Hi! What do you do when one of the leading craft stores in India contacts you and asks you to do a review of their products? Yes! You jump up with joy!
Recently Itsy Bitsy sent me a goodie bag with their newly launched cardstock and some lovely embellishments. This is a premium quality, textured white card stock available in packs of 10 sheets each measuring 12 x 12 inches. It is a thick 270 gsm paper suitable for all sorts of crafts.
I made three cards using the paper and some of the embellishments.
For the first card I wanted to use the paper as is since it is such a beautiful, bright white.
I made a shaker card and added the pretty felt blooms to finish it. The sentiment is from the Sweet Cakes stamp set by Simon Says Stamp.
For the second card I wanted to see how suitable the paper is for stamping.
I used the Freehand Florals set by Wplus9 and a bunch of Memento dew drop dye inks to create my panel.
For the third and last card I decided to try ink blending.
I used the All Occasion Sentiments stamp set by My Favorite things and several Altenew inks in shades of pink.
Here are my three cards together.
My thoughts on this paper? I loved it! Will I buy it for personal use? Definitely!
Some of the things I really liked:
- Very sturdy paper with a beautiful bright white color.
- Die cuts beautifully.
- Though it is textured, stamping is very easy on this paper and the colors show up beautifully. I deliberately avoided using my stamp positioner. But each image stamped crisp and clear the first time.
- Perfect for ink blending. I added several layers of ink without any patchiness at all. Also no bending while heat embossing.
- I also tried a bit of watercoloring and it held up well. I will share that card some other day.
So a big thanks to Itsy Bitsy for introducing this wonderful product.
Love,
Nandini
Hi! The latest Make My Monday challenge is up and the theme this time is Travel/Vacation. It is a wonderful theme which can be interpreted in so many different ways! Here is my inspiration
I made a card with only die cutting after a very long time. I started with the MFT Die-namics Sailboat die. I used a paper pack by Papericious to cut the sails. Rest of the paper I used is from my scrap box. Here is a closer look at the sailboat.
I used a top folding navy blue card base. I die cut a window in a piece of gray cardstock. I also cut the bottom with the Die-namics Stitched Basic Edges.
The sentiment was cut using the Sizzix Bubble Alphas set. Here is a closer look at the sentiment.
Hope you like my card and are inspired to create something beautiful. Please do visit the Make My Monday challenge blog for more amazing inspiration from my teamies.
Entering this card in the following challenges:
MFT Color Challenge #72
HLS July Anything Goes with Dies Challenge:
Cut It Up Challenge 125 - Patriotic Red, White & Blue:
Cardz For Boyz #173 - Besides The Sea:
Love,
Nandini
Hi! I am back with some inspiration for the latest Addicted To Stamps And More Challenge #249. The theme this week is
This is my favorite theme since I love making CAS cards. I decided to pull out my current favorite the Simply Florals stamp set by Mudra. I have been eyeing this set since it was first launched and received it as a part of my DT kit from Mudra Craft Stamps. Here is the card I made.
I started with a top folding white card base and a piece of red handmade paper. I trimmed the red paper slightly smaller than the card base and used DCAM's Double Stitched circle die set to cut a window in it. I lightly traced the window onto my card base with a pencil to serve as a guide to my stamping. I used the lovely Simply Florals stamp set to stamp with Versamark ink and heat embossed with the Primary Apple Red EP by WOW!. Here is a closer look at my heat embossed bloom.
To finish, I simple popped up the red panel with some foam tape. I deliberately avoided any embellishments as I wanted to keep my card super clean and simple.
Hope you like my card and are inspired to create something beautiful. Please don't forget to visit the ATSM gallery for some more fabulous inspiration from my super talented teamies.
I am entering this card in the following challenges.
CAS On Friday Challenge #111 - Flowers
Just Us Girls #400 - Word Week:
CWS Challenge #16 - Celebrate:
Love,
Nandini
Hi! Priya Sivaraj and the The Craft Shop recently hosted the Crafty Premier League which had contests for teams of crafters. I had a blast participating and was very happy when my team won. Part of my prize was a beautiful stencil by Craftreat which is the home brand of The Craft Shop. I have been a long time customer of The Craft Shop and I love stencils! So I had to pull it out immediately. Here is the card I made.
I started with a piece of white cardstock. I lightly brushed distress ink over the paper with a stencil brush and then applied more distress ink through the Craftreat Shepherds Check stencil to create my background. I then stamped the images from the Altenew Striped Florals stamp with different colors of Memento dew drops ink and die cut them using the matching dies.
I arranged the pieces till I was happy and then adhered the pieces with glue. Couple of then I popped up with foam tape. The sentiment is from the Painted Greetings by Altenew. I stamped it on a scrap of white paper with Versamark and heat embossed with white EP. I used a teal ink to color the scrap and then trimmed it to size.
I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Altenew June Inspiration Challenge:
I was inspired by the bouquet and the pink and purple hues of the flowers. I also liked the subtle background.
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Stencil It
HLS June Anything Goes With Dies Challenge:
Love,
Nandini
Hi! I am back with a fresh new challenge at the Make My Monday blog. This time the theme is 'At The Beach'. Whenever I visit a beach I am always fascinated by the cute little crabs that run around in the sand. So I decided to make a card using a crab image.
I used an old Itsy Bitsy stamp set that has several cute sea creatures and stamped on a watercolor paper with Versamark. I heat embossed using black EP by Wow!. Originally I planned to use my watercolors to do the coloring. But then I came across this great tutorial by Julia Altermann of Just One More Card where she demonstrated a technique of using regular sketch pens to do the coloring of images. I decided to use my Camlin Brush Pens. And I loved the results! Here is a close-up of the panel.
I kept rest of the card super simple. I used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch. The sentiment is from the Woodland Creatures stamp set by Hero Arts. I stamped it with Versamark and heat embossed with white EP by Wow!.
I hope you are inspired to create something beautiful by my card. You can link up your creations to our gallery here. And don't forget to visit the Make My Monday blog for some amazing inspiration by my fellow DT.
Entering this card in the following challenges:
CAS(E) This Sketch #225:
STAMPlorations June CAS Card Challenge:
Cardz 4 Guys Challenge #171 - Something Blue:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Make It Masculine:
Sparkles Monthly Challenge #92 - Four or More Legs:
Love,
Nandini
Hi! It is another Wednesday and that means a new challenge at the Addicted To Stamps And More blog. This time around we have an interesting photo to inspire you.
Isn't this great? There are so many ways to interpret it and I am looking forward to your takes on it.
I decided to concentrate on the subway style lettering. Here is my card inspired by today's pic.
One of my favorite ways to test new inks is by creating plaid backgrounds. I created this top folding card base on which I stamped a plaid pattern using a DIY stamp and the Red Cosmos mini ink cubes set by Altenew. The black stitching lines were stamped using an old Itsy Bitsy stamp set.
I took a piece of white card stock and die cut it with the Lawn Fawn Stitched Journaling Card. I stamped the Graphic Greetings - Birthday stamp with Versamark ink and heat embossed with a pink EP by Wow!. I mounted my panel with foam tape on the card front.
To finish up I added three heart shaped gems to the bottom of the panel.
I hope you like my card and are inspired to create something beautiful. Please link up your creations to our gallery here. Also don't forget to visit the blog and check out the fabulous inspiration by my teamies.
Entering this card in the following challenges.
Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It Challenge - June:
CAS On Sunday Challenge #109 - Use a Repetitive Image
I think my card qualifies since I used one stamp to create the plaid pattern and another to create the stitching lines.
AAA Cards Game #91 - 3rd Big Birthday Bash
Just us Girls #396 - Word Week
I die cut the sentiment panel.
Love,
Nandini
Hi! I love working with stencils. And I am so happy to see all the great Indian brands coming with such great designs. One of my favorite techniques with stencils is to combine them with glitter. This is a technique I picked up from Jennifer McGuire. You can check out her great tutorial here. And here is my card.
I used the Rose Bunch stencil by Craftyscrappers and two colours of glitter. The card base is a lovely pale pink also from Craftyscrappers. The sentiment is from the Let's Party stamp set by Mudra Craft Stamps. I stamped it with Versamark and heat embossed with some metallic pink EP. Here is a closer look at the glitter panel.
I am entering this card in the following challenges.
Cardz 4 Galz Challenge #48 - Inspired by a Song:
Definitely inspired by Pink by Aerosmith!
The Flower Challenge #9 - Anything Goes:
The Paper Players - PP347:
ModSquad Challenge - Background Stash:
Love,
Nandini
