In Stitches for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Wow, this week has really been flying by! I seem to think this almost every week, but I know when the weather starts getting warm, I seem to get more busy outside and perhaps that’s why with the weather being so nice, warm and sunny. I am enjoying it!

Today starts a brand new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week and the theme is “Stitching (faux or real)“. There are all types of ways to incorporate stitching into your paper crafting and I enjoy adding it to my creations. So here’s how I’ve added it to my card for today. I thought this would be such a cute idea for a get well card.

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To make the slider for my card design, I have used the Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer and the Magic Picture Changer Add-On dies. It looks pretty intimidating, but it actually wasn’t that bad to put together as the measuring and cutting is done with the die. I’ve used the adorable Get Well Before ‘n Afters stamp set to create this and I know I’ll be making another one with the whale to make another card as I’m in need of one. The turtles were colored with Copic markers and I’ve used them to also create the grass and sky background behind the turtle as he needed something to “ground” him and not be up in the air. I took a water-proof pen and added a scribble above his head as he’s not happy being up-side-down!

I’ve cut the “add-on” pieces and the background of the card with the Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes and Really Rainbow paper packs. But before attaching the “add-on” papers to the turtle frame, I took a needle and some linen thread and added a few cross-stitch marks around the blue frame. I’ve also cut a few clouds from a retired LF die set and added the die cut “bottle” that I colored from the same “Get Well” stamp set.

Before I attached the turtle mechanism onto the card, I also die cut a strip of grass with the Grassy Hillside Pop-Up Add-On die in some green cardstock. I then took one of the sentiments from the same “Get Well” stamp set and white heat embossed it at the bottom of this piece. The turtle mechanism was popped up over the card front base with some foam tape which was all mounted to an A2 sized top folding card base.

I thought it would be fun to decorate the envelope too, so I die cut a piece of the grass again and used it as a stencil to sponge in some grass along the bottom of the envelope and then I also stenciled some clouds over it.

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And here’s what the turtle looks like when you pull the tab out. He is much happier now that he’s back on his feet again! I think I played with this card and pulled that tab to watch that turtle get on his feet over and over! LOL! I hope it will have the same effect on the person who receives it too!

Here’s a closer view of the coloring that I’ve done. It was a small image and so I’ve kept the coloring pretty simple. For the “happy” turtle I’ve made a few clouds in the sky. To make the slider part work, you don’t want to add anything other than the coloring so that it slides smoothly.

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Here you can sort of get a better look at the coordinating envelope that I’ve made to go with the card. Although I have made some hand stitched marks on my card, the dies themselves already have lots of cool stitch details in them when you cut it out, so I think it just helped add to the design. This card is going to a male, so I didn’t want to create anything that was too over done. I think this might bring a smile, what do you think?

P.S. If you remembered my post the other day, I shared a photo of the Robin’s nest with one egg in it. Well, since I’ve last checked, there are a couple more in there now:

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Every time we go out there, the mother watches for us to leave as she wants to sit on her eggs! This is why we can’t get a photo of her actually sitting on it. But we will see if anything happens in a few weeks! 🙂

Thanks so much for dropping by today! I hope you are enjoying your week and I’ll see you soon!!

Challenges:

Sweet Stampers – Animals
Pammies Inky Pinkies – PIP1919 Anything Goes
Crafting From the Heart – Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Stitches
Watercooler Wednesday – masculine anything goes WWC221

Fairy Princess Bunny With a Pocket!

Hello friends! Hope you have enjoyed your weekend. Yay! We are finally getting some decent weather to be outside in! It’s been rainy and chilly for a while, so it’s been nice to see some sun the last few days!

Today I have this really sweet image to share from Whimsy Stamps May Digital release and a fun extra added element with it!

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I have made a tag using this really sweet Pollycraft image from Whimsy Stamps called Fairy Princess Bunny. Isn’t she so sweet?! I found some pretty papers to go with her and placed it over a purchased kraft colored tag that I sponged some white ink around the edges.

After placing the papers where I wanted them and trimming it down, I also attached a lace trim on each end of the papers over the tag. The papers also had a bunch of sentiments included in the pack, so I added the circle sentiment to the tag and then die cut a kraft piece to layer behind it. I also added some flowers and the ribbon at the top and then finished it off with some clear sequins.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring I’ve done on this cutie. I’ve used Copic Markers to color her in with using the following markers:

Dress, shirt, shoes, socks – B37, B34, B32, B01, B00, B000
Bunny, bunny ears – R11, R00, R000, C3, C1, C0
Wings – R00, R000, E000, BG000
Hair – YR30, E41, E43, E44, V95
Skin – E000, E00, E11, E21, R20, R00
Grass – G24, G21, G20
I used gel pens to make dots on wings and color in the crowns on the girl and bunny heads. I also used a Wink of Stella glitter pen to go over the wings.

After I colored her in, I cut her out from a circle stitched scallop die and then sponged around the image with a cloud stencil and distress ink. I also sponged around the edges of the scallop circle with another color of distress ink and mounted her over the tag with a piece of craft foam behind her.

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So, when you flip the tag over, you can see that I’ve made a little pocket with the same papers I’ve used on the front of the tag. I thought this would be a cute way to give out a gift card to your “Fairy Princess”. The tag happens to be the perfect size for adding a pocket for a gift card to fit into.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my little tag creation today!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR DROPPIN BY!! HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

challenges:

Crafty Creations – Anything Goes
Fab ‘N’ Funky – Anything Goes #437
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes with optional twist of females
QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #347
Crafting By Designs – Fantasy

Crafty Retreat Results

Hello friends! I finally found the time to make a post and gather all of my photos together so that I can share a post with you from last week’s “Crafty Retreat” that I went to at my friend’s house.

So the “theme” for the crafty retreat was called “Hats off to Painting!” The majority of the group likes to tole paint, but we all (including myself) like to try our hands at many other crafting avenues to try different products that we may not be familiar with…so there are some “mixed” projects today I’m sharing! I had such fun during the entire 3 days!

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Here we are with our decorated hats on for a group photo! Even little ‘Gizmo’ had his hat on, but not sure he was feeling the fun like the rest of us! LOL! (Unfortunately the host was taking the photo!) We all had our Dick Blick aprons and shirts on which was very kindly donated for our “Painting Divas” group…they were VERY generous with the bag of goodies they gave us! We had all 3 days worth of fun, classes and prizes!

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So, the reason for all of the fun crafty hats is that we were to take a hat and decorate it for a challenge. Here is a photo of all of our hats. There were some really fun and creative ideas as you can see! One of the girls was quite tired from all of the crafting and decided to take a little siesta during the festivities! LOL! It was very cool that I was the winner voted for my created hat design. (You can see on the table above and here’s a closer look below):

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I guess it’s a bit hard to see in the photo above of me wearing it, but I had hubby bring home one of his hard hats from work along with a pair of goggles and then I went to decorating it in “steampunk” style! I had fun with it and enjoyed the process!

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Here is the altered “Potions and Spells” book that I taught for the class! Last year at the “Crafty Retreat” they saw my “altered book” that I had previously made during my time as a Splitcoaststampers.com “Dirty Dozen” DT member and asked if I could teach how to make one for this year’s class. So instead of the “altered book” idea, I had them all use a Tim Holtz Configuration Book.

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Here are some of the book covers all lined up that we were waiting on to dry before we were able to start painting them. A couple of the book covers were left at the work table, but while those were drying, we worked on the inside of the book.

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Here’s another photo of me standing there holding one of the books and everyone was finished with their books looking at them at the end of class. They seemed to really enjoy this messy project! I just loved teaching these fun ladies too!

Vicki-Santa Gourd Ornament Class

This is from my mom’s class where she taught us this cute Santa ornament that we painted on a gourd.

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The host lady is the one that taught this cute penguin class! I adore penguins and I’m so happy that I took the time to finish this up when I got home!

I really hope that you’ve enjoyed all of these projects as much as I enjoyed creating them! I also had another set of calendars that I finished, but I’ll share on another post on another day as this one is pretty full!! LOL!

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One more thing to share is that we have a robin’s nest with one little blue egg inside. We have a a Prairie Fire Crab Apple tree in our backyard full of pretty blooms and I guess the robin thought it was a nice place to make a nest…so we’ll wait and see if there is a baby bird coming soon!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all of you moms out there! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!! Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll see you soon!!

Tie a Bow for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Here we are at another Thursday already! Where does this time thing go?! I’m trying to embrace Spring for as long as possible.

Today starts a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday and this week we’d like to see your “Tie a Bow” creations! I am a huge fan of ribbon and have WAY too much that I could never possibly use it all in my life time! LOL! How about you? Do you have a big ribbon stash too?

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So does it feel like we are at the salon? She’s fashioning her “new do” which I think would be so fun to go have a spa day with mom or your favorite female person, right?!

The sponsor for this week’s challenge over at Cute Card Thursday is All Dressed Up Stamps and I have used this cute image from the store called “New Hair Do” for my card today. Now although she does already have a bow tied to her hair, I thought this was a good opportunity for me to pull out some of my ribbon and actually tie a bow! I thought this image would make for a wonderful feminine/Mother’s Day card too.

I started out by white heat embossing a piece of purple cardstock with a Simon Says Stamp Background stamp called Flower Explosion. The sentiment on the black banner was also white heat embossed and placed over the design right above the “mom” sentiment that was die cut with silver mirror cardstock. I layered the purple embossed panel over a piece of black cardstock.

I ran a piece of white organdy ribbon around the two layers and then added the oval cut image panels onto the card front. I added the tied bow with the organdy ribbon off to the right side and then layered another bow I tied with some silver cord and then topped that with a pearl accent. All of these layered were attached to a 5″ square white top folding card base.

Here’s a closer look at the coloring of the image. I’ve used Copic markers to color her in with and brushed some Wink of Stella over her bow. (Which is hard to see of course!) I’ve also taken some tiny pearls and randomly added them to her hair.

The ovals were cut out with the Tonic Studios Basic Oval dies and then I also sponged some Tumbled Glass distress ink around the edges of the scallop image panel before attaching it to the black oval panel.

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By the way, I have chosen the color theme purple for my card today as it’s my favorite color. I have actually used many of my favorite items for this card, so I hope you’ve enjoyed it too! (Purple, ribbon, metallic, heat embossing, die cut sentiment, Copic coloring, pearls, florals, background stamps…I have too many favorites! LOL!) Do you have lots of favorites too?

Thanks for dropping in!

Challenges:

All Dressed Up Challenge – (April) Anything Goes + ADU image
All Dressed Up Facebook Challenge – ADU image + use favorite color(s) (purple)
Always Fun – #109 Female/Mom
Crafting By Designs – Girls
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – For a Special Lady
The House That Stamps Built – Tic Tac Toe M819

Bubble Bath Beauty

Hello friends! Yes, I’m still here! LOTS of fun stuff to share!

Today, I have a silly kitty card to share with you today:

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Oh my, that face just really cracks me up!! It’s been several years since I have ever had to give a cat a bath, but I believe that’s pretty much how they feel about water in general. I have used this Whimsy Stamps digital image called Bath Cat by Crissy Armstong. (It was previously released as a rubber cling stamp, but now you can also get it in digital format if you prefer that!)

I started out my card with a piece of white cardstock and clear heat embossed several of the solid circle images from the Whimsy Stamps Circles Circles Circles clear stamp set. I then took a few of the distress ink colors and blended them over the heat embossed circles. The ink resisted those and then I spritzed it with some water and dapped it with a paper towel for water droplets. I heat embossed the sentiment with white EP and cut it out in a banner to attach over my background.

The circle inked background was corner chomped on two of the corners and then I placed it over a blue A2 sized top folding card base which I also corner chomped the same two corners on that as well. I then added the image panel and popped it up over some craft foam to attach to the front of the card. I then cut off the edge of the circle with my scissors and lastly added some clear sequins to the design.

Here’s a closer look at the coloring I’ve done on the kitty. I’ve used the following Copics to color him in with:

Kitty – W7, W5, W3, W1, R11, R00
Bathtub – B24, B21
Bubbles – BG000
Duckie – Y17, Y15, Y13

After I cut the image out with a circle die, I sponged around the edges of it with some of the distress ink I used on the background. I used a Wink of Stella glitter pen on some of the bubbles and then used some Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops on the water drops.

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This one gave me a chuckle and sometimes even when you are feeling yucky, you just want someone to tell you that you are beautiful!

Thanks for dropping in today! I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

Simply Create Too – Anything Goes (no twist)
Daisy Chain – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1918 Anything Goes
Get Creative – Anything Goes (no twist)
Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal

Whimsy Stamps May Release + Anything Goes for Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! Hope you are having a great week so far!

Today starts a brand new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday! The theme for our challenge this week is an easy peasy “Anything Goes” theme! Whimsy Stamps is also our sponsor this week and I have used one of the brand-new May digital releases for my card here:

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This really SWEET penguin by Crissy Armstrong was previously released as a rubber stamp and now it’s available in digital format too! I’ve used the Penguin Prezzie digital stamp on my card here along with some other Whimsy Stamps products!

The image panel was cut out with the Whimsy Stamps Notched Squares Dies Set and mounted over a piece of black cardstock. I added some pearls in each corner. For the tiny hearts and the “mom” sentiment at the bottom, I have used the Whimsy Stamps Mom’s Layered Flowers clear stamp set. I stamped the tiny hearts around the penguin with some pink ink and the “mom” sentiment at the bottom over the pink gingham paper with black ink. I also stamped the sentiment ‘for you’ with black ink on the image panel from the Whimsy Stamps Everyday Mini Sentiments clear stamp set.

I found some soft pink gingham paper to use and mounted it over another piece of black cardstock and another piece of gold cardstock too. After adding the ‘mom’ sentiment, I took three strips of gold cardstock to add for accent pieces and then added some lace in the center strip that I wrapped around the card front panel. I attached these layers onto a white 5×5 top folding card base. The penguin image panel was popped up in the center with some foam tape.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring I’ve done on this image. These penguins are so fun to color! I have used the following Copic markers on my image:

penguin – C8, C5, C3, C1, blender, YR24, Y15, Y11
present – BG45, BG13, BG10
bow – R85, R83, R81, R00
ground shading – C1, E0000

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Although I think you could use this cute penguin image for a birthday or even Christmas, I thought since we are in the month of May, it would be a great card to send to mom! All you need is to make it with a few feminine colors along with lace and pearls for accents!

Thanks so much for stopping in today and I appreciate your kind comments so much!

Flying Dragon for 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Hello friends! Welcome to May! Yay! I’m so happy that my flowers are finally up and blooming! It always brings a smile to face when I see the colorful blooms!

Today is the 1st of the month which also means the start of a new monthly challenge over the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies challenge blog! All you have to remember is that you need to use a critter somewhere on your creation…that’s it! The sponsor we have for this month is Fabrika Fantasy:

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I have used this adorable digital image kindly provided to us from our sponsor called Flying Elf. I love how that dragon is looking up at her! 🙂

After coloring her in, I’ve taken a cloud stencil and sponged in some clouds behind her to give the appearance of being in the air! I’ve used the ink foam blending tool and distress inks for that. I then cut out the image panel with a cross-stitch rectangle die from Lawn Fawn and then used a cloud border die also from LF to cut out along the bottom that also adds to the “cloudy” feel of the design. I stamped a sentiment from a My Favorite Things stamp set.

I wanted to add a “magical” element to my design, so I found some really cool cosmos looking papers from my stash and added that as a layer underneath the image panel which I popped up a bit with foam tape. I then added a purple shimmer ribbon with a bow around the bottom portion and layered it over a piece of gold mirror cardstock and then an additional piece of black cardstock that was layered over a white A2 sized top folding card base. Lastly, I added some black pearls in the upper right of the image panel.

Here you can see a closer view of the coloring I did on the image. I’ve colored it in with my Copic markers. Then on her belt, the trim on her boot and the middle of the dragon bridle, I colored those in with a gold gel pen. Such a cute image!

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Here’s a better view where you can see the shine from the gold mirror cardstock. It helps to add a “magical” feel to the design, I think.

Thanks so much for dropping by! I appreciate you being here with me! Hope to catch up with you all at the end of this week to see what you’re up to!

Under the Sea Shaker for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Welcome to another Thursday and a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week! The challenge for this week is Brads, Sequins/Gems. So pull out your embellishments and have some fun creating! Looking forward to seeing your creations using these items!

I decided that I was going to use all three items for my card today:

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I’ve used an “oldie but a goodie” Stampin’ Up! stamp set for my masculine shaker card here. I’ve pulled out the “By the Tide” and “Hardwood” rubber stamp sets that I’ve had for a couple of years now. (Not sure if they’re still available or not in the catalog as it’s been such a long time since I’ve bought any SU! products.)

I started by stamping the background “Hardwood” stamp with Basic Gray ink over a piece of Marina Mist cardstock and then blended some gray and black distress inks along the edges of it. I mounted it with some Basic Gray cardstock. I’ve taken some twine pieces and used it to fashion a “netting” accent from the side of the card onto the bottom front and then added some blue glitter around it for some fun texture and sparkle.

For the shaker element of my card, I’ve used some circle dies to create the frames and that’s where I’ve attached the silver brads all around the edge. I’ve used some more distress inks and stamp some more images from the stamp set for the inside of the shaker design. I’ve added some sequins for the inside of the shaker window and placed it over the front of the card over the netting accent. I stamped the images with Gray and Cajun ink pads and then colored them in and randomly placed them over the card design.

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Lastly, I’ve taken some rhinestones and colored them with a Copic marker so that I could get the blue color for my design.

Thanks for dropping in!

challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday – Going Around in Circles
Use Your Stuff – Yarn/String/Twine
Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
Retro Rubber – Anything Goes #rrcb109
Crafty Creations – Anything Goes

Whimsy Critters Everywhere!

Hello friends! Hope you are having a wonderful week so far! I have been busy in my craft room trying to prepare for a class next week along with trying to help my son pack and move out of state…so my plate has been a bit full lately. I do have a couple of really fun critter creations that I’ve made using some Whimsy Stamps products today:

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If you don’t remember, Whimsy Stamps has come out with a couple of really adorable clear stamp sets to help promote their “Adopt Don’t Shop” campaign with $1 of the sale from each stamp sold going to the Gulf Coast Humane Society.

Now, normally I am a “dog fan”, but I know many of my blog friends and several others are huge cat fans as well! I have also been requested to make up some cat friendly cards too! So, I thought this would be such a great opportunity to make one! I’ve used the adorable Adopt Don’t Shop CATS clear stamp set for this one.

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I have used a kraft colored A2 sized top folding card base and stamped the little paw print from the stamp set with the same color around the edges. I also took the humorous sentiment from the set and white heat embossed it over a piece of espresso cardstock and cut a banner strip from it. This same color of cardstock was used as a layer behind the kitty image panel that I’ve cut out with the WS Hand Stitched Nested Rectangles die. I covered up the bottom portion of this panel with some plaid papers. I then wrapped some twine around the middle of it and tied a bow which I have attached a wood veneer heart in the middle.

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Here’s another card I had made to help cheer someone.

Vicki-WS-I'veGotYourBack-flat Here’s a pop quizz…. if you’ve known Whimsy Stamps for a while, does this particular image look familiar to you? It’s a VERY old one and also one of the very first rubber stamp sets that Whimsy Stamps sold! I believe mine is dated 2009! I wanted to keep it as I’ve been a part of this company off and on since it started! 🙂 Really cool to still have it. Obviously, it’s not available for purchase, but they did offer it as a freebie during their “Adopt Don’t Shop” party event last month. The paw prints along the edges were also used from an older stamp set from Whimsy Stamps as well. (You can see a portion of it on the right side of the photo above.) Vicki-WS-I'veGotYourBack1

Both of these images were colored with Copics.

The sentiment came from the same stamp set and was white heat embossed and cut out with the WS Quick Strips Die set. I cut around the pup’s tail and then used a rectangle die to cut the rest of the image out and then layered onto a black piece of cardstock cut from a scallop rectangle die. I layered the paw print piece, another piece of black cardstock and the image panel onto a white top folding A2 sized card base. Lastly, I’ve added a few black enamel dots and even gave their eyes some shine with glossy accents.

Thanks so much for dropping in today! Hope you’ve enjoyed my critter cards! I’ll be back again tomorrow with a different kind of critter! 🙂

Challenges: –

Crafty Catz – Anything Goes
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – #344 Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1916 Anything Goes
Creative Moments – Anything Goes

Happy Spring With Beautiful Blooms

Hello friends! Just popping by to wish you all a wonderful weekend and to share a “Happy Spring” card to make you smile:

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So, for my card, I started with the glitter embossed panel from the kit and took the Sea Glass ink pad that came with the kit and ink blended over this panel. I cut it down and then die cut a scallop piece of the purple cardstock from the kit and then attached it to an A2 sized top folding white piece of cardstock.

Although I really liked the sentiments from this stamp set, I wanted it to be Spring-like, so I took a sentiment from a different stamp set and stamped it with black ink over a piece of vellum and then clear heat embossed it. I cut the strip into a banner and then ran it through my Xyron machine to get it sticky and attached to the bottom of the card front.

Lastly, I’ve attached the image with foam tape over the card front panel and then glued a bow made with some of the ribbon from the kit. I then attached some purple-colored gems, also from the kit, randomly over the front.

Here’s a closer view of the watercolor I’ve done over this image. First, I’ve heat embossed the image and used the Aqua Pigments to color it in. I’ve slightly tilted it so you can see the pretty shimmer that these Aqua Pigments give to the look of it! The regular colors don’t shimmer, but the metallic do shimmer beautifully! I then glued the bow of the wreath image and popped up the wreath to place on the front of the card.

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