Paper craft project no. 334: Happy birthday one layer card

We continue to celebrate Time Out Challenges' first birthday! To celebrate the occasion, we're sponsored by Uniko and STAMPlorations, who are offering gift certificates to their shops. 

We'd love you to play along and create a project that's inspired by this photo:

Source: Etsy

Joining the TO girls this week is guest designer Mandi of Faith, Hope and Crafts. I hope you'll come check out the TO blog, take a look at some more projects, and play along with us!

I continue my love affair with my Gelli plate with my one layer card. I made this card for someone -- it winged its way to the east coast early last week, when the recipient was still in the US. I'm not sure she received it before she left yesterday! I blame the snow for the mail delivery delay :o( In any case, I took my inspiration from the colors in the photo -- blue, yellow, brown...and then some green (as I imagined those twigs in the vase used to have verdant leaves). I made a negative print using the ARTplorations Happy Flowers stencil. This is the same monoprinting technique I used to make this card here -- I simply brayered different colors of acrylic paints instead of just one. Here's the 90-second video tutorial I made earlier in the week to demo this technique:

Once the print was dry, I stamped the sentiment from Blossom Overture, added a bit of faux texture by partially stamping on the background with Live Love Laugh, and then finished the card by adding the blue border with my Japanese watercolor brush marker.

Linking up my card to these fun challenges:

• Simon Says Monday Challenge - B is for... *this card is a birthday card and it's got blooms and a blue border*
• Inspiration Destination #24
• Mod Squad - Flowers

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 333: I am so happy for you [with mini video tutorial]

It's DAY 3 -- the last day! -- of the fun ARTplorations stencil blog hop! In the last 3 days, the STAMPlorations girls have been sharing projects showcasing ARTplorations stencils. I hope you've enjoyed the hop and have been inspired by the many projects we've shared. We're giving away prizes along the way too. Simply leave a comment here, on my team's blogs, and on the STAMPlorations blog by Friday, March 13, for lots of chances to win one of several prizes.

For my 2 previous cards, you've seen me use prints where I did negative space monoprinting. However, I've only used one stencil for each print. This time around, I thought about using the same technique on several stencils. And instead of having the panels pre-cut, I pulled prints on whole sheets of cardstock and then trimmed them to size later. Before pulling the negative print, though, I pulled two positive prints. I made another short video (80 seconds!) to show you how it's done:

In the video, I used purple acrylic paint. I had done a few prints earlier using blue paint but I forgot to set up my video when I was doing my initial prints :o) It would also explain why the stencils in the video are dirty -- I've used them earlier and simply let the paint dry instead of washing them (I'm lazy that way). Anyway, the end result is that I ended up with 8 cards from the negative prints (4 purple, 4 blue). I had 4 whole sheets of positive prints that I set aside and will use later. Stencils I used: Butterfly Dance, Leaf Prints, Shutters, Old Rose Prints, and Brackets.

Here's the blue version:

The print looks grungy and graphic enough that it didn't need any more stamping. I simply adhered the panel to the card base. Then on a piece of cardstock, I stamped the label and sentiment from the Blossom Overture set, fussy cut it, and stuck it to the panel with foam dots for a little dimension. And I've got a graphic card done! Well, make that 8! I'm a happy camper!

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our Day 3 Projects here. If you missed any of the projects, you can always go back to the STAMPlorations blog and start from there. Commenting is open until Friday so you still have 3 days to hop along. We'll announce the winners on Sunday, March 15, so be sure to check the blog then to see if you're the winner of an ARTplorations stencil or a $15 gift certificate.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

~Shery

PS: I hope you enjoyed my mini video tutorials! If you like them and would like to see similar tutorials, leave a comment letting me know and I'll do my best to accommodate. Please also consider following my blog so you don't miss my other videos :o)

Paper craft project no. 332: You are so amazing [with mini video tutorial]

It's DAY 2 of the fun ARTplorations stencil blog hop! For 3 whole days, the STAMPlorations girls are sharing projects showcasing ARTplorations stencils. We've got prizes too for hoppers! Simply leave a comment here, on my team's blogs, and on the STAMPlorations blog by Friday, March 13, for lots of chances to win one of several prizes. 

Using my Gelli plate has been the easiest and quickest way for me to make cards lately. Time and energy are at a premium since I'm pregnant. I'm in my second trimester (15 1/2 weeks today) but I'm still dealing with the morning sickness, lack of sleep, and exhaustion, so I need to use my time at the craft table wisely. For my card today, I used the Honeycomb Delight stencil. This time around, I managed to pull 5 prints (for 5 cards!) by doing layered monoprinting. Here's another short video (90 seconds) showing how I pulled each print:

I created 5 cards out of the prints and what you're seeing today is the card made from print #5. (I'm saving the others for showing later.) I may be in love with blue lately, but orange is one of two of my favorite colors of all time :o). I mounted the print to my card base and worked on adding some faux textures: I used Mixed Media Grunge (a fun new set coming this April) and butterflies from Trendy Butterflies and I stamped them in coffee (brown) archival ink. The sentiment is from Hashtag Authentic and the brush stroke is from Celebrate Artsy. My grunge-lovin' artsy heart is totally lovin' this card :o)

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Stop by again tomorrow for DAY 3 of the ARTplorations stencil blog hop!

I'm no good at color challenges, but I couldn't resist playing at Colour Me -- where it's Tangelo Twist (orange) + Neutral. This orange-lovin' girl just had to play :o)

Also linking this up to Simon Says Monday Challenge - B is for... *I've got butterflies on my card stamped in brown ink + my background looks like a beehive :o)*

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 331: You are awesome [with mini video tutorial]

It's DAY 1 of the fun ARTplorations stencil blog hop! For the next 3 days, the STAMPlorations girls will be sharing projects showcasing ARTplorations stencils. And a blog hop wouldn't be complete without prizes along the way! Simply leave a comment here, on my team's blogs, and on the STAMPlorations blog by Friday, March 13, for lots of chances to win one of several prizes. 

SIX (6) winners (2 winners per day) randomly drawn from all comments left on the designers' blogs will win their choice of ARTplorations stencil. THREE (3) winners (1 winner per day) randomly drawn from comments left on the STAMPlorations blog will each win a $15 gift certificate to the STAMPlorations shop. Plus there'll be surprise prizes along the way :o)

For my card, I did some monoprinting using the Happy Flowers stencil, Gelli plate, and acrylic paints. I was able to pull 4 prints from this one. I went monochromatic and used 3 different shades of blue acrylic paints on my Gelli plate. Rather than describe how each print looks, here's a short video (under 90 seconds):

I picked one of the prints I did after the paint was dry and mounted it to my card base. For the background, I used stamps from Mixed Media Grunge, the April/May 2015 stamp club set that will be available in the shop beginning on the first week of April. (If you're a stamp club member, you'll get to preview the set on March 15 and you'll receive this when your subscription renews in April or May.) The sentiment is from the Hashtag Authentic set.

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all our projects here. Stop by again tomorrow for DAY 2 of the ARTplorations stencil blog hop!

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 330: So thankful one layer card

At Time Out Challenges, we are celebrating our first birthday! A year ago, I was honored to have been invited by Nonni and Sandie to join the TO design team. Since then it's been a fun ride and I'm excited for the future and to join the talented TO girls into its second year.

For this challenge, we have the inspiration photo below. We'd love you to create a project based on it -- you can take inspiration from the frames, the white wooden panel, the colors, the branch. Because it's a birthday celebration challenge, there are prizes! The winner (as voted by the DT) will win gift certificates from Uniko and STAMPlorations. And one winner (randomly drawn) will win an ARTplorations Celebration/Birthday stencil pack from STAMPlorations. Do check out the projects that my teammates created, as well as the card by our guest designer, Mandi.

Source: Etsy

For my card, I was inspired by the bright, happy colors and the frames. For the artsy flower imprint, I used the Happy Flowers stencils from ARTplorations. It's actually leftover paint on the stencil when I used it on another card. I used Distress paints then flipped over the stencil, laid it on top of my card base, and brayered over it to transfer the paint. (This is the same technique I used to create the second coffee card found here.) I stamped the sentiment from the new set, Blossom Overture, by STAMPlorations and finished the card by adding the bright orange border with a Japanese watercolor brush marker.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to smile :o)

~Shery