Chilling Out

Hi all.  Here is another masculine card as I needed a card for a cousin's husband and so I decided to use this Sheena Douglass stamp called Just Chilling which I have used only once before.  Last time I did it just as a silhouette, but this time I decided to use my Misti stamp positioner and ink up the stamp in different colours to make the scene. although I did do the sea and sky with a waterbrush.   Here is the last occasion I used it, for hubby's birthday actually nearly two years ago, and dreadful that I haven't used it since...shame on me!

I stamped the boat, the ripples in the water and the distant horizon with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink to start with by adding the ink to the stamp where I wanted it and then spritzed with a little water before stamping.  I then added a little Candied Apple DI to the bottom of the boat, and Lucky Clover and Pine Needles DI's to the greenery on the left, all spritzed with a little water before stamping.  I then added the birds using Versafine Vintage Sepia and then coloured the water using Adirondack Stonewashed and Blueprint Sketch DI.  For the sky I again used some Stonewashed but added some bits of Mermaid Lagoon but sparingly as it is quite bright.  I applied the inks using a waterbrush.

I then layered it on to some blue card and stamped the sentiment again using the Vintage Sepia ink and then added it to a 7" x 5" white base card.

This technique is a bit fiddly and if the ink strays where you don't want it I wipe it away using some kitchen towel.  I think to firm up the outlines of the boat I did stamp again using the Brushed Corduroy but this time without spritzing.   I think the jury's out as to whether this looks better than the last time, and one of the birds got smudged a bit, but I had spent quite a lot of time on it and needed to get the card posted so I decided it looked good enough to send, and just hope he likes it.

Thank you for visiting today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenge:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Masculine.
Crafty Calendar Challenge - June - Masculine.
AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 2 Use Water Colours.

Music Speaks Again

Hi everyone.  I made this card for our son for his birthday and decided to use the same stamp set from Visible Image that I used last year but in a totally different way.  If you would like to take a look at last years it is here.  Anyway here is this year's creation.

I cut a piece of white card just a bit smaller than 6" x 6" and stamped the first guitar using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and heat embossed it using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and masked it before stamping the second using Versafine Smokey Gray, again heat embossing it,  and then moved the mask to this second guitar before stamping the third using second generation Smokey Gray Ink and then heat embossed this last one too.

I used Brilliant Red, Scarlet Red and Purple Brushos in the background, covering the words on the guitars over and being very careful where I sprinkled the Brushos, then spritzed and used a waterbrush to move the inks around the guitars.  I then repeat stamped the distressed music in Dusty Concord, and the sound waves in Candied Apple Distress Ink.

I finished by highlighting the words using a White Posca Pen and added the sentiment using Versamark and WOW Opaque Bright White EP on to a strip of black card which I cut into a fishtail banner shape.

Thank you for joining me today and I hope to see you again soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

AAA Birthday Card Challenge - No. 1 Anything Birthday Goes.
Uniko Challenge - No. 53 Anything Goes (Optional Twist Masculine).

With Autumn in Mind

Hi there.  Here are some cards I made for Chocolate Baroque shows on Hochanda.

This first one features the new Mushroom House which is so cute and great to colour, and I also used one of the Autumn Edges stamps.  I stamped both images using Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink and heat embossed them using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I used Distress Inks with a waterbrush to colour in Fired Brick, Brushed Corduroy, Twisted Citron, Crushed Olive and Mermaid Lagoon, and also Adirondack Ink in Sunshine Yellow.  I used the same colours on the border with the addition of Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

I layered the border on to the top layer and added one of the sentiments from the Mushroom House set stamped using the Vintage Sepia Ink and heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP, and then layered it on to a piece of dark green card, and then added it to a white base card.

The second card uses the trees from the Autumn Edges set stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink and then heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then made a background scene with a mask put in place before using Brusho Powders in Ultramarine, Turquoise, Emerald and Leaf Green placing some of the powder on my glass mat and adding water before applying them with a brush.  I removed the mask and coloured the sun with Yellow and Orange Brushos.  I wanted a slightly misty look so wet the background above the horizon and took the hard edge off the sun and softened the sky too.   I then die cut with a Crealies Pierced Rectangle and then cut a white layer using one of the dies a size larger to layer together.

I then cut a larger rectangle to fit an 8" x 6" white card added on the leaf borders, a silhouette type stamp, and stamped on all four edges of the background using Pine Needles Distress Ink and spritzing with a little water before stamping which gives a slight softer and lighter finish.  When dry I blended some Twisted Citron Distress Ink over the edges to colour the edges before adding the topper.

I am entering this card into the following challenge:
 
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 353 where we use our snippets of paper and card etc.

For this third card I used the Mellow Fruitfulness  set of stamps and stamped using my stamp positioner and several shades of Distress Inks added to the stamp, then spritzed with just a little water before stamping, and then used a waterbrush to move the colours about and a little extra added ink to finish each of the different images.  Spritzing with water gives a softer and more blended look to the fruits especially.  For the apples I used Peeled Paint and Fired Brick on the fruits and in addition Twisted Citron on the leaves.  I finished by reinking the stamp totally with Peeled Paint and stamped again.  For the oranges I used Carved Pumpkin and Abandoned Coral as well as the same green tones, and this time when I stamped for the second time to firm up the outlines I used the orange tones on the fruits and then the Peeled Paint again on the leaves.  Lastly for the cherries I used Candied Apple and Abandoned Coral and again the same green tones for the leaves and restamped with just the Candied Apple and the Peeled Paint.  I then stamped the bunch of leaves as a fill in using the foliage from the apple, but this time I just stamped with the Peeled Paint and again spritzed, then filled in the colours with the waterbrush adding the Twisted Citron and a little Carved Pumpkin, no second inking for these images though.

I finished with one of the sentiments stamped with the Peeled Paint and then heat embossed with WOW Glear Gloss Embossing Powder, and then blended around the edges of the mat with Adirondack Sunshine Yellow Ink which is a nice sunny colour.

This was a little fiddly and not a technique to do all the time because adding the different colour inks to parts of the stamp does take time, but I think the finish to the fruits especially gives them a realistic finish which a lot of the time I strive for but of course don't always achieve.  Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll be back soon.

Twofer and CAS Stencil Challenges

Hi there.  Firstly I would just like to apologise to those people who I have not visited in a while as hubby and I had a trip to Holland and Belgium, specifically Amsterdam and Bruges, both places I have not been to before, and we had a great time.  We did also go to see all the windmills, nineteen of them I think, at Kinderdijk, and we aso went to Delft and Gouda, and the first weekend was spent in Rotterdam as hubby's choir were singing with a Dutch choir there.  The bicycle image is from Crafty Individuals which I have had for a while and haven't got around to using, and it reminded me of all the bikes you see in Holland, especially in Amsterdam outside the central station.  There were what seemed like thousands of them, and I thought that on returning in the evening actually finding your own bike amongst so many would be quite difficult.  Here's a photo my hubby took of them and I think you will see what I mean.  There were two more rows over to the left too which aren't visible in the photo.

Well, now on to my cards today.  It is a while since I've managed to join in the fun over at the Twofer Challenge run by lovely Darnell, and was determined that this month I would definitely get an entry in.  The theme this time is Things With Wheels, and the idea is to use the same stamp, die or stencil on both cards but making two different designs for two different occasions.  One of mine is a birthday card and the other I think would be good for someone about to go travelling or facing some sort of personal challenge in their lives, anyway here are the two cards:

The first card also utilises the waste from a Sue Wilson Orange Blossom leaves die which had been lying around waiting for the opportunity to be used and this was it.  I stamped the bike using Peeled Paint Distress Ink using my Misti so that I could do several layers of ink to make sure I had a good strong image, and then added some Adirondack Sunshine yellow all over making it darker towards the centre.  I then began stencilling the leaves all around the edges using more Distress Inks and applying them using a blending tool, colours including Peeled Paint and Broken China and finished by watercolouring the flowers using Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade and Broken China added with a waterbrush.  I darkened the edges at the bottom by adding more layers of leaves using the Peeled Paint, and then decided to use the stencil to lift some colour so you can probably see their are some light ones too.  I added the topper to a piece of dark green card before adhering it to the white base card which started out as 7" x 5" but when I added the topper I cut it down a bit to better frame the image.  I am also entering this card in the CAS Stencil Challenge run by our friends Loll and Bonnie where the cue this time is Stencilling over a Coloured Background.

I am also entering this card into the Simon Says Monday Challenge - Use Stencils.


The second card was much quicker.  I  stamped a bike in each of the corners using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and then heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then added some Candied Apple Distress Ink around the edges and added the sentiment in the middle with the same red ink and then again heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP.  To finish I added this to a 7" x 5" white card.

Both challenges are open for another day so have just made it in time.  Thank you for visiting today and I'll see you again soon.

                                                    

 

     

Funky Fish and Sea World

Hi there everyone.  I am back with my third Guest Design spot over at the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog and I decided on a sea theme this time using the Steampunk Funky Fish and Steampunk Sea World sets of stamps, and there are some delightfully fun images on these two sets.  I did also use the bubbles from the Floral Heart set.

I started with the background using my Distress Inks in Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon and Cracked Pistachio, laid on to a piece of acrylic, spritzed and then applied to some white card.  I repeated the process several times until I was happy with the coverage.  I stamped the seaweed and cogs and the two images to the left which remind me of jellyfish using Peeled Paint Distress Ink, and I managed to join up the seabed using the side of a pokey tool coated in the ink and dragged across to form the little hilly areas. I then stamped the large and small nautiluses and the two small seahorses using Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink.  I then coloured the images with orange, blue, yellow and brown shades of DI's including Fossilized Amber, Mermaid Lagoon, Lucky Clover, Peeled Paint, Candied Apple, Brushed Corduroy, Carved Pumpkin and Abandoned Coral, and to brighten the yellows a bit I also used Adirondack Sunshine Yellow, and these all applied with a waterbrush.  I know that strictly speaking you should seal the DI's with Clear Embossing Powder to stop bleeding of the ink when using water, but I didn't want a hard outline and mainly it worked OK, and where the lines disappeared too much I used a little coloured pencil to fill them in.

To finish I used the bubbles from the Floral Hearts set stamped with the Blueprint Sketch and then over the top of some of them I used a White Posca Pen, which I also used on some of the eyes.  I then blended some more Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch around the edges before adding it to the white base card.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I'll see you again soon, and I am looking forward to doing another Guest Design spot over at Chocolate Baroque later in the year.

I am entering the following challenge:

Addicted to Stamps and More - No 342 Make Your Mark.

Floral Harmony

Hi there everybody.  This is my second Guest Design Post over at Chocolate Design Team Blog, and after the more masculine make last week I decided to do something with flowers and chose this Floral Harmony stamp.

I started by stamping these pretty flowers on to a piece of white card using Versafine Smokey Gray Ink and then heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then coloured them with my Distress Inks and a waterbrush using Mermaid Lagoon, Dusty Concord, Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade, Lucky Clover, Crushed Olive and Brushed Corduroy.  I then fussy cut it out, but for those who don't enjoy all that cutting you could just cut around the image leaving some white around the edges and it would still look fine.

I then decided that I would add a strip of alcohol inked Yupo along the bottom of the 7" x 5" card and I cut a strip roughly 2" wide and using Pool, Indigo and Clover together with some Blending Solution, and used a brush to spread them to cover the piece.  I then placed some clingfilm over the top slightly scrunched up and pressed on to the inked surface which when dry left some interesting marks. 

Instead of adding the flowers flat on to the card I cut a white layer to cover the front but leaving most of the alcohol inked border showing.  I then stamped the sentiment which comes from the Paisley Elephant set on to the bottom of this piece of card using Versafine Ink, and heat embossed it using WOW Metallic Gold Super Fine Embossing Powder.  I then attached a piece of foam to the back and added it to the card, and finished by adding the flowers using some Pinflair Glue Gel to give further dimension.

Thank you for stopping to take a look today and I'll be back next week with my third and final Guest Design Post for now, but I will be returning with more later in the year.  

I am entering the following challenges:

The Flower Challenge - No. 32 Embossing (Heat/Dry)
Penny Black and More Challenge - All Things Feminine/Anything Goes.
Craft Stamper Magazine: Take It Make It Challenge - Anything Goes.
Uniko Challenge - No. 53 Anything Goes/Masculine.
Stamping Sensations - In an English Country Garden.

 

Take Flight

Hi everybody.  I have just started my second year working on the Chocolate Baroque Guest Design Team and this is the first of three posts I will be doing this month.  If you are anything like me I often find it difficult to choose a theme for and make masculine cards, so I decided that this is what my first card would feature so I used the Steampunkery set of stamps.

I started with the background using three shades of blue Distress Inks - Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers and Stormy Sky.  I used a piece of acrylic to lay the colours down onto and then spritzed and pressed the acrylic on to my piece of white card, doing it several times until I was happy with the look, drying the layers in between. Doing it this way helps to get the ink more where you want it and I wanted more ink in the centre leaving the edges mainly white. 

I then stamped the image using Versafine Smokey Gray Ink and I heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I coloured it with my waterbrush using Blueprint Sketch, Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks, and then used a little Silver Mica Powder mixed with water for the propeller shaft, well I think that's what it's called..lol.  It is difficult to see but it is quite shiny.

I decided to add one of the sentiments 'take flight' randomly over the background using second generation stamping with Chipped Sapphire, and then I added the small key parachute stamp as well using the same ink and coloured with Peacock feathers and Dusty Concord.  I then added a 'Happy Birthday' on to the airship itself again using Chipped Sapphire.  I then mounted it on to a piece of blue card and adhered it to a 6" square white card.

I'll be back next week with my second GD post, but for now thank you for your visit and I hope you will come back again soon.