KariV | Sunshine in my pocket

Crafters Unite Against Racism

June 27, 2020 Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I am a part of a blog hop for Papercrafters Unite Against Racism. My projects today are some of my favorite flower layering stamps, with the idea that I could maybe make you smile. I’d love to send flowers to those of you who are angry, sad, upset, or discouraged during this time.

Sometimes, as crafters, we don’t know exactly the right thing to say or do. My heart hurts and I’m so sensitive to this topic, but I also don’t want to say the wrong thing. So, these flowers are hopefully doing the job making you smile today.

While I financially cannot send flowers to everyone, at least I can create some floral cards to share! So I have some layered snapdragon cards (some of my favorite flowers!) using patterned paper.

I love these patterned paper ideas! I have a quick video on how to make these cards, with three ideas for using patterned paper! And I share how to easily layer these snapdragons for mass production. Watch the video below, or in HD on YouTube:

using patterned paper as the shadow layer

For this first card I used patterned paper as the shadow layer on this die from PinkFresh Studio. I love the variation in color. I made a simple background using ink blending and an embossing folder to get an interesting look.

For the second card, I simply used a black and white background paper as the base to showcase a beautiful, colorful bouquet!

love your smile, my heart is full, beautiful you!

And the last card uses some heat embossing directly on patterned paper to create a pink delicious card.

Since I love yellow snapdragons, I also made a project for my craft studio with these (pictured below..the shadow box frame)! AND I have plenty of flowers to still use on cards!! Be sure to check out the video for my tips on mass producing these flowers.

So many flowers…ready to make even more cards!

I’m often asked what supplies I use to make my cards, so I’ve made a list here using affiliate links when possible. If you make a purchase with these links I may receive a small commission. These help me to keep up with blog costs and continue bringing you fun projects. Thank you so much for your support!

Which card is your favorite? Leave me a message below.

Continue on the hop, your next stop is the talented Kathya Kalinine here.
If you get lost, check out the complete list and more information at Justine’s blog here.

May your days be filled with sunshine,

Geo Jungle Card with the Hedgehog Hollow

June 26, 2020 Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I’m sharing a Geo Jungle card using the Hedgehog Hollow June 2020 Kit. This is a favorite kit of mine and today I turned the zoo animals into JUNGLE animals!

All these stamps are from the kit, including that large “Kind” stamp (I love it!) To see the details on this card, visit the Hedgehog Hollow blog here.

Also, check out all my other projects using this June 2020 Kit:

Thanks for stopping by!

May your days be filled with sunshine,

Geometric Backgrounds

June 18, 2020 Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I have a geometric background for a geometric animal card…and while last week I published a masculine geometric card, this week the cards are definitely more feminine.

To make the background, I took an isosceles triangle stamp and stamped it twice to create a square. I did this 9 times to create an even larger square in a variety of ink colors.

Then I stamped the Geometric Zoo animals (a bunny and a butterfly) with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I watercolored them in the same ink colors as stamped on the background.

The sentiment is stamped in a blue ink to match, and I added green gemstones on the butterfly body to finish it off.

I just love all the colors of these cards!

I hope you enjoyed this geo background technique today! I’ll be back real soon with more card inspiration!

May your days be filled with sunshine,

My Formula for Masculine Cards

June 17, 2020 Paper Crafting

Hello! Today I have a secret to share with you: it’s my formula for making masculine cards. This is also a part of my FINAL for Level 2 of the Altenew Educator’s Certification Program (AECP).

The Final Challenge was to create 4 Masculine Cards using 3 components of the techniques I learned in Levels 1 & 2 of the AECP. The components I chose were:

Stencil Techniques
Impressive Heat Embossing
Let It Shine

I also pulled together 3 masculine themes (metallic, nature, & geometric) and 3 colors to create all of my cards. I get a lot of questions on how I create Masculine cards, so today in my video I’m sharing my SECRET FORMULA for making Masculine cards (it’s not a secret anymore)! Watch the video below to find out the formula I use, or watch it in HD on YouTube:

For my first card, I used some stencil techniques: inking with Distress Oxide on dark cardstock & offset stenciling. I used the Halftone stencil to ink on some of the new Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink, then let it dry. Once it was dry, I offset the stencil just a bit to add some Versamark sticky ink and added some Distress Embossing Glaze & heat set that. The embossing glaze is translucent so you can see through to the inking, but it gives a shiny element to the background. (So neat!)

I also created a temporary “holder” to emboss that die cut sentiment three times. This holder was so helpful so I didn’t burn my fingers or get any tweezer marks in my silver embossing!

The sentiment adds a metallic look for the “Let It Shine” inspiration on this card! I love a metallic element on a handmade card. I stamped the subsentiment with the same Speckled Egg Distress Oxide and popped it up with foam tape.

For my second card I die cut a cover die and adhered it to a white card panel…then I filled in a few of the spots with colored cardstock to get that geometric look!

Layered Monstera Leaves give this card a 3D look

I die cut some monstera leaves in steel gray and silver metallic (for that shine)! Then I popped them up with foam squares. To match with the silver theme, the sentiment is heat embossed in silver. This card turned out to be my husband’s favorite card of them all!

For the third card I’m bringing in some selective stenciling! First I stenciled the entire background in Speckled Egg Distress Oxide, then I added a darker blue to just a portion of the stencil. To the very smallest portion, I added some Glacier Paste in Quicksilver for some shine (it dries to look like foil)!

For the leaves, I heat embossed it TWICE. Once with a silver embossing powder, then I stamped the dots in Versamark and embossed with a gold embossing powder. This is a neat technique, as the embossing powders kind of melt into each other. I think this is a great look!

Stencil techniques, Embossing techniques, and Let It Shine Techniques are glorious together!

For my fourth card, I created a geometric background using the Cube Builder Stencil. I spaced the cubes apart just a little and gave them more of a “chevron” appearance, using colors I chose for the theme, but adding in a bit of Antique Linen. It turned out a little more yellow than I expected, but that just added a sunny, happy look.

Flowers and leaves in gray, black, and metallic

I die cut some leaves and one hibiscus using black, gray, and metallic papers. This adds a more masculine feeling. (Don’t you want to take a trip to Hawaii now?) I stamped the sentiment on a strip that I inked with Antique Linen Oxide to match.

Now, if the flower is a little over the top for you (my husband does like flowers, but it’s not for every man!), I made a variation of this card omitting the hibiscus flower.

It’s the same stencil background, using only black and gray inks. Then I added a metallic paper focal point with a black frame to the middle. The monstera leaf is popped up with foam squares to give even more dimension.

So there you have 5 masculine cards, using 3 Techniques, 3 Themes, and 3 Colors (mostly)! It’s a fun challenge to take, and I hope you enjoyed the process with me.

I completely enjoyed my experience with the Altenew Educator’s Certification Program! I highly recommend it to you if you are interested in learning a lot of techniques, getting better at cardmaking, and teaching techniques to others.

Thanks for stopping by & I’ll see you again soon!

May your days be filled with sunshine,

Altered Project

June 17, 2020 Uncategorized

Hello! Today I am sharing something a little different than I normally share, but a project I’ve been thinking about putting together for a really long time. This is a part of my FINAL for Level 2 of Altenew Educator Certification Program.

The challenge for this portion was to create an Altered Item/Upcycled Project. I have been wanting to create a show piece for my craft studio display, so I gathered together some old items, and some items I’ve been collecting from packaging: some corregated cardboard, paper shred, shipping paper, and an old dark shadow box frame.

I took the packing paper and taped it over the glass to protect the glass from getting any paint on it. Then I spray painted multiple layers of white paint on the frame.

While that was drying I stamped multiple layered Snapdragon stamps from this Altenew stamp set.

I also took the corregated cardboard and used some Altenew spray and Distress Oxide sprays to get a greenish-blue interesting background with plenty of texture! Corregated cardboard makes for an unexpected backdrop. I found some old paper shred in various shades of green and then my project really started to come together!

To make various layers of snapdragons, I used small strips of the corregated cardboard stacked up onto each other and attached it to some of the flowers with foam tape. This gave me so many layering options and I didn’t have to use or waste layers upon layers of my foam tape.

Since the colors of my craft room and blog are yellow and turquoise, I decided that I would use only the yellow snapdragons on this project. Besides, yellow is one of my favorite colors!

Snapdragons remind me of my grandmothers (both are deceased now), and so I wanted a sentiment on this showpiece that would also remind me of them. I played around with different ideas like: CREATE, JOY, LOVE, and HAPPY, but none of them seemed just right.

THEN I got the inspiration I needed and settled on the right word: SMILE! I die cut the word twice using my favorite Large Alpha Die set; once in white and once in gold glitter paper. When I die cut the glitter paper, I only die cut 1/2 of each letter so I could stack it onto the white letters.

I put the whole thing together, adhering the snapdragons in multiple layers. I attached the sentiment directly to the cardboard backing, and added in some of the green paper shred. It’s a little reminiscent of potting moss!

Here is the altered project sitting on my desk…

I think it looks like a big barrel of snapdragons. I can almost pinch them now to make them “talk” to me, just like my Grandma used to do!

I hung it on the wall in my craft studio (with a little help from my hubby)…this is just the right place…

I had to take a picture at an angle so as not to get a glare off the glass front! I hope you can tell there is so much dimension to this piece…with all the textures and layers. The gold glitter dipped sentiment is now my favorite!

I hope you enjoyed this project today! I had a lot of fun making it, even though it took so much longer to make than I expected. I took about a week to get it all done as the drying time between layers was a factor.

A BONUS: I have plenty of colorful snapdragons to add to cards now! Since I originally thought I might use a rainbow of flowers, I stamped a bunch of options at the same time.

A beautiful sight, a desk full of flowers!

You can bet I’ll be making a bunch of cards soon with these! Thanks for stopping by today.

May your days be filled with sunshine,