CAS 83 Sketch challenge
Posted: September 9, 2010 Filed under: CAS, Lovely as a Tree, Stamped Landscapes 6 Comments
This week’s CAS challenge at Splitcoast is to make a card using this sketch. I decided to make a one layer card sponging my design through a mask. I realize I am in a bit of a rut as far as sponging and masking is concerned but I keep on thinking of different approaches to it.
I made my window mask by punching squares out of post it notes and lining them up to give me a window. My sky and the hills were sponged in using a torn paper mask and the background trees were stamped while the lower mask was still in place. That is all there is to it.
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Thoughts and Prayers
Inks: Brocade Blue, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic Ivory
Also: Post-it notes
Year round friendship
Posted: September 2, 2010 Filed under: Lovely as a Tree, Stamped Landscapes 20 Comments
This is my card for Speedy the Cat’s Friend’s challenge#18 which is to make a “friendship” themed card. Susan Raihala’s One Layer Wednesday challenge is to make a tree card this week so this card is also perfect for that. Trees are easily my favourite image to stamp and my favourite stamps to buy, so thanks Susan for this weeks challenge.
I designed this card in my head while swimming laps, I often do this, it makes the time pass more quickly! Of course designing something in your head is no guarantee that it will work but I’m happy to say this one did. As you can see below I created a four season scene across the inside of the card. I masked off the area I was going to use and sponged the sky. I then roughly divided it in quarters, sponged in the three season colours and left winter white, just adding a few smudges of blue. I stamped the trees from Lovely as a Tree twice across the bottom as the card is 7 ¾” long. The colours on the trees are done with markers plus a little sponging with the end of a Q-tip. The final step was the hardest: punching the squares in the right place. I did a rough try on paper and then did a bunch of calculations to get it exact, which it isn’t , but I decided the error was not worth worrying about.
To finish it off I added the sentiment and balanced it out with the black twine. I had to scan rather than photograph as you can’t really get the effect of the scene through the punched squares if the card is sitting open.
Thanks for dropping by today.
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Season of Friendship
Inks: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Also: Markers
OLW 16 Stamp a Scene
Posted: August 18, 2010 Filed under: CAS, Lovely as a Tree, Stamped Landscapes 44 Comments
Susan’s One Layer Wednesday challenge this week is to Stamp a Scene. You can use a stamp of a scene or make your own.
I have made my own, using a technique I often turn to. I create a background with sponging and then start stamping the far off elements in lighter colours, the middle ground elements in slightly darker colours and foreground larger elements in black. To make this scene I masked off a panel on the card first using post it notes and then began sponging. After sponging three colours one under the other I stamped the trees in Mellow Moss and then Always Artichoke before removing the post it notes. I finished by stamping the trees in black and adding a sentiment.
I think I might try another one using this technique, perhaps with autumn colours. (I have made a new one with autumn leaves here.) Thanks for dropping in today.
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Basic Black, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Snowscape thank you cards
Posted: January 2, 2010 Filed under: Branch Out, CAS, Lovely as a Tree, Stamped Landscapes 15 Comments
It isn’t a new year resolution but I have been thinking for a while that this cardmaker should send a few more cards! Last night I sat down and chose a few thank you cards out of my stash to write to the very kind and hospitable friends whose homes we were welcomed into over Christmas.
During the day I had been sorting through drawers and shelves of school and craft supplies trying to make some room. I found some old Christmas cards which inspired me straight away to get creating again. I would like to give credit to the artist who inspired the card above but the Hallmark card doesn’t give any information.
To make both cards I masked off the picture area with post it notes and then inked up my tree with versamark and added a bit of black to the base of the tree. After placing another mask where the base of the tree would be I stamped the main tree and the smaller trees, then embossed in clear. To create the sky I positioned a hill mask and sponged in the blues and red (listed below). Creating the shadows was trial and error. For the top card I sponged the shadow between two ripped pieces of post it note. For the shadow below I drew it with marker for the large tree and stamped it for the small trees. I also used a marker to add more black to the tree below. Finally I removed the hill mask and did a little sponging to give the snow definition.
The sentiment is written in my own handwriting because I wanted something small and delicate but didn’t have a ‘thank you” in that style. I particularly wanted to make these one layer cards so was pleased that I managed to get to the end without smudging any of the white area. The photo once again is not great, I’m not quite sure what the problem is, probably the photographer not the camera!
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Branch Out, two little tree stamps I was given
Inks: Versamark, Basic Black, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Rose Red
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Also: Clear e.p.
Framed Trees
Posted: October 31, 2009 Filed under: CAS, Lovely as a Tree 1 Comment
This is another of the cards I designed for the Christmas Card Workshop at my church last weekend. This one was my favourite because I was really pleased with the way the sponged background worked out. I positioned post-it notes around the edges of the white piece of cardstock and sponged in Bashful Blue before stamping the trees in Not Quite Navy. I purposely made the “window’ a little smaller than the size of the tree stamp so the image would go the edges. I’m not sure why, but it was what I wanted! I then embossed the sentiment in white e.p.
I liked the framed area idea so much I tried it with the lone pine from Lovely as a Tree as well. This time I sponged in Mellow Moss and stamped in Always Artichoke.
It needed a white insert so I used the complete sentiment from All Year Cheer with a bit of tree on the side.
By the way if you are ever searching for cards using a particular stamp set, my categories are pretty much all stamp sets with a few exceptions and are listed in the drop down menu on the right hand side labeled Categories. Thanks for dropping in, there are a couple more from the workshop which I hope to post soon.
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Best Yet, All Year Cheer
Inks: Versamark, Not quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss
Cardstock: Not quite Navy, Always Artichoke, Whisper White
Also: White e.p.
Stamped Brindabellas
Posted: October 17, 2009 Filed under: Branch Out, Lovely as a Tree, Stamped Landscapes 9 Comments
Hi again, it has been a while between cards hasn’t it? Life has been very busy here with one thing and another. Sadly there has been no time for stamping and no time even for posting cards already completed.
I made this one quite a few weeks ago. The inspiration was a card from my parents which was sitting on the cabinet next to my stamping table. It sits there because it has such a beautiful moonrise on it. The photo was taken by my father and made into a card for me. When my dad saw it there he suggested I try creating a similar stamped image. This is my attempt at stamping a scene from the Brindabellas, an Australian mountain range.
It has been so long since I stamped it I hope I can remember the process I used. I know I threw away the first attempt. To begin I stamped the moon, a little circle stamp from a flower set and then embossed it in clear. Then I worked on the coloured sky. I sponged in Bordering Blue, Going Grey, Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Almost Amethyst to create the sunset. The silhouette of the hill was sponged in over a torn paper masking sheet. The trees are from Branch Out and Lovely as a Tree. I inked parts of the Branch Out tree so I could create a little variety on the horizon and mimic the trees in the original photo somewhat. The moon was meant to be in the space between two trees but I missed so I reheated the moon slightly to heat set the black branch on the embossed moon.
The original photo taken by my dad is below. The trees are blackened and bare because of horrendous bushfires which destroyed forest in the area.
Thanks for dropping in, it shouldn’t be so long between posts next time as I have a Christmas card workshop next weekend so some stamping must happen this weekend! I hope to have designed four cards by tomorrow evening.
Supplies:
Stamps: Branch Out, Lovely as a Tree
Inks: Basic Black, Bordering Blue, Going Grey, Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Almost Amethyst
Cardstock: Whisper white, Basic Black, Buckaroo Blue
So thankful
Posted: August 12, 2009 Filed under: Lovely as a Tree, My Kid's cards 2 Comments
A few days ago I posted the birthday cards my girls made for each other. Today I have a card my fifteen year-old made for my husband and me and gave to us on her birthday. We were surprised to be receiving a card but there was a beautiful hand made gift too, which blew us away. I wrote about it here
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, All Year Cheer
Inks: Versamark, Not quite Navy
Cardstock: Not quite Navy, Brushed Silver, Whisper White
Also: Silver e.p.
Andy Warhol inspired
Posted: July 26, 2009 Filed under: Baroque Motifs, Itty Bitty Buds, Lovely as a Tree, One of a Kind, Pocket Silhouettes, Season of Friendship, With Gratitude 4 CommentsThe title should really read ” Andy Warhol and Lateblossom inspired! A few days ago Susan at Simplicity by Lateblossom issued a challenge to search through our stamp collections and try making a Andy Warhol inspired card along the same lines as her two cards here and here.
I was pretty certain that the only images I had that would work were flowers and snowflakes. Susan had already made a striking snowflake card so I tried flowers and then realized I might have enough leaves to try again. The flowers are stamped on Whisper White and the leaves on Confetti Cream.
Thanks for dropping in, hope you are having a great day.
Supplies (Flower Card):
Stamps: Itty Bitty Buds, Baroque Motifs, One of a Kind, Pocket Silhouettes, Season of Friendship
Inks: Bravo Burgandy, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Ruby Red
Cardstock: Whisper White
Supplies (Leaf Card):
Stamps: Itty Bitty Buds, With Gratitude, Lovely as a Tree, Pocket Silhouettes, Season of Friendship
Inks: Ruby Red, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Handsome Hunter, Garden Green
Cardstock: Confetti Cream
Sunlit Woods
Posted: June 24, 2009 Filed under: Branch Out, Lovely as a Tree, Nature Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes 15 Comments
In case you hadn’t noticed I like creating scenes with trees! I have combined three different tree stamps from three different sets to make this sunlit woodland scene.
I started by stamping the tree from Branching Out in Basic Black ink. I then stamped the row of trees from Lovely as a Tree in the background using Always Artichoke and Mellow Moss. I actually stamped them several times without reinking to give the appearance of trees in the distance. When I did this I masked with a post it note so I didn’t get the bases of the trees.
It is hard to see in the picture but I added leaves to the foreground trees in Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Basic Black and Summer Sun. (You can click on the photo for a larger image) I then began sponging in the same greens and yellow to create the sunlight. To create the grass in the foreground I used the tree stamp from Nature Silhouettes and a post it note to mask the tree out.
Thanks for dropping in, school should finish tomorrow, so I might be posting a bit more. Hope to see you soon.
Supplies:
Stamps: Branch Out, Lovely as a Tree, Nature Silhouettes
Inks: Basic Black, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Summer Sun
Cardstock: Whisper white, Basic Black, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss
Olive Dream
Posted: March 1, 2009 Filed under: Lovely as a Tree 8 Comments
Remember the other day I mentioned that I had made a card just the way I had planned it in my head? And it had worked! Well this one did not happen the same way. I tried a couple of different colour schemes before I settled on this one and then decided that I would complete it for the Stampers Dream Dreamy Challenge, where you needed to create a monochrome card with three different shades of the same colour. I would say I have a light, medium and dark olive green in there wouldn’t you. I used Always Artichoke and Old Olive to brayer the background and stamped the trees in Artichoke and Black. The black matte and the bottom of the card have distressed edges.
I hope to be back with something else tomorrow, thanks for dropping in.
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Sincere Salutations
Inks: Basic Black, Old Olive, Always Artichoke
Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White
Also: Olive wide grosgrain ribbon
Heather Telford 