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)

OLW 97 Line Up

Posted: July 18, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: CAS, Lace Delight, OLW, Penny Black, Puzzle Parts | 6 Comments

I am challenging you to use lines on your one layer card this week. Straight lines, zig-zags or curves, just as long as they are obviously lines.

I created a set of little note cards each stamped in a single colour. The masculine one is full of lines.

When the idea for this little set popped into my mind I thought it would be so simple. But as it turned out, even with my new gridded acrylic block some of these little note cards took 3 or 4 attempts. Even though my lacey note cards are less linear I have still stamped a line or two of lace so I think they scrape in for the challenge too. To see a couple more pretty note card sets visit the Penny Black Blog today.

Supplies

Stamps: Puzzle Parts, Lace Delight, Flourish Thank You, Special Time, Round & Round , Free Flight. (PB)
Ink: Memento Elderberry, Tangelo, Bahama Blue, Rhubarb Stalk (Tsukineko)

OLW97 Rules

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

2. Make a card featuring lines of some sort.

3. Post your card online somewhere and link back to it using the InLinkz tool on the sidebar of Simplicity. If posting to your blog, please link to your OLW blog post, not just the main page of your blog.

4. Have fun getting in line!
I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Collage Card Tutorial

Posted: July 16, 2012 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Collage cards, Flamboyant, Penny Black, Tutorial | 17 Comments

I have put together a tutorial describing the way I made my recent collage cards. I am sure there are many successful methods but this is the way I did it.

The tutorial describes how I made a monochromatic collage; my blue collage and the brown collage are in this post. Once again I relied on my son’s and my husband’s expertise to complete the video tutorial but I think I am getting quicker over all!