Made in Minutes Monday

Welcome to the newest edition of Made in Minutes, my favorite MCT Design Team feature this year. On this day we share with you quick and easy projects that take only a few minutes to create, perfect for any last minute cards you may need to whip up!

Today I had this fun idea, inspired by the card class I took, and it went so fast I made two more! Super fun to do and you could easily make a few to have on hand.

For the first card I used distress inks, chipped sapphire, peacock feathers, and dusty concord. I stamped it with--are you ready?--a pencil eraser!! Isn't it fun? I masked off a circle in the center of the card and stamped around it, same technique I used for all these cards. The trick, I learned from trial and error, is to stamp rather concentrated and close together around the mask to be sure the shape appears.

The sentiment is from the Small Talk stamp set. I added twine and a button to give it a little 'extra'.

I used a smaller circle to mask this card and the sparkle and star stamps from It's a Magical Season. Distress ink colors are forest moss, bundled sage, and festive berries.

 Sentiment is also from It's a Magical Season. I added twine and a snowflake charm to finish it off.

Another theme on this same masking idea, this time hearts for Valentine's Day or anniversary. The hearts are from the Post Card Add-ons set, and I added dots with the pencil eraser to fill in some empty spots. The distress ink colors I used for this card are worn lipstick, barn door and festive berries.

The typewriter stamp and die, sentiment and heart stamps are all from the Once Upon a Time set. I cut the typewriter twice to give it thickness then popped it off the card with foam tape.

Product List:
My Creative Time, Small Talk stamp set
My Creative Time, It's a Magical Season stamp set
My Creative Time, Post Card Add-ons stamp set
My Creative Time, Once Upon a Time stamp and die set
My Creative Time, 3x4 Journal Card die
My Creative Time, 4x4 Journal Card die
Distress Inks: chipped sapphire, peacock feathers, dusty concord; forest moss, bundled sage, festive berries; worn lipstick, barn door, festive berries
Twine, button, snowflake, foam tape

OCC, Bonus Day - add texture with scoring

As much as I have enjoyed the watercolor classes, and I WILL be using these techniques again!!, this is my final project for class. Ahhh! ;)  I really like it and particularly enjoyed the video by Laura showing this technique. Adding the score lines is a great way to add texture and visual interest. Here is my card.

Closer view of the butterfly and tulle embellishment. Watercolor hombre effect using the background colors.

Distress inks, picked raspberry, ripe persimmon, spun sugar
Memory Box butterfly die, Vivienne
My Creative Time stamped sentiment, Way To Go; 4x6 stitched card die
Martha Stewart scoring board
sequins, glossy accents, tulle, glue dots, stylus

OCC, Day 11 Play Day1 (card 3 of 3)

For my final card of the day, I tried my hand at a "scene" card. This is a challenge for me as I find making scenery cards very difficult. It's a huge weakness for me. Nevertheless, I gave it a try using Paper Smooches Briny Blue stamp set.

The technique for the background, however, is pretty cool. I used distress stains for this one adding water and using a large flat brush to disperse the color across the paper. While the color is still wet, I sprinkled table salt over it. The salt absorbed the color from the areas it touched, leaving this cool bubbly affect. I was originally going to use it as a sunset, but loved the look of underwater bubbles and decided on the sea theme instead!

I also used a couple of other techniques in this same card. For the rocks and starfish, I stamped the image then watercolored inside the image; for the sea grass, I inked the image then spritzed with water and applied the wet stamp onto the paper. I think it makes it look more "wobbly" as if really under water!

distress stains
salt
paper smooches, briny blue stamp set
sequins, glossy accents

OCC Day 11, Play Day! (card 2 of 3)

For this card, I used the rays layering stencil by Tim Holtz. I stamped the inks directly onto the stencil, spritzed with water, then applied the wet side of the stencil directly onto the watercolor paper. Simple technique and I love how it looks. After the ink dried, I went back with a very watery mix of blue ink for just a touch of color between the rays.

distress inks
tim holtz rays layering stencil
sentiment {don't know the company, sorry}
sequins, glossy accents

OCC, Day 11 - Play Day! {card 1 of 3}

Fun day in watercolor class....play day! I did three cards for today using various techniques we've learned throughout the classes. {They will be posted in separate blog posts, so please scroll to see them all.} The first one is water coloring an embossed image, on vellum. I do wish this were a little less opaque vellum as it didn't photograph well enough to see the yellow behind it, but I still love the outcome!

butterfly image by Technique Tuesday
thistle image by Inkadinkadoo
sentiment by Technique Tuesday
colored with Distress Inks