Cards...and happy Sunday/Oscars day

Hello! Happy Sunday to you. :) I realized that I have a few cards that I've made in the last weekish that never made it here to my blog. Sometimes I get antsy, and just post them to my Instagram. :) Do you Instagram? I LOVE it there...drama free social media. I'm @nikkiforaker on IG. :)  Anyhoo, for this first card I used the new drool worthy Beautiful Bouquets Ranunculus set by Wplus9. I colored it with my copics. I used the fab new That Is All set by Wplus9 for the greeting. 

For this card I masked a circle and made a scene with Simon Says Stamp inks. I used the adorable dolphin from the Clearly Besotted Make A Splash set. I colored him with my copics. The greeting is from You're A Great Catch by MyCreativeTime. 

This little cutie is from the Newton's Nook set called Sick Day. I paper pieced and colored her with my Copics. I also used the Stitched Square Dies from MyCreativeTime. 

I hope you have a wonderful day. I'm looking forward to watching The Oscars tonight. I have my fingers and toes crossed for Leo. The Revenant was incredible, and he deserves that golden man! 

I miss you. a lot.

Hello! Here is my "homework" for today's Watercolor For Cardmakers Intermediate Techniques class at OnlineCardClasses. I painted a beach scene with my distress markers and water. I used the Stitched Rectangular Frames And More Dies and the Stitched Oval Dies from MyCreativeTime. The greeting is from the Miss You Lots set by Wplus9. To finish it off, I drew in 3 little birds with a black pen. 

I hope you have a peaceful day. 

♥ Nikki ♥

A Happy Hello

Hello! I am super loving the Watercolor For Cardmakers Intermediate Techniques class at OnlineCardClasses. Dawn {teacher} makes it all seem so doable. Anyhoo, I used the Pretty Peonies set from Wplus9 as a jumping off point for my flowers. I used the Hand Lettered Hello set by Wplus9 for the greeting. And I totally stole Kelly Latevola's awesome white outlining of sentiments thang. I think I'm probably hooked on that now. :)

I hope you're having an awesome day! 

♥ Nikki ♥

Hello sweet friend

Hello! Today is the first day of the Watercolor For Cardmakers: Intermediate Techniques class. I LOVE THIS CLASS! I feel almost like a legit artist for a minute. :) I used the little apple die from the Love To Learn set by MyCreativeTime to trace my apple pattern. I painted them with tube watercolors that I've had since my art school days {just a few years ago}. I really love the artsy look I got. Yay! I used the Hand Lettered Hello die by Wplus9 and the Hand Lettered Hello stamp set also by Wplus9. 

Also, my ridiculously talented friend Kelly Latevola is featuring me in her "Casing Genius" series! ME! Crazy. :) You can check it out HERE. And if you don't follow her, get on that! 

Have a FABULOUS evening!

♥ Nikki ♥

Season's greetings

Hello! Today's Holiday Style class at OnlineCardClasses was all about soft and subtle. The wildly talented Dawn from Wplus9 made a beautiful wreath, and she inspired me to give it a go. I don't have any of her holiday sets, so I busted out the Pretty Peonies set by Wplus9 and just went for it. I was going for a shabby Victorian-ish look with non traditional colors. I had my Nana in mind while making this, and this is so right up her alley! I used my distress markers to stamp, and to paint with. I added some rock candy stickles to some of the flowers for a sugared look. {which you can't really see in the pic} The greeting is from the Winter Cheer set by MyCreativeTime. 

I hope you're having a wonderful evening. 

♥ Nikki ♥

Tomorrow is a new day

Hello! I've made a card to play along in the current Wplus9 Sketch Challenge. There is the above sketch to follow, and here is my take on it...

I started by using a curvy border die to draw a curved line that I could later cut out around my images. I stamped the butterflies from the Flora And Fauna 2 set by Wplus9 and watercolored them with distress inks. I cut up to the butterflies, and then fussy cut around the wings that I wanted to hang off the curve. So, the butterfly panel is all one piece. :)

I used a woodgrain embossing folder for the right side, and I think it makes the wings that hang off really pop. :) The greeting is from the A New Day set by Wplus9. 

I hope you're having a wonderful day.

♥ Nikki ♥

A happy hello

Hello! Have you seen Jennifer McGuire's new Share Handmade Kindness campaign? She is encouraging folks to spread kindness, and that is just awesome! For week one, she would like people to give handmade kindness to friends/family. So, I made this card with my Nana in mind this evening. I get these beautiful Painted Buntings at my backyard feeders in the Spring. My Nana stops at my house for a few days on her way back up North from wintering here in Florida, and she loves to see them. I'm basically obsessed with Painted Buntings...and my Nana. ♥ Anyhoo, I used the gorgeous A New Day stamp by Wplus9...and I turned it into a Painted Bunting with my Copics. The greeting is from the Hand Lettered Hello set by Wplus9. Not gonna lie...I freaked out a little bit adding a ginormous greeting, but I think it totally works. Yay! :)

Please take a minute to check out all the deets of this campaign HERE. Jennifer rocks. 

♥ Nikki ♥ 

p.s. My Nana is gonna flip over this card. Super yay! 

And just so you don't think I made up a rainbow bird...LOL 

Hummingbird

I can't get enough of the Flora And Fauna 2 set by Wplus9. I'm basically obsessed. :) I colored the flowers and hummingbird with my Copics. This started out as a one layer card, but there was a blunder on the background, so I fussy cut out the flowers and hummingbird and added them to another card front. I popped up the hummingbird, and added glossy accents to his beak and eye. I used distress inks for the background. 

I hope you're having a wonderful week! 

♥ Nikki ♥

You are simply amazing.

Hello! Happy World Card Making Day! I hope you're celebrating by making a card! I tried my hand again and some no line watercoloring. I used the fabulous Flora And Fauna 2 set from Wplus9. I watched Dawn's {the Wplus9 queen} video on YouTube HERE. She is amazing. Seriously amazing. Me? I'm trying. :) Anyhoo, I used distress markers to paint with. I used Heidi Swapp Gold Lame color shine spray to add gold dots to the flower centers, but you can't tell in this crummy photo. The greeting is from the Quite Like You set by Wplus9. 

I'm gonna head back to the craft room and try to make another card. :)

♥ Nikki ♥

You are simply amazing.

Hello! I'm loving Sandy Allnock's fabulous FREE class called Go For The Gold. Today I'm playing along by doing gold heat embossing. I used the outline images from the Pretty Peonies set by Wplus9 to stamp the flowers. I did a lot of masking. I did some loose/artsy watercoloring with distress inks. I stamped and heat embossed the greeting from the Quite Like You set by Wplus9 on vellum. To finish, I added Antique Linen distress stickles to the flower centers...it's looks like little gold flakes in real life! :) 

I hope your week is off to a great start. :)

♥ Nikki ♥

Hello gorgeous

Hello! The fabulous Sandy Allnock is doing a week long FREE class on her blog called Go For The Gold. Yesterday she made a fab card using gold embossing creme...so I busted out the gold embossing paste that I've had FOREVER and have never used. LOL. I used a triangle stencil to make the background. The circle is from the Bunch of Fun Circles Dies by MyCreativeTime. I used the Hand Lettered Hello Die and the Hand Lettered Hello stamp set for the greeting...both from Wplus9. 

I hope you're having a lovely evening. 

♥ Nikki ♥

A watercolored hello

Hello! I have really been loving watercoloring since the latest Watercolor For Card Makers class at OnlineCardClasses! Dawn {the Wplus9 watercoloring genius} is such an inspiration! :) Anyhoo,  I did lots of masking with the Flora And Fauna 2 set by Wplus9. Then I watercolored with distress inks. I cut out around the top of the butterfly and top of the flowers... and popped that whole bit up on foam tape. So, basically, the stamped area is all one piece and popped up. :)  The greeting is from the Hand Lettered Hello set by Wplus9. 

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend! 

♥ Nikki ♥

sending a little happy

Hello! Here's the card I made inspired by day 1 of the Watercolor For Card Makers class at OnlineCardClasses. I made a background using the plumeria cluster from the Polynesian Paradise set by MyFavoriteThings. I stamped it over and over and white heat embossed it. Then I watercolored with distress markers. I cut a circle from vellum using the Bunch Of Fun Circle Dies by MyCreativeTime. I embossed it with a folder.  I used the Happy Trio Dies by MyFavoriteThings. And for the greeting, I white heat embossed "sending a little" from the Sending Sunshine set by Wplus9. I finished it off by adding glossy accents and sequins. 

♥ Nikki ♥

Sending a little love

Hello! Today's Maskerade class at OnlineCardClasses was about using freezer paper as a mask. Well, I don't have any, so I just used my Post It Paper. I used the Heart To Heart Love Frame Dies from MyCreativeTime to make my mask. I sprayed it with picked raspberry distress ink in a mini mister. I used my heat tool in between layers of spray so the mask wouldn't get saturated...and it worked just great. I added drops of Gold Lame Heidi Swapp color shine. I heat embossed the greeting from the Sending Sunshine set by Wplus9.  

I hope you have a GREAT weekend! 

♥ Nikki ♥

Thinking of you...

Hiya! I hope your week is off to a great start! Here's a card I made with the adorable Unforgettable stamp set by Wplus9. I made the background with tumbled glass distress ink for the sky, and cracked pistachio distress ink for the ground. I LOVE that new cracked pistachio color!!! I colored the elephant from the Unforgettable set with cool gray copic markers...with a little pink for the feet, ears, and cheeks. The greeting is from the Window Sentiments & Flowers set by MyCreativeTime. I also used the Stitched Rectangular Frames And More and the Stitched Oval Dies by MyCreativeTime for my frame. The patterned paper is from the Hello Again 6x6 paper pad by Carta Bella. 

♥ Nikki ♥

sending a little happy

This is the card I made with the "negative" spaces left from the mask made for the other card I just posted...scroll down. ;) I sprayed the negative space with squeezed lemonade and mustard seed distress reinkers in mini misters. Then I stamped the roses from The Sweet Life set from PaperTreyInk. The happy is from the Happy Trio Dies from MyFavoriteThings. And the "sending a little" is from the Sending Sunshine set by Wplus9. I'm basically obsessed with this greeting. LOL The vellum circle with cut with the Bunch Of Fun Circles dies from MyCreativeTime and my panel was cut with the Stitched Rectangular Frames And More set from MyCreativeTime. 

I super love how both of these cards turned out! 

♥ Nikki ♥

Sending a little happy your way.

Hello! Today is the first day of the Stretch Your Dies class at OnlineCardClasses. Here is my take on the technique the fabulous Jennifer McGuire showed. I used the Happy Trio Dienamics dies from MyFavoriteThings for my background and for the greeting. I used the biggest "happy" die cut for the greeting, and added glossy accents to it to make it pop. I used the Bunch Of Fun Circles Dies from MyCreativeTime for the circle. For the greeting, I used the Sending Sunshine set from Wplus9. 

I hope your week is off to a happy start. 

♥ Nikki ♥

Wishing you the luckiest...

Hello! Happy Friday to you! :) The super fabulous Kathy Racoosin has a fun month long color "challenge" going on over at her BLOG. The idea is to color something every day for 30 days. Fun, right?! I had some fun coloring this sweet elephant from the  Unforgettable set by Wplus9. BTW it's back in stock! Yay! :) I colored him with prismacolor colored pencils. I watercolored the scene with distress inks and water. I turned the flower from the Unforgettable set into a clover. :) I used the Bunch Of Fun Circles and the Stitched Rectangular Frames And More dies from MyCreativeTime. The greeting is from the I'm A Lucky Girl set from MyCreativeTime.

♥ Nikki ♥ 

SALE ALERT! :)

There is a flash sale going on at MyCreativeTime! Yay! 

Starts today, Friday March 6, 2015 at 7am PST & will end on Sunday, March 8, 2015 @ 7am PST!  Use the code FLASH at checkout to receive 20% off your entire order of in-stock items ONLY! Start shopping HERE! 

You are absolutely unforgettable...

Hello! For this card I used the adorable Unforgettable stamp set by WPlus9. I stamped the elephant and the balloon, and then I made masks for them. I stamped over them with the Cartoon Cloud Background by MyCreativeTime with Soft Pool Hero Arts shadow ink. I colored my elephant and balloon with Prismacolor colored pencils. 

The greeting is also from the Unforgettable set by WPlus9. To finish this card off I added wink of stella clear glitter marker and glossy accents to the balloon. 

I hope you've had a great weekend! Happy awesome tv night! I'll be dvring lots of my fave shows so I can watch the SNL 40th anniversary special. I'm super stoked about it. I love SNL. LOVE. :)

♥ Nikki ♥

Not to get carried away...

Hello! I got my first stamps and inks from Wplus9, and I'm in absolute love! For this card I used the Unforgettable stamp set from Wplus9. I am obsessed with these elephants! Just too sweet. Anyhoo...I did some masking to make the elephant on the ground look like he's trying to keep the other elephant from floating away. I also masked the balloons to add more. I colored the elephants and balloons with my Prismacolor colored pencils. 

I used shabby shutters distress ink and water for the ground, and a blending tool and tumbled glass distress ink for the soft sky. The greeting is also from the fabulous Unforgettable stamp set from Wplus9. To finish this off, I added some wink of stella to the balloons. 

I hope your week is off to a fabulous start. :)

♥ Nikki ♥