Red Daisies
Posted: September 11, 2008 Filed under: Upsy Daisy 3 Comments
As I’ve said often, designer paper can make the card. The only other elements here are one stamp and a piece of hemp twine! When I was trying out my new stamps and papers both my daughters were away on a violin retreat. They are my critics and advisors when they are here, but my son was happy to give me his opinion which was a thumbs up for this one. My poor neglected garden has several patches of bright and cheery blackeyed Susans at the moment so I picked some and brought them inside today. I might try using this stamp with yellow and black as well.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Inks: Riding Hood Red
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink, Bella Rose designer paper
Also: Red Hemp twine
New colours, new papers
Posted: September 9, 2008 Filed under: Designer Paper, Eastern Influences 1 Comment
I cracked open the new “In Colours” from Stampin Up on the weekend and a beautiful new set of designer paper that features three of the new colours. I had great fun working with Riding Hood Red, I think it will be my main colour for Christmas designs this year, Kiwi Kiss and Pirouette Pink. When the designer paper already has beautiful combinations and patterns all over it, it is not that hard to make a pretty card. I will posting some of my creations using the Bella Rose paper over the next few days.
For this card I divided the card up using a “wall with chair rail” type arrangement. Perhaps there is a name for this style among card makers, I don’t know. I’m using the rule of thirds, two thirds at the bottom, one at the top. The rose I used as my focus is not the one which perfectly co-ordinates with this paper, but I think it works pretty well. I stamped it in Riding Hood Red classic ink, which is not waterproof and then used a brush with water to draw some of the ink into the petals. I then painted the branches and leaves using Choc Chip and Old Olive ink. To create an antique look I wiped each side of the white paper across the Red stamp pad and then pulled some of that ink in with a brush and water. Using my fingernail as a distressing tool I gave the edge of the red matte an antique look also. Red hemp twine just happens to be a little darker that the Riding Hood Red, which is great.
Thanks for dropping in.
Supplies:
Stamps: Eastern Influence
Inks: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Pirouette Pink, Whisper White, Bella Rose designer paper
Also: Red Hemp twine
An old favourite
Posted: September 8, 2008 Filed under: Terrific Tulips 2 Comments
This week’s stamp simply challenge is part of Sharon’s 1 Year Blog Anniversary. The challenge itself is being hosted by one of her design team, Dee, at her blog Stampin cuz I Love 2. Dee is a talented 2 and 3 step stamper so that is the challenge to make a card using 2 or 3 step stamping. When I looked through my sets I discovered I don’t have any current 2 step sets, so I looked on another shelf and pulled out the first 2 step stamping set I bought, Terrific Tulips.
I decided to recreate one of my early designs with this set, but as the original card is long gone I was going from memory. I think my original was prettier but I still like the three panel effect in this card. It was a simple card to make, after the stamping I added a bit of organza ribbon such as might be found on a fresh bunch of tulips for a friend.
Supplies:
Stamps: Terrific Tulips, Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal
Cardstock: Confetti white, Mellow Moss
Also: Olive and celery organza ribbon
Silhouetted seascape
Posted: September 6, 2008 Filed under: Nature Silhouettes, Pocket Silhouettes 5 Comments
I bought Nature Silhouettes for this tree, I love silhouettes of trees. I remember when I was in highschool art doing a pen and ink drawing of an old gnarled tree. It was a silhouette which had branches twisted and entwined all over the place; it was quite time consuming. I think I still have it in a folio somewhere. When I saw this set in the catalogue I knew I would have fun with the tree but doubted that I would use the deer and wolf much. You never know, the deer might turn up on some of my Christmas designs.
To make this card I stamped with versamark on watercolour paper and embossed with black e.p. I painted on the watercolour sky and sea with a small brush dipped in water before picking up some ink off the lid of the stamp pad. (When the stamp pad is closed if you squeeze lid against the ink pad you get a small amount of ink that you can dip a brush or blender pen in)
The background tree is made using the same stamp but I inked it selectively in order to make a larger tree. First I inked the top branches of the tree with a bit of the trunk and stamped that in the corner of the white background piece. Then I inked the base of the trunk with the grass next to it and stamped that at the bottom of the white piece. To lengthen the trunk I just inked the trunk and stamped it in between, then did the same thing again. It is not neatly done, but the mattes cover a lot of it anyway. To fill out the grass at the base I used a few stamps from Pocket Silhouettes.
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature Silhouettes, Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Versamark, Bashful Blue, Not quite Navy, Brocade Blue, Almost Amethyst
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Watercolour paper
Also: black e.p.
Fresh Grasses
Posted: September 5, 2008 Filed under: Designer Paper, Pocket Silhouettes Leave a comment
This is a very simple design, I don’t really have time for any thing but simple at present (although I do have a watercoloured card to post which took a little more time to make). As you can see the stamping for this card is limited to the three panels with a grass stalk in them and the little sentiment on the bottom. The designer paper dictated the colours for the mattes, I wasn’t originally thinking of bashful blue with the greens but I really like the way it pops. I ran my fingernail along the edges of the mattes to for a little more texture and added a bit of sponging to the designer paper. That’s all there was to it.
Supplies:
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke
Cardstock: Confetti White, Le Jardin Designer paper, Almost Artichoke, Bashful Blue, Mellow Moss
Fresh Daisies
Posted: September 1, 2008 Filed under: Upsy Daisy 1 Comment
I have new stamps!
I ended up buying three silhouette sets which really appealed to me, plus an Asian style set, which caught eye as anything Chinese does at the moment. The card above is my first design with the Upsy Daisy set, I didn’t set out to make it with only one stamp set and one colour but I like the simplicity. You can barely see it, but the background has the daisies stamped at the top even lighter than the image at the bottom of the card. I wanted the sentiment to look like a sign hanging from a mailbox or something similiar.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy
Inks: Brocade Blue
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla
Also:Twill tape, brads of unknown origin, horizontal slot punch
Peaceful Blossoms
Posted: August 17, 2008 Filed under: Garden silhouettes 4 Comments
I’ve been wanting to participate in one of Sharon’s Stamp Simply challenges again so I was pleased when I read what this week’ challenge was. I had planned to try remaking a favourite card of mine anyway. Sharon’s challenge is to choose one of your own cards and then use it as your inspiration for a new card. You can change as little or as much as you like.
The card I chose was this one:
I love this set and have enjoyed using it lately to create some cards with a Chinese style. I decided to use the same technique and stamp set but change colours and layout. When I had settled on the size of the image panel and the mattes, it still need something so I created the little tassel which is a design element I often saw when in China.
I stamped the white blossoms in versamark first and embossed them with clear e.p. Then I sponged in Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue and Almost Amethyst. Over the top of the sponging I stamped pale versions of the blossoms, stamping off on paper first so the colour was not at full strength. To make the medallion I stamped the blossom in versamark and then Rose Red so I could emboss it with clear e.p. The tassel is made from embroidery thread. The sentiment is a Cherished Memories rub-on.
Supplies:
Stamps:Garden Silhouettes
Inks: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst
Cardstock: Rose Red, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst
Also: Clear embossing powder, circle punches, embroidery thread
Shadows
Posted: August 10, 2008 Filed under: Baroque Motifs, Garden silhouettes, My Kid's cards Leave a comment
Here are the other two cards that A12 made recently. I think both turned out beautifully. She did an expert job on the shadowing of the sentiment in the card above and created a nice faded motif on the card below.
Supplies:
Stamps:Garden Silhouettes, All Year Cheer, Baroque Motifs, Graceful Words
Inks: Not quite Navy,Taken with Teal, Gold, Summer Sun
Cardstock: Not quite Navy, Taken with Teal, Summer Sun, Whisper White, Natural White, Brushed Gold
Thoughts of China
Posted: July 28, 2008 Filed under: Garden silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes 1 Comment
It has been over a month since I had anything to share here on my card blog. There is a reason. My girls and I have been to China and back. I intended to write a short post before I left explaining why and where we were going but with all the preparations I ran out of time. If you are interested you can read about our trip on my family blog. While I was away I was on the lookout for cards or even stamps made with Chinese motives and artwork, but I did not see much. I did buy my younger daughter a marble stamp with her name written in Chinese characters, but I didn’t think of buying myself one to stamp on my cards!
One of the places we visited was Huangshan or Yellow Mountain. It was enveloped in fog the day we climbed but the following day as we walked through an art gallery I saw many impressions of what we had missed. There were the somewhat familiar images of mountains and blossoms with whispy clouds around the slopes. That is what I have tried to recreate in these cards. In the gallery there was a series of four paintings showing a misty mountain side with branches of flowers in the foreground. Each one represented a different season.
To create my two cards I tore the mountain shapes out of a piece of card and used the negative piece as a stencil. I sponged in Night of Navy, Always Artichoke and Basic Black. Then I stamped the blossom stamp from Garden silhouettes in Rose Red on one card and Pumpkin Pie on the other. To create some variation in the blossoms I blended with a blender pen and highlighted with a marker. I used a black marker to trace over the stems. On the orange blossom card I wanted to create a light dusting of snow so I added dots and sprinkles of snow on the blossoms with an embossing marker and then used white embossing powder. The pink blossom card is mounted on black then artichoke and finally over two pieces of olive organza ribbon. The orange blossom card is mounted on black , artichoke and pumpkin pie.
Supplies:
Stamps:Garden Silhouettes
Inks: Always Artichoke, Night of Navy, Basic Black, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Watercolour paper, Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie
Also: Olive organza ribbon, white embossing powder
Black, white and green
Posted: June 4, 2008 Filed under: Boho Backgrounds 1 Comment
Sharon issued another great stamp simply challenge last week at No Time to Stamp. We had to complete our project using black, white and one other colour. I chose Certainly Celery. This was one of those cards which just evolved as I stamped. After I stamped the background stamp from Boho Backgrounds it made me think of a piece of dress fabric so I added a ‘sash’ and a ‘buckle’. Once again I found a sentiment in the rub-ons. It is worth buying the rub-ons just for all the extra words and greetings.
Supplies:
Stamps: Boho Backgrounds
Inks: Black
Cardstock: Whisper White, Black, Certainly Celery
Also: Cherished memories rub-ons
Heather Telford 