Birthday Trike

Happy Weekend, all. I always like to try and do at least one blog post every week and for this week I choose this cutie from Mo's Digital Pencil called Birthday Trike. Did you ever see such a cute face?

She reminded me of my sister with the sassy look and straight hair. Just love her!

These 2 cards were made the same until I choose the finishing stencil and sentiments. Here is what I used on both cards:

1) The image was printed with a laser printer onto Taylored Expressions 118 lb. Watercolor Card Stock on the smooth side - goes through the printer like a dream!

2) Watercolored with Daniel Smith's 238 Dot Card - great for travelling and I color at lunchtime at work so I need light and flat;

3) Used Silver Brushes Black Velvet Size 8 - It has a great point and I use it for all my watercoloring - no matter the size;

Then I added 2 different stencils from A Colorful Life Designs:

I used the Diminishing Lines Stencil with Sizzix's Prism Paste for the card shown above. This is a 6" X 6" Stencil:

I used a 3" X 6" stencil called Numbers with Distress Ink Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry to have a cool something something in the background on the other card.

I've got to say this one is my favorite! Which one do you like?

Thank you to Mo's Digital Stamp for her wonderful designs and to A Colorful Life Designs for always inspiring me. If you want to shop and pick up some stencils at A Colorful Life Designs use AnitaFan10 for 10% off your order (excluding bundles)! There are hundreds of really unique stencils  - made in the USA by a woman-owned small business!

I will submit to the following:

1) NBUS

*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.

PBSC Reminder

Hi friends! Have you entered the Penny Black Saturday Challenge yet? You still have time.

The optional theme for the challenge is hearts and flowers. I wanted to use this new wooden stamp from Penny Black from the vault: 2007 Margaret Sherry Collection - love conquers (#3779F). I have a daughter that love snails so I couldn't resist this cutie!

The background was created with Penny Black's Refreshing 30-695 stamped repeatedly and colored with my OLO Markers. Our little image was also colored with OLO Markers.

How did I create this card?

1) Stamp the images with The Stamp Market Black Ink onto

2) Distress Heavy Stock paper

3) Color with OLO Markers

4) Die cut with Penny Black's Semi Circle Stackers for the nice clean edges

5) Die cut MFT's Love Speech Bubbles

6) Inside sentiment from Essentials by Ellen - Besties by Julie Ebersole.

Isn't this just the best sentiment for this image?

Thank you to PBSC for inviting me to be Guest Designer and I hope you come and join in the fun!

I will also be submitting my card to:

1) NBUS

2) Critter Crazy Challenge

3) Crafty Catz Challenge

4) Fab 'n' Funky Challenges

5) Crafting Happiness Challenges

*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.

Beautiful Blossoms Tulips

It's Feb. 15 and time for the Beautiful Blossoms Challenge!

How gorgeous is this Inspiration Board? I was thinking Mother's Day card when I saw the lovely soft colors.

This is such a great start for inspiration...I wanted to watercolor tulips and create a pink background for I am so looking forward to Spring and flowers!

I started with Penny Black's Tulip Dies and cut several out of Ranger Ink Tim Holtz's Distress Watercolor Paper on the rough side. They were colored with Ranger Ink's Distress Ink Re-inkers: Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron and Mustard Seed.

The frame was created with Penny Black's Semi Circle Stackers and Tim Holtz Distress White Heavystock. I used the center piece of the frame to create the background with A Colorful Life Design's Pinwheel Scroll Stencil with Ranger Ink's Distress Ink Picked Raspberry.

The center design is from Penny Black's Pocket & Banners Die Set again cut from Ranger Ink Tim Holtz's Distress Watercolor Paper. This die pocket has a slit that is cut so that I could add the flowers almost like a pot. I did use the same colors of Distress Re-inkers as the tulips but with more splatter. 

The sentiment was in my stash and it is a Paper Rose Mother's Day Quotes set. Seems to be retired but such good sentiments.

Thank you for joining us at the Beautiful Blossoms 2nd Challenge...we'd love to see your work.

*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.

Cute Critters

Hi friends - Welcome to another post for A Colorful Life Designs' Feb. 2023 release. I may a ton of cards for this release and these 2 are in my favorites!

For both cards I used:

1) I Adore You Digital Stamp from Whimsy Stamps;

2) Printed on a laser printer onto Ranger Ink Tim Holtz's Distress Watercolor Card Stock.

3) Watercolored with Daniel Smith's 238 Dot Watercolor Cards (perfect for lunchtime coloring at work!).

Then the 2 panels are handled differently. For this card I used the Acoustic Waves Stencil with Pixie Spray on the back and ink blended with a pale grey ink. I just wanted a subtle background. The cool edging around the card is from Penny Black's Semi-Circle Stackers. The sentiment comes from a retired My Monthly Hero Set - MH0621C (had it for years and it's the first I've used it!).

The card below uses the Polka Dot Stencil with a blend of red Distress Inks. The sentiment comes from Spellbinders' It's Party Time Stamp Set white heat embossed on Lawn Fawns' Black Licorice Card Stock. For white on black I most often use a White Pigment Ink from Scrapbook.com instead of Versamark Ink. I find I get more solid coverage.

Here is a picture of both cards side by side. Which is your favorite?  For a 10% discount on your entire order (excluding bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs, please use my code: AnitaFan10.

Thank you for stopping by and I will be submitting to:

1) NBUS

2) Stencil Fun Challenge

3) Scrapping4fun Challenge

4) Magnolia Forever Monthly Blog Challenge

5) Critter Crazy 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.

Mixed Media Cards

Hi all and welcome to my post showing 2 different mixed media cards with A Colorful Life Designs' Intricate Diamond Stencil! This stencil is from the new Feb. 2023 release from A Colorful Life Designs and I absolutely love this:

Here is the Master Creator Bundle from the Feb. 2023 release for those that have "full set syndrome". This is discounted 20%, so my 10% off code AnitaFan10 will not work on it, but will work on all other unbundled products. Can you spot the Intricate Diamond Stencil?

So how did I make these? For both cards I used:

1) Pixie Spray - I wanted to be sure the stencil adhered well;

2) Vicki Boutin - All the Good Things Foundation Media Paper - I love this paper for sprays, paints, etc.;

3) SugarPea Designs - SugarCut - Card Front Element Builder II - my favorite for the nice dotted edge around the card. This cuts a full A2 front panel.

Then the cards are made differently. 

This beauty uses Jane Davenport - Starpower Ink in 3 colors (on sale as of this writing as Joggles.com (a great source of mixed media products): Elizabeth (Blue), Lucille (Red) and Doris (Yellow). If you are not familiar with this product here is the description from the Joggles' website:

"Liquid watercolor ink filled with mica to lend a sparkly and glimmery look! Named after Hollywood film stars, Jane Davenport's Starpower Inks can be used with traditional watercolor techniques as well as your favorite mixed media ones. Intermix the colors to create your own custom blends! They’re suitable for many types of porous surfaces.

Each 20 ml bottle includes a pipette to dispense the ink."

This card is all about the background - I dropped a bit of each Starpower ink onto pre-wet paper into the stencil and let the ink do the rest. Amazing sparkle! A couple of die cuts from my stash finished it off simply for I didn't want to cover us that gorgeous design.

The second card is similar but different!

It was made with Versamark Ink dabbed through the stencil, remove the stencil and then sprinkled with white embossing powder and heat set. Once dry, I got to play with my new sprays from The Stamp Market. I have them all and picked: Fresh Pink, Golden, Melon and lastly the Shimmer over all.

The flowers are from Wendy Vecchi's Stamp, Die and Stencil Set called County Flowers Set - one of the most versatile sets for such a great value! I had these pre-colored in my stash along the with hot foiled sentiment from Spellbinders Everyday Sentiments II.

Which is your favorite? Amazing how fun and different your cards, journals, tags, etc. can be with a good stencil and products.

Thanks for joining me and I will be submitting my card to:

1) NBUS

2) Stencil Fun Challenge

3) We Love To Create Mixed Media

*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.

PBSC Guest Challenge

I am so happy to be the Guest Designer for Penny Black Saturday Challenges this month! How fun is that?

The Challenge is Anything Goes, Optional "Hearts and Flowers". I just received a wooden stamp that Penny Black recently released "From the Vault" called X-Large Love from the Margaret Sherry Collection (3611J). This cute cat has a heart on his sweater and I've been anxious to color him (her?)!

I stamped out X-Large Love Cat with Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink and colored him with OLO Markers. These markers color so well and there are so many options with them.  Check out Nichol Spohr's YouTube where she has a Guest Designer from the company explaining all about them.

I stamped the same image onto Gina K Masking Magic and fussy cut it out - a little bit within the outside edge.  I put the mask over the image and ink blended a heart stencil from MFT called Lots of Hearts using Fresh Pink Ink from the Stamp Market. It is a nice subtle color.

I then stamped a flower image from Penny Black's Refreshing Stamp set #30-695. Since the optional theme was hearts and flowers, I wanted to add flowers! After the mask was removed I did draw an extension to the stem so that it looks like our little guy is holding the flowers (I hope!). The flowers were also colored with the OLO Markers. At this point, I used Penny Black's Lovely Border Dies #51-484 for the heart edges. Such a lovely die!

I made 2 cards, similar, but different:

Here at the 2 cards, basically the difference is the lettering: both from Scrapbook.com - Tall Skinny Alphabet Dies, one has the capital letters and one the lowercase letters. The hashtag is from a different set I had in my stash. All cut 3 times from Lawn Fawn Licorice Black Card Stock and glued together with Bearly Art Glue (my favorite with the fine tip!).

Thanks so much to Penny Black Saturday Challenge to allowing me to be the Guest Designer. Come join in the fun - Anything Goes!

I am also submitting to:

1) NBUS

2) Cut It Up Challenge

3) Simon Says Stamp Wed. Challenge - Love is in the Air

4) Make My Monday Challenge - Love is in the Air

5) Shopping Our Stash - Love is in the Air

*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.