I LOVE the stamp sets (supplies listed below) and the paper is super cute too! Can’t get enough of it, I may have to get a second pad of it! And I absolutely love the watercolor effect – I use watercolor pencils and then add water to blend the colors together, and it worked well for the toasts to look a bit ” toasty” and slightly burnt around the edges. And just because I love this stamp set so much, I decided to add a little something in the interior of the card.

Here is the video on how I made this card from start to finish:

Supplies:

Card #1

For this card, I clear embossed the rose across the background and white embossed a single rose with a few branches. Then I sponge colored the single rose and leaves with distress inks and blended the colors together. I am really liking this way of coloring my stamped images. I can see how addicting distress inks can be!

A close-up of the flower:

Supplies:

Card #2

This second card I also used distress inks, but I watercolored instead.

Close-up of the watercolored flower:

Supplies:

And here is the video of how I made it, from start to finish!

Supplies:

The card is Kristina Werner’s window card; she provides free templates for it too.

Supplies I used:

So anyways, here’s the first card!

Flower close-up (I used Memento Ink and my American Crafts stamp markers and paper pieced it):

The sentiment with the scalloped border patterned paper:

Supplies (sentiment not listed):

Here is the second card. I heat embossed a background stamp in clear for the background; I then white embossed a flower with a couple leaves and colored it with distress inks and a dabber. That was super fun.

I am really loving the this background stamp and how subtle it is!

Supplies (Lawn Fawn sentiment not listed):

Click on any of the photos for a close-up shot:

A close up of the flowers:

A close up of the subtle clear embossing on the side. It’s a little hard to see, you can only see it when the light reflects off of it. But I like the subtle part of it, and the vertical line it creates to break up the card a bit.

Forever Flower Card
Paper:  Cardstock from my stash
Stamp: Paper Smooches Pretty Phrases; Recollections Freedom Flowers
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark Watermark Clear
Accessories:  Martha Stewart Embossing Powder, clear; Staedtler Ergosoft Watercolor Pencils, EK BrusH2O Pen Medium Tip; Martha Stewart Lilac Dimensional Pearl Stickers; Martha Stewart Pastel Mini-Pearl Stickers; Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

In anycase, I am having a BLAST!! I have a few showers coming up, so here are a couple cards I made:

Showering Hearts Card
Paper: Lawn Fawn Bright Side 6×6 papers; Hero Arts layering paper, Carnation
Stamp: Simon Says Stamp Sunnier Days; Lawn Fawn Plus One
Ink: Versamark Ink; Hero Arts Shadow Ink in Stonewash & Bubblegum
Punch: American Crafts Knock Outs Border Punches, Basic Scallop
Other: Martha Stewart Embossing Powder, Dove

Bun In Oven Card
Paper: Lawn Fawn Bright Side 6×6 papers; Hero Arts layering paper, Lilac
Stamp: Lawn Fawn Plus One
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Distress Ink Pumice Stone
Other: Staedtler Ergosoft Aquarell Watercolor Pencils; EK BrusH20 Pen Medium Tip

A lot of my materials were from Simon Says Stamp’s April 2012 Card Kit. There is so much fun stuff in this kit. The Showering Hearts Card was pretty much a direct replica of Kristina Werner’s card. The only thing I wish this kit had, was a sentiment in the stamp set that had something to do with shower parties. It was mostly about showers in regards to encouragement on a rainy/bad day. Other than that, papers are super cute and fun. I have plans for the chevron acetate in there, the green plaid ribbon, the flowers, the purple washi tape… the list goes on…

Sky Flags Card
Paper: Light blue cardstock; white cardstock; KI Enchanting Paper Pad
Stamp: Hero Arts Cling Dots
Ink: Versamark Ink; Recollections embossing powder, clear; Gelly Roll pen, white
Punch: American Crafts Knock Outs Border Punches, Basic Scallop

Diagonal Rays Card
Paper: Kraft cardstock; KI Enchanting Paper Pad
Ink: Colorbox Ink, Black; Gelly Roll pen, white
Stamp: Clear Hero Arts, Everyday Sayings

Pickles + Ice Cream Card
Paper: Kraft cardstock, white cardstock, vellum
Stamp: Friendship Jar Stamp Set, Congrats All Ways Stamp Set, Little Labels Stamp Set, Sweet As Can Be Stamp Set, Friendship Jar Fillers Stamp Set, Friendship Jar Summer Fillers Stamp Set, Staedtler Ergosoft Watercolor Pencils, American Crafts Stamp Markers, Artist’s Loft Colored Pencil Blender
Ink: Colorbox Black, Aquamarine, Bronze

Kraft Hearts Card
Paper: Kraft cardstock; KI Enchanting Paper Pad
Ink: Ranger Inkssentials Embossing Pen, clear; Martha Stewart embossing powder, dove; Gelly Roll pen, white
Punch: McGill Mini Punch, Heart; American Crafts Knock Outs Border Punches, Basic Scallop
Accessories: Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Cream Hearts Card
Paper: Cream cardstock; KI Enchanting Paper Pad
Ink: Colorbox Expresso; Gelly Roll pen, white
Punch: McGill Mini Punch, Heart; American Crafts Knock Outs Border Punches, Basic Scallop
Accessories: Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Tomato Card
Stamp: Paper Smooches Vegtastic
Emboss: QuicKutz A2 Embossing Folder, Polka Dots
Ink: Colorbox Black

Carrots Card
Stamp: Paper Smooches Vegtastic, Staedtler Ergosoft Watercolor Pencils, EK BrusH2O Pen Medium Tip
Emboss: QuicKutz A2 Embossing Folder, Polka Dots
Ink: Colorbox Black
Punches: American Crafts Knock Outs Border Punches, Basic Scallop

This -

And this -

I have not knitted or crocheted or made jewelry in what seems like ages. But I did pick me up a little something-something and unexpectedly got sucked into the world of cardmaking. Here are a couple of them so far (mind you, I am still a total newbie as I just started this literally 2 months ago, so be kind). Click on a thumbnail to see in full detail:

A few Valentine’s Day Cards:

P.S. I need to work on learning how to take decent pics of these cards! Blech!

If you don’t know me already, cotton ease is my all time favorite workhorse yarn. Especially for baby/kid items. It is a cotton blend, and it is machine washable AND dryable and breathable and soft and comfy. It can be a tad splitty for crochet, but if you are knitting with it, it shouldn’t be a problem at all (unless you are knitting with uber tiny sharp needles that are too small for worsted weight yarn). =)

Pattern is from here (or if you have Ravelry, it is here). I have to say, even though seaming is the ultimate suck, it doesn’t suck as bad when it’s crochet. You don’t have to make things super invisible as you do with knitting; probably because crochet fabric can hide seaming lines better than knitting.

So this is for a friend. Hope Leyton loves it! Sorry it is so late! (And sorry for the blurry pictures; with a mobile kid, it’s hard to get him to sit still for a good shot)

P.S. Totally unrelated (but still on the subject of baby hats), but I was in the midst of doing an Oscar the Grouch hat for my own kiddo (despite everyone trying to discourage me from doing it). The only person who was thrilled about the project was my own husband. Everyone thought the eyebrows (which are made from fun fur) were nasty looking. Even my own brother said it looked scary. I had never worked with fun fur so I gave it a shot. And OMG that stuff is NASTY!!!!!!!! It is like knitting with an ugly rodent in your hands!!!!! Never again!!! Turns out my kid accidentally pulled that project off my needles, so I take that as a sign that it probably belongs in the trash. I didn’t take any pictures of it because I don’t want to subject you to the horrors of that project. I’m a little sad about it because I thought Oscar the Grouch would have been a fun look for my kid’s head, but I guess now I know that fun fur is from the devil. Lesson learned. SHUDDER