Masking tutorial

Summer is winding down, but you can still create summery cards to brighten someone's day.  In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use masking to lay one image on top of another without letting colors bleed or blend.  Then, you'll follow the assembly of the rest of the card.

Cricut CTMH Art Philosophy Cartridge flower

I loved making this card... lots of distressing and muted colors... my favorite!  The dimensional flower was cut from my new Close To My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, as were the layers.  I've been having so much fun playing with all the shapes and dimensional elements that you can make with that cartridge!  It is well worth the $99 when you consider the stamp sets and dimensional elements, which coordinate with cartridge shapes, included with the purchase.  I added a little ink to the edge of my rolled flower, and then for fun, I added some fuzzy yarn fibers as the flower center.  The yarn flower center coordinates nicely with the color of the butterfly.  As you can see, I sponged the edges of the layers on the card with ink that coordinated with my Kraft cardstock.  This card was really quite simple and quick to make, but has a lot of detail when you look closely!  The dimensional flower adds a very special punch.

Whoooo you are (Sneak peek of a new set)

A former student of mine went on a spiritual retreat last weekend, and his mom asked if I would be willing to write a letter for him to read at the end of the weekend.  I was thrilled that she would think to ask me to do this for him, and in addition to writing, I made a special card just for him.  It also gave me the chance to play with a brand new stamp set!  This owl stamp and matching phrase are two acrylic stamps from CTMH's Pair-A-Phrase stamp set.  This will be an awesome double stamp set on special August 15th and September 30th.  It is two D-sized stamp sets that come together in one envelope.  This will be an amazing deal you won't want to pass up!  The stamps are adorable and can be used for so many holidays and occasions.  I thought this one was just perfect for a high schooler who is still kind of trying to figure out how to be true to himself and avoid peer pressure.

The card stock is all from CTMH's Autumn color collection.  I used Olive ink for the sentiment and for the swiped grassy look on the green panel.  Orange Stickles glitter glue add a little sparkle to the corners.  I stamped the owl in Staz-on ink and then colored in the owl and branch with CTMH Autumn color collection markers.  I also used one of the markers to doodle around the image panel.  I just love how colors coordinate so nicely when you use one brand!

Very rich, very texturized, Splitcoast sketch layout

This week's Sketch Challenge on Splitcoaststampers involved layering three different panels.  I took this opportunity to use some very rich autumn colors on a summery thank you card.  I also incorporated lots of texture into my design.  The small green panel has been embossed using Cuttlebug, and I added Garden Green ink to the embossed swirls.  If you look really closely, there is a small green Stickles glitter glue dot at the curve of one of the swirl tips.  I used a Close to My Heart My Acrylix stamp set called Delight for all of the images.  I just love all of the coordinating butterflies and flowers!  I used blue Stickles to add a little bling to the small circle image on the sentiment panel. Sponging Outdoor Denim along the outer edge of each panel gives the card a distressed and also more uniform look among all of the panels.  Finally, I corner punched all of the panels, tied some funky green and pink yarn around the green panel, and assembled my card.

This is a thank you card to my friend Jacquie who was a HUGE help to me in the music rotation for Vacation Bible School at my church this week.  Her help was so appreciated, that I had to make a really nice card for her.