Chaos & Happiness

Inlinkz doesn't like it when you try to use the same link for multiple submissions...  Duly noted. 😋 Blog challenge can be found here . The second card is one I had planned on using for the course I am currently working on at Altenew academy.  It's called Creative Watercolor Media. My take on the course is that it  encourages you to find new ways to use your supplies such as re-inkers, ink sprays  and  good old water-based ink pads for watercoloring.   I have very few re-inkers and ink sprays, so I went with using the mini crisp dye inks.  I ended up doing some ink smooshing on watercolor paper and really liked the results.  I used the frame die cuts to give the image a stacked look along with foam adhesive, cut out the sentiment and mounted it to the watercolor paper.I added some black ink spatters as well.  I then framed the panel with a thinly cut black cardstock to break up the white space a little and mount it to an A2 card base.  I rounded the corners of the card to help

Today I have 3 cards to enter in the June Inspiration Challenge over at Altenew .  Deepa Robbins is hosting this month.  Her story behind her photograph and the colors chosen for  the challenge are beautiful.  Not to mention her card?!?!  Again, beautiful!  Altenew is also a great source for finding 'new to you' (and me🙂) card makers to be inspired by.  On with the cards. The first two are made using the Dynamic Duo: Luscious Flora stamp along with Deep Iris, Coral Berry and Just Green Crisp Dye Inks .  For the first one, I used the Color Pop Hello die and the "my friend" sentiment from the Paint-a-Flower Modern Pink Dianthus stamp set.  I stamped the image on a 110lb. A2 card base creating a background with the three inks.  Die cut my Hello and and backed it with purple cardstock.  I cut 3 three additional "hello"s to layer onto the cut which I heat embossed with clear embossing powder quite a bit to give them an awesome shine and deepen the color a bit

 They have been what I have been using lately, to play with.  I fought not buying them so so long.  I'm not sure why.  I just didn't think I needed MORE inks.  Well, after seeing some YouTube videos made by Lou Collins , I gave it a try and I love their vibrancy and capability to blend so beautifully.  She has a playlist specifically for distress Oxide Ink blending .  I highly recommend you check it out. I have a small collection of Erin Lee Creative dies, stamps and stencils and took forever to get them out and play.  The water theme/Summer obviously needed to be played with so...here are a few I have made recently. Thank you for taking time out of your day to visit my blog!

 I passed the first challenge and have started on my level 2 courses.  I have had a ton of things going on day to day so it took me a bit to get to sit down and make a post.  I still try to make things every chance I get so I have a few cards to post here as well.   The first 4 are from the April release from Altenew.  Maryam Perez was chosen to create a stamp set and she did amazing!!  It's called Sweet Bouquet .  The complete bundle includes a stamp set, a die set and a stencil set.   I used the stencil on the first card and I love the result.  Mounted it on a piece of black cardstock to frame it and used some foam tape for dimension along with a sentiment form the same set and some black enamels dots.  I did a very light blend on the background stencil and love the way it looks in person.   The second card, I used washi tape to cover and entire piece of 5 and a half by 11 inch cardstock with the washi tape.  I stamped the image on and heat embossed it.  Not the best idea when it

At the end of the  Level 1 courses  with  Altenew Academy , you are given a challenge to see if you are ready for the next level of courses.  I was assigned to use 3 techniques from the 10 courses and to create gift sets with both masculine and feminine themes or colors. When creating the packaging for these sets, you are also required to use a recycled element in some way.   I created 5 cards for each set.  The cards were created using the techniques from quite a few of the courses, so the main three that I focused on are, Celebration Stencil Techniques, Clean & Simple Boutique Cards, and Let It Shine.  Celebration Stencil Techniques  gave me the idea that I could Stamp an image, emboss it and then use the stencils to add color while still having image be visible being the main focal point.   Clean and Simple Boutique Cards  helped me to realize that it doesn't have to have a ton of elements to be a card you are proud to give to someone.  The course also touched on present