June Color of the Month is Sea Breeze. We feel this is the perfect color to welcome the summer with dreams of ocean waves and beach loving fun! This is also a month we will be doing a trade with Joy Clair stamps. Joy Clair makes acrylic stamp sets that have empowering and spiritual themes that are great images for bible journaling, scrapbooking or cardmaking.
Welcome back for another Artist Project Swap with Martha and Steph. For the Month of May, we challenged our artists to exchange tutorials and create each other’s designs in order to see how each of our artists interprets style and choices. The receiving artist did not know who designed the project, nor did they receive any images! In today’s post, Martha writes the directions and recommended supplies list and Steph created the project.
This month we were given another team member’s project to re-create. What a great way to see how someone else approaches cardmaking! I love creating backgrounds using stamps and inks, but don’t generally have a lot of “white space” on my cards. I’ve always felt the need to cover white spaces. This project challenge taught me that you can use white spaces to create amazing projects. See how I did it!
Skill: Beginner
Time: 30 minutes
Ink background stamps with VersaMagic in Cloud White on white paper and let dry.
Using daubers, ink panel with Memento in Morocco, Rhubarb Stalk and Peanut Brittle which should create a warm hue.
Cut the panel to fit the card. Save the scraps. Die cut a circle from the center of the panel and set it aside to use for a second card design later.
Ink a paisley stamp with VersaMagic in Cloud White. Stamp it several times in the circle. Re-ink paisley stamp with Memento ink in Rhubarb Stalk and Morocco. Stamp each color several times around the circle, stamping off the circle. Stamp phrase in center of the circle with VersaMark and emboss with White Embossing Powder.
Add the circle to a card placing it slightly off the card. Cut off the excess. Using the scraps, cut two different sized strips. Ink the edges of the scrap pieces with Memento Rhubarb Ink and add to the card. Add drops of IrRESISTible in Wedding Dress around the card.
Using the punched panel create a second card. Ink the die cut panel with Memento in Rhubarb. Add the panel to a white card base. Stamp the Mary Elizabeth Frye paragraph from Whimsy Stamps with Memento in Rhubarb on a smaller die cut circle. Mat with medium sized kraft die cut. Add to center of the card. The two additional dies can be size from the Spellbinders stackable sets. Stamp “With Sympathy” in Rhubarb Ink on a leftover scrap and mount with foam adhesives, slightly overlapping the circles.
These two card designs come together quickly if you plan to coordinate the original circle punch.
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Welcome back for another Artist Project Swap with Kassy and Melissa. For the Month of May, we challenged our artists to exchange tutorials and create each other’s designs in order to see how each of our artists interprets style and choices. The receiving artist did not know who designed the project, nor did they receive any images! In today’s post, Melissa writes the directions and recommended supplies list and Kassy created the project.
This papercrafting swap project was so FUN! I wasn’t sure how it was going to go in the beginning. After seeing my project interpreted by someone else, I couldn’t wait to create the project given to me. It is exciting to see how different people interpret and work with similar materials to create different craft projects. You can really see each person’s personality come out in their artwork. It just goes to show you that you don’t have to have all the same craft supplies to make something equally beautiful. Just use what you have! I would really love to do this again.
Memento and Brilliance inks are perfect for achieving watercolor effects. The inks stay vibrant and layer beautifully. It’s fun to play on watercolor paper and then cut out shapes with dies to accentuate your favorite parts of the background.
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Did you miss some of the other swaps? Take a peak at how Arjita and Elina handled each others tutorials, as well as swapped projects by Nadine and Roni.
It is almost Summer! It is time to start looking ahead for calming moments in warm weather, summer colors and holiday memories. In today’s cardmaking project, evoke the spirit of summer with this flamingo theme “chill” card. Keeping the whiteness of the paper as the basic background color, I emphasize the pastel colors and give a bright outcome on the card. The VersaMagic inkpads allow the metallic wire and beads to show even more by giving a chalk effect on all surfaces.
Skill: Beginner
Time: 1 hour
Emboss a 4 x 6-inch piece of white cardstock with the stripes embossing folder and lightly color with the VersaMagic DewDrop in Thatched Straw and Key Lime.
Use a BrushStix to mix and color the flamingo plywood shape with the VersaMagic DewDrop in Red Magic and Thatched Straw.
Continue by coloring the paper flowers with VersaMagic in Red Magic and Thatched Straw.
Die cut leaves from white and kraft cardstocks and decorate them with the VersaMagic DewDrop Key Lime and the Fabrico Marker. Use a stylus to shape the leaves into a more realistic look.
Color the “chill” wooden element with VersaMagic Red Magic.
Make circles with the jewelry wire and glue them in the 4 x 6-inch card with a glue gun.
Continue with the rest of the embellishments and using either the glue gun or Tear It Tape. Lightly ink the edge of the card panel with VersaMagic in Red Magic to match the flowers. Mount the 4 x 6-inch piece on the front of a 5 x 7 card base.
Our wonderful color of the month is ‘Mango’. That rich and warm yellow color took my mind right in the middle of sunny summer days, and that feeling inspired me to create a summer-themed flower card. Matter of fact—I made two card fronts on one go, but instead of creating two identical greeting cards I trimmed the other one into an ATC card. Love them both!
Skill: Beginner
Time: 45 minutes
Stamp image on white paper with VersaMark. Heat emboss with Imagine’s Embossing Powder in Black.
Apply the two shades of yellow inks in Memento on the background using a brayer. Start with the lighter color and add the darker yellow on top. Do not cover the entire background but ink the center of the card only.
Using the Craft Mat as a palette, press ink on the craft mat. Pick up colors with a water brush, and paint the image.
Cut stamped card front to size and mat on a white card base. Die-cut the “hello” sentiment twice, glue together with On Point Glue and attach to the card front.
Above is ATC version of this card in a vertical format and without the “hello” sentiment.
One of the advantages of using chalk inks like VersaMagic is the soft texture created for your cardmaking projects. Creating texture and mixing colors is easy when you use the DewDrops because of the control and use of the tip of the inkpad. On this project, I used a single flower image to create a beautiful pattern and a stamping tool to create this eye-catching birthday card.
Using a stamping tool, stamp the first flower with VersaMagic Mango Madness as a base color.
Since Mango Madness is a relatively light color, I had to stamp the image over the Very Vanilla cardstock twice to make all the flowers and leaves details evident.
Keeping the stamp and the paper in the same place, apply and combine the colors of the VersaMagic directly over the stamp. Make sure not to contaminate the ink pad with different colors. But if this happens to you, don’t worry, you can clean your ink pad with a paper towel.
Repeat the stamping process until creating the background that you want. Keep the pattern of colors or change it to others with each image. On this card, I used VersaMagic Mango Madness, Red Magic, and Ocean Depth. To complement the background you can splatter some tiny spots of Fireworks Shimmery Craft Spray in Tuxedo Black. I also used a few splatters of All-Purpose Ink in Champagne Mist to give to my background a shimmery touch. Stamp your sentiment using VersaMark, sprinkle with Imagine’s Embossing Powder in White and melt the powder with the heat tool.
To finalize the card, resize the stamped background, sponge the borders with VersaMagic Wheat and tie a few loops of natural hemp twine around. Paste directly over the Crushed Curry card base using Tear It Tape and paste your sentiment with dimensionals or double-sided foam tape. If you consider necessary, you can repeat the splatter process to enhance some parts of the card.
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