Beautiful Blooms

Today I am sharing a card that I made with a stamp and die set by Tonic Studios. I bought this on the spur of the moment before Christmas and have made several cards with it. This is the first one I am sharing today. It  is a substantial and quite versatile stamp and die set. The happy birthday die and shadow are also part of the set.

I stamped the large stamp (it covers the whole card front) in a pale waterproof ink and then coloured with my Zig clean colour brush pens. I also used coloured pencils to add shading and background. The middle part of the panel was cut using the included die and then I created a shaker card with a transparency and sequins. The background to the shaker is grey with a few splatters on it. The stamps used on the insert and envelope are also from the same set.

The finished panel is larger than an A2 card so I used a die to cut it to size (A2)

I don't often make shaker cards so this is unusual for me,  but I am quite pleased with the end result.

I am sharing this at:

Seize The Birthday - Transparency or vellum

Allsorts #608 - Beautiful Blooms

Supplies:

cardstock: Daler Rowney cold pressed water colour paper, pearlescent vellum, gold card

Ink: Zig clean colour real brush pens, Polychromo pencils, Versafine toffee

Stamps: Happy Hibiscus by Tonic Studios

Dies: Matching Die

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

January Twofer

Today I am pleased to say that I have an entry for this months Twofer Challenge where the theme is flowers, although it is more by coincidence than design.

I needed a special birthday card for my youngest daughter who will be 40 next week (it is so weird even writing that) so I decided to use some new dies that I bought recently, mainly because they were reduced and I thought I would try them. They are Crafters Companion double sided dies and as they were reduced I thought it was worth a try, mind you, I had to then buy some special plates to use them with my gemini junior. 

Anyway, I have decided that I really like them and that one lent itself very well to a box card which I thought would be good for a special birthday. Plus, I haven't made a box card for a long time. Then I saw the Twofer theme this month and thought it would be easy to produce a second card while I was about it.

I therefore have a birthday box card and a thank you card to share.

I started both cards by smooching distress oxide ink onto water colour paper, one green and one coloured. Each die set contains two dies that are double sided so that is four cuts, the vase and stems are on one and the flowers on the other. An added bonus is that they cut really well first time every time - always a relief.

I used my green smooched card for the stems on one side and purple card for the vase on the other. I did enjoy arranging all the flowers onto the stems and as you get 2 of each of the daisy shaped flowers I glued them together to make a fuller flower.

I mounted my vase of flowers on green card that I added interest to with stencils and distress ink before I cut it with a stitched frame die. The sentiment is heat embossed in white.

For my box card I made three vases of flowers and attached them to my box. I also added 3 die cut 40's that are attached to clear acetate. The front flap of the box is decorated with the second pretty posy die set.

If you look at the edges of the box underneath the flaps you will see one of the cuts from the pretty posy set. You can't really see it but the back of the box has a 'make a wish' die attached to it.

I was cross with myself for ordering more craft supplies right after Christmas but I am quite pleased with these dies so I think they will get well used.  I hope you like the results and that my daughter will be happy with her special card. 

I am also sharing my thank you card at Happy Little Stampers Anything goes with dies January challenge.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Dayler Rowney watercolour paper; Adorable Scorable coated card, adorable scorable matt tastic card

Ink: Distress Oxide, various colours

Stamps: By Uniko

Dies: Gemini by Crafters Companion floral Delights and Pretty Posy; small numbers by docrafts; larger number by Concord & Ninth; Happy Birthday by Tonic Studios

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

CAS Mix Up Reminder

Hello, 

Today I have another card showcasing splatters to remind you that there is still plenty of time for you to join us at CAS Mix Up this month. I am enjoying my time as host and have loved seeing all your wonderful splatters. We are on a mixed media month and the prompt is splatters, so do get splattering on your cards.

Thanks so much to Elaine at craft-e-place for being our guest designer this month. We are also welcoming two new members to our design team this month. Leslie at running with scissors and Coni at Which Craft? I hope you get a chance to pay them a visit.

This time my splatters are very fine, you may need to look at the close up photo below to see them properly. I have used stamping and heat embossing on my card in addition to the splatters.

I inked my stamp with watercolour pens spritzed it with water and stamped on a white panel. I haven't used this technique before and I really love the result. I think I will use it more often but you do need a solid image and I don't have many stamps like that.

I did the splatters by rubbing some marker ink onto my glass matt, spritzing with water and then using the toothbrush to splatter it over the card. I used 3 different colours and the toothbrush gives a really fine splatter.

I also used the stamp to decorate the insert and the envelope. The ink was grey but some of the colour was still on the flowers so it showed through the grey giving a hint of colour. What a happy accident.

I am really enjoying seeing all the great splatter examples in the gallery, it is a great technique and fun to do so I hope you find time to join us. You have until 24th January.

 Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

  

xx

December CCC Reveal

Hello, 

Today is the 2nd of January so time for the December Card Chain Challenge  reveal post. I think Gail and Jo are glutens for punishment because they added an extra challenge for December last year. Obviously everyone that entered is too! I jest, because it is not punishment to enter this amazing challenge but organising it all just could be.

The design option this month involved a tic tac toe and I chose the diagonal line from top left - bees, friendship and emboss it.

My card went to the lovely Gundi in Germany (I just adore her cards).

I have used the Birch Press string art frame cover plate for this card, cutting it once in green card and once in black craft foam. It is mounted on a cream cardbase. The bee is by Chocolate Baroque and was stamped in black and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I used gel sparkle pens on the body and wings. I also stamped the bee on the envelope and heat embossed it in white on the insert.

I am quite pleased with this one, I hope you like it too.

Here is the lovely happy and cheery card that I received from Jo in England. Isn't it gorgeous? the shadow on the sentiment is all glittery and sparkly which just adds to the cheery nature of it.

I am looking forward to another year of sending cards round the world and receiving them too.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, I can't quite believe it is 2021 already, let's hope this year brings happier days. 

I am excited to be hosting my first challenge on the CAS Mix Up challenge blog. This month it is mixed media and I want you to include splatters on your card along with at least one other mixed media element from the list in the side bar on the blog.

We welcome Elaine of craft-e-place as our guest designer this month so do please take a moment to pay her a visit, you won't be disappointed as her cards are always stunning.

I love splatters but am not very good at doing them, so I thought it would be good to get some practice and improve my confidence with them.  I have used stamping, heat embossing, and ink blending as well as splatters on this card. No die cutting, which makes a change for me.

I actually made this card 3 times because something went wrong each time. I was pleased with the design so I persevered and at third attempt I got a card I was happy with.

I started by printing the sentiment (created on my computer) onto the panel. Winter is not a good time for me and January is the worst so the sentiment gives it a positive spin for me. Next I stamped the tree (a free gift from Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine Issue 208) in Momento London fog ink and then masked the edges and blended distress ink down the centre. After removing the masking tape I went over the tree branches on the white section with a black fineliner pen before putting the panel back in my misti and stamping with versamark and heat embossing with clear embossing powder. Then I replaced the masking tape and used a white Derwent paint pen to add my splatters.  Once I was happy, and I had let them dry, I used a white gel pen to add snow to some of the nooks and crannies in the tree and on the ground. On my final attempt I tried using a white corrector pen and found that it gives a better whiteness to the image so used it for the snow on the ground.  The fresh green leaves of spring were stamped in Catherine Pooler Lime Rickey.

To finish off I mounted it on some black paper and then onto a pale grey/blue card base.

What do you think? I hope you like it and that I may have inspired you to join us over at CAS Mix Up this month. I am looking forward to seeing you in the gallery and paying you a visit.

But wait a minute, I have another card to share today that uses heat embossed splatters. I first saw this technique used by Jennifer McGuire over a year ago, it is a great technique that I used on Christmas cards. Her explanation of the splatter technique starts at minute 11 in the video, just in case you are impatient or short of time.

As you can see I made several using silver gold and red embossing powder. The red was an extra fine powder and it didn't work quite as well as the silver and gold. It is a very easy and effective technique as you just use splatters of water which the embossing powder then sticks to. You just need patience when heating it as the water has to evaporate before the powder melts. Be careful not to scorch the card, which I am afraid I did on one of them.

I am really looking forward to visiting everyone in the gallery this month - see you there.

What do you think of my new look blog? It is curtesy of the wonderful Loll, she is so talented. 

Thank you Loll.

 Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

xx