A flowery birthday

Today's card took a long time to make and I'm pretty proud of it. I poached this card design from Vicky Hayes at Crafting Clare's Paper Moments. Her card must have been a lot smaller than mine because it took me so many stamped images to fill in all the white! This is for a friend of my husband and I:

This is a 6 x 6 inch card. I'm really liking this size of card but I'll have to buy some 12 x 12 inch cardstock as I don't have much of it.

Materials:
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White.
Ink: Concord Crush, Rich Razzleberry, Not Quite Navy, matching markers, Green Garden marker, Versamark.
Stamps: Sweet Summer (from last year's Sale-A-Bration?), Curly Cute.
Accessories: Basic rhinestones, silver embossing powder.
Tools: Paper trimmer, heat tool, aqua painter, kraft mat, glue tape runner.

Tips and Tricks:
1. I stamped and embossed the sentiment first because I didn't want to spend heaps of time colouring the flowers and then ruin the card with a mucked up sentiment.
2. Apart from the first row, I stamped the flowers randomly in all three colours. Then I stamped the leaves.
3. I put ink on my kraft mat and coloured each set of flowers with an aqua painter. I tried to get a gradient of colours within each set of flowers. I coloured the leaves and put a pale green wash in any blank spaces.
4. I dried the watercolours with my heat tool on the front and back to help stop the card from warping.
5. I coloured the flower centres with markers of the same ink colour.
6. I added rhinestones randomly around the flowers. The camera doesn't pick it up too well.
7. Then I layered it all together with a glue tape runner.

Stuff Ups:
1. My water colouring needs work. I thought it was going to take ages so I rushed a bit in the beginning.
2. Initially I added too much ink to my aqua painter and the colour separated on one of the flower heads, oops!
3. Either I didn't wait long enough for the water colouring to dry or I didn't put enough glue on the back of the layer because it has warped slightly on the finished card (bubbled up and not sitting flat).

Pleasant Surprises:
1. The overall look of the card is nice. It was becoming dodgy for a while there.
2. I think the colour combination is pretty. I would normally stay away from navy blue on this kind of card but it seems to work.
3. I made an envelope with my scoring board that turned out ok. I practised on paper first because I forget how to do it and that meant I didn't waste any cardstock.

For my new nephew

This card took me hours to make, mainly because I couldn't think of a design that I liked. I kept playing with layouts, different colour schemes and papers. None felt right. Eventually I came up with this card. I've made it for my niece who gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy on Friday! I am posting this card and a present to her tomorrow.

My card also qualifies to be part of a sketch challenge from Lily Pad Cards, yay! Here's the link to the challenge - Sketch Challenge.

Here's the sketch:

This is also the first baby card I've ever made. I broke out some new Lawn Fawn stamps for the occasion.

Materials:
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Brushed Silver, Whisper White, watercolour paper.
Ink: Bashful Blue, Versamark, Basic Black, Stazon Black.
Stamps: 'Plus One' and 'Quinn's ABCs' by Lawn Fawn.
Other: Big shot machine, Top Note die, silver embossing powder, aqua painter, white organza ribbon, sponge, Circle cutter by Martha Stewart, mini glue dots, clear Bitty buttons.

Tips and Tricks:
1. I cut a top note die cut with my big shot machine. I stamped the rattle in Bashful Blue to make my own background. The top note die cut was adhered to the Brushed Silver layer. I trimmed the end offs of the die cut.
2. The pram and Charlie's name are stamped with Versamark on water colour paper and embossed with silver embossing powder. I used an aqua painter to colour them in. The wheels on the pram are water coloured with Basic Black ink which has taken on a purplish hue once it was watered down. Bitty buttons are adhered to the pram wheels with mini glue dots.
3. Charlie's name is layered on a piece of Bashful Blue cardstock which is adhered to the top note die cut. This covers up the top of the die cut and gives Charlie's name some dimension without using foam dots.
4. I sponged around the watercolour paper for Charlie's name and the pram with Bashful Blue ink which hasn't shown up in the photo.
5. I placed a mini glue dot behind the knot of the bow to help keep it flat and secure.
6. Lining up the stamps in Charlie's name and the sentiment took some time and tweaking. I tested the position of the stamps with ink on scrap paper until I was happy with the alignment.
7. I tested Memento's Tuxedo Black and Black Stazon on the silver cardstock and found that Stazon gave a blacker, more opaque black than Memento so I went with Stazon.

Stuff Ups:
1. I stamped and embossed Charlie's name many times in my quest to find a style I liked. I used different inks and colours, tried cutting out the letters, coloured the letters with markers, it all took a long time.
2. Some of the rattles didn't stamp properly so I filled in any missing parts with a Bashful Blue marker.
3. I have trouble using Martha's circle cutter so it took me a few attempts to get usable circles.
4. Being a teacher, the lack of capitalisation on the 'congrats' stamp and for Charlie's name does irritate me but I didn't make the stamps so I'll have to live with it. If Lawn Fawn made a Quinn's capitals stamp set, I'd buy it in half a heart beat. Maybe I should suggest it, lol!

Pleasant Surprises:
1. The whole card - didn't think it would look this good (if I do say so myself). My cards are usually pretty average and never look as good as all the other blogs out there. The acid test was my husband's reaction. Rather than, "Oh that's nice honey, very good!" (which I love hearing) I got, "Wow! That's awesome!" He sounded so surprised! I'm so proud of this card!

Cricket Card

I've been needing ideas for manly cards and luckily I had this stamp set. This card was inspired by a card in an old Stampin Up catalogue and since cricket season is here again, I thought it would be the perfect time to make it.

The green cap features special Gel-a-tins Jelly scented embossing powder in 'Pine Fresh' so it smells like a pine forest. The fragrance is supposed to last for three weeks. You can check out Gel-a-tins here and their blog is here.

Materials:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla.
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Versamark.
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Just Cricket.
Other: Modern label punch, Early Espresso striped grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, mat pack, paper piercer.
Non Stampin' Up: Gel-a-tin's Jelly Scented embossing powder in Pine Fresh, Bo Bunny Cambridge icandy brads.

Tips and Tricks:
1. This card is really straight forward. As I said, the cap is embossed with green pine scented embossing powder.
2. The grass is cut with my paper snips.
3. The cricket ball is on a dimensional as is the sentiment.

Stuff Ups:
1. The brad placement. I even used my paper piercing guide and still didn't get it right.
2. The ribbon looks a little bit loose and wonky on the right hand side but it seemed fine in real life.
3. Maybe I should have lightly coloured the cricket bat.

Pleasant Surprises:
1. My layering proportions are getting much more accurate.
2. I'm pleased with the way the grass turned out.

Motorcycle

I was checking out The Daily Marker today and Kathy recommended visiting Lily Pad Cards. I hopped across and loved it so I decided to enter their colour challenge. This is the first challenge I've entered so I'm excited! Here's the challenge link: Lily Pad Cards - Color Palette Challenge.

I made this card today and will be mailing it tomorrow to my brother-in-law for his birthday. Happy birthday Bob!

It's probably the first time I haven't included a sentiment on the front of a card. I just couldn't see where it would fit. This card is a Kate original, I haven't cased anything.
I also learnt (from Lily Pad Cards) the value of photographing my cards against a light, plain background rather than my dark, wooden hutch.

Materials:
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, So Saffron.
Ink: Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, So Saffron, Versamark.
Stamps: Motorcycle, 'To a Classic'.
Other: striped grosgrain ribbon in Night of Navy, dimensionals, clear embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat tool, sponge, sticky strip.
Non Stampin' Up: corner rounder punch by Fiskars.

Tips and Tricks:
1. I used the emboss resist technique for the motorbike layer. I sponged over the clear embossed image with Cajun Craze and Night of Navy ink.
2. I used a sponge to ink around the cardstock layers with Night of Navy ink.
3. I used the speedometer stamp from 'To a Classic' as the background stamp on both the base card and So Saffron ribbon layer. The speedometer images on the So Saffron cardstock are clear embossed.
4. I pulled some threads from the ribbon to make it bunch up and stuck the bunched ribbon down on a piece of sticky strip. I secured the ends underneath the cardstock.

Stuff Ups:
1. It took me ages to get the ribbon layer the way I wanted it. I tried folding the ribbon in half lengthways and gluing it flat. I didn't like it. I tried bunching up the folded ribbon and gluing it down. I didn't like that either. Finally I tried the pulled thread method with a new piece of ribbon and was happy with that.
2. I had to fight the urge to bling up this card with brads and rhinestones. I thought it would be too much and didn't want it to look over the top. I hope I made the right decision there.

Another Male Birthday Card

It wasn't easy to photograph this card and catch all the details but I did my best! This was cased from an old catalogue like my last card but again I have tweaked it a fair amount. The layout of the card is what got my attention - the three strips of colour with a gap in between. I made this for my Father-in-law. It was his birthday last Friday.

Again, a couple of techniques that I wanted to try are on this card.

Materials:
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler.
Ink: Versamark Dazzle: Silver Frost (Non Stampin' Up but normal Versamark would be fine), Cherry Cobbler, Cherry Cobbler marker.
Stamps: French Foliage.
Other: Clear embossing powder.
Non Stampin' Up: Sophie's Sentiments stamp set by Lawn Fawn, Perfect Pearls Mist in Heirloom Gold, Fiskars corner rounder punch, Ranger Perfect Medium Pens, heat tool.

Tips and Tricks:
1. The first technique I tried was lining up my coloured card strips and stamping on them with Versamark. Then I adhered them to the base card with a gap in between.
2. The second technique I tried was stamping the sentiment in a pale colour repeatedly and then stamping it once in a bright colour. I used Versamark to do this and left a gap for the red sentiment. Then, for that red sentiment, I stamped it on the Versamark pad then onto my Cherry Cobbler ink pad before stamping on the card. I coated all the sentiments with clear embossing powder and heated them with my heat tool. You can just see the embossing in the photo.
3. The finished card was too clean for my liking so I spritzed it once with my Perfect Pearls mist. Once it had dried, I wiped over it with a tissue to clean any mist off of the embossed sentiments.

Stuff Ups:
1. The coloured card strips are not perfectly flush with the edges of the card. Some are a fraction shorter and that annoys me.
2. The sentiments are not perfectly aligned but it doesn't annoy me for some reason.
3. Maybe I should have used a different colour for the base (like Crumb Cake) so the sentiments stood out more. Then again I didn't want it to be reminiscent of the 'get well soon' card I made for my husband which features the same colours and stamp set.
4. I also don't like the flimsiness of Very Vanilla and Whisper White when it comes to base cards.
5. I am not convinced that Perfect Pearls mist was the right way to go with this card.
6. Also with the red sentiment, I didn't stamp it properly so I had to touch it up with a Ranger embossing pen and Cherry Cobbler marker.

Special 50th

This card was made for my Brother-in-law who celebrated his 50th birthday recently. It is similar to the card I made for my husband on his birthday but has been tweaked quite a bit. It looks much better in real life as it's difficult to photograph silver cardstock properly.

I really didn't want to give this one away, I became too attached to it!! You'll notice that I've been going nuts with my rounded corner punch lately!

Materials:
Cardstock: Brushed Silver, Very Vanilla, More Mustard.
Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard marker.
Stamps: Cheers To You.
Other: Silver embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals, Hemp twine, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Clear embossing powder,
Non Stampin' Up: Put On Your Party Hat stamp set by Fiskars (for the candle numbers), Kilometric gold and silver gel pens, paper by Kaiser craft, Ranger medium pen (embossing pens), Fiskars corner rounder punch (much better than my SU one), White Fizz glitter, heat and set powder.

Tips and Tricks:
1. I embossed the sentiment 'Cheers to you' in silver on the silver cardstock and I gotta say, it looked super cool!
2. I used my Ranger medium pen like a Versamarker and coloured in the beer foam with it. Then I applied heat and set powder, heated it with the heat tool, applied the White Fizz glitter and heated it again to set it.
3. The hemp twine wrapped around the Vanilla ribbon gives a more masculine touch I think.
4. The 50th candles were embossed in silver and coloured in with silver gel pen. The flames were coloured in with gold gel pen. These gel pens were nice and thick - gave good coverage but that means give the ink heaps of time to dry properly.

Stuff Ups:
1. Apart from having to stamp the beer mugs a few times to get crisp images, I did ok with this one, no major hassles!
2. Hang on, I forgot that I had to redo the 50th image because I smudged the wet silver gel ink.

A Venture in Layering

I've been wanted to try a few new techniques lately and I'm always looking for the opportunity to use them. For this card I wanted to try a bit of layering. Not sure what the official term is, but I'm using layering to describe the building of ink, stamps and/or embossing on cardstock. This first attempt turned out to be a bit light handed but I'm happy with what I have done none the less.

I did break out my brand new and desperate to try product - scented embossing powder! I bought it (and many others) from gel-a-tins. It smells just like a vanilla latte. Apparently the scent will last for 3 weeks. The colour is white with brown specks. You can't really see it in the photo, I probably should have used a darker embossing powder (such as Chocolate Bliss or Can't Catch Me Gingerbread).

Grandad's birthday - hope he enjoyed it and liked my card. Here's the recipe:

Materials:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Newsprint DSP.
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark.
Stamps: Bliss, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Wonderful Favourite.
Other: Early Espresso striped grosgrain ribbon, oval punch, scallop oval punch, dimensionals.
Non Stampin' Up: Perfect Pearls mist in Heirloom Gold, Gelly powder - Extra Foam Vanilla Latte scented embossing powder from gel-a-tins. (The website is a little bit buggy at the moment but I'm sure it will be fixed soon.)

Tips and Tricks:
1. The layering - I've seen a lot of cards out there with a lot going on with the DSP - inking, embossing, distressing, etc, so I had a go at it myself:

• First I misted my DSP with water and then crinkled and screwed it up.
• Next I sprayed it with Perfect Pearls mist in Heirloom Gold and let it dry.
• Then I stamped an image from the Bliss stamp set in Versamark and applied the scented embossing powder. I heat embossed it.
• After that I stamped the bird from Bliss in Chocolate Chip ink randomly over the DSP.

2.  I stamped another bird in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla cardstock, cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals in the bottom right hand corner.

Stuff Ups:
1. As I've said already, I should have chosen a darker embossing powder - I was too cautious.
2. Same with the Perfect Pearls mist - I should have used more.
3. The sentiments aren't aligned properly. They are three separate stamps and you can tell. The happy birthday one is also too high and nearly cut off by the punch.

Another blokey birthday

It's been a month since I've updated this - I've only made one other card apart from this one. That's due to life and work issues, blah, blah, blah!

This card was for my husband's good friend. I was running out of card ideas for guys and looked for some inspiration. I found it through a card at Art with Heart by Claire Daly. If you scroll down, it's the second card - the shapes and style are simple but lovely. I changed it up a lot to make a not-as-lovely card (unfortunately, not deliberately!)

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White.
Ink: Stazon black, So Saffron (marker), Always Artichoke (marker), Crumb Cake (marker), Chocolate Chip (marker and ink pad), Versamark.
Stamps: So Happy For You.
Other: Hemp twine, sponge, dimensionals.
Non-Stampin' Up: Green jewel brads, paper from American Crafts: Merrymint - Peanut Brittle, Fudge, Birthday clear stamps - brand unknown, black embossing powder, heat gun, Fiskars corner punch.

Tips and Tricks:
1.  The 'birthday wishes' sentiment is stamped on a strip of Whisper White cardstock and adhered to the patterned paper.
2. The edges of the base card and the sentiment layer are roughly sponged with Chocolate Chip ink.

Stuff Ups:
1. The twine is a bit too loose for my liking.
2. The cross hatch layer is not centred.
3. My black embossing powder started to clump due to moisture and was difficult to work with. It was good quality stuff but both my black and white have become clumpy. None of the other brands do this. I wish I could remember the brand but I put my embossing powders in plastic containers and throw out the little jars.
4. My Stampin' Up corner puncher is crap I'm sorry to say. Apart from the cover popping off and it being difficult to unlock, it kept biting into my corners too far. My new Fiskars punch only cost me $8 and is a breeze to use. That's 3 strikes so far Stampin' Up - my Crystal Effects, Corner Punch and SNAIL dispenser.

Anya, Flowers and Butterflies

This card was made for my niece and I wanted it to be a little bit girly without being over the top with pink and purple. I turned again to my beloved top note die but changed from my normal landscape style to a portrait style of card. The camera doesn't do justice to the glitter and rhinestones though:

Materials:
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Whisper white (just a little bit), watercolour paper.
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Marina Mist, Versamark, Rose Red, Sahara Sand marker.
Stamps: Curly Cute, Butterfly Prints.
Other: Top Note die, Big Shot machine, Rhinestone accents, Corner punch, dimensionals.
Non Stampin' Up: Fleur Anya stamp, clear embossing powder, black embossing powder, Sizzix Spring Flowers textured impressions embossing folder, silver glitter letter stickers by Papercraft, aquapainter.

Tips and Tricks:
1. The Fleur Anya is stamped on watercolour paper in Versamark and then heat embossed with black embossing powder.
2. Anya is coloured with water and ink using an aquapainter. The colours are added at different intensities to get the shading. Basically her skin is Pink Pirouette ink with a hint of rose red on her cheeks. Anya's dress and flowers are Marina Mist. The flower centres are Rose Red with a rhinestone in the middle of each. Anya's hair is Chocolate Chip ink.
3. It's difficult to see clearly but the Chocolate Chip layer has butterflies stamped on it in Versamark and they have been heat embossed with clear embossing powder.
4. The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment has been stamped in Versamark then Marina Mist ink and finally heat embossed with clear embossing powder.
5. Rhinestones of various sizes are placed on the Happy Birthday sentiment, Anya's flowers and the pink top note die cut.
6. Tiani's name and the flower next to her name are silver glitter stickers which are really sparkly. The camera doesn't show it in this picture, but if you click on the image to make it larger you can see the sparkles!

Stuff Ups:
1. When aquapainting Anya, some of the ink leaked past the black embossed border so I use a Sahara Sand marker to trace around Anya, making the ink less noticeable.

Hubby's Birthday

Well it's two male birthday cards in a row! It's my husband's birthday in two days time and we will be in Bali celebrating it! This is hot off the press, just finished. I'm giving Jason his presents tomorrow so I don't have to take them on the plane. This is a pure Kate creation:

I'm thrilled with the result because it was looking decidedly dodgy for a while. It all came together in the end.

Materials:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Basic Grey, Going Grey, Whisper White.
Stamps: So Happy For You, Cheers to You.
Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip ink pad, More Mustard marker.
Other: Circle punch, big shot machine, dimensionals.
Non Stampin' Up: Paper by Kaiser craft, Glitter and white embossing powder, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Ranger Perfect Medium Pens, Cuttlebug diamond plate embossing folder, Coke Zero can.

Tips and Tricks:
1. To get the metal how you want it:

• Do be very careful! Jagged or not, this metal can cut you easily.
• Wash out your aluminium can. With sharp scissors, cut off the top and bottom of the can, then cut the cylinder up one side so you end up with a long rectangular piece.
• Dry off any water with a tea towel and cut a piece to fit inside your diamond plate embossing folder. Run it through the big shot machine.
• Trim the metal to the size and shape you want. I couldn't cut it straight with my scissors so I ended up using a circle punch to make the round discs. The punch cut the metal quickly and efficiently.
• I used double sided tape to secure the discs.

2. To heat emboss the beer mugs I first inked the stamp with Versamark then inked the stamp with Chocolate Chip ink before stamping on Whisper White card. Next I used clear embossing powder and the heat tool. After that I used a Perfect Pearls Medium pen (a Versamarker would be great too) to colour the beer foam and then used the white/glitter embossing powder to make the foam pop and shine. I used a More Mustard marker to colour in the beer mug.
3. The same beer mug is stamped in Versamark on the grey card to give interest to the background.

Stuff Ups:
1. I originally used a cactus stamp and green ink for the background but it looked terrible. The beer mug image works so much better.
2. As I said before, I couldn't cut the metal straight so I used the circle punch in desperation and it worked.

Hardworking Birthday

This card was designed for my brother for his birthday. This is a purely me card - no casing at all! I am pleased that I got to use a new blokey stamp set that I bought a while ago. I also made an extra one of these for my nephew as it's his birthday next week. These guys are in their twenties and thirties so I tried to make the card age appropriate.

You can also see how the summer sun and water restrictions have affected our poor grass - it was lovely and lush in the Valentine's photo, now it's almost dead. Thankfully it should grow back soon since the weather is getting cooler.

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue (which is retired, you could use Baja Breeze instead), Very Vanilla and some Blueberry Crisp DSP.
Inks: Chocolate Chip ink pad and Versamark.
Other: Oval punch, Scallop oval punch, silver embossing powder, sponge, big shot machine, dimensionals, piercing tool, piercing guide and mat pack.
Non Stampin' Up: Sizzix textured embossing folder (probably 'burlap'), heat tool, screw top brads, Clear stamps 'Tools' (http://www.sullivans.net/ though I bought mine from Starfish Lane in Mt Lawley), 'Birthday wishes' sentiment from Wendy Irving Collections: Expressions Clear Cling Stamps -  'Occasions', distressing tool.

Tips and Tricks
1. I used a distressing tool to scuff the edges of the base card, chocolate chip and brocade blue layers.
2. I used chocolate chip ink to roughly sponge around the edges of the card base, the scalloped oval and the oval.
3. I put the chocolate chip layer up on dimensionals to compensate for the screw top brads in the top right corner. If you don't, you end up with an obvious bump where the brads are.
4. On the inside of the card I use another birthday stamp as the sentiment and another Tools stamp - a man pushing a trolley full of tools like he's in a hardware store. I used chocolate chip to continue the theme.

Stuff Ups:
1. I tried to stamp the inside of the card after I had attached the details to the front. The result was a messy. incomplete impression so I had to redo the base. Always stamp the base first!
2. There was a problem with the trolley stamp - one small portion was cut too thin so it didn't imprint on the card properly. I used a chocolate chip marker to fill in the mssing details.

Finally, the Valentine's Card

This is the card that I've made for my husband for Valentine's day. I didn't look to other cards for design ideas or colours, I just chose the colours and played with design ideas until I found what made me happy.

Materials:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Real Red and Very Vanilla.
Inks: Basic Black marker, Real Red marker, Real Red ink pad, Versamark.
Stamps: Wonderful Favourite, A Happy Heart.
Other: Black embossing powder, heat tool, big shot machine, sponge, oval punch, dimensionals, paper piercer and mat pack.
Non Stampin' Up: Polka dot embossing folder, red heart brads.
Tips and Tricks:
1. It may be hard to tell, but the base card is black.
2. I used markers to colour the hearts and crosses stamp. Originally I also used Glossy Accents on the red part of the stamp, but it made the ink run within the gloss and I lost the definition.
3. The 'to my' and 'husband' ovals are sponged around the edges with Real Red ink.
4. The words 'to my wonderful husband' are embossed in black.
5. I used the paper piercer guide that comes with the mat pack to position the heart brads and get them evenly spaced.
6. I have made an insert on Very Vanilla with a red heart brad and another stamp on it from the A Happy Heart stamp set. It will be easier to write on that than black.

Stuff Ups:
1. The Glossy Accents that I've mentioned at least twice already!
2. There is the tiniest of smudges on the hearts and crosses stamped image.
3. The embossed words are a little bit uneven in places.
4. The sponging - I'm not 100% happy with it and I'm not sure why.

Hmmm... a birthday card?

This card was made for a design challenge when the Stamping For Lara forums were active. I suppose the most obvious use for this card would be a little girl's birthday, after adding a sentiment of some kind, but I know I won't be giving it away. This one is a keeper!

Rating: Decent

Materials

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Tempting Turquoise and Pink Flamingo DSP (retired).

Inks: So Saffron, More Mustard, Pink Pirouette, Tempting Turquoise, Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose.

Other: Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Stick on pearls, big shot machine, dimensionals, aqua painter.

Non Stampin' Up: Watercolour paper from Jackson's Art Supplies, gold star brad also from Jackson's, Cuttlebug embossing folder: - Tiny Bubbles, Doodlebug Designs: Sugar Coating - Swimming Pool glitter, C.C. Designs: Sugar Plums - Mermaid Emma stamp, black Stazon Ink, mini easel also from Jackson's.

Tips and Tricks:

1. I stamped Mermaid Emma on watercolour paper with stazon and then used ink pads and an aqua painter to colour her.

2. I cut a slit in the fold of the card to thread the ribbon through.

3. The yellow flower paper layer is DSP from the Pink Flamingo series which is now retired. The red flowers on a card in a post from last year are from the same paper series.

4. There are pearls on her tiara and her waist. They match the very vanilla ribbon but the photo doesn't show that.

Stuff Ups:

I wasn't (and still aren't) good at aqua painting so some of the colours have run. I was impatient and didn't wait for some sections to dry properly. As a result some colour bleeding and mixing has occurred. I have since learned that stamping in Versamark and heat embossing in black can help prevent this from happening. It also looks cool.