Saying Good-bye

Hello all!

I have decided to create a new blog. I want to thank all of you who followed this one. I really appreciate it. If you would like to continue to follow me, my new blog can be found here.

Have a wonderful day!

Cara

DIY - Peerless Water Color Palette

Who hasn't noticed how popular water colors are right now? Everyone is using them and it's actually a trend that I jumped right on…mainly because I love to paint! Now…to be honest I am no Picasso. I just like to swirl the color around with the paint brush and see what happens. (And maybe color a stamped image.) And these Peerless water colors are gorgeous! 

I have had a lot of fun using these water colors but I had some issues painting with them in their original packaging so I decided to create my own palette for these paints. Please check out what I made in this video.

Once I had that done, it was much easier to use the paints. I was enjoying it so much that I sat down and created two new cards. This first one shows you that gorgeous blue color that I talked about in the video.

Here's a close up of those beautiful colors...

I was a little worried that the dark color I used on the flowers wouldn't work but I think it's a great contrast with the light blue sky. 

Then I decided to try a completely different color combo…

I painted on some water color paper first, creating that background using the yellows, oranges and a little pink that I have…then I die cut the tag and completed the card. That fantastic die is from Pretty Pink Posh and can be found here if you are interested. (It's also available at Ellen Hutson and Simon Says Stamps…two of my fave online stores.) I should also mention that the sequins used in both these cards are also from Pretty Pink Posh. :) 

Hope you enjoyed the cards and are having a wonderful day!

Card Share

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend! We had a fantastic couple of days here in Alaska…gorgeous blue skies with white fluffy clouds and warm temperatures. We (meaning the hubby) grilled some yummy steaks and had a great weekend…until today. Woke up to overcast skies and rain. I am taking it as a sign that I need to get back into my craft room.

Before I get started on something new I thought I would show you some of the cards I created using the card kit from Simon Says Stamp for July. I have uploaded a couple of videos on my Youtube channel. You can check those out here and here.

I have a few other cards to share as well…I am going to start with my least favorite. I was just playing around with the stickers.

I thought I would see how quickly I could throw a card together…and it was fast. I am just not too impressed with the results, which is all me and not the products. The paper and stickers are adorable!

So then I thought…let's try making one with just stamps.

This is truly a one layer card. No bling, no embellishments, no dimension…simply stamped…and I really like it. I find I am happiest when I am able to do some stamping on the card. 

Next I created this embossed card which was the inspiration for the video.

That gold ink really made the card…here's a close up…

This one is probably my favorite…it was simple to make but is so pretty!

And lastly, I looked around at all the scraps on my desk…and trust me…there were a ton…and instead of cleaning up, I decided to create one more card.

I hope you enjoyed all the cards! Happy Crafting!

Stencil Printing…Inspired by Tim Holtz

Hello again! Several weeks ago I was checking out some of the crafty blogs I like when I stumbled across one by Tim Holtz. And I loved it! If you want to check it out, you can find it here.

So I tried it out…you can see some of my results in this video. I had such a blast doing this that not only did I make some tags (which you can see here) but I also made a few cards.

I think this stencil printing makes a gorgeous background. Here's a close up…

Love how this looks! I also did a similar card using a different color card stock.

Isn't it pretty? This is the same technique I used to make one of those Father's Day cards that I showed in a previous post. 

How about you? Are you trying some new crafty technique? 

Have a great day! Happy Crafting! 

Continuing with Copics

Hi there! When I was a child one of my favorite things to do was to color. I loved coloring books (Barbie ones were my fave.) and drawing. I would even draw a huge scribbly thing and color in the various shapes it created. I never had any true talent as far as sketching goes but there was something so relaxing about just sitting down and coloring. I even took crayons and coloring books to college. There was no better way to relax when studying for a big exam than pulling out my coloring book (which may have still been Barbie) and crayons. 

So years ago when I started getting interesting in Copics I was so excited! I loved the way they colored and couldn't wait to get started. But when I started to use them I realized they weren't as easy to use as I thought…at least not for me. I had colored some images that I was happy with like…

…this one.

Or…

…this one. But I still didn't think I was really "getting it." It wasn't one of those things that I could just do a couple of times and get…if you know what I mean. I decided that if I wanted to get better at coloring, that's what I was going to have to do…practice.

So I got out some of the Saturated Canary stamps that I have been too afraid to use.

I cut some 2 inch x 2 inch squares out of the Blending Card by X-Press It. Since I want to focus on skin and hair coloring first, I stamped the top of the stamps on the squares like this…

…so what do you think? Am I ready or what? 

So my plan is to practice and document my progress right here. I will keep you all posted!

Happy Crafting!

Sequins, sequins, sequins

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a fantastic weekend! I have been trying to find my missing crafty mojo and decided some sequins might help. So I put together a few cards and did a quick video.

Here's how I finished the card in the video…

I kept it very simple…it's really all about the sequins. Here's a close up…

Love those Pretty Pink Posh sequins! And since I was still feeling the sequins, I made one more card using those fun star dies from Paper Smooches that I showed you in the video.

This one might be my favorite. I love the color of those sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and the splatter from the Mister Huey's. I think it's a really fun card. Here's a close up…

You can find all of these wonderful sequins and more here at Pretty Pink Posh. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Happy Crafting!

My Father's Day Cards

Hello all!

I know Father's Day has already passed but I wanted to quickly share the two cards I made for my husband. This one was from me…

and this one I made for my daughter to give to him (she's not a card maker)…

(There will be an upcoming video showing how I created this background.)

Luckily, his gift this year was super simple because we just got a Cabela's here in Anchorage a few weeks ago. Got him a gift card and he's good to go!

Enjoy the rest of your week!