Country Home: Quick and Easy (and Beautiful) Holiday Cards

Hello my Crafty and Creative Friends! 

August has passed by so quickly...I can't believe that my month of sharing super-simple & super- quick cards with you is coming to an end!

Today's cards are a great way to finish up my month of quick-cards...because it doesn't get much easier and super simple than the cards that I'm sharing with you today.

I chose Blue Knight Rubber Stamps COUNTRY HOME stamp for today's cards.
The BK Design Team has dedicated this week to creating Holiday themed cards...and I knew that I wanted to go with a Winter-look for my Holiday card.

For the first card, I watercolored a neutral-toned background...and stamped the image onto the background piece when it dried completely.
You can watercolor a background like I did...OR...you can stamp over a subtly printed piece of card stock of your choice....
If you have printed card stock that looks like water coloring..that would be great and makes creating this card a real cinch!
The key is to keep the background simple.....light in color...and not very busy...

When my watercolored background was completely dry...I stamped the image with Ranger's Potting Soil Ink...
I added the buck and doe from Blue Knight's MOMMA BEAR and FRIENDS stamp set.
Net...I used Liquid Pixie Dust...moxed with some water...and painted on the Pixie Dust shimmer onto  key image areas...
The roof areas...tree branches...the dirt drive....shrubbery...and under the buck and doe's feet

Using Liquid Pixie Dust like this on a water colored piece will move some of the water colored background around a bit....in other words..the Pixie Dust and water mixture will lay down on the card stock like water coloring...
You can see that effect in the photos...with the watermarking wherever I used the Liquid Pixie Dust and water mixture.
The first photo doesn't show the shimmer very well...I'll post another photo below.

I chose a chocolate brown card stock for matting...
I matted the image piece... and positioned it on a white card. 

Next, I  stamped the sentiment piece...chosen from Blue Knight's COME LET US ADORE HIM stamp set.
I edged the sentiment piece with the Potting Soil Ink and positioned it with fun foam for added dimension.

Creating this card was a super easy and super speedy process...
If you need to create multiples of a card for the Holidays...THIS is a great card for making a big stack of cards in a short period of time.
 

Not a very flattering card photo...but I wanted to share a photo that showed the Liquid Pixie Dust...giving you an idea as to where I applied it.

My second card is similar...but different...
The first card was created by stamping the image on a card front sized piece of card stock that I watercolored.
This second card was created by stamping the image on a clean piece of card stock...and then painting (watercoloring) the image,

The image was stamped with black ink... and watercolored...adding some color highlights to the roof...the shrubs...sky...and driveway path.

I added the mini buck and doe to this card as well....
and I painted Liquid Pixie dust (mixed with water) onto the rooftops and ground for some snowy shimmer...

To complete this card....I chose to use 3 matting layers....chocolate brown...and a beautifully textured and whitewashed woodgrain card stock

Both of today's cards were fun to create...and qualify for being part of my month of "quick and easy" card making!

I've enjoyed sharing quick-easy-to-make cards with you throughout the month of August...
I hope that you've found some card making inspiration here at my blog...and enjoy creating some quick and easy (and beautiful) cards of your own!

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

You'll find each of today's featured stamps and the Liquid Pixie Dust HERE, at the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps web store.

And... don't forget to join us HERE:

Fans of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps (Facebook group) is HERE

and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel is HERE
and

You'll find my personal YouTube channel, In The Studio with Michelle,  HERE

You can follow and subscribe to my blog, if you'd like,  on the upper right of this page!

Weekly Blue Knight Design Team Inspiration: Creating a Gift Set of 6 Cards with the Silhouette Stag Stamp

Hello, my Crafty and Creative Friends!

As promised, my August Design Team projects have all focused on sharing quick and easy card making projects with you.

Although today's project is a set of 6 cards...it qualifies as being quick..and easy....
And I'm excited to share each card with you today!

I have been wanting to create a gift set of cards for my brother and sister-in-law with this favorite Blue Knight Stamp....SILHOUETTE STAG..
They both love the outdoors...and my brother is an avid hunter and fisherman.
I knew that this image was one that they both would love.

I created a set of 6 cards...all with night skies...
3 with a moon...and three without

I used black matting for each image.

All of the image coloring was created with Blue Knight's Select PanPastel DAY and NIGHT Palette.
The colors in this palette collection are ideal for blending night skies.

I stamped 6 of the image using a stamp positioning tool.
After stamping all 6 images...I left the stamp in position...in the tool...and set it aside...because I would be using it again after adding coloring the skies.

When the coloring was complete...I returned each piece to the stamp positioning tool and restamped the image multiple times until the stag 's silhouette was a nice solid dense black image without spots or washed ut looking areas. This took about 4...5 re-stampings.

Next...I sealed the image with a light misting of NEXXUS Comb Thru Hairspray.

If you follow my blog...you already know about the Hairspray thing...

If you're new to my blog..I'll explain a bit:

Using hairspray was recommended to me by our local art shop.

(*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....NEXXUS COMB THRU is the brand that I recommend. Using cheaper heavier hair sprays won't do the job as nicely. I encourage you to invest in NEXXUS Comb Thru (not their other version of hairspray...Comb Thru works best)

To create each of the 3 moons, I used a circle punch to punch out a circle and positioned it behind the stag.
I added the sky colors...blending as needed, to create the color and look that I wanted.
When the sky was complete...I removed the circle mask...and added some light shadowing, with PanPastels, to the moon
I used the PanPastel colorless blender to smooth out and blend each sky and moon

This moon has some light blue shading...

This version has some grey toned shading on the moon....

And the third moon was shaded with blue and purple...

The next 3 cards were created without the moon...
I used Blue Knight's Heidi Pettie, Cloud Stencil, to add a hint of cloud outlines to this night sky.
I blended the entire sky, on this card...and the next 2 cards, with the PanPastel Colorless blender.

For this night sky, I blended a few different blue tones and some violet

You can see the different colors used on this card...blues...violet and from the Sunrise/Sunset PanPastel palette...I added some Magenta

I promised you that throughout August I would share a month of cards that are easy to create .... aren't time-consuming...tedious or difficult to create.
THIS set of cards qualifies for all of the above!
Easy...quick...and beautiful results!
Plus you get to have lots of fun blending and creating colors with PanPastels!

I hope that the cards that I've shared here today have inspired you to create a gift set of super easy, super beautiful card set of your own!

Thanks for visiting today!
Wishing you a beautiful day filled with creative joy!
Michelle

You can find each of today's featured stamps and the PanPastels HERE, at the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps web store.

And... don't forget to join us HERE:

Fans of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps (Facebook group) is HERE

and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel is HERE
and

You'll find my YouTube channel, In The Studio with Michelle,  HERE

and you can subscribe to my blog on the upper right of this page!

Creating a Card with a Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Favorite ~ Lighthouse on the Beach

Hello, my Crafty and Creative Friends!

It's Saturday, and that means that it's time for me to hare my Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Weekly Design Team Inspiration project with you!

As promised, I am sharing cards with you this month that are super easy to create.

Today's card was created with a Blue Knight favorite of mine...LIGHTHOUSE on the BEACH.
I have loved this stamp from the very first time that I inked it up and created my very first card with it.

This stamped image is a perfect match for some quick and easy PanPastel coloring...with a little bit of PanPastel color blending...this card came together in a flash!

As always when using PanPastels, I stamped the image using a stamp positioning tool...
I left the stamp in place in the tool and set it aside.

I used Blue Knight's Select PanPastel palettes to color the image....starting out by coloring the sand...boulders and water first.

I didn't need to use the PanPastel colorless blender on these areas...the blending that I did with the sponge and a few colors right on the card stock was sufficient in getting the blended look that I wanted.

I used a green marker to add some colored detail to the sprigs of grass scattered around the boulders and on the sand

Then...I added the cloudy sky with Blue Knight's Heidi Pettie Cloud Stencil. Here, I used the colorless blender to soften and blend the blues and greys that I used to create the clouds.

I opted not to add color to the lighthouse.

PanPastel coloring leaves some residue on the image that dulls its sharpness...
So, I returned the colored piece to the stamp positioning tool and restamped the image to shapen up the image lines and detail

Finally...I added a silhouette sailboat from Blue Knight's FOOTBRIDGE stamp set to the scene 

Next...I sealed the image with a light misting of NEXXUS Comb Thru Hairspray.
If you follow my blog...you already know about the Hairspray thing...
If you're new to my blog..I'll explain a bit:
Using hairspray was recommended to me by our local art shop.

(*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....
NEXXUS COMB THRU is the brand that I recommend. Using cheaper heavier hair sprays won't do the job as nicely. I encourage you to invest in NEXXUS Comb Thru (not their other version of hairspray...Comb Thru works best)

Finally...I chose a deep blue metallic card stock for matting the image piece...I assembled the card... 
And.... it was complete!

There you have it...a super easy super speedy card....

I hope that you'll give it a try!

Note: I love using this image and PanPastels to create a set of 6  of this card to give as gifts to friends...using PanPastels for coloring makes this a fun easy project that isn't tedious or time consuming.

You can find each of today's featured stamps and the Blue Knight PanPastel Palettes HERE, at the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps web store.

And... don't forget to join us HERE:

Fans of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps (Facebook group) is HERE

and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel is HERE
and

You'll find my YouTube channel, In The Studio with Michelle,  HERE
and you can subscribe to my blog on the upper right of this page 

Thanks for visiting today...
Wishing you a wonderful and creative day!
Michelle.

Creating a Card with Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Trees and Stream Stamp and Pan Pastels

Hello my Crafty and Creative Friends!

Lately, I've been giving special attention to conversations that I've had with my card making friends.
It seems like everyone is saying the same thing...
They want to create beautiful cards..but they don't want to spend a lot of tedious time creating a card.
They want to add color to their cards...but are feeling like they don't want to spend lots of time coloring...figuring out color blending.....needing lots of coloring tools....or waiting for things to dry...etc

I'll be keeping our conversations in mind throughout the month of August, when I create my Design Team cards for Blue Knight Rubber Stamps...and I'm hopeful that the cards that I share each week will inspire you to take the simple route and explore the possibilities for creating non-tedious...non-time consuming cards of your own!

I'm excited to share my first August Blue Knight Design Team card with you today!
It's a conch to create!...(thanks to Pan Pastels)
You have my card on this!

So here we go...
Let's make a card with Blue Knight's TREES and STREAM stamp...and Blue Knight Pan Pastel palettes

Remember..
This is all about simple...easy...fun...quick...and beautiful!

I started out by stamping the full card front sized image (one of my BK faves) with black Gina K Amalgam Ink using my stamp positioning tool...
After stamping the image I left the stamp in position in the tool...because I would be stamping the image again after coloring.

After the image was stamped once...
I added color with PanPastels using colors from the Sunrise and Sunset palette and the BK Day and Night palette collection .
I chose a few colors that would blend well to create the water...
Next I added color to the grassy landscape areas...
Finally, I created the sky...and finally added color to the trees.

The water was the perfect place to add the duckfamily from Blue Knight's FOOTBRIDGE stamp set.

After the image was colored...I returned it to the positioning tool to restamp the image to get a cleancrisp image 
(I do this because PanPastels are a powdered pigment and when coloring...the image sometimes loses its crispt clean look as some of the powder residue moves across the card stock....Restamping restores nice clean image lines. *This is why I mentioned NOT removing the stamp form the positioning tool after the first stamping.)

After the second stamping....
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....NEXXUS COMB THRU is the brand that I recommend. Using cheaper heavier hair sprays won't do the job as nicely.

Next, I chose a card stock color for matting that complemented the colors used in the image...
and wha-la...the card was complete!

In case you're thinking of asking me how long it took me to make this card...being that I promised you that it would be quick and easy and still be beautiful...
My answer is...15 minutes...

I hope that this card inspires you and brings you to realize that sometimes..it's okay to make a quick card....that compromises nothing as far as detail...color...and the end product.

If you've been thinking of picking up Blue Knight's PanPastels...you'll be adding color to your images as easily as I did when creating today's card ...probably when you use them for the first time.

I've got a few videos at my YouTube channel featuring PanPastels....
And the Blue Knight YouTube Channel also has some PanPastel videos that BK's owner, Lynn, has put together... (Links posted below)

Thanks for visiting today!
Wishing you a wonderfully creative day
Michelle.

You'll find my YouTube channel, In The Studio with Michelle,  HERE

You can find each of today's featured stamps HERE, at the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps web store.

Don't forget to join us at:

Fans of Blue Knight Rubber Stamps (Facebook group) is HERE

and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel is HERE