A new brayer makes all the difference
Posted: February 18, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Thoughts and Prayers 8 Comments
I am sure many of you have visited the new CAS challenge blog Less is More. With so many card makers participating it is a great source of inspiration. One of the cards which caught my eye was this lovely card by Sylvia who lives in Gibralter. I must admit that I was also taken by the fact that the ocean is in the background of the photo as she snaps her cards on the edge of her balcony. How lovely that must be.
Sylvia’s card is so rich in colour and balanced in layout that I really did not change much at all when I made mine. I cut an oval out of a post it note then brayered with summer sun followed by pumpkin pie. I bought a new brayer last weekend as I have long suspected that I did not have the best one for spreading ink on cardstock. The new one is a soft rubber brayer whereas the old one was hard. The difference is quite dramatic. The new one spreads colour more quickly and evenly. I removed the mask and added the tree and sentiment.
Thanks Sylvia for the inspiration.
Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers, Best is yet
Inks: Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Less is more challenge 2
Posted: February 13, 2011 Filed under: Baroque Motifs, CAS, Thoughts and Prayers 34 Comments
The second Less is More challenge is up and running and it is a one layer challenge featuring a tree or flower theme.
I decided to create a slightly whimsical sponged scene but without snow for a change. I masked off a rectangle and added a horizon mask. After punching half a circle and half an oval out of a post it note I randomly sponged amethyst and eggplant curves into the sky. I stamped a few pale sections of the Baroque Motifs flourish, removed the horizon mask, sponged the ground and stamped the tree and sentiment in black.
Check out the other challenge entries; there is inspiration aplenty!
Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers, Baroque Motives
Inks: Almost Amethyst, Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
OLW 40 Two for the show
Posted: February 11, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Extreme Elements, Extreme Surfboard 16 Comments
Jennifer at Styles Ink described her current One Layer Wednesday challenge as a bit tricksy. I tend to agree. She was very strict, limiting us to two stamps and neither could be a sentiment. She also limited us to heat embossing or colouring with markers!
I was a bit stumped until I remembered these stamps from the Extreme collection. I coloured directly onto the splat image with markers then misted it before stamping on the card front. The surfer and the skater are both embossed in black.
It is always good to have a few boy cards in reserve, the inspiration does not always come when I need it!
Supplies:
Stamps: Extreme Surfboard, Extreme Skateboard, Extreme Elements
Inks: Versamark, Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Baja Breeze, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Real Rust.
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Also: Black e.p.
Less is More challenge
Posted: February 8, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Garden silhouettes 19 Comments
I had a chance to make a card for the new Less is More challenge blog over the weekend. The colours of the challenge were black, white and pink. Unfortunately this scan makes the pinks look a lot bolder than they are. The sponged pinks look much softer and the darkest colour, Rose Red does not look so red on the card. I am pretty fussy about colour matching so the pinks and reds clashing here are not pleasing me. Edited to add the photo below taken on a friend’s camera. You can see the colours are a little softer.
I used post it notes to mask and kept moving the bottom one up a little between spongings, changing from Pretty in Pink to Rose Red half way through. I stamped the Queen Anne’s Lace and the sentiment in black and extended the stems with a fine tip marker.
Make sure you check out the new blog, the challenge already has close to 100 participants, so it is off to a great start.
Supplies:
Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Graceful words
Inks: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Basic Black
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Through the windows
Posted: February 6, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Stamp Simply challenges 14 Comments
I have a tiny snowscape for you today viewed as though through a train window as you travel through the snow covered countryside. To make it I punched three squares out of a post-it note and then created a post-it note mask for the horizon and a moon mask also. The technique is the same masking and sponging technique I use so often but in miniature.
I have several non-stamping projects on the go at present so very little time to stamp but I am hoping to participate in a few challenges later today. Thanks for dropping in, I hope you are having a great weekend.
Supplies:
Stamps: A little tree stamp from Embassy Arts, Teensy Tiny Wishes
Inks: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Basic black, Brocade Blue
Cardstock: Flourishes classic white
Red poppies
Posted: February 2, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Poppy Patch 7 Comments
Considering the large dump of snow we received today, poppies are certainly not a seasonal thing to be stamping but I pulled them out and made a couple of cards anyway. I decided to use a watercolour technique to colour inside as I love the look of watercoloured poppies and hope to paint a larger watercolour of red poppies one day that is good enough to frame. For now I will settle for a card sized image. I stamped with versamark and embossed with black and then used my aqua painter to pick up colour from the stamp pad lid and colour in the poppies. The aqua painter is such a cool tool. When I think of all the blender pens I went through before I bought an aqua painter…if only I had tried one earlier. The only issue I have is that the brush tip ends are comparatively large so if I want a very small amount of water I will reach for a fine paintbrush. I also added some colours with marker and blended it in with the aqua painter.
My initial image was bigger with whole poppies in it but I preferred the cropped look . I considered just popping up the poppy panel with no mattes but after trying red and black decided that it actually looked best with both mattes.
I hope you are surviving the winter storms if you are in my part of the world. It has been a strange day for us as we have watched our own weather as well as checking updates about the cyclone hitting Queensland today. My husband grew up in that area, so we listened and watched with interest as people talked about their preparations and fears about what was coming. Now the pictures are appearing of the damage done which is just as extensive as people thought it would be.
Supplies:
Stamps: Poppy Patch & Tag lines (Flourishes)
Inks: Real Red, Garden Green, Basic Black
Cardstock: Basic Black, Real Red, Flourishes Classic White Cardstock
Also: black e.p.
OLW 38 Let’s get sketchy
Posted: January 31, 2011 Filed under: Branch Out, CAS, Stamped Landscapes 11 Comments
I guess they’re called challenges for a reason! This week’s One Layer Wednesday challenge was to use a design sketch. I tried several pretty flower themed cards before I settled back into the comfort of my sponged winter scenes. I will post one of the flower cards later this week. After cropping, matting and layering it was no longer anywhere near the brief for this challenge.
Several times lately I have noticed that an overcast day can look quite pretty particularly when the trees are still laden with snow. The colour scheme tends to be very monochromatic though. I tried to recreate that here with the sun weakly shining through the cloud. It is not a particularly “pretty” card, but I thought it might be appropriate to send, with encouraging words inside, to someone going through a difficult “season”.
To see a much prettier card using this technique check out the beautiful one by Sarah at Criminal Grace
Supplies:
Stamps: Branch Out, Season of Friendship
Inks: Basic black, Going Gray
Cardstock: Flourishes classic white
Also: White e.p.
Let’s try that again
Posted: January 28, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Garden silhouettes, Nature Silhouettes 11 CommentsToday’s post is a little different to the usual. I have a card which I initially tossed aside followed by the new and improved version. I have posted both below with a little discussion of what didn’t work and how I fixed it.
Both cards feature warm colours ranging from light to dark. On the card above I made my darkest colour black, which is too stark against the white cardstock and there is too much of it. Below the darkest colour was a chocolate brown which against the ivory cardstock is not quite so overwhelming.
I also changed the width of the strip. I have been playing around with masks a lot as you know and I may still use narrow strips like the one above, however on the card above it is too narrow; I have not followed the rule of thirds, it is more like a quarter. The one below is a little more generous and draws the eye into the image panel.
The plants in the one below are bigger and lead the eye down toward the sentiment. The sentiment in the one above was the initial reason I didn’t like the card. I tried to link it by colour to the panel beside it but it is just not strong enough or big enough to give the card balance. I think a longer sentiment might have worked better there. Below I have used a small sentiment but it takes the eye to the edge of the card. (It doesn’t look quite so washed out in real life)
So there you have it: a little design discussion and a few suggestions as to what elements to consider when you have a card that doesn’t quite work but you are not sure why. Thanks for dropping in and thanks for the comments you leave which I thoroughly enjoy reading.
Supplies:
Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Nature Silhouettes, Teensy Tiny Wishes, Tag Lines (Flourishes)
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Basic Black
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic Ivory and White
Warm flowers
Posted: January 26, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Garden silhouettes 11 Comments
In a complete departure from the blues, greys and mauves of winter I have created a warm toned birthday card with Pumpkin Pie, Mellow Moss and Chocolate Chip. Despite the fact that orange has never been a favourite colour of mine I often reach for the pumpkin pie ink and cardstock.
To create the flower panel I stamped the branch in versamark and embossed in clear before sponging in all three colours listed above. There is very little shadow but you might just be able to see that this panel is popped up a little off the card base. I did try several combinations of layers and mattes but came back to this simple mix of ivory on pumpkin pie.
Inside the card I stamped a pale image by stamping it off on scrap first and then applying to the cardstock.
Thanks for dropping by; I will back with more warm tones later this week and then I’ll probably lapse back into the winter inspired cards!
Supplies:
Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Teensy Tiny Wishes
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic Ivory, Pumpkin Pie
Also: Clear e.p.
OLW37 SentimentS
Posted: January 23, 2011 Filed under: CAS 12 Comments
Who would have thought the One Layer Wednesday challenge this week would be so hard? Thanks Susan for challenging me out of my comfort zone. I made three attempts before I settled with this design and I still have issues with it. I used the stamp positioner to try and get all these “thank yous” in the appropriate places but some are skewed which frustrates me.
There is no working camera here so the scanner came to the rescue. I will stamp “Many Thanks” on the inside also.
I am not going to list all the sets I grabbed thank you stamps from, suffice to say I believe this is all I own. I used Real Red and Basic Black ink on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock with some red grosgrain ribbon.
Thanks for dropping by today.
Heather Telford 