OLW 46 Eggs
Posted: March 28, 2011 Filed under: Ageless Adornment, CAS 19 Comments
When I saw that Susan had picked eggs as the feature element for her One Layer Wednesday challenge this week, I knew I would have to think a little outside the box because I don’t own any egg stamps. I settled on cutting an oval mask so I could sponge or colour my eggs. My first thought was to cover them in designs which would make them look a bit like Ukrainian easter eggs but in the end I went for the natural look. I know eggs are not really oval shaped, but I decided it’s close enough. I sponged the eggs and added the flecks with a marker.
Supplies:
Stamps: Ageless Adornment
Inks: Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Tempting Turquoise, Going Gray, Chocolate Chip.
Cardstock: Flourishes classic white
Playing with texture
Posted: March 23, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Infinite Goodness 7 Comments
Creating my floral panel was a little like designing a piece of fabric. I started by stamping the flowers in versamark and embossing in clear. Then I added pink by using a direct to paper technique. I wanted to create a little texture in my background so I laid the cardstock on the stamp pad and rolled over the top with my brayer. The fabric of the stamp pad as well as the edges showed up on the cardstock. It was very patchy coverage so I added sponging in many places otherwise the embossed flowers would not have been prominent enough.
The panel was still a bit empty so I randomly added pink flowers. There was still something missing so I stamped some more flowers in black. After adding a black mat I was happy with the way the flowers popped, both the black and the white. So this was definitely one of those cards that evolved.
Thanks for dropping by; I’ll have another card featuring the same texture technique later in the week.
Supplies:
Stamps: Infinite Goodness, Hugs and Wishes
Inks: Basic Black, Pixie Pink, Versamark
Cardstock: Basic Black, Pixie Pink, Flourishes classic white
Also: Clear e.p.
Monochrome and Masculine
Posted: March 19, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Lovely as a Tree, Stamped Landscapes 50 Comments
The challenge at Less is More this week is to make a masculine card. I certainly don’t have many masculine cards in my stash so it will come in handy. There are not many masculine stamps in my collection either, most were bought with my son and his friends in mind: the extreme sports stamps from Stampin’ Up. Rather than be extreme I pulled out the ever faithful “Lovely as a Tree set” and created a foggy hillside scene.
I worked on a piece of cardstock larger than the finished panel so I could crop it to the most appealing view. I used chocolate chip ink for the whole panel, stamping the foreground trees first then adding a mask, stamping again, sponging, then moving the mask and repeating the pattern until I was stamping the final pale trees in the distance.
So my clean and simple does not include “white space” this time but plenty of empty unstamped space surrounding my image panel. The matted panel is popped up over the textured card base.
Supplies:
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, textured and flat
Card makeover 1
Posted: March 17, 2011 Filed under: CAS, With Gratitude 10 Comments
I mentioned in the last couple of posts that I had cast several cards aside because they didn’t work for some reason. They did not, however end up in the garbage, I photographed them and put them in the makeover pile as there was something in them worth saving.
The card above is the made over card. The card below is the rejected one. It was the reject that I was happiest with, the one that almost made the cut as it was, but it had a few issues. One was the badly stamped sentiment and the other was the edge of the sponging. I wish I had softly diminished the sponging instead of using a mask to create a line.
In the makeover I just used the leaf panel, sliced into three and popped up. Slicing is a very helpful technique to apply when making over a card. I was going to use a white card base but, inspired by Susan Raihala’s commitment to use up more of her coloured cardstock, I reached for a coloured card instead. I definitely do have plenty of coloured cardstock lounging around.
That is the first of the makeovers, the others will be harder to do as the rejects were not as pretty as this one!
Supplies:
Stamps: With Gratitude, Simple Sayings 2 (SU)
Inks: Versamark, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White, Certainly Celery
Also: White e.p.
Less is More challenge 6: Off the Edge
Posted: March 15, 2011 Filed under: CAS, With Gratitude 16 Comments
The challenge at Less is More this week is a One Layer Card which includes stamping off the edge. I often stamp off the edge of my cards so you would think I could whip one of these out quickly. Sadly it took three attempts before I had something I was happy with. I have a growing pile of “blunders” that I have to turn into something attractive.
I masked with post-it notes leaving a long thin panel to stamp on. Before sponging I stamped the leaf four times, some without reinking. Then I sponged in four colours and removed the masks. I added the sentiment and three more leaves to complete the card. Who knows why I am stamping fall colours just as spring is appearing?
Supplies:
Stamps: With Gratitude, Thoughts & Prayers (SU)
Inks: Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Close to Cocoa
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic Ivory
Green silhouettes
Posted: March 10, 2011 Filed under: Garden silhouettes 18 Comments
I decided to play around with some greens to create this card. To me it has a bit of a misty rainforest look.
I created the stamped panel first on certainly celery cardstock as follows:
- flick masking fluid around
- stamp branch in versamark
- stamp branch in artichoke
- emboss in clear
- brayer celery ink over whole panel
- brayer artichoke ink on left side of panel
- remove masking fluid
Although I didn’t used black on the stamped panel, black looked better than artichoke for framing the panel.
Edited to add: Several people asked about Masking fluid. It is a liquid you will find in the paint section of the art store. You use it to paint in the areas of a painting that you want free of paint, such as white highlights. When you have finished applying the surround paint you peel off the masking fluid and the paper underneath is untouched. I bought it to use when watercolour painting but it is very handy with stamping as well
Thanks for dropping in today.
Supplies:
Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, All Year Cheer (SU)
Inks: Versamark, Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Basic Black
Also: Clear e.p. Masking fluid(Windsor & Newton)
Three panel daisies
Posted: February 26, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Upsy Daisy 5 Comments
Here is another spring inspired card using the daisy silhouette stamp from Stampin Up. I clear embossed the daisies then brayered the whole panel with summer sun and and pumpkin pie. Before splitting the panel into three I stamped and restamped the daisy stamp in pumpkin pie. Each panel is popped up on stampin’ dimensionals.
I did try a couple of sentiments both on scraps and on the bottom of the card. None of them added to the design so I sliced the bottom off and left it without any text. This is the first card I have photographed with the new camera, I am not convinced my settings were the best but I will keep learning, practising and posting. I have high hopes. What is great is that the colour is exactly what is on the card.
Supplies:
Stamps: Upsy Daisy (SU)
Inks: Versamark, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Also: clear e.p.
Less is more challenge 3
Posted: February 23, 2011 Filed under: CAS, In Full Bloom 21 Comments
The third challenge from Mandi and Chrissie at the Less is More challenge blog is to make a clean and simple card with a spring theme. We have been having a few spring-like days around here but I am not convinced that winter is finished with us.
I pulled out a stamp set that I rarely use and applied a technique I often use: masking. I masked a rectangle area and stamped the flower and leaf stamps several times always overlapping the mask edges. I then used my new Faber-Castell coloured pencils to colour. After removing the masks I drew double broken borders with a black fine tipped marker and added the sentiment. The card base is white but has taken on a bit of a pink tinge in the photo.
Supplies:
Stamps: In Full Bloom, Simple Sayings
Inks: Basic Black
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Also: Prismacolor premier fine line marker, Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils
OWL 41 It’s Christmas…
Posted: February 21, 2011 Filed under: All That Glitters, CAS, Holiday Sampler 9 Comments
Susan threw out a challenge this week to create a one layer Christmas card on white or cream using only green and red. I am certainly not in Christmas card mode, but it doesn’t hurt to start early. This one was finished before I realized I hadn’t checked if natural flecked cardstock was allowed in the challenge. Natural is indeed permitted so here is my masked and slightly sponged panel card. Before stamping and sponging I flicked masking fluid on the panel. Masking fluid is used by painters to mask areas they want to preserve as white while they are painting the rest of the painting. You paint (or flick) it on and when you’re finished you peel it off to reveal white spaces.
Not too much of a stretch from my usual but I did put the sentiment on top of the panel for a change. Thanks for dropping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: All that Glitters(Flourishes), Hugs and Wishes( SU)
Inks: Mellow Moss, Real Red, Always Artichoke (all SU)
Cardstock: SU Natural white cardstock
Snow Storm
Posted: February 19, 2011 Filed under: Branch Out, CAS, Stamped Landscapes 21 Comments
I came home and created this card last Sunday after walking my son down to the park to play hockey on the rink with his buddies. The snow was coming down very steadily and it was beautiful. I decided to try and recreate the scene on a card. I know spring might be showing its face in some places but I think we have a bit of winter to live through yet.
I started with two masks and then flicked masking fluid all over the panel. When the masking fluid was dry I removed a few very large blobs and positioned my horizon mask. Instead of sponging I used my new soft brayer to create the sky. I started at the left and moved toward the right as the ink ran out so I would have the impression of light and darkness. After the sky was done I moved the mask a couple of times adding trees and sponged snow drifts.
It really does look a bit like this during a snow storm; even after 10 years here in Canada, I still think it is a beautiful sight
Supplies:
Stamps: Branch Out, Ageless Adornment & a little tree stamp of unknown origin which really comes in handy at times
Inks: Brocade Blue, Going Gray
Cardstock: Flourishes classic white
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Heather Telford 