Friendship should be celebrated!

On the first card I tried using two different papers to make it look like the floor and wall behind the girl. I really like the way this one worked out.

This second card I started with the flower and trying to add dimention with the shading and shadows. I was really excited when it was done. I wanted to keep the flower the focus so I just added a frame around the front of the card and coloured the sentiment to match the flower. I almost dont want to give it away hehe.

Photoshop Brushes to Enhance Cards

So you know I've already endorsed using digi-stamps for cards and now I have a similar idea!

I love photoshop and I've found there are free brushes to download all over the internet. If you're familiar with photoshop then you'll know you can take a basic black and white image and colour it however you choose. I thought I could stamp one of my decorative brushes in a new file, colour it, then print it and use it the same as a digi-stamp but it would already be coloured.

 

It turned out beautiful! I matted it on a dark blue paper then covered the front of the card with a patterned paper. I found another phrase I liked and added that as well... then went around the rectangle with the sparkle gel pen.

Websites with free photoshop brush downloads

Pixels & Ice Cream - lots of free brushes, patterns, layouts etc.

Obsidian Dawn - you can choose to download the photoshop brushes or the jpg version

Brusheezy

brushesdownload

Positive & Negative Cricut Cuts

I'm trying to use as much of my paper scraps as I can. When I cut something on the cricut, if the negative image can't be used, I save the scraps for future projects. I have a box I throw all my scraps into, so if I need a small piece of paper for a project I check out the box first.

When I cut out this branch I thought the negative part of the paper could be used as is. I jusr trimmed it to fir the card.

As for the phrases I used on the cards, I googled "friend quotes." I dont have any stamps with phrases so I found a bunch I liked and printed them out myself. Similar to the digital stamps, I like doing the phrases on the computer so I can choose the size and font to better fit with my project.

If a card is more serious, like a sympathy card, you could use a fancier font. For a friendship card (like this one) I like using a font that looks more like it was printed by hand.

Watercolour Paints

There is a little craft store near where I live and they have little projects set out near different products. I saw a stamped image done with watercolour paints and thought it looked neat. I bought a pack of 12 Aquacolor crayons and an aqua painter.

The aqua painter is great because you fill the body/handle with water and squeeze it a bit to push more water to the brush end. I need to get a different type of stamping ink that wont run when painted on. For now I stick to using the paints for backgrounds. I have in the past used the paints on an embossed image and it worked great. The raised edges helped keep the colours from mixing. There is specific watercolour paper you can buy. I've used it before but it is quite expensive. I found that using my regular cardstock works fine. The only downfall of the regular cardstock is that if you use a lot of water the paper will curl or warp. I just wait for the card to dry then place a heavy book on it overnight to flatten.

 

The two cards today have painted backgrounds. I tried to mix the colours to create a sunset in the background on both.

I used a digi-stamp coloured with prismacolor markers.

The heart was coloured pink and then I went over it with my sparkle gell pen.

I cut out the island with my cricut.. and of course I added a small amount of glitter to the sunrise on the yellow and orange areas.

As promised yesterday I have a few stores for you to check out for digi-stamps. Most sites offer a few free stamps so you can try it out and see if you like them.

All That Scraps - I love their stamps!

mygrafico

BeccaKay Designs

First card trial

I notice a lot of regular bloggers have a good concept of card layouts. I've just started with card making so I'm still learning and trying things out. I've noticed that with all the craft supplies I have, I dont have much to accessorize with. I also noticed that I like to focus on the main image and once thats done I dont really know what to do with the rest of the space. So over the next few days I'll post my trials!

I coloured this ladybug girl around the time I got the prismacolor markers.
I used my x-acto knife to cut the image out as the markers bled with the cardstock I used. I then went around the edges with a thin black pen.




Here is an example of having lotsa empty space; but I think it looks cute. The dots on either side of the "thank you" are stick on rhinestones.

I thought the saying was too cute..

thought it would be perfect to give to a

girlfriend as a "just because" card.

I dont have a particular brand of paper that I use. Its mostly from paper pads I've gotten on sale or from the paper I had put away from when I used to scrapbook a few years ago (Creative Memories). You may notice a theme throughout my crafting.. I like to spend as little money as possible lol.

The images I use are mostly digi stamps. I do have and enjoy using regular stamps but I see the digital ones as having more benefits:

- They dont take up any space

- Cost less

- Dont use as much ink (saving $ and space)

- Ability to make them whatever size needed

Tomorrow I will post a few links to online stores with great digi stamps

More Prismacolor

I've previously posted a picture of the first large image I coloured with my prismacolor markers. I again went looking for line art to play with.

Its difficult to see on the picture the shading but I'm pleased with the final product. I'm not the greatest at drawing so I'm still learning about shadows and highlights and where to put them.
I saw a neat technique someone else did on a picture and attempted the same. I used a mix of colours on the sleeve to make it look like a sheer material where you could see the arm through.

I also have a thing with sparkles so I had to add some : ). Along the outside of the sleeve I added some with a regular sparkle gell pen.
The sticks in the hair, the earings and the accent on the dress are done with a gold gell pen.

The image is about 6" tall and I havent decided what to do with it.

The skin colour was done with different pens as I only have the basic 12pack of prismacolors. I have however ordered more! Hopefully they will be here within the week.

I've done two posts today and have more to come. I've realized I'm not like most crafters who start a project and work on it until its done. I start one thing and while waiting (say, for paint to dry) I work on something else. I had ten cards in the works this week and just finished them up tonight! I will post them in the next few days.

Bathroom Organization

I've been looking around for something to hold my necklaces and was thinking about making a shadowbox type thing with hooks to hang them. I was out shopping at Home Outfitters for other things and saw this:

I really liked the simple design of it. While looking I saw a lot of jewelry holders in varying designs. I didnt want anything too big or box-like.

I like this because it looks like a tree with branches. It stands about 12" tall.

A neat feature is that each branch (or arm) is adjustable. The arms can be twisted to all line up together, or stagger them around the circle.. hope that makes sense.
The base is concaved so you can hold rings, watches and other small things.

In the clearance section at the same store I saw a cute silver dish. Its about 4x4" so it was the perfect size to hold my hair elastics and bobbypins.

Along with the picture I hung in the bathroom, things are starting to look good.