Winter Berries

Posted: August 21, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes, Winter Berries | 36 Comments

The Penny Black blog is posting Designer Spotlights all this week and today is my day. I thought this card summed up some of my favourite techniques and preferences. I often make one layer cards and love to use sponging and masking; this card is an example of all those things along with my favourite image to stamp, a tree. If you want to know a bit more about me there is a profile on the Penny Black blog.

To make this card I stamped the tree twice, first in versamark and then in both versamark and colour applied with markers. The coloured image was stamped a tiny bit lower than the first image and then I embossed it all in clear embossing powder. Next I positioned a mask to separate snow and sky and sponged the sky in Memento Bahama Blue. I used several hill masks to sponge snow drifts then stamped the three slim tree trunks for a shadow.

This post is up a bit late because I arrived back from PEI last night around midnight after 17 hours on the bus! Thank you to all of you who wished my daughter well in the National Track and Field Championships; she had a great time and came home with a gold and a silver medal as well as a personal best time in her hurdle race. When I have had time to catch my breath I will have some photos to share. I thought Prince Edward Island was beautiful and, although I didn’t fit in much sight seeing, I did go to the beach for a short while everyday and swam in the Atlantic Ocean.

Supplies:

Stamps: Winter Berries, A Wish for Peace(PB)
Inks: Memento Danube Blue, Rhubarb Stalk,Tuxedo Black, Versamark(Tsukineko)
Also: clear embossing powder

OLW 101 Feeling Blue

Posted: August 15, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, OLW, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes, Winter Ledge | 39 Comments

Blue has long been my favourite colour so I thought a One Layer Wednesday challenge with blue would be appropriate. It is a very simple challenge: Feature the colour blue on your one layer card. You can use other colours too but Blue must be the star of the show! To create my card I masked the bottom of the card with a post-it note and then stamped the Penny Black stamp “Winter Ledge” twice, one in versamark, then again slightly lower in black. Next I embossed with clear e.p. I positioned a hill mask and started sponging the sky; when I was happy with it I repositioned the hill mask and sponged again along the edge of the mask to create a snow drift.

I might not get to visit your submissions straight away as I am off to Prince Edward Island with my daughter for six days. She is competing in the Canadian Youth Track and Field Championships and I will be cheering her on and snapping pictures. I look forward to visiting your blogs when I return next week.

I have another card below which I made for the Penny Black blog today. It isn’t one layer but it features the same technique and stamp so I thought I’d post them both together.

Rules for OLW 101

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

2. Make a card using blue as your feature colour. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum and NO ADDITIONAL LAYERS of card stock.

3. Post your card online and link it to the InLinkz button below. If you link to your blog, please link to the specific post, not your blog’s main page.

4. HAVE FUN!

Supplies:

Stamps: Winter Ledge, Christmas Fashion, Winter Magic (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Danube Blue, Lulu Lavender, Sweet Plum, Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark(Tsukineko)

Pieces of Sky

Posted: August 12, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Birds on wire, CAS, OLW, Wishing You | 21 Comments

I managed to create cards for two challenges this afternoon: the OLW challenge Cheryl set us to use some form of transportation and the Less is More challenge to feature fur or feathers. Let me tell you I was not overflowing with ideas for either challenge. But then I noticed the little airplane stamp in the set I used last week with the fish stamp. Perfect for transportation.

One of Chrissie’s cards for the Less is More challenge reminded me of my birds on a wire stamp, as yet uninked. Perfect for feathers.

Have a wonderful week.

Supplies:

Stamps: Wishing You, Birds on Wire, Happy Birthday (PB)
Inks: Memento Summer Sky, Danube Blue, Nautical Blue, Sweet Plum, Versafine Onyx Black(Tsukineko)

Watercoloured Pumpkins

Posted: August 10, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Penny Black, Pumpkins | 6 Comments

As Penny Black continues to reveal new stamps I have a watercoloured card featuring the new Pumpkins stamp. This card is a little “busier” than my usual CAS designs but I managed to persevere to the end and include six layers!

To create the pumpkin picture I wet the watercolour paper and stamped the pumpkins in Memento Peanut Brittle ink which immediately bled into the wet paper. I then coloured the pumpkin, stems and leaves with watercolour pencils, added some ‘ground’ and let it dry. Once dry I stamped the pumpkins again in Versafine Vintage Sepia and added some blue sponging in the background.

I covered the card front with some of the new Madison designer paper from Penny Black and stuck a little bit on my rolled corner too.

Better get back to the Olympics coverage; we have been very impressed with the Australian team and we get excited about the Canadians too – as long as there isn’t an Aussie in the mix! Seriously we are just loving watching world class sport every day.

Supplies:

Stamps: Pumpkins, Foliage Fancy , (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Peanut Brittle, Olive Grove, Summer Sky & Versafine Vintage Sepia (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black Mix & Match Papers Grand Canyon & Olive Grove, Madison Designer Paper
Also: Faber Castell Watercolour pencils

Less is More Fishy

Posted: August 7, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Penny Black, Wishing You | 39 Comments

The challenge at Less is More this week is to use blue and green in a card. What better subject for a blue and green card than the ocean. I made the card below first because I wanted to try a narrow image panel then, because it worked, I did the same thing with a larger panel.

I masked first then sponged in blues and greens keeping the lightest sponging and shades at the top. When the panel was covered I used a straight strip of post-it to sponge rays with the lightest green, Memento New Sprout. Finally I dropped some water on the panel and added my fishy happy birthday stamp.

Supplies:

Stamps: Wishing You (PB)
Inks: Memento New Sprout, Bamboo Leaves, Bahama Blue Nautical Blue & Teal Zeal (Tsukineko)

Tag time

Posted: August 4, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Free Flight, Hello Gorgeous, OLW, Penny Black | 8 Comments

Susan’s OLW challenge this week is to take inspiration from something on her Pure Inspiration board on Pinterest. I picked the line up of tags below as my inspiration then had to work out how to make it one layer.

To keep it one layer I punched a tag mask out of a post it note and sponged a base of Wheat Chalk ink inside the mask. All the stamps are from the Free Flight set except the tiny sentiment. I used the collage stamp to add background to each tag and then used the bird and butterfly as well as the lace edge and the postal part of the collage to be feature images.

Unfortunately when adding the last image to the last tag I smudged ink on the card base. Not wanting to start again I changed the size of the card and continued by adding a sentiment above the tags. It ended up crooked and really did not look good so I began again and ended up adding a tiny sentiment inside a tiny masked tag, then threaded the ribbon through a whole in the card base.

I was happy with my one layer card but didn’t want to waste the tags from my original attempt so I punched them out and made a layered card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Free Flight, Wishes, Hello Gorgeous, Letter Background (PB)
Inks: Memento Rhubarb stalk and Desert Sand, Wheat Versamagic Chalk ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black Mix & Match Fall Festival
Also: Ribbon, Cord

New Leaves

Posted: August 3, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Foliage Fancy | 8 Comments

ThePenny Black blog has started featuring brand new stamps from their Christmas and Halloween catalogs. My card today is made using the new Foliage Fancy set which includes outline and solid stamps in three different leaf shapes along with three sentiments.

I embossed the outline leaf with clear embossing powder first then inked the solid leaf with yellow, green and a touch of orange before stamping over the embossed images. I finished the panel with some sponging before matting it and attaching to the card base.

Just because the fall and Christmas stamps are out does not mean I am finished with summer. I am loving the weather, the activities and the slightly more relaxed pace. I’m in no hurry for September to roll around!

Supplies:

Stamps: Foliage Fancy (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Daffodil, Cantaloupe, Pear Tart & Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black Mix & Match Papers Grand Canyon & Olive Grove
Also: Clear e.p.

Muted Music card

Posted: July 25, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Background Stamps, Bliss, Penny Black | 20 Comments

I have another musical thank you card today; it is a repeating theme for me I know. The new feature on this one is my chalk ink sponged base. I tore my masks and positioned them around the edge of a white panel and then sponged the entire space with Tsukineko Wheat Versamagic Chalk ink. The effect is quite different from the Memento inks I have been sponging lately. The music and the flowers are stamped with Memento inks.

I am scheduling this for mid-week while I am by the lake. I look forward to catching up with all that you have been creating when I get back.

Supplies:

Stamps: Music Background, Gratitude, Bliss (PB)
Inks: Memento Lady Bug and Rich Cocoa, Wheat Versamagic Chalk ink (Tsukineko)

Blue Lake

Posted: July 20, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Hillflowers, Stamped Landscapes | 19 Comments

I haven’t created a landscape card for a while so when I saw a misty lake on the cover of a book on my bedside table I was inspired.

I started by masking the lake edge and sponging in the sky. Then I tore a mask for the hill and sponged that. I then removed the lake edge mask and sponged the reflections moving the hill mask also. I stamped the Hill Flowers stamp in grey first then black to complete the scene.

Our family is off to a cottage by a lake tomorrow so I will be internet-less for 8 days. Hopefully I will get to photograph and enjoy relaxing scenes like the one above and come back inspired to do more creating. I will schedule a post or two for while I am away so drop back in if you like.

Supplies:

Stamps: Hillflowers 3938K (PB)
Inks: Memento Gray Flannel, Summer Sky & Teal Zeal, Versfine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)