Blooming With Kindness IV

Originally I had made this card with Marina Mist & Black but then Dynamic Duos used those colours this week, and my card wasn't really dolled up enough for my likings when posting for challenges, so I made another version with Wisteria Wonder & Elegant Eggplant.  Yet again, Blooming with kindness is the only set I've used for this card.  I did however, use the scallop squares die to make the mask.  It's a little more interesting than just the plain old square that you can make without a die (which is still pretty, but I wanted something a little more).

This is a card that anyone could make, and took just 10 minutes from start to finish.

Blooming With Kindness III

In my last post I mentioned making several cards with the same set to show how you can use just a few sets to make a variety of cards.  Here's #3 in that series.

This is a super simple layout, perfect for people new to card making.  Again, I wanted to show how you don't need a room full of tools to make a really nice card (okay, I couldn't help myself with the embossing, it just happened!).

All I did here was change the size of the layers a bit, round opposite edges, and use a different colour scheme.  Totally different card.

As it stands, I've got one more card to follow this one for this set.  It's been tricky not to use any other sets, but I'm sticking with just one set for now!  I'll post that one next.

Dynamic Duos & Blooming With Kindness II

I shouldn't get ahead of myself.  I had planned on just one post today, then follow up posts with cards from Blooming With Kindness, but then I saw the Dynamic Duos challenge.  Oh brother.  I couldn't help myself.  The challenge this week was Marina Mist & Basic black.  I just happened to have made another card with these colours this weekend (which I loved) but for a challenge post, I needed to step it up a notch so I made this one.

I really like non-traditional shaped cards but never seem to make them.  This seemed the perfect opportunity however.  It's a little tough to get it to stand (had to use a nail hole in the post to hold it up!), but I think the fun shape gives it just that little bit extra.

Now I'll have to update the other card with a different colour scheme since I also did masked sponging on it as well.  Something to do tomorrow I guess. :)

Blooming With Kindness Stepped Up

Wow.  I just had a week off and I have no idea where it went.  Oh wait.  That's right.  It went into reading two massive books (A Dance With Dragons - George R R Martin & Winter of the World - Ken Follett), and drinking copious amounts of coffee, because I could.

Anyways, in between all that reading and sipping, I managed to pop out a few cards.  One of my newest sets, Blooming With Kindness, took centre stage.  At regionals in September were were given several presentations about stepping cards up.  The premise being that you can make a rather simple card at workshops, but have a stepped up version that they can make with just a few more steps.

Here's my first take on the stepped up process.

This one is pretty simple.  You really only need basic supplies.  I used the stamp set, 2 inks, cardstock, a sponge, and some ribbon (which is optional).  Pretty simple supplies for a lovely little card. (And quick too!)

With a few more supplies however, you can take the card from lovely to gorgeous.  I stepped it up by:  heat embossing with both gold and Early Espresso powder, embossed the background with the Fancy Fan folder, and distressed the edges a little more with my scissors.

Here's a closer look at the embossing.  The light outside today isn't great, but this card looks beautiful in person.  I'm really happy with how the two embossing powders turned out.  I versamarked the image and then poured on a little of each and shook it around a bit to get full coverage.  I'm going to order the turquoise powder as well and see how it turns out with the gold.

So there you have it!  Stepped up with just a couple of extra goodies.  I'm going to try this out at my next workshop.

Speaking of next workshops, I'm also trying to showcase how you don't need 800 sets to make a bunch of different cards.  I'm going to use this set and make several different options to show how it can be used in a variety of ways.  Stay tuned!