slimline card

Faith, Love, and Pixie Dust with New Simon Says Stamp!

January 13, 2025

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! I have another no-line coloring project featuring the darling new Pixie Dust stamp set from the Simon Says Stamp To Be Loved release. I was immediately drawn to the large scale flowers, especially the graceful movement of the floral stems. I have been trying to work with styles that are a bit outside of my creative wheelhouse, attempting to stretch my creative muscles such as they are. The sweet characters in the Pixie Dust set were perfect for this creative exercise, while still adapting the images to my own style with very detailed no-line Copic coloring. Let’s get started with the details!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To start, I stamped the little fairies, bees, and fungi from Pixie Dust onto some white cardstock using Altenew’s Permanent Gray Mist ink, as well as the large floral arrangement onto some plain white cardstock, cut to 3.5″ x 8.5″ to create a slimline card base. I then used a variety of Copic markers in cool shades of mauve, periwinkle, and deep emerald green to do some no-line coloring, then adding some details to the flower centers, skirts, and mushrooms with sparkling gel pens. The sparkling accents work perfectly with the magical little fairies and overall scene!

After the coloring was completed, I used the coordinating dies to cut all of the images out and began arranging my scene. Before adhering everything with foam adhesive, however, I decided to add to the magical feel by blending some “grass” with Lucky Pawsitively Saturated Ink and Emerald Rainbow Splash Ink on the bottom right corner of my card base, as well as creating a luminous sky background with Pawsitively Saturated Ink in shades of Iris and Orchid. I was careful not to do too much blending over my colored areas, creating a glow around the edges of the card to hint at the background very subtly.

I adhered all of the die cuts on the colored and blended slimline card base using thin foam adhesive squares, as well as a sentiment that I had stamped with Iris ink and embossed using Iridescent Purple embossing powder from Hero Arts to add some more magical shimmer to the card. Finally, I added a smattering of Prism Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for even more sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today. I love adapting different styles of designs to my own personal style and preferences. The detailed coloring on these sweet characters was such a fun way to push myself outside of my comfort zone. Also, if you haven’t hopped along on the To Be Loved Blog Hop, you’re missing out; the inspiration is a vision to behold!! Click HERE to see my post for Day 1 and get linked up to the rest of the hop. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Christmas In July Week: Finale in Lime and Royal Blue + SALE!

July 20, 2024

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! I am back for my final Christmas In July week post, this time featuring a somewhat non-traditional color combination with which I have absolutely fallen in love: lime, royal blue, white, and touches of shining silver. I used this color palette on a holiday card for a catalog earlier this year (in April-yes, holiday products are designed all year round!) and knew that I wanted to incorporate it into this series. I have mentioned before that it’s a bit challenging for me to get into the holiday spirit when it is super hot outside, and so sometimes my color palettes for these off-season cards can be a bit less traditional. I think this color palette certainly fits the festive holiday spirit while still being vibrant and somewhat summery. Let’s get started with the details!

I am always up for any excuse to use my own illustrations, and Festive Bouquets is one that I have not had nearly enough opportunity to utilize since it’s release last year. When coming up with floral bouquets, I try to incorporate unique pairings. For Festive Bouquets, I used anemones paired with hellebore (also called Christmas roses!), ranunculus, berries (a holiday floral staple!), and lots of greenery. Anemones come in tons of different colors, so I started with a vibrant blue anemone as my blue focal point around which I could build my lime green and blue bouquet.

I stamped the hellebore bouquet twice on a panel of white cardstock using alcohol marker-friendly black ink, then used OLO markers to color the pretty blooms. For the lime green hellebores (fashioned after the white hellebores with a lime green center), I selected medium and very pale lime green markers along with the colorless blender marker, adding lime green to the more shadowed areas and blending the edges out with the colorless blender marker. I used a similar technique for the “white” ranunculus bloom, adding a very pale yellow green marker to only the shadowed areas and blending the edges with the colorless blender marker, which leaves the majority of the bloom white. After coloring my holiday bouquets, I die cut them with the coordinating dies.

The two bouquets were perfectly proportioned to bookend a slimline card front, so I trimmed down a 3.5″ x 8.5″ panel of white cardstock and lightly blended some Royal Pawsitively Saturated Ink using a blending brush and splattered the blended area with some sparkling silver glitter watercolors for added festiveness. I popped up the floral die cuts with some foam squares in each corner, then added a holographic silver “frame” by die cutting the A2 Thin Frames and trimming off the longer straight pieces, which I strategically tucked behind the floral bouquets to create the illusion of a frame. For the greeting, I stamped the “joy” sentiment from the Holiday Sparkle Greetings stamp set using the Royal Pawsitively Saturated Ink and die cut it with the coordinating die. I popped the sentiment die cut up with a double layer of foam tape to give it some extra emphasis on the colorful background, finally embellishing the slimline card with some Clear Pawsitively Dazzling Gems.

Isn’t this color combo so beautiful for a holiday card? I am absolutely obsessed!

Now for an extra fun weekend surprise: Simon Says Stamp is offering 20% off of all in-stock Simon Says Stamp Branded products through 7/21/24 at 11:59 ET! Click HERE to see all of the in-stock products available for the discount, then use code SMR24 at checkout to receive 20% off of your Simon-branded products!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy shopping!!

Simon Says Stamp Splendor Release Blog Hop Day 1 + Giveaway!

February 16, 2024

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! Today, I am hopping along with Simon Says Stamp for Day 1 of the Splendor Release Blog Hop. You should have arrived here from Lisa Addesa and your next stop is Cheiron Brandon. You can find the full hop list over at the Simon Says Stamp Blog in case you get lost! I have been embracing all things spring with the new Splendor release, using the beautifully buttery new Pawsitively Saturated Ink Trio 27 as my excuse to keep things light and sunny. I have some springy Easter cards to share with you today using some of the new stencils and the gorgeous new Trio 27 inks, so let’s get started with the details!

To start, I die cut several Easter eggs in three different sizes from Hammermill cardstock using the Nested Eggs dies. Using blending brushes, I blended several of the die cut eggs using the new lemon meringue inks from the Pawsitively Saturated Ink Trio 27, as well as a few eggs using Rainbow Splash Ballet Ink (using one of the new Rainbow Splash blending brushes). Concentrating the color around the edges of the eggs is lovely on its own, lending plenty of dimension and shape to these simple die cuts, but I wanted to make some of them extra special, and so used the new Hippity Hoppity stencil and Mosaic Tulips layering stencil set to add some fun patterns to a few of the eggs.

When selecting patterns to mix & match, I like to find completely contrasting patterns so that the eye does not get overwhelmed by too much busyness on the card front, instead being able to focus on each individual pattern. The close, somewhat repetitive pattern on the Hippity Hoppity stencil contrasted nicely with the open floral pattern on the Mosaic Tulips layering stencil. I also broke up the different patterned eggs by leaving some of the eggs solid, with only some ink blending around the edges.

Before arranging the eggs on my slimline card front, I used blending brushes to blend Butter ink from the Pawsitively Saturated Ink Trio 27 and Rainbow Splash Ballet Ink on the top and bottom of the card front, leaving the center white to provide some relief to the eye and to avoid creating a third color on my card by mixing the colors. I arranged the eggs on my card front, adhering the largest eggs in the background with liquid adhesive and the smaller eggs with foam squares. To accent the eggs and keep things extra springy, I die cut the Plentiful Petals dies from white, Ballet, and Rose Gold Glitter cardstock, mixing and matching the three colors to create little floral clusters with a variety of sizes, tucking the flowers and foliage amongst the egg die cuts. For the greeting, I die cut the Easter Blessings die from some more Ballet cardstock and layered it atop the egg lineup. Finally, I accented the card using some sparkling iridescent yellow gems from my stash!

After I had used the utterly gorgeous new Mosaic Tulips layering stencil on my egg die cuts, I knew that I needed to use it on a larger canvas and allow it to shine. For my next project, I paired the beautiful layering stencil with the older A2 Stencil and Masks set and the new Ink Trio 27 to create a focal point for some springy die cuts. I started by centering my A2 Stencil and Mask over my white A2 panel and lightly blending Butter ink from Ink Trio 27 around the edges, keeping the color concentrated around the edge of the rectangle. Keeping the mask in place, I placed the first layer of the Mosaic Tulips layering stencil over the open area and blended it with Butter ink, as well. I replaced each stencil layer and blended with the next darkest shade of ink from the trio until I had created this pretty background with a crisp white frame.

To accent the floral pattern, I found that the tulips in the Plentiful Petals dies perfectly match the shape of the flowers from the Mosaic Tulips stencil set. I die cut the flowers three times, once from Lemon Glitter Cardstock, once from Rainbow Splash Buttercream cardstock, and once from a panel of cardstock that I blended with residual yellow ink leftover from blending the stenciled background. I created little swags in the corners of my blended panel, mixing and matching the different textures and colors to create interesting bouquets.

For the greeting, I used some more Lemon Glitter Cardstock to die cut the detail layer of the Fancy Happy Easter die, cutting the shadow layer from vellum and adhering the two together. I popped up the greeting in the center of the stenciled area using foam squares, then added a smattering of Sunbeam Pawsitively Dazzling Gems for some sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! To celebrate the Splendor Release, Simon Says Stamp is offering a free gift with purchase: simply follow the instructions on the graphic at the top of the post to find the freebie, then enter code MRGT at checkout so that you can receive the Margot Embossing Folder free with purchase!

Simon Says Stamp is also generously sponsoring a $25 coupon for each blog to be chosen from comments left along the hop! Simply leave a comment on each blog hop stop to be entered to win! The winners will be posted on the Simon Says Stamp blog on Wednesday, February 21. Winners can email Simon Says Stamp to claim his/her prize 🙂

Your next stop on the hop is Cheiron Brandon. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

VIDEO: Monochromatic Hot Foil + Watercolor with Pinkfresh Studio

January 18, 2023

Hi there! I’m over on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel with a pretty-in-pink slimline card featuring lots of different metallic textures and just one shade of watercolor. In the video, I discuss how to achieve several different values of color with Quinacridone Pink! Watch the video HERE.

In case you can’t watch the video, here’s a brief description of the techniques that I used to create this card.

I began by hot foiling the Dreamy Florals images onto some watercolor paper with rose gold foil. Hot foiling onto watercolor paper is one of my favorite techniques to use with hot foil; it creates a letterpress look because the paper is so thick, and watercoloring over the top of the foiled images is similar to watercoloring with embossed images, as the foil resists the watercolor. I then used Quinacridone Rose Daniel Smith watercolor to watercolor the images, first adding a very pale wash of diluted pink to the entirety of the images, allowing the watercolor to spill over into the areas around the hot foiled images. I wanted to keep the entire card as pink as possible! I used the same shade of pink to add color to the flowers in the hot foiled images, adding concentrated color to the foliage and diluting the color to create a lighter pink for the flowers. I used the coordinating die to die cut the finished watercolored images.

For the card background, I trimmed down a panel of pale pink cardstock to slimline size (3.5″x9″), then used the Dotted Scallops cover plate die to add some fun texture to the background. I die cut the panel once, then die cut the remaining cardstock, being sure to line up the pattern carefully so that it created a seamless background. I also die cut the Slim Ornate Banner from some vellum, which I use as a ground for the floral swag.

To accent the watercolored flowers, I used the negative foiled image created using the leftover foil from the Dreamy Florals watercolored image that I paired with the Solid Hot Foil Plate. I also added a few sparkly sprigs cut from the Artistic Blossoms die set. I arranged the hot foiled and glittery die cuts along the card front in a graceful swag down the front. I added a hot foiled “thank you” die cut from the Thank You So Much Hot Foil Plate, die cut with the coordinating die, and trimmed down to keep the sentiment a simple thank you. I adhered all of the pieces with a variety of heights of foam adhesive and liquid adhesive to create multiple levels of height and dimension.

Lots of pink and so many layers, but this reminds me so much of toile or chinoiserie patterns with this monochromatic color scheme! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Pinkfresh Studio October Washi Tape Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

October 24, 2022

Hi there! Pinkfresh Studio’s October Release is now available, and it’s full of absolutely stunning new washi tape designs! I absolutely adore the versatility of the Pinkfresh Washi Tape product suites, because you can do as much or as little work as you want with each of the different components… the possibilities are endless! Don’t feel like watercoloring? Use the stencils to add lots of vibrant color to your stamped images! Don’t feel like stamping at all? Use the washi tape! And the best part is… one die set coordinates with all of the products, so die cutting is super quick and simple with one pass through your die cut machine! I have a slimline card with some wildflowers exploding out from behind the greeting, so let’s get started with the details!

Today’s project features the stunning new Chrysanthemum Washi Tape and Coordinating Dies. The beautiful watercoloring in the Chrysanthemum Washi Tape is a beautiful, loose style, one that I have not been able to achieve in my own watercoloring, so being able to have such lovely images at my finger tips is such fun! I first adhered a couple of the full image sets onto some white cardstock, using an old gift card to make sure that it was adhered snugly and that there were no air bubbles, then used the Coordinating Dies to die cut all of the images lickety split.

I wanted to create a fun textured background for one of the greetings included in the stamp set (for which there are also coordinating dies!), so I die cut one of the Nested Hexagons from some bright white cardstock, then ran the die cut hexagon through my die cut machine once again with the Floral Tiles Cover Plate die. This adds some subtle texture to the background of my sentiment die cut very quickly and easily! I also die cut a white frame using the same size and slightly smaller Nested Hexagons dies, which I popped up using foam adhesive to add extra dimension and texture. I heat embossed a greeting from the Chrysanthemum Stamp Set onto some white cardstock, then cut it with the coordinating die. I popped it up in the center of my textured hexagon die cut using some more foam adhesive.

To assemble the card, I used some slightly thinner foam adhesive (I’ll link the specific adhesive below) to pop up the die cut frame in the center of a slimline card base, then arranged my die cut washi tape chrysanthemum flowers so that they were popping out from behind the framed greeting. I adhered them using some more of the thinner foam tape and liquid adhesive. The thinner foam tape for the frame provided just enough height that I could easily slip the die cuts beneath for a quick arrangement. The final touch was to add a few Butterscotch Glitter Drops to coordinate with my metallic embossing powder on the greeting!

Well, that’s all for my project today!

To celebrate this release, Pinkfresh Studio is giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. They will also be giving away a total of TEN $25 gift cards along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be picked from the comments. The winners will be announced on November 1, 2022 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must claim their prize within 2 weeks.

You can see the full hop list below:

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!