Bringing backgrounds into the foreground

Posted: June 14, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Background Stamps, CAS, Penny Black | 16 Comments

The new summer release showcase continues at the Penny Black blog all this week and next week. Today the stars of the show are the new background stamps. I decided to feature them all by themselves before they get relegated to background duty. The one above is Divine Pattern and I stamped it in Memento Paris Dusk after masking with torn masks and sponging in Summer Sky and Blue Danube (also Memento). The sentiment is from Lace Delight.

I created the second card using almost the same technique but I embossed the background stamp Flower Flourish first in clear before I sponged with Memento Rhubarb Stalk and Danube Blue. The sentiment is from Words Express.

Background stamps don’t always need to stay in the background especially when you like to keep it Clean and Simple like I do. Thanks for dropping by today and thanks for the encouraging comments about my first ever video tutorial yesterday. I will do another when the summer break starts and I have a little more time on my hands.

Round and round

Posted: June 12, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Round and Round | 6 Comments

Penny Black is showcasing new 2012 summer stamps this week and next week and the medallion stamp above is from the set Round and Round.

Just as yesterday’s “vintage style” card was slightly out of character for me, I think this one is even more so. It is not often you see a primary coloured card or a geometric matted layout from me. But what can I say? Sometimes you just have to try something different. I stamped the medallion in black and embossed it then coloured with watercolour pencils. I added water with a paintbrush to some colours for extra vibrancy. The sentiment is also from Round and Round.

Tomorrow I have something new for you, a first for me, but definitely back in my usual spongy style!

Supplies:

Stamps: Round and Round (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Danube Blue, Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black mix & match papers
Also: Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils,black e.p.

Lace and a butterfly

Posted: June 10, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Soft Wings | 8 Comments

For inspiration today I browsed through my Handmade Cards board on Pinterest. I have over 100 beautiful cards pinned and they feature a range of styles and techniques. The one I chose to CASE today is a gorgeous vintage style card by Cindy Lawrence. My colour scheme is similar to hers and so is the layout but I switched the technique slightly and the stamps.

To create a textured background I embossed the Floral Thread background stamp in clear on ivory cardstock. I then sponged over the embossing with Wheat Versamagic Chalk Ink and a little Memento Rhubarb Stalk.

The butterfly is stamped in Rhubarb on ivory, the letter back ground in Desert Sand and the sponging done in both colours. The edges of the butterfly panel and it’s mat are distressed. I found some vintage lace to put behind the butterfly and one burgandy button (which unfortunately looks dark brown in the photo!) to finish it off.

Supplies:

Stamps: Floral Thread, Soft Wings 40-099, Letter Background, Lace Delight (PB)
Inks: Memento Rhubarb Stalk & Desert Sand, Wheat Versamagic Chalk ink and Versamark (Tsukineko)
Also: Clear embossing powder, vintage lace and a button

Bamboo & moonlight

Posted: June 5, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Bamboo Branch, CAS, Penny Black | 17 Comments

One layer cards are being featured on the Penny Black blog today so I was more than happy to prepare one.

My one layer cards usually involve masking and this one is no exception. I masked the right hand side and the moon with post-it notes then sponged the colour on lightest to darkest green adding a few bamboo branches in each shade of green. After removing the masks I stamped the bamboo and sentiment in black.

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by.

Supplies

Stamps: Free Flight , Bamboo branch (PB)
Ink: Memento New Sprout, Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves & Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)

A favourite masking layout

Posted: June 1, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Dreamy, Penny Black | 5 Comments

The Penny Black blog ends its technique week with cards featuring masking. I decided to use one of the layouts I often turn to, a masked and sponged vertical panel with a feature image extending beyond the masking. Here are a few other cards I have created using this layout Balloons, Delicate florals & Winter Sky. To create this card I sponged the sky first taking care to get lighter towards the bottom so that I could position a torn mask over most of the sky and sponge a hill in brown.

Make sure you visit the Penny Black Blog to see a range of cards using different masking techniques.

Supplies:

Stamps: Dreamy 40-102, Flourish Birthday 4071F (PB)
Inks: Memento Bahama Blue, Potter’s Clay & Rhubarb Stick and Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)

Black and White plus 1 colour.

Posted: May 24, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Hillflowers, Penny Black | 12 Comments

Today the designers at Penny Black have b&w cards to share, each with a different accent colour. I chose this lovely silhouette stamp, Hillflowers, and masked a narrow mask with post-it notes around the edge of my white panel. I then sponged a gradation background with Memento Lilac Posies ink. The daisies were added before the masks were removed and then panel was popped up to add a little something to a very clean and simple card.

Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies

Stamps: Hillflowers 3938K, Happy Birthday 3171C(PB)
Ink: Memento Lilac Posies, Versafine Onyx Black(Tsukineko)

Less is More Balloons

Posted: May 22, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Sweet Wishes | 14 Comments

The challenge at Less is More this week is to make a card for a child or a baby. I was a bit stuck as to what stamps to use until I remembered the balloon and sentiment from the Penny Black set, Sweet Wishes. I coloured in the balloons with my Faber-Castell polychromos pencils, then blended with a blender pen before cutting them out. The sky panel is sponged (of course) and the balloon strings are drawn with a black fineline felt tip pen. The green balloon is popped up just because it seemed the thing to do. The Penny Black blog is featuring cards made with one transparent set today, just like this one.

I’m a bit sad that the long weekend is over but I am happy that I managed to fill all my planter pots with flowers and my clever son helped me make my first ever video tutorial. More about that in a couple of weeks!

Supplies:

Stamps: Sweet Wishes (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky & Danube Blue, Versfine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Also: Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils, Prismacolor fineline marker

Double sponging tutorial

Posted: May 18, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Soft Wings, Tutorial | 37 Comments

On Wednesday I posted a card featuring a little square filled with a butterfly and some music. Today I have a tutorial showing the technique on a new card with a bigger image panel.

First I sponged three colours randomly over a piece of white cardstock. Careful blending is not important because the sponging will be stamped over and responged.

I stamped the music background over the stamping in a darker colour.

It’s hard to see but next I embossed the butterfly in clear embossing powder.

The final step is to sponge over the whole panel in a dark colour and watch the butterfly emerge.

Thanks so much for dropping in today; to see more thank you cards pop over to the Penny Black blog

Supplies:

Stamps: Music Background, Soft Wings 40-099, Flourish Thank You 4175F(PB)
Inks: Memento Paris Dusk, Cantaloupe, New Sprout, Summer Sky and Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black Mix and Match papers – Clear Skies, Periwinkle
Also: Clear embossing powder

OLW 88 Mini Masterpiece

Posted: May 16, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, OLW, Penny Black, Soft Wings | 36 Comments

Welcome to my first week as a host of the One Layer Wednesday challenge. I am thrilled to join Susan, Jennifer and Cheryl in presenting what has always been a favourite challenge of mine. In honour of my first week hosting this challenge the kind folk at Penny Black are letting me offer a prize to one of the challenge participants. Next Wednesday after OLW 88 is closed I will pick a random winner from all who linked to their challenge entries to win the Butterfly-Soft Wings and Music Background stamps featured in my card.

The challenge this week is to keep it small; you’re going to create a mini masterpiece. Your stamped image area has to be no larger than 2″ by 2″. You can add a sentiment outside that if you like. You can choose one stamp or a few stamps or mask off a 2″x2″ area like me if you like, just keep it within the limits.

OLW88 Rules

1. A one-layer card is defined as a single piece of card stock folded in half. NO other layers allowed.

2. Make your card a mini masterpiece by keeping your image within a 2″x2″ area.

3. Upload your creation somewhere on the Internet, and then link to it using the InLinkz button at the bottom of this post. I know the links work a little differently on my blog; please don’t let that put you off, just click the link to see what others have created and then upload your own! Please make sure to link directly to the card and not just to your blog so people will be able to find it easily!

4. The most important rule of all, of course, is to HAVE FUN!!!!!