#ssscardkit – Varada Sharma

3 more watercolored cards using Simon Says Stamp Stronger Together card kit

February 25th, 2020Varada0 Comments

Namaste! Watercoloring is going strong in my neck of the woods. And lucky for me, the current Simon Says Stamp Stronger Together card kit has 3 pre-printed watercolor cards by the amazingly talented Suzy Plantamura. I used those to create these 3 cards. For all these, I used the watercolor pencils that came with the kit. Let’s look at each of them, shall we? Card 1: I used the gray, two yellows and two greens to color these daisies. Then I fussy cut them out using my Tim Holtz mini snips and Fiskars Fingertip Precision Knife. For the background, I …

Simon Says Stamp | August 2018 card kit – Mandy’s Flowers – Card idea 6

August 31st, 2018Varada0 Comments

Hi friends, we have been using several gorgeous floral images from Simon Says Stamp Mandy’s Flowers cards for last few days. Today I will show you how you can use the sentiment stamps with several patterned papers to make a card. And yes, you can change a little bit here and there to make good use of all those pretty scraps in your stash. I wanted to use the pretty papers from the card kit because they were so lovely. But I could not decide on just a few ones, so I went with several of them. From each of …

Simon Says Stamp | August 2018 card kit – Mandy’s Flowers – Card idea 5

August 30th, 2018Varada0 Comments

Hi friends, are you ready for one more card using Simon Says Stamp August 2018 card kit – Mandy’s Flowers stamp set? I hope you are :-) {Check out other ideas for this stamp set / card kit here.} Similar card to this one here, except I layered this with a black cardstock piece which I had dry embossed with Darice Scroll Frame embossing folder. And for watercoloring, I used Festive Berries, Fossilized Amber, Bundled Sage and Mermaid Lagoon. Trying to keep it really simple today, so not getting into details. Shoot me any questions you might have and I will …

Simon Says Stamp | August 2018 card kit – Mandy’s Flowers – Card idea 3

August 28th, 2018Varada0 Comments

Hi friends, I have a shaped card today using Mandy’s Flowers stamp set. I used Hero Arts infinity circle dies to create a circle shape out of white cardstock. On this I stamped the round floral wreath like image and colored using Zig real brush markers. I used Yellow, Light Green, and Light Pink colors. I added pink dots on the springs to bring in some pink colors and not just have yellow-green. For the stamping I used waterproof Archival Black ink, but since I had not stamped on a watercolor paper, I did not use any water, just markers …

Simon Says Stamp | August 2018 card kit – Mandy’s Flowers – Card idea 2

August 27th, 2018Varada0 Comments

Hi friends, welcome back to my blog where we are showcasing a series of cards made using Simon Says Stamp August 2018 card kit – Mandy’s Flowers. You can check out all the cards in this series here. Here’s today’s card idea where I combined the stamp set with stripes of patterned papers. Just like yesterday’s card I stamped a floral image and die cut a stitched rectangle. I used Archival Black ink on Strathmore watercolor paper. Using my waterbrush and Zig real brush markers – pink, yellow, green and blue – I colored this image. I also stamped a couple more …

Simon Says Stamp | August 2018 card kit – Mandy’s Flowers – Card idea 1

August 26th, 2018Varada0 Comments

Hi friends, today I am starting a series of 6 card ideas using Simon Says Stamp August 2018 card kit – Mandy’s Flowers. For most of these I used the gorgeous floral stamp set and in some cards I also used several patterned papers too. So watch this space for a new card idea each day for this whole week. {I know I am kinda late to the party – SSS September 2018 card kit – Beautiful Mermaids – is already out and on my instagram I have already shared an quick-ish craft idea using those images. But, I did …

Background check – Use textured card stock

February 25th, 2017Varada2 Comments

Hello and welcome to 11th post in the #vsbackgroundcheck series. Today’s idea is to use textured cardstock for the card base. This one here came from one of Hero Arts’ card kits. But I will try and link to similar ones below. The subtle texture on this card stock does wonders to the focal point cluster. Honestly speaking, I worked on the focal point on this card because the background was a simple one – I just used the texture on my card base to the advantage of this design. For the focal point, I started by cutting and rounding …

Background check – Repeat stamp sentiment or images to create your own pattern

February 24th, 2017Varada0 Comments

Hi friends, I am so excited to share tip #10 for our series #vsbackgroundcheck! This is one of my favorite techniques – repeat stamping. In this, we repeatedly stamp an image or a sentiment on a certain area or all over the background. Like I did in the two cards below: In the first card, I stamped and fussy cut images for my focal point using Tuzedo Black ink. Then I colored them using Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I could not fussy cut the fine thread on the tea-bag, so I used real needle-thread to attach the two pieces together. :-) Initially …

Background check – use background stamp

February 23rd, 2017Varada0 Comments

Hello lovelies! Today’s idea for rocking card backgrounds is to use background stamps! Just like with background dies, there are so many options out there for this. I will list some of my favorites below. By the way, if you are new here, welcome!! :-) This month we are exploring ways to create great backgrounds for our card focal point. You can check out the earlier posts in this series by clicking here. Here’s my card for today: For this background, I used gray cardstock which I first die cut using the largest stitched rectangle die from SSS. Then I used the …

Background check – layer with a doily or die cut

February 21st, 2017Varada0 Comments

Hello friends, and welcome to a beautiful new week! Today’s card shares tip #7 for backgrounds in this #vsbackgroundcheck series – layer the focal point with a doily or a die cut. In this case I layered it with both. The doily at the bottom and I added a circle on top which I die cut from one of the patterned papers. I stamped one of the sentiments on this circle. {I simply love the infinity circle dies from Hero Arts – so many sizes of circles to play with. I find myself reaching for them all the time! They …

Background check – Ink Blending

February 18th, 2017Varada0 Comments

Happy Saturday, my crafty friends!! I am back with my next idea for backgrounds. Idea #6 is to ink blend. My favorite ink blender in the whole world is Laura Bassen. You should go look at her creations. She is the queen of rainbow colors!! By the way, if you are new here, welcome!! :-) This month we are exploring ways to create great backgrounds for our card focal point. You can check out the earlier posts in this series by clicking here. Here’s my card for today: I started by cutting out pieces of patterned paper that I wanted to put together …

Background check – go with plain cardbase for background

February 16th, 2017Varada0 Comments

Hello dearies! I am back with my next installment of inspiration for backgrounds. Idea #5 is the simplest of them all – go with plain cardbase. Don’t have any kind of pattern or texture for the background at all. It does not get any simpler than this, guys! :-) If you are new here, welcome!! :-) This month we are exploring ways to create great backgrounds for our card focal point. You can check out the earlier posts in this series by clicking here. Here’s my card for today. Other than a strip of washi tape on the side, the background …

Background check – use watercolors to create a background

February 14th, 2017Varada0 Comments

Hello my crafty friends! I am here with another installment of background check series posts. Today is idea #4. If you are new here, a warm Namastey! :-) This month we are exploring ways to enhance the background for our card focal point. You can check out the earlier posts in this series by clicking here. Just because of the sheer number of alternatives you have in terms of colors/color combinations and types of watercolors you use (from kids ones to professional grade, and even distress inks or die inks!), this idea is super versatile. Here’s my card using …

Background check – Add beautiful texture to the background using embossing folders

February 11th, 2017Varada0 Comments

Hello everyone and welcome to idea #3 for background check series. If you are new here, nice to meet you! :-) This month we are exploring ways to enhance the background for our card focal point. You can check out the earlier posts in this series by clicking here. Today’s idea is a simple but powerful one – using embossing folders to add texture and interest to card backgrounds. Here is what I made with this idea today. For this card as with previous cards, I kept my focal point really simple by cutting out this cute donut from one …

Background check – Create an Anchor for the focal point

February 9th, 2017Varada0 Comments

Hello everyone and welcome to idea #2 for background check series. If you are new here, nice to meet you! :-) This month we are exploring ways to enhance the background for our card focal point. Today’s idea is to create a panel with patterned paper as an anchor for the focal point like so: Creating a banner with the coffee beans for this focal point reinforces the whole “coffee bean” theme in this design and also gives an interesting backdrop to the focal point. The rest of this card is just a lot of layering and playing with patterned …