31 Nights of Halloween - Night 1

 

Hello, Whimsy fans!  Are you ready for the funnest blog event of the year?!  

It's the one we at Whimsy wait all year for, and we hope you're just as excited as we are!  So, sit back and get ready to be inspired (and maybe a little frightened, too).

 

It's Andrea with you tonight, and I have a cheeky, interactive card to share.  It features the just-released Monster ATC Closeups stamp set.  When I saw the fun mummy in the set, I couldn't resist having a play on words (I love puns).  I'm hoping my British friends get a chuckle at least.

For this card I first stamped the mummy image and colored him with Copics.  I set him aside to work on the interactive portion of my card.

I first stamped the Farmhouse Shiplap Background onto kraft cardstock.  Using the partial diecutting technique, I cut a door into the panel with the Slimline ATC Windows Dies.  I scored between the cut areas to create a hinge for the door to open and close.

I distressed the edges of the panel with the same brown ink I used to stamp the background.  Next, I embellished the panel with images from the Fuzzy Spiders set.  I first stamped the webs in white pigment ink and then stamped the spiders and sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  I used a white gel pen to fill in the spiders' eyes.

My sentiment largely comes from the Cute But Psycho stamp set.  I masked the bottom of the sentiment and stamped the top half with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  I then stamped "mummy" with the Alphabet Mini stamp set.  Next, I stamped the rest of the sentiment from Cute But Psycho, masking the top portion first.

Finally, I adhered the kraft panel to my colored image and attached it to a cardbase.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed my interactive, cheeky card.

Be sure to check out the entire release from earlier today and also read about the giveaways happening this month here.

 

*Affiliate links used at no cost to you.

Special Guest - Keia Shipp-Smith

Hello, Whimsy friends!  We welcome the talented Keia Shipp-Smith back to the blog.

I am so excited to be back this week to share a card featuring the Gnome One Else stamp/die and Build A Fairy Garden die sets. Okay, let me just put it out there, I have seriously been searching for gnomes to add to my stamping collection, and low and behold, Whimsy Stamps has some of the cutest gnomes ever! And then I came across these awesome mushroom dies in the Build A Fairy Garden set, and I was in creative "need mode." These two items pair together so nicely. Swoon-worthy for sure. 

To create this card, I started by stamping, Copic coloring, and diecutting the ever-so-sweet gnome couple. To achieve this depth of coloring and shading, I like to pair my Copic coloring with colored pencils. I find that layering colored pencils on top of Copic markers provides me with more control and the ability to better color smaller, intricate images. Coloring this image took me about 1.5 hours, but I love how it turned out. 

The mushrooms are so fun to play with as there are several techniques you can use to color these diecuts. In the end, I chose to ink my mushrooms with dye inks using a range of colors from deep reds and yellows to subdued browns. Once the mushrooms were assembled, I was ready to put together my card. A few layered mushrooms, a loving couple, sweet sentiment, and an enamel heart complete this card. I designed this card with my hubby in mind. We will be celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary in a few weeks. And truly, "There's Gnome One Else for Me."

Thank you for stopping by and spending a bit of time with me. I enjoyed my time as a guest designer with Whimsy Stamps. I hope you are feeling inspired to step into your crafty space and make something beautiful.

Happy Crafting,

Keia

Card Supplies:

 

Special Guest - Sharna Waksmulski

 

Hello, Crafty Friends!  Sharna here! So happy to be guesting for Whimsy Stamps today. 

I just love all the little gnome sets at Whimsy, so I was very excited to get my hands on the Gnome Matter What set. 

For the background here I started with a sheet of white Neenah cardstock. I blended on distress oxide in Speckled Egg for the half of the panel, darker on top and lightest near the bottom. I then added Chipped Sapphire to the middle third of the panel in the same way, dark to light and blending into the Speckled Egg. Lastly, I added Ground Espresso to the bottom third, blending it into the Chipped Sapphire. I love this combo for a night-time, deep-dark feel. I then used some Bleed Proof White from Dr PH Martins as splatter. I white heat-embossed the sentiment, "Thanks so Much", because who doesn't need a thank you card! The images were then colored with Copics.

Copics: G85, G24, G21, B99, B95, B93, N6, N4, N2, N0, E53, E51, E000, E43, E40, E35, E37, E39, Y35, Y31, Y02

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks, Sharna, for this adorable card and wonderful inspiration!  To see more Sharna's work, be sure to follow her on her blog and Instagram.

Tuesday Tutorial with Andrea

Hello, Whimsy friends!  It's Andrea with you today, and I have a fun, slimline St. Patrick's Day card to share with you.

We all love those hilarious donkeys from Wonky Donkey, right?  Well, I thought it would be fun to use one for a St. Patrick's Day card, and the awesome papers in the Slimline St. Patrick's Day paper pack were perfect for that!

I started by diecutting white cardstock with the Slimline Connected Bubbles Die.  Next, I backed each opening with one of the Slimline St. Patrick's Day papers.  There are several ways to do that, but for the most part, I simply applied liquid adhesive to the back of the opening and placed it over the section of paper I wanted to use.  Then, I used my scissors to trim away the excess.

I trimmed another of the St. Patrick's Day papers and adhered it to a white card.  I affixed my backed die-cut with foam tape.

To create my "gold", I clear heat-embossed two of the images from the St. Patrick's Day Gold set onto metallic paper.  After die-cutting them with the Pierced and Stitched Circles Dies, I popped them up on top of two of the circles with foam squares.

I stamped that fun donkey from Wonky Donkey, colored him with Copics (colors listed below), and cut him out with the coordinating dies.  To give him some St. Patrick's Day flair, I stamped the leprechaun hat from Holiday Occasions (retired) and a shamrock from St. Patrick's Day Gold.  After coloring each with Copics, I fussy-cut them and used a black marker on the edges to hide the white of the cardstock.  Using an Xacto knife, I made a slit in the donkey's teeth, tucked in the shamrock, and added a bit of glue to hold it in place.

I attached the donkey with foam squares and added Glossy Accents to his eyes.  I heat-embossed a sentiment from Holiday Occasions and finished with a scattering of gold sequins.

Have a great day!

Copics:

Donkey:  B0000, B000, R01, R11, R20, E40, E41, E42, E43, 

E51, E53, E55, E35, E37, W5, W7, W9

Hat: Y21, Y23, Y26, Y28, YG23, YG25, YG17, YG67

Shamrock; YG23, YG25, YG17, YG67

*Affiliate links used at no cost to you.

 

Special Guest - Sharna Waksmulski

 

Hello, Whimsy friends!  Today we welcome the talented Sharna Waksmulski to the blog!

Hello, Crafty Friends, Sharna here! So happy to be guesting for Whimsy Stamps today. 

I absolutely fell in love with the new Gnome One Like You set, so, of course, I had to use that for toda'ys card, along with the Slimline Hearts background die. 

For the background here, I started with a sheet of white Neenah cardstock. I blended on distress oxide in Dried Marigold for the whole pane, darker on top and lightest near the bottom. I then added Abandon Coral to the top 2/3rds of the panel in the same way, dark to light and blending into the Marigold. Lastly, I added Wilted Violet to the top 1/3 blending it into the Coral. I love this combo as it feels like a sunset to me! I then die cut the panel with the Slimline Hearts Die. Before popping it out, I added glue to all the hearts and affixed it to a plain white panel so I wouldn't waste anything. Two cards for one! I gently peeled up the border once the hearts dried. I stamped the sentiments in the same ink colors. I tried to blend the coral and the violet for a two-tone look. 

For the gnomes I did a little Copic coloring. I had actually started these first and the purple parts were actually a light pink. But once the background was done, I wanted to change it to pink. Since Copics are transparent, it is easy to lay another color on top of light colors, and I was able to put the purple over the pink! 

Copic Colors: E53, E51, E00, YR04, YR02, YR00, N4, N0, W2, BV01, BV0000

Thanks, Sharna, for this adorable card!  To see more of Sharna's work, be sure to visit her blog.

Special Guest - Lollipots 'N Polkadots

 

 

  Let's give a warm welcome to Teresa Plunkett, better known as Lollipots 'N Polkadots. 

Hey Y'all!!! Oh my gosh! I'm so thrilled to be a guest designer for Whimsy Stamps for the month of November!! Here's my first project.... I fell in love with Wraith-Mae the first time I laid eyes on her. She's a digital stamp from Whimsy Stamps. Her expression could mean so many things. And my mom's middle name is Mae which makes her even more fun. I decided for this card her expression would be one of disbelief. Isn't that the way you feel when the first foot of snow falls each year? Especially here in NC? All the details for this card are below (including links). 

     

I started by coloring Wraith-Mae with Copic markers.

COPIC MARKERS:

• Dress (BG49, BG13, BG11)

• Hair (N10, N9, N7, N5, N3)

• Skin (E04, E21, E11, E000, E0000)

• Eyes & Lips (B000, C0, R29)

I used Iridescent Glitter Gel and the Polka Dot Stencil from Whimsy Stamps to create a fun snowy background. This gel is just the coolest stuff and I love this stencil!  Next, I created snowy hills using the Whimsy Stamps' Grass and Cloud Edger Dies.  I cut four random sets of hills and covered them in snow with Stickles Icicle.  I popped them up with foam tape to give them some dimension.  The winter trees and lamp post are from Whimsy Stamps' Trees Assortment and Elvira Moonlighting Die Sets.  I covered the trees with a little Icicle Stickles.  I cut the lamp post from both turquoise paper (to match Wraith-Mae's dress) and black cardstock.  I placed yellow cardstock behind the lamp and added more snow with Icicle Stickles.  The sentiment "Make The Best Of It..." is from the Dragon Water Fun stamp set, and I cut it out with the Quick Strips Die.  

Thank you, Teresa, for this beautiful inspiration!