An old favourite
Posted: September 8, 2008 Filed under: Terrific Tulips 2 Comments
This week’s stamp simply challenge is part of Sharon’s 1 Year Blog Anniversary. The challenge itself is being hosted by one of her design team, Dee, at her blog Stampin cuz I Love 2. Dee is a talented 2 and 3 step stamper so that is the challenge to make a card using 2 or 3 step stamping. When I looked through my sets I discovered I don’t have any current 2 step sets, so I looked on another shelf and pulled out the first 2 step stamping set I bought, Terrific Tulips.
I decided to recreate one of my early designs with this set, but as the original card is long gone I was going from memory. I think my original was prettier but I still like the three panel effect in this card. It was a simple card to make, after the stamping I added a bit of organza ribbon such as might be found on a fresh bunch of tulips for a friend.
Supplies:
Stamps: Terrific Tulips, Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal
Cardstock: Confetti white, Mellow Moss
Also: Olive and celery organza ribbon
Silhouetted seascape
Posted: September 6, 2008 Filed under: Nature Silhouettes, Pocket Silhouettes 5 Comments
I bought Nature Silhouettes for this tree, I love silhouettes of trees. I remember when I was in highschool art doing a pen and ink drawing of an old gnarled tree. It was a silhouette which had branches twisted and entwined all over the place; it was quite time consuming. I think I still have it in a folio somewhere. When I saw this set in the catalogue I knew I would have fun with the tree but doubted that I would use the deer and wolf much. You never know, the deer might turn up on some of my Christmas designs.
To make this card I stamped with versamark on watercolour paper and embossed with black e.p. I painted on the watercolour sky and sea with a small brush dipped in water before picking up some ink off the lid of the stamp pad. (When the stamp pad is closed if you squeeze lid against the ink pad you get a small amount of ink that you can dip a brush or blender pen in)
The background tree is made using the same stamp but I inked it selectively in order to make a larger tree. First I inked the top branches of the tree with a bit of the trunk and stamped that in the corner of the white background piece. Then I inked the base of the trunk with the grass next to it and stamped that at the bottom of the white piece. To lengthen the trunk I just inked the trunk and stamped it in between, then did the same thing again. It is not neatly done, but the mattes cover a lot of it anyway. To fill out the grass at the base I used a few stamps from Pocket Silhouettes.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Versamark, Bashful Blue, Not quite Navy, Brocade Blue, Almost Amethyst
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Watercolour paper
Also: black e.p.
Fresh Grasses
Posted: September 5, 2008 Filed under: Designer Paper, Pocket Silhouettes Leave a comment
This is a very simple design, I don’t really have time for any thing but simple at present (although I do have a watercoloured card to post which took a little more time to make). As you can see the stamping for this card is limited to the three panels with a grass stalk in them and the little sentiment on the bottom. The designer paper dictated the colours for the mattes, I wasn’t originally thinking of bashful blue with the greens but I really like the way it pops. I ran my fingernail along the edges of the mattes to for a little more texture and added a bit of sponging to the designer paper. That’s all there was to it.
Supplies:
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke
Cardstock: Confetti White, Le Jardin Designer paper, Almost Artichoke, Bashful Blue, Mellow Moss
Fresh Daisies
Posted: September 1, 2008 Filed under: Upsy Daisy 1 Comment
I have new stamps!
I ended up buying three silhouette sets which really appealed to me, plus an Asian style set, which caught eye as anything Chinese does at the moment. The card above is my first design with the Upsy Daisy set, I didn’t set out to make it with only one stamp set and one colour but I like the simplicity. You can barely see it, but the background has the daisies stamped at the top even lighter than the image at the bottom of the card. I wanted the sentiment to look like a sign hanging from a mailbox or something similiar.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Inks: Brocade Blue
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla
Also:Twill tape, brads of unknown origin, horizontal slot punch
Little pink bag
Posted: August 19, 2008 Filed under: My Kid's cards, Purses 2 Comments
This sweet little gift bag was made by my daughter L14. As she is on holiday and the music theory exam, which took up the last month is over, she has spent a bit of time creating things at my craft desk. The front is 5¼” square and the side 1½” wide. The designer paper was in my stash from several years ago and matches beautifully with Pretty in Pink. Two lengths of ribbon are threaded through holes at the top of the bag and knotted on the inside to make handles.
Supplies:
Stamps: With Gratitude, Simple Sayings 2
Inks: Pretty in Pink
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Also: Pink and Light Pink grosgrain ribbon
Peaceful Blossoms
Posted: August 17, 2008 Filed under: Garden silhouettes 4 Comments
I’ve been wanting to participate in one of Sharon’s Stamp Simply challenges again so I was pleased when I read what this week’ challenge was. I had planned to try remaking a favourite card of mine anyway. Sharon’s challenge is to choose one of your own cards and then use it as your inspiration for a new card. You can change as little or as much as you like.
The card I chose was this one:
I love this set and have enjoyed using it lately to create some cards with a Chinese style. I decided to use the same technique and stamp set but change colours and layout. When I had settled on the size of the image panel and the mattes, it still need something so I created the little tassel which is a design element I often saw when in China.
I stamped the white blossoms in versamark first and embossed them with clear e.p. Then I sponged in Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue and Almost Amethyst. Over the top of the sponging I stamped pale versions of the blossoms, stamping off on paper first so the colour was not at full strength. To make the medallion I stamped the blossom in versamark and then Rose Red so I could emboss it with clear e.p. The tassel is made from embroidery thread. The sentiment is a Cherished Memories rub-on.
Supplies:
Stamps:Garden Silhouettes
Inks: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst
Cardstock: Rose Red, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst
Also: Clear embossing powder, circle punches, embroidery thread
Caramel Art
Posted: August 16, 2008 Filed under: My Kid's cards Leave a comment
My daughter L14 made this card. Her inspiration came from the artwork on a cd insert. Her aim was to blend different images into one design, creating a style which you do see around the place a lot a present. I think she did a great job.
Supplies:
Stamps: Baroque motifs, Garden silhouettes, Canvas, Sincere salutations, Boho backgrounds
Inks: Creamy Caramel
Cardstock: Whisper white, Creamy Caramel
Late summer flowers
Posted: August 14, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
When I was arranging all the elements on this card it was oriented the other way, landscape not portrait, and I was trying to decide whether the ribbon was needed or not. My older daughter suggested turning it around and making stems from the bits of ribbon. It was exactly the right thing to do. The flourishes became tendrils, something like the tendrils of a weed which is taking over in my garden at present.
To make the card I embossed the flourishes with black e.p before sponging in garden green, pumpkin pie and apricot appeal. It was then that I decided to cut the image into three panels. Then I embossed three flower images and punched them out with the 1 3/8’punch and sponged them. The flowers are raised on Stampin’ dimensionals.
Supplies:
Stamps: Baroque motifs
Inks: Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Versamark
Cardstock: Whisper white, Basic black
Also: Black grosgrain ribbon, black e.p.
Blue Butterfly
Posted: August 13, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
I am enjoying watching swimming finals and semi-finals as I post this card. It is amazing to think we were in Beijing just over a month ago! I chose some cooler colours for this card, colours which seem summery to me, and then left plenty of blank space on the vanilla cardstock. It is a very simple design and the only fiddly bit was cutting out the butterfly, which I attached with a glue dot.
Supplies:
Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Fundamental Phrases
Inks: Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue
Cardstock: Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla
Also: Moss gingham ribbon
Swirls of fall colours
Posted: August 12, 2008 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
It seems wrong to be stamping in fall colours when we are in the middle of summer, but I know fall will be here before we know it. ( I have a card in soft summer colours for tomorrow, though) I took all the cards featuring retired cardstock, stamps or accessories down from my display board on the weekend and once again it looks very empty. Today I ordered a few sets from the new catalogue so when they arrive I will have some totally new designs to share. Until then, I will be looking for fresh inspiration using my old sets.
When making the card above I started out with the flourish embossed in gold but I wasn’t happy with it. Wnen I started arranging things without the gold it came together. I inked the flourish unevenly, leaving some patches entirely uninked. After stamping it a couple of times in both chocolate chip and pumpkin pie I added some sponging and the flowers. Once again I did not have the right coloured brad so I pressed a silver one into the Close to Cocoa Craft pad and then embossed with clear e.p.
Supplies:
Stamps:With Gratitude, Baroque motifs
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa craft ink
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie
Also: Chocolate grosgrain ribbon, brad, clear e.p.
Heather Telford 