Addison's First Shaker Card!

So, my amazing little sister, Addison, has been itching to try a few of the more taxing card making techniques. I love her desire to learn and the fact that she loves to craft with me, so when she asked to make a shaker card, and I actually had the energy to teach, I said "yes!" Plus, it's been a little while since you've all heard from the Beth Duff Designs, Jr Design Team!

She started by coloring up one of the newest digi releases at Beth Duff Designs, Make Waves. She loved the whale and had to make it a "Shamu" whale... it's a thing in our house, my explaining that "Shamu" is the name of a Killer or Orca whale, and her insisting I'm wrong. Again, she is wanting to learn new things and I recently gave her my old set of Stampin' Up alcohol markers to let her have practice with blending. She used a black Copic on the whale, and the SU markers on the water he is spouting. She also chose to color the puffer fish and the crab. She cut them out by hand.

One of her favorite tools is the Big Shot, so we die cut her sentiment out, which I absolutely adore. I had visions of using it to cover most of a card, and she stole it from me! Next, we broke out another new to her tool, the Blending Tool and Distress Oxide Mermaid Lagoon ink (which I got from Kindred Stamps, you can use that link for 10% off your first purchase!) Addison loved seeing the change once we sprayed water on it and patted it dry. Very watery!

Her next step was building the shaker... let me tell you, I was a bit spacey so we went around in a few circles on that one. Picking the sequins colors was probably her favorite part, I have... a lot of options, but ultimately, she chose Pretty Pink Posh's Strawberry Burst and Sparkling Clear Mix so they stood out from her blue background.

She also chose a sheet from Sunny Studio's Rainbow Bright paper pack that I picked up at Crafty Doodle Chick that looked like waves but wasn't blue, to create her ocean look. She wanted her sentiment tipped a little so we die cut the paper at an angle to make that happen. She chose her water babies placement all on her own!

All in all, I think her first shaker was a success, she now understands that it is pretty time consuming, and that I need to nap before we start one! (True story!)

I hope you enjoyed seeing my and Addison's process, and we can't wait to see what you make with Beth Duff Design's new Make Waves digi set! Make sure you join us on the Beth Duff Designs Fan Page to see more makes from our team, and to share your own with us!

~R. Winn

Beach, Please...

I'm backkkkkk! HAHA, you guys can't get rid of me. I am super excited to announce that my friend Beth is launching her own line of stamps, Beth Duff Designs!  She has asked me to join her as her Creative Team Lead, and I couldn't be more excited about it.  Our first release is going to be mid-April, and will feature eight adorable sets that I cannot wait to play with...

In the meantime, she has shared a few digis with those of us that answered her Creative Team Call, and Jr Design Team Call. The one that called to me? Obviously, the mermaid! I loved coloring the individual scales on her tail, and her hair... OH MAN, it was fun! I colored her using my Copic Markers.  I couldn't decide on a color for her top so I tried paper piercing for the first time, a technique where you use patterned paper for part of image, I hadn't done it before and wanted to start small. The paper I chose is retired DSP from Stampin' Up that had adorable little flowers on it. Her tail, I finished with a clear Wink of Stella.

The brilliant background that Beth included for us was a little too much for my hands to color, especially since I used colored pencils (SO MUCH WORK!)  I wanted a water feel to it and used multiple shades of blue and then cut down a panel to accent the card with. I layered it on top of some retired shimmer white cardstock from Stampin' Up. I used a second strip of the shimmer cs and used a bit of dark blue Firework spray (ok... maybe more than a bit) to change it into a color close to the darkest colored pencil.  I framed the sentiment with the blue strip.  I finished the card off by using a pretty shimmery gold card stock for the background.

The picture doesn't do the shimmer and glitter justice, and I loved trying new things with this card.  I am beyond excited about this new team, and can't wait to share more with all of you!

The Jr Design Team is something I haven't seen before, and I am excited to announce that my little sister, Addison is on it! She loves Beth, and was SO excited to have a "job" that she worked on projects with the digis all weekend. I think my favorite project she completed was using the Dinos that Beth is offering for her Challenge this month! The challenge is about Snarky Sentiments, but Addison likes to write out her own sentiments and what she wrote about always having a friend really touched my heart.

Addison has a stockpile of primary colored card bases (she knows how to make her own, but sometimes measurements are a little difficult for a 10 year old... ok, sometimes they're difficult for a 30 year old! Precut card bases make both of our lives easier.) 

She used Crayola Twistables to color the dinos, she said the big guy looked sad so she added a few tears.  The little guy's words were a bit too big for his speech bubble which made me love it even more.  She knows how to use several types of adhesive, and typically prefers a snail runner, but we were having issues with her's and for this card she used Tombow clear liquid glue.  She makes me so proud and even set up and took her own picture, using her pencil box as a background!

You will see more creations from Addison, and myself using Beth Duff Designs soon.  Thank you all for stopping by.

~R. Winn