Welcome to a new "Cards by Kendra" blog post! Today, I'm excited to share these "Beach Cutie" handmade cards that I created for the MFT Sketch Challenges 489 and 490. I decided to use the "Beach Cutie" Stamp and Die set from My Favorite Things as my focal point. I started out making the background first because I wanted to try using my new Dylusions Shimmer Sprays.  I had several sheets of watercolor paper already cut to 4.25" x 5.5" as well as some regular Neenah solar white 80# cardstock.  I used Bubblegum Pink and Pure Sunshine shimmer sprays because I thought those two colors looked great together.  I had never used these before so it was trial and error.  For the first spray, I sprayed directly on the watercolor paper and completely covered it.  I kept spraying until there was no more white showing.  It was beautiful!  Then I realized I didn't need to use so much.  Next, I sprayed it on my glass mat and did a smooshing technique.  I ...

Welcome to a new "Cards by Kendra" blog post! Finally, the school year is winding down, thank goodness! Online teaching is definitely not what I thought it would be. With my limited amount of time due to working so much, I was only able to sign up for 5 swaps this month. I barely got those done, much less try out new card-making techniques and post on my blog weekly like I planned. But I wanted to share with you the cards that I made for this month's card swaps. The first swap was a color theme, yellow and blue.  I decided to try a floating flower frame technique. I stamped and die cut several different size flowers in both colors. I arranged them around a weathered wood patterned paper cut to 3.75" x 5" that was adhered to a white 110 lb. white cardstock base. Using Glad Press & Seal, I picked them up off of the paper to keep them in place. I flipped it over and added strips of 3D foam tape to the back of the flowers. Before removing the back strip,...

Welcome to a new Cards By Kendra blog post!   Today I wanted to share this card that I made for a card swap with a watercolor theme for the Facebook Group "Card Swaps for All Seasons".  I've been experimenting with a lot of different types of ink lately and for this card I used several different techniques using watercolor pencils, Distress Oxide Inks and Distress Spray. The watercolor frame was made using three of my favorite colors of distress oxide inks on watercolor paper using a smooshing technique (I found a video for this on YouTube a while back).  I used the following Distress Oxide ink colors:   squeezed lemonade , twisted citron and mermaid lagoon .  After letting this dry overnight I used the largest die and then two sizes smaller to make the frame from the torn edge rectangle die set .  Next, I used a die that had small holes in it on a piece of clear acetate that was cut just slightly bigger than the smaller rectangle die. ...

Welcome to a new Cards By Kendra blog post!   Today I wanted to share with you this cute "Welcome Baby" card that I made! If you saw my last blog post, you'll notice I used the same background since I've been experimenting with Distress Oxide inks.  I wanted to try using a different giraffe stamp this time.    This was the first time I've ever used a digital stamp and I am totally thrilled with the results!!  This cute heart spotted giraffe digital stamp is from Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps.  I printed it on #80 Neenah Solar White yardstick and colored it using  alcohol markers    The background was made with the  giraffe stencil from Whimsy Stamps . I taped the stencil to the back of a sheet of 4"x6"  photo paper  and applied  Distress Oxide ink in Walnut Stain  using a Picket Fence Life Changing Blender Brush .  I immediately removed the stencil and wiped it with a wet paper towel to remov...

Welcome to a new Cards By Kendra blog post!   I'm excited to share this bright and colorful handmade card that I recently made for a "kite" themed card swap in the Facebook Group "Card Swaps for All Seasons".  The products that I used are from the  Fly a Kite stamp  set,   Fly a Kite die set  and the  Sunshine Scene die set  from Hello Bluebird.   Sunshine Fly a Kite Handmade Card I ran the sunshine scene die through my die cutting machine four times.  The first was on yellow glitter paper, the second with white glitter paper, the third on regular white card stock and the fourth on blue glitter card stock. I used the white glitter paper as the border and glued it on to the 110# Neenah Solar White cardstock base .  I glued on the yellow and white sun rays with Tombow Adhesive .  The cute raccoon and mouse critters were stamped with Staz-On ink and colored with alcohol markers . I used 3D foam adhesiv...