Making Multiple Cards from One Stamped Image

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I’ve kind of been on a little creative slump lately. I always love making cards during the winter holidays, but that excitement always seems to leave around December 26th. Even Valentine’s Day doesn’t get my creative mojo fired up. That said, I just love it when I can get multiple cards using just one stamped image. Two for the price of one…who doesn’t love that!

I have a few of Simon Says Stamp beautiful background cling stamps that I always seem to go to. They are great for any kind of card. Stamps are expensive, so I love it when I can buy one that is so incredibly versatile.

1_18_18 Pink Emma Background Love Cards IMG_1450

1_18_18 Pink Emma Background Love Cards IMG_1447

For my latest cards, I used Simon Says Stamp’s Emma Background. I white heat embossed it on Bristol paper, and ink blended over it using Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry Distress Oxides (I just love how the oxides blend so effortlessly). I die cut a heart out of the center of the image.

For my first card, I placed the background minus the heart onto my card base and lightly traced the heart outline. This helped me stamp my greeting in the right spot. Using one of my new fav stamp sets, Pretty Pink Posh Everyday Greetings, I stamped my greeting within the lightly traced heart space. After erasing the heart outline, I adhered my stamped background onto my card base with dimensional tape. The final touch was adding a few small pink hearts to finish it off.

For the second card, I embossed a piece of white card stock using the Doodle Hearts embossing folder from The Paper Studio. I then die cut that piece using a Gina Marie Designs double stitched rectangle die. Using Altenew’s Halftone Happy die, I cut the beautiful script Happy out of silver metallic card stock. To finish the sentiment, I die cut a banner out of white card stock and stamped “anniversary” from Altenew’s Halftone Happy stamp set. I matted the white background piece with the same silver metallic card stock. All that was left was to simply glue it all together. Once again, the final touch was adding a few tiny pink hearts.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Computer Signature

8Dec2017

Loving the “Loose” Watercolor Look

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I see so many beautiful watercolor cards on Instagram, and I’m in awe of these card makers’ talents. I’m just not one of those free flowing card makers. I tend to stay within my comfort box. I love the look, but I struggle to achieve it. Kristina Werner’s blog post today gave me some inspiration—watercolor smooshing. I can handle that. All you do is put some color (I used Distress Inks) on a piece of acetate, wet it and flip it over onto a piece of watercolor paper and smoosh it around. It leaves you with a very free flowing colored background.

Here’s my finished card using Mermaid Lagoon and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks on a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper. I white heat embossed some snowflakes from Hampton Arts Snowflakes stamp set, and using Avery Elle’s Peace, Love & Joy die set, I cut the words out of Colorbok’s white glitter paper (I love it when I can use something that’s been in my stash for many, many years 🙂 I decided on only using peace & joy from my die cuts. After gluing them onto my watercolor base, I knew that I needed to balance the glitter out a bit, so I backed my base with a piece of the white glitter paper (unfortunately, the photos don’t really show it well). All that was left was to attached it to a Neenah Solar White 110# A2 card base…easy, peasy.

I really loved trying this “new to me” technique. Maybe this is just what I needed to get me to move out of my comfort box and give some other techniques a try, too. I’m off to check out Instagram, Pinterest and You Tube to get some more inspiration. Thanks for stopping by!

30Jul2017

The Ton’s Dearest Peony and Freshly Made Sketches #298

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

It’s been a while since I’ve entered a card sketch challenge. Freshly Made Sketches is one of my favorite sketch challenge sites, and here’s the latest sketch…

And here is my entry…

For the background, I used the Hero Arts Houndstooth stamp inked with Hero Arts Soft Granite Shadow Ink. I had to stamp it a few times to get good covered (thank goodness for the MISTI tool). Because of the design of the card that I had in my mind, I had to alter the sketch a bit. I knew that I wanted to cut out the diagonal from the background, but I also wanted to stamp my sentiment within that cut out…so, I reversed the diagonal from the sketch and cut the opposite corner diagonal from my background. Using light pencil markings, I determined the perfect positioning of my greeting and stamped that in Versafine Onyx Black ink (my favorite black ink for fine details) onto my card base. To finish off the background, I used foam tape to adhere the two houndstooth pieces. I just love how the sentiment is recessed.

Now, on to the pretty part. I stamped The Ton’s Dearest Peony floral image onto white card stock with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with black embossing powder. To color, I simply applied Picked Raspberry and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks with a waterbrush. Once it was dry, I fussy cut it and glued it to the two houndstooth triangular pieces. I added a few Nuvo drops to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Supplies:

Stamps: Hero Arts Houndstooth background, The Ton’s Dearest Peony
Ink: Hero Arts Soft Granite Shadow Ink, Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Distress Inks
Card stock: Neenah Solar White 80# and 110#
Other: Nuvo Drops, black embossing powder

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 🙂

1Jun2017

Simon Says Stamp Star Flower Stamp

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

My Mother’s Day Gift

This year my children gave me a Simon Says Stamp gift card for Mother’s Day. I have to admit, I was like a kid in a candy store. My Simon Says Stamp wishlist is incredibly long (I’m talking hundreds of dollars long), so I it didn’t take me very long to blow through that gift card 🙂 The Star Flower stamp was my first choice. I have wanted this stamp since they introduced it months ago.

The design is so intricate that I knew that the rest of my card design had to be very simple. I decided to gold heat emboss it onto watercolor paper. Using my MISTI tool made it easy to get multiple stamps onto the rough paper. Rather than use traditional gold embossing powder, I came across a jar of Zing Brown Sugar powder that I’ve had forever. While it looks like gold, it actually seems just a little less brilliant. I LOVE IT and will definitely be using it a lot more.

Using my waterbrush, I painted small areas of the flower image with Distress Inks (fossilized amber, crushed olive, blueprint sketch, wilted violet, abandoned coral and tumbled glass). To enhance the card, I added a small strip of metallic gold card stock along the left edge. I struggled whether or not to add some sequins or Nuvo drops, but decided that I wanted the flower image to be the star (pun intended).

I hope you like it. I’ve added this set of note cards to my Etsy shop.

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28Apr2017

A Simple But Elegant Card

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

I have to admit that I’ve been in a creative rut lately. It happens to me quite a bit, but I have learned one thing…go back to simple. It works for me every time. So, that’s what I did. To help with a little inspiration, I checked one of my favorite sketch sites, CAS(E) This Sketch. I love their sketches because they are generally simple, but allow for a lot of creativity.

Here’s their latest sketch…

For my card, I started with a stamp set from Lil’ Inker Designs that’s been out for a while…Filled Heart. It’s such a beautiful stamp set, and the design practically makes your card for you.

I gold heat embossed the heart image onto watercolor paper. The light coloring is from my Light Violet Zig Clean Color Real Brush marker applied with my water brush. It is very subtle, but adds just the perfect softness to the image.

The greeting from the same set is gold heat embossed onto a strip of watercolor paper. I cut fish tail ends on both sides and attached it with foam tape to give it some dimension.

All that was left was matting the card front. I decided on a piece of Recollections gold glitter card stock. This was the first time that I have used this paper, AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! It has a nice heavy weight (and it comes in silver, too)!! The photo doesn’t really do it justice. It sparkles beautifully.

After attaching the card front to a white, top folding A2 card base, I added a few gold and iridescent sequins to finish it off. Unfortunately, the photo makes the gold sequins look brown. Trust me, they are a beautiful, shiny gold.

I hope you like it. I’m thinking of adding it to my Etsy Shop.

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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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19Apr2017

My Apprehension with Large Floral Background Stamps

Posted in Cards by My Empty Nest Creations

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love all of the large floral background stamps out there. I really do. I am in awe of the beautiful cards that card makers create with these large stamps. That said, I’m also a little bit nervous to try and make a card using them myself.

It was The Ton’s Peony Crush Cling Background stamp that got me to give it a try. It is probably one of the most beautiful floral background stamps that I’ve seen. This is the card that I made…

My Empty Nest Creations Purple Peony Card using The Ton's Peony Crush cling background stamp

I started off by stamping the stamp onto Bristol paper with Versamark ink. I heat embossed it with Zing Silver Metallic embossing powder. For coloring, I decided to use some Zig Clean Color Brush Markers—Deep Violet for the flowers, Olive Green for the leaves and Light Blue for the empty spaces. I have to say that I’m still learning how to use these markers. It’s definitely going to take some more practice until I’m completely happy with my results.

For my greeting, I cut a strip of velum and chose some sentiments from Technique Tuesday’s Fringed Dahlia stamp set. I heat embossed it with the same silver embossing powder.

I trimmed the floral piece down to allow for some matting. I adhered the velum strip to the floral piece by attaching it on the back side. Using fun foam for dimension, I attached the floral piece to a piece of white card stock. For the final mat, I used a piece of Swiss Dot card stock in a light purple. All of this was attached to a white, top folding card base.

Once it was all put together, I realized that it needed just a little something more. I found a few light purple sequins, and attached them to the velum strip. That was exactly what it needed.

I hope you like it!

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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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 😉