Beach Trip Anyone??

I want to say thank you to the ladies who came to my first class last night! We had a great time and I hope that I'll get to see some of the waterfall cards that you make sometime!

I had a card kit ready for everyone to work on as they were waiting for others in the group to finish up. I think that everyone finished about the same time and no one needed to work on the card at the class. So, if you were at the class and you can't remember how to assemble your card, here is what it looks like.

I used a Flourish stamp (TAC) on the left-hand border of the card stamped in Seascape Palette Ink. (That is the only part that was not stamped out for you already.) That part is optional, so if you don't have that set, you can just leave it blank or substitute another stamp in its place. The stamp set that the rest of the images came from is called "Pull Up Anchor" from The Angel Company (TAC) and I used watercolor pencils to color the images in. I also took a black micron pen and made the doodles around each of the circles. Pretty simple card! The circles, by the way, were punched with the 1.5" Extra Jumbo Circle punch that is also available in the TAC catalog.

Hope that you had a good time! I'm looking forward to planning the next class!

Trouble With Matching Colors NO MORE!!

Sometimes it is hard to find just the right color combination to use on your cards. I have a color wheel that I often pull out and refer to that gives me a few options of colors that match. Usually what I do is to decide what my main color will be and then build the rest of the colors around that one. I will refer to my color wheel and find which colors compliment each other or which colors are opposite. There are several different ways that you can find colors that work well together.

I was recently directed to a website through A Shade of Blue that is AWESOME for picking and matching colors! I love it even more than my color wheel even though I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet. It is the Color Schemer website that you can visit by clicking here.

This website will allow you to choose a color and then it will give you several other colors that match. Simple. Easy. If the color that you want to match is close to the color on the screen but you need the screen color to be slightly lighter, it's no problem! Just click on the button that says "Lighten Scheme" and Wala! you now have a lighter color scheme. If you want it darker, click on the "Darken Scheme" button. You can manually change the numbers of the colors to create a different color--I'm still learning about how that works.

The other feature that I love on this website is their Color Scheme Gallery!! It features current color schemes and they have a huge gallery full of various color options. In fact, right now it features over 2,000 color schemes! That's a lot of inspiration!! And, if you happen to find a color that you really like you can do a search to see if there are other color schemes that use that same color. You can search by color number (you can find the color number by holding your mouse over the color box) or you can do a search by word. I typed in "tulip" and got a few really pretty color combinations. This is a fun program (and free)!!

Here's another one for you... Color Combos Website

This one is fun too! Lots of color schemes here too! There is a color combo box on the right-hand side of this page that lists a lot of different colors. Click on a color. I tried light blue. That took me to a page that had a lot of different color schemes using a light blue color of some sort. I found a color combo that I liked and clicked on it. This took me to another sreen and made those colors really big. At the top of the screen there is a drop-down menu that says "Other Options". One of the options is "Get Complimentary Colors". After selecting the color that I wanted the colors for, it gave me a chart of colors that matched the one that I had selected. Cool!! There was even a place that would grab the colors off of my blog and match them which is shown below.


And one more... Tulip Colors at the Color Blends website
Do you ever look for inspiration in the beauty around you? When you pull out your flower stamps, do you find yourself always reaching for the pinks and purples? Angie posted a website on A Shade of Blue that shows color combinations for various flowers. This is a website that actually sells flowers!! But, it is a great resource for colors to use with your flower stamps. Take a look at THESE tulips! Gorgeous! I never would have thought to stamp a red & white tulip. If you are stamping roses and you want to find color combinations for roses, do a search for "roses" and see what you come up with. Here is a flower arrangement that I thought was gorgeous that I found by doing a search for flowers. Very pretty color combination! Can you imagine how beautiful that would look on a card?
Well, now that you are overloaded with ideas for color combinations I will leave you to your creations! Have fun and don't let frustrations with color matching get you down again! Now you know where you can turn for help!

Raining or Snowing? Waterfall anyone?

I know, I know. Another post about Waterfall cards! I won't promise that it'll be my last one either because I have another idea up my sleeve!

I have been working on some designs for the Waterfall class that I'll be having next week and wanted to share one of the designs with you. Have I told you yet how much I LOVE to make these cards?? They are so much fun! And, they are really easy too (I know, they don't LOOK like it!)!

This card uses the Deco Designs set from The Angel Company (TAC), the Palette Inks and DCWV paper that are all available in the TAC catalog. I love this Deco Designs set! It is so hip and trendy and elegant.

You can also see what the side-view of the finished product looks like partially open. That is why the name of the card is waterfall, because when you open it, it has the effect of water running down the side of a mountain. Even the imagery is beautiful!
One of the nice things about these cards is that you can use them for any occassion. The sentiment on this one is referring to friendship. But, you could make the theme of your card birthday, baby, just because, sympathy, etc.
If you wanted to attend this class but missed the RSVP deadline, give me a call (or email). I might still be able to fit you in!
Have a good day and thanks for stopping by!

April Stamp of the Month

The Angel Company's Stamp of the Month program is back! With a $30 purchase, you are able to purchase the featured Stamp of the Month. This is a stamp set that is not currently available in the catalog and can only be purchased for a one-month period. And, since this is a special promotion, you don't even have to pay retail value for the stamp set!

I love this month's design called "Be Curious". It is so sweet and perfect for those Spring & Summer cards and scrapbook pages! I love the image of the Momma daisy hugging her child. This stamp set can be yours for the low price of $6.95 with every $30 order. Your friends will love receiving a card from you that has these daisies on it! They won't be able to help but to smile!!

If you would like to see ideas that have been made using this featured stamp set, click here.

_______________________________________________

Waterfall Card & Altered Wood Block Stamp Class COMING SOON!!

Also, don't forget that the Waterfall Card & Altered Wood Block stamp class is coming up! I need your RSVP by Wednesday, April 11th (but the sooner the better for me). If you would like more information about this exciting class, please refer to the post on my blog directly below this one. I am looking forward to a great time!