Paper Smooches Chubby Chums: Watercolor with Perfect Pearls

Hello and happy Sunday!  I have been a bit out of the game for the past week or so.  It's crazy how quickly days will pass by when life just gets going!  But I found a little time to try out my brand new Paper Smooches Chubby Chums stamp set so I wanted to share what I created! 

I just love these little characters in this set and I've had my eye on Paper Smooches products for awhile so when the hubby asked if I needed anything from Amazon I seized the opportunity and threw these little guys in the cart!  I love the simplicity of the design - the larger images allow for a variety of coloring techniques without overly complicated shading.  They are also nice and easy to fussy cut!  

I wanted to try using my Perfect Pearls to create a shimmery watercolor effect. I've seen this done in multiple videos on YouTube and it adds a really pretty extra something to your projects.  I started by stamping each of the Chubby Chums on the smooth side of some watercolor paper in VersaMark ink and heat embossing them in black. Next, I spritzed some water on my We R Memory Keepers glass cutting mat.  Using the brush that came with them, I dusted a small amount of Perfect Pearl (just the plain white) next to the water I had applied to my mat.  I made sure not to actually touch the water with my brush to keep it nice and fluffy.  You don't need much Perfect Pearl to achieve a beautiful shimmer.  With my watercolor brush, I swirled the water onto the Perfect Pearls and created a shiny, shimmery pool to use for my watercoloring.

 

I opted for the ink smoosh technique, applying my Distress Ink pads directly to my glass cutting mat and then picking up some shimmery water and adding it to the ink to create the watercolor and color in my images.  I cleaned my brush before going back to my Perfect Pearls pool so that it stayed clear and could be used with every different color.  Once I had colored all my Chums I hit them with my heat tool to be sure they were dry, fussy cut them out, and colored the edges black with my Black Soot Distress Marker.

To create my background I first cut a panel down to 3.5"x5.5" to allow for some of my card base to show on the top and bottom.  I heat embossed the sentiment from the Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings stamp set in black to match the Chubby Chums.  I then used Pumice Stone Distress Ink to watercolor a shadow to ground my images.  Now comes the really fun part!  I used several different colors of Distress Ink and, using my watercolor paint brush, flicked drops of color all over my panel.  I kept repeating this until I liked the way it looked.

I mounted all of my Chums using foam tape to add dimension.  The Chums in the back have one layer of foam tape while the Chums in the front are really dimensional with two layers of foam tape.  The Perfect Pearls add just the right amount of shimmery fun to these little guys!  To finish off the card I added Ranger Glossy Accents to the eyes of all the Chums.

I have entered this card in the Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes Challenge, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Make Your Own Background.  I hope you enjoyed my project for today!  Please let me know if this post was helpful or inspirational, I love hearing from you!  Have a happy weekend!

Enjoy the Little Things: FWF Gold

Good evening all!  I have spent a wonderful night crafting with my little one!  She's all about the Friends with Flair.  I love love LOVE that this is something we can do together.  Being creative is so great for the soul!

 

For my Unity Friends with Flair entry I chose to create a background using the Moments Like These SMAK kit.  I used Cracked Pistachio and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks right on the star stamp from the kit and then spritzed it with a little water before stamping it onto some watercolor paper.  I repeated this several times until I had the background as full as I wanted it to be.  I wanted a really organic look so I didn't take care to put the ink on perfectly.

Next, I dried the watercolor using a heat tool and heat embossed the sentiment from the same kit in gold.  I let the embossing powder stick to some of the stars as well.  I thought it added to the kind of distresed feel of the card.  I then trimmed the panel down to 5.5"x4" and used VersaMark ink to distress the edges.  I used the same gold embossing powder to heat emboss the edges and give it a shiny finish.  I love this technique for adding a finished look.

I used some gold star brads to embellish the front and then used a small sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp April Card Kit on the banner on the front.  I used the same stamp set from SSS to stamp the inside of the card. I attached a piece of gold foil and kraft cardstock, also from the SSS April Card Kit, to the front of my card base and popped up my panel using foam tape.

I hope you enjoyed this project!  I'm giving away a handmade card at my Paper Smooches Digital Cuteness post.  Go check it out! Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by!

Kards by Kennedy: FWF #2

Hi, my name is Kennedy and I am 7 years old, almost 8. This is the second time I have made a card for Unity Friends with Flair.  

How I made this card is, first I got watercolor paper and I used the cupcake from the Always Begin Again March 2015 KOM.  I embossed it with just gold embossing powder.  Next I used Spun Sugar to color the frosting from the Distress Inks.  I watercolored them with the colors Abandoned Coral, Cracked Pistachio, and Salty Ocean and then Broken China for the flag.  

I cut a circle the size of the cupcakes and then I decided, hmm, I should probably put something behind that instead of just putting it on the card base.  So I got a piece of this purple pinkish paper and I cut a circle that is a little bit bigger than the cupcakes and I popped it up with some foam tape.  I used Carnival Toppers by Mama Elephant to stamp my sentiment because I think it was funny because it was a cupcake picture.

Next I added some sequins which were pink.  And then on the inside I stamped Happy Birthday because I was thinking it would be a nice birthday card for one of my friends or someone that I know.

I hope you like this card because it's only my second card that I've made for Friends with Flair.  I hope you have a good night or day.  And thanks for reading!

Faith, Trust, & Pixie Dust ~ New Distress Ink Colors on Unity Stamps

It has been a busy weekend of crafting in my world and I seem to have developed an obsession with pixies!  I don't know about the rest of you but I am super excited about the monthly release of a new Distress Ink color this year and I finally got my hands on the January and February colors on Friday.  I couldn't wait to try them out so I decided to ink up this gorgeous pixie from Unity Stamp Co. that has been calling my name for awhile now and give them a whirl!

I really wanted this image to be soft and whimsical so I opted to go for a no-line watercolor technique.  To do this, I first stamped the image in Antique Linen Distress Ink so that the lines are light and fade out as you add color.  I have tried this using both a first and a second generation stamped image and I find that I like the look of the pale lines to help create the shape of my image so I use the first generation stamped image.  If you wanted to not be able to see the outline at all you could stamp it off first and use the second generation image as well.

I started out using my Distress Markers directly on the watercolor paper but this is not a brand of paper I had used before (it came in a Simon Says Stamp card kit and I am not sure what brand it was) and I found that coloring directly on the paper did not allow the ink to blend when I added water as much as I would have liked.  So instead, I added ink directly onto my glass work surface (I use a We R Memory Keepers glass cutting mat and I love it!) and picked up the ink with my paint brush to apply to the paper.  This seemed to work much better and get the soft look I was aiming for. 

Needless to say, the new Distress Ink colors are to die for!  I used Abandoned Coral for her shirt and Cracked Pistachio for her shirt and accents.  These two colors are very hot right now and I loved the way they came out.  Once my image was all painted I used my Signo Uniball white gel pen to add some details and a silver Gelly Roll pen to add little specks of pixie dust all over the image.  For her wings I wanted some sparkle and shimmer so I used a make-up applicator sponge to dab on some Ranger Perfect Medium at the base of her wings and then lightly brushed on some Ranger Perfect Pearls.  It gave those wings just the right amount of magic!  

 

I used the largest Stitched Rectangle die by Lawn Fawn along with a Scalloped Border die, also by Lawn Fawn to create the panel behind my image.  I found some leftover chocolate cardstock to frame everything and mounted it on a kraft card base.  

This card is going to a co-worker and I'm so pleased with how it came out!  I hope you enjoyed this card and thanks for stopping by!

More Digi Stamps! ~ Saturated Canary Pixie Nerd

I am in LOVE with this image!!  I absolutely adore the sentiment and that little smirk on this sassy pixie's face!  She is a digital stamp by Saturated Canary and you can check her out here. This was another experiment in how my printer works for digital images and Copic coloring.  I also love practicing with my Copics on Saturated Canary images - they always have so much detail and character that it always gives me a challenge.

 

I love how she turned out and I only had a very small amount of ink smearing on her face but it didn't ruin the project.  To spruce up the background of this image I used a confetti stencil by Heidi Swapp and some Seedless Preserves Distress Ink.  I then rounded all the corners on the panel and the card base.  The panel is popped up using Scotch foam tape.  The dashed lines were done using my Signo Uniball white gel pen.  And of course, you can't have a pixie without some sparkle so I added Wink of Stella to her dress and hair bow.  

This lovely lady is available in my Etsy shop so go check her out!  I'd love to hear what you think in the comments.  I hope you're all having an amazing Easter!  Thanks for stopping by!

Paper Smooches Digital Cuteness and GIVEAWAY!!

Tonight I am exploring the world of digital stamps!  So many companies have amazing digital images available and I'm always seeing them in videos on YouTube.  I wanted to test out my printer and see how the ink works with my Copic markers.  For my first test I hopped over to the Paper Smooches blog and downloaded a few of their free digi images.  Not only was I super excited to try printing these stamps but I was MEGA SUPER excited to color my first Paper Smooches critter!!  I've got almost all of their sets on my wish list over at the Paper Smooches website so I may have started a new addiction . . . 

I kept this card pretty simple since the point was to see how the image worked.  It printed great, although I think I made it a little too big because you can see the pixels a bit but that is something I can adjust next time - no big deal!  I didn't notice any smearing of the printer ink when I colored him in with my Copics (E33, E57, E59).  I have an HP Photosmart 5520 so nothing fancy or special for crafting.  I printed the image on Neena 110 pound white cardstock and everything ran through just fine!

I used my Stitched Rectangles from Lawn Fawn and the Happy Camper 6x6 paper pad by Doodlebug (I thought the woodsy patterns went well with that adorable little squirrel).  The blue matting for the background is cardstock by Bazzil.  Each layer is popped up off the kraft card base using Scotch foam tape and then I finished off the card with some Ranger Glossy Accents on his eyes and some blue sequins from the Spring Mix by Pretty Pink Posh.

I entered this guy in my first Paper Smooches Sparks challenge!!  I'm so excited to be working with these great images!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Don't forget to head over to the Curl E. Cue's Facebook page to get in on all of the fun giveaways and discounts I have happening for my one year birthday this month! Leave a comment here letting me know what you think of this card and I'll pick a random winner from the comments Sunday night (April 12) to give this card to!  Again, your support is so appreciated!  Have a Happy Easter!!

Unity {be inspired} Challenge #10: I Hope You Feel Beautiful

It's time for another Unity {be inspired} Challenge and let me tell you, I was more than ready to get my inspiration on when I sat down in my craft room tonight!  I have been down and out with a wicked virus for a week and I was having major creative withdrawal!  But I'm finally starting to feel human again and what better way to get back to good than spending some quality time with my Unity stamps???  

 

For this {be inspired} Challenge I chose to use the card layout as my inspiration.  I really wanted to try a shaker card with my Unity stamps so rather than layer various patterned papers to mimic the layout, I used the shaker window as the back element to frame this lovely butterfly from the February 2015 Kit of the Month.

 

Using my Cricut Explore I designed the card base and cut the window opening as well as the craft foam to put behind the card front and provide the dimension for the sequins to move and shake in.  I like using my Cricut for this step because it ensures that my craft foam matches my window exactly, however, you can use die cuts to create the same effect.  The craft foam is great for shakers - it gives the whole piece a nice, even support that is sometimes hard to achieve with foam tape. Plus, there's no way any of your shaker material can escape since there are no gaps around the window.

I embossed the butterfly and the sentiment (also from the February 2015 KOM) using Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder and I watercolored the butterfly using Distress Markers.  The sequins inside the shaker are a mishmash of brands and colors, chosen to compliment the patterned papers I selected from the It Factor 6x6 paper pad by We R Memory Keepers.  The sequins on the front of the card are Lime Sorbet and Sparkling Clear by Pretty Pink Posh (LOVE her sequins!!!) 

 

I really enjoy using supplies and images from several different companies to create a one-of-a-kind card!  Besides, everything looks fabulous when paired with an image from Unity!  I hope you enjoyed today's card!  Check out the fabulous sale going on at my Etsy shop this month!  It has been one year since I started Curl E. Cue's and I'm celebrating big!  Have a happy rest of your week and I'll see you soon!