VanGoghChica Studio

I love  working color onto surfaces in interesting ways.  So playing with watercolor in unconventional ways was fun. I made a couple cards using watercolors in loose and surprising ways. These techniques require you leave your perfectionism at the door. I will go over one of those methods here. Supplies Altenew's  Nostalgic Florals  stamp and die  set Altenew's Garden Gala stamps. At the time of this writing, the Garden Gala set is only sold to subscribers of  Craft Your Life membership plan . Subscribers got early access to this March 2026 set. It will not be available to non-subscribers until next month. Altenew's  metallic watercolor set Altenew's  solar white card stock Altenew's fresh dye inks in  azurite ,  ultraviolet ,  volcano lake  and fresh lemon Altenew's  crisp ink in parrot Altenew's  permanent black pigment ink Watercolor paper, preferably  hot press Watercolor brushes - I used a number 9 round tip...

  In this Clean and Simple (CAS) cardmaking tutorial, I share a fun geometric card design suitable for anyone who is a no-frills type of person. Yes, cardmaking does include many floral designs, but that is not all we can make. If you want to make your card along with me, watch my You Tube video , complete with a blooper right at the end! 👉 The blooper shows up around the 27-minute mark, so you can either craft along with me as I stamp and assemble my card or skip ahead for a laugh. I f you enjoy DIY cardmaking, stamping, or beginner-friendly handmade card tutorials, this video is for you! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to help my channel grow—I’d love to connect with fellow crafters. Supplies Altenew's Doodled Triangles Stamp set Altenew's pigment ink in Permanent Black Fresh dye in in  Aqualicious ,  Warm Sunshine ,  Frayed Leaf , Sweet Leaf , Limestone Altenew white card stock First you are going to cut and fold your white card stock into a fold-ope...

#Ever messed up your handmade card at the very last step? 🙈 You’re not alone! In this Clean and Simple (CAS) cardmaking tutorial , I share a fun geometric card design—and yes, you’ll see my real-life crafting blooper happen right on camera. 👉 The blooper shows up around the 27-minute mark, so you can either craft along with me as I stamp and assemble my card or skip ahead for a laugh. If you enjoy DIY cardmaking, stamping, or beginner-friendly handmade card tutorials, this video is for you! Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to help my channel grow—I’d love to connect with fellow crafters. 💬 Are you a cardmaker too? Share what you’re working on in the comments—I’d love to see your creations!

I achingly remember the crisp autumn colors of Fall in Louisville (my home town). Living in San Francisco for 13 years and now South Florida since 2000; I have long missed that foilage. As well as bonfires, frosty breath and well worn boots. That was my favorite season. So, I was eager to use my leaves cover die. I have several leaf themed dies. It's only natural as I am such a tree lover. I conjured up the feeling of dry, jewel toned leaves by preparing card stock ahead of time. The night before, I sprayed them with vibrant Fall pigments by Lindy's Gang. This paper would be for the central two leaves on my cover. For a video on this whole process, check out my video here . I also painted swathes of Autumn colored Dylusian paints onto another card stock sheet. My thinking was that the Dylusian colors would shine through the die cut windows around the perimeter of my card front.  Then, I individually tiled the leave's tiny components into the two central leaf windows. I  th...

Clean and Simple (CAS) refers to a style of card making which utilizes minimal tools such as inks, stamps and your own hand. Often images are stamped and then colored in with watercolor, alcohol marker or some other sort of color.                                               Of all the card making styles, CAS gives the card maker much more latitude to express themselves freehand. Because CAS is so popular and easy to do, I will offer various examples in the next several posts. I made two cards for the creatives in my life. Card number one featured stamping of brushes and a few stain-like rings. I then used watercolor to do the rest. On the inside, is the sentiment. My second card featured the sentiment on the front and I stamped, painted and splattered color all over. The inside is blank. I definitely played more while making the second card. It is...