Sand & Sea Thank You Card

Hello, and thank you for visiting my blog! It is time for Kylie Bertucci's March Monthly International Blog Highlights contest, and I would like to ask for your vote, please! If you like my card, please click on the button below to go to Kylie's blog, and vote for me by clicking on the top right corner of the thumbnail of my card (#7), until you see the heart turn red. 

This month I am featuring one of my favourite suites--the Sand & Sea Suite. To make this card, I used Sand & Sea Designer Series Paper--DSP (for the sand), the Friends are Like Seashells Bundle (stamps and dies), our gorgeous Pearlescent Specialty Paper, the Seashells 3D Embossing Folder, and Opal Rounds embellishments. This is similar to a card I did for my last blog entry, but I wanted to do a watercolour wash background this time (which I haven't done for a while), so I started with a 5" x 3-3/4" piece of Shimmery White cardstock. I sprayed water on both sides, getting the front quite wet, and then picked up drops of ink refills (Balmy Blue, Bermuda Bay, and Pacific Point) with a Water Painter and touched it to the water and let it blend. 

After it dried, I put a few drops of Frost White Shimmer Paint onto an acrylic block, scrunched up some Saran Wrap, dipped it into the paint, and pressed it gently onto the watercoloured background, to represent waves in the water. 

I cut a 5" x 2" piece of the sand DSP, diecut it with one of our Curvy Dies (you could also use scissors), and attached it to the dry watercolour background with Seal. This was layered on a 5-1/8" x 3-7/8" Pacific Point cardstock, and then adhered to a 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" Bermuda Bay card base, scored at 4-1/4". 

I cut a 5-1/4" x 4" piece of Pearlescent Paper with the large Seaside Seashells Die, and then embossed it with with our Seashells 3D Embossing Folder. I cut three or four of the shells to separate them, keeping some seaweed attached to the largest shell. I used the remaining shells on another card. 

The shells were coloured using a Sponge Dauber and Classic Ink Pads--Seaside Spray, Blushing Bride, and Smoky Slate/Blushing Bride. I masked the shell with paper if I didn't want ink on parts of it (or the seaweed). I also sponged some Mint Macaron ink onto pieces of seaweed. This is a really quick and easy way to colour the shells, and the Pearlescent Paper makes them look so pretty! 

Next, I cut a 7" piece of our 3/16" Braided Linen Trim, and pulled it apart a bit to give it a rustic look. I used glue dots to attach it to the card base, and put a loop in one part (using a glue dot at the twisted part). I really liked the look of the frayed edges! I adhered the seaweed with glue dots and the two largest shells with Seal to the "sand", adhered the last shell with Dimensionals, and for a bit of bling, added three Opal Rounds. What do you think?

For the two cards below, rather than using the Saran Wrap waves, I just painted with Shimmer Paint with a Water Painter (but I wasn't really fussy about how it turned out--I'm not artistic enough for this, apparently). I also added four shells, instead of three.

If you like my card, please vote for me by clicking on the following link--then click the top right corner of the thumbnail of my card (#7) until the heart turns red:

Please click here to vote for my card.

Thank you very much for visiting my blog, and for your support!! 😊

❤️ Kim

tams# 57556

Product List

Friends Are Like Seashells Bundle [156205]	Seashells 3 D Embossing Folder [154309]	Sand & Sea Designer Series Paper [154288]	Pearlescent Specialty Paper [154291]	Shimmery White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [101910]
Bermuda Bay 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [131197]	Pacific Point 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [111350]	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [147168]	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [131156]	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [111840]
Sponge Daubers [102892]	Seaside Spray Classic Stampin’ Pad [150085]	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [147100]	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [147113]	Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad [147106]
3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim [147808]	Opal Rounds [154289]	Stampin' Seal [152813]	Mini Glue Dots [103683]

Dandy Garden Thank You Card

It is time for Kylie Bertucci's December International Highlights competition. I am participating, and would like to ask for your vote again, please! If you like my card, please click on the link below, and vote for me by clicking on the top right corner of the thumbnail of my card (which is card #9), until you see the heart turn red. 

So, my watercolour craze continues... When I saw our soon-to-be-released Dragonfly Garden stamp set, I knew I wanted to do a watercolour wash background with it. At our last team meeting, I did a presentation on watercolour techniques, and the background of this card is one of the techniques that I demonstrated. I used Shimmery White cardstock (3-3/4" x 5"), spritzed the back with water a few times (this minimizes curling) and the front generously. Then I dabbed ink refill drops (Daffodil Delight, Balmy Blue, and Bermuda Bay--starting with the lightest colour), adding to the wet paper with a Water Painter, and let the ink blend on its own. After it was thoroughly dry, I embossed the flowers with white embossing powder, and set it with a heat tool. The sentiment is stamped with Memento ink.

For the dragonfly, I used a black Stampin' Write Marker to add ink on the stamp to the body of the dragonfly only, and stamped directly onto the watercolour. I stamped the dragonfly (mainly the wings) on vellum with Stazon ink, punched it out with the Dragonflies Punch, cut the wings off the body, and then used two tiny rectangles of Seal+ on the (body) edge of each wing to attach it to the body on the card front. I applied Wink of Stella to the wings, and lifted and curled the wings up a bit. The watercolour layer was adhered to a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of Basic Black cardstock with Seal+.

I wrapped a piece of Pool Party Sheer Ribbon around the card and tied it into a bow. The card front was glued to a Bermuda Bay card base (8-1/2" x 5-1/2", scored at 4-1/4") with Seal. One of the sweet Ladybug Trinkets was added with a glue dot. 

If you like my card, please vote for me by clicking on the following link--then click the top right corner of the thumbnail of my card (#9) until the heart turns red:

Please click here to vote for my card.

Thank you very much for your support!!

 

Curvy Celebrations Watercolour Card

 

UPDATE: thank you all for your votes!! My card came in at #5! I feel honoured to be in the Top Ten with such talented designers! Watch for the Top Ten blog hop at the end of the month!

I am participating in Kylie's November International Blog Highlights, and would like to ask for your vote again, please! If you like my card, please click on the link below, and vote for me by clicking on the top right corner of the thumbnail of my card (which is card #33), until you see the heart turn red. 

Please click here to vote for my card. 

Stampin' Up! has an AMAZING new group of products that will be available to customers starting November 3! You won't want to miss this bundle! I used three of the four new products for this card--the Curvy Christmas and Quite Curvy stamp sets, and the Curvy Dies.

I started with a 5" x 3-1/4" piece of Shimmery White cardstock, and then used the curved eyelet die to cut the bottom edge. The watercolour layer is created with several colours of ink refill drops (Balmy Blue, Highland Heather, Bermuda Bay, Pacific Point, and Night of Navy) added to wet Shimmery White cardstock. Check out one of my recent blog posts (October 5, September 28, 27, or 14) for more details about this method. I used a heat tool to dry this thoroughly, then stamped the trees (from Curvy Christmas) and the "Thank You" (from Blossoms in Bloom) with Memento ink.

 

The layer below is a 5 x 3-1/2" piece of Whisper White cardstock. I masked it with two Post-It notes--both were cut into curves to resemble a hillside. I sponged with Balmy Blue just above the lower curved edge in small circles, then added the second Post-It note and repeated the process. The sentiment (from Quite Curvy) was stamped in Memento ink. Next, I swiped my Versamark ink pad all over the Whisper White piece, embossed with clear embossing powder, and set it with a heat tool.

The close-up photo shows the details I was trying to achieve--a shiny snowy/icy effect. I added foam strips to the back of the watercolour piece, and then adhered it over top of the snowy hill layer. This was then matted on a 5-1/8" x 3-7/8" Gorgeous Grape layer, and then attached to the Pacific Point card base (5-1/2" x 8-1/2", scored at 4-1/4).  The watercolour layer was adhered with Foam Adhesive Strips, to give it some dimension. I added three rhinestones to the sky.

I made a second version of this card, using the same ink refill colours--this one is a bit lighter, because I used more water on the Shimmery White cardstock. The "Thanks" sentiment is from Sailing Home.   

For the lower layer, I used our Balmy Blue Glimmer Paper. The bottom sentiment was stamped on Vellum with Memento ink. To attach it to the Glimmer Paper, I used Seal+ and touched the Vellum to the Seal+ so that only one of the tiny rectangles of tape stuck to the Vellum. I did this four times, and was very pleasantly surprised--it adhered very well, and you can't see the adhesive through the Vellum, but you can see the Glimmer Paper through it! Yay!!

Here's one more version.  I used mostly the same ink refill colours, but I added Granny Apple Green. The Pacific Point mat was embossed with the Tasteful Textures embossing folder, and this was layered on a Pear Pizzazz layer. The sentiment is another from the Quite Curvy stamp set.

Which card do you like best? I'd love it if you would leave a comment below, before you vote. Please remember to click on the heart in the top right corner until it turns red--that way you know that your vote is registered. Thanks so much for stopping by--and for voting!!! If you like my card, please vote for it here:

tams# 52322

Product List

Quite Curvy Variety Bundle (English) [158396]	Shimmery White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [101910]	Pacific Point 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [111350]	Gorgeous Grape 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146987]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100730]
Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [147168]	Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [147167]	Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [111840]	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [103033]	Foam Adhesive Strips [141825]
Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220]