A new brayer makes all the difference
Posted: February 18, 2011 Filed under: CAS, Thoughts and Prayers 8 Comments
I am sure many of you have visited the new CAS challenge blog Less is More. With so many card makers participating it is a great source of inspiration. One of the cards which caught my eye was this lovely card by Sylvia who lives in Gibralter. I must admit that I was also taken by the fact that the ocean is in the background of the photo as she snaps her cards on the edge of her balcony. How lovely that must be.
Sylvia’s card is so rich in colour and balanced in layout that I really did not change much at all when I made mine. I cut an oval out of a post it note then brayered with summer sun followed by pumpkin pie. I bought a new brayer last weekend as I have long suspected that I did not have the best one for spreading ink on cardstock. The new one is a soft rubber brayer whereas the old one was hard. The difference is quite dramatic. The new one spreads colour more quickly and evenly. I removed the mask and added the tree and sentiment.
Thanks Sylvia for the inspiration.
Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers, Best is yet
Inks: Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Less is more challenge 2
Posted: February 13, 2011 Filed under: Baroque Motifs, CAS, Thoughts and Prayers 34 Comments
The second Less is More challenge is up and running and it is a one layer challenge featuring a tree or flower theme.
I decided to create a slightly whimsical sponged scene but without snow for a change. I masked off a rectangle and added a horizon mask. After punching half a circle and half an oval out of a post it note I randomly sponged amethyst and eggplant curves into the sky. I stamped a few pale sections of the Baroque Motifs flourish, removed the horizon mask, sponged the ground and stamped the tree and sentiment in black.
Check out the other challenge entries; there is inspiration aplenty!
Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers, Baroque Motives
Inks: Almost Amethyst, Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant
Cardstock: Flourishes Classic White
Snow laden branches
Posted: January 7, 2010 Filed under: All That Glitters, Thoughts and Prayers 12 Comments
I continued on the same theme as the other day with masked boxes and sponged backgrounds. ( Thank you for all the nice comments left here, I was thrilled to read them.) Sorry there is no tutorial yet but I did read the requests and would love to do one if I can find some time soon. I used exactly the same technique to do these cards as I did the snowscape cards last week. First I masked the image area with post it notes. I then inked the branch in versamark and handsome hunter and stamped it several times before embossing in clear. To create the snow on the branches I used an embossing pen and to cover the areas where I wanted the snowy look. I covered this with white embossing powder and a few sprinkles of iridescent ice powder as well. Unfortunately as I embossed a second time the cardstock buckled a bit, I’m not sure how to avoid this. To complete the image I sponged the sky in Bashful Blue. The lower one has a masked snow hill done with a torn post-it note.
In the card above I wrote my own sentiment again in order to have a small delicate one. The card below suffered some smudging and denting during the embossing and sponging process so it had to go under the cutter in order to be fit to used. I matted it in Handsome Hunter and stamped the sentiment from Thoughts & Prayers. The branches of the pine tree outside my front door look ver like these ones.
Supplies:
Stamps: All that Glitters, Thoughts and Prayers
Inks: Handsome Hunter, Bashful Blue, Versamark
Cardstock: Handsome Hunter, Flourishes Classic white cardstock
Also: Clear, white & iridescent ice embossing powder
FTL 52
Posted: July 27, 2009 Filed under: Garden silhouettes, Thoughts and Prayers 2 Comments
I am enjoying the wide range of Clean & Simple cards being created around the place these days. I came across the Clean & Simple stamping blog the other day and decided to play along with their current challenge FLT52.
I chose a favourite set of mine, Garden Silhouettes. I inked the whole stamp in Pretty in Pink then used markers to ink in the red centres and green leaves and stems over the top. I did a little masking to overlap the branches a little. The flower is made with the Boho Blossoms punch and a red brad.
Supplies:
Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Thoughts and Prayers
Inks: Real Red and Garden Green Markers, Pretty in Pink
Cardstock: Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Also: Real Red brad, Boho Blossoms Punch
Amethyst thoughts
Posted: March 28, 2009 Filed under: Thoughts and Prayers 4 Comments
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
Posted: March 24, 2009 Filed under: Designer Paper, Thoughts and Prayers, Uncategorized 5 Comments
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
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
Add a ribbon tab
Posted: March 21, 2009 Filed under: Pocket Silhouettes, Thoughts and Prayers 7 Comments
Over at No Time to Stamp this week Sharon’s Stamp Simply challenge is to use a ribbon tab. Rather that a knot or a bow, which is the way I usually add ribbon, I had to add a folded tab of ribbon instead. Although the colours on this photo are not quite true I love the way the camera picked up the sheen on my navy satin ribbon tab.
I started this card with five strips of Very vanilla cardstock, just left overs out of the scrap drawer. I used the brayer to roll Mellow Moss onto a couple of pieces, Always Artichoke onto another, Not quite Navy on a fourth and then a combination of those colours on the fifth. I then used the same colours to stamp the leafy stamp from Pocket Silhouettes onto the strips. When I had finished them I stuck them on a piece of Night of Navy cardstock with the spaces in between. At this stage the piece was quite big and I decided that some stitching would add to the design so I threaded up my machine with a co-ordinating thread and began to sew around the outside of the rectangle. My machine did not like it at all. I cut off the edges I had sewn and did some more trials, on a scrap of cardstock this time, but no luck. I decided to check whether the machine was working with fabric, which it was but not with cardstock, so I gave the stitching idea.
My central image of a tree was stamped with versamark and Night of Navy then embossed with clear before I sponged Mellow Moss and Not quite Navy diagonally across the piece and then added the sentiment. After cutting the unsuccessful sewing off my background piece it was the right width but not longer the right height so I added a strip at the bottom sponged with Mellow Moss and Not quite Navy again and stamped with the tree leaves. I’d still like to master sewing on my cards but not at the risk of damaging my sewing machine, so I’ll be doing a little research. If you have any tips let me know.
Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers, Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Versamark, Mellow Moss, Not quite Navy, Always Artichoke,Night of Navy
Cardstock: Very Vanilla,Night of Navy
Also: Clear e.p. Navy satin ribbon
Poppy Patch
Posted: March 19, 2009 Filed under: Poppy Patch, Thoughts and Prayers 4 Comments
I love these poppies!
This is my first stamp set from Flourishes, a birthday gift from my daughter. I haven’t quite worked out an efficient way to clean the clear stamps so if you have any hints for me please leave a comment. I realized when I was colouring these poppies that I haven’t used outline stamps in a long while, so I haven’t used my watercolour pencils in a while either. You would know, if you visit here regularly that I have been stamping a lot of silhouettes. Well, that might change, with these poppies and the new Sweet Peas from Flourishes also, when I get hold of them!
I began by stamping the poppies in Basic Black and colouring with watercolour pencils and a blender pen. I then sponged a Bashful Blue background around the poppies. I stamped one poppy and cut it out ready to overlap some of the others and decided to let it overlap a little of the oval where I stamped the sentiment. I chose gingham ribbon because poppies seem to be carefree and casual flowers to me. Not like the formal roses who might demand satin or velvet ribbon, the poppies are happy with gingham! There is a challenge on the Flourishes blog this week to use ribbon on your card, so this is my entry, not a very adventurous use or ribbon, I know but ribbon all the same.
Supplies:
Stamps: Poppy Patch (Flourishes), Thoughts and Prayers
Inks: Basic Black, Bashful Blue,
Cardstock: Whisper white, Bashful Blue, Always Artichoke
Also: Red gingham ribbon, Creative memories oval cutters, Faber-Castell Watercolour pencils, blender pen
Simply embossed
Posted: March 6, 2009 Filed under: Designer Paper, Thoughts and Prayers 4 Comments
Sharon’s Stamp Simply challenge this week really appealed to me as I like to heat emboss. That being the case it is funny that I ended up with so little embossing on this card. Just keeping it simple I guess. This set arrived earlier in the week and last night was my first chance to use it. I couldn’t resist getting it as it has a tree ( my stamping weakness at present is trees) and lovely wording on the stamps.
I stamped the tree with Certainly Celery and then embossed the sentiment with Gold e.p. The paper and the ribbon are from the Sale-a-bration catalog. I thought the celery and white combo was fresh and pretty for a friend I know who is facing treatment over the coming months.
Make sure you check out Sharon’s card and you will find links to her wonderful design team on her blog. I had a great time being part of the team in February and now look forward to seeing the beautiful creations of Barb, the March guest designer.
Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Inks: Versamark, certainly Celery
Cardstock: Whisper white, Certainly Celery, Delicate dots d.p.
Also: Gold e.p. Celery twill ribbon
Heather Telford 