Watercoloring Cards

Water coloring cards have been kind of popular in the cardmaking world for awhile. So we decided to jump on the bandwagon with it. And honestly, we just can't stop! We see what the big fuss is all about now. Once you start it's kind of hard to stop. There are so many techniques, tips and ideas out there. But it really comes down to what your preference is. Water coloring is very forgiving and you can't really go wrong with it. That's what makes it so fun.

Today we are using this Watercolor set from Target for only $9.99. 

This was our first watercolor paint set and we are by no means experts but this so far has been a big favorite. Ok, actually we LOVE it. For only $9.99, this came with the watercolor paint, paper and brushes. So all that is missing is the water. The quality of paint is good, even the brushes did the job but I found myself using other paint brushes I had on hand for coloring images. Its important to use watercolor paper because it will absorb the water and help with the colors. The possibilities are endless with this pallet of paint. So let's take a look at how easy it is.....

Using this clipboard helps with having something we can manuver the paper with. As you can see we just taped it down with some washi tape to prevent it from warping so much.. Using the watercolor paper that it came with, and some water we are to ready to start. 

Like no joke, we just literally started painting on the paper. We took the paintbrush dipped it in water first and then to our pallet and on to the paper. That's it. Just make sure to clean your brush in water before moving on to another color. You don't want to mix the colors in your pallet. It really does not matter where or how you start. 

So now that we finished our painting, let's be a bit more creative. We took our wet paint brush and grabbed some brown paint and just "flicked" it on the paper to give it this splattered look. Looks like a mess right? Well, that's what so great about this, that's the look we are going for!  Once it's dried we can start stamping on it. Once dried, slap some glue tape on the back and throw it on some cardstock and we now have our card.

So easy!!! Here are some other cards we made using this watercolor paint:

 

For this cute snake card we added some embossing paste to give it some texture. But notice how for this card we just painted the color on the paper. It gives it a different look while still looking like water coloring.

So like we said, the possibilities are endless. We hope you try water coloring and please share any projects with us. Don't forget to check out more of our watercolor projects on our Instagram!!

Thank you,

3 Chicks

Notecard Packs

Does 80 notecards sound like a lot to you? Well it is! Even us chicks say that's a lot of cards to have on hand. But what if we told you the cost to make this many cards would be around 3-4 cents per card?? Yeah, you heard right that is in cents per card. 

Today, we want to share with you how that can be. Now this would be for those of you who are new to cardmaking or those if you on a super tight budget.  Enclosed are some photos to give you and idea of what we are talking about. 

When you are getting ready to check out at a craft store (Michael's. Hobby Lobby etc) they always have bins with craft things. We managed to get our hands on this pack of notecards WITH envelopes.

And look how adorable the designs are!! This is just a few of the designs in the pack.

 

And now all you need is your favorite stamp set and ink. Today we will be using this Hero Arts one. We love this set because it is not only cute but very versatile for any occasion. As you can see it's a well loved stamp set.

Of course if you have scrap paper around you can use it. The card we made as an example is using some scrap paper we had laying around and stickers (the hearts)  So using only these few things here is what you can make.

Viola! How simple was that? For just a few cents you can make many cards for every occasion. And you will be able to challenge yourself in stretching your stamp set. So we chicks encourage you all to try this and please share with us what you have come up with. Don't forget to check out our Instagram account to see more cards using this idea. 

Thanks for checking us out.

3 Chicks

Card Tutorial and a little bit about Card Kit Subscriptions

Hello Everyone!

Yes, us chicks are still around. We blame life for our disappearing act from the blogging world. Things have been busy crazy for us as it has for you I am sure. But we have been keeping our Instagram account updated and post things often. Feel free to check us out there (@threechickswithgluesticks). In fact, one our followers had a question about a card we posted. What a perfect time to do a video!! So we thank all our followers there, here and well everywhere. On to the project today....we used this adorable stamp from CC Designs along with some inks from Stampin Up, distress tool and stencil from Simon Says Stamps. See how clean the distressing is?  Watch our video to see how we did that clean and straight stencil look. Here is the card we made today.

Click RIGHT HERE to watch our YT video

Speaking of busy..........

Do you ever feel like things get crazy and all you wanna do is craft but your creativity is just not there? Well one of our favorite online stores SimonSaysStamp.com has the most awesome Card Kits (CK) ever! Their CK are perfect for beginners as well. These CK come with soo many things: paper, stamps, embellishments and oh, so much more. In fact, the distress tool used in today's video is from this months CK. Check it out:

Ugh, isn't this just cute?! As you can see this months CK is all about boys. Every month is a different theme. And you get ALL of this for only $19.95 (plus shipping). Oh, let's not forget the sweet lollipop included in every CK!  Can you see why we are so excited about these CK. Hope you can check them out.

Another favorite online store that we love has monthly Card Kits is Stampin Up. They have high quality products and their CK are different in that they come with ink pad and clear block. These kits are especially nice for beginners as it comes with what you need to make a card. Here is what their "trial" CK looks like:

This trial Card Kit is $14.95 and has just a few products to give you a taste of their products. If you like this, then you can order their CK and get more amazing things. Their monthly CK are also $19.95 (plus shipping). You can see more details on their website or you can even email us because one us chicks sells them. ;) 

We hope you can this useful.  Of course, these CK can be used for anything and everything, not just cards. We love Card Kits and well honestly, we love having things ready for us to make quick cards.

We hope you all have a great week and don't forget to check us out on Instagram and YouTube.

Thank you, 

3 Chicks

Something a little different...

Hello,

I really debated on making this post because this blog is really about crafting, but after I thought about it more (and talked with my fellow Bloggers) it's really about what we love. We love crafting, but we love so much more than just that. Our family and friends are a big part of why we make cards and crafts, we do it to make them happy.

Right now a friend of the 3Chick family has been handed a heavy hand; their amazing son, Maddux, has been diagnosed with cancer. You can visit GiveForward.com to see the full story on how they discovered that this brave 6 year old boy has Sarcoma.

He has been giving a fantastic battle, but there is always the unfortunate matter of how to finance such an endeavor. So many people have been coming up with great ideas on how to help this family raise money so that their only worry will be who gets to read Maddux a story at bed time. There is still a long road ahead and there will be more bills, but we're all confident that they will get taken care of.

The reason for this post is to try and help raise some money for the Hescock family. While working with someone from the Etsy website, we created some inexpensive but very nice quality window decals that boast the hashtag of our pride for this boy. #TeamMaddux shows that we're standing behind Maddux in his fight, no matter where we live. 

For $5 (plus shipping), we can send you the 2" x 7" water and weatherproof window decal displayed in the picture below. (To be clear, these are not clings and these are not stickers. They are decals which are more permanent and meant to be used on glass. With effort, however, they could be removed if that was something you wanted to do.)  

After sending your e-mail and shipping information to teammadduxfundraiser@gmail.com you will be sent a secured invoice via PayPal. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me (Joyce) at the e-mail I just mentioned. 

100% of the money made from this fundraiser will go to the Hescock family. I know it won't bring a ton of money, but every little bit helps. You can also forward this information on via Instagram if you search the username: teammadduxfundraiser

Even if all you do is visit the GiveForaward website and send a hug or a donation there, we'll all be grateful for your time and consideration. We hope all are well in your lives!

Sincerely from the 3Chicks,

Joyce, Hannah & Marisol