it with black. My buttons all started out with these pastelly colors that wouldn't have matched my design at all! 

I adhered my bits and bobs to my background, and then selectively highlighted some pieces with InkaGold to give it a little more visual appeal. 

I added Distress Crayon around the edges and smudged, along with a white gel pen border. I finished off the look with some sentiment stickers by Tim Holtz. 

Taaaaadaaaaaa!

I should also mention that part of the reason I chose to use the bits and bobs was because I also wanted to play along in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge: Buttons. 

I'm also going to link my card up to Crafty Gals Corner - Buttons, and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Bit o Green.

Thank you all for popping by! I hope you'll go see what the rest of my teamies have made because you DON'T want to miss out on this inspiration!

Day 1: International Mixed Media Week

Helloooooooooo bloggy friends. Today is the very first day of International Mixed Media Week. 


What's that? You haven't heard of International Mixed Media week? Neither have I. I totally just made it up but I really think there SHOULD be an International Mixed Media week (and if there already is, give me a holler).

Really I just wanted a reason to show you an entire week's worth of mixed media projects because... well that's what happened in my craft studio this week. :) I have a bunch of dreamy tutorials all lined up for you, so I hope you like pictures! 

I made a couple of card backgrounds using some Ken Oliver Color Burst watercolor crystals. These things are GENIUS for creating drama. I only used one of my backgrounds for this card, so stay tuned to my blog later in the week to see what I did with the other one!

I wanted to play along at Just Us Girls challenge this week

  

So I broke out my stencils! 

The background was too pretty and since I had to be the ONLY pretty thing in the room, I decided to cover it all up >insert evil stepmother voice here<. Just kidding. Really, I wanted to see what would happen, so I tried it! I used Dreamweaver Stencils Glossy Black Embossing Paste through the STAMPlorations Broken Glass stencil.

My background seemed a little too pristine, so I dirtied it up a little bit by dropping Perfect Pearls all over it, and tapping some Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain over it, then I spritzed it with a teeny bit of water. 

I used an embossing gun to heat set the paste, which makes it crack and bubble up and gives it such a yummy texture! Just look at that - don't you want to run your fingers over it?

I added a big ol' star that matched my background courtesy of the True Multifaceted Star Cutaway by Winnie & Walter. I also added on some gessoed and painted star chippies, and sentiment stickers by Tim Holtz Ideology. 

Taaadaaaaa! I hope you enjoyed day one of International Mixed Media week! :) hahaha 

I'm also going to link my card up to:
Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge - Anything Goes
Love to Create - Anything Mixed Media

Thanks for popping by, my friends!