Secret Santa Stamps

I believe this is my 9th year to participate in the Secret Santa stamp swap.  Bungalow Boxer had my name and send a pinecone/needle stamp, an awesome logbook, and some chocolates.  

I actually met Bungalow Boxer early this year.  She was passing thru town on her way to an event, and asked if I wanted to get together for an exchange.  It was fun getting a surprise from someone I recently met.   While in the area, she planted some boxes and I got them on Spring Break.

I am looking for a good place with pine trees to hide my stamp.  I wanted to stop and look at a cemetery yesterday but my family said no :(

I had Sherlock Miles and her sent this detective stamp I carved and a few LTCs.

Merry Christmas to all!  

Advent Calendar LTCs

I was excited when SLeaves posted the "Advent Calendar" LTC swap.  I like making cards/boxes for silly holidays and I immediately went to the interweb looking for fun holidays in December.   

My first day is December 12th.  It is National Gingerbread House Day.  I carved my stamp, stamped it on cardstock, and colored it with Copic markers.  I also went over the snow areas with my Scrapbook.com glitter brush pen. 

My second day is December 18th.  This is Answer The Phone Like Buddy The Elf Day!  I carved my stamp, colored it with Marvy markers and stamped it on cardstock. 

The one requirement from the tracker is that they have the date on them.  I have goofy handwriting so I ordered a few different stamp sets to use on the date.  

I'm happy with them and looking forward to seeing the other cards. 

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him LTC

This is my card for Disney Addict's, "Christmas Time" LTC swap.  Again, I went to Pinterest for my inspiration.  

For my card, I took playing cards, and used Gesso to glue down some old, torn text papers.  Once that was dry, I stamped my stamp, and colored it with Distress Crayons & a water brush.  I affixed my strip of text with a glue stick.

I wanted to add some glitter and set the cards, so I bought some glitter spray paint at the craft store.  It was a total dud.  The can did not work at all and if I could have found the receipt, I would have returned it.

Christmas Time: 
Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

Then I went to Walmart and bought some glitter spray paint and it had waaay to much glitter.  Even when I tried to go easy on the nozzle, it was too much.  

I used to have some glitter Mod Podge and could not find it.  I ordered some online.  It came and I loved it.  I loved that it had multi size glitter pieces.  I painted it on my cards and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.  I'm very happy with my first Christmas LTC of 2020.

 

Fall Break boxing in Louisville

My kids are on fall break for a few days this week.  Yesterday, Daddy's Favorite Princess and I went to Louisville to look for the new Who Killed Colonel Sanders boxes.  I have been thinking about hiding a Clue series myself and wanted to find these boxes.   We left home at 7, stopped at McDonalds, and stopped to find a box at a rest area on the way.

We arrived in Louisville around 9:30 our time and found the first few boxes rather easily.  With the route that I chose to get us around the city, in a way I thought was most efficient, we discovered who the killer was, what the weapon was, and the room quickly.  The series has 21 boxes and we found 18.  Most of the time, when we box in Louisville, we visit cemeteries.  We really enjoyed all the places that these boxes took us.  

I planted a box while we were there and we left 2 hitchhikers and found none :(  I really like hitchhikers and rarely find them.  I will keep making them because I enjoy them.  I have an idea for a large series of hitchhikers that I can use my scraps to carve.  

Altogether, we looked for 23 and found 20.  I was worried that we would not be able to find them all in one day but we actually made it home before dark.  The weather was great, even though we drove home in rain.  

It's Fall Y'all and some boxing

 

It's Fall Y'all: Autumn

This is my card for jlsd0218's "It's Fall Y'all" LTC swap.  My card is called, "Autumn."  For this tracker, you were supposed to use some sort of embellishment.  As you can see, I used eyelets.  I bought them a long time ago but I don't know if I ever used them.

THIS was the inspiration for my card.  I considered carving a tree blowing in the wind but couldn't find just the right image.  

For the background, I used my Geli Plate.  I have been having problems with my plate lately.  Can they dry out or go bad?  I bought new paint at the end of last year and thought it may be the problem.  So I got new paint and it worked better.  I'm very happy with how the cards turned out.

Haubstadt, Ind

I went letterboxing last Saturday and had a great time.  The weather was beautiful and I found all 7 boxes that I looked for.  

I started off in Haubstadt looking for a box that someone planted passing thru. I also explored a nearby park.  Next month is my 10 year letterbox anniversary and I have been thinking about planting a ten box series.   I checked out a park that used to have a few trails.  Now it is a disc golf course.  I think I will plant there anyway if I can get my butt in gear and carve the stamps. 

Owensboro, Ky

Then I went to Owensboro, Ky.  Big jump, I know.  There is a new boxer there and she has planted a bunch of boxes.  I went over back in July and got some of the boxes.  This time I got all of them but one that is inside a library.  

A while ago, I got a message that one of my boxes in Owensboro was missing.  The area had flooded and the box washed away.  We went on a field trip to an orchard just 2 miles away and I had to check while we were so close.  I found the box!  It was in a pile of flood debris.  It was in bad shape so I cleaned it up and rehid it in a better place last weekend.  

I was great to be out boxing again.   I love this weather and all the awesome stamps :)

Autumn Craft & Swap

These are my cards for aMAZEing adventure frogs "Autumn Craft & Swap 2020".  There is no theme for these swaps and I usually make something for the season or holiday.

This card is kinda the fall version of my Water Lily card.  I cut light tan texture paper to card size, laid a wood grain stencil on, and rubbed Walnut Stain Distress Ink thru the stencil.  Then I sprayed the card with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Woven Burlap.  I cut the top corners off to make it look like a tag and rubbed the same distress ink around the edge of the paper.

When I had the bleeding tissue paper out to make my camping cards, I made some extra for the leaves of this card.  I painted water on watercolor paper, laid the bleeding tissue paper down, and I added a little more water on top.  Once that was dry, I stamped and embossed my leaf stamp, and cut them out.

Autumn Craft & Swap '20: Pretty Maple Leaf

You may recall that the water lily card has vellum and text papers.  So I added vellum and scrapbook paper to this set too.  I loved using thread on the other card and used twine on this one.  I think it needs a little extra color but I'm happy with it.

Brads

Brads: Patience 

Way back in the spring, I participated in Team Awesome Pants's A-Z w/Thee LTC swap.  I never made a blog post for those cards but I plan on it.  When she sent the cards back to you, she sent a surprise.  The surprise was brads.

She then made an LTC swap where you were supposed to make a card with the brads you received.  It was when I was working full time and I didn't really want to make the cards.  I also wasn't crazy about the brads I got.   But I felt guilty throwing the brads away and I didn't want to mail them back.

My brads were tiny, brightly colored birds.  I didn't like them because they were too small and the colors were too bright.  I went thru my paper stache looking for something loud that fit the birds.

I found this old pad of paper that I used a few years ago in a Bind it All swap.  You had to make some kind of book using your BIA.  I made little recipe books in the shape of aprons.  I thought they were cute.

I used scraps from that book to make these cards.  The cards also have a plain brown border.  My cards are called, "Patience" because the brad bird is waiting for the eggs to hatch.  You used to be able to make a synopsis of your "box" on the Box Details page.  But you can't anymore.  So I put in the Keyword box, "tapistryingmypatiencewiththesebrads".  XD

Camp Life LTCs

Brief life update: On Monday, July 27th, I was fired from Rural King for not wearing a face mask.  I have ordered my home school curriculum and it should arrive on Friday (7/31).  I hope to start our home school adventure on August 10th. 

(7/29)With loosing my job, have a lot of free time and jumped right into making cards.  This is my card for the "What is your life?" swap.  My card is called, "Camp Life." 

I thought about making a geli print background but went with the bleeding tissue paper because it is just so easy.  You brush or spray water on paper, lay the bleeding tissue paper down, and you can add more water if you wish.  When they dry, the tissue paper falls right off.  It's so easy.  I'm using it on another card too while I have it out.

What is your life?: Camp Life

Once the cards were dry (I used a cheep watercolor paper) I stamped and embossed my stamp.  Then I glued the whole thing to brown scrapbook paper.  Nothing exciting but I like it, and like creating and being artsy again <3

Life Update & Some Boxing

Hi.  I'm still alive :)  I haven't made a blog post in a while.  I had a little bit of free

Western Ky Botanical Garden

time and decided to send out an update. 

So, I was a stay at home mom for 13 years.  Then I worked part time at a day care for 2.5 years.  When the corona virus hit, people stopped sending their kids to the day care.  I thought I would be off for 2 weeks.  But after 6 weeks of not working and hearing almost nothing from the day care, I started looking for a job at an essential business.   

I now work full time at Rural King, where I am on my feet for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.  During the first 2 weeks, I could barley walk when I got home in the evenings.  My husband cooked supper those first 2 weeks because I was so exhausted.  I have very little time or energy for letterboxing.  

Elmwood Cemetery

Any LTC swap that I didn't finish before I started working at "The King", I dropped from.  Some of them I was very excited about and had images on rubber, ready to carve.  I just didn't have the energy to do it.  My Etsy shop has been on and off  this whole time.  I get an order or 2 and I am ok.  But then I get a ton, overwhelmed, and behind and close it up for a bit.  

I am already off on weekends so I was off today for Independence Day.  And I spend most of the day letterboxing.  I got 4 boxes in Evansville, 9 in Owensboro, 1 cootie, and I planted one.  It was so nice to got out and box.  

Things should get better.  My husband has decided that we should home school our kids this fall.  So I will quit my job or drastically cut my hours and I'll be home with my kids.  I'll be able to carve stamps and make cards while the kids do school
work.  

That is it for now.  I know I'm behind on a few blog posts for cards.  Maybe I can type them up this evening.  Hope you are all doing well :)

PS-Blogger has changed the website and it may take me a while to figure it out. 

How do you relax? LTC

How do you relax? into the woods I go...

I joined Thompson Whangdoodles, "How do you relax?" tracker and my first thought was take a walk.  When I get stressed I like to get some fresh air.

I carved my stamp and then started thinking about how to make the card.  I really like Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Inks/Oxides.  They are my "go to" for card backgrounds.  I have over 50 distress ink/oxide ink pads and I have never once used them to ink up a stamp.

I inked my stamp with Peeled Paint Distress Oxide ink and stamped it on dark green paper.  The oxide effect is really neat.  I should have carved my stamp a little smaller but I am happy with how these cards turned out.

Due to the corona virus, I have been out of work for 3 weeks (as of April 13).  During this time I have carved almost 20 stamps.  You can say that carving stamps and making LTCs helps me to relax.  Sometimes people send bonus cards in swaps and I decided to make an extra card for carving stamps and making LTCs.

How do you relax?
 Carving Stamp & Making LTCs

At first I got out my Gelli Plate pulled a print but I was not happy with it.  I had some extra prints and used those for this card.  Some of these are leftover from previous swaps.  A few are from the very first time I used my Gelli Plate.  I remember that I made a few prints to try it out but had no use for them and set them aside.

I tore the prints to size and used Mod Podge to glue sections of them together.  I glued the stamp image and the background together with a glue stick.  I wanted to add some glitter but many folks are anti glitter so I didn't.

My cards for this swap are pretty simple but I am happy with them :)

Think Happy Thoughts

Think Happy Thoughts: Pooh & Piglet 

This is my card for Damselfly's Think Happy Thoughts tracker.  My first thought was of Winnie the Pooh's quote, "Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon."

For this background I made a cloud of card stock and rubbed distress ink around it to make a blue sky and leave light areas for clouds. 

I colored my stamp image with copic markers on card stock, cut them out, and attached them with a glue stick.  I glued that to a yellow texture paper.  This card makes me happy in these crazy times. 

I made this post on April 13th.  I have lost my job due to the Coronavirus quarantine.  I have been off for 3 weeks and today I plan on applying at a few "essential" businesses.     

Mini Art Gallery & Camping LTCs

Mini Art Gallery: Go Outside

I have 3 LTC swaps due today, I decided to split them up and make 2 blog posts.  I have lost my job and I don't have anything else to do right now (April 13).

This first one is for Gypsy Fiddler's Mini Art Gallery swap.  I signed up and when I added it to my Countdown Widget I titled it, "frame".  I often abbreviate tracker names here.

I carved my stamp, stamped, and colored it with Copic Markers.  I cut out my frame and attached it with foam tape.  When I was finished I realized that I didn't follow the rules of the swap.  I didn't make a fancy frame like you would find in an art gallery.  I'm curious to see what others did with their frames.

Camping!: I sleep around

This year I am hosting a camping swap.  My husband ran for City Council last year and we didn't get to go camping as much as I would have liked.

I thought this image was fun and an easy carve after the waterfall.  I stamped and embossed it on some camping paper I had on hand.

Carefree Catfish LTC

Hello!  This is my card for Hartx6's Life on the River LTC.  The name of the Great Lakes Gathering (GLG) this year is Life on the River; the Mississippi River.  I signed up to make these LTCs and donate my stamps.

I wanted to make a background that resembled a muddy river.  I cut plain card stock to size and sprayed it with Peeled Paint & Walnut Stain Distress Oxide Spray and water. 

I let that dry and went looking thru my stencils for one that looked like water or scales.  I put down the dry card, taped the stencil over it, sprayed with water, and blotted with a paper towel.

I was happy with how these turned out and stamped my catfish with brown ink on the dried cards.  I took a different water splatter stencil, put it over the cards, and smeared Distress College Matte Medium with a knife.

When that was dry, I attached it to a green background paper.  I really like how these turned out.  Some of them have a lot of blue in the background.  I guess it is from the green spray.  I plan on carving a few more stamps to sent off to the event.

Flower Power

Flower Power: Water Lily

This is my card for Damselfly's Flower Power LTC swap.  Can you believe I made a set of cards and took almost no pictures?!  I guess I got busy with all the layers and simply forgot.  My card is called, "Water Lily." 

I joined the swap and thought about making a rose or a daisy.  But then a request was made for stamps in memory of p green frog.  I decided to carve the water lily and send the stamp off. 

I have a lot of flower cards on my LTC Pinterest board and HERE is the one that was the inspiration for this card.  A few years ago I participated in a swap called "Lumpy Card Lovers Unite."  I really enjoyed making that card and I have been thinking about hosting a swap with the same theme.  But this card helped fill my need to make something layered and lumpy. 

For this card, I cut my paper into tag shape, stamped a text stamp with brown ink, smeared some texture paste on with a knife, rubbed some Mustard Seed Distress Ink on the dried texture paste with an ink applicator.  Then, I put down a stencil and rubbed Mowed Lawn Distress Ink down the left side and Spun Sugar on the right but you can't really see it.  I ordered a glitter brush pen from Scrapbook.com and brushed it over the yellow texture paste.  After that, I attached my vellum and misc text scrapbook papers with glue dots.  I LOVED the use of thread in my inspiration card.  I wound some pink thread up and attached it and my stamp image with a foam square.  I also went around the edge of the card with a dark brown ink.  I am thrilled with how my cards turned out. 

These are the stamps that I am donating to the p green frog box. On her profile page on Atlas Quest, her quote is "Life is Good."  I added this message to one of the cards and sent it off to TeachJR who was good friends with p green frog.  p green frog passed away late last year and they are making a event box in her memory.

The 7 Cent Solution

This swap is hosted by Team Awesome Pants.  She found some scrapbook paper on sale that she couldn't pass up.  She bought it, cut it to size, and put the cards in envelopes.  When you joined the tracker, she sent you a random envelope of cut paper.

My paper arrived and I thought it was okay.  It wasn't something I would normally buy.  The first thing I saw when I looked at the paper was a frog.  But it wasn't a frog at all, it was a suitcase.  I keep seeing a frog.

My first idea for a stamp was a bicycle with a basket of flowers on the front.  That idea didn't really work well with the papers being cut vertically.  I had another idea but again the paper needed to be horizontal.

The 7 Cent Solution: Toad Town

I went back to the frog idea and looked for images with frogs in clothes or with flowers.  My papers have a flower shop on them so I also looked at many bouquets of flowers.  I eventually found the frog on the bike and thought it would work well.  The cards need a little something.  I looked at stickers, washi tape, and flowers.  Think these little flowers look nice on my cards.

Not all the cards have the frog suitcase on them, but the for the ones that do, I tried to position my stamp so that you could still see the frog.   

I'm very curious to see what papers other people got :)

Mermaids & Hearts

Under the Sea: Seamaid

 I have 3 cards due in a span of three days so I decided I would just make one blog post.  The the one set is supposed to be a secret and I will wait to post that one until I get my cards back.

This first one is called, "Seamaid" for jlsd0218's "Under the Sea" LTC swap.  I wanted to carve a mermaid but I wanted her to be more of a sea creature than a happy little mermaid.  I looked at images for a long time and made a Pinterest board just for mermaids.  I went back and forth forever but finally settled on this image.

For the background, I rubbed my distress inks/oxides on my craft mat, sprayed with water, and tapped the cards in the ink.  I did it a few times and when that was dry I sprayed the cards with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Moss.  Then I stamped my image and embossed with gold powder.

I thought they needed something and I carved up some small fish scales and tried stamping it on the boarder paper.  I didn't like that and stamped it on the background paper in the corners with gold.  It just barley shows up.  I still think they need something but I was running out of time and sent them off.



This card is for Linden Leaf's "I Got a Jar of Dirt" quisp swap.  I carved the jar for the last quisp swap she hosted and she said it was ok to recycle jar stamps.

I Got a Jar of Dirt: Jar of Hearts

I carved my heart, stamped it on three different colored paper, embossed one with glitter red embossing powder and glued it all together.

I got the idea from the song Jar of Hearts.  There is a line in the song that says, " You're gonna catch a cold, from the ice inside your soul."  That is why I did the blue paper.  I felt like it should be more gloomy and have gray paper but I went with the blue because of the song.

Boxing & Cheering in Lafayette

Last weekend my daughter and I went to a Lutheran basketball tournament in Lafayette, Indiana.  My daughter cheered and I had to letterbox. 

The kids were supposed to leave school at 11 am and my daughter had already made arrangements to ride with a friend.  So I dropped my kids off at school, ran home to get something I forgot, went thru a fast food drive thru, and left town.

Terre Haute is about 2 hours north of Evansville (where we live) and I have been wanting to box there for a long time.  I went to college there and have only driven thru a few times.  I looked for 12 boxes and found 6. 

Next, I went to Indy.  I wanted to grab a few boxes on the west side as I was passing thru.  I went get a box at a high school and wasted a lot of time looking because I didn't want to count the steps.  I thought I would just look in trees that fit the description.  But in the end, I walked the steps like the clue said.  Then I went for a box at the local Girl Scout office. You had to ask for it and they had no idea where it was.  The woman called around and asked every person she could find.  I probably spent 20-30 there and walked away with no stamp in my book.

My goal was to arrive in Lafayette at 4 but arrived at 5.  I actually beat the car my daughter was in.  We went out to dinner, the cheer girls did their nails, and we went to bed. 

We got up the next morning and we had to cheer at 8:45.  The boys lost and we didn't play again until 3:30.  My daughter went back to the hotel with friends and I went letterboxing.  I looked for 9 boxes, found 4, and planted one.  It looks like no one lives in Lafayette, people plant when passing thru, and they are not maintained. 

My daughter cheered at the second game and we lost again.  We went back to the hotel, then to a Lutheran service, some 3 point & free throw contests in the gym, and the kids stayed at the school for a dance.  Then they came back to the hotel and someone ordered pizza.  We hung out in the lobby for a while, then went back to our room, and watched a movie.

They next day we didn't cheer until 12:30.  We slept in and went out for breakfast instead of eating at the hotel.  Check out time was noon so we got our stuff together and went back to the school.  The boys won their last game.  It was really nice to leave with a win. 

We went thru a fast food drive thru and got on the road.  It was snowing/raining and we didn't stop for the other boxes I wanted to get on the way out of town.  We made many stops on the way home-wreck on the interstate, rest area potty stop, get gas and more food, etc. 

I love Cracker Barrel.  When I saw there was a box there I had to stop even though it was raining.  We got another restaurant box close by.  We still had almost 3 hours of driving to get home but it was nice to find some easy boxes at the end of our trip. 

I found 13 boxes, planted 1, and left a few hitchhikers.  This basketball tournament has been going on for over 40 years.  I hope my daughter continues to cheer because I am already thinking of next year :) 

Valentines Owls

The Month of Love: Whoo loves you

Daddy's Favorite Princess and I are participating in The Month of Love LTC swap.  Someone recently posted a kids only swap but it filled up before the princess could join.  She was excited about making cards so I signed her up for this tracker.

It just so happens that we both made owl cards.  I did mine first and it was a long drawn out process with lots of testing to line things up.  The owl and hearts are hand carved stamps.  The letters and stitching are store bought stamps.

I got this idea from Pinterest but I followed the link and discovered that at one point these were being sold on Etsy.  They were very time consuming to make but I am happy with how they turned out.

The Month of Love: Owl's Heart

The princess picked her image, carved it, and stamped it on pink paper.  I recently bought some new washi tape and she had to use it.  I think her cards look good too.

I have carved a few owl stamps over the years.  I dug around in my stamp box and found three more.  We will be planting five owl stamps in the month of love.

Dream Catcher LTCs

This is my card for crosscresent's Native American LTC swap.  I made a dream catcher card a few years ago but I have been wanting to do another.  Someone actually posted a Dream Catcher swap last year but the timing was bad and I didn't join.

I have been wanting to make a card with Yupo paper for a while and this was my first time.  I see a lot of alcohol ink art on social media and this was my first go at it.  I'm pretty happy with my cards :)

For some of the cards I added the ink first and on others I added the blending solution first.  There were 2-3 cards where I did not add the blending solution at all just to see how they would look.  I tried moving the ink around with a straw, puffer, and heat tool.

Yupo paper is not supposed to warp, but it will with too much heat.  I had to throw a few away because of this.

I had a hard time stamping my stamp.  It kept wanting to smear.  I eventually gave in and used my stamping platform and they turned out much better. 

I'm very happy with my cards but it sounds like they got lost in the mail :(  I've got so many things going on, I really don't have time to remake them.

Happy New Year

Kids and I electioneering at the mall

Hello 2020.  I usually do a blog post recapping the previous year and talk about what the new year holds.

Surprisingly, 2019 was a great find year for me.  I say "surprisingly" because my husband ran for city council and it consumed 9 months of the year.  I felt like it was the only thing I did in 2019.  But it was actually my highest find year ever!  I found 315 boxes in 2019 and the last one was my 1500th letterbox, woo hoo!  My second highest year was 2015 with 225 boxes.

I totally credit all those finds to attending some amazing events.  In May, Daddy's Favorite Princess, my boxing buddy, and I attended A Walk in the Park at Shakamak SP in Indiana.  In June, Daddy's Favorite Princess, Boxing Turtle, and I attended the Big Top on the Prairie event in Ohio.  On the way home from this event we boxed in Spring Grove Cemetery and found many boxes.  In November, Boxing Turtle and I attended the Four Seasons event in Chandler, In.

In my last year recap post, I said that in 2019 I would be planting boxes that went with silly holidays.  My plan was to hide one a month.  I planted 25 of these boxes and a hitchhiker too.  Most of these were planted in my county but I did spread the love to Ky & Oh.

Events!

I made an average number of LTCs in 2019 (28).  Again, I expected this number to be lower with my husband running for city council.  I know there were swaps that I wanted to join but didn't because the timing was bad.  Sadly, there were a few that I dropped from because I knew I wouldn't finish on time.

All in all, 2019 was a good year.  I don't really make letterboxing goals.  I don't have any plans for this year and my planting will probably be down.  I am running out of ideas and hiding places.  I hope to get back to the Homerdoodle event in Il.  My 10th letterboxing anniversary will be in October and I have thought about hosting an event to celebrate.  But we will have to see how the year goes.

Unfortunately, my boxing buddy fell late in 2019 and she is not able to get out much.  She going to have to have her knees replaced.  The dr that she has chosen is so backed up that her surgery won't be until summer.  If you could say a prayer for her, I'd really appreciate it. 

I hope you all have a great 2020!

 

Star Wars LTC

This is my card for Linden Leaf's Star Wars LTC swap.  My card is called, "I love you... I know."  I had so much trouble with these cards!  I wanted the cards to have a valentine theme.  I initially carved a different stamp and decided that it was too solid and took up too much of the background. 

So I carved this stamp and was much happier.  I found this background technique on Pinterest.  I like it when bloggers tell what colors they are using.  I already had all the colors but one. 

For these cards, I did a Distress Ink watercolor background.  I cut my watercolor paper to size, taped it down so that it wouldn't warp, and painted water on the paper. Next, you rub you link pads on your craft mat and paint them on the wet watercolor paper with a small paint brush. 

You can tilt the paper around to make the colors move.  When you are happy with the color, dry it with a heat tool.  In the video the woman sprays water on her hand and flicks it on the paper.  I tried that and think it is much easier to stick your hand in a cup and flick the water.  Let it set for a min and then remove the water with a paper towel.

That part was fun and easy :)  Now for the hard part :(  When I went to stamp my stamp, the grooves in the watercolor paper were so deep that the ink would not go down in.  I tried my Speedball press and my Tim Holtz stamping platform.  With the stamping platform I had to ink up the stamp at least 3 times to get a decent impression. 

I originally made 20 cards but I destroyed many of them trying to get a good image.  I ended up buying different watercolor paper.  The stamping was much better but I felt like the watercolor part was not as pretty.  I ended up using some of each.

When I was finally done with the backgrounds, I stamped my image, embossed, attached the cards to different pink backgrounds with foam tape like in the video, and added sequins. 

Sometimes I make quisps to go along with the cards and that is where the baby Yoda comes in.  I simply stamped him brown on green paper.  Thankfully, he was really easy :)