Field of daisies

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At last… a new card!  This card was something of an experiment, because I was watercolouring the background.  I love the look of watercolouring but I am far from an expert in the technique so I just play around with the colours and hope for the best.  I totally covered the watercolour paper with water and then dropped drips of Brocade Blue ink in the sky area and guided them with my paint brush.  I wanted dark and light areas so I removed ink in some places with paper towel and added more in other places.  On the bottom two thirds I dropped Garden Green ink and kept the coverage fairly uniform.  After it had dried a little I turned the Garden Green ink pad on its side and “painted” the grass.

To create the daisy feature I inked the stamp with versamark and then drew yellow centres with the So Saffron marker and stalks in Garden Green.  I embossed in clear before sponging the background with Bashful Blue and Ballet Blue.   I thought the hemp twine was appropriate for my country scene and added the knots so it would look  a little like a fence.  The left side of the card is scored so it opens like a folio.  The daisies  are stamped on Whisper White but the card base and the distressed matte are Confetti White.

I am so pleased you dropped in ( and pleased I finally managed to post!).

Supplies:

Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Inks: Garden Green and Brocade Blue reinkers, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, versamark
Cardstock: Whisper White, Confetti White, Watercolour paper
Also: Natural hemp twine


Double Play

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This is my first time playing along with the CAS challenge at Splitcoast.  The challenge this week was to use the children’s bedroom sets at JC Penney’s for inspiration.  I chose this set of bedding.   I was part way through designing by ladybug card when I realised that I could play along with Sharon’s piping challenge at the same time.  Like Sharon my sewing background goes back further than my stamping background so I often see card designs the same way I see fabric and sewing projects.   Piping is a fiddly but classy touch on sewn items:  I did it on cushions and bed covers occasionally, but the main area where I used it was on the smocked dresses I made for my girls.

The little lady bugs on this card remind me of some of the ‘oh so cute” outfits my girls had when they were little.  I wish I had a photo of one to post but my pictures of them at that age were not digital.      When I searched through the choices on the JC Penney site, the bugs jumped out at me because of the colours and the chance to do a little doodling on the card.  The canvas background stamp was perfect to add a little gingham touch.

Thanks for dropping in.

Supplies:

Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Hugs & Wishes, Canvas, Itty Bitty Buds
Inks: Real Red, Basic Black, Garden Green and Black markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black


Pink baby carriage

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Two couples we know have had baby girls in the last week, so it was time to reach for some  pink.    I have seen many cards featuring a little baby carriage made out of a circle.  I mixed it up a little and went with an oval instead.  The paper is Bella Rose, the lace is from my lace basket and the wheels from the Boho Bckgrounds set.  That’s it.    It took me too long to settle on this design, but I should be able to reproduce it very speedily, and in whatever colour scheme I like!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hugs and Wishes,  Boho Backgrounds
Inks: Pretty in Pink, Versamark
Cardstock:  Whisper White,Pirouette Pink,  Bella Rose d.p.
Also:  cotton lace, CM oval cutters


Three little words

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I used the three little words set at a friend’s house and brought home the two white stamped pieces to make into a card later on.  The inside piece just says “thinking of you”.    When I pulled out the white pieces I couldn’t decide what to add.  I knew I wanted a CAS look but none of my picture stamps seemed to be appropiate.   In the end I decided against pictures and just used the gold and black combination and, to add a little feature, the circle from Boho Backgrounds.

Supplies:

Stamps: Three Little Words, Boho Backgrounds
Inks: Basic Black, Versamark
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Brushed Gold
Also:  Gold e.p., Black ribbon


Rainbow Whimsy

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This card started out as something of a limited supplies challenge.  I was babysitting the other night and took with me three stamp sets and about a dozen markers.  I didn’t have a plan in mind but decided to see what some rainbow colouring on the butterfly stamp would look like.  I didn’t even have a spray bottle to mist the colours together.  I was quite happy with the overall effect and the placement of the two butterflies one above the other.  I took them home to work on later.

When I was browsing blogs the next day I decided this week’s sketch on CPS would work for my butterflies.   I stamped the other critters and the flower from Garden Whimsy using the markers again.    The butterflies were surrounded with a lot of white space so I filled it with some doodled dashes mimicking those on the stamps.  The background paper is mostly covered but actually has a nice gradation from yellow and orange through to pink.

Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies:

Stamps: Garden Whimsy
Inks:  Rich Regals markers, Garden Green marker, Not quite Navy marker
Cardstock: Whisper White, Regal Rose, Not quite Navy, Rose Red, Elegant Eggplant, Ballet Blue, designer paper from a Michael’s slab
Also: Pink grosgrain ribbon


Simple indeed

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I came across two very appealing blogs this week, featuring Clean and Simple, totally  classy cards:   Simplicity by Late Blossom and New England Stamper.  I didn’t have much time last night to stamp, but it had been a week since I’d even touched my stamps so they were calling to me.  CAS was the way to go.   I used the very clever ribbon technique described by Susan on this post and the stamps from the Itty Bitty Buds hostess set.

Supplies:

Stamps: Itty Bitty Buds, Best Yet
Inks:  Elegant Eggplant, Glorious Green
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Glorious Green, Whisper White,  Confetti White
Also: Stampin’ dimensionals, Green grosgrain ribbon


Silver on silver wedding

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At Christmas time I used the silver on silver embossing technique to make a card very similar to this one, just using a tree instead of a heart.  I love the look of silver on silver so made a wedding card for a friend to use.  There really isn’t much to the card.  I stamped the Baroque Motifs flourish and the Ever After heart in versamark and then embossed with silver e.p.  I attached a piece of pirouette pink cardstock inside the card and stamped the sentiment from Ever After in the centre in silver.  The picture isn’t the best, I’m sorry, I find it hard to photograph the silver well.

Thanks for dropping in.  I hope to have something new to share soon.  I have not done any creating in a week and I am itching to stamp again.  I have eight scrapbook layouts on my craft table which need to be stuck together.  They are the final pages in a scrapbook chronicling the 2007-2008 season of Stellae Boreales , the violin ensemble my girls belong to.  I need to finish that scrapbook and get started on this year’s before the current season is over!

Supplies:

Stamps: Ever After, Baroque Motifs
Inks: Versamark
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Brushed Silver
Also: Light pink grosgrain ribbon, silver cord, silver e.p.


Think Summer

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As I mentioned in my last post  Julie Koerber and Laura Fredrickson are celebrating milestones on their blogs.  Yesterday I posted my CASE of one of Laura’s cards, today Julie has been my inspiration,  I chose her card ‘Think Spring’ and made my own Think Summer card.  The colours and image in Julie’s card are beautiful and the colouring very delicate.  My tree is a different style altogether, using the cute little bird and bird house  that come with the ‘Branch Out’ tree.   I masked a hill shape and sponged my sky in Bashful Blue then used the reverse mask to sponge a hill in Certainly Celery.  The rest is self explanatory with colour details belov.

Congratulations Julie and Laura, thank you for all the inspiration.

Supplies:

Stamps: Branch Out
Inks:  Ballet Blue, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, More Mustard, Garden Green
Cardstock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Delicate Dots d.p.
Also: Celery twill ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardware Antique Brass buckle


Amethyst thoughts

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If you frequent the talented Julie Koerber’s blog you would know that she and her equally talented friend Laura are celebrating milestones on their blogs.  Even before I read about the celebrations and blog candy I knew I wanted to CASE this card on Laura’s blog.  Everything about her card appealed to me.

The paper on my card has been sitting in my stash for several years.  It is from Close to my Heart but co-ordinates beautifully with  SU Almost Amethyst.   To make  the centre panel I inked the floral stamp with Almost Amethyst and then coloured the stems and flower centres over the top with Always Artichoke and Elegant Eggplant markers.  Behind the centre panel I have attached a piece of narrow amethyst satin ribbon and then a bow of blue  organza ribbon.

Now I’m off to choose a card to CASE on Julie’s wonderful blog.

Supplies:

Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Inks: Almost Amethyst,  Always Artichoke amd Elegant Eggplant Markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Almost Amethyst,  Always Artichoke,  Victorian B & T Lilac Mist (CTMH)
Also:  Amethyst satin ribbon, Blue Organza ribbon


A little help from my friend

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While stamping one night last week my inspiration left me and I fiddled around with designer paper for a while without getting anywhere.  The answer to my problem was of course, to scan through Sharon’s archives at No Time to Stamp.  There are loads of simple but impressive cards over there.  This is the one I chose to CASE

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Isn’t this such a cool card and so straight forward to make.  I used my 1¼” punch and my 1 3/8″ punch to make the button and the cropodile for the holes. I tied the ribbon through, popped the buttons up on a few Stampin’ dimensionals and that’s it. Thank you Sharon for your never ending supply of inspiration.

Supplies:

Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Inks:Riding Hood Red, Certainly Celery
Cardstock: Whisper white, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Delicate dots d.p., Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Bella Rose d.p.
Also:  circle punches, cropodile, olive grosgrain ribbon, celery twill ribbon