Shello - Guest Design Brutus Monroe

Hi Everybody,

I'm guest designing during the month of July for Brutus Monroe.  I had a blast making the card I'm showing you today called a Shadow Box Card. Jennifer McGuire made a video showing how to make this card and HERE IS A LINK to that video. I followed her video exactly in regards to how to put the cards together so please refer to video for instructions. 

It was a lot of fun decorating this card because you get to decorate the front and then the inside shadow box part. 

Sparkly background and fish :)

I made a background using three colors of Nuvo Shimmer Powders and used the Wave Die Set to cut it out. There are two dies in this set, I love it! I think this is just a gorgeous combination of this die and the shimmery colors used.  I stamped several fish from the Mermaid Lagoon stamp set and colored them with Zig Markers. I decided to use teal color cardstock on the front so I just cut a strip and embossed a stamp from the Mermaid Lagoon stamp set with Alabaster Embossing Powder.  I used the Embossing Ink as well because it is super juicy. I can see what I stamp really well because it's so juicy and shiny and if that makes sense. I'm a huge fan of Brutus Monroe Embossing Ink and Powders. I added a few of the 2-tone flat back pearls as embellishments to look like bubbles. 

On the inside I used the Mermaid Lagoon Underwater Background Stamp and colored it with Zig Markers.  I really like this background stamp because of the size, it is 4"x6" so as you can see, it was perfect for this card.  It is only 4" wide rather than 6" like most are so you can use it much easier on your cards. I also used the 2-tone flat back pearls as bubbles. I used a teal cardstock strip again on the inside to tie everything together and also the fish, shells and starfish from the Mermaid Lagoon Stamp Set. I just love this sentiment, "On a scale of 1 to 10 YOU are an 11."  

So just watch the video, link above, and decorate it however you want.  I used a pretty large die on mine to make the window because I wanted to use the background stamp and wanted to show as much as possible. You can use a smaller die and have room to stamp below the window and add embellishments

I hope you'll try to make a shadow box card and decorating it with mermaids and underwater scenes are so much fun.  Check out all of the stamp sets, stencil, die and embellishments for underwater/mermaid scenes HERE with this link.

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Regina

Moose Fishing - Masculine Card

Hi Everybody!

I am on the Strawberry Jude Stamps blog today!  I am really excited to be guest designing for them this month.  I am using such an adorable stamp set called Fishing with Moose and Hedgehog.

HERE IS A LINK to the Strawberry Jude Stamps online store - its worth checking out I promise!  

HERE IS A LINK to the stamp set I am using on today's card.  They're other new release is a super cute dragon card and HERE IS A LINK to this stamp set called, Dragons & Jewels. 

This card was so much fun to make!  I love the cute little critters in this set so it was hard to choose which to use so I picked the moose.  I tried to use as many stamps as I could here to create a scene.

First, I stamped the moose and his tacklebox beside him and a fish and hook connected to the fishing pole.  Next, I drew in a dock around the moose and colored with Prismacolor Pencils.  I also colored the fish with Prismacolors and drew in scales.  There were a few scales but I added more.  I cut the fish and dock out.

Then, I used some Canson watercolor paper with some Gansai Tambi watercolor paints.  I used a big, flat paintbrush and painted lightly at the top and gradually made it darker.  I cut out clouds with a stitched die and also the watercolor panel background with a stitched rectangle die, so they would match. 

Finally I stamped the word, Fishing, cut out with a banner die and sponged around it and the clouds with inks. 

This stamp set is PERFECT for masculine cards as you can see and I had a lot of fun using the different stamps on one card.  

I hope I inspired you to draw in scenes and detail around your stamps. Obviously, you're not going to do this on every card because it does take some time, but I know you'll have special occasions for a husband, Dad, etc., where you would want to take more time on the cards. 

This is just one way to make a card with this set, it doesn't have to be complicated or time consuming.  Lay it all out how you want to and make sure you're having FUN with it. 

If you would like to learn more about drawing in scenes around your stamps, adding detail to your stamps, etc., I learned this from taking classes at Kit and Clowder.  Alyce Keegan is the best coloring teacher.  She teaches you how to use the pencils or markers in the classes, why you are shading where you are by teaching lightsource.  There are monthly pencil and marker classes, which I take, and there are Technique classes such as Skin and Hair, Clothing where you learn how to draw in and color pleats, etc., Animal Class and so on.  Check out their website where you will find a couple of free classes.  You can see what they're like and if this is for you. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Regina