Berry Wreath

Hi there.  Here is another card made for the A Month of Holiday Cards Challenge over at Beccy's Place and another freebie from her site.  This time I coloured it with my Inktense Pencils but without any water.

I coloured the image which I again printed on the 160gsm paper and used two of the browns, greens and reds and an orange to colour it.  I then fussy cut it out and placed it over a white stitched circle mounted on to a red one using a couple of snippets of card from my box, and just added a sentiment using Versafine Satin Red heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and I also added some Clear Wink of Stella to the berries which I like, but unfortunately it being a water reactive medium it did make the berries look a rather dense red instead of their being more variation in tone, but they do have a lovely shimmer and shine.  I decided as it nicely filled the card it didn't need anything else.

Before I go I have to introduce Beccy  whose beautiful wreath image I have used in this post..thank you so much for becoming my latest follower.  For those who don't know her just press the link at the top of the post and go and see her wonderful digital images.

Thank you for coming to visit today and I'll see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 442 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Happy Little Stampers November Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes/Santa.
Merry Little Christmas Challenge - No. 47 Anything Christmas Goes.

Berry Branch

There is a Christmas Challenge run by Beccy Muir from Beccy's Place called A Month of Holiday Cards Challenge and I am rather late to the party but thought I would try and at least make a few cards before the end of the month.  I was going to start sooner but have had a busy month with birthdays to make for and also unfortuately hubby had to have an emergency hernia operation four weeks ago and so the start of the month was when he came home so didn't have so much time for a week or two, but thankfully he is much better now.  I used one of Beccy's freebie images called Berry Branch.

I started with the digital image on some 160gsm paper, as my printer does not like thicker card.  I read somewhere that if you use white gesso over the paper you can use watercolour techniques without it buckling too much.  I maybe should have used it straight out of the tube but I did water it down a bit so it didn't obscure the digital image lines too much, and this did make it warp a little, but after drying it wasn't bad and I did find the colour went on better without going through to the other side, but I did end up fussy cutting it out as it wasn't completely unwrinkled.  I used some Lyra Water Brush Pens in a light and dark brown and also a red, orange and a bit of purple for shading, applied to my mat and then using a waterbrush to paint with.  I also used some 3D Clear Gloss Pen over the top of the whole thing which gave it a bit more strength and a lovely gloss finish.  I used a black and white plaid paper as a background and adhered the berry branch to a piece of white card, both layers cut with a rectangular stitched die, and backed with red card.  I finished with a Versafine Satin Red Ink for the sentiment heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

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

I am also entering the following challenges:

Rudolph Days November Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes.
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes.
Happy Little Stampers November Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes/Santa.

Floral Delight

Hi there.  It is a friend's birthday and I have recently been lucky enough to win a set of delightful florals by Highlight Crafts called Crown and Glory Set 3 and so I thought I would open them and dive in.  I also used a stencil which was a freebie with a magazine a few years ago which I thought would make a good background for the flowers.

I started by stamping the flowers in Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and then coloured using a set of Lyra waterbrush pens which I scribbled onto my glass mat and picked up with a waterbrush, and then I fussy cut them out.  

I decided to dry emboss the stencil and then I put the stencil over the embossing and used my Versamark Ink with a blending tool to add it to the stencil piece and then heat embossed with WOW Silver Metallic EP.  I made the silly error of not dusting with an anti static bag first, and inevitably some of the powder clung to the card where I didn't want it to, and I did manage to remove most of it, but in the end I went ahead with the heat tool and it was I thought acceptable...I was short of time as I have had a lot going on at home recently and got behind with my cardmaking and unfortunately November is a busy month for me with lots of cards to make.  

I finished by adding the sentiment in the Nocturne Ink and heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP and arranged the flowers above using some pieces of foam underneath them to give a bit of dimension.   The stencil is quite large and the card is my usual 6" square.  I did decide to chop the corners off the stencil layer to give a bit of a different look. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you drop by again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers November Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers November Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers November Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Stencil It.
Crazy is our fame - Stencils are our game - November Challenge -  Anything Goes/Fall Colors.
NBUS Challenge - No. 44 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Cards 4 Galz Challenge - No. 186 Use A Stencil.

As Lovely as a Tree

Hi everybody.  Another masculine card today using the Lavinia Laurel stencil for the background and a Chocolate Baroque set of stamps called Trees a Crowd, the same two items I used on the card here but using a different tree image from the set.

I started with the background and dry embossed the stencil onto a snippet of white card and then coloured it with Distress Inks using Mowed Lawn and darkened it around the edges with Peeled Paint.  I then stamped the tree scene with Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink using another white snippet of card and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I coloured with the two greens mentioned above and also some Ground Espresso, Tumbled Glass and Ripe Persimmon DI's.  I also added a couple of little birds using a Black Micron Pen.  I then layered it on to snippets of kraft and white card and stamped the sentiment on a further snippet of kraft card again using the Vintage Sepia heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

The Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 441 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Stencil It.  (I opted to dry emboss and then ink blend with the stencil).
Crafting Happiness Challenge - Thanksgiving or Anything Fall.
Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday November Challenge - Anything Goes.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 702 Anything Goes/Add Numbers.
Crazy is our fame - Stencils are our game November Challenge - Anything Goes/Fall Colours.

Circle of Trees

Hi everyone.  I needed a quick birthday card for a family member and I used this Chocolate Baroque set called Trees a Crowd which has a lovely selection of tree images to choose from and which I am using for the first time.  I do love a wreath shape and so I got out my Gina K Wreath builder used with my Misti stamping tool to give me the positioning for the eight repeats, and I stamped with Versafine Deep Lagoon ink and used the same ink for the sentiment which I placed in the middle, and which I also heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I did stamp several times to get a good dark image and I have to say the blue has come out very dark, so that it looks more black than blue.

I decided to also stamp the trees again in the middle so the trunks butted up give the look of a reflection and for this I used Tumbled Glass Distress Ink for a softer look.  Obviously they all overlapped and it just makes a pattern in the middle.  I also used a Lavinia stencil called Laurel, and I also added some blended ink around the edges with this same blue ink.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers November Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers November Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes.
AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 43 Monochrome.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 702 Anything Goes/Add Numbers. 
NBUS Challenge - No. 44 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Patterned Hearts Anniversary

Hi everybody.  I needed an anniversarty card and I decided to use a freebie set of stamps which came with Creative Stamper No 109 and the set is called Versa-Tiles and having its first outing here.  It has different shapes of images to build up a patchwork.  This time I just wanted to use it for the patterns, and I also used a set of hearts by Sweet Dixie and also a Sweet Poppy Stencil called Plaid.

I started by stamping out the tiles I needed for five different hearts using some snippets of which card, and using aVersafine Satin Red ink pad, and I heat embossed with my usual WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then cut the hearts out and put them aside.  I continued with the plaid stencil using another snippet of white card, and decided to try and ink it up using Versamark and embossing with WOW Opaque Bright White EP.  I wasn't sure that it would work very well because there are a lot of small areas to get the sticky ink into.  I used a blending tool to apply the ink and went over it very many times to hopefully get a good image.  I then heat embossed and blended the Satin Red ink over the top...as this is a DL shape I had to do it a couple of times to cover the card.  I decided to use this because it is a good strong red and the DI's do tend to come out more pink than red.  There is a new red in the range now which is a stronger colour but I don't have that.  It is a permanent ink and it did make the white rather pink and there were areas where it didn't totally cover.  I decided when it was dry to do another layer of the Versamark and white embossing powder and heat set again to try to whiten it up, and it was reasonably successful.

As you can see I cut the strip down and left a gap in the middle for the hearts and added the red embossed sentiment.   I added the hearts backed with some foam to give more dimension, and I overlapped them a bit for a more random look.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 440 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 701 Sparkle and Shine (no sparkle but lots of shine from all the glossy embossing).
Happy Little Stampers November Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes.
Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge - No. 88 Anything Mixed Media Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Thinking of You.

Camo Sneakers

Hi all.  I have used the sneakers again for another youngster in the family but decided to paper piece using some camouflage paper as I thought he would like the look.  The stamp is by Woodware, bought at a recent craft fair from The Stamp Hut and just called Sneakers, and used for the first time here.

I started with the background using a Brusho powder called Moss mixed with a little water on a piece of acrylic and then dabbed on to the white card and followed this with some Dried Marigold Distress Ink again added using the piece of acrylic to apply it, also mixed with water.  

I then stamped the sneakers on to a piece of white card and also on the camo paper with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink, and heat embossed the main image with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I coloured the front piece of each shoe with Brushed Corduroy DI using a waterbrush, and the laces with a black Inktense Pencil taking the ink from the tip with the waterbrush..I also added this to the edge of the soles and toe caps, and I added a shadow to the soles with a some but well watered down.  I then cut them out as well as cutting the pieces of camo paper to fit the areas of the shoes.  I decided to add the glue to the image rather than to the paper and this worked well.

I finished by stamping the circles and stars, which are part of the set, around the shoes using the Brushed Corduroy, and stamped twice more, second and third generation ink, for a softer effect, around the three original circles, and added the stars in the centre of each of the main circles using Peeled Paint DI and then the sentiment using the Nocturne Ink again heat embossing with the Clear Gloss EP.  I also found a piece of card in a coordinating shade of green and added this to the 6" square card  and then the topper and sneakers using Pinflair Glue Gel for a bit of dimension.  I suddenly realised I hadn't coloured the studs on the sides of the shoes so just used a lead pencil to highlight them.

I have two new followers...the first Birgit whose blog I couldn't find, so if you read this Birgit let me know where you are and I will add the name for people to visit.  The second is Aussie Annie whose blog you will find here.  So thank you for becoming my latest followers.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers November Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes.
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 441 Make Your Mark.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 700 - Let's Celebrate - Any Special Occasion.  Congratulations to them for reaching their 700th challenge and long may they continue!
Happy Little Stampers November Birthday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Krafty Chicks Challenge - No. 636 Wk 1 - (Stamp Act).
We Love 2 Create Challenge - No. 11 Anything Mixed Media Goes.