clair087

Hi everyone! Lately I've been doodling a lot in watercolor. I plan to commit to a large print at some point, but for now, my pages are filled with various shapes and doodles.  I wanted to use up a few of the doodles, and I thought this little popsicle would be a perfect addition to a card.  I started by backing some white cardstock to a magenta base, and using the same magenta base to emboss pretty roses, using Kaiserkraft's Tiny Roses folder . I punched out small circles of the embossed design, as well as watercolored cardstock and rose-gold dotted tissue paper. I assembled them on the base, adding Papertrey Ink's Rustic Wreath die  to the center, also watercolored in rosy tones, to match. To the top of the card, I added an embossed sentiment, from PTI's Just Desserts Sentiments stamp , held by a gold heart, and a couple of washi tape banners. I finished the popsicle with a tiny heart and this sweet Summer-y card is all done! Check back soon for more cards using waterc...

Good morning! Thanks for joining me today.  We've had a great start to our family birthday bash season, but many still are coming up (including yours truly!) I wanted to share a few more birthday cards, which I created solely with dies and stamps - no pattern paper in sight. I love, love this color combo - peach, aqua, raspberry and lilac. So I used it quite a bit with these cards. I decided to add a bit of yellow, and I think it transforms the look completely! For the first card, I used Papertrey Ink's Scene It: Celebration die and stamp set  for the balloons and the starry background. The scalloped circle is from PTI's Scene It: Basic Backer die. I stamped the stars in ombre shades of Mint Julep, Hawaiian Shores, Spring Rain, and Aqua Mist .  The balloons are stamped in Aqua Mist, Pale Peony, and Berry Sorbet . The balloons got just a touch of water over the ink, while I left the background stamped as is.   Just below that, I used the banner die from the set, as w...

Happy Friday! Hope you've all had a lovely week.  With Mother's Day just around the corner, I wanted to create some cards for our mommas.  We're lucky to be able to visit them both this weekend and it just so happens that both of them also share a birthday next weekend, so I did something I've never done before! 'Two-faced' cards! A Happy Birthday on one side, and a Mom's Day greeting on the other! I know...You were probably thinking something else :) So we'll just go ahead and call them 'Back-and-Front' cards. We're planning a small get together, so I also whipped up a batch of matching mini cupcakes. Don't mind these two test versions with all their bubbly icing...The rest actually turned out quite lovely, but I'm rather lazy to photograph them all over again, so these will have to do for now. FYI The gf cupcakes are a recipe from Cloud 9 Specialty Bakery . Love these little guys and that they don't make my tummy hurt. The mix c...

Morning Friends! It seems like Spring is here to stay and I have such a bad case of Spring fever. We spent most of this weekend outside - cleaning, staining our front porch, and putting up our twinkly backyard string lights. The beautiful weekend we just had also meant that we were already able to get our annual herb garden planted, set up all the patio furniture, and even enjoyed it with friends! Yay! We're officially ready for outdoor party season! I can barely wait for even warmer days + for everything to start blooming and to start enjoying the outdoors. I suppose until then I'll be sticking to pretty blooms and luscious colors in my studio! For this card, I used PTI's Peonies on Parade   stamp set, embossed in various colors (Ranger Rose Quartz , Ranger Tea Rose , Ranger Fern Green ). I used simple watercolors to work in a bit of pigment, which I then lightened with a waterbrush. I repeated the same technique for the border, which I stamped with WPlus9's Quilt Prin...

Hi Friends!  With the month of May here and June coming up, our families always celebrate a heap of birthdays.  Today's card is just a fun, watercolor creation inspired by all the celebrations coming our way.  For an extra bonus, I've also included below a quick tutorial on how I do color washes on regular cardstock.  To start, I stamped + embossed a background by using WPlus9's Quilt Prints stamp.  I really, really love this set. It's an oldie but a goodie. And it's one I reach for quite often, especially when creating with watercolors or other color mediums.  TO CREATE THE BACKGROUND - COLOR WASH When I think of a color wash, I think soft, light shades. Unfortunately, I also think, a lot of water.  And then I think, buckled paper. Um, no fun, amiright? But I think I may have figured out a way around this one. I'm almost certain I am not the first to think of this, but I do want to share it in case you're wondering. To achieve the 'color wash' l...

Hope your weekend was lovely!  Cleaning my studio over the weekend, I realized that I tend to pile up scrap paper a lot - especially when I am testing out new color mediums...Such as my new lovely markers from Zig . So I finally decided yesterday to clean up my stash and use the colored bits. And I am happy to say that almost all of the elements made it onto this card. The wreath, sentiment, cupcake and heart were all die-cut from scrap paper. I used PTI dies for all the cutting, including Heart Cover Plate , Rustic Wreath , Wonderful Words: Friend , and Tiny Tags . I also cut up other elements (like alphabets) to keep around for future use. This way I can toss the pre-cut bits in my tote to take on the road when I feel like creating on the go.  Love feeling so productive, yay!  I stamped + embossed the cupcake over the scrap watercolor paper, and fussy cut it. I added a bit more color after the fact too, which is super easy to do and yet another reason I love, love these...