Blackout Poinsettia

Hi all.  I am a bit late posting this card but I suddenly realised that as I have been busy with other things I had forgotten about CAS Christmas which has the theme of Poinsettia and as the theme at CAS Mix Up this month is a mixed media month and the chosen theme is Blackout Embossing I would combine these and use a Crafter's Companion Pretty Poinsettia 3D Embossing Folder and die cut part of it using a new set of Essential Arches Dies from Spellbinders which I got in a recent sale and having their first outing.

I embossed the whole of the 5' X 7" EF onto a piece of white card and then I die cut using one of the Arches dies which wasn't the best way round to do it as the die cutting did flatten the embossing quite a bit, so I then lined it back up in the EF and ran it through again to get the dimension back.

For this technique you use the negative side of the EF and colour with inks..in this case Candied Apple Distress Ink for the flowers, Sunshine Yellow Adirondack for the centres and Pine Needles Distress ink for the leaves and also after filling in I carefully swiped the ink pad across the piece which fills in the background, and I went over it in all different directions to completely cover the background.  I started with just the pad to add the colour on the flowers and leaves just using an edge to colour over the different areas as it doesn't matter if you go over the edges as long as the other colour over the whole piece is dark enough.  I did however find that I couldn't entirely fill in everything properly so used a blending tool too. 

To finish I added some gold gel pen to the flower centres as the yellow was not bright enough, and I decided to add a gold matted layer and then I added the stamped sentiment embossed with WOW Metallic Gold Rich Embossing Powder and added it onto a white 5" x 7" card.

As I said both CAS Christmas and CAS Mix Up are due to finish soon but you do still have over a day left and this technique is quite quick to do as you do not need to be really accurate when you add the colours as long as the background colour is really dark it will cover, and if you prefer you can add the colour using a roller instead of using the ink straight from the pad, and it is so satisfying to see how the dark colour brings it all together.

Thanks for coming to see me here today and I'll see you again soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS Christmas Challenge - Oct. 26 Poinsettia.

CAS Mix Up Challenge - Oct. 26 Blackout Embossing.

Allsorts Challenge - No. 861 Feminine/Anything Goes.

Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes/Numbers.

Christmas Kickstart Challenge - No. 115 Gothic Christmas.

AAA Christmas Card Challenge - No. 1 Traditional Christmas (great to see a new Christmas challenge starting up)

ABC Christmas Challenge - 'U' Unused Stash & 'V' Violet.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - No. 189 Use Colours Red and Green.

NBUS Challenge - No. 91 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Holly and Snowflake Wreath

Hi all.  I thought it was about time I properly started my Christmas cards and I managed to get hold of a copy of Die Cutting Essentials Magazine Issue 109 which had a Memory Box Wreath Die and which I had seen for sale and thought it was pretty and I do have a soft spot for wreath shapes on cards and as it wasn't brand new I did get it a little cheaper which is always good..lol.  This is the first time I have used it. 

I saw this idea in the magazine which had four colours of strips of card diagonally over the background but I decided to use a piece of paper from an old Indigoblu box kit..not sure which one though, but I liked the check design and so I started with this cut to fit a 6" square white card.  I then cut a circle from another piece of white card just a bit smaller than the patterned paper and with a circle aperture slightly larger than the wreath, and adhered that over the patterned paper.  I then cut the wreath twice, once from white and again from silver mirri.  I then glued the outline of the wreath inside the aperture and then I filled the white leaves back into the relevant spaces, luckily not too time consuming.  I then cut out the two snowflakes off the silver one which I had managed to keep intact in the die and glued then over the white ones and, now the fiddly part, getting all the little silver berries into their relevant holes, and lastly I cut a silver bow and the letters for Noel from another piece of silver mirri and glued them in place.  The letters were extremely small and I think instead of using glue next time I will use some sticky sheet which would be quicker and easier.  I love the finished look and I may make a few more but maybe a different style..this was definitely not one to batch make.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Rudolph Days Challenge - Oct. '26 Anything Christmas Goes.

Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 544 Where we use our snippets of paper and card (my snippets were white card for the wreath and silver mirri used for parts of the wreath and also the bow and Noel)

Allsorts Challenge - No 851 Feminine/Anything Goes.

ABC Christmas Challenge - 'U' & 'V' - Unused Stash/Violet (mine is Unused Stash.

Girlz Creative Christmas Challenge - No. 200 Traditional/Non-Traditional Colours.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge - No 122 Anything Christmas Goes.

A Cut Above Challenge - Oct ' 26 Anything Using a Die Cut Goes.

Love Those Pretty Papers Challenge - Oct' 26 Anything Goes/Ghosts, Goblins/Things That Go Bump in the Night.

NBUS Challenge - No. 91 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Canary Bird Rose Anniversary

Hi everybody.  I visit a lady who makes some very unique and beautiful cards and ATC's and I saw an anniversary card where she had coloured the flower with a 2B pencil also added white gel pen highlights and was surrounded by the outline of a heart and around that some stencilled spots.  She has made quite a few cards with pencil work and so beautifully done that I decided to do something similar myself and CASE her wonderful card.  Her name is Sam and you will find her card here.

I decided to use this Chocolate Baroque Canary Bird Rose and a set of Torn Edge Hearts from Creative Craft Products bought quite a while ago, and also a stencil with tiny hearts bought at The Range..sadly none are available now.  Whilst on a recent holiday in Cornwall I found a couple of different Graphite Sticks in a gift shop..one thin and the other with a lot thicker tip and I am trying them out for the first time and I think they worked well.  

I cut a square white mat to fit a 6" square card base and I decided where to place the flower and what size of heart die to use around it which would best fit the card.  The flower  is quite a large stamp so part of the stem is missing and I stamped it using Versafine Smokey Gray Ink and then coloured with the Graphite Sticks.  I used an eraser to lift out some of the graphite where I need a lighter highlight. 

 I then added the outline of the heart cutting it from a piece of 120gsm paper and using the positive piece and a brush I brushed the Spun Sugar Distress Ink just off the edge of the heart working my way round and making sure to keep the ink off the flower as much as possible and where it didn't quite work I used a sand eraser.  In the photo the ink looks more orange than pink on the background as against the sentiment which is stamped from the same ink but looks fine in real life..not sure why.

This is where it went a bit awry as I miscalculated when I added the stencilled hearts as I only covered the part of the flower which was within the heart shape and when I lifted the stencil which unfortunately was a dark colour and not easy to see through I had added hearts to quite a few of the leaves by mistake.  The air was blue for a bit but I decided to stamp colour and cut out another and place it over the top.  Parts of it were not the easiest to cut out but after about three quarters of an hour of cutting and having snipped through several of the stems so it was in several pieces I did manage to get it stuck over the top of the original..I do not like to go down without a fight...lol.

I finished by adding a sentiment onto a strip of white card stamped using the Spun Sugar Ink and heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  

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

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - Oct. 26 Anything Goes/Shades of Autumn.

Allsorts Challenge - No. 860 Anything Goes/More Than One Fold.

Stencil Fun Challenge - Oct. 26 Anything Goes with Stencils.

AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 90 Big and Bold.

The Paper Funday Challenge - Oct. 26 Anything Goes/Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice.

Gem of a Challenge - No 9 Anything Goes.

Dog About Town

Hi everybody.  I saw this Creative Stamping Magazine with Snoopy stamps and I know there have been several sets which I haven't bought but as this was a Christmas set I decided to get it, and although it has a seasonal theme there are several for other occasions, and this is one of them and being used for the first time.  It is for the husband of a friend who I thought this would work for, and I already had this paw print stencil from Creative Expressions which I thought would make a good background.  

I used a couple of Adirondack Inks - Cranberry and Butterscotch as these two colours were the closest in tone to the red and yellow theme over at Color Hues and as Snoopy looks OK in red and the paw prints work in yellow, I decided to go for it.

I found a square piece of white card to which I had already attached the double sided tape, and it was a good fit on the 6" square card I intended to use, and I added the stencilled paw prints to it using a brush.  I then stamped Snoopy onto a snippet of white card using the Cranberry Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder, and added some colour with a waterbrush using the same ink and die cut with a circle die.  I then found another circle which I had already cut, luckily just a bit larger than the topper, and covered it with the same ink straight from the pad to get good dark coverage and I then adhered the stamped piece to it.  Finally using the red ink I added the stamped sentiment to the background and heat embossed it with the WOW Clear Gloss EP.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Color Hues Challenge - No. 142 Amber & Burnt Red.

We Love Stamping Challenge - Oct. '26 Anything Goes/Shades of Autumn.

Allsorts Challenge - No. 860 Anything Goes/More Than One Fold.

Stencil Fun Challenge - Oct. '26  Anything Goes.

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 528 Birthdays.

Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 543 Where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.  (the square of white card and the white circle which I coloured red were snippets already cut and in my 'bits box'.

NBUS Challenge - No. 91 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

I.D.E.A.S. Challenge - Week 2 Dies.

And All That Jazz

Hi all.  As a winner of a previous challenge, I was asked to be a Guest Designer over at The Male Room Challenge and the theme is Geometric.  I had some leftover snippets from the last music themed card I made featuring a sax player here, and the background music piece from which I cut a circle is being used backed by a slightly larger white circle snippet which I found in my bits box and which fits the brief. 

I was so pleased to have been asked to join in the challenge and as you can see you have plenty of time to take part.

I decided for this one to use the trumpet player from the set I bought a while ago and this is its first outing.  I cut it twice from black and then kraft for the top layer..all snippets and I layered that up and adhered the circles and put the trumpeter on top.  I thought this would look best on a 6" square white card and I decided where to add the sentiment and added that in black Versafine Clair Nocturne ink before layering it all onto the card.  I finished it by adding some notes again using a snippet of white card.  The music notes are all fixed together and I cut the whole lot twice and used the outline piece to hold each note whilst I added glue and fixed another layer of each on top and then glued them into groups of three onto the card.

Thank you again to the team for asking me to be their Guest Designer this time, and I'm sure they would love you to go and visit to see all their great inspiration and to join in the challenge too.  

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 542 Where we use or snippets of card and paper etc.

A Cut Above Challenge - Oct. '26 Anything Goes using Die Cuts.

Cut It Up Challenge - No. 366 More Than One Die Cut.

We Love Stamping Challenge - Oct. '26 Anything Goes/Shades of Autumn.

Allsorts Challenge - No. 859 Anything Goes/Anything Autumn.

N.B.U.S. Challenge - No. 91 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

CAS Mix Up Challenge - Blackout Embossing

Hi everyone.  Here we are with a new challenge over at CAS Mix Up, and this month it is Blackout Embossing hosted by Linda, and great to see Darnell (djkardkreations) as our Guest Designer.  This technique involves adding colour to the debossed side of an embossed piece and then dragging a dark colour of ink over the top to cover the raised areas and gives a really dramatic look to it.

For this card I used a Spellbinders Twirling Tulips 3D Embossing Folder and also a set of Clarity Frame Its square dies, one die which cuts quite a few in different designs, and I chose two about which are about 4" in consecutive sizes.

I started with the blackout technique using the Twirling Tulips EF and embossed onto white card.  I coloured the tulips using my Lyra Brush Markers in yellow and orange and a mid green for the leaves, and then used a Versafine Majestic Blue Ink Pad rubbed carefully over the top to catch the raised parts trying to keep the pad as level as possible and with light pressure.  I found turning the card around and doing it from each direction covered it more evenly.  

I already have a stash of the Frame Its in a bag ready to use and chose two of about 4" square in consecutive sizes and coloured with a bit of blue ink which was already on a brush just to add a hint of colour.  I then cut a piece of white card about 4 1/4" square and adhered the two frames to it and then chose a portion of the inked piece and cut it to fit just inside the frames with just a tiny space around it.  I finished with the sentiment stamped using the Majestic Blue Ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

I hope you will visit us over at CAS Mix Up and take a look at the beautiful work from our Guest Designer Darnell and the rest of the team, and there are also a couple of videos to watch for more inspiration, and the challenge is open until the end of the month, so plenty of time to play along with us.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Cut it Up Challenge - No. 366 More Than One Cut.

Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes with Embossing Folders/Trees.

A Cut Above Challenge - Oct. '26 Anything Goes with a Die Cut.

Triple B Challenge - Oct. '26 Birds, Butterflies and Blooms (one, two or all three).

I.D.E.A.S. Calendar - Week 1 Ink/Colour Mediums.

Circular Scene on Patterned Paper

Hi all.  This was supposed to be shown a little while ago as a follow up post for the August CAS Mix Up Challenge, but it didn't work well because I had finished the scene and was adding some birds in the sky and some stray ink landed on the top part which could not be erased as patterned paper is not forgiving so I cut the top part off just above a layer of clouds but after some thought I finished it.  Stencilling was the media for this challenge and I used parts of the Clarity Deerscape, Mountains and Hills and Clouds Mask Sets.  The wild flower stamps were from Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine No. 284 featuring Indigoblu stamps called Wings and Things.

I started by cutting a circle of white card and then cut a circle from a piece of patterned paper from one of my magazine sets, but sorry not sure which one.   It had a fairly minimum amount of pattern and in a sort of cream/light brown shade and so I chose my colours to go with this.  I used some brown Distress Ink in I think Tea Dye Distress Ink with a small amount of Hickory Smoke DI to shade the edges for the foreground hill using the Deerscape stencil, and then one of the Mountain/Hill stencils for the next one back using Dried Marigold DI.  I then followed this with the cloud stencil using the residue brown ink with a touch of Tumbled Glass DI.  I also added the deer using the Deerscape stencil and Walnut Stain ink, but using just one of the deer featured on it. 

This is where I cut the rest off after getting some stray ink onto it which could not be erased, and after a lot of thought I decided to cut another circle of thinner card and a circle of the same patterned paper to complete the circle and I added the sentiment using Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink.  I then added foam tape to the back of it.  

I was going to keep the background plain white but I thought it needed something so I found a border embossing folder with these grasses and I embossed it being careful to make sure to place the top plate just below the top edge of the folder and luckily it worked and didn't leave a line.  I finished by colouring the embossing with a brush using the Dried Marigold DI.  I added this to the 6" square base card and then added the circle in the centre.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - Sept. '26 Trees and Leaves/Anything Goes.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Stamp It.

AAA Birthday Challenge - No. 89 Use Patterned Paper.

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 525 Diecuts and/or Stencils.

Stencil Fun Challenge - Sept. '26 Anything Goes/Yellow.