CAS Mix Up November Challenge

Hi everybody.  I was determined to get my card in for the CAS Mix Up Challenge this time, especially as it is the last one until the new year.  I needed an anniversary card so combined this with the challenge which this time has asked for the Oxidised Metal technique, plus stamping, plus another technique of your choice.  I actually did dry embossing, heat embossing and die cutting.

I started by die cutting a heart from silver mirri using my die set from Sweet Dixie which I bought at The Range I think, not recently, but I think they are still available.  I then decided to use a 3D embossing folder to give the heart some more interest, so I used a Sheena Douglass one called Trailing Time, also bought a while ago.  I then got out my alcohol inks in Indigo, Watermelon and Stream and dripped these on to the heart adding a little blender to move and soften the colours.  I also sprinkled some WOW Metallic Brass Embossing Powder and then some WOW Clear Gloss EP and heat set it.  In real life it has a lovely shimmer and shine but unfortunately it doesn't show that well here.

I finished by dry embossing some hearts for the background layer also using a magazine freebie which I got several years ago, and also used one of the sentiments from the same set stamped using Versafine Deep Lagoon Ink, which actually complements the Stream colour on the heart, but again it doesn't show much here.  I then used a heart shaped little stamp I found in my stash to cut the heart around the sentiment and added all this to the square white card.  I used some Pinflair Glue Gel to raise the heart up a little to give it dimension.

I hope I will be forgiven for not using the specific technique suggested on the challenge, but I do not have any re-inkers so I thought the alcohol inks were a good substitute.

The challenge is open until the 24th of the month, so still lots of time to get an entry in.  Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope to see you here again soon.

*I was so pleased to be chosen as one of the Outstanding Designs at CAS Mix Up.

Sneaky Peek of November TV Samples

Hi there.  Just a quick post with a sneaky peek of my samples for the upcoming Chocolate Baroque shows on Hochanda...actually tomorrow at 11am and 3pm, featuring wonderful new stamps and some great demos by Lesley and Judith.

I hope you get a chance to watch, if not you can catch up using their Rewind facility.

Hearts, Flowers and a Butterfly Too

Hi everyone.  I'm back with the last of the samples I made for Chocolate Baroque's shows on Hochanda.  The first card features the beautiful butterfly from the Happy Flower's Day set of stamps.

I started with a Brusho background.  This time instead of sprinkling the powder on to the card and then spritzing, I sprinkled the powders on to my glass mat and spritzed then placed the white card over to pick up the colour.  I then dried and added more of the different colours to get the desired effect.  I used Brilliant Red, Orange and Leaf Green.  I then used the stamp from this set which has a definition of a butterfly, and I stamped this twice in the centre using Versafine Olympia Green, second generation stamping to keep it in the background.  I then stamped all around the edges using the Celebration Bouquet set, just using the top part of the stamp, again using the Olympia Green ink.

I then stamped  the butterfly on to another piece of white card, again with the green ink and heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I coloured it using some more of the Brushos on my glass mat and mixed with a little water and applied with my waterbrush.  I used the same Red and Orange plus Emerald Green and Turquoise.  I then mixed some Gold Mica powder with some water and added it to the eyes and round the edges and also to the body and inner section of the wings.  I thought it made it nice and shimmery.  Before attaching the butterfly to the background I stamped just the body and antennae on to it and heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP, and then when I cut the butterfly out I cut off the antennae because it is so difficult to cut these out, and then bent the wings up and glued it in place.

Finally I stamped one of the sentiments from the set on to black card using WOW Opaque Bright White EP and cut this into a banner shape.  The sentiment I chose was all in a line and I wanted it to take up less room so I stamped it in two halves masking each half when using the Versamark.  I also placed a pencil mark on to the acrylic block so I could see precisely where the break in the two halves was which made it easier to get it lined up properly.

My next card features the hearts.  I started by stamping the Artist Trading Heart on thick white card and heat embossed it with WOW Black Embossing Powder.  I did several layers and thought I would impress one of the images from the Geometric Trading Hearts set on to it.  After adding about four layers I quicky stamped with Versamark, just the geometric design itself, and then added WOW Silver Metallic EP and heat embossed it.

I then made the background using Scarlet and Purple Brushos, and I heat embossed the lattice design from the same set using WOW Clear Matt EP, and then I blended some Wilted Violet and Barn Door Distress Inks over the top using a blending tool.

I finished the card by stamping two of the arrows from the set with Black Archival Ink heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP and then fussy cut them out and added them to the bottom of the card, leaving a space for one of the sentiments from the Artist Trading Heart set.  I then added the sentiment within the two arrows and I used the Clear Gloss EP.  I then added the heart to the card using Pinflair Glue Gel to give it a bit of dimension.

For this final card I used the lattice heart from the Geometric Trading Hearts set stamped on to glossy card.   I started by making the background using Salty Ocean and Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide Inks.  I laid each colour down on to my glass mat separately and spritzed and picked up the ink on the card, then dried and repeated with the other colour.  I then added the lattice heart to the background using Versamark and heat embossed it with WOW Metallic Silver Embossing Powder.  I then added one of the sentiments from the Artist Trading Heart set and stamped it using Versafine Deep Lagoon Ink and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then die cut it with a square scallop die and mounted it on to a piece of pink glitter card and added it to a white base card.

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

Coneflower

Hi everybody.  This is a very quick birthday card I made for a friend who had her birthday recently.  This is one of a couple of different coneflowers on a set by Aall and Create - #199 Eclectic Stems.  The stamps they produce are always that bit different, and this is one of two sets of their stamps I bought a little while ago and this is the first card using them.  I also bought a pad of papers recently too which have that inky look made by Craft Consortium  Grunge - Light Tones and you can stamp and watercolour on them very well.  I used one of the pink ones on the bottom row to the left.

I stamped all the images using Versafine Olympia Green ink and then coloured the flowers with Distress Inks using Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Lucky Clover, Mermaid Lagoon and Brushed Corduroy.  I used a Dutch Doobadoo stencil Geometric Tiles to add a bit more interest to the background and also added some more Seedless Preserves DI around the edges and and in towards the middle just to darken it a bit.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Penny Black and More: October - Pretty in Pink.
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes (no candles on mine).
Watercooler Wednesday - No.244 All About Occasions.
Just Add Ink - #480 Add a "Technique".

Floral Delights

Hi everyone.  Here are some cards which I made for Chocolate Baroque's TV shows last month.  These are new stamps again and the first is a Brusho Background and a pretty bouquet of flowers called Celebration Bouquet.

I started with Dark Brown Brusho which I sprinkled around the outside of the card and spritzed with gold mica infused water to give it some extra glimmer.  I then added a little orange and I mopped up a lot of water from the centre so it was a little lighter.  I then decided to go for more of a dramatic look and added more Distress Inks using a blending tool and darkened the edges with Walnut Stain, then a bit of Ripe Persimmon and finally the centre with some Scattered Straw.  I then stamped the flowers using Versafine and heat embossed using WOW Metallic Brass Embossing Powder.  I then bleached the colour from the flowers and leaves to give some contrast against the now very dark background.  I finished by adding a sentiment from the same set to a strip of white card stamping it with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and blending some of the Walnut Stain and Ripe Persimmon ink around the edges before adding it across the corner of the card.   This did end up being a bit darker than I had at first intended but I think it makes a good contrast with the metallic finish of the pretty bouquet.

My next card features the pretty Magnolia flower from Happy Flower's Day.  I stamped the image four times over a piece of white card using Versafine Olympia Green Ink and colour the flowers using Spun Sugar, Forest Moss, Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks.  I found a strip of light green vellum and using my Misti I placed the strip over the background floral images, anchoring it in various places with repositionable tape, and then tucked a piece of copy paper underneath so that when I stamped off the edges it would not get on to the stamped background.  I stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with WOW Opaque Bright White Embossing Powder.  I worked my way round the parchment strip embossing with the White EP.  Maybe there was a quicker and easier way to do it but it worked fairly well and only one of the four images was not quite stamped in the right place, but good enough not to do it for a second time and luckily that was hidden by the sentiment plate.    I creased the top of the parchment so that it could be stuck on the back before glueing the background layer in place on the white base card.

I die cut two layers for the sentiment which came with the same set of stamps and I cut the green layer with the smaller die to inset the white piece into it.   I then stamped it with the sentiment using the Olympia Green Ink and then heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss EP.

I then made the one more large flower and two smaller buds stamping them on to white card and coloured them using the same Versafine and Distress Inks.  I then put the card together and attached the largest behind the inset layer of the sentiment, and the other two behind the whole thing mainly because the large flower was inclined to hang off the edge of the card so I needed to bring it in a little.

I am adding this card to the Challenge over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 363 where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc.  I used quite a few with bits of white card for the flowers and sentiment, and the vellum, as well as a piece of dark green card for the sentiment.

My last card for now has the Snakes Head Fritillary flower featured on the same stamp set that I used for the last card.  I made the background using an old plastic card and with Cracked Pistachio, Shaded Lilac and Broken China Distress Inks.  I laid each ink down separately and spritzed with water before adding one colour at a time, drying in between, dragging the ink across the white card, and then using the Broken China I also added some lines using the edge of the card.  I then stamped the central flower, and used a mask before stamping each of the flowers to the left and right of it.  I used Versafine Crimson Red Ink on the flower and Momento Bamboo Leaves for the foliage adding the inks to the stamp.  I then coloured them in using the same green and added Fired Brick Distress Ink to each of the flowers.

I finished by die cutting this using my Crealies Pierced Rectangle dies and added a cobalt blue coloured mat to it.  I stamped the sentiment using Deep Lagoon Versafine Ink and adhered it to a white base card.

I 'm hoping this last card will fit the theme over at The Flower Challenge as they are asking for CAS cards, and they are celebrating their 3rd Birthday, so congratulations on three years of running this super challenge.

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

Evening on the Savannah

Hi everyone.  I made this birthday card featuring a Sheena Douglass set of stamps called African Landscape and then stamped the images on to a piece of background paper from a pad by Craft Consortium called Grunge - Light Tones, and the paper I chose is the 2nd from the left with orange and blue in one corner, as I thought this was a good starting point.  I laid down some of the Distress Inks first to give a basic background colour and then stamped the large acacia type tree first in Versafine Onxy Black and some Vintage Sepia on the top of the tree, following by more Vintage Sepia for the three giraffes, and then I added the smaller trees using the same black, one tree stamped three times overlapping with two stamped in second generation ink to add perspective.  

I then used more of the various Distress Inks, Chipped Sapphire, Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Vintage Photo and Black Soot, using a blending tool to apply it, to give a darker tone to everything   I also used the side of the pad dragged upwards to give the look of long grass using the Vintage Photo.  Applying more inks to the background did add a bit of ink to the images but I did where possible go round them and I think the overall effect adds some mistiness to the scene so I was happy.

I finished by stamping a sentiment using the Onyx Black and heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss EP.

I am entering the following challenges:

Stamping Sensations - Trees and/or Leaves and/or Autumn.
Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark.
Seize the Birthday - No. 176 Anything Goes (No Optional Twist).

The Key to your Heart

Hi there.  Hubby and I are away in Yorkshire for a few days, but I have my laptop and we do have reasonable reception here so I decided to put post something from my drafts to give you all something new to look at.  Several weeks ago I made this quick card to get into the post asap using this harlequin patterned heart with a key from a set by Chocolate Baroque called Punky Hearts.  It is a bit quirky with the metal tie and staples holding it together, but this couple have been married for 20 years or more and are very happy so no broken hearts there, but I thought it was fun and a bit different to the normal style of heart image and this is what I did.

I stamped the heart on to a piece of white card using Momento Teal Zeal ink and heat embossed it using a Papermania Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then cut it out and started on the background.   I used another piece of white card and stamped this group of hearts from the same set using Momento Grape Jelly ink first, second and third generation of the ink.  I also stamped again using Brilliance Starlite Silver ink centre top and bottom.

I finished by blending some more of the Grape Jelly round the edges and then blended some of the Teal Zeal in the centre before adding this to the base card.  I then adhered the heart to the card using some Pinflair Glue Gel to give it a little bit of dimension, and then stamped the sentiment using Versafine Imperial Purple ink.  This is rather risky and I held my breath and hoped it would work and did it by hand instead of getting the Misti out.  How lazy am I, it wouldn't have taken that much longer really..lol, but luckily it was OK...phew!

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