Fun Field Trip Thank You Cards

My daughter's Daisy Troop recently went on a couple of field trips, and I made these cards to thank the business owners for hosting the girls. These cards are a much larger format than I'm used to making. My usual card is 4" x 5 1/2". These are 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". For the ice cream cone, I used a template downloaded from Scor-Pal's Summer E-zine.

The super cool pizza template came from Lindsay's super-helpful blog, The Frugal Crafter. I added details with foam dimensionals, my Scor-Pal (embossing on cone), Cuttlebug embossing folder (ice cream), Stickles glitter glue (love that stuff!), and swiping the edges of the pieces with ink to give them depth. For the letters on the cone card, Shannon was kind enough to lend me her Cuttlekids die cutter and alphabet dies.

Supply Saturday

I love having a stash as much as the next crafter, but with a limited budget, I try to be discriminating about what kind of supplies I buy. When I'm considering new supplies, I look for things that are going to last, that are versatile, and that are compatible with my crafting style.

Almost every time I make a card, I reach for my watercolor crayons. I've had them for about two years, and I haven't even made a dent in them yet. They can be used with a number of techniques, and they provide soft, natural colors that complement the kind of images I like to use.

I use both Stampin' Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Derwent Watercolor Crayons. Derwent's colors tend to be darker and more vibrant, and SU! are lighter and more muted.

Here's an image I painted tonight using watercolor crayons. I use a small-tipped watercolor brush and pick up the color directly from the crayon with the brush slightly damp. This bird and nest are from Crafty Secrets' Fairyland set. I stamped it with Palette Hybrid Burnt Umber ink on Neenah Paper cardstock.

Journey Home Card

This week I am the host of the Crafty Secrets Member Forum challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. The theme is "There's No Place Like Home!" I created the card above as a sample for the challenge.

The images are from Crafty Secrets' Fairyland set. I stamped the images in Palette Hybrid Ink - Burnt Umber on Neenah cardstock, then colored them using Stampin' Up's Watercolor Wonder Crayons, water, and a small-tipped watercolor brush. I distressed the main image panel with a Heidi Swapp edge distresser. I punched the K&Company Wild Saffron paper with a Martha Stewart border punch and adhered it to the main panel. I handwrote the quote on a Heartwarming Journal note, tore the edges, and swiped them with Ranger Distress Ink. Then I added the heart clip with the seam tape ribbon.

Okay, Mandy, I Did it!

Are you quite happy now?