Summer Haze
Posted: July 22, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Stamped Landscapes, Trees 10 CommentsWe have had some hot summer days this week; perhaps that is why I ended up stamping with warm yellows and reds again. Each day this week I have dropped all my children off at camp and had the day to myself-a very rare occurrence. Each time I picked them up my son has asked whether I made a card and uploaded it. Finally I have one.
I created the picture panel on white cardstock, masking the sun and sky first before sponging in summer sun, apricot and rose red. I then created the hills with a curved mask and celery and summer sun inks. The trees were stamped in black while the final (lowest) mask was still in place. It is not clear in the photo but both the card base and olive strip are textured cardstock,
I hope you are enjoying some great weather wherever you are. Thanks for dropping in today.
Supplies:
Stamps: Trees (Darkroom Door
Inks: Basic Black, Summer Sun,Apricot Appeal, Rose Red, Certainly Celery
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White, Textured Summer Sun & Old Olive, Basic Black
Sponged Circles
Posted: July 17, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Itty Bitty Buds 26 Comments
The Less is More challenge for this week is to use circles. I had fun creating this card with plenty of circles sponged across it. I started by randomly stamping and embossing a bunch of little flowers from SU’s Itty Bitty Buds set. As they were embossed in clear they were not easily seen at this stage. To reveal them I sponged green, purple, orange and pink circles over the top. The fun part was watching parts of the flowers appear. The sponging was done through post-it notes masks made with circle punches.
As usual there is oodles of inspiration to be found on the Less is More blog. Check it out.
Thank you to everyone who gave me suggestions for solving my black stamp pad dilemma. I appreciate the time you took sharing the techniques and products which work for you. I might experiment with a few new products. I think the problem may have been that my stamp pad and my stamp were both a little concave as neither were new and both get quite a bit of use.
Supplies:
Stamps: Itty Bitty Buds(SU), Best is Yet
Inks: Versamark, Passion Pink, Lovely Lilac, Only Orange, Old Olive
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Also: Clear e.p.
OLW 62 Make it personal
Posted: July 13, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Itty Bitty Buds 12 Comments
Susan from Simplicity has designed a one layer challenge for this week which requires us to create a card with a personal touch. Her card features a map of the USA with the states coloured in where she and her husband have lived; a very cool idea. As it is my daughter’s birthday today and no, I did not have the card made ahead of time, I decided to make hers my challenge card. Her favourite colour is yellow so I chose to feature yellow on her card. For her I would usually match it with green but for a change I decided to throw some pink into the mix which, when blended, added a bit of orange. I made the birthday greeting using a funky alphabet from Close to my Heart. She also likes funky designs.
I masked the area first and stamped the letters in versamark before embossing in clear. I then stamped the flowers randomly around the panel in yellow and pink. I sponged in yellow and pink then added the rose red flowers and a bit more sponging.
Supplies:
Stamps: Itty Bitty Buds(SU), Alphabet from Close to my Heart
Inks: Versamark, Summer Sun, Pretty in pink, Rose Red
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Aqua and Green together
Posted: July 11, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Upsy Daisy 18 Comments
I needed a card for a bridal shower on the weekend. Looking around for inspiration I decided to take my colour scheme from the gift bag I was using. The gift bag was very geometric in its design but I didn’t follow that I just needed the pretty summery colours: aqua and green.
I cut a mask in a post it note and brayered tempting turquoise and certainly celery. I then removed the mask and stamped the daisies in black. It took countless repetitions with the daisy stamp before I had a solid image. Even when I stopped it did not quite have complete coverage. I was using my SU classic basic black ink pad. It is not that old so I am a bit frustrated that I find it hard to completely ink a larger stamp with it. If anyone has a favourite black inkpad please let me know. It might be time to branch out.
I matted the image panel and then tried a white card base and a turquoise; as you can see the turquoise won the challenge.
My daughters and I went to the bridal shower and enjoyed watching the bride ooh and aah about all her lovely homewares. She is getting married in August and my girls are going to play violin at the wedding. It will be the first of three weddings they are playing at this summer. I guess I should be thinking about wedding cards too.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy , Hugs & Wishes(SU)
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Basic Black
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery
Colour blocking
Posted: July 6, 2011 Filed under: CAS, In Full Bloom 8 Comments
In search of inspiration recently I came upon a bright artistic card from Vicki and decided to try something similar myself. I chose three colours and made sponged strips using post it note masks. I really like Vicki’s black line flowers and considered trying to draw my own but decided instead to use the In Full Bloom set. I then matted in black and used a coloured card base for a change. By adding a few dots to the sentiment I made it look like it belonged in the flower set.
Thanks for the inspiration Vicki.
Supplies:
Stamps: In Full Bloom, Short & Sweet
Inks: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Summer Sun
Cardstock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Feeling Blue?
Posted: July 3, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Trees 25 Comments
The challenge at Less is More this week is to use shades of blue. I often do snow scenes with shades of blue so that is what I tried initially. It seems that I am a seasonal stamper. I could not managed a successful snow scene when it was 31°C outside! I decided to stick with the landscape idea but forget the snow. Although it still looks a little snowy it is meant to be a misty blue hillside. I used Night of Navy for the trees, stamping the pale one without re-inking then a mix of blues for the sponging.
Speaking of shades of blue, I am not sure that this photo is exactly representative of my card. I edited the photo on one computer, then went to two other computers to compare. All the monitors in our house show the colours slightly differently. Apparently what we need is a monitor calibrater. Who knew?
Supplies:
Stamps: Trees (Darkroom Door), Simple Sayings 2
Inks: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue
Cardstock: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Flourishes Classic White
OLW 60 Layering ink
Posted: July 1, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Garden silhouettes 16 Comments
After several attempts I came up with a card which fits the brief from Susan for this week’s One Layer Wednesday challenge.
This week’s OLW challenge is to make quick and easy cards with nothing but layers of ink by overlapping the stamped images and/or sentiment.
I am used to layering ink with a sponge but that was not allowed; we had to aim for quick and easy and I have to admit sponging can be time consuming. So I decided if I could not use my favourite technique I could use my favourite stamp set.
Supplies:
Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Hugs & Wishes
Inks: Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Close to Cocoa
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic Ivory
OLW 59 Inspiration challenge
Posted: June 27, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Pocket Silhouettes 15 Comments
I enjoy playing along with the One Layer Wednesday challenge when I can which hasn’t been lately. This week Susan provided a pretty photo of flowers in jars to inspire us. I decided to use the colours and the flowers but not mention the jars.
The technique is nothing new for me; same old masking and sponging that I love to do. I sponged a hint of a hill this time not the well defined slopes I sometimes have. I also sponged a hint of sunrise by leaving a little white space unsponged. The white flowers were embossed in clear before the sponging and everything else was stamped over the top of the sponging.
Supplies:
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Short & Sweet
Inks: Yoyo Yellow, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Versamark
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Also: Clear e.p.
Less is more lemons
Posted: June 26, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Tart and Tangy 24 Comments
It is quite a while since I joined in the Less is More challenge which seems to have more participants every week. Even when I don’t get to play along I enjoy browsing through all that creativity.
It is a sketch challenge this week at Less is More and I settled on lemons for a bright summery card. I initially stamped the lemons in a row and fiddled with a canvas border either side but ended up cutting out the lemons and popping them up instead. I also began with a yellow card base but much preferred the canvas print instead. My favorite part of the card is the little water droplets I added with crystal effects.
Supplies:
Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Graceful Words, Canvas
Inks: Yoyo Yellow
Cardstock: Whisper White, Flourishes Classic White, Yoyo Yellow
Also: Crystal Effects
Under a tree
Posted: June 25, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Stamped Landscapes, Trees 10 Comments
With the busyness of the end of the school year there hasn’t been much time to stamp of late. When I sat down to create something the other night I was somewhat lacking in ideas. A little bit of time spent on other people’s inspiring blogs helped but I think I am out of practice. Hopefully now that the summer holidays have officially begun you will see a little more action here on bits & pieces.
To create this card I pulled out another tree from the Darkroom Door Trees set. I think I’ve tried three out of the four now. I like the wide spread of this tree so went for a wide card base and a quote which matched also. The sponging was done with a post it note mask placed twice.
Supplies:
Stamps: Trees (Darkroom Door)
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery
Cardstock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip textured
Heather Telford 