Yellow Rose

Hi

It's my turn to share a card for our challenge at Die Cut Divas...

I used Big Rose from our sponsor

I printed my image onto my card and then used some Frisker gum to mask the rose.  I then used some Catherine Pooler Sauna ink to sponge through a die cut circle window.    Once it was all dried, I removed the masking gum and added some touches of yellow pencils around the rose.  I added a Hero Arts sentiment.  Added some sequins with a touch of 3D drops.

Christmas cards - Poinsettias

Poinsettias are a favourite for me when making Christmas cards.  I have a number of stamps and dies that I can use.  My latest two Christm
as cards both use Poinsettias. 

First up is a card using a stunning Digital stamp from Graciellie Designs (from the Hello Christmas set)

I printed the Poinsettia and the pine cone onto some lightweight watercolour paper and used Altenew watercolour paints to colour and add some splatter.    I trimmed it down, layered with some dark green paper and onto a white base.   There is a little bit of Wink of Stella on the flower and pine cone. 

My second card used a stamped Poinsetta that I fussy cut out.

The Poinsettia - a Kiwi Stamping one - was stamped onto a piece of Yupo paper coloured with Alcohol inks and foiling.  I fussy cut the flower.   I took a piece of double sided patterned paper and using a Kaisercraft Poinsettia stamp and some Altenew green ink.   I used another Kaisercraft stamp set to stamp the sentiment.   I added the diecut Poinsettia over the stamped one. A stripe of the reverse side of the patterned paper finished off my card.   I have entered this into the Using Punches/Dies challenge at Sweet Stampin' Challenge blog and the Christmas at Sweet Stampin' challenge.

I also got to spend some time this weekend making more Alcohol ink backgrounds as well as enjoying a nice warm sunny day today - sitting outside this morning with a beautiful bright sky

It did cloud up a bit later in the day but we got to sit outside for most of the day.

Thanks for stopping by

Alcohol ink blending...inspired by Jennifer

I really enjoy watching Jennifer McGuire's videos and techniques as she always has something fun to try.  Her Alcohol blending technique is no exception.  It involves using a special alcohol pen to "lift" the alcohol ink from your background.   I have had two of these pens - had them for years but haven't used them much so this afternoon I got to try out the technique.  I had made some backgrounds last weekend and a few more this afternoon.  I took one of my pinky red backgrounds and a Hero Arts stamp.

I stamped the background piece first with Versamark and white embossed it.  Then used Rose Gold powder to emboss the same image onto some white card.  Unfortunately I took my stamp off my MISTI before remembering that I wanted to white emboss again once I had lifted the ink.   And as it was a red rubber stamp, it was too difficult to re-align.   I also added a bit too much of the Alcohol blending solution to my pen and it splattered a few times...   I added the "lifted" ink to the white card.  I also coloured up the Dovecraft diecut with some ink from the rest of the background I had created.   I used a stacked diecut (cut 3 times) on my coloured background.  And added some gold Wink of Stella on top for a bit of sparkle.

I'm entering the first one into the Monochromatic Challenge at A Blog Named Hero and the second one in to the CAS challenge at A2Z Scrapbooking and Use punches or dies over at the Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you get to have some fun crafting this weekend.

Spots and Dots at Southern Girls Challenge.

It's my team's turn to showcase our designs at Southern Girls Challengee today.  Our theme is Spots and Dots and we have two lovely sponsors this time

I used a gorgeous image from The Paper Shelter called Hammock Days.  It comes with a background you can print as well as a fully coloured image and JPEG and PNG files.  I took the precoloured background and using Word in Microsoft Office suite, added it to my base card.  I then used the PNG uncoloured image on top .

I used Copic markers to colour up the hammock image.  I added white gel pen dots to the leaves, flowers, the headband and top of the girl, and added white dots to the blanket as well as black dots to the white flowers.  I had little bits of Copic colouring to the leaves and flowers to give some more dimension.

Do come join us at Southern Girls Challenge for our latest challenge... Spots and Dots. 

Twofer Card Challenge #9 - Leaves

I woke this morning with a massive headache.... all I wanted to do was sleep... so I did till nearly 11.00am.  A couple of Paracetamol and something to eat and felt a bit better.  So did some blog hopping and saw a few girls doing Darnell's Twofer Card Challenge.   I've seen this challenge before but never got myself organised enough.  Challenge #9 is Leaves.  I have a Catherine Pooler Leaf stamp set "Leaf Motifs" that has never been used -still sealed in my stamp drawer.  So this was a good time to get it out.  The idea behind the challenge is to use one stamp or die based on the theme, in two different sort of cards.   So here are my two cards 

 One a sort of Autumn/Fall thanksgiving type of card and the other one a Christmas one.

 For this first one, I took the leave from the set and stamped it onto some lightweight water colour paper and using my Altenew paints added some greens and orange-brown colours.  My background was a cheerful mistake.  I used my cloth to dab off some of the excess water/paint and accidentally pressed it onto the card.  The texture caused a "rag roll" type of background which I really loved, so did some more.  Finished with a large greeting from another Catherine Pooler set "Autumn Blessings: another NBUS set!   (got them when it was coming into Summer last year)   Anyhoo... edged the card panel with some gold paint pen and added it to a very dark wine coloured card base.

 For my second card I used the leaf together with a smaller one from the set, to make a Poinsettia which was embossed with Rose Gold powder from Altenew and painted with the Altenew paints.  A very loose watercoluring style was used and added some dark red/pink splatters and some gold splatters with a gold Wink of Stella pen. The sentiment from a CP Christmas set was embossed in the same Rose Gold onto some heavy weight vellum and a few sequins added.  

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you all have a great week.

Taking Time for ME....

Today I got to spend some time on my own as hubby went to watch his nephew play rugby... so I got into the craft room and had fun.... I had some cards I had to make....

First up, a new baby boy card for my niece

 I had a kit that I got many years ago but had never used.  It had this pretty paper that was my starting point.   I had the die cut circle on my desk.  The congrats sticker and ribbon came in the kit.  The little rocking horse is from a Penny Black set - again one of had for many years. 

Next up is a card for my Level 2 Altenew Educator Certification Program.  I got waylaid for a while and now am trying to catch up. .  Today I rewatched the Beyond Basics Backgrounds - taught by Lydia Evans.   An awesome class with lots of awesome ideas for up-ing your backgrounds.   I learnt so much from the class.  Lydia has such a fabulous way of teaching.  My card today is a CASE of Lydia's class using DIY stencil to create a background by die cutting and then sponge through the stencil before adding white embossed stamping,  My card is sponged in orange Altenew inks.  I used the matting panel to cut a stripe to emboss the sentiment

I used the Peony Bouquet stamp and die set. 
I am entering this card into the Anything Goes Challenge at The Flower Challenge.  

I also have been meaning for some time to get my Alcohol inks out.  I've been seeing some amazing backgrounds made with the inks and Yupo paper.    My inks are really old... nearly 8 years but I did get them to work.  I also added some spots of cooper foil to some of the spots

I also made a green coloured one as well.  I made up a Christmas card using a Poinsettia stamp.

The sentiment was heat embossed with a Kaisercraft sentiment.    I am entering this one into the August Essentials Challenge - using Alcohol inks

So all in all a good afternoon.  Thanks for sticking with me to the end. 

Family Birthday cards and watercolour flowers

It's been a week since I've posted here... I have been busy at work and doing my exercise that I haven't had much time to craft.   Over the weekend we were up at the Beach with our friends and after a lovely one hour walk with Yvonne, I played around with my pencils and watercolours. 

I made a few backgrounds and did some colouring of some florals with my Altenew watercolours.

Here's one I did for a friend who wanted to use the sentiment.  Hope she likes it.

 I used Catherine Pooler Designs - Grateful Heart stamp set.  I stamped it twice on watercolour paper and fussy cut the flowers to pop up.  

I'm entering this into the Watercooler Wednesday challenge. and Anything Goes at The Flower Challenge.


Today is my Dad's birthday.  I sent off his card over a week ago, but he is still waiting...

and my brother turns 60 on Friday. 

I made the record with the Fine circles die from Altenew. 

Watercolour - Basics and Beyond

Recently I took a watercolour class from Altenew taught by Jennifer Rzasa.   It was great as I had just got my Altenew watercolour pan set.   Jen really made watercolouring fun and the Altenew paints are stunning to use. 

One of the techniques we learnt was to use the watercolour as ink on your stamps.... I tried this with two different Altenew stamps  This first one is using Peony Bouquet.  I used only one layer of both the flower and leaves 

My  second card used Beautiful Day stamp set.  I used different watercolour paints to stamp the flower and leaves and added some freehand elements 
 

 

For my third card I used the technique we learnt to use Embossing with our paints.  I used the Altenew monthly inspiration colours with the Sweet Peas stamp.  Used a bit of watercolour wash around the flowers and of course splatters (a la Erum)

Still a few days homework to do... Did my stencils with a watercolour wash... a bit of a failure there!  But will look at what I can do with the background after seeing my friend Betty rescue her not quite successful attempt.

Thanks for stopping by.