Enjoy the view

Here's a card I created a few weeks ago with this month's CAS Watercolour challenge in mind. However I did not want to post it before the card had reached its recipient in the US. It seems that the card still has not arrived, but with the linky closing in a few hours, I decided to post it anyway, hoping the recipient is not a regular visitor of my blog.

I had intended to create a simple wash of colours to create a night sky, but it looked odd without a horizon behind the windows. So I decided to create some greenery and some flowers, and I'm glad I did, because I love the result. So much so that I was tempted to keep the card for myself lol.

The stamps are from the Naturally Inspired Stamp of Approval collection (Catherine Pooler), the cat is from an old NBUS The Cat's Pajamas die set, while the window die is from a new NBUS Die'sire die.

Challenges:

CAS Watercolour - Silhouette

CAS Mix Up - stamping, watercolour wash +

die cutting/embossing

HLS CAS - Silhouette

HLS Watercolour - Anything goes

Darnell's NBUS challenge

Happy Birthday WC block stamping

After several attempts at creating a watercolour wash on my watercolour cardstock, using an acrylic block as my palette, I thought I would try stamping with my block. After scribbling my colours using my Letraset Aquamarkers (Twilight blue and Celery), I spread the paint with a wet paint brush and then pressed the block to my paper. I discovered I got the best results by stamping and lifting off my block at once to avoid major pooling.

I loved how this one turned out looking like a field with a blue sky. The stamped silhouette is from the Wild Garden stamp set that was part of the Naturally inspired Stamp of Approval collection. The sentiment is from a Concord & 9th set. I matted my die cut panel onto black and then onto a white cardbase. To finish off, I added a few sparkling clear sequins.

Challenges:

CAS Watercolour - Silhouette

HLS CAS - Silhouette

HLS Watercolour - Anything goes

Peace on Earth

I have been playing with my Letraset Aquamarkers to create some watercolour backgrounds, with varying degrees of success. For my card below, I succeeded in creating a pretty wash of colour using Twilight blue and Bamboo (and I think I also scribbled some Fern onto my acrylic block palette).

I decided this was the perfect background for my Muse ChristmasVisions card, where Guest Muse Stephanie Lanzalotto had created the following card to inspire us:

I focused on the blue, green and red colours and the Peace on earth theme.

I stamped the map in Peeled paint distress oxide ink, wiping off the ink in the middle before stamping. I stamped the sentiment (Essentials by Ellen) in Candied apple DOI and then stamped 'peace' again using Versamark and heat embossed in irrdenscent sparkle embossing powder (Judikins). I also used this ep to heat emboss a small cluster of stars towards the top right of the map. I used a stitched rectangle die (SSS) to die cut my panel and adhered it to a schoolhouse red cardbase (SSS).

Challenges:

Muse ChristmasVisions - 85 Inspired by Stephanie

CAS Mix Up -  Stamping, watercolour wash +
die cutting, heat embossing

Altenew layering stencils

I have several cards to share today, starting with 2 cards using a similar design but different colours.

I decided to use my NBUS Altenew layering stencils A and B to do a twist on the spotlighting challenge over at the Seven Hills Craft blog. I started by blending tumbled glass distress ink through the first stencil using a Clarity brush onto 2 die cut panels (SSS stitched rectangle). I then used the second stencil and a finger dauber to selectively blend another colour of distress ink (peacock feathers on the one card and worn lipstick on the other), creating this pretty flower medallion. For the sentiment I used Altenew's Label Love set. I popped up the sentiments and panels using foam tape and finished off with some Studio Calico sequins on the one card and Pretty Pink Posh clear drops on the second card.

Below are some pictures of the individual cards.

I'm also linking up my cards at:

Darnell's NBUS challenge

SSS Wednesday challgenge - Pop it up

I'm linking up my turquoise card at:

Inkspirational -  #144 Hello

Java great day

I have another card to share for the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

I stamped my image and sentiment (Coffee Break by Whimsy Stamps) onto a small panel that I had created after I had finished blending the inks through the MFT stencil for my previous coffee card. I lightly spritzed the ink that was still on my stencil and then pressed the stencil onto my panel, creating a monoprint. I adhered my stamped panel to a smooshed distress oxide ink panel and adhered this to my cardbase. To finish off, I added some twine and a hint of colour to my cup using a coloured pencil I happened to have on hand.

I'm also linking up my card at:

Whimsy Stamps challenge - #99 Anything goes

MFT Pure Innocence

Hello. I'm back with my third and last card for the annual MFT Card Design Superstar contest. I am by no means an accomplished colourist with any medium, but when I saw Sandy Allnock's recent Create in Color post at the MFT blog, I decided to take out the only Pure Innocence stamp I own (Fresh Squeezed) and sat down to do some watercolouring using my Winsor & Newton paints, thinking I would at least get some practice even if it did not work out. And I have to admit, I enjoyed both the process and the result. Yay!

After stamping my image using black Archival ink onto my watercolour panel, I started with a wash of blue at the top for the sky and a wash of green at the bottom for the grass. I then decided the grass was too dull, so I added a mix of greens to create the mottled effect, and also used these greens to paint the illusion of trees in the background. I added in a little brown for the shading below the sweet little girl. In hindsight, I think I could/should have added a dirt path the way Sandy did, so that's a lesson for next time lol.

After my background was dry, I painted the image. To finish off, I stamped the sentiment, added a little Wink of Stella to the blue bands of the dress and glossy accents to the shoes and glass, and adhered the panel flat to an aqua blue cardbase.

Below is another picture giving a better view of the glitter and glossy accents (click on the image to enlarge).

I'm linking up my card at:

MFT 2017 Card Design Superstar - Coloring Viruoso

CAS Mix Up - Stamping, watercolour wash + 

watercolour paints, glitter, glossy accents

HLS Watercolour - Anything goes

Thinking about you

It's time for this year's Fall edition of the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, so I grabbed one of the few coffee/tea-themed stamp sets that I own (Coffee Break by Whimsy Stamps) and started by stamping the coffee/tea cup and sentiment in Versafine sepia ink. Next, I masked off the top and left op my panel and blended distress oxide inks (the same colours I used on my previous card: peeled paint, wild honey and frayed burlap) through an MFT stencil (Moroccan Lattice). At this point, I decided that my cup did not need any colouring, so I simply adhered my panel to a dark green cardbase (SSS) and called my card done! I'm thinking this design would be perfect for creating a set of cards using different colours.

I'm linking up my card at:

2017 Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Whimsy Inspiration challenge - #99 Anything goes 

AAA Cards - #99 Autumn colours

Cards in Envy - Easy as 1,2, 3

SSS Wednesday challenge - Clean and Simple

A note of thanks

As promised, I'm back with a second card for the current Card Design Superstar contest at the MFT blog. This one is for the Clean and Simple Genius category. Not sure about the Genius part, but my card is definitely Clean and Simple, and with an autumn theme, it also fits in some other current challenges.

I stamped the three smallest images from the MFT Fall Friends stamp set onto a panel of watercolour cardstock with the help of my Misti, so that I could do some selective stamping in two colours, using distress oxide inks (peeled paint and wild honey). After stamping the images, I carefully went over the lines with a small damp paint brush to create the oxide effect and draw in a little colour inside the lines, and then added in a little brown using frayed burlap DOI. Next, I heat embossed the sentiment (from the same set) in gold and then wrapped a piece of twine around my panel before foam mounting my panel my dark green cardbase (SSS).

I'm also playing at:

AAA Cards - #99 Autumn colours

Cards in Envy - Easy as 1, 2, 3

The Paper Players - PP362 Harvest

MCV84 and MFT Superstar

My Favorite Things have launched their annual Card Design Superstar contest, and I was determined to play along in at least two of the three categories. So when I was creating my card for the current Muse ChristmasVisions prompt using some MFT goodies, it suddenly hit me how I could kick my design up a notch for the Innovation Master category.

The gold image on a gold panel was inspired by Kimberly's Muse card, shown below.

I started by rubbing Inka gold onto a panel of Neenah white cardstock using my finger. I then gold heat embossed the tree from the Merry Christmoose set three times for extra dimension (thank goodness for the Misti) and then heat embossed the sentiment only once. Next, I used a craft knife to cut an opening in the basket to create a mini shaker element, which I filled up with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins (Classic Christmas mix).  Here's a close-up showing the dimension from the triple heat embossing.

One down, two to go! Stay tuned for my next contest entry!

Bloomtangled 2

After creating the card in my previous post, I decided I might just as well use the rest of my coloured image for a second card. I fussy cut around the coloured area, adhered it to a cardbase that is slightly smaller than an A2 and stamped a sentiment from a Concord & 9th set (Brushed blossom) for a quick and CAS card. I really love how this one turned out.

I'm linking this one up at STAMPlorations to celebrate their new colouring book, Bloomtangled. On this page you can also download this sampler page for free.

STAMPlorations September theme and sketch 

STAMPlorations Never-ending Anything goes challenge

Kathy's 30D colouring challenge

Bloomtangled colouring page

Just popping in with a quick post to show a project I created using the free downloadable page from the new colouring book by STAMPlorations.

I had printed the page on different types of paper and spent some time on Saturday and Sunday colouring part of the page using different mediums (Intense pencils and SN coloured pencils).

Tonight, I managed to squeeze in just a little crafting time to create the following card using the page I had coloured using Inktense pencils. The printer ink had washed out somewhat, so I went over the lines with a Micron pen. The heat embossed sentiment is from a recent purchase from STAMPlorations.

I'm linking up at:

STAMPlorations September theme and sketch 

STAMPlorations Never-ending Anything goes challenge

Kathy's 30D colouring challenge

B happy

Okay, so I thought I was done creating cards for the Gossip Column, but when I realised that today was also the last day to enter the Winnie & Walter's Rerun challenge, which is focusing on the Sugar Rush stamp set, I knew I had to create one more card today.  I bought this stamp set earlier this year, but had not had a chance to use it yet.

One of the inspiration photos in Taheerah's post had this fun fruity cake, and I thought I would try to create my own version using the Sugar Rush set. I stamped the cake and the donuts-turned-pineapple-slices onto a piece of scrap cardstock, coloured the images using Copics and fussy cut them out. I then stamped the cake stand in dark grey ink onto a smooshed panel from my box of previously created backgrounds, die cut the panel using the large die from the Noelle Cutaways set, adhered my cake using liquid glue and my pineapples using liquid glue and small foam squares. After I had added my panel to my soft pink cardbase, I decided I wanted to heat emboss my sentiment on top of the cake. I masked off the 'OY' from the 'BOY' sentiment before stamping with Versamark and then stamped the 'HAPPY' next to it before heat embossing using Liquid Platinum ep.

This sweet little card does make me happy. How about you?

 Challenges:

Taheerah's Gossip Column at W&W - No. 8 Summer fruits

W&W Rerun challenge - Sugar Rush stamp set

HLS Watercolour - Anything goes

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

SSS Work It - Favourite stamps 

(W&W stamps are among my favourites)