Bloom Away

Posted: August 16, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Bloom Away, CAS | 12 Comments

P1030154card13

My parents arrived from Australia a week or so ago, with this stamp set.  It is an SU set but I don’t imagine it will ever appear in my Canadian catalog because it features Australian native flowers.  I was browsing some blogs one day and saw a card which featured a gum blossom, so followed up the card information to find the set in the Australian catalog.  My dad  located a demonstrator not far from their place and… now I have a new set.

The set includes a waratah, a gum blossom and a banksia, these are a couple of my first attempts with the gum and banksia.  I know the gum blossom will be my favourite stamp from the set.  I have like gum blossoms ever since my  mum read Snugglepot and Cuddlepie to me when I was five or six.  I even won a prize in Grade 1, when I dressed up as Ragged Blossom for a Book Week parade!

I stamped the full image twice for both cards, once in green, once in black.  I coloured the black images using  watercolour pencils, ink from the stamp pad lids and a blender pen.  I then punched out a feature square from the coloured image, matted it and attached it to the green image with stampin’ dimensionals.  In the gum blossom card above I masked the edge of the background image using a post-it note and then stamped the left of the stamp again to create a larger bunch of blossom.

P1030149card12

Thank you for dropping in today and a special thanks for the encouraging comments people have been leaving for me.  I have really enjoyed your kind words.

Supplies:

Stamps: Bloom Away, Fundamental Phrases
Inks: Basic Black, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Pixie Pink
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Whisper White
Also:  Faber-Castell watercolour pencils, square punches

Happy Birthday Stamp Simply

Posted: August 13, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Extreme Surfboard | 28 Comments

Sharon is celebrating over at No Time to Stamp because the Friday Stamp Simply  challenge is turning 100.  The 100th challenge is to make a birthday card.   Sharon  invited a bunch of guests to celebrate and I was happy  to be included.  There is quite a line up of talented stampers with all sorts of birthday projects and blog candy galore!

IMG_8568card11

My parents are staying with me at present and asked whether I could make a card for a 21 year old young man.   As you know I make very few masculine cards but I have a few new stamps which should change that a bit.  I bought three of the new SU Extreme stamps with my son, his friends and my nephews in mind.  This is my first effort with the Extreme Surfer stamp.

I began by flicking embossing fluid on watercolour paper with a paintbrush.  I then embossed in white and soaked the watercolour paper with water.  I used three reinkers to create the surf and then waited for it to dry before embossing the surfer.  Actually that is not quite true, I should have waited until it was totally dry because a couple of wet patches did retain a bit of black embossing powder.  In Australia your twenty-first birthday is considered a milestone so my parents thought it would be appropriate to have 21 on the front of the card.  None of my numeral stamps looked right so I wrote the words on with a black fineliner.  I then fiddled around with the mattes and split the scene in three panels.  Inside is a repeat of the surfer on a Not quite navy splodge.

Edited to add: A few people have asked what embossing fluid is.  It is a fluid for re-inking a clear embossing pad, I bought it quite a long time ago,  I wonder if the versamark pad refill in the SU catalog  is the same sort of thing.

Thanks for dropping in, make sure you check out the great projects completed by the other birthday guests.

  1. Pat Adam – Christmas Gift Tags with BLOG CANDY

  2. AJ – 1 Card Done 3 Ways

  3. Janine – A Stress Free Summer Menu with BLOG CANDY

  4. Tammy – Birthday Reminder Book with BLOG CANDY

  5. Jennifer – Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY

  6. Julie – Card Set in Tote with Directions

  7. Barbara–  Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY

  8. Deb– Tutorial on Dying Silk Ribbon Using Copics and Refills

  9. Jenny– Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY

  10. Jerri – Birthday Card and Tutorial on Hand Embossing with Light Box

  11. Joan– Birthday Card and Etched Glass with BLOG CANDY

  12. LeAnne – Birthday Card with Glitter

  13. Barb– Birthday Cake 3-D Gift Item with BLOG CANDY

  14. Darlene – Birthday Card with Special Recipe

  15. Rose Ann– Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY

  16. Leslie – Gift Tin of Soaps with Coordinating Card

  17. Heather – Birthday Card  (that’s me!)

  18. Sabrina– Birthday Card with BLOG CANDY

  19. Sharon– Monogrammed Birthday Gift Set with BLOG CANDY

Supplies:

Stamps: Extreme Surfboard
Inks: Versamark, Not quite Navy, Night of Navy, Buckaroo Blue, Basic Black
Cardstock: Not quite Navy, Basic Black, Whisper White
Also:  White e.p., clear e.p., Pilot fineliner

So thankful

Posted: August 12, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Lovely as a Tree, My Kid's cards | 2 Comments

P1030144Lcard2

A few days ago I posted the birthday cards my girls made for each other.  Today I have a card my fifteen year-old made for my husband and me and gave to us on her birthday.  We were surprised to be receiving a card but there was a beautiful hand made gift too, which blew us away.  I wrote about it here

Supplies:

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, All Year Cheer
Inks: Versamark, Not quite Navy
Cardstock: Not quite Navy, Brushed Silver, Whisper White
Also:  Silver e.p.

Birthday girls

Posted: August 8, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Branch Out, Itty Bitty Buds | 4 Comments

IMG_8308Lcard1

Above is the card my 15 year old daughter made for her 13 year sister on her birthday.

Below is the card my 13 year old made for her sister for her birthday.

Two very different cards.
Two very striking cards.
Two lovely and talented girls, but then I am biased!

IMG_8440Acard1

Supplies:

Stamps:  Branch Out, Itty Bitty Buds, Simple Sayings 2
Inks: Basic Black, Bold Brights & Rich Regals markers, Summer Sun, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Whisper white, Basic Black, Pixie Pink, Summer Sun, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie

Brayered backgrounds

Posted: July 29, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Garden silhouettes, Inspired by Nature, Upsy Daisy | 7 Comments

I  have been working on this trio of cards for a couple of days .  The idea had been in my head for a while but when I saw  Susan’s masked and stippled cards here I was inspired to make these cards with a masked rectangular focus.

IMG_8323card7b

There was a bit of trial and error involved.  I masked with post-it notes and then brayered with two colours.  Both the orange card and the grey/green card took four attempts.  Each time the brayering went through the post-it notes or the silhouette touched outside the brayered space or the post-it note tore the cardstock but finally I achieved what I had set out to do.  The grasses card worked first time?!

IMG_8329card8b

I stamped over the brayering with Basic Black ink, sometimes more than once to make a solid image.  I had trouble photographing these cards.  I think I need to spend some time with the camera manual.

IMG_8346card9d

Things I learnt while making these cards:

  • Sometimes it is necessary to mask with two layers of post-it notes so the brayering won’t go through, mark the edge or the cardstock and turn what was going to be a one layer card into a two layer card.
  • It is probably best to use a fresh post-it note to mask the second, third or fourth attempt, they did come from the dollar store after all.
  • Rather than try and use your stamp-a-ma-jig after you have stamped an incomplete image, stamp with it the first time, them it is in place for the second and third inking.
  • If you stamp on your stamp-a-ma-jig imaging sheet with waterproof black ink you might want to wash it straight away.

Hmmm…

Supplies:

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Inspired by Nature, Garden Silhouettes, Everyday Flexible Phrases
Inks: Pumpkin Pie & Summer Sun,  Brocade Blue & Mellow Moss,  Sage Shadow & Bordering Blue
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla, Brocade Blue, Bordering Blue, Whisper White
Also:  Brayer

FTL 52

Posted: July 27, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Garden silhouettes, Thoughts and Prayers | 2 Comments

IMG_8306card6c

I am enjoying the wide range of Clean & Simple cards being created around the place these days.  I came across the Clean & Simple stamping blog the other day and decided to play along with their current challenge FLT52.

I chose a favourite set of mine, Garden Silhouettes.  I inked the whole stamp in Pretty in Pink then used markers to ink in the red centres and green leaves and stems over the top.  I did a little masking to overlap the branches a little.  The flower is made with the Boho Blossoms punch and a red brad.

Supplies:

Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Thoughts and Prayers
Inks: Real Red and Garden Green Markers,  Pretty in Pink
Cardstock: Garden Green,  Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Also:  Real Red brad, Boho Blossoms Punch

Andy Warhol inspired

Posted: July 26, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Baroque Motifs, Itty Bitty Buds, Lovely as a Tree, One of a Kind, Pocket Silhouettes, Season of Friendship, With Gratitude | 4 Comments

The title should really read ” Andy Warhol and Lateblossom inspired!  A few days ago Susan at Simplicity by Lateblossom  issued a  challenge to search through our stamp collections and try making a Andy Warhol inspired card along the same lines as her two cards here and here.

IMG_8313card5

I was pretty certain that the only images I had that would work were  flowers and snowflakes.  Susan had already made a striking snowflake card so I tried flowers and then realized I might have enough leaves to try again.  The flowers are stamped on Whisper White and the leaves on Confetti Cream.

IMG_8321card4

Thanks for dropping in, hope you are having a great day.

Supplies (Flower Card):

Stamps: Itty Bitty Buds, Baroque Motifs, One of a Kind, Pocket Silhouettes, Season of Friendship
Inks:  Bravo Burgandy, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Ruby Red
Cardstock: Whisper White

Supplies (Leaf Card):

Stamps: Itty Bitty Buds, With Gratitude, Lovely as a Tree, Pocket Silhouettes, Season of Friendship
Inks:  Ruby Red, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Handsome Hunter, Garden Green
Cardstock: Confetti Cream

CAS24 Colour Challenge

Posted: July 23, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: CAS, Paint Prints | 1 Comment

IMG_8270card3

My best laid plans for a card a day during the summer, or even one every couple of days, have come to nought so far.  I have a painting project which is my first priority.  I have never painted a room before and it has been a little nerve wracking at times.  I think I am over half way through now and it looks pretty good.

I thought I’d make a quick card before I got started with the paintbrush this morning so I turned to the CAS challenge for the week.  A CAS card is sure to be quick, right?  Not always.  It took a few takes before I was happy, then I stamped the sentiment and it was crooked!  Perfect chance to use my new oval punch.  These colours are not colours I would normally reach for,  I rarely grab the Bold Brights but they do make happy cards.  I inked the flowers on the yellow pad first, then rock ‘n’ rolled them on the orange.

Thanks for dropping in, I’m off to do some more painting.

Supplies:

Stamps: Paint Prints, Best Yet
Inks: Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Tempting Turquoise
Cardstock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise

CAS23 Showing some artwork

Posted: July 14, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: CAS, Eastern Influences | 2 Comments

IMG_8192card2

There are several challenges I would like to play along with on a regular basis and the Clean & Simple challenge at Splitcoast is definitely one.   This week the challenge is to get our inspiration from the huge art site  art.com I am hoping to go back for more inspiration later, but for starters I chose this asian style piece:   Spring Flowers Light Green

My images from Eastern Influences are stamped and embossed in detail gold embossing powder and coloured with SU markers.  I have added some smudges of red around the images because, after they appeared on the Very Vanilla cardstock on my second attempt, I decided I would rather incorporate a bit of smudging than start on a third try!

Supplies:

Stamps: Eastern Influences
Inks: Versamark
Cardstock: Basic Black, Confetti Cream, Very Vanilla
Also: Detail Gold embossing powder, Real Red, Garden Green, Brilliant Blue, Close to Cocoa markers

My birthday girl

Posted: July 13, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: In Full Bloom | 3 Comments

IMG_8167card1

I know I promised another card by my daughter but time got away from me so instead I have the card I made for my daughter who turned thirteen today.

Her favourite colours are green and yellow, so I stamped the flowers with versamark and summer sun, then the stems in versamark and green galore before embossing in clear.  The colouring is done with SU markers.  I haven’t really used them like this before, I usually colour directly onto stamps with them.  I was please to be able to get some darker definition just by colouring over with the same colour.

The bee is cut out and stuck down on the body only so the wings could flap.  I added extra stem and dots with a marker and wrote my own Happy Birthday greeting.

Thanks for dropping in today, I’d better go there are birthday details to attend to!

Supplies:

Stamps: In Full Bloom
Inks: Versamark, Summer Sun, Green Galore
Cardstock: Whisper White, Confetti White, Gable Green
Also: Gable Green, Green Galore, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Close to Cocoa Markers

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →