Flight Path

Hi everybody.  I have another masculine birthday coming up and the Less is More Challenge this week is entitled Vehicle, and it is also a one layer card week, so I thought I would combine the two and this is what I came up with.  I used a NBUS set of stamps by Sheena Douglass called Street Life, and the map is from Indigoblu.  

I stamped the aeroplane using Black Archival Ink and heat set it with WOW Clear Embossing Powder.  I then used Pebeo Masking Fluid over the white highlights on the plane and stamped the map with Versafine Smokey Gray Ink.  I didn't stamp the whole of the map as I wanted it to fade out at the edges.

Making sure it was thoroughly dry I then used my Lyra Aqua Markers and some glycerin to colour the map.  This is a new to me technique which entails scribbling some of the colour on to a blending mat or glass mat etc. and picking some of the glycerin up on a blending tool or blending foam, then picking up the colour and blending it on to the surface.  I used a couple of blues together and a little orange round the edges.  I kept the orange pale as I wanted it to fade out, and added what was left of the blue on the blending foam in a circular motion round the scene.  I then removed the masking fluid from the plane and took the edge off the white with a little more of the blue.

I finished by stamping the sentiment using Black Archival Ink and again heat set it with the Clear Gloss EP.

I did have a sudden panic as I had thought the challenge was Transport, but on looking again I realised it was Vehicle, but the dictionary did call an aeroplane a vehicle so I think this will be OK.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I'll see you again soon. 

I am also entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Add a Sentiment.
Addicted to CAS - One Layer Card.
CAS on Sunday - No. 114 Birthday.
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes.

 

Balloons Overhead

Hi there everyone.  I have a male birthday coming up so balloons sprang to mind, I think because it is the time of year when they have the Balloon Fiesta in Bristol.  We went to it a few years ago but that particular day it was rather too windy so not a lot happened.  I have some fairly new stamp sets with some nice scenes by Sheena Douglass and this one is called Looking Up.  I have already used one which has a boat, and there is one with a bridge, and this one has a countryside scene and I took the three balloons from across the three sets to use here.

I stamped the scene on a piece of white card about 51/2" square using Adirondack Lettuce Ink and then added colour into the trunk and branches of the tree using a waterbrush and Walnut Stain Distress Ink and added Mowed Lawn and then Mowed Lawn with the added brown for two darker shades, and then to give some lighter tones and early morning sunshine I used Adirondack Sunshine Yellow.

Once I was happy with this I then added in the balloons using my Misti and Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade DI's and Momento Nautical Blue Ink, and added some of the brown for a bit of shading.
Finally I added the blue sky using Tumbled Glass DI.  I decided to make it light as first thing in the morning the sky tends to have less colour and I didn't want it to detract from the balloons.

I finished by adding a black and then a larger dark green textured layer, and then mounted it on to a 7"white base card.  I then stamped the sentiment using Adirondack Bottle Green Ink.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers August Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes (without the twist).
Fashionable Stamping Challenge - No. 126 Use Your Inks Anyway You Like.
Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes.

Red Poppies with Brushos

Hi all.  I made this card for a lovely lady I know whose birthday is today.  She has a beautiful garden and I have chosen poppies because I'm pretty sure she will have some, and hope she likes these poppies of mine too.   I used a stamp from Penny Black called Divine and also a Curved Frame stitched die and numbers from an Alphabet both from The Works, and an XCut Embossing Folder called Art Deco Scallop.

I started with the background which I embossed using a roughly 51/2" square snippet of white card and the XCut EF.  I had to extend the pattern which worked well.  I then used my Brusho powders in Turquoise, Ultramarine and Leaf Green.  I wanted to cover the whole piece with colour so I blasted it with my heat gun and then tapped colour on to my glass mat and spritzed, and then laid the card down into it where I wanted to fill in the white spaces.

I continue by die cutting the Curved Frame from another snippet of white card using the largest die, and then using the Misti I stamped just the stem and buds with Adirondack Bottle Ink.  The Misti stamping tool is ideal for this sort of stamping when needing only certain bits of the stamp as repeating the process is easy.   I then stamped the poppy flower heads on to a snippet of white card and coloured them using the Brushos on my glass mat with a waterbrush.  I used Scarlet, Brilliant Red and Purple on the flowers and then cut them out, and Leaf Green, Emerald and Dark Brown and a very small ammount of the Scarlet on the buds on the Curved Frame.  I finished the topper by adding the flower heads using Pinflair Glue Gel for dimension.

Before layering the background piece on to a 7" square white base card I decided to add some Distress Ink to darken the edges, using Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers.  I thought perhaps I had overdone it but after putting it all together I think it works.

I finished the card by adding a sentiment and the numbers, cutting them from Gold Mirri card backed with Stick It Adhesive.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 293/4 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes.
Uniko Challenge - No 42 Flowers.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Happy Birthday.   (Congratulations to them as they are celebrating their 7th birthday.  My card wasn't made solely with this in mind but I hope this is OK for the challenge, and I do wish them well for the future, and who knows, they may still be going strong when they are 80)

Snowflake Paper Piercing and Stitching

Hi everyone.  This week's Less is More Challenge is pierce your project and I thought I would give it a go.  I found a snowflake pattern and went ahead and pricked the pattern on to a piece of white cardstock.  I then cut it out using my new Stitched Circle Die set from The Works.  I also cut another Stitched Circle from some red card using the next size larger die.  I thought it needed something else so I cut a star with the smallest die, again from red card using a set by XCut.

I decided to give it a background and found my Crafters Companion Embossing Folder Snow Flurry which is 5" x 7" and embossed it using another piece of white cardstock, and then cut it back to 5" square and mounted it on to a 6" square white base card.  The photo is a little dark and the background card looks cream in comparison to the embossed layer, but it matches much better IRL.

I was still not entirely happy with just the piercing, and have done some stitching on card in the past and still have a lot of threads, so got out some gold metallic and decided to stitch it with that.  The metallic thread is not as soft and malleable as the silk embroidery thread, and I knew I had to be quick, so I burned the midnight oil a bit last evening and got it finished,  It isn't the neatest work I have ever done but I think it does look prettier with the gold thread.  It is stranded and I used two of the threads which is a good thickness.  It is quite a long time since I have done any stitching and I found it quite tiring, especially as the holes were quite fine and close together, and my piercing could have been a bit more accurate.  Anyway I do like the finished piece so I'm glad I persevered.

When finally assembling the card I added some craft foam to the snowflake circle to add a bit of dimension, and a sentiment die cut from a piece of gold mirri card.

Thank you for dropping by today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge - No. 179 Dies Only, No Stamps.
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 253 Holiday.

Polar Mimi

Hi all.  Well another month has whizzed by and I am only just in time to get my card in for this month's Rudolph Days Challenge.  It is run by the lovely Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo and is open from the 25th to the end of each month.    I have been rather pushed for time so this was a bit hurried and flurried as I didn't want to miss it and I used a stamp from Penny Black called Polar Mimi.  I was lucky enough to win quite a lot of wooden stamps over at the Penny Black and More Challenge last month and this is the first card I have made with this particular one.

I started by die cutting a circle using a NBUS set of stitched dies from The Works and a snippet of white card.  I then stamped the image using Versafine Smokey Gray ink and added WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and heat set it.  I coloured using my Lyra Brush Markers by scribbling on to my glass mat and picking up the ink with a waterbrush.  The only other colour I added was for Mimi's little red cheeks and I used a red pencil because I couldn't get the right colour blend with the inks.  I finished the topper by cutting a slightly larger stitched circle using a snippet of dark blue card to back it.

Next I cut a stitched square from another snippet of white card using another set of NBUS dies from The Works, and the largest die fits well on a 6" square base card.  I found my Falling Snow stencil and ran this through my Grand Calibur.  It doesn't show up very well and I think maybe I need to shim it a bit as the very small dots at the bottom are not easily visible, although in real life it is better than it appears in the photo.  I finished this layer by adding the sentiment using Versafine Majestic Blue ink and then added the WOW Clear Gloss EP before heat setting it.

I layered this square on to anothe snippet of dark blue card before adhering this to the white base card and then I layered up the topper.  I thought perhaps it looked a bit bare so I added a Sue Wilson Holly Branch die cut from another snippet of white card, and cut it into two pieces to fit easier round the top of the circle.  I added the berries using Berry Red Cosmic Shimmer PVA by making dots on my glass mat, leaving it over night to set, and then added them using some Cosmic Shimmer glue.  I tried putting them straight on but this particular holly branch has holes where the berries are meant to go and a lot of the glue gel just fell through and made an awful mess.  I tried to gradually build it up as it began to dry but I just smeared the stuff everywhere and had to start again, so adding them when dry works better but not sure they look as effective as straight out of the bottle.

I realised I hadn't done anything with the bit of falling snow on the stamped image, so got the Cosmic Shimmer White PVA out and used a trick to apply it which I found over at Jennifer McGuire's blog.  You put a blob on the mat and using a very small ball tool you coat it with the PVA and dot it on where you want it.  I also added some on the ground around the figures.   

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop  - Week 291/2 where we use our snippets of card, paper etc
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Acetate and Tissue Butterfly

I am enjoying the challenge of using tissue paper and today I've tried something which is new to me, using tissue paper with an acetate overlay which facilitates die cutting the piece.  I used a butterfly die which I have had for quite a while which is by Marianne Designs, and also a freebie embossing folder which I thought would show it off nicely.

I started by making the tissue paper and acetate piece for the butterfly.  I used Distress Inks on my glass mat in the right sized area to cover my piece of tissue paper using Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries and Shaded Lilac.  I spritzed fairly lightly with water and then laid my tissue over it to soak it up, and very carefully lifted it on to a piece of copy paper to dry.  I did speed up the process with my heat tool.  I then respritzed what was left on the glass mat and did it again, and once dried it looked about right so I went on to the next step.  I decided to back the tissue with some thin copy paper so I scrunched it up to get some texture and then adhere it to the copy paper with PVA glue.  I decided to use gold on the crinkles so ran my Versamark Ink over the top and added WOW Metallic Gold Embossing Powder and heat set it.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem to show up in the photos very well, but in real life it shimmers really well.  

Next I found some fairly thin acetate which I had lying about, I think this technique works better with thinner acetate, and I adhered it to the tissue paper with the PVA glue which dries clear.  I applied the glue with a piece of blending foam to get a smooth even finish.   Once it was completely dry I die cut the butterfly.  I have to say that even with the thinner acetate this did take quite a few turns through the machine before I could remove the pieces and I did have to use some small scissors to finish the job where it refused to completely cut, but in the end it worked as luckily all the pieces which needed to come out were fairly large.  Maybe one of the newer die cutting machines with better pressure would cut it more easily than my old Grand Calibur.

I then used the freebie folder for the embossed background and I am very pleased with the result, even though it did take a little time to achieve.  The white blank base card is approximately 6" square.

I'm afraid I have only just made the Loll and Bonnie's two challenges as they close in just a few hours.  I did intend to put this up yesterday morning but got so busy I have only just got around to doing so.  This technique is something new to me and using one of the listed techniques that they very kindly sourced for inspiration, I really wanted to enter it in the challenge, so please forgive me for being so last minute.  

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

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS Watercolour July Challenge - Butterfly.  (So thrilled to be chosen as one of the Outstanding Designs)                      
CAS Mix Up July Challenge - Stamping, Tissue Paper and Own Choice (I have used dry embossing).
Country View July Challenge - Things with Wings.

CAS Koi Carp

Hi everyone.  My card today features a fairly new to me technique using tissue paper.  I have used it on just one of my cards in the past as a sea themed background and I decided to go with a sea theme this time.  This month's CAS Mix Up Challenge has asked for stamping, tissue paper and your choice of technique and I have chosen heat embossing, die cutting and some watercolouring too.

I started with the tissue paper background and got out my Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans and Shaded Lilac.  I laid the inks from the pad down randomly on to my glass mat and sprayed with some water and lowered the roughly 5"square of tissue paper over it, rubbing the back until it had soaked up the inks, before lifting and laying it down on a piece of copy paper and dried it with my heat tool.  I did this two or three times to build up the colour.  I have to confess that the first couple of times it fell apart too much on lifting and I had to start again, but third time lucky.  It had a couple of minor tears which I was able to pull together when mounting it on to a snippet of square white card.  I scrunched it up before doing this and glued it down with some PVA glue all over and making sure to keep the creases.  I then rubbed Versamark Ink which coated the surface crinkles and then added WOW Metallic Silver Embossing Powder which I heat set.

I then cut a frame from a snippet of white card using a set of stitched square dies, the two biggest of them,  and adhered this over the top.  This left some of the tissue paper layer beyond the frame and I trimmed this until it was just a narrow blue border.  In the photo it doesn't look very level but in real life it is better I think.

I found another snippet of white card for the Koi Carp from a set by Sheena Douglass, unfortunately they don't seem to be available now.  There are two sizes and I used the smaller.  I stamped them using Smokey Gray Versafine Ink and heat set using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then coloured them with my Lyra Water Brush Markers laying them down on my glass mat and picking up the colour with a waterbrush.  I then cut them out and glued them on to the framed tissue layer.

I finished by mounting the topper on to a 7" square white card and added a die cut sentiment using a snippet of silver mirri card backed with Stick It adhesive.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS Mix Up July Challnge (I am thrilled to have been chosen as one of the Outstanding Designs)
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 289/90 where we use our snippets of card or paper etc.
Virginia's Summer Blog Party - Summer Creations.
Happy Little Stampers July Mixed Media Challenge - Texture.
Happy Little Stampers July Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 251 Anything Goes.
Penny Black and More July Challenge - For the Boys.