Friday, July 31, 2020

A Beau-Tea-Ful Card



Hello my Crafty and Creative friends!

Today I'm sharing my Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Weekly Design Team card with you...

I was excited to ink up the  Beau-Tea-Ful stamp set for the first time and create a card with it.I love the vintage feel that this detailed image has...

At first I thought that I might want to paper piece the tea cup...but, instead...I opted to do some Copic coloring....so here  go....

A Beau-Tea-Ful card...complements of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps!


This image was lots of fun to add color to..
I had some soft lavender tones in mind...but knew that I didn't want to go with a monochromatic look... 
so I chose the lavender tones first...then browsed through my Copic markers to see what else might catch my eye...
I opted to leave the background white...for a crisp clean CAS look....(As opposed o adding color or inking the white background area)

I had a pretty lavender tone print paper that had a vintage look to it....and chose that for the larger mat layer.
The image piece was matted with a deep plum card stock

I stamped the image and hand-cut it into a banner shape....and matted it with the same plum card stock.

I have lots of banner lies...but truthfully...I always seem to hand cut my sentiment banners...
It's so easy to do...and it allows me to customize the shape and size of the banner to the sentiment.




I positioned the matted image piece with fun foam for added dimension....
and di the same with the sentiment banner

The finished card turned out exactly as I had hoped...both color-wise...and sketch-wise.
This is definitely a stamp set that will be a go-to for me...
I hope that you've found a little bit of inspiration here at my blog today with this BEAU-TEA-FUL card....

You can find today's featured stamp HERE, at the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps web store

Some other helpful links:
Subscribe to my blog, if you' like...on the upper right of this blog page.
Visit and subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE
Fans of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps (Facebook group) is HERE
Blue Knight's Inspire and Create Blog is HERE
and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel is HERE

Thanks for stopping by today!
Wishing you a day filled with creative joy!
Michelle.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Seagulls and Driftwood




Hello my Crafty and Creative Friends!

Living on Islands for my entire life....I have always been surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean...beautifully peaceful bay waters...and a life filled with Summer shore vacations...sand between my toes...and the sound or crashing waves...and seagulls lingering overhead.

All of this leads me to have a love of ocean-related stamps and images...sailboats...lighthouses...beach scenes and more...
and now...with this new releases stamp from Blue Knight Rubber Stamps...I can add this SEAGULLS and DRIFTWOOD stamp set to my list of favorite ocean and beach stamps.....

This wonderful samp set comes with a large sand, reeds and driftwood main image... and 2 seagull stamps....
1 of the seagull stamps is a right-facing gull...and one is a left-facing gull.


After I stamped the large focal image, using a stamp positioning tool....I left the stamp in the tool...(because after the image would be colored...I will be restamping it again to sharpen up the image details) Adding one of the seagulls wold happen later....
Next, I added color to the image with PanPastels...doing some color blending to achieve the look that I was going for...for the sand...grass sprigs....rocks...driftwood...and water...
I used Blue Knight's Heidi Pettie CLOUD STENCIL to create the sky...also with PanPastels.
Then...I returned the colored piece to the stamp positioning tool and restamped it again.

This is always a good thing to do when coloring with PanPastels....
PanPastls can leave a bit of residue over your stamped image...
Restamping rejuvenates the sharpness of the image.

Finally, it was time to add the seagull ...
I went over the gull's body with white Panpastels and added a bit of grey to his wing.

When the image was complete...I sealed the PanPastel coloring with a light misting of NEXXUS COMB THRU HAIRSPRAY
(*Note...sealing with NEXXUS is not archival safe...If you want your colored piece to be archival safe you'll need to use an art-grade sealant that is archival safe.

After I sealed the finished piece...I chose the card stock colors for the mat layers...
I went with black for the image piece and a beautiful blue for the larger mat layer.
I chose to use a white base card...because I wanted a clean crisp look 


As an afterthought....I opted to add a seagull to the front of the envelope...
I'm glad that I thought of that!
I used to always add a small stamped element from a stamp set to envelopes when making cards..
Somewhere along the way I stopped doing that...for no particular reason...
I guess that I kinda just forgot about it....

This little gull seemed ideal for an envelope...so I added him to the lower righthand corner of the envelope.

I REALLY love this stamp set....
The stamp has so much nice detail...and it was a cinch to color with PanPastels....something that always appeals t me being that I am a "multiple -maker"....I rarely create just one of a card...
My thought is...if I have everything out...and am enjoying working with the stamped image...why not create a nice little stack of the card!

I hope that today's card has inspired you to find some time to create a card of your own today....

You can find today's featured stamp HERE, at the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps web store

Some other helpful links:
Subscribe to my blog, if you' like...on the upper right of this blog page.
Visit and subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE
Fans of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps (Facebook group) is HERE
Blue Knight's Inspire and Create Blog is HERE
and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel is HERE

Thanks for stopping by today!
Wishing you a creative joy!
Michelle.

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Christmas in July Card Making with Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Winter Farmland Stamp

Hello again my crafty and creative friends!

I've got another Christmas in July card to share with you today!

One of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps recent New release stamp sets is a beautiful card front sized image called WINTER FARMLAND.
I knew as soon as I saw the image that this stamp was "my kinda stamp"
I love beautifully detailed scene images...and I like them, even more, when they're beautifully detailed...but aren't tedious to color!
WINTER FARMLAND is one of those images!


After stamping this gorgeous image, added color to key areas with Copic markers.
I chose a traditional look for the barn and colored it red.
I added brown to the fence and the tree and blended some grey tones to add color to the stone wall.
The mountain is also grey...and the sky was created by lifting a light blue ink from an ink pad with a Clarity Stencil Brush
To finish the card, I added a little bit of Liquid Pixie Dust to the barn rooftop, the tops of the stone that create the stone wall...and the edges of the tree branches to create a frosty snowy look.
To complete the card, I chose red glitter card stock for matting.

And wha-la!
I had a card!

I cannot emphasize, enough, as to how quickly this gorgeous scene card came together with just a little bit of easy coloring....
Like the  WINTER CARDINALS card that I shared last week....this WINTER FARMLAND stamp is perfect for creating multiples ...

In a short amount of time this stamp will allow me to create a nice stack of Christmas and/or Holiday themed cards because it's super simple to color!

You can find the WINTER FARMLAND stamp HERE, at the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps web store.

Some other helpful links:
Subscribe to my blog, if you' like...on the upper right of this blog page.
Fans of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps (Facebook group) is HERE
Blue Knight's Inspire and Create Blog is HERE
and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel is HERE

Thanks for stopping by today!
Wishing you lots of creative joy!
Michelle

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Winter Cardinals...Christmas in July Card Making

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

It wouldn't be July if I didn't create at least a few Christmas in July cards!

Today I'm sharing a  Christmas-y card that I've created with Blue Knight Rubber Stamps New release WINTER CARDINALS stamp set.

This card came together quickly...and easily!
I stamped the image with Ranger Ink's Archival Potting Soil ink.
I colored the cardinals with Copic markers and added color to the sky with PanPastels.
Next, I added some shimmer to the branches and edge of the fence with Liquid Pixie Dust
I chose to use matte black card stock to mat the image piece.
After stamping the sentiment with the same Potting Soil ink, I hand-cut it into a banner shape and matted it with the same red card stock that I used for the larger mat layer.
I could have used a die for both banner pieces...but chose to cut the pieces by hand...which is very simple and easy to do.
I positioned the image piece with fun foam for added dimension.
To complete the card, I placed the sentiment on the lower left of the card.

This beautiful image is ideal for Christmas, Holiday, and Winter card making.
With just a little bit of coloring...I was able to create a Christmas card easily and quickly which is great when creating multiples and large numbers o Christmas cards.

You'll find the WINTER CARDINALS stamp set HERE, at the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps web store.

Some other helpful links:
Subscribe to my blog, if you' like...on the upper right of this blog page.
Fans of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps (Facebook group) is HERE
Blue Knight's Inspire and Create Blog is HERE
and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel is HERE

Thanks for stopping by today!
Wishing you lots of creative joy!
Michelle