Zig Clean Color – CaCaCraft by Erica

Picket Fence Studios April Release! Rainbow Friendship Wreath cards.

Hi guys!

Today is the 14th, which means the April release from Picket Fence Studios is live! Yay! I’ve got a video up on my YouTube channel showing off the stamps and stencils, as well as some of the dies.

For the cards I am going to show you today, I have used the BFF My Tribe stamp. One on Copic Friendly paper and one on Bristol Vellum paper. Both are stamped up with the Black Hybrid ink, and the Bristol one was stamped again with the Embossing Pad from WOW! And heat embossed with clear embossing powder. In between stamping, I cleaned off the black ink with the Stamp Scrubber. Of course I used the Mini MISTI for the stamping.

I used Zig Clean Color markers on the Bristol Vellum panel. I did the sleeves in a rainbow colour, without adding any water to keep the colours vibrant.

On the second panel I used Copics and tried keeping the colours and shading as close to the Zig Coloring as possible. The hands are done in different shades of skin colours. All the nails got my usual signature nail polish colour of hot pink. The current state of my nails is atrocious though. Thanks Covid-19.

Once all the colouring was done, I trimmed down the panels a little so they’d measure 5.25”x4”. Both of these got the sentiment ‘Oh please, we knew you could do it’ from the I Freaking Love You stamp set. I used the Mini MISTI to make sure they stamped properly. The ink is again the Black Hybrid ink.

To finish off the cards I adhered the panels to white card bases. I considered adding some sequins as I’m back on my sequins craze, however I managed to restrain myself. They are lovely enough as they are and sometimes less is more. This BFF My Tribe stamp has been added to my ‘Love it’ list!

With that, I’m done for today. I have used compensated affiliate links in this post, as usual. They do not cost you anything at all, but if you use them I will get a small commission from the company directly at no extra cost to you whatsoever. When you use these, it helps strengthen my collaboration with the companies and that’s the most important part to me, so thank you in advance for the support and encouragement. I really appreciate it!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

Rubeena’s Crafting Anniversary Blog Hop Day TWO + Giveaways

Hi guys!

I’m your next stop on the huge and fabulous blog hop to celebrate Rubeena’s Crafting Anniversary, and you should have come here from the uber-talented Dana Joy. If you get lost or a link isn’t working, go back to Rubeena’s blog A Rare Ruby for the full list, as well as Day 1 blog hop list.

This blog hop is all about celebrating crafting, our community and the outstanding inspiration found there, as well as marking Rubeena’s 4th Craftiversary. So, what’s crafting and colouring to me? Well, apart from being a VERY well-loved hobby, it’s also helped me through some very tough and dark times in my life. Having had a creative outlet for grief and severe frustration over some chronic back pain issues I have from an accident many years ago, crafting has been an absolutely life-saver at times. If I’m having a bad day, spending a few hours in the craft room with some colouring, Netflix or music and some yummy snacks will distract me nicely and stop me from spiralling downward in the pitfalls of depression and feeling fed up.

My cards and my preferences over materials have changed a lot over the years but I’m still not sure I’d say I have a particular style… It all depends on what I feel like making that day. One of the fun sides of crafting is that you don’t have to put yourself in a box and stay there (unless you want to). I usually also have more than one project going on at any one time, I’m a messy crafter like that. You should see the state of my craft room right now…! Yikes.

One of my favourite things to do is water colouring, especially if I’m sad or lacking mojo. There is something very therapeutic about watching the colours swirl around and settle into an image. Not that I’m overly good at it, but that doesn’t stop me from loving it. I use lots of different mediums though, with various results. Copics, coloured pencils, Zig markers, Altenew Artist Markers etc etc As long as it involves colours, I love it!

It also needs to be said that I value the Instagram crafting community I’ve been so warmly embraced by, very very highly. I’ve made so many wonderful friends along the way, and Rubeena is one of them. Here is to you, girl!!

The card I made for this hop is quite an Erica-card; it’s floral, pink and gold. I’m not a CAS card kind of gal (although I have been doing better with those recently) but I do love a big, bold floral card with a splashy sentiment.

I tried something new for the flower, going for no-line colouring using InkOn3 fade out ink and Zig Clean Color markers. Now you might wonder what’s “new” about that, it was my first try using this new ink and I am really quite hooked!

I used pinks, purples, yellows and reds on the flower, which is from Stampendous, and worked on it pretty much all day, and some the following day. It took ages but I think it was worth it personally. No-line colouring is not to be rushed after all!

To create the background I splattered red gold from Gansai Tambi Starry Color palette on an A2 panel of water colour card stock.

While that was drying, it was time to think about the rest of the card. I picked out a sentiment and decided on one from MFT Stamps. It’s from a set called Anything-but-Basic Friendship ‘I’ve seen you at your worst and I still think you’re the best’ on black card stock and heat embossed it in WOW! Metallic Gold Rich embossing powder.

To assemble the card I adhered the flower to the background panel with some very thick foam tape, added the sentiment strip in the bottom right corner with some slimmer tape and then decided to add a gold ‘friend’ diecut word to the card to really highlight the friendship element.

To make sure the ‘friend’ dienamic is level on the card, I cut out bits of the word in foam sheet too and added the to the back. Tricky at this point as I had already glued it down across the flower…!

A big smattering of clear sparkling sequins added to the card with Glossy Accents later, I was done!

And now it’s time to hop along to the next person, which is the amazing Channin Pelletier whom I am such a big fan of! *squeal*

GIVEAWAYS

In celebration of this anniversary, we have several amazing sponsors. Let’s thank them for their generosity! Winners will be randomly selected from comments left on all the blogs. The winners will be announced by Wednesday, September 5 on this page. Winners will have up to 2 weeks to contact Rubeena at ararerubycrafts@gmail.com to claim their prizes. And check out the prizes!! Wow, wow, wow! *All the heart-eyed emojis*

Studio Katia – $50 gift card

Hello Bluebird – $50 gift card

Altenew – $50 Gift card

Pinkfresh Studio – $30 gift card

Gina K. Designs – $50 gift card

Clearly Besotted – £25 gift card

Simon Says Stamp – $25 gift card

Spellbinders Card Kit ($55 value).

Jennifer McGuire – $50 Simon Says Stamp gift card

Winnie & Walter, LLC – $40 gift card

Mama Elephant – $25 gift card

Hero Arts – $25 gift card

Nichol Spohr LLC – Custom-sewn rainbow pencil case filled with brand new Spellbinders dies

Danielle Flynn – $25 Simon Says Stamp gift card

Picket Fence Studios – four $25 gift cards

Ellen Hutson – two $25 gift cards

Pretty Pink Posh – two $30 gift cards

The Stamp Market – July 2018 Release (estimated $100 value)

Indigojade Art Shop – $50 gift card to Art Prints & Gifts Shop

Flora & Fauna – a 4×6 stamp set

Waffle Flower – $25 gift card

Power Poppy – $50 gift card

Right, that’s it from me for today but enjoy the rest of the hop and don’t forget to leave a comment here to be in with a chance to grab one of those fabulous prizes! By leaving a comment here on my blog, you will also be in with a chance to win a $25 gift voucher to Gina K Designs from me! I will draw a winner on the 5th of Sep too, don’t forget to check back here then to see if you are the winner!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Lots of love from Erica

A card for MFT Stamps Sketch challenge 396 using Up In The Air

Hi guys!

Today I’m popping in with a quick card for the current Wednesday challenge over at My Favorite Things blog, Sketch Challenge 396. These challenges are great fun and always inspiring so I thought, why not give it a go?

I wanted to use one of my favourite (no pun intended) stamp sets from MFT Stamps, called Up In The Air. It’s really sweet and full of fun images to colour.

The big balloon was a given to use, and as I’m a self-confessed CDL (that’s Crazy Dog Lady for those who don’t speak fluent ‘Erica’) I wanted to use the little doggie too. These images I stamped up with Memento Black Tuxedo ink on Strathmore Bristol Vellum water colour card stock and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

To colour the images themselves, I used Zig Clean Color markers and once they were dry, I used the coordinating dienamics to cut out them out.

For the background, I did some ink blending with Distress Oxide ink on another piece of Strathmore Bristol Velum water colour card stock. I used some post-it tape to block off the parts of the card that needed to remain white.

Picking out the colours I wanted, I started with Squeezed Lemonade, then Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon and to top it off, a little bit of Blueprint Sketch. I wish I had a Mini Ink Blending tool for each one of the ink pads but alas, not yet. At least I have enough foam pads for when the day arrives and I will have them all, lol!

To add some interest to the background I stamped the little clouds in white pigment ink. To finish off the card I used the Celebrate dienamics and cut it out of silver glitter card stock as well as foam sheet to add some height.

I also cut out a banner, using the biggest one out of the Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips, and stamped ‘You’re going places!’, from the Up In The Air stamp set, in Broken China Distress Oxide ink. To make it a bit more special I also did some very light ink blending with Peacock Feathers on the other side of the banner, then added a little bit of foam tape to the back of it and added it to the card.

Once all the bits and pieces were finished, it was a quick puzzle job and the card was done! What do you think? I probably need to reboot my colour choices though as I seem to go for the same colours over and over and over… and over… again. I do love blues and turquoise in all shades though. I can’t help it!

Well, that’s my contribution for this week’s challenge. Now it’s just a matter of keeping my fingers crossed to be drawn as the winner as that means a $50 gift voucher to spend at the MFT Stamps shop! Are you going to take part? Go ahead and give it a go!

I have used some compensated affiliate links for this post, which means I get a small commission from MFT Stamps and Scrapbook.com directly at no cost to you, if you use any of these links. Thank you in advance if you use them, it really does mean the world to me and every little helps.

Thanks for stopping by and see you all soon,

lots of love from Erica

Bouquet of Roses card for my beautiful mother

Hello and Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who celebrates today!

I have a bright and happy card for my mother to show you in today’s post. I have used one of my favorite Lil’Inker Designs stamp set for this card, Bouquet of Roses along with it’s coordinating diecut.

To begin with I got some Strathmore Bristol Vellum card stock out and dusted it with my anti static tool, I prefer the little cushion one as I feel it covers the card stock better. I stamped it up with VersaMark ink, sprinkled the embossing powder of choice: Antique Gold from Altenew. I heat embossed the image and set it aside to cool while I picked out my Zig Clean Color markers.

While I had my heatgun and embossing powder out, I decided to quickly stamp up a sentiment from the stamp set that says ‘For my Beautiful Mother’, on a slim strip of leftover Strathmore Bristol Vellum card stock. This was set aside for later card assembly.

I decided to use bright and happy colours for the flowers, yellows, pinks and purples are always springy and cheerful so I used a range of those to colour them in. For the leaves and stems I used greens and yellow-greens. Once everything was coloured in and dry, I cut it out using the coordinating diecut with my BigShot. I also cut out another shape out of foam sheet to add to the back of it, before adding to the card base. I like using foam sheet and the coordinating diecut to get a stable layer for the image.

For the cardbase I have used Neenah Classic Crest #110 card stock, cut in half, scored and folded. I lined the left side of it with some gold glitter washi tape and for the background I used more of the Strathmore Bristol card stock to do a light ombré watercolour wash. It’s done with a magenta colour from the 36-pack Gansai Tambi water colour pack. I also splattered some gold on it to bring in all the gold accents.

Once the background was dry, it didn’t take long to put the card together. The sentiment strip got pierced and threaded with some gold string, which I also tied into a bow and around the stems of the bouquet to look like it was the message tag that came with the flowers. Then the whole thing was added to the card base, which had the water coloured background added to it by now, and a slim strip of foam tape was added under the sentiment strip to keep it in place. All done!

I have used compensated affiliate links, to Scrapbook.com and Altenew, at no extra cost to you, to some products used for this post. All other links are purely to help you find them easily should you want to get a thing or two for yourself.

With that, I wanted to say Happy Mother’s Day to my very own Mamma, who is actually here visiting at the moment ❤️

Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of love from Erica

Studio Katia Lovely Blooms cards, two different ways

Hello! Blooming lovely to see you!

If you have come here from my Studio Katia Anniversary Blog Hop post, then you know that this is one of the ‘continuation’/expansions of that one. If you haven’t, let me explain quickly: I am taking part in the aforementioned blog hop with Studio Katia but as I made quite a few projects for it, I have kept it really short and sweet in the main blog post and gone into more detail here and another two: A trio of Birthday Cards and A Japanese Peony shaker card. Ain’t nobody got time to read lengthy blog posts when there is a hop going on and there are prizes to win, eh??

Those who know me, knows I love flowers and florals of all kinds so this Lovely Blooms stamp set was right up my street. I’m also a big fan of the aforementioned Japanese Peony and also You’re So Ranunculus from Studio Katia.

I used Canson XL watercolour card stock for this one and trimmed it down to an A2 size, 5.5”x4.24”. This watercolour card stock is lovely for a softer look and I like that it has some subtle texture which looks great once it’s coloured on.

To make sure I got no stray embossing powder, I used my anti-static tool all over it first, then stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and heat embossed Ranger Ink clear embossing powder over it. I’ve not had great luck with black embossing powder in the past so when I want black lines, this is what I do. I have heard very good things about the Nuvo Black embossing powder but haven’t tried it myself yet.

Using my Zig Clean Color markers, I coloured the flowers in with BRIGHT and vivid colours. I really wanted them to pop so I have used very little water to dilute the colour, rather using a lighter coloured marker to do the blending. The leaves are coloured with green markers, and once dry, I added some details with a white gel pen. I very nearly added details to the flowers too but decided against it in the end.

The background needed a little something and as I’m in a serious relationship with Ombré at the moment, I did a black ombré look for it. This is also done with the Zigs. Even with all that drama added, I felt it needed something else so I splattered gold paint all over it. I used Light Gold from the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors palette and I use this one for almost all my shimmer! It has so many different shades of gold, you are spoilt for choice! It’s hard to photograph though, but I can assure you it’s very shimmery in real life.

To finish it off it needed a sentiment so I heat embossed ‘Celebrate ….a little late!’ from the Birthday Greetings stamp set, in Altenew Antique Gold embossing powder on a slim strip of black card stock, adhered it to the card with some foam tape and then added the whole thing to a card base made out of Neenah Classic Crest #110 card stock.

My second floral card is pretty much the opposite of the first one. I heat embossed this one also but I used Wow! Gold Pearl embossing powder for the Lovely Bloom stamp itself, which I had placed in the upper right corner on my Canson XL A2 sized panel.

These I coloured in using Daniel Smith watercolours, both with H2O water brushes and normal watercolour brushes. I was very inspired by a birthday card I received earlier in the month, I love the colours on it and used that as a mood board for inspiration so to say. The hardest thing was letting the colours dry in between the layers in order to add some depth and highlights to the flowers.

A simple ‘birthday wishes’ sentiment, from Blooming Bunch, was heat embossed in the same Wow! Gold Pearl embossing powder in the bottom left corner to keep the card cohesive looking. I very nearly added a word diecut to it instead but The Man convinced me that heat embossing the sentiment was the way forward. And I think he was right!

The card was finished off with a few Majestic Confetti embellishments, in different sizes, for a little bit of added interest. These are adhered using Multi Media Matte adhesive.

Finally, the panel was added to a card base, again made out of Neenah Classic Crest #110 card stock. The adhesive I use when it’s water colour card stock, is TomBow Xtreme Adhesive Tape Runner, it is the best I’ve found so far but it is still not perfect. I do find that if I have used lots of colour or water on the paper, that nothing sticks to it super well. I am still on the outlook for that perfect adhesive so if you have a fave, please do let me know!

As always I have used compensated affiliate links where possible. What that means is that I get a small commission from the company directly if you purchase something using one of these links. At absolutely zero extra cost to you! All the supplies I’ve used for this blog post can be found at Studio Katia and Scrapbook.com. Non-Affiliate links are there to help you find the stuff I have used, in case you want any of it for yourself.

If you are thinking of buying something, I would love it if you’d consider using my links as it helps keep my blog and crafting journey going. It really does mean the world to me so thank you in advance for that and thanks for stopping by today!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica!

Studio Katia 2nd Anniversary blog hop!

Hello, hello!

Today’s post is one of the stops on the fabulous blog hop celebrating Studio Katia’s 2nd anniversary! You should have come here from Amy Rysavy’s blog but no matter where you have come from, WELCOME! The full list of the hop will be at the bottom of this post as well as on the Studio Katia blog, in case you get lost on the way.

This new release is full of fabulous things, you are not gonna want to miss out!! Don’t forget to hop along and comment on each blog for a chance to win!

BLOG HOP GIVEAWAY info: Studio Katia is giving away TWO $100 CAD gift certificates on each day of the Hop, winners will be chosen from the comments left on all blogs of the Hop! Two winners will be chosen from each day, from all the comments left on all the blogs and announced on the Studio Katia blog on Sunday 3rd of June so make sure to comment before Saturday 2nd!

Now all that is out of the way, let’s get to the crafting: In true Erica style I have gone a bit mad with my projects but I had so much fun with these stamps, dies and embellishments I just couldn’t stop myself! In order to keep this rather short and sweet, I’ve shown all the cards here with a quick description of what I’ve used for each one and then I’ve written up separate blog posts for them, which you could always come back to later if you are interested in the step-by-steps. You can find all the supplies I’ve used for these cards at Studio Katia, Altenew and Scrapbook.com

Cards number one, two and three are all made with the new Birthday Greetings stamp set. The first few steps are practically the same: I took a sheet of acetate, drew up a grid on it as guidance, which I then placed in my MISTI over an A2 sized card front. Using the cheat sheet as a guide, I placed lots of the stamps from the set in one of the boxes.

The first card is done with black card stock and the sentiments heatembossed with Altenew’s Golden Peach and Antique Gold embossing powders. The panel is first dusted with a anti-static tool and the first section stamped with VersaMark ink, then after turning it around in the MISTI, I stamped it again.

A liberal dusting of embossing powder and setting with the heat gun later, it was time to move the stamps and go it all again. Once all set and cooled down, the panel was adhered to a card base and a generous sprinkling of Crystal Rainbow Confetti later, adhered with Multi Media Matte, card no1 was done.

The second card was done in the same fashion, only on Strathmore Bristol Vellum card stock and with white embossing powder. To add some colour to it I rubbed some Distress Oxide ink pads over it to add LOTS of ink and then blended them together with a blending tool. The colours I have used are Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistashio, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch.

The March Mermaid gems were just the perfect embellishments for this card, the colours couldn’t have been better matched! I added lots of different sized ones and finished it off with the sentiment ‘May your birthday be as awesome as you are!’ heatembossed in white on a strip of black card stock.

Card no3 is done almost the same as the first two, only this one is stamped with Distress Oxide inks directly onto a white card base, using Squeezed Lemonade, Carved Pumpkin, Worn Lipstick and Abandoned Coral.

This one also got a very generous helping of Satin Rainbow Confetti embellishments to make it look like confetti raining down. I picked out pieces to match the ink colours and adhered them with Multi Media Matte adhesive again. Card no3 was done. This was the quickest on out of the three for sure.

If you want to read more about the makings of these cards with the Birthday Greeting stamp set, includind some step-by-step and more photos, CLICK HERE.

For my next card, I’ve gone floral! Those who know me, knows I love flowers and florals of all kinds so this Lovely Blooms stamp set was right up my street.

I used Canson XL watercolour card stock for this one and trimmed it down to an A2 size, 5.5”x4.24”. It’s stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and heatembossed with Ranger Ink clear embossing powder over it. Using my Zig Clean Color markers, I coloured the flowers in with BRIGHT and vivid colours.

The background needed a little something and as I’m in a serious relationship with Ombré at the moment, I did a black ombré look for it. Even with all that drama added, I felt it needed something else so I splattered gold paint all over it. To finish it off, I heat embossed ‘Celebrate ….a little late!’ In Altenew Antique Gold embossing powder on a slim strip of black card stock, adhered it to the card with some foam tape and then added the whole thing to a card base.

A simple ‘birthday wishes’ sentiment, from Blooming Bunch, was heat embossed in the same Wow! Gold Pearl embossing powder in the bottom left corner and the card was finished off with a few Majestic Confetti embellishments.

For more in-depth details about these two cards, CLICK HERE.

My last card is inspired by the card I made for last years anniversary blog hop. I love how that one turned out and I actually still have it. That’s it just below.

This years shaker card features the absolutely stunning Japanese Peony stamp, the new standalone diecut Scalloped Window, as well as some of the new embellishments in the shaker compartment. The flower I had already coloured in, using Zig Clean Color markers, hence the vibrant colours. I also made a few extra leaves. I have a time-lapse video of the colouring of the flower on my Instagram page, CLICK HERE to watch it.

To create the rest of the card I cut out the Scalloped Window at the bottom of an A2 panel, adhered some acetate to the back of it, cut some foam tape to size and diecut that to create the shaker compartment. I added Chunky Confetti Glitter, Light Blue Stars and Sparkling Sea Confetti to it and sealed it with a piece of watercolour card stock I had swirled some very diluted silvery blue paint on. The idea was to make it look like a water filled vase.

I also splattered some black Gansai Tambi paint and gold from the Starry Color palette on the front to add even more interest. Once that was dry, I added the flower and the leaves using foam tape. Ta-da!

For more about this card, including step-by-step instructions and photos, CLICK HERE.

I hope you have found some inspiration here and have enjoyed my many, many projects sorry (but #SorryNotSorry really) about that but when inspiration strikes I just run with it! Blame Studio Katia for making fabulous stuff, lol!

I have used compensated affiliate links in this post, to Studio Katia amongst others, at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much in advance if you choose to support me, my little blog and my big crafting journey in this way! I really, really appreciate it.

Thanks for stopping by and happy shopping, crafting and inspiration!

Lots of love from Erica

The next stop of this hop is the amazing Laura Volpes!

Here is the full list of the blog hop, in case you get lost!

Erica A-b <——You are here——>

Laura Volpes

Zsofia Molnar

Japanese Peony Shaker card with Studio Katia

Hello, hello, flower-lovers!

If you have come here from my Studio Katia Anniversary Blog Hop post, then you know that this is one of the ‘continuation’/expansions of that one. If you haven’t, let me explain quickly: I am taking part in the aforementioned blog hop but as I made quite a few projects for it, I have kept it really short and sweet in the main blog post and gone into more detail here and another two. Ain’t nobody got time to read lengthy blog posts when there is a hop going on, eh??

This post is about the shaker card I made using the stamp set, Japanese Peony, by Studio Katia. I think this stamp is just stunning. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it. That big bloom is so dramatic and simple in it’s gorgeousness, I think you can use it in so many different ways: on it’s own for a CAS one-layer card, or make a few of them for a big bouquet or like I have done here, one on it’s own as a shaker card. This is definitely one to add to your stash if you love flower stamps. It also has a coordinating diecut, which is fab, if like me you are not a fan of fussy cutting.

Let’s get on with the crafting part, shall we? I started out by heat embossing the flower in white on Strathmore Bristol Vellum water card stock as I knew I wanted to use Zig Clean Color markers to colour it in. This is my go-to watercolour card stock for Zig Markers. For fine details I like using Ranger Ink Extra Fine White embossing powder, it gets all the little bits and pieces without adding chunk, which I like.

Before I stamped the image with the VersaMark ink, I dusted the panel with my anti-static tool very generously. I use the little cushion type as I feel it gives a better coverage of the anti-static powder. It does leave a lot of baby-powder/corn starch/anti-static magic powder behind, but I think that’s a very minor thing to have to deal with given how good the benefits are.

Once all prepped, I stamped the image using my Mini MISTI, added the embossing powder and set it with my heat gun. I let it cool down for a minute while I got all my Zig markers out, water brushes and my kitchen roll I like having on hand when using these markers and brushes. Then it was time to colour! I have a time-lapse video of the colouring on my Instagram page, it’s about 30 minutes condensed down to about 30 seconds so it’s fast! CLICK HERE if you want to take a look.

I used a mix of purple and pink markers for the petals, and with some help from the water brushes I blended some of it out and diluted the colours here and there for highlights. You get amazingly vivid and rich colours with the Zig markers so if that’s your jam, you will love them!

As the card design idea was built on my card from last years birthday blog hop(See picture below) I decided to make some extra leaves, just in case. For leaves I like mixing Turquoise greens with the light and yellow green markers. It gives such a lovely green colour. While the leaves were drying I started fussy cutting out the flower and by the time I was done with that, the leaves were dry enough to be cut out too. I will be getting the coordinating diecut asap because I’m not a fan of fussy cutting, plus I like the look the diecuts create.

Setting these aside, it was time to start making the shaker part of the card. I used an A2 panel and cut out the new diecut, Scalloped Window, at the bottom, using my BigShot. Using a mixture of roll-on tape and a glue pen, I adhered some acetate for the window part.

This was going to be my ‘vase’ as the shape of the Scalloped Window diecut made me think of my many Alvar Aalto vases. Cutting out a piece of foam sheet slightly smaller than A2 I ran this through my BigShot too, making sure to place the diecut as accurately as possible. After adhering it carefully to the back of the acetate piece I turned it upside down to add some bling to the shaker part.

I used a mixture of Chunky Confetti Glitter, Light Blue Stars and Sparkling Sea Confetti. Apart from the Chunky Confetti Glitter, the rest of the sequin mix has blue hues to it to mimic the look of water in the vase.

To seal the shaker compartment I used a piece of water colour card stock I had done a shimmery light blue wash on, to further help give the illusion of water in the vase.

This whole thing was added to a card base, and as always I used Neenah Classic Crest #110 card stock as this one definitely needed a very stable base.

You’d think that I’d just add the flower and the leaves at this point and be done but no. Oh no.. I decided that the front needed a little something more. Yes, at this point. Not at the point where it would be easy, like before I started diecutting and making shaker compartments. Nope. Well, I got my 36-pack of Gansai Tambi water colours out as well as the Starry Colors palette, a couple of brushes and after covering up the window to the shaker part, I splattered some black as well as some Light gold all over the panel.

Then of course you have to wait for it to dry so I started making some backgrounds as I still had plenty of paint on my brushes. I started out slathering the black paint at the bottom of an A2 panel cut out of water colour card stock and then adding a bit more water, I brushed it upwards to create an ombré effect. Using the left over Light Gold paint on my smallest, flat Distress Collage brush I started at the opposite end and brushed it from side to side, downwards. The results were so stunning I just had to try another one!

You might wonder what this has to do with the card I’m supposedly blogging about, but well, I very rarely have just one single project on the go so I thought why not share the crazy thought-process that goes on in my head and “behind the scenes”?

Being a big lover of blue, I turned my attention to the blue colours next! I absolutely love the deep, rich colour of no66 and no67 in the Gansai Tambi 36-pack and did the same thing on another A2 piece of water colour card stock. I added lots of colour at the bottom and then going from side to side with my paint brush and adding more water, created that gorgeous ombré effect. I’ve got a joke saying I’m in a serious relationship with Ombré but it’s only a half-joke, I’m totally in love with the look.

For the blue piece I decided to just White Gold to add shimmer and it also turned out fab. It’s really hard to photograph shimmer though but I hope you get the idea. Or try it yourself! It’s great fun and I know what I will be doing the next time my mojo hides from me.

Right, anyway, back to the Japanese Peony now! Although, in fairness, at this stage it wasn’t much left to do, apart from adding foam tape to the back of the flower and arrange the loose leaves on the card base so they would get adhered with the foam tape. I know, I made a real song-and-dance about that, didn’t I, lol! As I couldn’t settle on a sentiment, I’ve left it blank on the front. That way, I can easily personalise it when I have someone to send it to or an occasion to celebrate.

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica!

Merry Everything Christmas cards to kick off December

Happy 1st of December!

Ah, bring on the Christmas cheer, the holiday magic and lots and lots of crafting! To do my part of spreading some christmas crafting cheer, I have two cards for you today. It started out as just some colouring, and then it took on a life on its own and ta-da: It ended in two fun cards.

Let’s get to the first one before I go off on another ramble (it’s bound to happen at some point in this blog post though, watch this space)

Right, so as I said, this first one started out as a colouring thing… or actually, ink smudging. Blending is too sophisticated to explain what I was doing here. Streaking might work too? Rubbing? Scraping….? Oh, well, it doesn’t matter what you call it, what I was trying to achieve was a Northern lights kind of look.

So this was taken about halfway through, I kept working on it to deepen the colours and covering up the white bits. I used all the Distress Oxides in the photo and then I also spritzed some gold shimmer mist on it too to really add to the magic. Have you ever seen the Northern Lights? It really is something else to behold… *sighs with bliss*

Once the panel was dry I got out my Simon Says Stamp Snow Falling Stencil and Ranger Ink Texture Paste. I’m LOVING this stuff! It’s so much fun to smear it all over the stencils and seeing it take shape. Ah! If you haven’t tried it yet, you need to. Pronto! I sure did use it to create the snow falling on the background. To make sure I didn’t smear the paste while it was drying (ask me how I know that can happen very easily) I got out My Favorite Things Merry Everything stamp set. I adore the reindeers in this set, they are so cute! I stamped these up on Strathmore Bristol water colour card stock with MFT Hybrid Ink Black Licorice , got my Zig Clean Color Markers out and went to town.

As I had quite a few reindeer, I thought Santa should be represented (Nobody puts Santa in the corner, right?) so he got stamped up and coloured too. I managed to make the red colour bleed into his beard and it was bad… nobody wants to see a bloody Santa, right? So that had to be fixed. I tried blending it out but that didn’t work. I tried covering it up with some gray but that didn’t work either. Neither did using a white gel pen. In the end I ended up rubbing some soft white chalk all over the beard and added some texture to it by scratching some curls in it. As the chalk was a bit difficult to control I did have to fill in the lines around the beard with a black pen as they had gotten all mushy.

Then I figured the sleigh should be on the card as well so that got stamped up and coloured. All of a sudden, I had enough images to make two cards and that’s when I started working on the second one. This one was a lot more subtle, I just used light blue ink blending on the background and added the snow fall using the stencil and the texture paste again.

The rest of it came together pretty quick once I had cut out the images using the Coordinating Merry Everything Die-namics, and some snowy hills using Stitched Hillside die in linen textured card stock. Which I layered on card bases using foam tape, of course, duh (Hello, my name is Erica and I’m addicted to foam tape) Oh, and two different Celebrate words, one in silver glitter cards stock and one in vellum. The one in silver glitter card stock I layered with some double sided foam tape too.

On the Northern Lights card I added the Santa in the middle and flanked him with a reindeer on each side. The ‘celebrate’ word in vellum ended up on this one to not cover up the background too much. It didn’t really have enough ompf so I also stamped ‘Let it snow’ from My Favorite Things Snow Globe Sentiments underneath Santa in black ink.

For the second card I added the left over reindeer, the sleigh and the silver glitter ‘Celebrate’ word. The sleigh looked a bit weird without anything in it so I ended up stamping up some presents too. These I coloured to look like they had wrapping paper and then added a generous helping of both Clear Wink of Stella and Gold Wink of Stella because who doesn’t like sparkly presents??

Even with the sparkly Celebrate it still needed a little something (did you see that coming?) so I stamped ‘Jolly Holly Days’ from Lawn Fawn Deck The Halls stamp set in black ink in the bottom. And with that, both the cards were done!

As well as being a foam tape addict, I’m also a bit of a camera nerd. I love taking photos and playing around with editing, filters and effects. The next photo is edited in Apple photos and have a filter on it called ‘Vivid Cool’ and I just adore how it makes the blue pop!

Here is the same photo without the filter, which one do you prefer? I am not against filters at all, they can be really fun however I don’t like it when they are used to distort the photo completely. Especially when it comes to crafting photos. For those I prefer to see the ones that are as close to the real life thing as possible. For selfies? Eh, we all need a little help every now and again, right?

Happy crafting and here is to a very merry and happy holiday season for us all!

Lots of love from Erica