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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How about some simple coloring and matting for today’s card?

This was stamped in black, and then colored with distress markers. (I know, what a shock! I didn’t use copics!)

The black stars and the candles with no flames looked a little barren to me, so I dug out some stickles in red and blue. Adding the flames was fun! Start at the tip of the wick, and squeeze a little dot of stickles, then pull up, without adding any more stickles. You get a great flame effect that way.

A little close up for you:

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Anyone up for a little treasure hunting?

I’ve been loving my copic markers lately. I’m getting to the point where I’m comfortable shading colors. And who could resist these adorable stamps? (Another The Angel Company set) I raided my scrap bin for the cloud background, the palm tree, and the paper for the island. The waves are what’s left of a border sticker from oh, 2008, and figured since I already had the stippling brush out, I could use it to add some dimension and definition to the island.

I have been having so much fun making cards this month. Anyone else truly enjoying their crafty side this month? What have you been working on?

Don’t forget to sign up for my email list if you want to get a card in the mail!

Supplies used: (affiliate links)

copic sketch markers