Wish for the New Year - Pretty Pink Posh

Hello Crafty Friends! A very Happy New Years Eve to you! I cant believe we are about to start a new decade... so many changes for the last 10 years. Marriage, baby, jobs etc. So many things to be grateful for. I hope you will enjoy your night in whatever way makes you most happy!

This background was made using my favorite oxide ink blend with Black soot, Blueprint Sketch and Shaded Lilac. I used my Fireworks stencil and carefully applied some glitter pen. It got a little splotchy but I love how it looks anyways! I wish you could see the sparkle in the photo. I then splattered on some copic opaque white for the stars. My little elephant and his party balloon are from from Elephant Friends and I colored them using copic markers. The sentiment and hat are from the Happy New Year stamp set. I white heat embossed the sentiment with detail white embossing powder after making sure my background was really really dry. Lastly I added some Silver Mini Star Confetti.

Copics Used: C3, C1. C0 for  the elephant with R20 for ears and cheeks; N8, N6, N4 for the hat, B69, B66, B63 for the balloon and hat band.

Thanks for stopping by!

And a Happy New Year! - Pretty Pink Posh

Hello Crafty Friends! Back with some more Pretty Pink Posh inspiration for you today. You know how much I love ink blending over stencils so today's post shows another new one, the Fireworks Stencil.

For this one I started with an ombre blend from the darkest to the lightest. I then laid my stencil over the inked background and blended on the lightest color again through the stencil so it appears to fade as it goes down the background.

I embossed the sentiment and the glasses from the new Happy New Year stamp set in liquid platinum embossing from ranger. I lightly colored in some champagne with copic markers.

To finish off the card and add some extra bling I used Sparkling Clear sequins & jewels in Caribbean Blue.

Distress Oxide Inks:
Broken China
Mermaid Lagoon
Blueprint Sketch

Copics:
Y11
Y00

1st Card of the Year!

Today I made a new baby card. It seems a lot of my friends are expecting this year!

The animation shows the steps of my card but I thought I would add some additional information.

I use these Shake IT pouches for my shaker cards. I get them from my local craft store but you can find them in many placed. I find they work the best with the least amount of work. You may need to use a dryer sheet to remove any static before you place the pouches over the sequins. I usually drop a few sequins in to see how much static they have before I attach it.

Also important is where you place your shaker over your image. You want your main image/words to be just above center with a lot of dead space below. This is so when the sequins are sitting they do not cover anything important and you can see the image/words. Ask me how I know ;)  Lastly, using one layer & masking is the only way to go if you don't want sequins getting stuck.

I made the background using the Bokeh technique I saw in one of the Lawn Fawn videos Here. Basically you ink your stamp and then stamp your paper several times (I did three) before you re-ink your stamp.

So that's it, I hope you enjoyed my card.

Entry for Simon Says... Something New

New Year 2014

Its a new year and with a new year comes reflection and considerations of the new plans and goals. In the past year I have come so far in my card making and crafting. Being a part of this community has helped me grow in so many ways. I really have to thank Instagram for putting me in touch with new friends; Jenn, Nicole, Steph, Andrea & Vanessa and so many more... Their kindness, encouragement and general friendliness helped me open up and share more.

For the new year I have several new plans and goals. I really liked Jenn's post on choosing a word for the new year. I thought a lot about if I had to pick one word for what I wanted to accomplish what would it be? I decided for both my personal & creative life that would would be Explore. Explore new ideas, new places, new techniques, new possibilities. It covers so much, but I think some things have been holding me back. I plan to take that word and run with it. So... for the new year I will:

1. Try and post on my blog at least once a week. You may not know but I post so much more to instagram that never makes the blog. Either I am on the run and giving away the card, or I simply end up not liking it. This year I want to post no matter what. (see examples below of projects that didn't make the blog)

2. Learn to use my video camera! I get asked how to do a certain technique or how I used a tool a certain way a lot on instagram. I want to be able to direct people to my videos instead of somewhere else! Seeing Jenn & Nicole brave the recording front has really motivated me to get off my butt.

3. Reorganize and make a dedicated card photographing space in my craft area. I often make cards REALLY late at night & have to take that same card with me in the AM and sometimes do not have a chance to take a nice picture (see 1. above) So if I can set up my lights and a soft box I plan on getting an area that I can just add backgrounds & props to on the fly and not worry about lighting as much.

4. Get more people to my blog. I really think the Blog Hop from Lawnscaping Challenges really spoiled me. (Thanks Jenn!) I want more people on my blog to get to know and share with. So my last resolution is to start participating more in all the challenges. If you have a favorite, please let me know!