Watercolored Unity

I have two cards for you today using some Unity stamps. I love that their stamps are huge and still the old-fashioned rubber on cling.


The first one was stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Distress inks. The sentiment is by Penny Black. The wings and tag were highlighted with some fancy Want2Scrap bling. The card base, tag and lace are by Hobby Lobby. I hope you're not getting tired of the striped backgrounds. I bought a 50-card set at 50% off. You can't beat the price and the colors are lovely.

The layout was inspired by the Unity Be Inspired Challenge and the colors by ColourQ. I'm also entering this to the SSS Wed challenge.

For my second card, I colored directly onto the stamp and spread the color around with water on the stamped image. I splattered some water colors to add interest. The sentiment is by Penny Black and bling by Want2Scrap.

This card is inspired by the Color Throwdown, I'm also entering this to the SSS Wed challenge.

This is it for me today. It's a scorcher here in the south. I hope you're enjoying fine weather where you are.

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Water Color Blog Hop

It's hard to believe that I haven't posted any cards this year. This doesn't mean I haven't been creating. Since our short visit to the US changed to a temporary move, I didn't pack a bunch of supplies. So the cards I've been creating use very minimal supplies. My choice of coloring medium has been water colors because it doesn't need a lot of other things like regular stamping does.

I have been enjoying the process of learning to watercolor on my cards. When I saw that Pretty Pink Posh is hosting a water color blog hop, I was motivated to share my cards on my blog again.

Here are a couple of cards I made. They both use Penny Black stamps. The card bases are by Hobby Lobby. The first one uses the Divine cling stamp and it's colored with Peerless Watercolors. The paper is Arches cold press.

My second card uses Woodland Friends and colored with Distress inks and Peerless Watercolors. 

The heart bling and rhinestone in the first card are by Want2Scrap. The paper is Tim Holtz Watercolor Cardstock.

Make sure you check out the Pretty Pink Posh blog for more inspiration and information about prizes! And there are a ton of them, from your favorite paper crafting companies!

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Peace Joy Tag Cards

Hello, friends. Sorry for my absence the last couple of weeks. Thanksgiving took all of my free time and I'm thankful for the much-needed break. Before I share my card, I have to ask you to come back tomorrow. I will be part of the largest blog hop I've ever been part of, I believe. You don't want to miss it! Also, I still have some stamps and dies for sale HERE. If there's anything your really want and the price isn't agreeable to you, please shoot me an email and let me know your best offer.

My card today has one of my favorite color combos (red, white and blue). I didn't use any stamping here. Can you believe it? The papers, buttons and tags are by Fancy Pants. The sentiment dies are by Penny Black Love & Joy.

I stitched around the white panel. The tags were mounted using Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L foam squares.

Challenges: Runway Inspired, The Card Concept, Just Us Girls, SSS Monday, Card Mania, Die-cut Divas, Vintage Stamping.

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Watercolored Swirly Background CAS Card

Hello, I have a simple card for you today.I first heat embossed watercolor paper with sparkly white powder using my Penny Black Dotted Fusion stamp. I then colored it with various Distress markers and wet them to blend the colors.

The sentiment is from Penny Black Amazing! which I stamped on a flag. The only embellishment the card needs is a little flower and some burlap string. Adhesives are by Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.

Challenges: Time Out Challenge (embossing) Paper Players (CAS Thank You), The Shabby Tea Room (Photo Inspiration with Burlap), Runway Inspired (Photo inspired colors), CASology (flag sentiment), Cardabilities (sketch), ATRS (Make Your Mark), Uniko Studio (anything goes and/or sketch).

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Golden Autumn Leaves

Gold has been trendy for a while now and I've resisted using it because it's just not me. The only thing gold I own is my wedding ring. But as I was organizing my craft room, I stumbled upon some old gold embossing powder that was just begging to be used. So, here's the result, which was inspired by so many lovely challenges going on right now. I used my Penny Black Foliage Fancy set. I inked the solid images with distressed ink spritzed then with a little water before stamping.

I then heat embossed the detailed images with gold. The sentiment is from Penny Black as well. I finish the card with a simple flag sentiment, button and a burlap string. Adhesives are by Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.

Challenges: Virginia's View, Shabby Tea Room, The Paper Players, Runway Inspired, Pals Paper Arts.

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Water Color Painting Card

As you know, I've been enjoying playing with water colors. I have so far just created mainly backgrounds that I used for my stamped images. This week, I'll be sharing some cards with water colored images that I did free hand. If you're an expert water colorist, excuse the noticeable novice mistakes. But I enjoyed making them and I hope you will be inspired to try your hand at water color painting.

I first sketched the trees with a pencil and went to town with my watercolors. I did the wet on wet technique on this. First with the background and when that dried, I spritzed some water to create the texture. I then painted the trunks in light brown and the details in dark brown. I made the background trees subtle to show perspective.

After I painted, the trees looked kind of bare, so I added some birds, die cut from Penny Black In A Row. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Adhesives are by Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L. In order to prop the birds, I cut the foam squares in half.

Challenges: Card Mania (die cut), SS Wed Challenge (thinking of you), Moxie Fab (Trees).

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Watercolored Masculine Card #3

Hello, friends! Aren't you glad it's Friday? It's chilly and rainy today in our little corner of the world and the trees are bursting with color. I have another watercolored masculine card for you today that uses just one stamp set, Penny Black's Tweet Tweet.

I first just randomly colored the background with water colors following the Curtain Call challenge using the wet on wet technique. After that dried, I stamped the foliage images in Versafine black. I did the the repeat stamping (is that what it's called?) to add dimension to my card. The farther the image, the more faded the color should be.

I heat embossed the beautiful sentiment with white. I then colored around it using a dark yellow Derwent water color pencil to make the words stand out. I love the grungy look. I used Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L. Next week, I have another series of cards using water colors. They're different from what I've share here so far. I'm learning something new and loving it! Have a great weekend!

Challenges: SSS Monday (Good 'Ol Days), SSS Wednesday (Thinking of You, Cardabilities (sketch), Curtain Call (colors), Paper Players (vintage), Pink Elephant (photo inspiration).

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Watercolored Masculine Card #2

I have another water colored masculine card today. It's also clean and simple, which seems to be the style I follow when making cards for men. The layout was inspired by CAS(E) this Sketch!. The card in general was inspired by this week's Muse. The background was watercolored and dotted with my white pen.

The birch trees were die cut using my Silhouette Cameo. I propped it using Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L foam squares.The lovely script sentiment is from Penny Black Wishes.

Challenges: CAS(E) this Sketch!, Card Mania, Muse, SSS Wednesday.

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Autumn Leaves with Watercolors

We're right in the middle of fall here in Croatia. The leaves have changed and the trees are starting to look bare. It seems autumn came and went really fast and now we're having temps close to freezing already. Yikes! I'm not quite ready for snow.

I have a simple fall card today using my Penny Black Foliage Fancy stamps.I first water colored with background (inspired by a few craft challenges), then embossed the maple leaves in white. Pretty simple.

The sentiment was stamped with Versafine ink. And then I flicked black watercolor all over.

Challenges: SSS Wednesday, Card Concept, Color Throwdown, Pink Elephant, Just Us Girls.

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Bird on a Bike

As you've probably noticed, I'm not much of a Halloween crafter.  We don't celebrate it in Croatia and never did celebrate it growing up in the Philippines. I do love the colors associated with it and I notice so many of the craft challenge blogs I follow have very similar challenges the last few weeks. So, I decided to take their halloween inspirations and make a springy card with them. I also want to say that I'm not a big fan of purple so I used the closest hue: blue! Here is the result.

I made a fun & cute card with a country bird on a bike for my daughter who recently celebrated a birthday.The patterned papers, bike are by Fancy Pants. I die cut the chevron paper using PTI clouds. The bird is Penny Black's Perched die that has been watercolored with orange.

The sentiments are by SRM Stickers. Buttons, twine finish the card. The different elements were adhered using SAby3L Foam squares.

Challenges: Time Out (bird), Card Mania (buttons), Color Throwdown, Just Us Girls (photo, basket, country), Seize the Birthday, Die Cut Divas (fall colors on a spring card).

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Mixed Media Sunflower Botanical Card

Hi, all. Aren't you glad it's Friday? I have another mixed media card today. I have been inspired by many challenges that seem to highlight the fall colors of yellow and orange. I didn't want a fall card, so decided on a sunflower. I freehand painted the sunflower with watercolors. I meant for it to be just a plain painting, but I messed up on some of the petals, so I decided to use it as a background for my card. I love that I didn't have to throw it away.

I stamped the Penny Black Music Background stamp with Distress ink and spritz it with water. When it dried, I white embossed Penny Black Letter background with white on the lower right of the panel. I tore some paper scraps for the corner, distressed the edges then stitched the whole thing on the card base. The bird stamp I got from ebay and was water colored as well. The sentiment is from PB Amazing! I adhered Want2Scrap pearls on the corners. Adhesives by SA by 3L.

Challenges: Fusion, Diecut Divas, SSS Monday Challenge, Card Concept, Mixed Media Card Challenge, Color Throwdown, Curtain Call, Card Mania, 

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Fallish Spring Mixed Media Card

***Before I begin, please check out the stamps and dies I have for sale. They're heavily discounted (at least 40% off). The Craft's Meow, GinaK Designs, Layers of Color, Spellbinders and Other Items***

It has been a very busy week. Our family celebrated 3 birthdays and I had to finish my Christmas cards by Sunday night. I had to send them off through someone heading back to the US. It saves me a ton of money that way. :)

I have been playing around with water colors and other media. For my birthday, I got some fancy water colors by Lefranc & Bourgeois. I'm not sure yet if it's really that much better than my $10 tube set from Hobby Lobby. I have also been playing with Distress inks. So far, I think my favorite is the Distress brand. I will let you know if I change my mind. I have been eying one brand that I've seen online, but that will have to wait till Christmas, I guess. :)

I have a mixed media card today that uses watercolors, stamp inks, pigment inks, and embossing paste. The background is watercolored then stamped with the Penny Black Letter background. After that dried, I used an old favorite LOC stencil to create the raised lace design using embossing paste. I then inked the edges of the panel before adhering them with SAby3L foam squares.

The butterflies (Penny Black Social Butterfly) were stamped in coordinating colors and adhered them to the panel by stitching them through the middle. The stamped and die cut (PB Triple Banner) sentiment banner (Amazing!) is also by Penny Black. I adhered Want2Scrap pearls on the butterfly bodies. Doily by SRM Stickers and adhesives by SA by 3L.

I'm entering this to the following challenges: Runway Inspired, Die Cut Divas, SS Monday Challenge, Mixed Media Card Challenge, Fusion,

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Happy WCM Day with a Trio of Mixed Media Cards

Hello, friends! I am joining my many friends around the globe today celebrating World Card Making Day! I have a trio of mixed media cards that I had so much fun to make. I used three of my own stamp designs by Penny Black: Petal Power, Sentimental and Textures.

I LOVE the mixed media look, but don't have a lot of time to create all the layers and textures. And when creating cards, I really can't make them too bulky because I risk damaging the card en route to its recipient. This is why I love my stamps and inks to create depth without the bulk. For my cards below, I stamped the solid images from Petal Power with Distress Inks and watered them down with a brush to create the water colored look.

When they dried, I inked, stitched and distressed the edges. To create the textured burlap/canvas look, I stamped randomly Textures with Antique Linen right on top of the flower.

I then watered down some Distress Ink Black Soot and with a water colored brush, picked up the color and flicked the excess water off onto the stamped image to create this look.

I allowed all that to dry before stamping the sentiment with Versafine Ink above the image. To finish the card, I added some button, twine and Want2Scrap pearls. I made the card base to coordinate with the colors of the flowers. Adhesives by SA by 3L.

If you like to support a charity that appeals to us, card makers, check out Operation Write Home. They serve our military with handmade cards. HERE are OWH's current needs. I hope you will get to make some cards today. Have a great weekend!

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Celebrating Spring with Friends Down Under

As we enjoy the transition to beautiful fall weather here in Europe, my friends Down Under are leaving winter behind and welcoming spring. Today's card is celebrating the season with them. I created these watercolored flowers (from a retired set Flower Garden by The Craft's Meow) by stamping with Distress Inks and wetting the stamped image with water.

I finished the card with a Bible verse from Penny Black's Life's Messages stamp set. The flowers are black pearls are by Want2Scrap. Adhesives by SA by 3L.

Challenges: Runway Inspired (shoe color inspiration), Crazy4Challenges (leaves), Virginia's View Challenge (CAS), Curtain Call (smooch photo inspiration), Die-Cut Divas (change of season).

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Mixed Media Fall Flower Card

I have another fall-ish card for you today using water colors. I first stamped my Penny Black Noble stamp with Faber Castell PITT markers. It's my first time to use these markers and I love that I can place the color directly on the stamp.

The background is watercolored. While that is still wet, I stamped the text from PB Love Chapter and let the ink soak in the extra moisture on the paper. When the paper dried, I stamped the sentiment from Sunny Hello with Versamark ink. I stamped the burlap background from the Textures stamp set and spritz it a little bit with water. The butterflies were cut using PB Tagged die set. The pearls are by Want2Scrap. The adhesives are by SA by 3L.

Challenges: Curtain Call (Wishing well inspiration), Just Us Girls (Photo inspiration), Crazy 4 Challenges (leaf); SSS Monday Challenge (finishing touch with the sentiment stamp), Muse (color scheme), Diecut Divas (Something new: stamping with PITT markers).

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