Diaper Bag Baby Card by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

Today I have a little experiment to share with you.
I was wanting to make a baby card for the Boy oh Boy! challenge
and I got the idea to use the tool bag as a diaper bag.

I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The die that cuts out the bag also cuts slits to place the tools in. The tools

are smaller than the baby items I included, so I cut some of the slits open

a little larger with a craft knife. It worked perectly.

I used the new silver paint to add accents to the bag and to paint

the pin so it would look more real.

So far, this card is for no one in particular. The only baby on the way

in my life is the next door neighbors daughter and she's having a girl.

I know it'll come in handy at some point though.

Enjoy your day!

A Masculine Watercolor Birthday Card and a Card for a Friend.

Hello Crafty Fiends and Happy Watercolor Weekend!

Today, I want to share two projects that are completely different in purpose.

For the first project, a friend asked me to create a masculine watercolor birthday card for her husband. Knowing he loves the ocean and owns a boat, I designed the card with that theme in mind.

To start, I used the lighthouse and cliff stamps from the Light of the World set (6126). I inked everything except the tree using Tombow markers 969 and 565, and stamped the tree using Tombow marker 177. I then pulled the colors from the stamp and painted the lighthouse and the cliff.
                     

Next, I painted the tree and some background foliage using branches from the Branches Set (4964) and the Large Tree Set (5373). I also added the sky.

To add the ocean, I drew a line and masked the sky to create a straight horizon. I built up the ocean using different shades of blue, and then added a few wave lines using bleed-proof white. I kept it looking like a calm ocean without too much foam or waves.

For the sentiment, I used the Large Letter Die Set (5910) to cut the letters "HPPY" three times—twice in white and once in blue. I layered and glued them together with the blue letters on top. For the letter "A", I used the sailboat from the Sail Mini Dies set (5325). I added a few lines to one of the sails using a red marker (856) and a little gray for shadow. Finally, I added a "Birthday" stamp and cut a coordinating blue mat to be glued around the card.

I am really happy with how this card turned out, and I hope you like it, too!

    

                                              My second card:  Thinking of You card

I want to share the details of the second card I made. I am making this card for a friend who is going through a difficult time, and I hope it brings a smile to her face and lets her know that I am thinking of and praying for her.

Since she loves birds, I designed this card specifically with her in mind:

  - Background & Stamping: I started by sketching the paper using the die from Story Tile Die Set (#6158) and then stamped the birds from the Mercy Set (#6216). I left one space open for a sentiment from the Cottage Charm Set (#6179). 

- Painting: To give the birds a realistic look, I researched different sparrow species online for reference. Once the painting was dry, I applied a thin layer of Distress Glaze to seal it.    

 - Assembly: I cut the frame twice—once in black and once in kraft paper for the top layer. Finally, I glued the frame and mat together onto a matching kraft-colored card base.

    Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope these cards inspire your own creations. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Happy crafting and watercolor painting!

You CAN add sparkle and bling to masculine projects! by Reneé Matarese

Hello Ai fans!

You have just about a day left to enter our We 💚 Dads! challenge. Make a Father's Day project or something masculine. You might win a free stamp set! 

Today I've made a dies only card that shows you CAN use sparkle
and bling on a masculine card too!

I used Platinum Stickles and Diamond Dots in several different shades,

to add interest to my card. I also used gold paper on the #1 and the trophy,

and Wink of Stella on the sailboat.

I LOVE the new scalloped square dies to frame the nested squares and stitched squares.
They're so pretty!

The waves were created using a border die from 5543 – Journal Template Die Set.

I love this sort of rustic Americana color theme for guys. Especially since Father's Day usually falls near Flag Day which was my grampy's birthday. (Just so you know...Blogger wanted to autocorrect grampy's to grumpy's! lol!) My grampy was not grumpy!

 

Just a Mermaid and Her Treasures! by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

I've loved this little mermaid since the moment I saw her.

How precious is this card for a little girl's birthday?

Or a big girl...we can all love mermaids!

I know we often hear about octopuses collecting little trinkets and sparkly things but I kind of feel like mermaids probably do that too. I made sure to deck out her space with all sorts of shells and treasures.

Even though my card has a lot going on, I feel like she is still the star. The dies that come with this set cut a little opening in her arms to hold her beloved conch shell or treasure chest or anything else you might think she'd enjoy.

I recently did an Easter craft at school and took one of my chalk palettes. It reignited my interest in them. I used them to add some subtle color to my embossing folder and die cuts.

Do you repurpose items from around your house for your cards? For the fish netting here, I used a sleeve that 3 heads of garlic came in.

This last photo is just for fun. When my daughter saw my card she remarked that it looked like our tissue box.  LOL! Maybe Joel uses Kleenex too and was inspired by the box for his paper! 

P.S. Let me tell you! I DID NOT SPEND ALMOST $9.00 on this tiny bag of shells that I added to my card. Over 10 years ago, these were gifted to me by a co-worker. I can't believe they're still available and I can't believe how expensive they are. Thank goodness for Art Impressions VERY reasonably priced 5329 – Beach Mini Dies. I can color those however I like and make as many as I want.

I made a second, slightly different version because I remembered that I had the nautical wax melt stamper and wanted to add that. I like this version too.

Copics used:

G40, BG02, BG07, E34, RV42, RV52, R000, R85, Y04, Y15

Marvy LePlume:

R810 IVORY, R812 APRICOT, OR821 BEIGE

Fun Gulls by Dori Mendiola

 Happy Thursday AI Friends

I have a fun card today that fits with the May Guest Designer challenge - "Anchors Away".  See the tab above for details.  I hope you will join in and play.  It's very easy, fun and you could win a free stamp set plus be a guest designer for a month.  

First I started with the background by ink blending distress oxide twisted citron and broken china onto a 4 x 5 1/4 piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock.  I misted with water to create the water spots and then partial die cut with a wave background die.  I used a piece of kraft cardstock for the beach and die cut with a hillside die.  I spotted with copic markers to mimic sand and the background is complete. 

Next, I stamped several images from the #5399 Gull-Friends set onto cryogen white cardstock  and colored with copic markers (see below for colors).  I die cut the images out with the corresponding dies that come in the set.  The tree stump is the log, turned sideways, from the #5055 WC Sitting Places set.  I stamped, colored and fussy cut two of the logs.  Trimmed a bit off the top of one of them and placed it at a slight diagonal just behind the other one.  I used foam tape to give it dimension and tied them together with twine.   The anchor and the flying seagulls are from the #5325 Sail Mini dies.  The sentiment is from the #5399 Gull-Friends set stamped onto a 1" circle die cut from the #5064 Double Stitched Circle dies.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will join in on the challenges going on this week.

Have a great day!

Copics markers used: 

C00, C1, C3, 

E53, E55, E57, E59

R20, R22, 

Y13, Y15, Y17, 

B12, B14, B16

YR12, YR04, YR07, YR21, YR24

YG21, YG23, YG25

Come Sail Away! by Reneé Matarese

                                                                Hello and happy Sunday.

Our son took up sailing last fall with a friend of his and has really enjoyed it.  He recently went to a 3 day tournament in Canada and stayed with a couple his friend knows.  He wanted me to make a sailing themed thank you card for them.

This is actually the inside of the card where I've used the seagull and sailboat from the  5325 – Sail Mini Dies. The front of my card wasn't Ai, so if you'd like to see that, you can visit my blog.

He was able to get a picture of his friend on a boat he sailed in a race.  His friend is Canadian and we're American so I loved that the two countries were neck and neck here.  My son was really excited when he saw that I had so many boats and that I had replicated his friends boat.

On the card, I was sure to put Canada in the lead as an extra thank you...lol!
I used Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White Paint to add some white caps to the waves.

I added 3 other non-descript boats because you can't just have two in a race! 
The fine detail on the tiny boats was created with Tombow Twintone Brights – 12pk.

I hope his friends like it!