OCC Spring Card Camp 2022 - Day 3 & 4

Note: Photo heavy post 

Hi there.   After feeling really blah on Friday - and not doing anything other than watching my class videos, I had a better day on Saturday and got a lot of backgrounds made with the techniques.  And today, was feeling even better so got 4 cards made...

Day 3 - 2 for 1 inked backgrounds.   Our tutors were Kristina Werner and Jenny Colacicco.  Kristina showed us techniques using a Gel Plate or even stamps and Jenny did a stencil technique using watercolour paper with ink and water.   I didn't get get around to doing any of Jenny's techniques so my first three cards are using Kristina's technique with the Gel Press. 

Kristina used a 6" round gel plate - I used a rectangle plate but liked the look of a circle so cut out a circle from card to make a mask.  I only have a few Distress Oxide inks - mainly in soft colours so had a go.  First go used some Wilted Violet DO and Broken China.  I used a Memory Box stencil (Raymelle) and added a layer with a touch of Worn Lipstick.  I got a bit of ink where I didn't want it... so trimmed the panel down and added a lilac card backing and some purple metallic washi.  Kristina did a bit of faux stitching on her cards so I tried it too.  The sentiment is from Kaisercraft and I die cut some little hearts from different die sets..

I tried again with some more of the Worn Lipstick and Wilted Violet.  

I did added some of the blue ink as well.  For this one, I trimmed the panel down and added a frame I had in my "stuff to be used" bowls.  I added two layers of thin stripes of card for dimension. I did the same for the sentiment... it's the centre of Altenew's Circled Greetings - hello.  Just cut out the sentiment bit.  Added a sub-sentiment from Hero Arts Stamp and Cut Hello set.   Finished with a few pearls.

My third cards is the Twofer bit of the above ones...  As I was using the brayer to add the ink to the gel plate, I brayer-ed the extra ink onto a card to get some lovely interesting patterns. This is what I made with that panel 

I trimmed the panel down and using Altenew's Antique Silver powder, embossed the Woodware set - Floral Wonder by Jane Gill.  I added a sentiment from the LDRS set.  The panel was matted onto Lilac card and then onto a dark grey card base. I added some pink sequins to finish.  This one was hard to photograph.

Day 4 -  Embossed resist with a Twist.   Heather Hoffman and Mindy Egan were the tutors and had two awesome techniques.  Heather used embossing and then used a layering stencil to to the resist.  I still have to try this one.  Got a new Altenew layering stencil this week so it's on my to make list!  Mindy's twist used embossed background and a Gel Plate and Shimmer powders.   So I pulled out an older Hero Arts background stamp and some Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders.  

The background stamp is Flower Medley (circa 2012)   I stamped in Hero Arts Unicorn ink and embossed with white powder.  I then used the Gel Plate with Aqua Lagoon, Purple Violet, Candy Pink and Peacock Green powders.  I spritzed the powers and the card and pressed it onto the plate.   The colours diluted a bit more than I thought they would, but love the soft look I obtained.  I was inspired by a Jennifer McGuire video for the card design.  I used Gina K ML 4 flag - modified to increase the length.  The sentiment is from Kaisercraft - Best Friend set.   The butterfly is 2 layers I had in my little bowls. 

Thanks for getting this far.  I'm back to working tomorrow - but will still work from home as I'm still coughing.   I have to stay isolating till I'm symptom free for 24 hrs.  All in all, I got off quite lightly... so pays to be fully vaccinated and boosted.    

OCC Spring Card Camp 2022 - more Day 1 & 2

 Another day of Iso.... feeling slightly better again so after a quiet morning watching videos and reading and after a little nap, I got a few more cards done for homework for OCC Spring Camp 2022.  I finished off the background I made yesterday for Day 2.  I used the lighter of the two I made.

For the blending I used Distress Oxides and then used Hero Arts Swirl stencil and Catherine Pooler Midnight ink.  This a a bit of a reverse Joseph's Coat technique, using stencils.  I white heat embossed a Hero Arts sentiment wooden stamp and die cut with a Simon Says Stamp circle die.  Finished with a few clear sequins with clear gems layer up.  

One of Jennifer's Day 1 Ink lifting techniques was to blend inks, stamp and clear emboss then spritz the panel, layer another one on top and run it through a die cutting machine.   The ink transfers to the top layer giving a lighter look.   I have tried this in the past with varying success.  First attempt today, my background stamp moved and I got a double stamping.... so into the scrap pile with it and had another go. 

I ink blended some Distress Inks in Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves and Festive Berries.  I took an older Hero Arts Wooden stamp background - Outline Flowers and embossed with Altenew translucent embossing powder (arrived in the mail today!) It gives a really pretty shimmer to the panel.  The second panel is so soft and delicate looking.   

Jennifer uses lots of little flowers on her cards.  This is not something I do... so had to go hunting in my stash for any small flower and leaf dies I had.  Found a couple of Poppy Stamps dies - Floral Cluster and Orchard Leaves and a few slightly larger ones in the Geo Floral Frame dies from Sizzix.  I cut the Sizzix dies from white and sponged ink onto them.  The small Floral Cluster I die cut from a mixture of different coloured card stock   On this one I used dies from all of them.   The Hello There is a Hero Arts Stamp and Cut die, stacked 3 times. 

For the lighter version, I used the Floral Cluster flowers - which comes in one die with different sizes - and added them in a visual triangle around the black die cut sentiment.  This one is from Catherine Pooler Designs.

I'm loving the classes.  Watched Day 3 this morning and hopefully I'll feel like playing tomorrow.  Although, Hubby thinks I should be doing the dusting and vacuuming - doesn't think that will be too strenuous for me!  We'll see... he's not working till the afternoon, so maybe he can do it himself!  

Thanks for taking the time to get through this long post.  I do appreciate each and every visit.   

OCC - Spring Card Camp 2022 - Day 1 and 2

 Hi there.   I'm taking the Online Card Class - Spring Camp 2022 - a perfect distraction while I am now isolating.... yeap... tested Positive for COVID this morning.   Watching the classes has been great and today after having an afternoon nap, I was feeling like doing some homework.

Day one - Ink Lifting.  Jennifer McGuire did two examples of ink lifting using stamps and Channin Pelletier used stencils to to her ink lifting.   I was intrigued with Channin's ideas so gave it a go.

I used three Distress Oxide inks... Broken China, Shaded Lilac and Evergreen Bough.  I blended them on some Bristol Smooth card - OMG so easy to blend!  I took a The Crafters Workshop stencil (Mini Winter Wonderland) and generously spritzed it with water before popping it down onto the ink.  Used a paper towel to dab the extra water.  Love the soft look of the ink lifting.   I trimmed the ink blended panel and added a WPlus9 Joy die (from Seasonal Sentiments die - discontinued) I layered it up three times and added Wink of Stella to the top layer.  I stamped the sub-sentiments from a Hero Arts Peace Stamp and Cut set above and below the die.  Added a few vellum snowflakes from the WPlus9 dies with some silver bling on top. 

Day 2 - Joseph's Coat.  This is an older technique, which Cathy Zielske did a bit of a different look using a stencil and Jennifer Frost-Ballas used a layering stencil and clear embossing to do her technique. 

I decided to try Cathy's technique.  

This was my first attempt... Used Catherine Pooler inks - but not too happy with this one - think it's a bit bright and in your face...but will finish it up and see if I can selvage it.   So decided to try a lighter colour way

For this one I used Distress Oxides and a Hero Arts Swirl Stencil.  I used CP Midnight ink for the black stenciling.   I am much happier with this one and will make it into a card in the next day or so.    Not sure how I will finish it off. 

Currently sitting in our upstairs lounge... while hubby, who is negative, is making the dinner!  He is an essential worker, so with a negative result can still work.  Just needs to test every day before heading to work.    Feeling okay - just a barking cough and a stuffy nose - plus tired from coughing in the night.  Good now I feel up to doing a bit of crafting.  

Take care out there.  

You're one of a kind...

 I have been home sick for the last couple of days... bad head cold with runny nose and sore throat,  - did a RAT test... negative so that was good.   I haven't felt like doing much - a little sewing today - Today's card was made on Sunday when I was just starting to feel unwell.  Inspiration for this came from a Gina K 5 minute video.  Gina used rubber bands to make a plaid background.   I could not find my bag of rubber bands so improvised to make a plaid background with a stamp.  I used Catherine Pooler's Peppermint Stick background.  I stamped it firstly with Sweet Sixteen ink and turned it 45 degrees and stamped it with Mint To Be ink... 

Due to the way it was stamped, I cut it down and layered it onto purple and then onto the white card base.   I used some ephemera from an Anko set called Blooms Die Cuts - I got this from K-Mart here in NZ.  The sentiment is one of a LDRS stamp and die set.  It stamps a number of sentiment all at once and then the matching die cuts them all at once.   It's great to have sentiments on hand.  I added some purple gems and called it finished.  

I'm still coughing and sneezing - hopefully will be able to head to work tomorrow.  I haven't been sleeping very well at night with all the coughing.   A dose of cough mixture before bed in the hope that I will sleep.  

A Sympathy card and Grace's 3rd birthday card.

 Two very different cards to share today.  

First up is the Sympathy card I sent to my team mate and bloggy friend - Linda - who recently lost her beloved Mother. 

I wanted some thing bright but still elegant - the heart is a Poppy Stamp die called Lacy Floral Heart split border.  I die cut it from white and used the dark pink behind it.  The card base was embossed with a frame folder and the pink and white panels where cut to fit inside the frame.  The sentiment was white embossed onto some of the pink card.  I added little pearl gems to each of the flowers on the die cut. 

And secondly is the fun card I made for Grace's 3rd birthday.

I made this cute little caterpillar using punched circles.  I added big googly eyes to the head.   After I took the photo I decided to add little feet to the caterpillar.  The sentiment is an older Hero Arts wooden stamp.    

Grace had her birthday party on Saturday..

She had a face painter come and she and her friends got their faces painted... and Nanny had to have a little butterfly too!   It was a lovely day and she had so much fun with her little friends.  

Gelli plate stamp lift technique

Today I am sharing another of my Gelli plate backgrounds.   I made this one into a card that went to my friend Suna, as part of our NZ technique swap group.  Our theme this month was to use Paint or Ink on our card.  This is why my Gelli plate came out on Saturday as I had seen a You Tube video by Nicole Watt (here) It was one where you put on your acrylic paint onto the plate and use stamps to lift the paint off.  You then let the paint dry.  Once dry, add a light layer of white paint.  I couldn't find my white paint so used white gesso and then did my print. 

Here's how I made it in the card

I used green and blue paint and did the lift technique with a Catherine Pooler stamp set.  I used a Spellbinders Hemstitch rectangle die cut out the bit I wanted on my card.   I matted it onto black card.  I used a sentiment from a new to me set from LDRS Creative - it's a stamp that is a lot of sentiments that you stamp all at once and then cut with the coordinating die.  Great to have a pile of sentiments on hand. 

Looking forward to a good weekend as our Princess is having her birthday party.  She turned 3 on Tuesday this week.  Where has the time gone!  

thanks for stopping by.

Gelli plate backgrounds.

 Yesterday I posted a picture of some of the Gelli plate backgrounds I made.  

Today I'm sharing two cards I made with some of them.

First up is the pink and gold one.  

I made a mini slimline card.  I used Altenew Natures Blossom stamp set to make the focal image.  Die cut a birthday sentiment from Honey Bee and added the sub-sentiment from the same set.

Next up was a one of the backgrounds that was a bit dark looking.  I'd added too much purple ink - but look at how great this one turned out.

I used a 3D embossing folder by Altenew and then a sanding block to take a bit of the paint off before running my Hero Arts Unicorn White ink lightly over the top.  The sentiment strip is from a pre-printed sheet by Taylored Expressions.  

I still have quite a few left to play with.  

Music for the Soul

 Continuing with the music theme... I've got a card I made about a week ago after I got my Simon Says Stamp order in the post.  I had ordered Gina K Designs - "Music for the Soul" and here's the card I made. 

It's a great stamp set.  The main image is big... fits an A2 US card base.  I used some Prisamcolor pencils and mineral spirits (Gamsol)  I really love how it turned out.  I decided it didn't need any more embellishments. 

Yesterday I had a bit of a play with some acrylic paint and my gel press.... 

 My NZ swap group this month has a theme of paint or ink... So I thought I'd play with paint.  Some look good and some a bit naff... but I've used one of the panels to make my card to send to Suna - will share when she's received it.  And made two other cards so far.  

Hope all the Mother's had a great day... I had a visit from my son and Grace with some lovely chocolates for me.  

Thanks for stopping by.