Happy Monday everyone! I hope you are all having a great day so far. I am back today to share with you two Christmas projects that I have made to get you in the mood for the holidays.
The December monthly challenge at Craftin’ Desert Divas (#CDDMonthly) is all about Christmas and I got inspired by the amazing mood board that Tara (the owner) has put together. For people joining the challenge, Tara is also giving away a free digi-stamp called “Beary Christmas”. Thank you Tara for this amazing digi! If you would like to join the challenge and get the free digi-stamp, please join the CDD Gallery Facebook Group here:
This is the mood board for this month’s challenge. Isn’t it beautiful?
And here are the two projects that I made. Are you inspired yet?
Thank you so much for stopping by and have an amazing week!
Hello stampers and crafters! Today is my turn to showcase my all-time favorite Brentwood stamp from www.jessicalynnoriginal.com. It is also JLO’s 11th year anniversary. Today’s post will be a little different. I will not be showing you a ton of card samples. My blog post will be all about my designing process. A little disclaimer, I am still a novice in card making. The tips I am sharing with you today are some of the things I have learned along the way being a paper crafter. I am still learning and trying to improve. However this is my own designing process so I hope you enjoy. I would love to receive your comment as well on what is yours. What inspires you to create cards or scrapbook layouts? Some of you guys are visual learners and would probably like to see some of it in action, so here’s a little YouTube video that I filmed and posted on my channel. This is my “happy” place.
First thing that I do is to make a good cup of coffee for myself. I then turn my iPod on to my favorite playlist so that I can play my favorite music while I work on the card. Lighting a great scented candle is always my go-to. I know that’s too much for some people but that is what I do for myself. I like to work in a peaceful and beautiful environment. Once the room is completely how I like it, I then start gathering my supplies.
From my experience, stamping the image a couple of times is always a good idea because if you somehow mess up the coloring on one image, then you can color another without having to go back and stamp again and again. Trust me, it will save you so much time! I use Memento Tuxedo black ink for Copic markers, or MFT Stamps Black Hybrid Ink. Now, Simon Says Stamp made the Intense Black Ink that is both good for Copic markers or watercolors. I switch between the three!
Before I die-cut the stamped images, I like to clean my stamps by using my all-time favorite cleaner, water and a chamois. Yes, a chamois! You know, the stuff that you use to wipe your car with? You can purchase one inexpensively at an auto-supply store, or order one from Amazon (where I got mine). You can reuse this a hundred times and it will clean the stamps nicely. I used to use baby wipes but they sometimes left some fibers on my stamps. I got this tip from a fellow stamper months ago at a Facebook group called Stamping Enablers. Lawn Fawn now has a stamp Shammy that they also sell in their online store.
Once the images are colored, I proceed to die-cut the images with the coordinating dies but if I don’t, I fuzzy-cut the image using my favorite Fiskars cutter-bee scissors. I also die-cut everything else that I need for my card. I like to use post-it tape to hold my dies in it’s place so it doesn’t shift when I run it through my die-cutting machine. The supplies you see on the photos are all of my favorite supplies in card making. One helpful TIP: I try to use as few colors as possible and also try to coordinate my patterned paper or card stock with the color of the images that I’m using for my card.
Have you ever noticed that popular card-makers always somehow create the most beautiful cards? Aside from using some great tools, this is the main reason why! However, this doesn’t always work for me. Sometimes, I don’t have the coordinating patterned paper or card stock but I try to minimize the colors that I use. At times, I get carried away over-embellishing my cards but then that’s what card-making is all about. Isn’t it? Sometimes I like to create simple cards, sometimes I don’t. It depends on my mood, I guess!
Once I finish the card, I then proceed to take a final photo so I can post it on my social media accounts, like Instagram, post on my Blog or use it as a thumbnail for my YouTube videos.
Another great tip: Lighting is the key to great photographs. I know it doesn’t always work but I will teach you a trick on how to edit your lighting! YOU DON’T NEED EXPENSIVE LIGHT BOXES TO MAKE THEM LOOK PROFESSIONAL!
For my cards, I use a white poster board that I lined up with a neutral patterned paper. Having a neutral color background will always make your images pop. I use a frog pin (purchased from a craft store) to hold my cards up. Once I am satisfied with the position, I take a few photos using my iPhone 6S.
If my lighting is really bad and the sun doesn’t want to cooperate, I use a photo-editor app to fix my lighting (Layout, RealBokeh, or Adobe Photoshop). However, there are a ton of free photo apps out there that can do this for you. You just need to find whatever works for you. Once I am happy with the lighting, I then use another app to put a watermark on my photos (Phonto). I started doing this now because I found that some of my card photos before were (stolen and) used to submit photos for an application to be published at a magazine. Yes, I know it is horrible and I really do not want to specify anymore because I try not to dwell on things and just move forward. I have learned my lesson the hard way. This is why I always have my watermark on my finished cards.
So I hope you guys found these tips and tricks very helpful. I would like to know your designing process and would be really grateful if you share your tips with me as well.
Here are my cards to celebrate Jessica Lynn Original’s 11th year anniversary! Please celebrate with us by going to Jessica’s Blog for more details; she will be giving away a HUGE prize at the end of the week. To participate, download the free digi-stamp and post your link at Jessica’s Blog. Here’s Jessica’s link: http://jessicalynnoriginalstamps.blogspot.com/2016/04/happy-11th-anniversary.html
I am just so excited for today’s blog hop as we are collaborating with CardMaker Magazine plus we can use whatever favorite stamps we like from JLO Stamps! There will be a FREE DIGITAL STAMP for all – anyone can visit www.jessicalynnoriginal.com and download that digital stamp.
PRIZES, PRIZES! To be eligible to win a $50 Gift Card good for ANYTHING at Jessica Lynn Original’s website, we ask that you please leave a comment on each blog. Jessica will pick one winner.
Are you ready to see the cards? The first one that you see here is a Halloween-themed card. This stamp is called Ghost of Christmas Past. I must admit that I overly-embellished this card. A common occurrence when I have my creativity mojo going. Sometimes I get really carried away. This card must have taken me 4 hours to make. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. My husband keeps commenting that my cards are so detailed and embellished that they will be too expensive to sell. I don’t really sell my cards. I mostly give it to friends. I love that when they get my cards, they like it so much that they put it in a frame and display it at their home offices! That is a huge compliment for me! I feel that if I don’t take my time or put a lot of effort into making my cards, what’s the point of even making one?
With the exception of the pumpkins, everything has been handmade/die cut by yours truly!
The second card is one of my favorites. It’s so simple but adorable at the same time. I used two stamp sets for this card. The owl is one of my favorites from JLO Stamps. She is called “Ruby With a Martini” and the cute bat is from “Ghost of Christmas Past”. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I make a lot of Halloween cards and scrapbook layouts.
The third card is a Valentine-themed card. I love the simplicity of this one. I love Jessica’s sentiments on this stamp set as well. I think she has the most amazing handwriting I’ve ever seen.
Last but not the least, is a birthday card! Today is MY birthday so of course I have to make a birthday card somehow. I combined two digital stamps on this card, and used some of my confetti stamps to create the confetti background. I also used my magnolia doohickey balloon dies to cut out the cute little balloons that you see below. I wanted this card to be happy, girly and adorable.
Which one is your favorite? Mine is still the Halloween Witch card just because she looks so stylish and I love Halloween! We are all little witches in our own sort of way, aren’t we?!
If you got lost along the way, this is the order of the hop:
Are you aware of how amazing digi stamps are? This is the weekend for you to find out. Digis are quick, resizable and take up no space in your craft room. You can print as many images as you want to add to your handmade cards, scrapbooks, project life, pocket letters, etc.
For this weekend only, all digital stamps at JessicaLynnOriginal.com are on sale for $1.00. If you have wanted to try digis, this is the perfect time to do it. Please follow along the hop to see some of the amazing work our design team has put together to show you how versatile these stamps truly are.
If you’ve come from Jeanette’s Blog, you’re in the right place!
The first two cards you see are made for a new baby boy and a baby girl. I have used the baby giraffe digi stamp to create these two simple cards.
The second card is one of my favorite digi stamps from JLO. It’s Brentwood as Mad Hatter. Of course I had to create an Alice In Wonderland themed card. I spent quite a few hours die-cutting the pieces to create a cute scene for this card. I know this is a bit much for some but I love spending a lot of time making my cards. To me, they’re little pieces of artwork!
Last but not the least, is my favorite out of all the cards I made today! It’s a Halloween-themed card and yes, it’s a fun shaker card. I used Brentwood Owl and dressed him/her as a warlock/witch. I dry-embossed the “moon” and included die-cut bats, orange sequins and seed beads for my shaker element. I love making shaker cards. Do you like this one too?
The next person is Sharon Rogers. She is an amazing carmaker/designer from Australia. Please check out her amazing designs: http://sharonshowcase.blogspot.com
Hello and Welcome to the Start of the Summer Design Team Showcase Blog Hop created by the JessicaLynnOriginal June 2015 – January 2016 Design Team! I am pleased to announce that I am one of the designers for JessicaLynnOriginal.Com.
Today we are featuring projects using the Brentwood at the Beach Digi Stamp that really showcase and introduce our talented design team members! This fun stamp captures that summer vacation and can be used in many ways. This card kind of reminds me of my son when we were on a holiday in The Maldives. He loves surfing and scuba diving but most importantly, he loves to just hang out by the shore, collect shells and play with hermit crabs. Put your feet up and grab a cool drink to sip as you travel along the hop, getting inspired by the different takes from each of our designers. If you are coming from Jessica’s blog, then you’re in the right place.
Here is the card:
If you’d like to see a video on how I created this card please watch it here:
Brentwood at the Beach Digital Stamp
Card base – Light Blue Card Stock (8 1/2 by 5 1/2, scored at 4 1/4)
Dark Blue Card Stock – 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 to create the water background
Tan Colored Card Stock – Used to die-cut and create the “Sand”
Designer Series Paper – Used to cut the Surf Board
Orange Card Stock – used to die-cut the umbrella
Dies – Umbrella Die, Stitched hillside border die, feather framelits
Copic Markers Used for the Owl ~ E25 and E35 blended with Dark Chocolate Brown Alcohol Marker (main body). I also used R000 and B00 for the eyes.
The shorts were colored using Coastal Cabana Alcohol Markers.
Copic Markers Used for the Starfish – R24 and R29
Copic Marker Used for the Coconut – G05
Hologram Shell Stickers
Win a prize! Please let me know what you think in the comments below. Comment on each of the blogs in the hop and you will be eligible to win a $25 gift certificate towards anything at JessicaLynnOriginal.com! After the hop, Jessica will randomly select a winner and announce the lucky person on her blog on Sunday, May 24th. Here is the link to Jessica’s Blog ~ http://jessicalynnoriginalstamps.blogspot.com.
Maria Russell Designs 