Welcome to fall!!
Welcome back to school!!
Welcome back to China (for me)!!
And welcome back to my blog!!
I've had a little hiatus for the past few months, partly intentional, partly I was travelling around Canada and the US for the summer and just plain didn't have time! I had a fantastic summer and I saved a LOT to my favourites on Instagram, and one of the things I'm LOVING right now is simple, beautiful, stencilled backgrounds with a well-coloured image and sentiment. So that's what I set out to make!
I knew I'd be using an image of a bee from Technique Tuesday's Bugs & Kisses Stamp Set, so I chose three shades of Distress Oxide Ink that would fade nicely into each other.
Instead of blending foam, I decided to use the new-ish Distress Blending Brushes to create this fade. It worked well because by using one brush for all three colours, the inks kind of blended on the brush before applying it to the paper. I love how soft and seamless it turned out...
With a well-balanced and harmonious background, a small image and sentiment don't look out of place - it's actually perfect!
Thanks for stopping by after all this time, and I look forward to hearing from you in the comments!
Hello out there!
I've almost recovered from my 2-month lung infection and starting to my creative (as well as physical) energy back. I am so thankful to be healthy again... That was easily some of the toughest months of my life and I'm glad it's over!!!
So, I don't know about you, but I ordered the latest release of Oxide Inks and they were sitting pretty on my shelf just waiting to be used...
I created this background by sponging through a die cut circle. I only used two colours (Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade) and blended them in the centre to create the orangey colour.
Isn't this a gorgeous image?
It's this month's Greenhouse Society set called: Cherry Blossoms.
I stamped it in Versamark and heat embossed it with Black. I then coloured it with watercolours (Prima) and handcut it out.
Thank you for stopping by today!
Have a great weekend.
Hello there!
It's been a while.
I've been sick...
Nothing serious, but I've definitely had my life, work, and vacations impacted.
Fever/sinus infection/lung infection that lasted over 2 months.. It's sucked.
It's crystal-clear to me how much I rely on my health to be creative. I am the kind of person who is VERY undisciplined with my creative work, and if I'm not inspired, it's like I can't work.
That. needs. to. change.
I work well with goals and deadlines, and the key is, to impose deadlines on myself.
If any of you have TIPS on how to stay productive, please share!!!
This card was made for a purpose, that's why it got done, lol....
I designed a class for beginning cardmakers here in Shanghai, and the topic is:
Watercolours!
This card is super simple and the watercolour technique was a simple one: paint blobs of random, pretty colours onto a stamped piece of cardstock. The trick is not to blend as it will start to eat away at the paper. The colours will dry soft and pretty as long as diluted paints are used...
So again, if you have any wise words for me, or tricks you use to keep yourself creating, please let me know... I am in a slump...
Thanks, as always, for stopping by!
Supplies:
Background stamp: Flurry & Pine - Stampers Anon.
Gold Leaf: Technique Tuesday
Sentiment: Altenew- Cities Abroad
Whew!!
December is here! I look forward to Christmas (a little too much, probably.... hehehe) and then when December hits it's like BAM: concerts, parties, crafting, shopping, then it's over!
I don't have a lot of card orders this year, so hopefully I'll be less stressed this year, but we'll see!
It's been so long since I've used my Copics that they were dusty. DUSTY!! I'm going through a little bit of a slump and I'm doing more shopping than making, haha.. but anyway. This set is called:
and it's part of our Greenhouse Society collection. Do you like flowers? You'll like Greenhouse!
I coloured the stamp using the "no-line technique" which simply means that I stamped in a very pale shade of beige and coloured in the stamp while disguising the lines. I nearly lost my eyesight trying to see the lines on this one, but I think it turned out pretty nicely...
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi there! It's been kinda quiet here lately - I'm just working away at school and going through a little bit of a creative slump, but I will prevail!!!!
I hosted a little crafting party last week and I wanted to do some sponging, so I bought some makeup sponges (beauty blender-type) to get the job done. There wasn't enough time to get more Tim Holtz distress foam applicators, so this was my quick fix. It worked well!!
Some white gel pen accents finished the card off!
Supplies:
Technique Tuesday Clear Stamps: You Have Style
Technique Tuesday Clear Stamps: You Have Style
I just finished a little holiday from work (in China the first week of October is called the "Mid-Autumn Festival) and amongst shopping in the city, getting my hair cut, and getting a new tattoo I squeezed in a little cardmaking!
This is a wonderfully simple sketch from MFT's Card Challenges, and it was the perfect little push out of my slump. (It's been a tough month, both professionally and personally) I don't know about you, but whenever it's been a while my mojo disappears, and I need a challenge to get it back!!
- I used the Etched Flower Background stamp on the bright coral cardstock for a clean tone-on-tone look
- I stamped a few images from Fancy Flowers on watercolour cardstock, and coloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.
- a couple of random/not randomly placed sequins added some beautiful shine.
Thank you for stopping by, and happy thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!! (I really missed it this year... Damn China and their lack of turkey!!!)
Watercolours....
So much fun, right?
I like making backgrounds and being really free with how they're created.
I bought these Jane Davenport watercolour pens and created this background by dropping different colours around the paper and just kind of let them bleed together.
This card was made with the piece from above:
And here's a more cheerful colour scheme using the same techniques:
I used dies from Cityscape, Metropolis #661804 to create the lovely silhouette.
Thank you for stopping by!
As a teacher I always have a need for school-related cards, especially at the beginning and the end of the year. Councillors, admin, and fellow teachers need a special "kudos" this time of year, and small little note-cards are the perfect token of appreciation.
Each card is a little different (that's for me - so I don't get bored), but also because I wanted to switch up the sentiments slightly to be a little more personal.
The formula is easy:
1) ruled patterned paper
2) lined patterned paper
3) apple stickers (Live Life: School)
4) sentiments (Fancy Sentiment: Thanks)
5) twine (Solid Maraschino)
Who's happy about Christmas Cards???
I am!!!
I used the stamp set called Spirit of December for the entire card. I think the background turned out great, and all I did was stamp in white and add some white splatters!
Thanks for stopping by!!
Oh hey? Do you follow me on Instagram?
(I'm @jazzytobi just in case you want to be friends)
Anyway, if you do, then you know i'm now 40 YEARS OLD!! WHAT???
It sounds old, but it feels good. Life makes sense, you know?
Well, until something catastrophic rocks my world and I move to another strange country again, but for now - I'm enjoying it!
This card was made on my birthday and it's a very happy.
I only used the best colours!
Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies:
Stamp set: Fringed Dahlia
White Embossing Powder
Bazzill Cardshoppe Cardstock
Watercolor Paints
Hi there! I'm sharing a cute card that is fun to construct, cute, and speaks to my scooter-riding soul!
Before I came to China I was no stranger to two-wheeled vehicles having had my first dirt-bike at the age of four (my parents were nuts!!!) but, I had never driven a bike/scooter on the road as my primary mode of transportation. There are days when it REALLY sucks (when it's below freezing and pouring rain or snowing) and days when it feels so good to have the sun on your face and the wind blowing through your hair...
Anyway, this die has my name written all over it!
This die would be fun to give to your kids! Putting it together was like a fun little puzzle, and the colour combinations are endless! Take a look on the Sizzix Website for a helpful video and other colour schemes!
Luckily, I had the most perfect sentiment ever in my stash of stamps (this one is from Stamping Bella) and a few cute scraps of patterned paper to make this die cut shine!
Supplies:
Sizzix Bigz Die - Moped
Sizzix Bigz Die - Moped
Patterned Paper - MME
SRM Border Sticker
Bazzill Cardshoppe Cardstock
Best Creation Glitter Cardstock
Do YOU love Sizzix products?
Simply create your make using at least one Sizzix die, then use the form HERE to enter your make into one of the four specialist categories before May 1st, 2017.
If you're a Wechat or QQ user, please add me!
I had a very restful Sunday playing with my stamps and getting some much-needed rest from talking. I've had a very long bout of laryngitis and it still hurts to talk and sing (sucks to be a choir teacher right now!!) but the weekends are gooooood!!
I played along with the Simon Says Monday Challenge: Make Your Own Background
I made a galaxy background with watercolor paints... And actually, I started with a long panel so I was able to make two cards!
If you took away the background these cards would be very "CAS" and that's what I love about the galaxy background technique - it kind of stands alone!!
The little bears and sentiment (Mama Elephant) are my go-to set when I do this technique - love them!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies:
Stamp Set: Space Bears
Nuvo Jewel Drops "Grey Mist"
A couple months ago Regina from The Cutting Cafe asked me if I would like to create a custom stamp set. I was just getting interested in hand-lettering and thought it would be cool to get some sentiments made from my own handwriting.
I stamped the "thanks" sentiment I drew all over the white cardstock in fun, playful colours. I added THANKS in Thickers letter stickers because the little sentiments didn't have as much of a focal-point in the end as I had hoped. Once I put the big letters down though, I was totally happy!
CLICK HERE for more info about creating your own custom stamp set!
The prices are really reasonable and the shipping is too... she sent my set to China for about $10!
Hi there! Happy Valentine's Day (if you celebrate it..) and if not, I'm here with some pretty Spring-inspired cards.
Before you know it the flowers will be blooming and the world will look green and fresh again. My entire colour-scheme is based on the patterned papers I chose, and the design/layout was inspired by a card on Pinterest! I take inspiration from where I can, because on these cold winter days the mojo isn't always flowing like it should ;)
Every card is a little different as I mixed and matched the greenery and flower sizes. When I am mass-producing or making a set like these guys, I don't like to make them exactly the same because I get bored easily... Lol.. VERY easily. So making small adjustments and changes keeps it fresh.
I played around with the die cut flowers too. Sometime the small pieces were inlaid, and sometimes I put them on top for a raised effect...
I also added the foiled die cut for a little "pop." Initially I didn't have it on the card but I felt it needed something. I think the metallic element is a nice texture-change as well.
SRM Stickers: We've Got Your Sticker Thanks
Die Cuts: My Favorite Things
I'm just popping by to share a pretty card!
Watercoloring is one of my favourite things...
I stamped this new image from Technique Tuesday a few times onto watercolour paper and really loosely coloured the panel with Zig Clean Colour Brush Markers. Love those babies!!
The big contrast piece is the sentiment cut out of black glitter paper!
Thanks for stopping by!
Supplies:
Stamp Set: Ruffled Rose (Technique Tuesday)
Stamp Set: Ruffled Rose (Technique Tuesday)
Die Cut: Celebrate DIY Steel Die
Happy New Year from down under🐨🐕🎉!
We've had a lot of great days here and now we're paying for it, hahaha.. Just take it from me: the Australian sun is REALLY, REALLY strong! Hopefully none of us develop skin cancer from our burns because all three of us have quite serious complications, so we're taking it easy the rest of the vacation!
Resolutions... do you do them?
I don't do anything formal, like write them in a journal or make grand proclamations, but I think it's only natural to say to yourself:
And that's all I say... what COULD I do differently?
I am not going to make promises I can't keep, so I will start by listing some things I could do to make my life better.
- Lose more weight. So I am comfortable when I travel, and have more energy to do the things I like doing.
- Photograph more. Because I love it and I am starting to learn how to use my camera better
- Save money. We don't have a retirement plan since moving to China and we're not getting any younger!
- Blog more. It has dropped off and I miss being in touch with the crafting world like I used to be.
- Be a better teacher. I feel great when I have those lessons where the students are engaged and really "into it" and I want that to happen more.
- Be a better wife and mother, because there's a million ways I could be better!
So 2017, let's try and do as many of these things as we can, because life can always use a little help now and again...
Speaking of wanting to blog more, let's start the year off with a card!
It's clean and simple, and just a great card to have around just in case.
Happy New Year!
Supplies:
Technique Tuesday stamps: Thankful Thoughts
With all of my fun supplies there's no way I BUY my gift tags!! I try to make them cute, but don't go overboard on the techniques... after all, they get used once then they're garbage.. so here are some of the tags I made:
I had some ink sprays on my table from another project so I dragged pieces of paper through the ink and voila, a perfect background!
I dried the strips of paper and cut them into tags and all I had left to do was stamp to/from and add a chipboard piece on each of the tags.
I am a sucker for a cute sheet of Christmas chipboard pieces so I had a lot to choose from.
Here are my favs:
Thanks for stopping by today!!
There are a million-and-one things you can pair with SRM's sticker sentiments so I pulled out some of my new supplies (stamps/embossing powder/distress crayons/clean color real brush markers) and make a pretty background.
I spent time blending inside the image, as well as outside. It made the flowers POP!
I then adhered the sticker to vellum.
Thanks for stopping by!!
SRM Supplies:
Heartfelt Wishes sentiment: Fancy Sentiment: Love
Twine: Charcoal Stripe
I'll tell yah, it sure is hard crafting and blogging "on the road."
The difficult thing about having a two-month vacation (well, there are a lot of things hard about it), is not being able to hunker down and get some "work" done. My family likes to go on road trips so we are literally on the road for much of the summer too, but it's also that go-go-go feeling when you're on vacation... There never seems to be that down-time I need to craft.
BUT... This past weekend before we left for our roadtrip to California I was able to make a couple of cards for people I'm meeting up with along the way, and this is one of them:
So as I mentioned, time was of the essence but that doesn't mean I didn't try to make it pretty!!
I stamped the image on watercolor paper, then very lightly coloured in the image with Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers.
This is the new Greenhouse Society stamp set called:
Ritzy Mum by Technique Tuesday.
Ritzy Mum by Technique Tuesday.
Thanks for stopping by!
