Month: March 2023

Bunny Cards for Spring

Ingrid

Spring is just less than a week away and I can hardly wait! It’s my favorite season. I love the flowers blooming and the greenery coming back to life. I love all the signs of new life and all the adorable spring animals. Since I was little, one of my favorite animals has always been bunnies. There is just something about those long ears, fluffy tails, and twitchy noses that warms my heart. So when I saw the Bunch of Bunnies Stencil from A Colorful Life Designs, I knew I had to have it!I used this stencil to make two cards (and I’m sure there will be many more).

For the first design, I used Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink to blend over the stencil onto Kraft Card Stock. (I have a blending brush set aside for this ink.) Then I trimmed the panel down to be 4” by 5¼” . I adhered the panel with foam tape to a white A2 card base.

Next, I used some alphabet stamps (Lawn Fawn Smitty’s ABCs) to create the message “Hoppy Birthday!” I stamped it with VersaMark Ink on a pale pink cardstock and then heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I used a heart die to cut this out and then mounted it to the card with foam tape.

Finally, I added 5mm puff white pom poms (because what’s a bunny without its tail?!) I wish I had trimmed the panel differently so that the top was bunny bottoms and I could have included more bunny tails, but this still works.

For my second card, I pulled out my gel plate to create a background of pink, coral, and yellow. I pounced the Distress Oxide Inks in Kitsch Flamingo, Saltwater Taffy, and Squeezed Lemonade onto the gel plate and then lightly blended them with a brayer. I, then, placed my paper onto the gel plated to pull up the color. I used the ink left on the brayer to add some additional color to my background. I played around with putting the panel on the gel plate and brayering onto the panel until I was happy with the blend of colors. I set the panel aside to dry overnight. (I created a few backgrounds at this time and can use the additional ones on future cards.)

The next day, I went over the colorful panel with an antistatic powder tool and then used my same White Pigment Ink to blend over the stencil. When I was done, I added white embossing powder over the bunnies. I heat set the embossing powder and repeated the process to create more dimension on the bunnies. Next I trimmed my panel down so I had two rows of bunnies and it was 4.25” wide. I adhered this to the upper portion of a white A2 card base, leaving a bit of white space at the top. Then I added three white 5mm pom poms for tails on a few of my bunnies.

For the sentiment, I pulled this “Hello, Spring” stamp from the Simon Says Stamps Front Porch Doormat Sayings Stamp Set. I used my MISTI and stamped it in Concord and 9th Honeysuckle Ink but felt that the pink was a little too bold for this card. To soften it, I shifted the card very slightly in the MISTI and stamped over the sentiment again with VersaMark Ink. Then I poured Brutus Monroe Rose Gold Metallic Embossing Powder over it and heat embossed it. The slight shifting of the card made it so that there is a cool shadow effect on the sentiment.

If you are interested in purchasing the Bunch of Bunnies or any other stencils from A Colorful Life Designs, be sure to use my code IngridDesigns for 10% off your complete order (excluding master creator bundles because those are already 20% off).  This code is good for all of March 2023.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Crafting and happy almost Spring!

Using Stencils to Create a Colorful Background on White Cardstock

Ingrid

Hello again Crafty Friends! Today I’m sharing another card made with a stencil from A Colorful Life Designs. I’m so glad they invited me to be a guest designer for the month of March because I’m having so much fun playing around with their stencils.

One of my favorite things about stencils is how easily they transform white cardstock into the look of beautiful patterned paper in colors of my choice. To create this background, I inkblended over the Changing Dots Stencil on a half sheet of white cardstock with blender brushes. I used Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover 100 lb. This paper is great to achieve a smooth blend. The inks are Hero Arts Hero Hues Reactive Inks in Berry Smoothie, Fruit Punch, and Lemon Drop. These inks give a beautiful, smooth blend in bright, bold colors.

After I removed the stencil, I used the ink left on my blender brushes to blend back over the white space. This leaves a lighter wash of the colors, allowing the polka dots to stand out but also softening the look. Next, I used a rectangle die cut to cut the paper into a 4” x 5 ¼ panel. I diecut two more rectangles in the same size and glued them together for dimension. Then I adhered this panel to a A2 ( 4¼” by 5½”) top folding notecard.  

I then cut out the dandelion using the Pinkfresh Studio Floral Squares Die three times. I stacked and glued the diecuts together to add dimension. I wanted to soften the square behind them so I used a square die to cut out a piece of vellum the same size as the square around the dandelion. I also diecut a square of Scrabook.com’s Clear Double Adhesive roll. I used this to adhere the vellum to the card without showing any glue (which is always the tricky part of working with vellum). I added the layered floral die cut over that with glue. 

The “Happiest Wishes” sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Strips All Things Happy. I used a black Sharpie to color the white edges black and then adhered it to the card with a thin foam strip.

If you are interested in purchasing the Changing Dots Stencil or any other stencils from A Colorful Life Designs, be sure to use my code IngridDesigns for 10% off your complete order (excluding master creator bundles because those are already 20% off). This code is good for all of March 2023.

Stenciling on Kraft Cardstock

Ingrid

Hello Friends! I’m so excited to be guest designing for A Colorful Life Designs for the month of March. While I was gifted these beautiful stencils, I picked them out myself and my thoughts and opinions are my own. (And spoiler alert: I really love them!)

Today, I want to share with you my first design using the Delicate Flowers Stencil. I began by ink blending white pigment ink on Kraft cardstock. I removed the stencil and let the ink dry for about 15 minutes. (If I was using dye inks over it, I probably would have waited even longer or used a heat tool to set the white pigment ink.)

Next, I replaced the stencil shifting it just a little down and to the right. This leaves a little bit of the white showing and helps gives the flowers extra dimension. Then I inkblended over the stencil again in three different colors of Distress Oxide Inks: Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, and Salvaged Patina. I made sure to overlap these colors to get a little bit of orange and green in between. The more you overlap, the more of those in between colors you’ll get. 

When I was done, I used a rectangle die to trim the Kraft cardstock into a panel measuring 3.75 x 5 inches. I used foam tape to mount the cardstock onto a side opening A2 white card base. I diecut the Pretty Blossom Stem from Memory Box three times from white cardstock and glued the layers together.  I liked how the flower looked best hanging off the card a bit so I trimmed off the leaves and stem that were hanging off. I then looked through my stash of sentiments and found this “you’re the best” sentiment from the Positive Vibes Clear Stamp from Essentials by Ellen. It is white embossed on black cardstock. 

I love how this card feels so cheery and bright and the stencil made creating a beautiful background so easy! If you are interested in purchasing this stencil or any others from A Colorful Life Designs, be sure to use my code IngridDesigns for 10% off your complete order (excluding master creator bundles because those are already 20% off).  This code is good for all of March 2023.