Watercolor Thanks

Hey Sweets, it's Lindsay, and it's time again for a little Inspiration 101!

Since starting this series, we've looked at using Journaling cards and magazine ads.  This week, I thought I would use something most of use on a regular basis for card inspiration, Pinterest!  I have to admit, I am a Pinterest junkie!  I have two main boards I use for card inspiration, one of which is entitled such, and the other Color My World.  I know we can all agree, color is extremely important in setting the tone of your project.

image source

So today, I chose this fabulous watercolor image from among them.  Taking the colors, as well as the white sentiment on top of it, I created this card.  I started with using distress ink, on watercolor paper.

Using the sentiment and the circle image from Cookie Sprinkles, I stamped and embossed in both white and gold powder over top of my watercolor splotches.  

I let my panel dry well overnight and placed it under a stack of magazine to flatten it out.  To make sure that it adhered nice and flat, I used super strong adhesive to adhere it to my Kraft card base.

I hope you were inspired today, and will take an image you have pinned, and just go for it!  We would love to see.

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Painless Tattoo!

Hi everyone!  Hope you are having a wonderful Monday morning and are ready for a bit of sketchy inspiration!  This week you are getting a sneak peak of the upcoming sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch (shhh...don't tell anyone).  I must admit that this one had me stumped for a bit but I'm really loving what came out of my crazy mind when I finally figured it all out!  Here's the sketch:

 I was stuck in the feather zone for awhile with the sketch and just couldn't get past them.  Finally, I thought of balloons and that started the creative juices flowing.  I turned to Fall Gratitude for my balloon shapes.  Seriously, would these not be the coolest balloons ever with those patterns?  I also had to use Elegant Sentiments...how could you resist that script?  It's gorgeous! 

I found some splattered/bleached paper in my stash which made a perfect background for my balloons.  I stamped each balloon on other papers in my scrap stash and to give them a little fun twist, I used Glossy Accents for dimension and shine.  I embossed "happy" to make sure it stood out against the background and it turned out perfectly.  I connected my balloons to the sentiment with some hand drawn strings.  I love how it all came together and was thrilled that I pulled it off without feathers!  ;)

For my 2nd take on the sketch I layered the rose image from Elegant Flowers on top of the heart from Cookie Sprinkles.  These two images worked perfectly with a sentiment from Chalkboard Sign.  I did a little tweaking to the images that I'll show you in a second.

 

For some reason, when I layered the flower bud and the heart on my colored paper, my mind went straight to a tattoo.  So, I decided to look up different means of making an image look like a tattoo.  By adding some simple lines, some shading with copics, and a little reflection triangle on the heart, I think I got a pretty good looking tattoo for my card.  A simple technique but I think it's a fun one to try out!  Check it out:

To complete the card, I did a cheat chalkboard background using some patterned paper I had lying around that already had the chalkboard look.  I went with the Chalkboard Sign sentiment, "I Love You" because I thought it worked well with a tattoo image and I embossed it to make it pop.  Here's the completed card.  What do you think?

    

I hope you enjoyed my two takes on the sketch coming up this week at CAS(E) this Sketch and got a new technique to try with your Sweet Stamp Shop stamps.  Have fun with the sketch and share your creations on our Flickr group.  Don't forget to check out the Sweet Stamp Shop Facebook page for up-to-date info and offers.  Plus, a new release is right around the corner and believe me, you won't want to miss it!  Have a great week!

-Chrissy Pin It

Get The Look Of Color Embossing Powders- How To!

Happy Monday Sweet Friends!  It's Charlene here with you today.  I love the look of heat embossed images especially in different colors.  Well, it would be nice to own embossing powders in different colors, but in reality, that's just wishful thinking.  So, being a crafter on a tight budget, I'm always on the look out for techniques that mimic the look.  

With a little bit of ink and clear embossing powder - we're set to go!

For this technique, I am using the gorgeous flower from Elegant Flowers and the sentiment from Cookie Sprinkles.

Elegant Flowers

Cookie Sprinkles

Shall we get started?  

1. I picked out a stamp set that has a solid image and also die cut a few pieces of card stock.   
2. To stamp the image, make sure to stamp onto Versamark ink first!  It's important to keep the    Versamark ink pad as clean as possible in order to avoid cross contamination.  I usually stamp the outline image first.
3. Repeat step 2 for the solid image.  Clean your stamp with baby wipe in between stamping different colors.  
4. Cover with clear embossing powder and heat set.  

I made 5 mini "Thank You" cards in no time at all, but they look like they took a lot of time.  I added the sentiment before adhering the squares onto the embossed cards.  Last, I added a black and white twine to tie it all together (no pun intended).  :)

We would love for you to share your creations using SSS stamps.  You can head on over to Flicker or to FB.  

I hope you like this super easy technique.  You can leave me a comment below and let me know what you think and if there's an "inky" technique that you would like me to cover in the future.  I'm not an expert, but I'm always willing to learn.  

You can visit me on my blog, HERE.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Have a Wonderful Holiday!

Charlene

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