Sun & Surf

I thought I'd play along with the current Just Us Girls Photo Challenge #638:

Such a fun image and that inspired me to create a beach themed card.

This gorgeous stencil is from A Colorful Life Designs called Sun & Surf.

Don't you just love this stencil? Clean and Simple in its own way.

The Sun & Surf Stencil is ink blended with blues and yellows from my Distress Ink stash.

The young lady standing in the sand is from Newton's Nook Designs - Summer Moments:

The images are stamped on Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper with Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink. I sprinkled Altenew's Crisp Clear Embossing Powder on the black stamped lines while still wet and finally heat embossed. For water coloring I used Daniel Smith's 238 Dot Card Set. Then finally used my favorite for any stamp set - the coordinating dies!

The "sand" is WOW  Sparkling Sand Embossing powder by Jo Firth-Young. I tried to capture how sparkly it is in this picture. Really looks like she is standing in sand.

The sentiment is from the same Summer Moments stamp set.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope you get a chance to play along with the Just Us Girls Challenges! I will also be submitting to:

Crafty Gals Corner - AG

Craft Rocket Challenge - Girls

Crafty Catz -AG

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Girls just wanna

I don't know what the temperature is where you live, but here in Durham, North Carolina it has been close to and hitting 100 degrees almost every day! For June, that is really hot, but I am happy to stay in and craft. I wanted to make a cool-feeling card and was inspired by the Beach Theme at the Card Concept #178:

I started with A Colorful Life Designs' stencil called Beach Balls to create this Mixed Media card. I am always in support of women owned small businesses, such as A Colorful Life Designs. This stencil company is  owned and operated out of Texas by Mary Kay DelaFuente. And Mary Kay offered me a discount code that my followers can use at her shop for 10% off their entire order: AnitaFan10.

This is the picture of Beach Balls from A Colorful Life Designs' website:

I did use Pixie Spray on the back of the Beach Balls Stencil and pressed it onto a panel of Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz Distress Water Color Paper. I love this paper for it's sturdiness and bright white color. Then I watercolored inside the lines with a yellow, purple, blue, red and green. Now, I have a bright colorful panel to layer my beach scene on top.

Newton's Nook is one of my favorite stamp companies - owned by a husband and wife team (Jen and Jeff) out of Southern Wisconsin. I like to purchase their products through Crafty Meraki. Craft Meraki is another small business woman owned business from Virginia. Bindu Suri is the owner and she had the most colorful and beautiful samples for the products she sells. Let's support these entrepreneurs if we can!

This set is called Summer Moments:

If you follow my blog, you know I always like the matching dies for they are quick, easy and cut out areas my Brother Scan 'n Cut doesn't (at least that I know how to do).

My beach lady and images were stamped on Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz Distress WaterColor Paper with Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink. I sprinkled Altenew's Crisp Clear Embossing Powder over the wet black ink and heat set. The watercolor I used was Daniel Smith's 238 Dot Watercolor Cards - Lot and lots of colors to try.

After water coloring and die cutting all the images I layered the images onto a square of Hero Arts' Classic Vellum and adhered to the front panel. The beach bag and sentiment were popped up with foam squares, but the beach lady and splashes were adhered directly.

Just love how this card came out. I'd like to thank the Card Concept for the inspiration and I will also be submitting to the followings challenges:

NBUS (All new!)

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Red, Yellow, Blue and ?

A quick post to play along with Just Us Girls Color Challenge #637:

I made 2 cards with red, yellow, blue and my choice, black:

I used this 6" X 9" unique stencil called: Spiro Flowers from A Colorful Life Designs. (Use "AnitaFan10" for 10% off your entire order at A Colorful Life Designs!).

I was able to make 2 cards with just one application. The colors I used for the ink blending were by Catherine Pooler: Something Borrowed and Rockin' Red. So rich and vibrant!

I added some yellow centers with die cuts from my floral stash.

The "happy birthday"  and "hugs" dies are from Paper Rose.

A few enamel dots from Altenew finished off the cards! Tea Party for the red and Pocketful of Sunshine for the yellow. Such bright and cheery cards!

Thank you to Just Us Girls for the color challenge!!!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Vintage Christmas

I couldn't resist coloring this image for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (52CTT22-23) Challenge: Vintage.

This stamp set, Vintage Holidays, from Spellbinders has always been one of my favorites and I picked it up when it went on sale. As of this writing it still appears to be on sale for $7.50!

I stamped with Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink onto Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz Distress Water Color Paper on the smooth side. I didn't want the rough side because of the lady's delicate face. While the black ink was still wet, I sprinkled Altenew's Crisp Clear Embossing Powder over it and heat set.

To color the image, I used Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.  I googled Vintage Christmas Cards and saw several images where there was a color block behind the image. To mimic that, I stamped the image onto Gina K.'s Masking Magic Paper and fussy cut. I covered the image with the mask and created the background shape with Yellow Artists Tape. Then I simply ink blended Ranger Ink's Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade with a blending brush for the soft background.

The retro sparkles are from a Hero Arts Kit (No longer available) from Oct. 2019. The inside sentiment is also from the Vintage Holiday set.

Thank you for joining me today and let's see what you make for Vintage Christmas!

Although I love this stamp set, I've never used it so I am also submitting to:

NBUS

Also submitting to:

CAS Christmas Card Challenge: Wreath - My Vintage Lady is carrying a wreath!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Do You Like Crackle?

Hi friends and welcome to my blog for A Colorful Life Designs: Spiro Flowers Stencil. 

Spiro Flowers is a 6" X 9" stencil so great for larger sized cards or making 2 panels at one time!

BTW - if you do shop at A Colorful Life Designs here is the link and use my code AnitaFan10 for 10% off your entire order (not applicable on bundles). Always to good to save!

I recently purchased Ranger Ink's Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Crackle and wanted use it to see how it all worked. 

To get started I first used Pixie Spray on the back of the Spiro Flowers stencil.  Let dry a minute and then set the stencil on the cardstock, sticky side down.  I used my brayer to roll over the stencil and give it good adherence. My preferred paper for Art Journals and Mixed Media is: Vicki Boutin American Crafts All the Good Things Foundation Paper: Mixed Media Paper. It comes in a 12" X 12" pad that is easily cut to size.

Then the crackle paste is just applied with a palette knife through the stencil - just like frosting a cake. I let my panels dry overnight before I started with the Distress Ink Sprays. I am not normally a big fan of crackle, but this looks just like mosaic tile!

I used all the light pink and corals Distress Ink Spray Stains I have in my stash for both cards: Tattered Rose, Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral and Dried Marigold. I sprayed in my Tim Holtz Splat Box and find it always works great:

The crackle is amazing! 

The little pepper and sentiments are from Hero Arts Hot Stuff Bundle:

A good layer of Nuvo Crystal Clear Glaze on the peppers for some shine.

I tried to leave white on this one so that it wasn't a "one note" card:

Here are both cards side by side - have to say I love them...the Spiro Flowers really came to life!

Thank you for joining me. I will be submitting to the following challenges:

NBUS - the stencil, crackle paste and the stamps are NBUS

Happy Little Stamper - Stencil Challenge - AG

Through The Craft Room Door - AG

Crafty Gals Corner - AG

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.