Selection of Hybrid Cards

Hi there.  Here are the 'hybrid' cards I was talking about on my last post.  I found a bag full of card fronts and some focal images off some cards which I think one of my friends gave to me and which I had put at the back of the cupboard.  I was in need of some quick cards and so I picked out some of these and added some bits of my own to embellish and was pleased that at least I have recycled some bits which would otherwise have been thrown away.

This first robin caught my eye straight away so I added the stamped NBUS Phill Martin Snowflakes Large Rectangle Frame using Versamark Ink and WOW Metallic Gold Embossing Powder on to some red card and then mounted it on to a green base card, some leftovers from ages ago.  I finished with the gold embossed sentiment.

This dove was extremely simple, I just mounted it on to a white 6" square base card and added the two die cut snowflakes which I cut from a piece of white card which I had heat embossed with WOW Sparkling Snow EP.  The smaller snowflake, bottom left consists of two snowflakes.

The robin I matted on to red card and then embossed using a Cuttlebug folder I got many years ago which I managed to run through again and make square, on to some gold mirri, and then before mounting on to the green base card I cut a strip of vellum and gold heat embossed the sentiment then wrapped it round the topper.

This last one I didn't mount on to anything as it already had a gold edge.  I cut the blue card using a Crealies Pierced Rectangle die and stamped the sentiment using Versafine Majestic Blue ink which I then heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss EP.  This gold base card had become a bit chewed up on the edges as it had been laying in the cupboard for some time so I used a corner rounder punch.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

Happy Christmas To All

Hi there everybody.  I know the Christmas celebrations are well on their way by now, and due to my business before Christmas I am late in showing the last few cards which haven't appeared here.  Apart from this card for my DH, there are just a few hybrid cards and one I sent overseas which haven't been shown, and hopefully as the week progresses these will make an appearance.  In case you are wondering what the hybrid cards are all about, they were some which I made with toppers from cards which were sent to us, and I thought might be good to use with some things of my own making, to recycle rather than waste.  This card though is new from beginning to end.

I did ponder a bit before making this card, as having been so busy this month this was quite last minute and the mojo has been suffering a bit, but I have this Sweet Dixie die which I got from The Range and I thought it deserved an outing, so I cut if from a snippet of white card and coloured it with my Distress Inks, and mixed the black for the base with silver Perfect Pearls, and for the candle and flame colours, Mustard Seed and Festive Berries with Gold Perfect Pearls.  This doesn't really show in the photo but has given it a lovely shimmer.  I also used Festive Berries for the poinsettia, and Mowed Lawn and Pine Needles for the foliage.   I backed both the poinsettia and the candle with a piece of card so I could fill them in with the colour.

I then found another snippet of white card and cut it with a stitched die from The Works and embossed with a Marianne Snowflakes Embossing Folder, and I then edged it with Mustard Seed DI applied with a blending tool, and also added some of the Gold Perfect Pearls.

For the background I used a Cuttlebug Holly Ribbons EF and inked up the inside of the front with Pine Needles DI using a roller, and then spritzed it with a little water and pressed the card on to it with the folder open flat and rubbed the back over for about ten seconds before lifting, this gives the ink time to sink in well, and when dry I blended some more of the same ink on to it using a blending tool.

I decided that I would use a white 7" x 5" base card and I used some gold mirri as the first layer, die cut with a pierced edge rectangle die from Crealies, unfortunately this doesn't seem to be available at the moment, and I then cut the inked layer with the next size of die and adhered these to the base card.  I then mounted the topper and added the coloured image using Pinflair Glue Gel for a bit of dimension, and then the gold sentiment to finish.

I was hoping that DH would not think the image too feminine, and he did say he liked it, but I wasn't totally convinced..lol, but in his defence it is a bit different from the type of card I usually make for him.

Anyway, thank you for taking a look and I hope that all of you are having a good Christmas and my thoughts are also with those who are not having the best of times at the moment for whatever reason.  I also look forward to visiting all my blogging friends throughout 2018, and seeing all the wonderful creativity there is to be had in this great community of ours, and long may it last. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 313/314 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Happy Little Stampers December Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes, but using the twist which is Christmas.
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge - No. 365 Anything Goes as long as it's Christmas.
Happy Little Stampers December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.

Winter Pine Branches and Berries

Hi all.  I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately but have been so busy with other things this past two or three weeks that posting has had to take a back seat.  I have managed to keep visiting though and looking at all your beautiful Christmas cards.  Everything has calmed down now and we went out yesterday to get the last food shopping so today we will be able to relax.

This was the card I made and sent to our DS in Australia.  He has received it now so thought I would show it.  Last year I was sad that for some reason he didn't get it until after Christmas but so pleased it arrived on time this year.

This was created using a card I found over here as my inspiration, made by Heather Telford, and as I don't have the stamp I decided to just paint it as a more or less direct CASEing of it.  For those that don't know Heather she does do the most amazing work and is just so talented at watercolouring,  and if you visit her using the link above you will see what I mean.  I used very few lines and just went for it, and I was fairly pleased with the result but wish I had made the sky a stronger blue to give more contrast.  I was having trouble coming up with something and time was pressing as I new the last dates for posting were imminent, and thought that the foliage and berries would work, though I did wonder if the finished piece might look a bit plain and uninteresting.

I used my watercolour paints and I also did some spattering with white acrylic paint and added some white gel pen snow on the branches and in amongst the foliage.  I heat embossed the sentiment with WOW Silver Metallic Embossing Powder.  I then mounted it on to dark green card and added it to a 6" square white base card  on which I embossed some snow using a SSS Snowfall stencil.  It doesn't show up much in the photo unfortunately.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you are all prepared and looking forward to the festivities.

Embossed Parchment

Hi everybody.  This is another card using the 3D Pretty Poinsettia Embossing folder which I got recently, but this time using parchment to emboss with.  I decided to make three more cards with snippets of red, blue and green using this embossing folder, but then thought I would try parchment.  I decided after embossing the snippet of parchment that the flowers needed to be emphasised a bit more so I used a ball tool to go round them to give a whiter edge, and then I used the red embossed snippet underneath which gave it a soft pink colour.

In order not to have any glue showing on the front I embossed it with a border on two of the sides which would wrap round the red card before being adhered to the base card.  

I then decided to cut a sentiment mat from a snippet of white pearlised card and secured this across the card  mounted on to two pieces of ribbon.  I found my Spellbinder Nestibilities die called Floral Oval which has little star shaped holes when die cut, and the sheer sparkly ribbon fitted through the holes on either side of the sentiment plate and secured to the underside of it, and I then cut each piece long enough to wrap over the card and secured it at the back.  Before sticking the ribbon to the mat I stamped a sentiment with Versamark Ink and heat embossed with WOW Silver Glitter Embossing Powder.

I cut  the white base card down so the embossed piece would fit with just a narrow border and then added the parchment topper to it.  I thought perhaps it needed something else so I cut four parchment snowflakes from snippets I found, two small and two medium, and added some silver gilding wax to highlight them, and after mounting a medium one with a small one on top I put one of these each side of the sentiment.  I also decided as an afterthought to add some of the silver gilding wax on to the parchment which I did very carefully as I didn't want to get any on to the base card.  Luckily it worked.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 311/12 where we use our snippets of card paper etc.
Happy Little Stampers December Christmas Challenge - no optional twist.

Here is the second card with the embossing also highlighted with silver gilding wax.  I cut some leaves with a pair of dies by Sue Wilson called Delicate Fronds using some more snippets of parchment and cut them into pieces, highlighted them with the silver gilding wax and made the wreath shape, after which I added the sentiment using a snippet of silver mirri card.

I am entering the following challenge:

Country View Challenge December - No Optional Twist.
Uniko Challenge - No 44 Christmas.
 

For this last card I used copper gilding wax to highlight, and cut a bauble using a freebie Crafters Companion die which I got with a magazine several years ago.  I cut it from another snippet of green card and removed the pieces.  I used the same gilding wax to colour the edge of the bauble and all the pieces.  I should have adhered it to a piece of Stick It adhesive and then die cut it but I managed to remove the top protective layer and laid the bauble down onto it and cut round the edge.  A bit fiddly but I managed it.  I then fitted all the pieces back into the bauble, removed the backing and mounted it on to the embossed background.  I finished by adding a die cut sentiment cut from another snippet of green card which I then coloured with the gilding wax so that it would all match in.  For the hanger I coloured another small snippet of green card with the gilding wax and cut a very thin sliver long enough to hang down from the holly above.

Before I finish I would like to introduce a new follower called Sylvia whose blog you will find here and who makes some really beautiful cards, and I'm sure she would love you to go and take a look.

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

I am entering the following challenge:

Christmas Card Throwdown December Challenge - Pick a previous challenge from 2012/13 - I have chosen December 2013 No. 18 Christmas Ornaments.

Gold Poinsettias

Hi all.  This is a very quick Christmas card I made to enter into the Rudolph Days Challenge run by Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo.  This is the last monthly challenge of the year which I am only just in time for but didn't want to miss.  It sounds as though there will be something going on over there in December so watch this space.

I bought this 3D Pretty Poinsettia Embossing Folder just recently, which is made by Crafters Companion, and I think you'll agree that the embossing really is beautifully three dimensional.  This is the first use so a NBUS item, and I think I will be making some more cards with it to get the card numbers up as it only needs a sentiment added as I have done here, plus after looking at it I decided to add the little flowers. You can of course do lots more interesting things but for speed of production this is probably how I will make some more, maybe using different colours of card and adding some gilding wax or ink.  

I embossed it using a snippet of gold mirri card, and besides the card I had decided to mount it on I had another left from the same pack which I have had for years and which was a bit dog eared, so not suitable to us as is, so I cut the card apart and used part of it to make three little poinsettia flowers using a NBUS die by Sue Wilson which I got recently called Poinsettia Cluster.  I used my versamark pen to add the ink round the edges of the flowers and then heat embossed using WOW Gold Glitter Embossing Powder and added a gold sequin to the midde of each flower. 

I completed the card by adding the embossed layer to the 7" x 5" gold pearlised base card, and cut a double sentiment mat using two of the dies from a set I bought from The Works with some more of the gold pearlised card.  I die cut the sentiment from another snippet of gold mirri backed with Stick It adhesive and added it to the card.  Lastly I added the three little flowers to the corner of the sentiment mat.  I am not totally sure that the flowers are quite right but they were stuck with glossy accents and once dry there is no going back so I'm stuck with them...lol, sorry for the pun.  For some reason the gold pearlised card looks white in the photo but in real life it is a soft gold colour.  The daylight was beginning to go so we'll put it down to that.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today and I hope to be back soon.  

I am entering the following challenges:

Rudolph Days November Challenge - Anything Goes.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 309/10 where we use snippets of card and paper etc.
Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas Goes.
Muse: Christmas Visions 90 - Anything Goes.

Midnight Garden

Hi all.  I have been busier with outside things recently and my mojo has been harder to summon up.  I did intend to show a card this time which I made for another male birthday but stupidly I forgot to take a photo before posting it.  It was a scenic one with silhouette lions from a set by Sheena Douglass, and I am gutted that I can't show it.  November is a heavy cardmaking month for me, and then of course there are still Christmas cards to make!

This masculine card is using a Michael Powell stamp I got a while ago from a local shop that was closing so thought I would christen it with this card.  I did more or less follow the suggested colours on the stamp itself.

I found a snippet of smooth white card and stamped using my Versafine Smokey Gray ink.  I did stamp it several times using my Misti so the ink looks darker.  I coloured it with my Lyra Waterbrush Pens using my glass mat and picking it up with  a waterbrush.  I only have twelve colours, and this way you can mix the colours together and get a lighter coloured finish.  These Michael Powell stamps are quite busy so I thought the lighter finish would look better.

When I had finished colouring it I cut it using one of the Crealies Pierced Rectangle dies but the stamp is quite long and thin and I didn't have one narrow enough so I used a technique I saw a little while ago, not sure where now, but you cut it with a wider die and then place it back into the die overlapping the edge with the amount you wish to lose making sure you line it up so the pattern matches, you can usually feel if the paper is pushed in to the grooves, but obviously easier using a plain edged die, and then just run it through your machine again.  Luckily it worked well, I did hold my breath and hope for the best because I would have had to start again which wouldn't have pleased me much.

I wanted a background for the topper so using some Distress Inks in Mowed Lawn, Spiced Marmalade and Faded Jeans I laid the colours down on my glass mat and spritzed and flapped the snippet of card through it with the intention that the colour would be more random with white areas, but I think I added too much water so it spread and the colours merged giving a rather muddy look.

After making sure it was dry I then got out my Brushos and added some more green, orange and a little purple separately, spritzing with water and drying in between.   I left this overnight and when I looked the next day and put the topper over it I decided the colours did  complement one another better.

I then put the card together mounting the background on to my usual 6" square base card and added an XCut die cut sentiment using a snippet of gold mirri card.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 307/8 where we use up our snippets of paper, card etc.
Happy Little Stampers November Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes (no optional twist).
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes (no optional twist).

Triple Embossed Heart Anniversary

Hi there.  I needed an anniversary card for some good friends and decided to try the triple embossing technique.  I have to say I haven't tried this technique before and I did OK I think, the finish was a bit rough and ready but I will just call it distressed...lol.  I had originally intended it for the WOW Embossing Challenge but unfortunately missed the deadline.

I started with the heart which I die cut from white card using a Sweet Dixie set of nesting hearts and  I triple embossed it using my Versamark ink and then covered in the UTE crystals and heat set, and repeated this twice more.  The third time I had my rubber stamp ready to give it a pattern.  I used one from a set by Chocolate Baroque called Fluttering Hearts, and whilst still hot I pressed it down into the embossed heart and kept the pressure on for about ten seconds, by which time it had cooled.  I then applied some Pebeo Silver Gilding Wax all over to give it a silver finish, but because the crystals have mica in them their is a slight green interference colour which the light obviously caught in the photo.

For the background I found another piece of white card and used a Leonie Pujol Embossing Folder called Dotty Heart, and ran it through twice to extend the pattern.  I then blended some Peacock Feather Distress Ink over the top using a blending tool.  I also highlighted the pattern with some of the Pebeo Silver Gilding Wax.  

For the mat I used some Turquoise Brusho powder on to my glass mat and added quite a bit of water to lighten the colour and then laid the piece of card over to cover it with the ink and when dry die cut it with a stitched circle die from The Works.

I decided it perhaps needed some more embellishment so I cut several lacy borders, about three I think, using a die from the Marianne Craftables range called Twine Border, and used it round the edge of the heart and also the circular mat.  It required quite a lot of patience and some snipping to get it to bend around sufficiently but I got there in the end.  I cut nicks out of the edge and backed the heart and the circle with double sided tape, and by pleating the edge of the border a bit as I went, and obviously making joins in several places, I did get there in the end.  I think it needs fairly light weight card to do this and perhaps the card I used was a little thick which didn't help.

I finished by layering the background and then attached the heart to the circular mat before adding it to the card.  I then made a fishtail banner for my sentiment using some more white card and stamped and heat embossed it using WOW Metallic Silver Embossing Powder before adding it to the card.

Thank you for taking a look today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 266 Anything Goes.
Just Add Ink Challenge - No. 384 - Photo Inspiration (I used just the colour blue).
Challenge Up Your Life - No. 78 Die Cuts.
613 Avenue Create Challenge - Anything Goes.

Snowy Landscape

Hi everyone.  I think it is getting to the time of year, especially now the clocks have gone back, to be thinking more about Christmas cards.  I didn't manage to enter the Rudolph Days Challenge last month as there was too much going on and being prepared is not my best trait...lol.  It is run by our lovely friend Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo and runs from 25th to the end of each month.  I am determined to enter it this time though, and I have just enough time to get a card in, and there is only one more to go this year which is rather frightening, so I have to start making more than just one card a month.  I kept it quite simple and used a set of landscape border dies which came with a magazine fairly recently, and this is their first outing.

I found a snippet of card which was about the right size and which I had coloured with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink intending it for another card I have been working on, but didn't get to use it, so I thought it would make a good backdrop for my white silhouette landscape.  I die cut the house and tree layers snipping one of the trees and moved it to the left of the house, and thought I would leave it at that.  I then added some Cosmic Shimmer White PVA for some snow in the sky and on the landscape too.

I decided to frame it so I cut a snippet of white card just a bit smaller than my 6" square base card and cut a window just a little higher than the middle to leave room for the sentiment.  I embossed it with my Falling Snow stencil to add some interest but it doesn't show up very well in the photo, it is better in real life though, and then layered the scene and popped it behind the frame.

Subsequently I decided to add the figures with the snowball and sled to add more depth to the scene, so I die cut it from another snippet of which card and cut it to fit the edge of the frame using some foam tape to lift it a bit.  I added some white PVA snow before adding it on to the card.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges too:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 305/6 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - No. 357 Anything Goes (no optional theme).
Sweet Stampin' Christmas October Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes.

Silhouette Tree with Oak Leaves

Hi everyone.  I have a masculine card to show today, another card I have had to make in a bit of a hurry!  I used my distress ink to make a watercolour background, an XCut die for the shape and a tree die which one of my lovely crafting friends sent me and which is seeing its first outing.  You know who you are and thank you as it is so sweet and pretty!  I  have in mind amongst others to enter the CAS Watercolour Challenge and this month's subject is Fall Leaves, and they are celebrating their 1st Birthday so many congratulations to Loll and Bonnie who have made this and the CAS Mix Up Challenge such fun, and there are two lovely prizes up for grabs too.

I found a snippet of white card and at first had in mind to use an ink splat stencil to make some background shapes very close together, applying it with blending foam and spritzing with some water to spread the ink to make an interesting shape, which I did.  Well, this was not very successful as the ink didn't move that much because I think the card was not really watercolour card, bad choice!... so I decided to add ink to my glass mat, spritz and add more of the colours.  I used Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Spiced Marmalade and Mowed Lawn.  There was a bit of wrinkling which the photo highlights rather, but in real life it isn't so noticable.

I had already cut the tree from a piece of thickish copy type paper, just to see what it looked like, and this had been sitting on my table for a while.  So instead of wasting it I decided to colour it with Black Soot Distress Ink and when dry coated it with Versamark Ink and used WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and I did this twice to build up the shine and make it stronger.  I then die cut the XCut Ornate Frame, the largest die in the set.  I decided to flip the topper for added interest and adhered the tree to it.  I then added the sentiment using Black Archival Ink.

I then found another snippet of white card and stamped two oak leaves again using Black Archival Ink and a Hobby Art set called Falling Leaves.  I then coloured with my Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Walnut Stain, Fired Brick and Black Soot using a waterbrush.  I did make the colours softer by adding quite a bit of water to go with the more subdued colours in the topper.

I finished the card by adding the frame to a white 6" square base card and added the leaves to one side and adhered them with Pinflair Glue Gel. 

About half way through this card I really was wondering if I should just start again, but once I start something I hate to give up and admit defeat so am inclined to battle on...lol.  I think this was worth sticking with.

Before I go I have to say thank you to a new follower called Henry who doesn't seem to have a blog, but if I am wrong and you do, let me know and I will give you a shout out.  

Thank you for dropping by today and I'll be back soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS Watercolour October Challenge and 1st Birthday Celebration - Fall Leaves.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 303/4 where we use up our snippets of paper and card etc.
Dies R Us Challenge - No. 83 Leaves.
Happy Litttle Stampers October Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes (no twist).
Happy Little Stampers October Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
Uniko Challenge - No. 43 Autumn/Fall (no twist).

Fallen Leaf

Hi all.  One of our good friends has a birthday and as Autumn is truly here now I decided to do a card with that topic in mind.  I used a template for the leaf and one of the stencils I have from The Range with this great all over leaf pattern.

I started with the leaf.  I found a freebie outline leaf on line and sized it to fit nicely on my 7" square white base card.  I printed it on to a piece of copy paper and cut it out and then added the inks through it on to a piece of white card.   I used the following colours of Distress Inks: Mowed Lawn, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick and Mustard Seed.  I used some blending foam to apply it and started with a  light layer of the yellow and then the green over the top I then put some orange and red but keeping the centre green, followed by the brown and black around the edges and added several dark patches to other areas, and also on the stem.  I then fussy cut the leaf and added a bit more of the darker colours to blend in the white cut edges, and also some Pebeo copper gilding wax.  I also added a few white veins to the leaf with a sand eraser which was gifted to me by a lovely crafty friend.  It is very new and has a nice thin edge to it, so I ran it up and down the leaf to erase a little of the ink, and it worked beautifully.

Then on to the background made using a 6" square piece of white card.  Using the leaf stencil I ran it through my embossing machine to dry emboss, which it did reasonably well considering the stencil is very thin.  I then added a bit of the Mustard Seed ink on to it but decided it needed something more interesting, so added some of the copper gilding wax to highlight the pattern of the leaves and a bit more around the edges too, and then buffed it to make it shine and to remove any of the excess.

I adhered this background to the card and then added the leaf using some Pinflair Glue Gel to give it a but more dimension, and then added the die cut sentiment using a piece of card which I had liberally covered with the gilding wax, buffed and backed with Stick It adhesive.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - Week 436 Trees and Leaves.
Country View October Challenge - Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues.
Seize the Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes Birthday. (I have not used the optional twist)
Uniko Challenge - No. 43 Autumn/Fall. (no twist)

Silhouette Rose

Hi there everyone.  This is a card for a friend whose birthday I very nearly forgot so this was a bit last minute.  I used a stencil from a set I bought at The Range and which is having it's first outing, and used my Brushos with it.  This means I can enter my second card over at Darnell's Challenge where we have to use our NBUS, this means Never Before Used Schtuff, which I'm sure we all have ample supplies of.

I thought I would try the monoprint technique which involves inking up the stencil itself, spritzing it with water and laying over a piece of card so that in this particular instance the the rose shape would remain white whilst the rest would be inked.  I tried this using and Ultramarine colour Brusho powder and this rose stencil, and then spritzed it with water, but unfortunately as this is quite a thin stencil the ink crept under quite a bit and the image wasn't terribly clear.  I then did the same steps again after drying it, but it made it worse rather then better.  I then thought I would add some colour to the rose itself by shaking the Brushos through the stencil before spritzing, but it didn't look that great.  After drying it I turned the card over and the colours from the other side had bled throuth and given it quite a pretty look, so I thought this time I would just use the ink straight from the pad through the stencil to give it the look of a silhouette, using Memento Teal Zeal but I didn't like the finished colour, and adding water didn't improve it.

My last shot was to try using a  Black Micron Pen through the stencil.  Eureka! it looked better!  I decided to leave it at that and this is the finished look.  The black pen could have been smoother but with time running out I was not going to start again.

I hope you managed to follow all that without going to sleep....lol.  I cut this out using a Crealies Nesting Die XXL No. 44 with dots, and then I cut the blue layer using the same set of dies, the largest die.  I then dry embossed it using a Sheena Douglass Textures Embossing Folder Distress.

I finished the card by layering it up and cutting the white base card down to leave a small margin all the way round.  I then die cut the sentiment twice, once from white card and once from blue and both backed with Stick It adhesive.  I then layered the blue over the white and attached it to the card which helped it to stand out better from the background.

Thank you for taking a look today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge No. 12 - Anything Goes with NBUS.  (The stencil is my NBUS item) 
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 301/302 where we use up our snippets of paper and card etc.  (I have used snippets of white and blue card and a further small piece of blue for the sentiment)
Dies R Is Challenge No. 82 - Life's Events. 
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes Birthday.

Butterfly Medley

Hi there everybody.  This is a card full of butterflies.  I used a butterfly stencil in the background and then added a die cut butterfly as the focal point.

The starting point was the die cut butterfly using a NBUS die of no special make which I bought at The Range, and I used a leftover piece of card on which I had used my Brushos, a turquoise and dark red colour mainly.

I used a yellow and blue acrylic paint mixed on the gelli plate with a brayer to get a bluey green and left it to dry on the plate.  I then added the butterfly stencil over the top, another of the stencils I bought from The Range a while ago, and one which I have never used before.  I mixed a slightly bluer mix of the yellow and blue and brayered over the stencil and lifted that away to reveal the blue butterflies, and again left it to dry.  I then got my piece of card ready for the print and covered the whole thing with a creamy yellow paint and immediately laid the card on top, rubbed it well and pulled the print.  The idea is that the cream paint being wet soaks into the other layers of dry paint which lifts it all on to the piece of card so the butterflies should be visible.

Well this is where it went a little wrong as the butterflies were very faint, so I took a wet brush and managed to lift some of the cream colour off with a piece of kitchen towel to reveal more of the blue of the butterflies underneath.  It did lift more paint away than I wanted in places but it worked quite well.

I then took a NBUS stencil with dots, again from The Range, and I added some dots using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink which just makes the butterflies a bit more interesting.  I also blended some around the edges too.

I die cut a mat using an XCut nesting die set called Parenthesis.   I then dry embossed this mat with the dots stencil and inked with the Peacock Feathers DI around the edge.  The dots are not that easy to see in the photo I'm afraid.

I coloured another piece of card with more Peacock Feathers DI and die cut the sentiment.  I then layered it up and added the sentiment.

As this consists of nearly all NBUS, i.e. never before used schtuff, I am entering Darnell's NBUS Challenge No. 12 where the theme is Anything Goes with NBUS.  

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I'll be back soon.

I am also entering the following challenge:

Happy Little Stampers September Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
Allsorts Challenge Week 434 - Things With Wings.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Brushos Anniversary

Hi everyone.  This is a scheduled post as I am too busy to craft this week, but hope to keep an eye on what is going on though.  This is a card I made a while ago but haven't got round to showing.

I love my Brushos and here is another card using them.  I made a panel using Brilliant Red, Scarlet, Orange, Turquoise and Purple which I thought would work well for an anniversary card.

I cut a strip and dry embossed it with a Leonie Pujol embossing folder called Dotty Heart, but you have to look quite hard to see the pattern, but it does add some texture.  I then cut a heart using another piece of the panel using a set of Sue Wilson dies called Heart of Hearts, the second largest die and then I cut the heart shape out of the strip using the largest die.

I finished by adhering the strip and heart to the 6" square card and I stamped the sentiment using Versafine Majestic Blue ink.

Thank you for taking a look today and I hope to see you again soon.

 

Landscape with Silhouette

Hi everybody.  I have a friend's birthday coming up and I usually end up doing a pretty flower or two, but this time I decided to use this silhouette stamp from Chocolate Baroque called Baroque Meadow.  I was going to do just a loose wash to roughly represent sky and greenery, but as quite often happens I get carried away and end up not knowing when to stop....lol, and it turns into a full scale much more detailed background.

I started with a piece of white card about 6" square and stamped the Baroque Meadow silhouette using Versafine Majestic Blue ink heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

I have some new Derwent Art Bars, just a small set of a dozen colours, which I got in a sale, and I am quite happy with them.  You can take them straight to the card like pencils and the more you apply the more vivid the colour when water is added, and you can move it around with a brush, but I nearly always use just a waterbrush.   You can also just take the colour straight on to the waterbrush from the bar and then you get a softer finish, and the same thing applies when mixing, I usually brush the colours on to my glass mat and then mix together.

I applied the main colours for sky and grass, i.e. a couple of blues and a yellow and green, by using like a pencil, and then I just washed  it across the card.  I then bleached bits of the sky with some water and lifted it with a piece of kitchen towel, and added some of the peachy shade taking the colour on to the waterbrush straight from the bar.  I then decided to have some distant foliage and trees for which I used some green mixed with brown and black, and then behind that I decided to add some hills and I introduced some more blue and pinky purple for them.  I then added some more darker tones in the foreground with green and brown and a little more of the peach in the middle distance.

I die cut the scene with a stitched square die using a set from The Works and then with the largest size die cut the dark green layer behind.

Finally I used some repositionable adhesive to place the topper before sticking it permanently, so I could stamp the sentiment in the right place.  This was stamped using the same Majestic Blue heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss EP.  I then mounted this on to an approximately 6" square white card.  I then decided to add the three little birds and debated whether to use a micron pen or the art bar and a little water.  I didn't want them to be too distinct as they are very distant but looking again they are rather smudgy, so perhaps the pen would have worked better.  I hope I haven't bored you all to tears by going into quite a lot of detail, but I understand if you felt you had to skip to the end, or cut to the chase, or whatever...lol. 

Thank you for visiting today.  I have been blogging for four years now, in fact my first post was on the 11th September 2013, and I have just reach 50,000 page views which is very pleasing.  I appreciate every single person who takes the time to come and visit me and hopefully leave a comment if they have time.  I enjoy every minute of it and hope to be able to do this for a long time to come, and that we can continue to make the journey together.

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS Watercolour September Challenge - Silhouette. 
CAS Mix Up September Challenge - Watercolour Wash.  (As well as the stamping and watercolour wash I have used die cutting and heat embossing)
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple.
Artistic Stamper September Creative Challenge - Take a little Colour.
Happy Little Stampers CAS September Challenge - Silhouette.
Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple.
The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge - run by Kathy Racoosin it aims to get people to colour something every day for the whole month, or as often as you can.  In my case I will probably not have time to do something every day, but hopefully a few times during the month.

I do find it hard sometimes, even when reading the rules, to know whether something is clean and simple enough for a particular challenge.  I have added a mat but apart from that there are no extra embellishments and there is some white space, so hope this is OK for those challenges.

Looking Good

Hi there.  This is my first forray into cardmaking since I had my surgery and I don't know why but when you've had a break it does seem harder to get going again.  I needed a card for a birthday coming up shortly so here it is.  I used a NBUS set of stamps by Woodware called Looking Good which isn't readily available at the moment.

I started by die cutting a stitched square using a snippet of white card.  I then stamped and heat embossed the three largest of the stamps using Versafine Majestic Blue ink and WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

I then coloured the background with Ultramarine and Leaf Green Brushos.  I sprinkled the colours on to my glass mat and spritzed with water and laid the card over it.  I did each colour separately and then dried before applying the next.  As I wanted a bit more blue I added  more colour by sprinkling straight on to the card and again spritzing with water.  It still didn't seem to be quite right so I used a dark blue and light green Lyra Aqua Marker and in the same way applied them to the mat, spritzed and then applied the card to it.   Although I dried each application of colour before adding more the card stretched somewhat and creased a bit but I decided to go with it.  I coloured the images using the two marker colours, i.e. blue on the tie, trousers and shoes, and the green on the shirt and socks, but it is quite subtle as I used the ink with my waterbrush.

I finished the card by layering it up on to a royal blue colour card and added the sentiment using the Versafine Majestic Blue and again heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Less is More Challenge - Lime Green/Royal Blue.  (I hope there's enough white space).
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 296/297 where we use up our snippets of card, paper etc.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Stamp It.  (I am so excited and pleased to be included in the Top 5 Designer Spotlight)
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Stamp It.
Artistic Stamper September Challenge  - Take a Little Colour.
WOW Embossing Powder September Challenge - Resist Technique.

Hearts and Flourishes Anniversary

Hi everybody.  Thank you so much for all the good wishes I have received regarding my gall bladder surgery, and just a quick update to say I am doing well and feeling much less sore and am just pleased, after having to wait quite a time, to just get it over with, so hopefully I can get back to normal.   I am hoping to get back to cardmaking soon, but for now this is a card I made a little while ago but haven't got around to showing yet.  It's another anniversary card I'm afraid, but anyway here it is.

I wanted two different sized hearts and unfortunately I don't have a decent set of nesting hearts so I used a couple of sets.  One was from the Sue Wilson Heart of Hearts set, the largest of the two hearts, and the other was from a set of Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Hearts dies, the larger of the two straight edged hearts.  I then cut the two flourishes from another piece of white card.  These are also from a set of Sue Wilson dies called Noel Star.

I cut the two hearts from the Brusho coloured panel and then cut two of the flourishes from another piece of white card.  I decided to use a NBUS stamp from Papermania called Postmark, and I stamped it in Versamark and heat embossed it with WOW Silver Metallic Embossing Powder straight on to the 6" square white base card.  I then layered the hearts and flourishes and added a sentiment again using the Versamark and the Silver EP.

Thank you for stopping here today and I'll be back soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers August Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.  (I have only made it by a whisker so apologies to Kylie)
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Watercooler Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Hedgies Anniversary

Hi there everyone.   I was lucky enough to win some Penny Black stamps recently and this is the first outing of these cute hedgies, and just perfect for an anniversary card.  This is called The Park Bench Affair and I adore those two sweet ladybirds in the foreground too.  I'm not sure about it's availability over here though.  I also used a freebie embossing folder.

I stamped the image on to a snippet of white card using Versafine Smokey Gray Ink and then heat set it using WOW Clear Gloss Embosing Powder.  I decided to colour it with my Lyra Aqua Brush Duo Pens.  I scribbled them on to my glass mat and picked the ink up with a waterbrush.  When dry I die cut the image with a 4" square stitched die and stamped the sentiment in my Misti using Versamark ink and heat set with WOW Metallic Silver EP.

I made the background using a selection of Brushos which were Leaf Green, Emerald Green, Lemon, Scarlet Red and Brilliant Red.   These colours echo those on the topper.  I sprinkled the colours randomly over the snippet of white card and then spritzed with water.  When it was dry I embossed using a freebie folder which came with a magazine some time ago. 

I finished by adhering the background to the 6" square white base card and before adding the topper I backed it with some fun foam to give it some dimension.

I am running out of time to enter one or two more challenges that I would have loved to have entered this month, because at long last I am having my gall bladder surgery on Friday and so for a while I probably won't feel like making cards, although it is keyhole surgery so recovery time will be quicker.  I will maybe schedule a post or two as I do have some cards which I have made over the last few weeks but haven't got around to showing here.  I will also try to keep up with my commenting and hopefully cardmaking will be resumed fairly shortly.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 295/296 where we use up our snippets of paper and card etc.
Penny Black and More Challenge - All Creatures Great and Small.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Add a Sentiment.
Fashionable Stamping Challenge - No. 126 Use your Inks Anyway You Like.
Stamping Sensations Challenge - August Anything Goes.

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)