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.