A little bird told me
Posted: January 17, 2013 Filed under: CAS, Enjoy LIfe, Watercolour 15 Comments
A week or so ago the challenge at Less is More was black and white with one other colour so I stamped these little birds and watercoloured their breast feathers red to enter the challenge. The problem was the flowers and leaves did not like being ignored. I coloured them and no longer had a card I could enter in the challenge.
As the watercolour paper is neither white or ivory I mounted the panel on black and made a card base out of flecked natural cardstock.
Supplies:
Stamps: Enjoy Life, Wishes (PB)
Inks: VersafineOnyx Black (Tsukineko)
Also: Faber-Castell watercolour pencils
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
OLW 123 Keep Warm
Posted: January 16, 2013 Filed under: CAS, OLW 17 Comments
You would think that on the week that I host the One Layer Wednesday challenge I would not find it such a challenge, since I picked the theme! Not so, I really had to think this one through. The challenge is to have a warm theme to your card. The image can be something warm, or the colour scheme or perhaps the sentiment. In the dead of winter pick something to warm us up. If you happen to be playing along in the southern hemisphere I guess you won’t be short on warm inspiration.
I decided not to go for a warm colour scheme as my previous two cards were all about colour schemes so I looked for a warm image and didn’t find one. Nonetheless I persevered and created a little sweater mask and sponged myself a sweater, adding a border stamp to give it a little pattern and texture. Wouldn’t you know it, I did not have a stamp that said ‘warm wishes’ so I wrote it myself.
Warm Congratulations: Some of you might know Darnell of djkardkreations. She and her husband are celebrating their anniversary today so why don’t you pop over and give her some warm wishes. Have a wonderful day, Darnell. Edited to add: Ardyth is hosting an Anniversary Link party on her blog. I have added my wedding photo. see below
OLW123 Rules
1. A one-layer card is defined as a single layer of card stock. No other layers allowed.
2. Make a one-layer card with theme of warmth
3. Post your cards online and link to them using the InLinkz button at the end of this post. If you link to your blog, be sure to link to the specific post, not just your blog’s main page.
4. Have fun!
Supplies
Stamps: Puzzle Parts (PB)
Ink: Memento Sweet plum stamp pad and marker (Tsukineko)
Analogous collage
Posted: January 15, 2013 Filed under: Background Stamps, Berry Branch, CAS, Collage cards 22 Comments
I have another collage card today, this one with a colour scheme more common in my work but probably not as striking as the previous contrasting scheme. An analogous colour scheme is one made up of colours side by side on the colour wheel. An analogous colour scheme works well for a sympathy or get well card because it is more soothing and harmonious than a contrasting one.
To create this card I positioned a mask across the lower third of the card and stamped the branch around the edges, lifting the mask once so a twig could fall below the line. I stamped a couple of times without re-inking to get that misty background look. I partially inked the music background in grey and stamped to the right of the panel then added the blue and green sponging with a little grey on the right.
My older daughter and I were discussing the sentiment; she felt that it always seems a little odd to send a card saying “get well soon” or “feel better soon” as it sounds like a command! As if someone wouldn’t feel better if they could. I guess it is probably short for “I hope you feel better soon”. That is the meaning behind this card made for my son’s writing class teacher who has fractured her wrist.
Supplies:
Stamps: Berry Branch, Music Background, Feel Better (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento London Fog, Summer Sky, Olive Grove (Tsukineko)
Complementary collage
Posted: January 14, 2013 Filed under: Bliss, CAS, Collage cards 14 Comments
Most, if not all of the collages I have done previously have been analagous colour schemes. This one is a complementary colour scheme meaning that it uses colours opposite each other on the colour wheel. Complementary colours create more contrast and each colour promotes the other. In creating this card with red and green together you can see that my natural tendency for muted and harmonious tones influenced which red and green I chose to put together.
I started by stamping a very light impression of lace background in red where the image was darker at the bottom and hardly visible at the top. I then sponged the red from the bottom right hand corner to around the middle and the green from the opposite corner down. I stamped the flower in the same red but with some brown added on the stem. Finally I added the letter background in red to tie the whole panel together. I sliced the panel and matted it before adding the ribbon.
Tomorrow I have a collage in an analogous colour scheme, more of what you are used to from me. Thanks for dropping in. I am glad when I have inspired you to try something new and love reading your kind comments.
You probably realize this, but on the right side of my blog I have a little drop down menu that allows you to search my archives by single stamp, set, technique, tutorials, manufacturer, etc. I have just added a “collage” category and there is already a stamped landscape category. Just thought I’d mention it as it might be helpful if you are looking for something specific.
Supplies:
Stamps: Letter Background, Floral Thread, Gratitude, Bliss (PB)
Inks: Memento Rhubarb Stalk, Rich Cocoa and New Sprout, (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Mix & Match Coral Reef
Winter challenges
Posted: January 12, 2013 Filed under: CAS, Hoot of a Time, Stamped Landscapes 47 Comments
One of the challenges of winter is the warm days, like today. It may not sound hard to take but when you get rain instead of snow you get ice covering everything. And, I may be wrong, but the bitter cold seems to keep the germs at bay whereas the unseasonal thaws don’t.
But this post is really about a couple of card making challenges I am entering. The first is the current CASology challenge “winter”
and the second is CASe this Sketch #10.
I have been inspired to enter a few more challenges by Ardyth who enters several regularly and always nails each one. I think I have said it before but I actually find challenges quite, well “challenging”. It seems to me that being given the parameters for a card is a sure way for all my inspiration to disappear. I was pretty safe with the ‘winter” challenge as I never seem to tire of those winter scenes and the sketch was similar to one of my favourite layouts so I was, this time, up to the challenge. It still took me two attempts to get it right!
This branch is from a Penny Black halloween set but as far as I am concerned it can be useful all year round; I just left the bats out! I stamped the branch in black first then, using a stamp positioning tool I stamped it again in versamark a little above the black image. After embossing in clear powder I was able to sponge the sky behind and expose the snow laden branch. When I had the snow banks and sky completed, the scene really cried out for a little contrast. A few red berries would have been perfect but I didn’t want to risk wrecking it by adding them over the sponging so instead I added a few hints of pink to the sky and snow.
Enjoy your weekend.
Supplies:
Stamps: Wishes, Hoot of a Time (PB)
Inks: Memento Teal Zeal, Angel Pink,Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark(Tsukineko)
Also: clear embossing powder
Butterfly Symphony
Posted: January 9, 2013 Filed under: Background Stamps, Butterfly Symphony, CAS, Penny Black 21 Comments
The design team at Penny Black are playing with Valentine Stamps this week; to show the versatility of the stamps we are each making a couple of cards using the same stamp. One card is celebrating love and the other is for another occasion. I created the pink toned card above by sponging a panel in pink and plum tones. The lower butterfly image is stamped with water rather than ink and the upper one a mix of ink and water. To finish I flicked water and ink droplets over the panel and the card base.
My second card is a birthday card for my daughters’ violin teacher made using layers of vellum. Because of the vellum it was very hard to photograph, hence the three perspectives to try and give you the idea. There are four layers and a card base making up this card which is rather unusual for me! The first layer is ivory cardstock stamped with the music background in black. The next three layers are all vellum each stamped with the butterfly from Butterfly Symphony, once in sepia, then black and finally gold.
Supplies
Stamps: Butterfly Symphony, Music Background, Sweet Wishes (PB)
Ink: Memento Angel Pink, Sweet Plum, Elderberry, Versafine Onyx Black and Sepia, Encore Metallic Gold (Tsukineko)
Card stock: Vellum and Mix & Match cardstock Rose Garden
Fern Fronds
Posted: January 7, 2013 Filed under: CAS, Enjoy LIfe 10 Comments
The card above was inspired by the packaging of the gift that went with it. I forgot to take a photo but you can see it here.
The packaging featured fern fronds and soft greens so I pulled out the fern stamp from the transparent “Enjoy Life” set. I masked the left and bottom edge of the panel with post-its then stamped the fern frond in several greens before sponging and popping up the whole panel on a white card base.
Supplies:
Stamps: Enjoy Life, Wishes(PB)
Inks: Memento New Sprout, Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves, Versafine Olympia Green (Tsukineko)
Snowscape glimpse
Posted: January 4, 2013 Filed under: CAS, Christmas Park, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: CAS, Penny Black stamps 33 Comments
Sometimes a small snapshot of a scene is all that is necessary to give you the big picture. That’s why I like making stamped landscapes which are either wide and short or narrow and tall; they give you a glimpse of a larger scene.
The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays today is to make a clean and simple thank you card. I need a few thank you cards so I decided to keep it simple and enter the challenge. This card started out as a one layer card masked top and bottom with post-it notes but I stamped a simple “thank you” and got two extra black dots I hadn’t asked for. Not to worry, I sliced the stamped panel out of the card and stuck it on a white card base and proceeded to stamp the sentiment again. This time no dots, but crooked! I peeled off the snowscape panel and re-positioned it over the crooked ‘thank you” then wrote my own. The landscape was stamped in the following order:
- Position top and bottom masks then curved horizon mask
- Stamp trees in Paris dusk over the horizon.
- Re-position curved mask and stamp trees in black, emboss in clear.
- Return curved mask to horizon, add a post-it circle for the moon and sponge the sky in Summer sky and Paris dusk
- Return curved mask to lower hill position and sponge snow bank in Summer sky
- Remove curved mask and sponge lower edge in Paris dusk
My son has gone downhill skiing with a friend today for the first time. He’ll probably love it…
Supplies:
Stamps: Christmas Park(PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Paris Dusk, Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark(Tsukineko)
Also: Clear embossing powder
OLW 121 Simply Snowy
Posted: January 3, 2013 Filed under: CAS, OLW 12 Comments
Susan is hosting the first One Layer Wednesday of 2013 and the challenge is to get inspiration from the Snowy Day post on the Cake Wrecks blog. After all the snowy cards I created before Christmas I decided to use a totally different method to create some little white snowflakes on a blue background. My inspiration is the cake below. I have an EK snowflake border punch which I used to punch tiny snowy flakes out of the sticky edge of a post-it note. Once arranged across my masked panel I sponged in Memento Summer Sky ink.
Check out the inspiration link; there is a wide variety of themed cakes to choose from.
Thanks for all the lovely comments you left on my last post. It seems that many of you have also seen sunsets over snow just like the one my husband and I saw. He agreed I had captured what we had seen as we finished our skiing so I was pretty happy with that comment too!
Masking Fluid & Brayered Sky 2
Posted: December 21, 2012 Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Pine & Star, Stamped Landscapes 17 Comments
Another snowy scene for you today using masking fluid; I know many of you have purchased masking fluid and are trying it out or waiting for a chance to play. I have one more masking fluid card to post tomorrow so I might set up inlinkz so that you can link your cards if you get a chance. I could love to see what you create.
I used a brayer for the sky and applied grey ink from one edge and pink from the other so they would blend in the middle. I sponged the snow banks in both pink and grey.
To see why I keep creating snow scenes check out the photos below taken when I looked out my windows this morning.
Supplies:
Stamps: Pine & Star, Silent Night(PB)
Inks: Memento Angel Pink, London Fog(Tsukineko)
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid
This morning I woke up to this out my back door:
and this out my front door:
Heather Telford 