Ombre Technique - Group of Seven

Hi everybody.  I was so pleased and flattered to have been asked  if I would like to join the lovely talented ladies of the Group of Seven Cardmakers, and this is my first post.  The technique this month is all about Ombre, meaning shading which generally speaking is a graduated tone of one or more colours going from light to dark with inks using stamps, die cuts and stencils, or even using coloured card, which is the subject of the first video which you will find on the GO7 post.  There is also a second video illustrating the use of a flower stamp and a couple of different complementary ink colours which is similar to the technique I have used on my second card.  You can also see some brilliant samples from the other ladies and also find out how they achieved them by visiting their blogs.  Anyway here is my first card.

I have opted to use Distress inks and some masking and have added some stamping over the top.  I used Dried Marigold, Carved Pumpkin, Abandoned Coral and Candied Apple, and the strip I masked off is about 2 1/4" wide.  I used the Acacia tree and the group of elephants from a set of stamps by Sheena Douglass from a few years ago called African Landscape, and the Zebra is a Crafty Individuals stamp which came with Creative Stamping Magazine No 121, and finished with a birthday sentiment, and all stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.  The lefthand side is the darkest colour, a tone of red but it looks rather pink in the photo unfortunately. 

This is very achievable using a brush, the more recent type with the fine soft bristles really helps to give a smooth finish, and I find just rubbing the inked brush lightly onto a piece of spare card first helps to stop any funny lines or heavy patches, and also using a circular motion to apply it, building up the colour slowly, and if using a single colour to get a good contrast applying lightly and gradually adding more ink and using a bit more pressure on the head of the brush will give that variation of tone.

For this second card I have used a Crafty Individuals stamp called Wild Flowers and Ferns Silhouette and I also used a new set of Torn Edge Dies by Creative Craft Products.  I used my stamp positioner and three Distress Inks - Faded Jeans, Broken China and Tumbled Glass, starting with the darkest at the bottom to make the Ombre effect.  I inked it up quite a few times with the three inks and used an ink blending tool to gently blend the colours in so there were no harsh lines.  I finished by adding a sentiment using the Faded Jeans DI and it was all heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  It's a simple CAS card but quite effective and easily achieved providing you have a stamping platform.  

I think this is a fun technique and we would love to see what you make, and if you do make anything there is a linky at the bottom of the post where you can put up your cards for us all to see and enjoy.  

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

Winter Wonders

Hi everybody.  This is the card I made for our son using the Its Just Paper Winter Wonders, one set called Winter Woods and the other Animal Silhouettes which unfortunately are not available any more.  I have used both sets before but not the particular stamps used this time which were being inked for the first time.

I started by adding the background trees and the three in the foreground using Versafine Clair Nocturne, and as the lines on the background trees were a little light and I wasn't sure whether I would colour them or not, I decided to clear emboss them using WOW EP.   I then added in the background hills using a set of Lavinia masks and using three colours I ink blended the background sky for which I used Adirondack Sunshine Yellow, and Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade and Salty Ocean.  I did hold a piece of card over the couple of place where the trees were above the hill line so that they stayed relatively ink free.  I decided to use the two silhouette deer in the foreground and also three little birds in the sky, and again inked using the Nocturne ink, and also added the sentiment with that too.  I did decide to colour the trees and did so with my Lyra coloured pencils trying to make them look as though they did have some snow on them, not sure that it totally worked and would probably have looked better with a darker green, but hey ho, and then I added some grey with a little touch of a light purple to shade below the trees and deer and just a bit of grey to contour the snow covered hillside a little.   I then used my white Posca Pen tapped over the scene for some falling snow, but I did cover the sentiment up.  I don't usually add snow this way, but it does give a more random look..the ink does seem to go everywhere you don't want it too as well though..lol, and then when dry I added it to my 5" x 7" card.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Rudolph Days Challenge - Dec, '24 Anything Christmas Goes.

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge - No. 78 Anything Goes.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 812/3 Use Your Dies/Anything Goes.

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Cold and Frosty.

NBUS Challenge - No 69 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Nature's Garden

Hi all.  Well it's Christmas Day and I hope that most of you have a very enjoyable time, but I know though there will be those for whom Christmas is less happy and I hope that the new year brings better times.

This is the card I made for hubby using a set of stamps from Highlight Crafts called Nature's Garden which came with a Creative Stamping Magazine, and I'm afraid that this is the first time I have used it...tut tut.  I thought I would use this background and make it a snowy landscape with the addition of some pots and a cute robin, and the hare is part of the stamped scene.  I added the snowy hills and the soft blue sky in the background using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink which I blended using a brush.  I coloured with my set of alcohol pens and added some Flower Soft for the snow which came free with some winter decoupage eons ago and I had only used a very little of it.  I just used some glue and then sprinkled some of it onto the wet glue and pressed it down a bit to get it to stick and left it to dry.  I stamped the two different flowerpot images and coloured and cut them out and added them using Pinflair silicone glue gel.   I also used a white Posca Pen for snow on the pots and also used a bit on the branches behind the large pot on the right.  I finished with the sentiment stamped and embossed using Versamark and heat embossed with WOW Silver Metallic Embossing Powder before adding it onto a 5" x 7" card.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - Dec. 24 Winter/Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations Challenge - Dec. 24 Anything Goes/Winter.

NBUS Challenge - No. 69 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Pine Cones and Holly Frame

Hi all.  This stamp set from Spellbinders called Pine Cones and Holly Frame is a recent addition as I thought it would make quite quick cards used in different ways, and for its first outing I have stamped it with Versafine Smokey Gray ink and coloured using a set of Staedler Watercolour Brush Pens.  I added it to a 5" x 7" card but as I didn't have to add a sentiment beneath it looked out of proportion so cut a piece off so now it is 5" x 6".    

I am entering the following challenges with the above card:

We Love Stamping Challenge - Dec. '24 Winter/Anything Goes.
Stamping Sensations Challenge - Dec. '24 Anything Goes/Winter.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 8912/3 Use Your Dies/Anything Goes.
NBUS Challenge - Dec. '24 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

I also made two other versions using green card and heat embossing with WOW Metallic Rich Gold Embossing Powder, and both are on white 6"x 4" cards and on the lefthand one I fussy cut around the edge and added to the white card with a white embossed background made using a very old Cuttlebug Embossing Folder called Holly Ribbons which surprisingly is still available, and on the righthand one I added it just as it is with two  sprigs of holly also on green card with the gold embossing.

I am entering the following challenge with the second card:

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

 

 

I am entering the following challenge with the third card:

 

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge - No. 78 Anything Goes.

 

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

Winter Postage Collage

Hi all.  I have made a couple of cards using a Globleland Postage Collage die which came in a set with a stencil and some stamps, but used on its own here.  I used an upcycled card front which had a pretty winter scene on it, and I cut the die from kraft card.

There are some inner stitched mats but I opted to cut using just the outer die for the background frame and I also cut the scene from this as well and cut into six pieces, and then cut each piece down a little smaller on all sides to fit inside the outer frame.  I then added the sentiment using Versamark and heat embossed it with WOW Metallic Copper Embossing Powder.  The white card measures 5" x 7".

With This first card I am entering the following challenges:

Christmas Kickstart Challenge - No. 93 If It's Chrismassy Link it Up.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge - Dec. '24 Pick a Previous Colour Challenge

(I chose Oct. '24 Challenge - Shades of Brown).

Peace on Earth Challenge - No. 78 Anything Christmas Goes.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 811 Lots of White/Anything Goes.

The second card done in the same way was cut from Silver card and the paper was a piece from an old paper pad I have had for some years.  I finished this card with a Silver embossed sentiment and I added an upcycled snowflake taken from another old card and I partially coloured it with a red alcohol pen and used a Clear Wink of Stella Pen over this and also over the black and white snowflake covered paper.  I then mounted it onto a piece of red card before adding it on to another 5" x 7" card.

** Before I sent it I managed to remove the central snowflake without damaging the paper as I decided it looked better with just the pretty snowflake paper on its own.

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

French Braid and Holly

Hi everyone.  I'm sure you must be getting a bit bored with my French Braid die, very similarly used as here and here, but I did decide to turn it to a landscape format to give it a slightly different look and I used a holly stamp from a Creative Stamping Magazine with stamps from Highlight Crafts and this is being used for the first time here, and it did have a little robin too, but in this instance I decided to lose the bird and just have the holly branch.   I don't have many Christmas papers and for this I decided to use a couple from a freebie set found at Craftworld which may originally have been downloadable with a Die Cutting Essentials Magazine I think quite a while ago, and I haven't used any of the material until now.  I also used a holly embossing folder which came with a recent kit from John Next Door and used on this card here.

I started with the embossing folder using a piece of white card and I managed to extend it to fit a 5" x 7" base card, and I decided to leave it white.  I then cut the French Braid die using a snippet of dark green card for the backing for the braid and then cut the braid frame from another green snippet and stuck it together, and then cut the two different papers using the frame die.  I changed the configuration a little from previous card alternating the green and white spot with the patterned holly.  I then moved on to the holly and stamped it onto a snippet of white card using Versafine Olympia Green ink and coloured with alcohol markers, and I managed to fussy cut it out...a bit time consuming and in the process a couple of leaf stems were cut accidentally but I managed to stick them back in the right places afterwards...lol.  The tiny little bits of the bird that remained I covered with Tipp-Ex and then put some lines back in with a fine Micron Pen.  Luckily I did manage to fairly well cover the two little white areas with the alcohol pens.  I finished by adhering the holly onto the French Braid and added the embossed background and this to the card base, and finished with a sentiment stamped onto another snippet of white card using Versafine Satin Red ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and cut into a fishtail banner shape.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge - Where we use our snippets of paper and card etc.

We Love Stamping Challenge - Dec. '24 Winter/Anything Goes.

Stamping Sensations Challenge - Dec. '24 Anything Goes/Winter.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 810 It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas/Anything Goes.

ABC Christmas Challenge Dec. '24 'Y' and 'Z' Your Favourite Colours/Zoo Animals (my favourite colours for Christmas cards are green and red).

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge - No. 77 Anything Christmas Goes.

NBUS Challenge - No. 69 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Tone on Tone Anniversary

Hi everyone.  This is the last anniversary card I need this year and I decided to make it using this month's technique from the Group of Seven Cardmakers which is Textured Backgrounds using Die Cuts and I decided to keep it mostly white on white.  I used a very old set of Nellie Snellen dies and another Nellie Snellen set, also ancient which are scalloped circles, and I did emboss the four plain hearts in each of the corners using a Leonie Pujol Embossing Folder called Dotty Heart.  

I decided to add the die cuts straight onto the card front as I needed the full space in order to fit the hearts onto this 6" square card.  I wanted to make the four central hearts look like a flower and the scalloped circle used for the sentiment to be the centre of the flower, and also added the four smaller hearts which were embossed with the Dotty Heart EF.  I also looked through my container with some useful bits of throwaway pieces out of dies, and I found these red hearts so decided to use these to embellish the card for a bit of added colour, and used a Versafine Satin Red ink for the sentiment and also added a smaller heart next to that.  

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

I am entering the following challenges:

Can You Handle The Pressure Challenge - Anything Goes Embossing/Winter Fun.

Allsorts Challenge - Week 810 Anything Goes/It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas.

Love to Craft Challenge - No. 83 Anything Goes.

Mix It Up Challenge - No. 74 Anything Goes/Paper Piecing.