When I pulled the stamp set out, I realized there were amazingly appropriate sentiments in the set too. For my card, I used, “may you be protected in all that you do and know that our thoughts are always with you” (I mean how perfect is that for the times right now?). For the inside liner, I also used: “you are my hero”.

I masked off certain parts of the little girl stamp with bits of washi tape, inked up the stamp, removed the washi bits, and stamped out 3 kiddos! Then I used a 0.1 pt Copic Multiliner Pen to doodle on some changes to the kids’ hair, clothes and added masks! I also colored up and fussy cut out another girl from the stamp set (the one grasping her chest) to decorate the inside liner.

Then I used the following Copic colors to bring the kiddos to life. Note that I used different color combinations for the skin tones because I wanted to represent the human rainbow of our front line heroes and bright spring colors for the clothes to suggest hope and life for the future:
Girl in Skirt: Skin: E11, E13, E25 and RV34 (blush); Top: Y11, Y15, N1 (collar) and YG05 (buttons); Skirt: YG01, YG03 and YG05; Hair: B01, N6 and N9
Girl in Dress: Skin: E00, E01 and R20 (blush); Dress: Y15, V04 and V06; Hair: Y11, Y15 and YR24
Boy in Pants: Skin: E01, E02, E11, E13 and R20 (blush); Top: YG01, YG03, YG05 and N1 (collar); Pants: B00, B52 and B45; Belt: YR16, N6 and N9; Hair: E55, E57 and E59
Masks and Gloves: N1, B00 and B52
All Shoes: N6 and N9

Girl with Long Hair (on inside liner): Skin: E01, E02 and R20 (blush); Hair: B02, C4, C6 and C8; Dress: RV02, RV04, RV06 and V06 (heart); Tights: V06 and V17; Mask and Gloves: B02 and B04

The backgound sky was made with a My Favorites Things Cloud Stencil and some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass blended on. The grass/ground was made against a simple homemade stencil and Tim Holtz Distress Ink In Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn. I was just careful to lighten the blending around the sentiment and the kids’ feet since I was too lazy to make masks. 😀

To add a little dimension to this otherwise single layer card, but keep it looking crisp and simple in the style of the stamps, I used the large Pretty Pink Posh Scallop Frames die. I cut the scallop frame 4 additional times from card stock scraps and stacked them under the finished card front frame. I love how that came out looking more “finished” while not distracting or cluttering the general CAS style.

CLICK on the photo below to watch my process video:

Disclosure: Many of the supplies I’ve used for today’s project are linked. Some may be affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support toward the costs of running this blog!

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Easter/Spring Challenge
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Optional Wedding Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Penny Black and More Anything Goes Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Mood Board Challenge

I created this card wanting the sentiment, “Throw Kindness Around Like Confetti,” to be the theme of the card design. I stamped out “kindness” with the Concord & 9th Sophisticated Script stamp set and hand wrote the other words with a 0.1 pt Copic Multiliner Pen in simple block letters. Following the rule of thirds, I positioned the “kindness” about 1/3 of the way down the A2 vertical card front.

Then at the center bottom of the card front, I stamped out the cute little girl with outstretched arms from the Mama Elephant “In My Heart” stamp set and colored her up with the following Copic markers:
Hair: B12, N7 and N9
Skin: E51, E21 and R20
Dress: B12, B14, YR16
Shoes: BV04
Grounding shadow: N1

I used the My Favorite Things MIX-ables Stencil called “Snowfall” and blended on Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade and Squeezed Lemonade with finger daubers to create the confetti background. I wanted to carry the light and dark blue tones from the little girl’s outfit into the confetti as well, so I used Copic markers B12 and BV04 to add some extra dot details in varying sizes. The stencil really helped me set the basis of the “random” look of the confetti being thrown into the air by the little girl and adding the extra smaller dots in the blues balanced the card design without interfering or distracting from the sentiment being the focal point.

Although I wanted to keep the single layer card very CAS, I did add 9 (I have a thing about adding things in odd numbers) Dollar Tree sequins in sheer orange and Simon Says Stamp Sunshine Mix Sequins in lemon yellow to add just a little sparkle interest — and to hide a blob of the B12 that had gotten out of hand in the confetti dotting process! LOL I mounted this card front on a card base I made from some old orange card stock that has a fun random polka dot pattern on one side (that’s now an unexpected little detail on the inside of this card!).

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Where Creativity Meets C9 One Layer Challenge

MFT Card Color Challenge #68

I sprayed an inexpensive piece of watercolor paper and overdosed it with Ken Oliver Color Bursts in Indigo. To soften the color I then went to town spraying it over top with Recollections Blue Shimmer spray and Heidi Swapp Navy spray. Oh yes! — the effect was a spotty almost bokeh look.  I die cut the piece with one of my go-to card base dies from the WPlus9 Sunshine Layers die set and then layered that on top of a gold foil paper.

I layered a gold foil paper faceted heart from the Winnie and Walter True Multifaceted Heart Cutaways die (intentionally leaving some of the facets in to add visual weight to to the gold faceted part of the heart) over a shimmery blue-green fine glitter paper heart and popped the whole thing on double sided foam adhesive.

I really wanted to use the girl from the Mama Elephant In My Heart stamp set that had the outstretched arms for this card, but I wanted her to look more like me. So I stamped her out with MFT Black Licorice Hybrid Ink and then cut off the little pony tails and drew in longer straight hair with a Copic Multiliner Pen.  I Copic colored her up simply with E51, E53, R20, C7, C9, B01, Y11, Y15.  Then I fussy cut her out and put tiny strips of double-sided foam adhesive behind her to pop her up to the same level as the heart.

Then I practiced writing out the sentiment like a bazillion times until I finally got it to look straight and with all the letters basically the size I wanted them. I hand cut it into a banner and lined it with more gold foil paper. Uh oh, now I faced a dilemma. Where could I put this sentiment and not obstruct the beautiful faceted heart? After much angst, finally I figured out that I could cut the banner in half and tuck each half on either side of the little girl. YAY!  Ultimately I think the card ended up with a good center-balanced design, and I just tweaked the big banner part of the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge (see below for link) into a smaller one with a sentiment. 🙂

Lastly for a little extra sparkle, I couldn’t resist adding some blue-green sequins. Voila! Now this is a first — I’m ready early for our anniversary! 🙂

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Tic Tac Toe Challenge – sequins, blue, spray
Winnie & Walter Rerun No. 11 Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner Anything Goes Challenge
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes Challenge
Not Just Cards Anything Goes Challenge
MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #287

But I have crafty ADHD so I couldn’t just make 2 of the same cards. I had to mix it up. I made the card front with more of that inexpensive 140 lb Seth Cole water color paper using the WPlus9 Sunshine Layers scalloped rectangle die (this paper is not great for watercoloring because it absorbed inks and paint too quickly, but I love the results with shimmer sprays). I used Recollections’ purple shimmer and Heidi Swapp mustard and Heidi Swapp primrose sprays.

For the inside sentiment, I used a free font called Magnolia Sky that I found out about from the Pretty Pink Posh blog (love all the great ideas Paulina shares there). Then after watching an MFT Cap Create Glitzy Glitter YT video,  I was inspired to decorate the inside panel with gold glitter washi tape and dots of champagne gold glitter Stickles.  It’s amazing what a difference a little glitter makes!

The little boy and girl, that represent me and my hubby, are from the Mama Elephant “In My Heart” stamp set. I used a Copic multi-liner pen to doodle in some jeans and belt to alter the boy’s outfit from looking like pajamas. Then I colored up the images with the following Copic markers: Skin: E00, E21, E11, and R20; Girl’s hair: C6, 7, 9 and B00; Girl’s dress: RV52, 55, 66; Boy’s hair: E55, 57, 59; Boy’s jeans: B91, 95, 97; Boy’s shirt: V12, 15, and 17.

I used the Winnie & Walter True Multifaceted Heart Cutaways die on gold foil paper and layered that behind the boy and girl. I just love how this gives a bit of structure and focuses the eye on the two kids while bringing in the theme of “heartfelt thanks” (I printed out that sentiment with the Magnolia Sky font again and hand cut it into a banner).

For finishing toppers, I picked out some sequins from my stash in lavender, gold, and iridescent pink and glued a handful of them on the card front for extra sparkle.  Lastly I had some thin Dollar Tree gold foil paper that I decided to add as matting layers to the card front as well as the inside card liner. That extra shimmer is everything!

The following is a video share of this card:

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Father’s Day/For a Guy Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with an Optional Twist of Make Your Own Challenge: A2 card, father’s day, and gold
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Winnie & Walter Rerun True Challenge
MarkerPOP Father’s Day Challenge
Craft Your Passion Anything Goes Challenge
Virginia’s View All About Colors Challenge

MFT Camp Create – Glitzy Glitter

Not Just Cards Anything Goes Challenge

I decided to create a bouquet of balloon animals that are flying through the air, trying to carry along a girl from the Mama Elephant “In My Heart” stamp set–think of Russell, the little boy from the movie “Up!” that was traveling by a house carried along by a slew of balloons. 🙂

To create the balloon bouquet, I created a post-it note mask for each chubby chum. After stamping each one on the card base, I placed the mask on top before stamping the the next chubby chum so that I could make them appear as though some of them were in front of others. As I imagined these balloons to be made of mylar rather than rubber, I did not try to create a translucent look.

Then with a Copic multi-liner pen, I drew in the mouth of each balloon and used a ruler to draw the strings from the balloons to the little girl’s outstretched hands.

I used the following Copic colors for each of the animals and for the girl:
Girl’s hair: B01, C7 and C9
Girl’s Skin: E000, 00, 11 and R20
Girl’s Dress: R22, 24 and 29 with C1 for the white collar and lace trim
Chick: Y11, 15, 17 and E15
Cow: W1, W3, 0 and R30 for ears
Cat: E31, 33, 37, 97 and R20 for nose
Owl: BG10, 32, 23, 45, 49 and E97 and 33 for beak and feet
Dog: RV52, 55, 66
I also added highlights with a white Sakura Gelly Roll Pen and put a coat of Glossy Accents over the whole lot of balloons.

To create a look of a sky filled with puffy clouds, I sketched out a row of different sized arches onto some scrap card stock and hand cut it out. This was the mask I used to ink around using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass. For the grassy hill, I lightly drew in a hill with a pencil and colored and drew in grass with Copic colors: YG03, 07 and 09.

The following is a process video for creating this card:

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
AAA Cards Maskerade Challenge
Paper Smooches Anything Goes Challenge

Seize the Birthday Anything That Flies Challenge

Through The Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge – WINNER
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you’re having a great day! WOOF

The video is a start to finish tutorial, so I won’t go through all the details here, but I will include the measurements for the card base and the Copic colors used.

Measurements:
Card base: 10 1/2″ x 5 5/8″
Pencil lines which are later scored at: 1 3/4″, 3 1/2″, 7″ + 8 3/4″

Copic colors:
Dachshund: E31 and 33
Boxer: E21, 23, and 29
Pink tin can phone: RV52 and 55
Blue tin can phone: B00 and B02

I also used Clear Wink of Stella on the tin can phones and Glossy Accents on the tin can phones and on the puppies’ noses to add more shimmer and shine.

The following is the card process video:

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Virginia’s View 100% Stamped Challenge
Lawnscaping Sparkle and Shine Challenge Sponsored by Ellen Hutson

I had a Stampin Up! mini envelope punch, a Martha Stewart Martha Stewart Lace Scalloped Heart Punch (this was retired before I ever saw it, and I hunted for it for almost 4 months on eBay last year to get it for a reasonable price as part of a large lot–parts of which I re-sold since they were duplicates of punches I already had or didn’t want), and a Martha Stewart Heart Seal Punch that I thought could work nicely.

I chose what I thought was a perfect sentiment from the Mama Elephant “In My Heart” stamp set, that says, “we may be miles apart but you are always close in my heart”.

I used some of my favorite patterned paper pieces from my scrap box to punch out the envelopes. Since some of my papers were not double sided, I punched out the corners a couple of extra times of one patterned paper to line the inside of all three envies the with the same pattern (for continuity). I used red card stock to punch out the hearts and placed the large lace scalloped heart one next to the sentiment and the three hearts from the heart seal punch as if they were drifting out of each envelope.  To add a little shine, I also put some Glossy Accents on all of the hearts (yes, even the intricate lace one–the extra effort added that little somethin’ special). 🙂

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are having a PAWsitively wonderful day! WOOF

This card is being entered into the Operation Write Home Red Friday Bloghop Challenge