Back in black

I am back with another embossed paisley card. I loved the effect when I embossed in white so I decided to try in black. The paisley image is just as impressive in black. This card was very straight forward to make; I embossed in black embossing powder on white cardstock and then sponged in three colours before matting in black and popping the panel up on a black card base.

For more heat embossing ideas pop over to the Penny Black blog and see the lovely cards the other designers have created.

Supplies:

Stamps: Paisley, (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Danube Blue, New Sprout & Cottage Ivy, Versafine Onyx Black(Tsukineko)


Watercolour butterflies

The Penny Black blog is featuring watercoloured cards today and once again the designers have come up with a diverse selection of styles. My card features watercoloured butterflies. I began by stamping the three butterflies in pale blue. I then applied all the wing colour with watercolour pencils and blended it with water. Next I embossed in gold over the top of the colouring and added a sponged, stamped and watercoloured background with some paint dropped here and there in the colours of the butterflies.

Supplies

Stamps: Free Flight , Delicate Florals, Gratitude (PB)
Ink: Memento Summer Sky, New Sprout, Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves & Grape Jelly, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano Hot Pressed watercolour paper, Penny Black Mix & Match Papers Fern Green & Purple Mountain
Also: Gold e.p.


Black and White plus 1 colour.

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)


Lace flowers (and a winner)

I pulled out the Lace Flower stamp and the Floral Thread background stamp again because they work so beautifully together. I am not sure what my colour inspiration was but it is possible a wedding could have a purple colour scheme with yellow flowers I guess?

I stamped the Floral Thread background first on a large panel and then added sponging in Memento Lilac Posies and Dandelion. I then stamped the Lace flower several times on the panel in Versafine Onyx Black. To create the tiles I cut the panel into 1¾” squares and then fiddled around with their positions until I was happy with the arrangement. The sentiment is half of the Blessings stamp I used on my last wedding card.

One Layer Wednesday News

Thank you to everyone who left comments or participated in my first challenge. I was thrilled to look at all the different Mini Masterpieces and now have plenty of inspiration for more of my own. I did click and visit everyones’ submissions but a couple of your blogs would not let me leave a comment-sorry about that.

As promised I have a winner randomly chosen from the cardmakers who took up the challenge. Congratulations to Carol Lucas who made a cleverly framed Mini Masterpiece that had me wondering how she had managed it with only one layer. Carol, I will be in touch to get your address so that you can receive your Soft Wings and Music Background stamps from Penny Black.

The fun continues on Cheryl’s blog this week with her “Something Sweet” challenge.

Supplies

Stamps: Floral ThreadLace FlowerBlessings(PB)
Ink: Memento Lilac Posies & Dandelion, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black Mix & Match Fuschia Fantasies & Summer Sun


Less is More Balloons

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

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 BackgroundSoft Wings 40-099Flourish 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

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!!!!!




Thinking of You

The Penny Black blog is featuring sympathy cards today. I chose a colour scheme I don’t usually use to create my card, but I am quite happy with the warmth of brown and coral together. The floral sprays and sentiment are stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and the letter background in Memento Desert Sand .  I coloured the flowers with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils.

Thanks for dropping by; I’ll be back with a One Layer Wednesday card tomorrow.

Supplies:

Stamps: Delicate FloralsLetter Background,  Gratitude (Penny Black)
Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa  & Desert Sand, Versfine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Penny Black Mix & Match Papers Coral Reef, Grand Canyon
Also: Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils


A Fabulous Day

It’s a one layer challenge at Less is More this week to use exactly three stamps: no more,no less.

I have used the girl and purse from “Hello Gorgeous” and a slightly altered sentiment from Sweet Wishes. I covered part of the word “birthday” with a post it note so that I could wish someone a fabulous day!

The green and blue panel is sponged with Memento New Sprout and Bahama Blue, Then stamped the images in Versafine Onyx Black. The girl’s outfit is coloured with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils.

Have a fabulous week.


Wedding blessings

There are wedding cards to view on the Penny Black blog today. Both just happen to feature the new background stamp Floral Thread. It is tricky to see it on my card but I stamped Floral Thread in versamark and embossed in clear making a subtle lacy background. The coloured panel also features lace as I used Lace Flower stamped several times to border two sides of the panel. I think white on white is perfect for a wedding card but my floral panel needed a mat so I sponged a partially white/partially plum border mat and popped it up on the base.

Have a wonderful Friday.

Supplies

Stamps: Floral Thread, Lace Flower, Blessings(PB)
Ink: Memento Sweet Plum, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Also: Clear e.p.