It’s gotten a bit cold here in the northeast, and we’ve had a few snowflakes. Nothing like Buffalo, but still, you can tell winter is on its way! It seemed appropriate to throw a wintry card into the mix.

This started out with a watercolor wash as a background, with a few drips of spray ink. Then some small snowflakes stamped repeatedly filled out the rest of the background. A few larger snow themed stamps from the same set were stamped in a slightly darker ink, edged with a silver paint pen, and adhered with pop dots.

This card background was originally intended for another card, but when it didn’t work with the already completed focal point, I created a new theme for the watercolor background.

Which brings us to the most important idea for today: flexibility. Be willing to change your plans as you go. You might end up with something you like more as a result!

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You know how some cards come out just the way you envision them? This is not one of those cards. All the pieces are fine on their own, but they don’t quite come together on the end product.

This started with the four squares– it’s a fun little stamp designed to be used as a window or as part of a stamp collage. To get nice crisp edges, you need to mask off and protect the stamped frame with either post it notes, or crafter’s masking tape. The background was filled with distress inks in yellow and orange, and then little flowers and dots were stamped with CTMH stamps in versamagic ink.

I could not get a square trim around the outside of the frame, so I hand cut it. Then it was layered on top of some lovely paper from Authentique and washi paper from We R Memory Keepers. It needed a sentiment though.

To create the sentiment flower I stamped a larger flower from the same Close to My Heart stamp set, with the same ink used for the little framed stamps. The sentiment was then stamped in a coordinating color on top of it.

Notice anything? Like maybe how the sentiment flower is much pinker than the little framed flowers? Yep. Color mixing at work! If it weren’t for the fact that this is already adhered in place, I’d go back and re-do the sentiment flower.

There’s nothing hugely wrong with this, but it just didn’t come close to matching my mental image.

I should probably hesitate to mention this, but YOU could get a card from me in the mail. Just sign up for my mailing list, and when I send out my last reminder for the month, respond with your mailing address. You probably won’t be getting this card. This one will probably be hidden somewhere dark and mysterious.

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Have you ever used Smooch inks? They have some lovely spray inks, that have a lot of shine to them since them contain mica powders. They also have these adorable little bottles of ink/paint that work well on both dark and light colored papers.

Doesn’t this stamp remind you of some detailed henna designs? Or maybe that’s just me. At any rate, it’s a beautiful design, so the goal with this card was to highlight it, and let it shine.

All the little details were colored with the smooch inks. The little terracotta colored piece of paper was stamped with another design in the same line, and then both were backed with some more mirror cardstock. It really does act like a mirror. You can see parts of me taking the photo of the card in the mirror cardstock.

As I was finishing it up, it felt bare to me, so I sketched in a line of smooch ink after I had finished assembling the card.

If you’d like to get one of these cards in the mail from me, make sure you’re on my mailing list!

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Hey, would you look at that! It’s another text background stamp!

These text background stamps were very popular for awhile. This one, of course, is vegetable themed. Seriously. How cool is that?

A couple strips of mini veggies, a sentiment stamped and trimmed to fit the space, and a little gardening scene colored with copics bring the card together. With a tiny scrap of handmade paper to anchor the focal point and sentiment, this is another card that’s fairly quick and easy.

My only suggestion for you today? If you want your background to be centered and even, stamp it first, then cut it out and adhere it to your card. Otherwise, go right ahead and stamp directly on your card base. If anyone criticizes you for an uneven image, just tell them you meant to do that. How would they know that you didn’t?

Don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list if you’d like to get a card from me. The form is at the top right of the page.

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copic sketch markers

Let’s try out a background stamp. How about a dog themed one?

This dog themed text background has been sitting in my stamp drawer for ages. (I’ve got a cat themed one as well.) It’s time to use it on a card, don’t you think? A simple band of puppy shadows, a couple strips of handmade paper scraps, and a detailed puppy on a pop dot finishes the card.

A quick word about choosing inks. The background was stamped with a distress ink. If you look closely at some of the letters you’ll notice that some are a bit blotchy. That’s because distress inks are a water based ink, and like water, they have a tendency to bead up on smooth surfaces. This is one great reason to clean your stamps, but not too well. A well used stamp will adhere to dye ink much better than a brand new stamp.

The shadow pups are stamped with a versamagic ink, which is a pigment ink with a chalk finish. What that means when you stamp is that the ink dries slowly, and is thicker than dye inks. The chalk finish means it has a nice matte finish.

In order to get a lot of detail on the popped up pup, he was stamped with archival ink, which dries quickly like most water based inks, but doesn’t move or bleed like a lot of dye inks can.

The little bits of handmade paper are from Skycraft Designs. They used to attend the regional Rubber Stamp expo, so I stocked up on some of their papers. You’ll see a few more bits and pieces of their papers this month. It’s time to get them out of my stash and use them.

So what do you think? Would you like to get a card in the mail? Make sure you’re on my mailing list– just sign up at the top right of the page!

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