Let it Snow for Rudolph Days Challenge

Hi everybody.  It is time for the April Rudolph Days Challenge run by Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo, and once again and I have used one of the Studiolight stamps which I bought and used for a few cards before Christmas.  I also used a freebie embossing folder which I have had for several years.

I dry embossed the poinsettia EF using a snippet of white card and then stamped the tree and the sentiment on to a snippet of red card using WOW Gold Metalic Embossing Powder.  I backed this with  a snippet of gold mirri and mounted it all on a 7' x 5' card.

Thank you for stopping by today and I hope to see you again soon.  The Rudolph Days Challenge is open until the end of the month so still plenty of time to get an entry in.

I am also entering:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 376 where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc.
Christmas Craft Creations April Challenge -  Use A Stamp.
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 70 Anything Christmas Goes.

Spring Flowers

Hi everybody.  This is a card for the CAS Watercolour Card Challenge the theme of which this time is Spring Flowers.  I chose this Penny Black Magnolia called Summer Dream, but despite the name they do actually come into bloom during the Spring.

I decided to use my water brush pens inking up the stamp with the different colour pens, spritzing and then stamping in one go.  I added the branch to the left and then some to the right and decided to fill in the area top right with a little more but second generation.  It actually didn't stamp as well as I wanted so I used some of the pen with water on my glass mat and added the colour.  I have to say my flowers are a bit brighter than your average magnolia but I'm using artistic licence here..lol.  I added a little background blue for sky again using a waterbrush to apply the brush marker, and then I finished with a sentiment using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink clear heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

There are a couple of days left for the challenge so still time to enter.  Thank you for taking a look at my blog today and I hope to see you again soon. 

I am also entering the following challenges:

The Flower Challenge - No 43 Spring/Autumn.
Allsorts Challenge - Week 568 Flowers and/or Showers.
Addicted to Stamps and More - No 386 Anything Goes.
Penny Black Saturday April Challenge - Anything Goes - optional 'Use Ribbon or Twine'.
Penny Black and More April Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers April Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes (optional Stars).
                                                               

(So pleased to be chosen as one of the Outstanding Designs at CAS Watercolour Challenge)

Park Bench Affair

Hi there everyone.  I hope you are all doing well.  This was made for some friends who I think have been married for 30 years, and I decided to use this Penny Black Stamp.

I stamped it on to a snippet of white card using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and then coloured it with my Staedtler Aqua Brush Markers using some straight from the pen and others diluted with water using my waterbrush, and then I fussy cut it out.   The little ladybirds which are part of the scene were coloured and fussy cut and added separately.  I had to add the feelers and legs with Black Micron Pen once mounted on to the card as I could not possibly have fussy cut round those..lol.  

I found another snippet of white card and made a background using a Leonie Pujol Embossing Folder called Dotty Heart.  I opened up the folder and rubbed the Festive Berries DI over the raised side, spritzed with water and pressed the piece of white card on to it.  I finished by adding the image over the top and also a sentiment stamped with the Nocturne ink and heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

Thank you for joining me today and take care everyone.

I am entering the following challenges:

Penny Black April Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes/Use Ribbon or Twine.
Penny Black and More April Challenge - Anything Goes.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Where we use up our snippets of paper, card etc.  (snippets of white card).
Happy Little Stampers April Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes (optional Stars).

Celebration Bubbly

Hi there everybody.  I am back today with an anniversary card for one of my cousins and husband who are celebrating their 55th anniversary.  I thought this digital image from Beccy's Place called Girls' Night, was appropriate for a big celebration.

I don't generally use digital images but I thought that I would give them a try.  I think probably I need to find some thicker card to print on to as this was just 160gsm and with my Staedtler Watercolour Brush Pens and a waterbrush which I used it was perhaps a bit too much for it.  I tend to use 250/300gsm normally which my printer is not keen on.

I started by adding the colour to parts of the image using the waterbrush to spread it, and I then scribbled colour on to my glass mat and picked it up with the water brush, neither of which were working well, so I ended up adding colour straight to the image which made everything a bit dark, especially the champagne, more like orange juice..lol, and the carnations which I hoped would dry a bit lighter.  I had limited time to post it so had to go with it.  I finished by fussy cutting it.

I then made a stencil from a Sue Wilson Heart of Hearts die and inked through it on to the card using Adirondack Shell Pink, and Picked Raspberry and Dusty Concord Distress Inks blending quite lightly.  The numbers were cut using a set of dies from The Works and coloured using the two DIs before being added to the heart.  I then added the sentiment stamped a couple of times with Versafine Smokey Gray ink using the Misti.  Lastly the image was stuck down flat with wet glue, easier for posting.

You can tell I am very self critical..lol, and at the moment Mr Mojo is playing up, but I suppose we all have times when things don't go too well, so hey ho...as my hubby would say, it is what it is.  I hope you are managing to stay positive, and of course keeping well, through this difficult time.

Take care,

I am entering the following challenges:

Beccy's Place April Challenge - Anything Goes using one of her images (opt. Flower or Foliage).
Watercooler Wednesday - No. 265 Anything Goes with a Feminine Twist.
Dutch Card Lovers - No. 328 Any Drink (alcoholic or non alcoholic).

Deer in Forest for Rudolph Days Challenge

Hi everybody.  This is another new stamp which I got before Christmas but hasn't been seen before here.  It is by Impression Obsession (F7838) but doesn't have a name on the packing but when I looked on line appears to be called Deer in Forest.

I stamped the image using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and heat embossed it using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder and coloured the background with some blended Distress Inks and matted it on to a piece of black card.  I then dry embossed the square white card with the Simon Says Falling Snow stencil and added the sentiment from the set again using the Nocturne ink heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP. 

I've made it with a day to spare this time, better than last month anyway..lol. as this month's Rudolph Days Challenge run by Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo finishes tomorrow.  Thank you for your visit and I'll see you again soon.  Take care everyone. 

I am also entering:

The Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 68 Anything Christmas Goes.
Sweet Stampin' March Christmas Challenge - Clean and Simple.

Spring Flower and Flourishes

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and finding things to do at home in these difficult times.  I have been feeling rather unsettled and my mojo has gone walkabout, probably bored with having to stay put at home..lol.  I know this is necessary but not easy to cope with.   Anyway, I needed a card for a friend's birthday and I already had the flower made and fussy cut out, so thought I would work a card around it.  I made a card with the same flower from this freebie set here.

I coloured the flower and leaves using a set of Staedtler Watercolour brush pens.  I added the colour starting with the palest pink and then a darker pink and purple, and two different greens for the leaves.  After each application I used my waterbrush to spread and blend the colour.  Not a perfect blend but considering these were not very expensive I thought they worked well, and on ordinary smooth card, it pilled a little but not too badly.  I used a circle mask and stamped using a Chocolate Baroque stamp called Edgy Edges and heat embossed using WOW Metallic Platinum Embossing Powder.  I stamped it twice to cover the circle.  I then added some Adirondack Shell Pink Ink blended over the embossed circle.  I finished by adding one of the Crafty Individuals Floral Flourishes and Swirls heat embossing with the same EP, and added a sentiment from the freebie set using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss EP.

I would like to introduce a new follower to my blog called Willy who is a DT member over at Art Journey and whose blog you will find here.  She does some beautiful work and I'm sure she would love you to visit.

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

I am entering the following challenges:

AAA Birthday - No. 11 Flowers.
Stamping Sensations - March - Spring Flowers.
Penny Black and More - March - Spring Flowers.
Addicted to CAS Challenge - No. 180 Circle.  (I'm not sure if this is CAS enough, but there is quite a lot of white space so I am taking a chance).
Daring Cardmakers - Floral Focus.
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 382 Make Your Mark.
Happy Little Stamper March Watercolour Challenge  - Anything Goes (optional Flowers).
(so pleased to be chosen the winner of this challenge)

Chocolate Baroque Cards for February TV

Hi there everybody.  Here are some of the cards I made for Chocolate Baroque 's shows on Hochanda last month.  The first was made using the Snowdrop Script set of stamps and also the Edgy Edges stamps.

I started by stamping the flowers on to kraft card using WOW Opaque Bright White EP an coloured them using a green Lyra Aquamarker  and then stamped the name underneath using a black marker from the same set straight to stamp.  I used some white acryic paint on the flowers and die cut it using a Crealies Pierced Rectangle die.  I then backed this with white and then black card.

I used another piece of kraft card for the background stamping the Edgy Edges DL stamp twice using Brilliance white ink and then backed this with black too before adding it to the white card.

For this second card I again used the Snowdrop Script stamps which has this pretty bluebell image too.  Using a rectangular piece of white card I started with the sky using Salty Ocean Distress Ink and a Clarity cloud mask and followed this with the hills with a hill mask from Clarity, using Dusty Concord DI and the subsequent hills in Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint DI keeping the coverage fairly light.  I then stamped the bluebells using Versafine Smokey Gray ink and watercoloured them using a waterbrush and a mix of Blueprint Sketch and Shaded Lilac DI for the flowers and some Peeled Paint DI for the leaves and stems.  I then darkened the lower hills and the foreground using a bit more of the green ink.  I finished by backing this with a piece of dark green card and added a sentiment from the set using Versafine Olympia Green ink.

 The last card for now uses the Doodle Birds and the Doodle Butterfly stamps and Ultramarine Brusho for the background.  When that was completed I stamped the feather and flower images from Doodle Birds using Versafine Imperial Purple and Deep Lagoon inks and backed this with a piece of dark blue card.  I then stamped the flower from Doodle Butterfly in both of the colours on to a stitched square die cut piece of white card and blended Blueprint Sketch and Wilted Violet DI's around the edges and more of the violet in the centre also.  I fussy cut the flower out and backed the negative with a piece of the dark blue card and then glued the flower over the negative bending the petals up for a bit of dimension and then mounted it all on to a white square card.

I have two new followers Faith whose blog you will find here, and also Rita whose blog you will find here.  Thank you to both ladies for becoming Followers, and I'm sure they would appreciate a visit if they are new to you.

Actually this post and another to come later in the month are the last of my cards as a member of the Guest Design Team over at Chocolate Baroque.  Reluctantly I needed to free up some time so I had to make the hard decision to leave the team.  I have really enjoyed the 18 months that I have been doing this, and it has been such a great experience, and I thank Lesley and David and Judith for being such lovely people to work with. 

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