OLW 30 Inspiring Minds
Posted: November 25, 2010 Filed under: All That Glitters, CAS, Snow Swirled 7 CommentsJennifer has a great one layer challenge this week on her blog Styles Ink. The inspiration comes from some Christmas cards designed by Walter Erhard in the 1960’s. I browsed through all Jennifer’s links and saw a card I liked, but when I sat down to stamp I discovered the card I wanted was not on the designated page and a single picture of that card was not available. Although I will go back to that card and get inspired another time, I chose the card below for my inspiration this morning.
I didn’t set out to recreate it, but it appears that is what I have done. Where Erhard’s original card had a splat shaped ornament, which looks very twinkly, I have water droplet twinkles instead. I stamped the branches in versamark and then the snowflakes in versamark and grey. I then embossed the branches with black and the snowflakes with clear. The balls were made by positioning punched circle masks over the snowflakes and then sponging the whole card with Wild Wasabi.
Supplies:
Stamps: All That Glitters (Flourishes),Snow Swirled. All Year Cheer
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Basic Black, Versamark, Going Grey
Cardstock: Flourishes classic white
Also: Black and Clear e.p.
Penny Black wreath
Posted: November 24, 2010 Filed under: Adornment, CAS, Penny Black 5 Comments
If you have been visiting here for a while you would know that 99% of my stamps have always been Stampin’ Up. Not much has changed there; I still love the range and images at Stampin’ Up, but I have discovered a whole world of beautiful stamps from other companies. A year or so ago some gorgeous images from Flourishes started appearing once in a while on the blog because they were simply too hard to resist. I was browsing Sharon Johnson’s lovely blog the other day and saw a couple of beautiful stamps by Penny Black. After a little research I discovered I could buy those stamps not far from here. That’s right, no shipping, no waiting. So what I have to show you today are my first two cards made with the Penny Black stamp “Adornment”.
What I do not have to show you is my first attempt. I did think about photographing it and showing you what not to do, but camera issues continue around here so I didn’t bother. I will tell you that it looked considerably like a tumbleweed blowing across the prairie!
In the card above I inked the stamp with three different green markers and then spritzed it with water before stamping. I think those little circles almost look glittery – but, in fact no bling was applied to this card. On the card below I was a little more intentional with my markers, applying red on the bow and dots before creating some blur with the spritzer.
Supplies:
Stamps: Adornment (Penny Black), All Year Cheer, Best Yet
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Handsome Hunter, Garden Green & Real Red Markers
Cardstock: Flourishes classic white, Wild Wasabi
Inspired by…
Posted: November 22, 2010 Filed under: Baroque Motifs 4 Comments…my glasses case.
When the case for my glasses broke I picked out a much funkier one than the original provided by the optometrist. The more I looked at it the more I realized that the design would probably make a great panel for a card. So I brought my new case home and sat down with my stamps to recreate the design.
I stamped the little flowers and flourishes in black, the large flourishes in gold, then embossed in gold and added silver embossed flowers. Finally I drew some little lines of dots along some of the flourishes with a gel pen. Then the stamped panel sat on my desk for weeks while I waited for further inspiration. I decided the design needed very little more so just matted in gold and added a little sentiment that works well with flourishes.
Look around at the things you use everyday; you might be surprised at the inspiration you get.
Supplies:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Short & Sweet, Itty Bitty Buds
Inks: Versamark, Black, Gold, Silver
Cardstock: Brushed Gold, Eggplant
Also: Silver and gold e.p., gold gel pen
Watermarked Snowflake
Posted: November 17, 2010 Filed under: CAS, Snowflakes 5 Comments
This snowflake is from the now retired SU set “Snowflakes”; the first set I ever bought. I have parted with various sets over the years but I think I will always hold onto this one. I remember after moving to Canada the excitement in seeing snowflakes falling that were clearly 6-pointed shapes. It isn’t always obvious but occasionally they will fall on your coat or mitt and you can see the intricate design for just a moment before it dissolves.
To create this card I masked off the panel I wanted to colour then stamped the snowflake in versamark and embossed in clear. The sponging was all done in Brocade blue fading off into nothing on the right hand side. I then dropped water on the area I had stamped and sponged . What I didn’t realize until I removed the masks was that the water would seep under the post-it note masks. I don’t think it matters too much. I searched through my Christmas sentiments until I found one which was whimsical enough to match with the fluid style of the card.
Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: Snowflakes, Many Merry Messages
Inks: Versamark, Brocade Blue
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
OLW 28 A Mitten Maze
Posted: November 13, 2010 Filed under: CAS, Holiday Sampler 13 Comments
Some of you may remember when Susan from Simplicity inspired us to try some Andy Warhol style cards. I did a couple with flowers and leaves. I decided to revisit that idea for this week’s OLW challenge from Jennifer. She has challenged us to use five different colours on a one layer card this week. I have only one mitten stamp so it is repeated using the five different colours.
Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Sampler, Hugs & Wishes
Inks: Real Red, Brilliant Blue, So Saffron, Glorious Green, Lovely Lilac
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
OLW 27 Christmas Kindness
Posted: November 7, 2010 Filed under: All That Glitters, CAS 11 Comments
My order of heavy white card stock arrived this week so finally I can make some one layer cards on white again. One layer cards really need something heavier than Whisper White from Stampin Up but I let my supply run down without realizing and was without for a couple of weeks. I am stocked up again now and able to play along with Susan’s OLW challenge to make a holiday card which could be used by the inmates of the North Dakota State Penitentiary to send to their loved ones. The cards must be one layer and have no sparkles and or metal.
I have pulled out my mask and sponge technique again using Christmas baubles from Flourishes, first with a traditional colour scheme, then with the non-traditional. I masked with post-it notes, sponged in three colours, stamped the bauble stamp in the same colours then removed the masks and stamped the bauble in black. I drew the cord with marker and finally added the sentiment. In the card below the featured bauble is darker because I created a circle mask and sponged extra colour in that circle before stamping over the top in black.
I know we have used non-traditional Christmas colours on the OLW challenge before but I still like the reds and greens. What do prefer?
Supplies:
Stamps: Short and Sweet, All that Glitters(Flourishes), Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Basic Black, Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Not quite Navy, Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Pink Passion
Cardstock: Flourishes classic white
Limited supplies
Posted: November 6, 2010 Filed under: CAS, Designer Paper 1 Comment
I know there are limited supplies challenges around the place but this card isn’t for one of them. I have a friend at church who got into stamping through me and wanted some ideas for Christmas cards. She brought her supplies to me and I said I would come up with a few ideas. She had cream and real red card along with a old pack of Cerise dp, a favourite of mine. Her plan is to stamp some Christmas cards with the two girls she cares for each day after school. I came up with some designs which are not too difficult. The challenge for me was sticking to the supplies she had in her bag. I couldn’t do it; I had to dip into my stuff now and again for a punch or sentiment. The card above was inspired by this CAS beauty, which was in turn inspired by this one!
After I had designed these two plus a few more in red and cream I worked on a few in greens. As I mentioned last time I posted we are without a camera. Mine is taking only purple blurry pictures and my daughter’s, which is working again, is in Berlin with my husband on a business trip. It has been years since he traveled with work so we could not let him go without a camera.
Supplies:
Stamps: Sleigh Bells Ring
Inks: Real Red
Cardstock: Real Red, Very Vanilla, Cerise d.p.
OLW 26 Black, white & red
Posted: October 31, 2010 Filed under: CAS, Patterned Pines 5 Comments
The OLW challenge this week is hosted by Jennifer Styles and asks us to make a black, white and red card. I don’t think I have ever made a black Christmas card; it’s not really a traditional Christmas colour, but at least the snow is white. The black textured cardstock was just sitting there on the table and I do love textured card so I thought, why not? I guess what I have here are snow covered trees in the dead of night, lit by some unknown source of light!
The trees were stamped in versamark and embossed in white on textured cardstock so the trees have a little of a linen look to them. I added my red in the form of little rhinestones. Unfortunately our family is without a working camera at present so my card is scanned this time.
Supplies:
Stamps: Patterned Pines, All Year Cheer
Inks: Versamark
Cardstock: Basic Black textured cardstock
Also: white e.p., red rhinestones
Double sponged snowflakes
Posted: October 23, 2010 Filed under: Snowflakes 1 Comment
Here is the second attempt at a double sponged card. The method is exactly the same as the previous leaf card but the colours do not contrast as well with this one. I did use several blues to do my first application of sponging but it isn’t obvious.
Enjoy your weekend; it is cold but gorgeous here it Ottawa!
Supplies:
Stamps: Snowflakes
Inks: Versamark, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst
Cardstock: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue
Also: Clear e.p.
Double sponged leaves
Posted: October 18, 2010 Filed under: With Gratitude 4 Comments
I didn’t intend to do any more leaf cards, I really have done a lot lately and as I only have one leaf set, the same images keep appearing! But then an emboss resist idea popped into my head and I had to try it. I randomly sponged some white card with summer sun, pumpkin pie, real rust and a tiny corner of celery. Then I randomly stamped the leaf in versamark and embossed in clear. To cover the whole panel adequately I brayered and sponged in chocolate chip.
Now I am off to try the same thing with blues and snowflakes.
Supplies:
Stamps: With Gratitude
Inks: Versamark, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Real Rust, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip
Also: Clear e.p., brayer
Heather Telford 