Happy New Year 2024!

A new year, a great time to branch out with new techniques to be more creative.  

Instead of using printed designer paper, I painted the background in shades of pale blues and greens metallic watercolors.  The shimmer of the paint doesn't show up in the photograph.  

I was able to stamp the calendar using inks of similar colors, Lost Lagoon and Blueberry Bushel (both from Stampin' Up!).

The snowflakes are from a retired Stampin' Up! stamp set.  I stamped them with Versamark and used white heat embossing powder.

Speaking of branching out, I'm no longer a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so I'll be able to bring you the results of my playing with other companies' items.  While I love Stampin' Up! products, there have been so many others calling to me and I finally gave in.

Looking forward to a creative year!

Pine Boughs and Glowing Lights for December

December's calendar is inspired by childhood - the excitement of bringing in the Christmas tree, untangling the lights, and stepping back with unfocused eyes to appreciate the colors and the glow.

I die cut the pines from a green cardstock and added the brown for the branches and dabbed darker green on the needles to give some texture.

The background is blotches of inks applied with a blending blush to keep it soft - Polished Pink and Pear Pizzaz (both retired), Crushed Curry, and Balmy Blue.  

I hope you enjoy this final calendar of 2023.  Despite not blogging very often, I've been busy creating and I'll try to catch up in the new year.

Cheers!

Playing with Tone-on-tone and Monochrome

I love tone-on-tone and monochromatic cards, so I've been experimenting with both.

This first set uses the large die from the Two Tone Flora bundle.  I cut out two in white and layered one on a Night of Navy card base and the other on a white card base.  

Both of them remind me of a lace overlay and I like the simple, yet elegant effect, especially the navy one.  I'll add a sentiment to the navy one when I get ready to use it.

But I felt the white card needed something more, so I stamped and cut out flowers and leaf branches from the coordinating stamp set and layered them into a bouquet.  The colors are Fresh Freesia, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, and Polished Pink (ret).

Two-Tone Flora on White

  Much better!

October 2023 - Swirling Leaves

We're experiencing a late surge of summer weather, though rumor has it fall will make an appearance next week.  But until then, I have my October calendar.

I fell for the swirling leaves of the Leaf Fall embossing folder the instant I saw it in Stampin' Up's catalog.  

After embossing the paper, I used blending brushes to add autumnal colors to the design - Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry,  and Old Olive. 

You can purchase the embossing folder on the Stampin' Up! website (as an online exclusive) and the inks are always available.

Happy fall!

Simple and Elegant

I love creating simple cards, with the wow factor coming from texture and color.  Today's cards have both, with a textured layer and a colored paper or element providing the POP.  

I used a circle die to cut an aperture in the top layer of these cards and glued a piece of designer series paper beneath.  The texture on the top white layer is from the Subtle embossing folder (unfortunately retired!).  It lives up to its name, adding texture without overpowering the card.  

The lemon paper is one of the pages from the Tea Boutique DSP.  Three dark green colored pearls in the corner balance the composition.

Here's another where I colored flowers from the black and white Perfectly Penciled DSP with red and green alcohol markers.  The bling is on one card is black faceted gems, the other pearls I colored dark green.

The final touches are faceted black gems or pearls I colored with a dark green alcohol marker.

This one uses the same concepts, but the image is from the Blessings of Home stamp set, which I die cut and set so it emerges from the circle.

Most of the products are retiring from Stampin' Up! and won't be available much longer.  If you see something you want, let me know soonest!

Tea Boutique DSP

Perfectly Penciled DSP

Blessings of Home Bundle

It's April!

 It's time to post my April 2023 calendar.  

This is from this year's calendars that I gave to folks I treasure in my life.  I dug into my stash and used a retired Stampin' Up! stamp and the soon to be retiring Pacific Point ink and paper to create this toile.  The ink and paper are still available to purchase, but not for long!

Here are the previous three months as I play catch-up with this blog.

Happy Spring!

One Stamped Image, Two Versions

Another retired stamp set, this time In the Country.  I made two cards with it, using alcohol markers to color them with different results.

The image reminded me of pictures of Italy or Greece.  Soooo, my first version takes us on a trip to Sicily. 

However, Greece called to me (perhaps it was the blue door?), so I took a much lighter approach with the second one.  The houses on islands in Greece are whitewashed and they're visually intense, especially on a cloudy day.  Instead of coloring the image, I decided to bring out the white by highlighting the details on the walls and stairs in a light blue, which you might be able to make out.  A darker blue for the door and dabs of green and red for the plants completed the look.  I left it simple and didn't fill in a sky this time.

Which do you prefer?

The set includes a second stamp of a hillside with trees and a dirt track.  New England, perhaps?  I might try to capture fall colors in those trees for a future card.

I should have taken a picture of it before I colored in the sky, which really made it pop.  I mounted it on some Early Espresso cardstock to bring out the browns.  As usual, I'll add a sentiment later on.

Hello, Little One

A friend commissioned some baby cards, the perfect opportunity to break out the (unfortunately retired) All for Baby stamp set and accompanying dies.  

It's a fairly simple layout with just that bit of color to frame the whole thing.  The only fiddly bit is getting the hangers to "hang" on the linen thread.

There is so much you can do with this set.  I went with pink and blue for the first run, but got on a roll and cut out some onsies from designer series papers and other colors to have on hand.  Green, yellow, florals, stripes....let your imagination roam!

Welcome!

Welcome to Whitney Babash Papercrafts!  

To mark the occasion, here are some snapshots of my most recent project, a pop-up card that collapses to fit into a regular-sized envelope.  The technique is from Vy Tran at Crafting Daily Dose.

  

Spring in the Netherlands

A view from the side

The stamp set is a retired Stampin' Up! one, Winds of Change.  This set is one of my favorites and always takes me back to the Netherlands.

I hope you enjoy what you see here.  I'm certainly looking forward to sharing my projects!