Wildflower Twofer

I was determined to try and create another twofer for the current Twofer Card Challenge, this time making sure to use a stamp.

For my first card, I used the wildflower stamp from A little bit sketchy: Silhouette Wildflowers to attempt some faux watercolour. It took a little experimenting using Tombow markers, a misting bottle and distress inks to get the look I was after. Well, not exactly, but in the end I love how this turned out. The bench, grass and bird stamps are from the same Creative Stamping set that I used for my owl twofer back in January.  The sentiment stamp is from the SOA Naturally Inspired Collection (Medallion Mix-up) and red flowers were stamped with a stamp from the wildflower set from the same SOA collection. The frame was created using my NBUS Antique frame dies by Penny Black.

I'm also linking up this card at:

CAS Watercolour - Garden

The Flower Challenge -  #18 Anything goes

HLS Watercolour challenge - Anything goes (option: home)

SSS Wednesday - Floral Frenzy

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For my second card, I used masked off most of the flowers, so that I could use the tips of my three flowers as frills for my balloon strings. Next, I stamped the balloons (Birthday Balloons, SSS) using Catherine Pooler inks (Mandarine Spice, Sauna and Green Tea). After inking up my stamps, I stamped off once (lightly) and then used the rock-and-roll technique to add more ink to only part of the stamp before stamping. I white heat embossed (SSS) my sentiment (It's your day, Hero Arts) onto a strip of black cardstock. This was one of the first Birthday sentiment sets that I bought, and I love that it has so many birthday sentiments in different styles and sizes. I still think this is a must have set. I drew in the remainder of my balloon strings using a black Sharpie marker before adhering the sentiment strip to my stamped panel using liquid glue and then adhered my panel to my A2 card base.

I'm linking up this card at:

A Blog Named Hero - Favourite Hero Arts product

ATSM - #284 Clean and simple

Seize the Birthday - Anything goes (no toppings for me)

Stencil twofer

As mentioned earlier this week, I created several cards using stencils this weekend. Today I'm sharing the two cards that I made using the same rose stencil.

My first card is a really clean and simple one.

I placed a segment of my stencil over my scored and folded card base (Neenah solar white), masked off the part of the stencil that I did not want to use and sprayed the flowers that I did want using 3 shades of pink Tombow markers and the distress spritzer tool. After I had removed the stencil and the masking tape, I stamped the sentiment (Enchanted Garden, SugarPea Designs) in Versafine black ink.

I'm linking up this card at:

LIM - #367 OLC Stencils

AAA Cards - #111 Use only one third

The Flower Challenge - #18 Anything goes

SSS Wednesday - Floral Frenzy

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Next, I decided to create a second card using the same stencil but a different technique, thinking I could link up my cards for Darnell's Twofer challenge. But I should have read the FAQs first, which clearly state that participants should use the same STAMP or DIE to create their twofer. However, Darnell encouraged me to share my cards anyway, even if I'm not eligible for any prize. And of course, I do have two more cards to add to my stash.

For this one, I ran my white panel with the stencil through my Cuttlebug using a thick embossing mat and then took my lightest pink Copic marker (RV000) to add a little colour to my roses with the stencil still in place. I rounded one corner of my panel (1/2", after tearing the corner using my paper trimmer), and did the same (rounding the corner, that is) with my card base, after heat embossing a border using my new rose gold embossing powder (Simon Says Stamp). For my popped up sentiment, I die cut the Hello sentiment using an older Little B die. For a unified look, I also rounded the corners of my sentiment strip (1/4") and then heat embossed it using the same ep. To finish off my design, I smeared a little Versamark ink over parts of the roses using my finger, sprinkled some ep and heat set this.

I'm linking up this card at:

The Flower Challenge - #18 Anything goes

SSS Wednesday - Floral Frenzy

Cards in Envy - No patterned paper

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And here's a picture of my two cards together.

I'm linking up my twofer at the Twofer Card Challenge, even if I'm playing just for fun.

CASEing myself

When I started creating the Christmas card of my previous post, I instantly had an idea for yet another card. I love when that happens.

This time, I heat embossed the music bar in gold (Papermania) and blended distress inks over it (Candied apple, Mowed lawn). For my inlaid dies cuts, I used a die from the Bird Shapes dies (Essentials by Ellen) and one of the Holly Twigs dies (Marianne Designs). I added a few thin and tiny foam squares under the wings and tail of the bird and the tips of the holly to give my die cuts some lift and added a little red and glossy accents to the embossed berries of my holly twig.

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Hark the Herald Angels Sing

CAS Christmas - Holly

Merry Monday - #282 Inspiration photo 

I focused on the colours (red, green, gold) and the greenery

AAA Cards - #111 Use only one third 

(this might be a borderline case, but I'm sharing it anyway)

Penny Black and More - Feature a creature

Two rainbow cards

Last week's challenge at StampNation was to CASE a card of SN member Michelle Allison and here's what I came up with this weekend.

I focused on Michelle's rainbow stripes with sentiment underneath, partial black border and black and white sentiment on top of the rainbow.

I used:

Stamps - Blue Skies (Papertrey Ink), sentiment from Birdie Banners (Concord & 9th)

Dies - Smile (SSS), circle die (Lifestyle Crafts)

Inks - Versafine black, Catherine Pooler inks (Royal treatment, Juniper mist, All that jazz, Grass skirt, Melon ice, Sauna, Rockin' red)

Today, I decided to create another CASE, adapting my design for a couple of current challenges in blog land.  I used the same CP inks, but this time I blended them over a masked area onto which I had black heat embossed the music stamp from the SOA Winterhaven collection (CP). For the inlaid sentiment I used the Noel cutaway die by Winnie and Walter and I added a little shimmer using a Spectrum Noir shimmer brush.

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Hark the Herald Angels Sing

AAA Cards - #111 Use only one third

Winnie and Walter color combo with Heather H.

Going green

I have been playing in my craftroom this weekend and decided to have some fun using some stencils that I had not used before, and to combine a few fun challenges.

I started by selecting a corner of the Modern Triangles stencil by Neat & Tangled and taping it down onto my cardstock and craft mat using blue painter's tape. I selected a few Prismacolors in three shades of green to selectively colour in the open areas. I first did a light round where the up and down pencil strokes were clearly visible, but then decided to go over everything a second time to add more colour and to lightly smooth out the colouring. Green is not my go to colour (I gravitate more towards the teals and blues), but I love how this turned out. Colouring this way was great fun too, so I may create a few more in different colours soon.

I'm linking up my card at:

LIM - #367 Stencils (one-layer card)

AAA Cards - #111 Use only one third

The Card Concept - #88 Monochromatic green

(I created a clean and graphic card)

CAS-ual Fridays - #195 Going green

Seize the Birthday - Anything birthday goes 

(no toppings for me)

Spring card

Hello there! I pulled out a NBUS Uniko set (Marvellous Mehndi) and my Tombow markers to create a spring-themed birthday card for Uniko's 6th birthday linky party. I had already finished my card before I saw the inspiration photo for the new challenge, but I was thrilled to see that I had used the exact same colours. Such a happy coincidence.

I'm also linking up my card at:

Uniko challenge - #46 Colours

Crazy for CAS - #4 Lente/Spring

CAS on Friday - #128 Celebration card with sequins

HLS Watercolour challenge - Anything goes

CAS Christmas using scraps

I had some more leftovers from a few recent cards, so I decided to combine them into a very CAS Christmas cards.

The sentiment circle was left over from the watercoloured panel from this card, while the felt heart was one of the four that I had die cut for this card. I did stack the sentiment with another that I cut from white cardstock for additional sturdiness and texture.

I'm linking up my card at:

AAA Cards - #109 Die cuts only

Cards in Envy - Give it some heart

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

WW Using up scraps - 3 cards

I have 3 more cards to share for the 4th birthday bash celebration at the Winnie and Walter blog.
These three cards were made using only scraps, which was the challenge that Kelly had in store for us. The cards were fairly quick to make, if you're not counting the time I spent on gathering my scrap panels and bits that I had stored in different places. I still have enough scraps, including panels and card bases left to create a few more cards. Anyway, this was a fun challenge and it made me combine items I might not have combined otherwise.

So here goes:

A smooshed panel that I created earlier this month using Catherine Pooler inks. See my card here to see how I used the first of my three panels. My current panel was created using watercolour card, an embossing folder and Inka gold. Such a totally different look! The critter (watercoloured usingTombow markers) is what was left after creating this card.

I'm linking up this card at:

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Use your scraps with Kelly

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Die challenge with Lydia

52CCT - Watercolour

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A test panel using up some left-over gold acrylic paint that was left on my craft mat, a white glitter card die cut and a left-over fussy-cut poinsettia that had been coloured using alcohol markers

I'm linking up this card at:

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Use your scraps with Kelly

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Die challenge with Lydia

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Inspiration challenge with Gayatri

Merry Monday - #279 Poinsettias

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A small, splattered panel, a left-over die cut and a coloured critter that I found in one of my boxes. I decided to add three of the stray sequins that I had found in one of my containers with bits and pieces.

I'm linking up this card at:

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Use your scraps with Kelly

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Die challenge with Lydia

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

WW embossing with dies

Still working on uploading my cards for Winnie and Walter's 4th Birthday Bash.

This card was inspired by two cards that Kelly Griglione had created using the Scenery: V for Chevron stamps. Taheerah challenged us to take an old creation from the DT members and do a remake with a twist. I used the largest die from Noelle cutaways (W&W) to do some embossing. After embossing, I used masking tape along the dotted indents and coloured in my scallops using 4 colours of Tombow markers. I then pierced the dots using a piercing tool.The sentiment is from Carolina's Flora (W&W).

I'm linking up this card at:

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Comeback challenge with Taheerah

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Four challenge with Shay

W&W 4th Birthday Bash - Die challenge with Lydia

Uniko 6th birthday linky party