Non-Traditional Christmas Colors for the Latest Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

It’s been quite a while since I joined in on a card challenge. I’ve been busy making my Christmas cards for this year. Since they are almost finished, I thought I’d create a card for one of my favorite card challenge sites, Freshly Made Sketches.

Here is the latest sketch…

and here is my entry.

Any holiday card that I’ve made usually has red and green on it, so I decided to leave my Christmas comfort zone and do something a little less traditional. How about light blue and light green? I really like that color combo, so I went for it.

I started with Ellen Hutson’s Mondo Poinsettia stamp set. I gold heat embossed the images onto Bristol paper, and water colored them with Peeled Paint and Broken China Distress Oxides. I really love the Distress Oxides. They stamp beautifully, and they are wonderful as watercolors. After the leaves and flowers had dried, I cut them out with the matching dies and put them aside.

My Merry Christmas sentiment is from WPlus9 Hand Lettered Holiday stamp set. I just love the pairing of the script and capital letters. I cut Merry out of some silver metallic card stock and heat embossed Christmas with silver embossing powder onto a velum strip. Once that was done, I needed to do a little something with my card base. Plain white just wasn’t going to be right. I decided to do a little light stenciling using the Broken China ink and a Gina Marie Designs stencil. All that was left was to put the card together. I adhered the velum strip just between the two flower groupings and popped up the flowers with some foam tape. The final touch was to add a few sequins and some Nuvo gold drops on the flower centers.

I hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by. Happy Holidays!

26Jun2017

Just Loving the Stampendous Fronds Stamp Set

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I have had this set for quite a while now, and I just love how versatile it is. For this card, I used several of the stamps to create a wreath. First, I lightly drew a circle using one of my circle dies as a template above center on an A2 size piece of white card stock. I chose a few of the stamps in the set giving the wreath a little more unique look and stamped in various shades of Distress Ink (Fossilized Amber, Abandoned Coral, Pine Needles, Forest Moss and Crushed Olive). The berries stamped in Abandoned Coral looked a little washed out, so I took a black fine tip Sharpie and outlined those.

For the circle die cut, I decided on using Crushed Olive and the watercolor “smooshing” technique. I pressed the ink pad on my mat and sprayed it with water. I “smooshed” the circle die cut around until I got the coverage that I wanted. After it was dry, I sprayed a little more water on it to give it a more distressed look. To define the circle, I used my ink blending tool and blended some Vintage Photo lightly around the edges.

I popped the circle die cut up with some fun foam, and used the My Favorite Things Many Thanks die to cut out my greeting. I twice gold heat embossed the die cuts to get complete coverage, and glued them to the circle die. The card front need a little more balance, so I trimmed a little off of the top and bottom of the wreath card front. I gold heat embossed the top and bottom edges of a new A2 sized card front and glued the wreath card front on top. I think that last step just finished it off nicely.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

18Jun2017

Reverse Confetti’s Bear Hugs Stamp Set

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I just recently purchased this set with the matching dies during the recent Reverse Confetti sale, and I’m so glad that I did. Koalas have always been one of my favorite animals ever since my husband and I held one during our honeymoon in Australia. They are just so adorable!

I started by painting some rainbow stripes on watercolor paper using my Gansai Tambi watercolors. While that was drying, I stamped those adorable koalas onto Bristol paper using my Versamark black ink pad. I heat embossed those images with clear embossing powder. (I love the way that gives me boundaries for my coloring.) Using my Zig Clean Brush markers and a waterbrush, I watercolored the bear images and cut them out with the matching dies.

I used my My Favorite Things Blueprints 13 large pennant die to cut the watercolor piece. For a little bit of dimension, I adhered the bear with the flower with fun foam and glued the other bear die cut with liquid glue.

For the background, I clear embossed a piece of Bristol paper with the Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain wood stamp and ink blended over it with Weathered Wood Distress Ink. I don’t think that I’ve ever used that color before. I love the blue/gray color! I balanced it out with a strip of black striped paper (I used my MFT striped background stamp and black heat embossed a large piece of paper to use for a bunch of cards.)

The sentiment is from the Avery Elle Simply Said: You stamp set and is white heat embossed on a stripe of black card stock. I added a few black Nuvo drops to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

12Jun2017

Using Altenew’s Bamboo Rose Stamp Set

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I have had this stamp set for quite a while now and have hardly used it. Not that I have a ton of stamp sets, but many of them end up in a pile and get forgotten. I came across this set while cleaning a bit, so I decided to put it to some use.

I started by cutting a panel from purple card stock (I know it looks a little blue in the photo, but trust me, it’s purple). I then stamped multiple images with Versamark ink and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I die cut the panel using the largest stitched rectangle from Memory Box and put the panel aside.

I clear heat embossed a few of the images onto Bristol paper and colored them with some Zig Clean Color Brush Markers. I’m still getting the hang of these markers. I need to practice some more. Since I don’t have the matching dies for this Altenew set, I fussy cut them out. Because the images aren’t that detailed, it was fairly easy. I embossed a strip of velum using a Cuttlebug checked embossing folder.

Then, it was just a matter of putting it all together. Since the purple panel was significantly smaller than the white card base, I mounted it with a piece of Bazzill Alpaca card stock. I decided where I was placing the flowers in order to find the right spot for the velum. I adhered the velum with some glue behind where the flowers were going to go. I glued the flowers in place using some fun foam behind a few to give it dimension. I chose Avery Elle’s Simply Said: You set for the sentiment and silver heat embossed it onto a strip of black card stock. For some additional dimension, I glued the entire panel onto the white card base using fun foam.

That’s it. Thanks for stopping by.

9Jun2017

My First Cutsie Critters Card

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

For the past few years, I’ve seen these incredibly adorable “critter” cards all over the internet. I have admired/loved them, but never had any darling animal stamps of my own. Thanks to Butterflyreflectionsink and her tremendous sale, I was able to purchase some sets (and the matching dies) from W Plus 9 that I’ve had my eye on. They are the Friends for all Seasons sets, and they are just the cutest.

My Empty Nest Creations card using W Plus 9 Friends for All Seasons stamps

I started with a 4.25″ x 5.5″ piece of Bristol paper. Using Hero Arts Soft Sky shadow ink, I stamped several of the animals in all directions on the paper. I stamped them again slightly offset with Memento Tuxedo Black thinking that I was going to use Copic markers. Once I saw just how cute the stamping was with the black and white, I decided to leave them as is and just do a light blue watercolor wash using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and my waterbrush.

I stamped a couple of the animals on Bristol paper and colored them with my Copic markers, and cut them out with the matching dies. My original thought was to just pop up the cut images with foam tape and place it on the black/white/light blue background. It was just too busy. The colored images didn’t really stand out, so I decided to cut a piece of velum using the Avery Elle Wonky Stitches die to place on top of the black/white/light blue piece. (Before I cut it out, I ran it through my laser printer with a cute “from all of us” greeting.) It softened the background just enough to let the colored images shine. Because velum is such a tricky paper to adhere, I just placed some liquid glue behind where the colored die cuts were on the back side of the velum. To finish, I white heat embossed the “Happy Birthday” greeting from My Favorite Things Birthday Bears stamp set onto black card stock. As usual, I thought the card needed just a little bit more, so I added some Nuvo drops in a few matching colors.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

22Apr2017

Using an Older but “New to Me” Stamp Set

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

Wish Big Stamp & Die Set by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson

I just purchased this stamp and die set recently (but I’ve been wanting it since it first came out). I just love the adorable hippo and bird with all of the birthday extras! Before starting most cards, I check two of my favorite sketch sites. I decided to go with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week.

Here is FMS #284…

and here is my entry…

To start, I cut even strips of bright card stock from my scraps (thanks Jennifer McGuire for the inspiration!). I adhered them in rainbow order vertically on to the center of a 3.5 x 5.5″ piece of white card stock. I stamped the hippo and bird using Memento Tuxedo Black ink because I wanted to color them with Copic markers. After coloring the animals, two party hats and two balloons, I used the matching dies to cut them out. To give the party hats a little bit of character, I used a Signo Uni-Ball white pen to add dots and stripes. I knew that I wanted the balloons to be cut out of the vertical stripe area to represent the hearts on the sketch. I decided on the placement of the hippo and bird and die cut the balloons out of the rainbow card front.

In starting to put together the card, I realized that the rainbow card front needed some kind of mat to prevent it from hiding. I cut a piece of black card stock the same height but 1/4″ wider. I glued those pieces together and then attached the animals and balloons with foam tape for dimension. I used a piece of patterned paper from My Mind’s Eye Happy Day 6×6 paper pad to cover the card base and attached the rainbow piece in the center. I white heat embossed the greeting onto black card stock, cut the fishtail end and attached it next to the balloon so that it almost looks like it is flying with the balloon.

Thanks for stopping by!

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2Apr2017

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #281

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I have been wanting to use my latest Simon Says Stamp Watercolor Friendly Flowers for a while now, and the latest Freshly Made Sketches sketch seemed like a good place to start.

Here is the latest sketch…

This is the card that I made…

I started by white heat embossing the outlined flowers in the set. I pulled out my Zig clean color markers and selected a few softer colors that worked well together. I used a water brush to disperse the color on each petal. Once they were dry, I heat embossed the center portions of the flowers with Zing Metallic Silver embossing powder using my embossing pen. They still needed a little something more, so out came my Wink of Stella clear glitter pen.

On to my card design…I knew that I wanted a little color on the white background where my flowers were going to go, so I lightly ink blended an area in the center with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I liked the 3 horizontal stripes on the sketch, but I really wanted my flowers to be the highlight. I found a very old stamp set from TPC Studio called Dots and Stripes. (I’m so glad that I dug into my stamp collection because these stamps are fantastic!) I chose one of the dot border stamps and stamped it 3 times with Versamark ink and used the same silver metallic embossing powder as before.

I fiddled around with my flower placement until I liked what I saw. I glued 4 of the flowers on to the white base and adhered 2 with some fun foam to give the grouping some dimension. For my greeting, I chose the “just for you” stamp from a 3×3 set from Lia Griffith (Hero Arts) and stamped it in black.

I knew that the card base needed to be something other than white, so I went with my next favorite, light gray. I think it coordinates well with the silver embossing.

I hope you like it!

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24Mar2017

Getting Out of My Color Comfort Zone

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

With the Help of Freshly Made Sketches

I know the trend in card making is now about florals and bright colors. I’ve found myself getting too comfortable with those designs. I wanted to change it up a bit (at least for me) by using colors that I never really even think of when starting a card – orange and navy.

Now, for the design…I went to one of my usual sites for inspiration–Freshly Made Sketches. Here is the latest sketch…

While I usually don’t follow their sketches to the letter, I just received a new stamp set that is perfect—Hampton Arts Lift Me Up. The detailed butterfly is gorgeous, and the sayings are terrific.

I started off by white heat embossing the butterfly on navy Bazzill card stock towards the bottom right corner of the paper. I wanted this image to be kind of a shadow for the main butterfly. Next, I stamped the butterfly with Momento Tuxedo Black ink and cut it out with the matching die. I colored the butterfly with Copic markers and added a few small white extras with my white gel pen. I attached the butterfly with foam tape to give it some dimension. For the last touch, I covered the butterfly with my Wink of Stella clear glitter pen. The “You Lift Me Up” greeting from the stamp set seemed to perfect, so I white heat embossed it on the bottom left corner.

I knew that I needed to accent the card with some orange to balance the orange butterfly, so I cut the navy card stock slightly so that I could have a strip of orange on the left side of the card. Then, I realized that the card front was still a little dark, so I trimmed a slight edge off of the top and bottom so that the white card base would peak through. Once all of that was done, this card still needed something else. I’ve really been trying to incorporate sequins (another card trend) on to my cards, but I didn’t have any orange ones (remember, orange is not one of my go-to colors 🙂 Then, I remembered seeing Jennifer McGuire use her Copic markers to color some pearl accents. I found my pearl dots and colored them with one of the same orange Copic markers that I used on the butterfly. They were the perfect final touch on my card.

I hope you like it!

16Mar2017

Need Something to Brighten Someone’s Birthday?

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I’m on a rainbow kick, and I’m pretty sure that it has something to do with this crazy weather we’re having. I really shouldn’t complain when I see pretty much everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line shoveling like crazy. As a former northerner, it gives me flashbacks!

I made this card (along with some others) to give to some friends as a small birthday gift. I wanted something that was pretty generic as far as birthday cards go. I figured that children or adults would enjoy receiving this bright, cheerful card.

I started off by heat embossing, with Recollections Gold Embossing Powder, the Hero Arts Tiny Star Background stamp. I used Barn Door, Mustard Seed and Broken China Distress Inks to ink blend the background. I just love Neat & Tangled’s Celebrate dies, so I knew that I had to gold heat emboss the detailed die cut. So that it wouldn’t get lost on the background, I also cut the die from black card stock and adhered it to the back of the gold die cut. It gave it a slight shadow–exactly what I wanted. To tie in the black shadow on the die, I white heat embossed a happy birthday greeting from the Altenew Birthday Greetings stamp set onto black card stock.

Because I’m so pleased with how this card turned out, I’ve included it in my Etsy shop. I hope you like it 😉

5Mar2017

Using Ink Blending with a Detailed Background Stamp

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

The Latest Freshly Made Sketch Challenge

I just love the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge blog. Their sketches are so wonderful because they allow for a lot of creative freedom. They never fail me when I’m in a little bit of a creative slump. If you’ve lost your creative mojo, you should definitely check them out! They even have all of their sketches archived.

Here is this week’s sketch… and this is what I came up with…

I started with an A2 size piece of Bristol paper and white heat embossed it using the Hero Arts wave background stamp. This was my first time using this stamp. I always worry a bit when I’m using a detailed background stamp, but let me tell you, it stamped beautifully! I just love Hero Arts stamps and my Misti of course.

Using Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Carved Pumpkin, Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon and Wilted Violet), I ink blended the whole piece in a rainbow like design. I die cut a frame from the Lil’ Inker Designs Dual Dotted Rectangles die set, and glued it on the left side of my card front. I cut away the part of the frame that wasn’t attached to the card front, and using the same Distress Inks, I ink blended the frame to match the base. I love how the frame got a little bit of the deeper colors. I think this prevented it from disappearing into the background a little.

Now for the sentiment…I’ve been wanting to try the Hello die from Mama Elephant for a while. I gold heat embossed it twice to give it a little dimension and adhered it in the bottom left corner of the frame. I cut off the front portion of the die cut that didn’t fit on the card. For a few final touches, I glued a some sequins just above the greeting. I trimmed the card front just a smidge (is that a word?) because I wanted the Neenah Solar White 110# card base to frame this colorful piece.

I hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Supplies Used:

Hero Arts Wave Background stamp, Recollections Snow and Gold embossing powders, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Lil’ Inker Designs Dual Dotted Rectangles die set, Mama Elephant Hello die, Neenah Solar White 110# card stock