Search Results for: simple

“We’re On A Roll” Challenge

January 22, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Cute donut card for the latest Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with a “We’re On a Roll” theme.

Well, hi!

Once again I find myself with only enough time to make one challenge into the latest Simon Says Stamp card challenge. I had seven or eight ideas sketched out, but alas, there are other things that need my attention in life. So, here you go.

The basic idea for this challenge is wheels, circles, roundy things, etc. You get the idea.

My card is based on an idea I had to try to make a large donut using my circle die set. It was an experiment, but I think it went well. In fact, I’m planning on making a video for my YouTube channel on how to do it.

Yes, you could probably find a die set for this and it would likely be faster. But here’s the thing….I don’t have the budget currently to be buying all the dies! And I need to make the most of the ones I do have. I know I’m not alone here.

Ever get frustrated when you see someone making a cute card and think, “Well, yeah, of course….when you have that die set!”

Well, that was kind of the inspiration for this. How to get the look I’m imagining in my brain but without the specialty dies.

Since I’ll be doing a video, I won’t go into too much detail on how to do it here. It’ll be easier to understand in the video. My Copic markers, though, came in clutch here and helped achieve the look for the “We’re On A Roll” Challenge. Simple but fun.

So be on the lookout…mmm…probably next week! Until then, here’s a recent post and video I did.

Until then, y’all take care!

“Something New” Challenge

January 12, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Well, hi! And welcome to the entries for the most recent Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge theme of “Something New.”

Fortunately, I have a good amount of “something new” items to choose from as Christmas and my birthday are pretty close on the calendar. I’ve been able to receive and hand pick a few juicy items!

So without further ado, here are my four entries into this “Something New” Challenge. Let’s go!

Sunshine

While it wasn’t a Christmas or birthday gift, it is nonetheless new. What am I talking about? The December Hero Arts kit items used to make this sunshine card. I just barely blogged about this card, so if you’d like to read up on it, you can check it out here.

I love how this card turned out. Very simple and clean and features one of my very favorite subjects to create……SKIES!!!

Snowflakes

Another recent kit treasure is from Simon Says Stamp. It’s the January card kit of the month and it’s sold out! No wonder, as it’s pretty awesome.

It came with all sorts of juicy stuff, as you can see below.

For this card I used some of the stamps from the stamp set as well as the snowflake die. I stamped some of the snowflakes with Versamark ink and used white sparkle embossing powder (I believe from Hero Arts) to finish them off.

The background is made using ink blending brushes and blue, pink, and purple ink. To give the background a mottled appearance I sprayed it with a fine water mist. But that didn’t give me quite enough texture. So I sprayed it with Distress Resist Spray and let that dry. I then reapplied some of the ink blending to intensify the color and contrast. Love it.

To give it some interest, I cut up the card and mounted it onto metallic silver paper. The sentiment and the die cut snowflake have that same paper. Kind of fun.

Hello Floral I

My daughter gave me some lovely patterned paper for my birthday the other day, along with some other paper crafting goodies! (Thanks, Audrey!) So I thought for my “Something New” Challenge I could use that paper.

The floral pack of paper is just gorgeous and also has a texture to it. I love black and floral, so I paired some black cardstock with this black and pink floral. Wanting to do something a little different, I decided to use some greenery die cuts and use the negative space left behind as the design.

The “hello” is die cut from the center and then filled back in with a white cardstock die cut. To give it some shimmer, I used my Spectrum Noir glitter brush both on the greeting and on the negative space die cuts.

To finish off the card, I used white and black glitter tapes to create a border around the card. Paired with a lovely pink envelope I think it makes a charming card.

Hello Floral II

After all that die cutting, I didn’t want to waste what came off the above card. So I decided to use those “scraps” to make another card. A sister card to the one above.

After playing around with it for a while, I decided to use that white glitter tape to make horizontal stripes on the card. That scalloped circle makes a nice backdrop for the sentiment from the first card. I mounted that with foam tape so it sits above the paper.

The greenery die cuts from the first card are glued and tucked under that circle. Also charming.

And fast. I love using scraps from one card to make another. It’s a great tip!

Okay, there you have it. Four entries this time for the “Something New” Challenge. And now I’m off to work on a custom client order. I don’t do those often. You can see what premade cards I have for sale in my Etsy shop.

Y’all take care!

“New/Unused Product” Challenge

January 8, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Well, hi! Welcome to a perfectly timed challenge entry for the new/unused product theme from this Monday’s Simon Says Stamp challenge.

Why is it perfectly timed? Not only do I get to use a Christmas present for today’s card; I also get to use my Hero Arts kit from December. I took a stamping break but I keep thinking about this awesome kit and am so excited to put it to good use today!

The circle/cloud die from the set is cut from an A2 white side-folding card. I also die cut another out of scrap but added a plain circle die to the outer edge so I could glue it on top. The set comes with a single cloud die that I cut twice from white cardstock and glued to the inner scene.

That inner scene is created using the sun and rays stamps from the set. The sky is created with an ink blending brush to create the gradation of color in the sunrise. I added some sparkle I used my new Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen for the sun and the rays. Hard to see in the pic, but it’s there and adds a really nice touch.

The sentiment is from the stamp set and is stamped on a piece of scrap cardstock and adhered with foam tape to the front of the card.

It’s simple but I think it’s stunning!

Only one for this time. I’m still gearing back up after the holidays. To see some of my other challenge projects, visit this link.

Y’all take care!

“Sparkle & Shine” Challenge

January 5, 2021 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Here are a few entries into the Simon Says Stamp “Sparkle & Shine” Challenge.

Well, hi! It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I took a much needed break and now I’m back in the swing of things and ready to start doing challenges again.

Today, I have a few entries into the latest Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Never Let Anyone Dull Your Sparkle

How fitting!

This striking card is made by using double stick tape and glitter. I just arranged the tape in vertical lines, starting with the wider tape. Then I poured glitter over the entire card. It sticks to the tape! After that, I just repeated the same steps using the narrower tape and a different glitter color.

The sentiment was made in Canva and printed out onto cardstock. I then trimmed the top and bottom of the cut out sentiment with more tape and glitter and attached it to the card.

Easy! And super sparkly. Looks very New Years-y to me too!

Birthday Girl

Although this card is fairly simple in design, I think the impact is high! I love the combination of two papers that have different patterns but the exact same tone on tone colors. The metallic gold paper and Motherlode embossing powder for the sentiment really make this card sparkle and shine!

Out of This World

For Christmas I received a fun Lawn Fawn stamp and die set from one of my kids. And I’m so excited to be able to use it now!

I stamped some images from the set onto white cardstock and colored them in with Copic markers. Once they were done, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.

The background for the images was made using watercolors. It took a while to build up the color, but it was so fun to do! I’d like to keep working on this technique to really get it down. But I’m happy with this first attempt at a watercolor galaxy type background. Once the paint was all dry I splattered the surface with both white goache and a metallic gold paint to get that….sparkle and shine!

Party Animal

This card is for my daughter’s 25th birthday. I’ve been itching to use this cute birthday stamp set from My Favorite Things since I bought it a few weeks ago. I love the simple lines of the images. Clean. Fun.

I stamped three of the scenes from the set onto cardstock and colored them in with Copic markers, keeping the color palette fairly small. I wanted the overall effect to be more subtle since I used a metallic gold accented paper background. But I did trim out each scene in gold metallic tape.

So, there you go. Four entries all with some kind of sparkle, shine, or both! Fun challenge!

Stay tuned for further posts and challenge entries! To see my last challenge post you can go here.

Y’all take care, and have a Happy New Year!

“Fun with Dies” Challenge

December 8, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Hey, this “Fun with Dies” Challenge is the part 2 from the “Alcohol Inks” Challenge, basically. Two birds, one stone.

We last left our heroine (me) with lightheadedness and some kind of ugly first tries at alcohol inks. But now you get….the rest of the story!

If you read that last post, you’ll know that I decided to die cut my rather unsightly first alcohol ink attempts hoping that this would make them usable.

And it did!

I much prefer the look of the one color plus gold mixative, but the others aren’t too bad. Artsy fartsy and all that. So after die cutting them, I chose background papers and built then cards based on the mood and colors in the die cuts.

Here are my double-duty entries into both the “Alcohol Inks” Challenge and the “Fun with Dies” Challenge. And since ’tis the season, I made them all Christmas themed.

Merry & Bright Wreath

This is my least favorite of the five. I love the die itself, but it’s larger than a standard A2 size so I don’t use it very often. I allowed it to be trimmed short on one side and just positioned it flush with the card top fold as if I had always intended it to be that way.

Hey, work with what you got!

The colors on this one ran together so much that it made for a rather busy color combo so I kept the background papers simple and solid. I did, however, use trim the red cardstock with some scraps from the experiment. I also used those scraps to back the sentiment.

The Ornament

Using a die from a recent Hero Arts kit, I made one of the alcohol inked cards into an ornament shape. This was pretty busy too, but looked kind of high end and glam so I paired it with a gold and white patterned paper and a simple gold trimmed sentiment.

Merry Christmas Wreath

This wreath die cut, unlike its cousin in the first example, actually does fit the A2 card size! Huzzah! I thought this one looked nice on some cardstock from a recent Simon Says Stamp kit that I then trimmed with gold metallic tape.

Joy

This card turned out just lovely. I used one simple leaf die to cut the cardstock at random places that had a lot of color variation in the teal ink. I arranged them into a wreath shape onto gold metallic cardstock.

Using an alphabet die set, I cut out the letters for the word “joy” from the leftover scraps. The overall effect is so much prettier and more elegant in person. Hard to photograph the metallic papers for me.

Peace

My favorite one. It’s not what I would normally design. But the overall look of this card….yeah, I just really love it.

I paired this orange-red and metallic gold alcohol ink experiment with some patterned paper from a Simon Says Stamp card kit. Die cuts were used to create the branches and the word “peace.” And I used some gold scrap from the Joy card to trim the edge by the word “peace.”

And that’s it, y’all. I flirted with death (why am I so dramatic about the fumes?), lived to stamp another day, and now have five entries into both the “Alcohol Inks” and “Fun with Dies” challenges.

Now, I’m off to write my memoirs about my near-death experience. Pretty sure I’ll be on a TED talk soon, so be on the lookout for that.

Y’all take care!

“Anything Goes” Challenge

December 1, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this time is no rules–just anything goes!

As much as I love freedom, you’d think I’d cheer with an “Anything Goes” challenge theme. But what I’ve found is that I actually enjoy some light parameters within which to work. Still, I do love me a challenge, parameters or no.

So, without further ado, here are my five entries into this “Anything Goes” challenge.

Camellia Thanks

Well, I don’t really know if it’s a camellia, but it looks like one to me! I stamped it on cardstock, colored it in with Copic markers, fussy cut it out, and mounted it onto patterned paper.

You can’t tell it from the picture but there’s also super fine glitter on the center parts of the flower.

Simple card, but the camellia is the star of the show!

Birthday Wishes

I have really come to love ink blending. That’s the technique I used to make this rainbow starburst card. Post It notes were used to section off the “rays” and I ink blended between them.

The lines were not as crisp as I’d like so I used different colors of metallic tape to cover them. I love that look!

A simple white-embossed sentiment finishes off the card.

Busy Bees

The star of this card, in my opinion, is the inked and embossed background. It was touch-and-go for a while there as I got the hang of which colors seemed to work best, as well as which embossing folders worked best.

Simply put, you ink up one side of an embossing folder, carefully lay a notecard down on that inked side, close it, and run it through your die cut machine.

Sometimes it comes out looking like a fail, but once the ink dries, the color usually evens out.

Discomfort

This may seem like a strange quote to put on the front of a card, but I sent this specifically to the author of the quote, Brooke Castillo. She’s a life coach, trains other life coaches, and is the host of my favorite podcast (The Life Coach School Podcast).

I just wanted to send her a note of thanks for all the good she puts into the world! And I thought that using this letterboard die set from Sugar Pea Designs was a perfect way to highlight her contributions.

Happy Thanksgiving

Look how versatile that letterboard die set is! I get to use it on another card!

The possibilities are somewhat endless for this set as it can be used for any season, any (short) saying, any mood. I love it!

And I think we all know that the vibe of this particular card is especially true. I don’t know about y’all but those Thanksgiving leftovers…..phew. They ’bout did me in.

Embellishments are from a recent Simon Says Stamp card kit of the month (items from that kit also used on this card).

“Food and/or Drink” Challenge

November 27, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards

The most recent Monday challenge from Simon Says Stamp has the Food and/or Drink theme.

Well, hi!

Hey, it’s a non-holiday challenge this time. Whaaaaat??

And, it’s one that I had to stretch a little for. Don’t have a ton of food related stamps. Luckily, I pulled it off! Five entries for the Food and/or Drink Challenge await you below!

Burger and Fries

I like this simple card. I think sometimes I overcomplicate a card, or maybe it’s just that I like to do more complicated techniques. But a clean and simple card (CAS) is pretty satisfying when it’s done well.

And I think this one is.

I used stamps from this Sunny Studio set (the same one I used to make this card). To make the plate, I used circle dies. Some patterned paper and a stamped sentiment, and we done, y’all!

You’re The Zest

While perusing Pinterest the other day, I saw a similar card and thought I would recreate it using what I happen to have on hand.

The orange stamp is from a Stampin’ Up! set from way back. You’ll see most of the set in a card further down in this post. I stamped it in a warm gray color but stamped it once in black and colored that in with Copic markers. I used a blue marker to color in the negative space. There’s no gradation in that blue background. It’s just the weird lighting!

I made a sentiment on Canva and printed it out onto cardstock.

Breakfast

This card features another Sunny Studio stamp set that I used to make this card as well. It comes with lots of fun sentiments that can be mixed and matched, but because of the size of this slimline card, I made my own sentiment on Canva and printed it out onto cardstock.

The foods are stamped in black, colored in with Copics, and fussy cut out. I mounted them onto patterned paper and mounted the sentiment above.

And whoever I give this to better believe that sentiment….if I say this to you, I freakin’ love you cuz I love me some breakfast foods!

Fruits

Here’s that old Stampin’ Up! fruit stamp set I mentioned above. There are a couple more stamps in that set than what you see in this card, but these are the big ones!

Just stamped in black, colored with Copics, and filled in the negative space with Copics as well. I did some very subtle shading around the outside edge of each fruit. But it’s still blue on blue. Loving this…I mean, it almost looks like it’s just patterned paper and it came this way!

The scripture is printed out using Canva.

Cookie Sheet

I think this one is my favorite because I had fun making the cookie sheet. I tried to make it look like my cookie sheets….kinda hammered and discolored. But I don’t know that the look translates well on camera.

I cut out some metallic paper and made a score line near the top edge to simulate the slanted edge of a cookie sheet. Using a mini hole punch, I made the hole (I’ve never used that hole on a cookie sheet IRL!). Using brown, rust, and golden stamp pads and sponge daubers I tried to layer some color to give the look of age to the paper.

Now, I don’t have any suitable sized gingerbread men or cookie stamps so I bought some digital stamps on Etsy. I bought a couple of sets….this one and this one. Digital stamps are kind of fun because they can be resized or tweaked before you print them out. I colored them and fussy cut them out and then glued them to the cookie sheet.

Leftover cookies got glued to the, yes, Canva-made sentiment. All items then were adhered to patterned paper on the card front.

You can kind of see the “aging” coloring on the edges in this pic. My cookie sheets are way more, um, aged than this one.

So. The Food and/or Drink Challenge entries are done! What is your favorite one? And if you can’t answer that….what’s your favorite food and/or drink? 😉

Y’all take care!

Explosion Card Tutorial

November 25, 2020 Handcrafted Cards, Quick Tips

Learn an easy paper folding technique to make fun explosion card inserts in this tutorial.

Don’t be fooled by the calm exterior. The inside of this card has a lot going on! (The lovely fall floral paper and deer image are from the most recent Simon Says Stamp monthly kit.)

I don’t remember when I learned this paper folding technique to make explosion cards. I just know that once I learned it, I never forgot it. It’s quite simple after you’ve done it a few times. And it can be sized up or down depending on what card size you are making.

For the A2 size card (closed measurements of 4 1/4″ by 5 1/2″), you can use an 8 3/8″ or 8 1/4″ square piece of paper.

Make sure it’s paper, not cardstock. If you can find a glossy paper, that’s fun to work with too.

I usually prefer to decorate my paper before folding as the folds often prevent stamps from leaving a clean image.

Check out the tutorial below.

Have you ever made an explosion card? Do you know another cool folding insert for cards? Leave me a comment below and let me know.

If you liked this explosion card tutorial and you’re in the mood for another tutorial type card, check this post out.

That’s it for now. Y’all take care!

“Christmas” Challenge

November 24, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge entries for the “Christmas” theme

Well, hi!

Another Wednesday happens, another Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge! Y’all I don’t know what I’m gonna do once the holidays are over because making Christmas cards is my literal favorite. And the challenges have been lining up pretty well with that lately!

But enough about the holiday obsession, let’s get on with this challenge’s entries, shall we?

Popcorn Strings

I used a popcorn stamp, stamped it with white pigment ink, and also used white embossing powder. Then I used what I think is probably a blueberry stamp for the cranberry! I added some shading around the edges.

The sentiment is an old Printworks (now defunct) stamp. I trimmed the cut-out sentiment with metallic red tape. The whole thing is mounted onto kraft cardstock.

Winter Stencil

Recently I purchased this Carta Bella Winter stencil and have been itching to use it. Initially I figured I would use red, green, or blue ink onto white cardstock but at the last second I opted for white pigment ink on red cardstock. Oh what fun!! I love it. And it kind of has a pinkish hue.

On top of that background I mounted three layers of a Merry Christmas Wreath die cut from Sissix. I have to admit that it looks better in person; looks a little busy in the photo.

Christmas Bell

When I saw this stamp set in action I was amazed at how realistic the bell stamps! I mean, it totally looks metallic! This is due to stamp layering. This bell is stamped using three layering stamps and three ink colors. The results are so much fun!

This is a simple card; I really wanted the bell to be the focus. All the images you see are from this stamp set by Sunny Studios.

Forest Snowman

This card features another stencil that I recently acquired, but this one is from Crafters Workshop. I’ve been in search of an inexpensive Aspen tree stencil or stamp or die to use. I see so many amazing cards that have these beautiful trees and I just wanted to make that look a reality in my cards.

So I used a pink, a purple, and a blue ink pad along with these amazing blending brushes to create a lovely winter sky behind the trees. Then I stamped this Stampin’ Up! snowman (from 1997, y’all!), colored him with Copic markers, and fussy cut him out. He’s mounted just in front of the trees, which I also die cut using a Waffle Flower stitched rectangle die.

The sentiment was made using my computer!

Christmas Beach

Can I go here for Christmas? I mean, we don’t get white Christmases here anyway so I might as well just go to a tropical island right?

Okay, well, anyway….this is my favorite of my Christmas Challenge entries. The water and Hello! stamps are from a Hero Arts stamp set (the water is made using three layering stamps in three different colors) and the palm trees are from some random stamp I bought many moons ago.

I used a white pen to add the foam to the water and sand. The sky was made using ink blending. The Christmas lights? Well, those took a little more thinking. There are no string lights in my stamp collection, sadly. So I drew a string line between the palm trees with a black felt tip pen and used a super fine brush to apply little dabs of acrylic craft paint for the bulbs.

Gosh, I love a good tropical Christmas scene!

Here’s a close up of the sea foam:

So, there they are…all my Christmas Challenge entries! I hope that one of these will win the random drawing or the a designer spotlight! Did I tell you that I won one of the random drawings the other day? Yep. And I love me some free merch!

Y’all take care!

“Happy Holidays” Challenge

November 20, 2020 Challenge Cards, Handcrafted Cards, Holiday Cards

Monday Challenge from Simon Says Stamp this time is “Happy Holidays”

Well hi!

Welcome to another edition of Julie Enters Card Challenges! This time the challenge is creating anything with the theme of Happy Holidays!

As luck would have it, I was already working on this theme so I’m able to crank out some entries really, really fast!

Ready to see? Let’s go!

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

I’ve been really wanting to use my new blending brushes because up till now, I’ve been using the wooden handled, foam circle ink blending tools. I have to say the blending brushes are just so comfortable to use and it feels easier to get a smooth blend. Making that blue shading around was so much easier than the other tools I have.

Stamps are from Stampin’ Up!, except for the snowflake stamp which is Posh Impressions.

Merry Christmas Wreath

This card is the first of two I’m sharing in this challenge that use glitter and double stick tape backgrounds. Check out my most recent blog post to see how those backgrounds come together.

Finishing off the card is a die cut with just the greeting and berries colored in. I love the simple color scheme but kind of blingy look!

Christmas Letterboard

As I was perusing other papercrafters’ entries into a recent challenge, I saw that someone had an entry featuring a letterboard die set. Not knowing this even existed, I got so excited and immediately went and bought it!

It’s really fun to use, although a bit time consuming to place the letters. Pretty quickly I figured out that placing the letters upside down and in reverse order on some temporary tape helped tremendously with placement! I could just finish an entire line on the tape, apply liquid adhesive carefully to the letter backs, and carefully place the entire line down on the board. Then I gently removed the tape while holding down the letters.

I have been having so much fun with this die set! So many possibilities!

Gift Bags Slimline

I almost labeled these as shopping bags, which I guess they could also be. But they really look more like gift bags I suppose. Once I chose the coordinating papers, the card came together very quickly. I used some of the patterned paper to line the envelope.

I love making slimline cards as it gives me quite a bit of room to spread things out! It’s just the right space for this card.

Candle wick is what I used for the handles. Hey, it’s what I happened to have on hand! I used some washi tape from my most recent Hero Arts monthly card kit.

Red and Pink Stripes

So here’s the second card I’m sharing where I used my glitter and double stick tape trick. It’s pink glitter stripes on red cardstock, which is a striking and nontraditional color combo.

The ornament is stamped from multiple stamps from another Hero Arts kit. I added die cut white “greenery” from another die set and I used red/white baker’s string to “hang” it from the card top.

So there you have it! Have you started making or picking out your Christmas cards yet?

Y’all take care!