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Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Playing with Colour

Welcome

I was playing with colours, particularly autumnal tones, recently, and this is the result.


I stamped and embossed the tiny maple leaf (discontinued) on some snippets,  watercoloured them. then wondered where to go from there.... 


I found this NBUS Memory Box die, (Forest Tree Frame, apparently discontinued) cut it from another larger white cardstock snippet, trimmed off the frame and then used Lindy's Magicals to paint it


which gave it a very subtle glimmer, which matched the gold embossing


The background was brushed using a Uniko Cloud 9 stencil , and a piece of torn paper for the 'hills'.
The sentiment was a magazine freebie, gold embossed.
I decided to mount the focal panel to the top left of the background layers, rather than centrally.


I continued the colours on the inside with some gold floral washi and a wee strip of darker card


I stamped and loosely water coloured the leaves on the envelope, using the same inks I had stamped with - I had already addressed it before photographing it, hence only the decorated edge is shown here... 

I am linking this to:



Sunday, October 1, 2023

Crocus Sympathy





Welcome
I love the way this card came together, as I was more than somewhat challenged with the 'mood board' that is the inspiration for the new October challenge at We Love Stamping.



In the end, I simply used the basic colours of purple and orange


The sentiment, from Divinity Designs, was gold embossed


The Crocus stamp is a Uniko one, I also gold embossed it, and painted it with watercolours. 
What the camera has picked up as blue is actually a soft purple.
I  masked the image and sprayed the background with a Mr Huey colour mist -  Sorbet.  Again the camera has not shown the true colour, which is more orange than the yellow as it shows. 
The base I adhered the focal panel to is also a soft purple.


A solid gold strip of Washi on the inside, to match the two snippets of gold under the corners of the main panel


The image was repeated on the envelope, stamped using markers on the image.

The prize this month has a wonderful collection of elements,

          
Do come and join in the fun, as there is always an Anything Goes option to the challenge.

I am linking this to:   

(free, orange, embossing)


Wednesday, September 27, 2023

A Roaring Birthday

Welcome

Meet this card made for a young boy - from many snippets


The background was a failed attempt at a 'fossil stone' technique...
BUT not one to waste things, I used it for this card, brushing over some blue, brown and green inks to soften the 'dotty'  look.


The stamps came from a magazine freebie set a looooong time ago - I trimmed out the stamped words, and mounted it over the same green card as the base, and added where it looked best


The wee critters were also in the set - I coloured them all with my limited supply of AI pens, and added glossy accents on the balloon and eyes and the top of the cake


The 'cave' is a snippet of bronze card with a metallic sparkle in it - I edged the outline with black, and was so pleased with the sense of dimension it gives.
The sparkle at the base was a glitter strip from a packet I was gifted.
The final pieces of the bronze card were layered on opposite corners behind the main panel, before I mounted it on the green base


I used a trimming from the front panel for the inside of the card.
As this was sent in a coloured, rice-paper envelope, so it was not decorated.

I am linking this to:



Monday, September 25, 2023

A Trellis, Letterpress and Beads

Welcome

Today's card was made for our wee N.Z swap group - and the challenge this month was a trellis card!


I started by using an embossing folder and the letterpress technique.  I took Memento Tangerine ink to ink the folder and ran the face of the card through the folder, then cut the battens from the bottom part.  I adhered the three cross battens between both layers of the uprights, the very bottom one on the top, and secured the uprights behind the upper portion of the panel


Stamped and gold embossed a flower from an Art By Marlene set on purple card, and bleached out the outer rim of the petals.  Die cut three leaves to add under that before adhering to the front of the card.


The sentiment (a magazine freebie) was gold embossed on a snippet of the purple card and adhered to a horizontal batten.  The butterflies were wee punched ones I had used as masks, and I added three to the card, drawing in a body, head and antenna with a gold pen.


To add some pizzazz to the flower I dribbled on some glue and added some micro beads to the centre


The flowers were stamped on the envelope in Queen For A Day ink by Catherine Pooler. I had inadvertently stamped them on the opposite side of the envelope to normal, but the postage stamp covered the boo boo where the ink didn't stamp... 

I am linking this to:

I used three butterflies


Saturday, September 23, 2023

A Picture Perfect Flower

Welcome

I decided it was time that my picture perfect flower die had a first outing - it is a Memory Box die, but appears to have been discontinued... red face as it shows how long I have had it...


I started with a monoprint from the back of a stencil, taken after I had been having an afternoon experimenting...


The die was cut from white cardstock and coloured - the edge I used an acrylic gold paint on, the rest was coloured using watercolours.  The flower was layered, and in retrospect, I should have made the bottom layer a darker purple.


The sentiment was a magazine freebie and gold embossed - this was cut into a double ended fishtail banner - I layered it over some gold glitter paper that I had also used to punch the butterflies from.


The inside was decorated with more punched butterflies


The envelope I used some paper punched butterflies, adhered them with removeable  glue tape, and sprayed it with a gold mica paint, then removed the butterflies to give a negative image.

I am linking this to:



Thursday, September 21, 2023

That Crazy Cat

Welcome

This started off with a boo boo - I adhered the layer of napkin to the card front on an angle - and I had no time to correct it as I had used a spray glue, and it sticks fast and hard!! 
So I chose to work with what I had... 


The image is from Tim Holtz Crazy Cats set, and I stamped it in a Caramel ink, added ink to an acrylic block and then painted it with a wet brush.
I lost the image a wee bit, so then stamped it again to get some definition back, and it worked!
I also grounded it with some green ink brushed on, and gave it a faint blue sky - both inks were applied before I removed the die


I had to cut it on an angle in the oval, as the next size of oval was too large for the card, so it fitted the background much better like that - it all started to look coordinated...


It's eyes were highlighted with some glossy accents


The sentiment was stamped in the same Caramel ink and cut into a fish tail banner, the panel was edged with the same ink, and the main panel adhered to a kraft coloured base.


Some bronze coloured washi tape for the inside


And some stamping on the envelope, and it was finished!

I am linking this to:


Both image and sentiment are old stamps


Monday, September 18, 2023

A Trio of Trees

Welcome

I also extend a very warm welcome to my newest follower - Pam Tiedtke who runs the challenge Pammie's Inky Pinkies, and also has a personal blog here.

This card is for the mid-month DT reminder for the 


I started by cutting the oval into the embossed top layer, then stamping the trees using masking and second generation stamping to give some dimension, stamping approximately where the oval would sit.


I added the brown to the tree trunks by hand after stamping, thought it looked a bit stark, so then stamped  some grasses at the base in versamark ink, sponged on some white ink on the top and drew some birds in with a fine liner pen - about the extent of my drawing talent...


The sentiment was gold embossed onto some kraft card that matches the base, and hand trimmed into a fishtail banner before being  mounted with foam dots


The inside was finished with some sage green Washi tape.

I am linking this to: