A card fit for a princess

We spent the weekend visiting some wonderful friends to help celebrate the second birthday of their little princess. She has a Cinderella infatuation at the moment, so the birthday party was appropriately " 'rella" themed. I love to theme gifts so that they match or complement the event we are attending. This time was different, though, because this time my hubby and I worked together to create a beautiful gift for the birthday girl! I've always considered myself to be fairly crafty in general. But the things I make are not really anything that will last (yet... I'm working on that.) They are not for specific occasions, not to be used on a regular day. My hubby, however, is so freaking talented. He works on cars, re-did most of our house by himself, and now he has gotten into wood working. For this particular princess, he decided to gift her a sweet rocking horse, and he asked me to do the more detailed painting. Since the party was " 'rella" themed, we decided to do a " 'rella" horse.

Naturally, I needed to make a card to go along with it. I pictured something magical, somewhat ethereal, with a bokeh background and the horse and carriage from Frantic Stamper. I am not an expert on bokeh, far from it, nor do I have any extensive skills with ink blending, so I did my best. (Ahem, it took me four tries to get the background before I was satisfied...)

I blended several shades of blue on my cardstock panel, then added bokeh dots (stamped off once to soften the color) in blue and gold. I die cut the horse and carriage and sentiment from Silhouette gold printable foil (it is adhesive backed, which is awesome) and put the sentiment from Winnie and Walter on a vellum panel. I added a few die cut glitter "twinkles" and some gold star confetti to give the horse and carriage the illusion that it had just been transformed from a pumpkin and a mouse. :) one of my absolute favorite cards to date. The birthday girl's parents were so amazed that hubby made the gift that the card was almost overkill haha.

I hope you like this card and my hubby's fabulous rocking horse!! He's so talented. I hope your weekend was fantastic!

P.S. I reached 200 Instagram followers last week. When I get to 250, I will do a giveaway. :)

Where do the Zig Clean Color pens fit in the Distress palette?

I just received my first order of the Zig pens, and I'm already in love. What everyone has been saying is completely true: the blend is gorgeous, with or without water. Now, I hesitated to order these, because I wasn't sure whether I truly *needed* them, since I have and love my distress markers, but I thought I would get some to fill in holes in my distress palette. Tim Holtz, for all of his wonderfulness, is still just a man, so pinks and purples are just not his thing. I focused mainly on those two colors with my Zig order, adding in some blues and a green.

I did my swatches for my Jennifer McGuire swatch book, and I thought I would share with you how the Zig pens fit in the TH palette. Thus far, I am extremely pleased with my purchase, as the Zig pens are very bright and vibrant, an attribute I find to be lacking in the more muted Distress palette. I have shared the photos I snapped below. I don't have every single distress marker, but I have quite a few, and these zig markers will round or my collection nicely. I have highlighted the color and around the edge of the Zig swatches to make them easier for you to distinguish.

I hope you find these photos helpful if you are on the fence or were curious about the colors in comparison. I can't wait to play with these some more!! If you have questions, please feel free to ask, and I will do my best to get back with you quickly!! We are off to celebrate the 2nd birthday of a little princess this weekend, so I will get back to you as quickly as I can.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Who ever heard of too much sparkle??

Last night, as I was putting the finishing touches on my first entry for the Ellen Hutson pinsights challenge, I decided a little Wink of Stella would add just the right amount of sparkle to my card. I think I'm getting close to running out of my clear pen, and so I squeezed it to see if I could get a bit more sparkle on my project.

BAD IDEA.

I ended up with a puddle of wink on one of my already-adhered-with-scor-tape flowers. Ugh. I tried to salvage it, but to no avail. So, today I worked on a new card. The layout is similar to my card for last month's PTI blog hop, but it uses Ellen Hutson's Bohemian Garden and matching dies, as well as the EH Fancy Thanks. (I just adore that font!!) I tried to keep my card relatively shabby chic, sticking to the same color palette, but these blooms lend themselves very well to a bolder, more graphic style, so I'm not sure if I succeeded. Oh well. I used a PTI striped cover plate with some gray shimmer cardstock from dcwv for a background. Some wet Perfect Pearls in the center of some of the blooms added some more shimmer to the card.

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love it if you became a follower on Instagram (I'm eamidgett) and/or subscriber here! Have a fabulous day, friends!

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop

PTI usually chooses inspiration photos for the blog hop from which I can easily find inspiration. This month's graphic, however, was much more angular, with a rainbow theme. It took me until this morning to come up with an idea, and luckily I can have a relatively loose interpretation of the inspiration. I chose to focus on two elements: the rainbow (though I made it more my own style by making it a softer, more pastel rainbow) and the images cascading down in a kind of ethereal manner.

To start, I used some Distress Inks in Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac, and Tumbled Glass to create a smooshed background. I added some tsukineko shimmer spray to the regular water to add a hint of sparkle to the background panel. While that was drying, I cut all of the flower dies from the Garden Gild set in a rainbow of dcwv glitz papers. (It was NOT fun poking all of the tiny die cut pieces out of all of the flowers! Ugh! Next time, I will use wax paper.) I heat embossed my sentiment from Garden Gild on a strip of vellum. After arranging my flowers in a cascade down the smooshed card front, I wrapped my vellum sentiment around the panel, then adhered it to the card base. With all of the lovely sparkle and shimmer, I only added a few sequins to balance out the design.

I'm really excited about this card, and I can't wait to cut more of those gorgeous flowers from glitter paper!!

Thanks for dropping by! I'd love it if you became a subscriber here and/or on Instagram. My name is eamidgett. :) Enjoy hopping, friends!

Afraid of the ants...

So, we have gorgeous gorgeous peonies in our front yard. They are no thanks to me, since I have a black thumb and am very good at killing anything green. Luckily for me, they just seem to pop up every year, and I have to do no gardening maintenance. Those are my kind of flower.... It doesn't hurt one bit that they are stunning. I want so badly to bring some inside, but I am petrified of bringing the ants that make them open inside along with the flowers. This means, unfortunately, that I must admire them in my yard.

This reluctance to bring the fresh flowers in my house means that I need to get my peony fix from my stamps. What luck that The Ton's Fresh Cut Peonies lend themselves so well to being pink and being watercolored. This card uses various Distress Inks to achieve the watercolor look with some Strathmore watercolor paper. I then added a Thanks die cut from Impression Obsession cut from some gorgeous white pearl shimmer cardstock. A few rain stones from PTI, place it on a card base, and done!! Love it.

Sorry I've been a little MIA lately... I have gotten really into my watercoloring, and I haven't really made any full blown cards, but I have lots of partially finished panels ready to be placed on a card front and embellished with a sentiment! I also have been working on a couple of secret projects, one of which I will be able to show after next weekend. :)

Thanks for visiting, friends! I'd so appreciate it if you became a follower here and/or on Instagram. (I'm eamidgett.) Have a fabulous holiday tomorrow! Make good choices! ::)

Rawr means.... Quit hoarding your patterned paper?

Today's card features a sweet little watercolored lion from Clearly Besotted's  Cute and Cuddly stamp set. I started out just wanting to play with my watercolors and ended up with this cute little guy, so I thought I'd put him on a card. I had two intentions when making this card: I wanted to use the watercolor panel I'd made, but I also wanted to use some of the ridiculous amount of patterned paper I've amassed over the last 6 years. For some reason, I (used to) find it difficult to resist buying patterned paper. The only problem is that I don't seem to use it! I prefer creating my own patterns and color schemes.... But that didn't stop me from buying enormous amounts of 12x12  and some 6x6 stacks, most of which have only had one or two sheets removed. So, I wanted to use some patterned paper on my card. I used a  whole 1.5x5.5 piece of patterned paper from Authentique. (Yep, really made a dent in my collection... :eye roll:)

I topped the card off with some twine and a tan/gold/platinum-ish glitter "congratulations" die cut from Impression Obsession. I mounted everything on a Dark Chocolate card base from Papertrey Ink.

I sent a big box of cards with my mom for her to take to work, and I noticed done very big holes in get well, baby (boy), and anniversary. So, I'm going to try to get some cards made to fill those holes before her next visit.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous day, friends. :)

Adventures in Watercoloring, vol. III

Today's installment in my adventures in watercoloring is one of my favorite color combinations: turquoise and pink. It was inspired by a Lilly Pulitzer pattern that I saw on Pinterest. I used Pretty Peonies from wplus9 to stamp my peony border with Tim Holtz Distress Markers. I then used my watercolor brushes to soften, blend, and shade these lovely flowers. To create the background, I wet the watercolor paper first with my brush, then added color to create a soft, kind of ethereal turquoise background. Some gold Wink of Stella in the center of the flowers, a gold foil Hugs die cut (from PTI), and a white heat embossed "sending" from the coordinating Big Hugs stamp set finished it off.

I hope you're enjoying these glimpses into my current obsession as much as I'm enjoying creating them. I just sent a big box of cards to work with my mom to thin the herd, so now I have excuses to make more! :)

If you like what you see, I'd love it if you became a follower and/or subscriber here and on Instagram (I'm eamidgett). I'm contemplating a giveaway once I reach 200 Instagram followers, so let me know what you'd like to see me give away!!

Have a fabulous day, friends!

More adventures in watercoloring

Today's post is the second installment of my adventures in watercoloring. It's pretty much a reproduction of one of the cards made in a video by Dawn from Wplus9. I used wplus9's Fresh Cut Containers for all of the stamping, along with my trusty Distress Markers. This was my second attempt at creating a little floral "scene." The first one was kind of..... blobby. Blobby with a vague floral motif. I was quite a bit happier with this attempt.

The soft colors really lent themselves well to a "thinking of you" type card. I die cut the sentiment (from Simon Says Stamp) in Avery Elle Fog card stock, then covered it with clear Wink of Stella to add a little dimension.  

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my forays into watercoloring! I have a few more projects left to show you before I move on to other things. (I promise, I WILL move on at some point.)

Have a fabulous day, friends!

Adventures in Watercoloring

Watercoloring is far from a new technique. I've never been one for really "technique-y" creating.... Splatters, tools, distressing, etc have just never really done anything for me as a crafter. Until I met watercolor, that is. It was (almost) love at first brush stroke. I did a little experimenting, finally found the right tools, et voila! I now feel like I'm cheating on my regular stamps and ink because my distress inks and watercolor brushes make me so happy.

My next few posts are going to be dedicated to my most recent forays in the world of watercolor. Today, I have a Mother's Day card that I made for my own momma. I used The Ton's Fresh Cut Peonies stamp set for the florals, Ellen Hutson's Amazing Women stamp set, and various Distress Inks. I also made an ombré panel for the back part of my shaker with Hero Arts peach ink and my blending tool.

My mom loved this card, and I was so excited to give it to her today. One of my favorite watercolor cards to date!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed what you saw. Have a fabulous day, friends!

Thank you for helping me grow...

I'm in Mother's Day cardmaking mode right now, and with my current watercolor obsession, it seems only fitting to marry the two. My grandma has always been a wonderfully supportive force for most of my life. She and my grandpa, alongside my mom, instilled in me a love of music and the arts from a very young age. They paid for me to have private voice lessons when I was a freshman in high school through my senior year, starting me on the track to my music degrees. They were my staunchest supporters at every recital, choir concert, and theater performance. I wanted to create a card for my grandma, who is now in a nursing home with dementia, that would brighten her day and hopefully remind her of how much she and her unwavering support means to me.

I started off with Ellen Hutson's new set Bohemian Garden, stamping blooms and leaves around the edge of some watercolor paper with Ranger Archival ink. I watercolored the images with my distress markers, then added a color wash to the background. I stamped the greeting (from Ellen Hutson's Amazing Women stamp set), then added some clear pico embellisher to the flowers to add some shine and change up the texture.

I hope you enjoyed this card, and I really hope that you aren't getting sick of my watercoloring! I practiced yesterday, and I have lots more to share with you. :)

Thanks for visiting! If you like what you see, I'd love it if you became a follower on Instagram (I'm eamidgett) and/or became a subscriber to my blog. Have a fabulous day, friends!

More pink peonies

Oh, pink peonies. If I could redo our wedding, it would most certainly include pink peonies. Preferably with aqua bridesmaid dresses and lots of lace. But that's a different blog post.

The Fresh Cut Peonies stamp set from The Ton is such an incredibly gorgeous set... The flowers are so beautifully illustrated, and even if you mess up a layer, it's not the end of the world. I've always wanted to make a card with the lovely fussy cut edges with a contrasting panel behind, and these beautiful florals were just begging to be fussy cut. (Well, they are always begging to be fussy cut, because they don't have dies, but you get my drift.)

After creating a couple of masks out of post it paper, I stamped the flowers with w plus 9 Little Piggy dye ink, then PTI hibiscus burst, finally topped off with w plus 9 Sweet Gelato. Hero Arts Mint Julep, w plus 9's Ocean Drive, and PTI's Tropical Teal finished off the leaves. I fussy cut that along the edge, leaving about 3/4 inch away from the edge off the note card. I die cut the Hello from a new pti die that coordinates with the Noted set. I covered that die cut with clear gloss pico embellisher, then added a black glitter panel from dcwv behind it all.

I know it's been a week since my last blog post... My hubby bought me an elliptical (And I'm trying not to read too much into his readiness to buy that for me), and it's so tall that it had to go downstairs. Unfortunately, the only place it can go is my already-stuffed craft room, so I've been condensing, purging, and sort of organizing, and it's taken me waaaay longer than I wanted. Yuck!

Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed this card, and I'd love it if you subscribed and/or became a follower on Instagram! I'm eamidgett. :) have a fabulous day!