Birds in a row

I dropped into a newspaper and magazines store a few weeks ago to look for a papercraft magazine.  I don’t have a subscription anymore so I thought I would treat myself during the summer.  There were no papercraft or card magazines at all so I started browsing through some of the painting magazines.  I ended up buying a magazine from Quebec which contained mainly articles written in French.  Even though I don’t speak French the magazine was full of inspiration both for painting (I teach an art class to 10-15 year olds) and stamping.  I saw ideas for colour combinations, layouts and content.

This card was inspired by a couple of paintings by Noriko Imaï .  I used the brayer to create the background, inking it up with more than one ink at a time.  As  you can see I wasn’t aiming for complete or even coverage,  I wanted texture and colour.  I stamped the birds in versamark, then embossed in white before adding colour with markers.  I dragged the markers across the three images randomly applying mustard, turquoise and green.

The bird strip is popped up a little and the “just for you” tab had to be distressed so it would blend in.  The look is a little different to my usual creations but I think it works.

Supplies:

Stamps: Of the Earth, Teensy Tiny Wishes
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, More Mustard,  Garden Green, Versamark
Cardstock: Whisper White, More Mustard
Also:  White e.p.

Watermarked

This card came together by accident.  I had stamped a small square image and embossed it so I could sponge in some colour after the embossing.  Once I had done that I decided to mask an area on the card base to make a frame; that is the blue square you see on the card.  When I positioned the square image on the blue sponged area it did not look any good so I  just started experimenting, adding sponging all over the card.  I added some artichoke sponging and some ink splatters and it began to look  like I could make something out of it.  I added the  flowers and then did some spattering with water which disperses the ink creating little watermarks.  The watermarks are my favourite part of the card.  I added a sentiment and ended up quite happy with the card which was nothing like what I had imagined.  If you click on the image you can see the watermark effect more clearly.

Thanks for dropping by,  I am enjoying having time to stamp and browse other people’s  blogs again.

Supplies:

Stamps: Of the Earth,  All Year Cheer
Inks: Bashful Blue, Always Artichoke
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White

So Glad

I am so glad to have a card to post after such a long time.  I needed a birthday card for a close friend of mine plus a couple of thank you cards so I devoted most of Sunday afternoon last weekend  to the task.  This card was inspired by the fabulous card I saw on Joan Bardee’s blog Paperlicous.  As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make one just like it.  I cut a curve across a piece of paper to use as a mask, holding it in place to sponge before positioning the other half of the paper just above where I had sponged to create the white unsponged strip.  I also did a similar thing inside the card.  The little bird image is punched out and popped up.

Supplies:

Stamps: Of the Earth, Best Yet
Inks: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Not Quite Navy
Cardstock: Not quite Navy, Whisper White