Hi everyone! I'm back for my 3rd post for the month of July on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog. I can't believe there are only a few more days left till we hit August and then it always seems to zoom towards Christmas. I'm so not ready!!
I have a card for you today that requires a lot of stamping, colouring and die-cutting but its so worth it and uses one of my favourite CFS floral stamp sets:
This floral stamp set is one of the very first ones I owned and I've come back to it so often, the stamps don't stick in my MISTI anymore!!
I started by stamping the two different floral images from the 'Mon Ami' stamp set on white CS using Memento ink, making six of each. I then die-cut each one out using the 'Mon Ami Fleur Fri-Dies' and coloured them with Altenew Artist Markers using different shades of peach/pink.
I created a frame for the flowers to sit on by cutting a panel of white CS the same size as the card front. I then used a Couture Creations rectangle die to cut out of the middle of it. I grabbed some plain vellum, cut it the same size as the frame and white heat embossed the sentiment from the 'Breathe' stamp set. This was adhered to the back of the frame, and the frame was popped up on foam tape. I cut some very tiny strips of foam tape and added them behind the white areas around the 'joy' and 'little' to help hold it up.
I glued all the flowers in place, alternating the colours and glued on some co-ordinating sequins from Neat and Tangled. And for a bit more shine I added some Glossy Accents to the small circles on each flower.
If your planning on doing any shopping at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps don't forget to use my special code to save yourself some money!!
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you back here next month with more CFS designs!!
Take care
Shona
Wow weekend days go so fast!! Today was busy catching up with housework, shopping with the kids, walking the dog and millions of other bits and bobs. I'm dying to attack my roses to get them pruned but they will have to wait...again....The weather has been like Spring the last few days which has been incredible but Winter isn't done with us yet I'm sure....
The theme for this weeks Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge is the always popular 'Anything Goes'. I thought this was the perfect time to share my third and final card where I painted with Distress Oxide inks:
I've always loved blue and white for a colour combo and anything with grey and white really catches my eye too. Must buy some more grey CS as I can see myself doing a lot more painting on it!!
I started by cutting a panel of grey CS the same size as the card front. I white heat embossed the Simon Says Stamps 'Beautiful Flowers' image across each corner and then watercoloured the flowers only with Distress Oxide inks 'Blueprint Sketch' and 'Shaded Lilac'.
For the sentiment I heat embossed the 'birthday' in white on the panel and then the 'happy' on a strip of the same grey CS and popped it on foam tape. The whole panel was then put on a pieces of white foam and onto the card front. Unfortunately I bumped the table as I was putting it on and ended up too far down from the top fold of the card but oh well, what can you do??? I finished it off by adding some clear, purple and dark blue sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm also going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #102 where their theme is 'Favourite Technique'. I could heat emboss all day and you all know how much I love this new Oxide ink watercolouring!!
Time to go and feed the masses!! Have no idea what I will make for dinner but Saturday nights are more about whats easy than what's fabulous. I really want to make some cards tonight so whatever it is, its has to be fast!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there, I'm up on the Your Next Stamp Blog today with some inspiration for the current Your Next Stamp Challenge.
The great thing about this challenge is that you can choose to use the sketch, the colours or both!! I decided to use the sketch this time and use one of my new YNS sets:
Since this is up in the clouds I tried to keep everything as white and ethereal as possible. And if 'Anything is Possible' surely a unicorn riding a swing hanging from a cloud could happen....right??
I wanted to create a small panel of cloud to go on the top of my card. I don't own any YNS cloud dies, so I fussy cut it myself. Using a MFT Stamps 'Cloud Stencil' and Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean', I created clouds all over the card front.
On a piece of white CS I stamped the unicorn and rainbow (from YNS 'Unicorns Rock') images with Memento Tuxedo black. I was then able to colour them in with my Altenew Artist Markers. Next I cut them out using the YNS 'Unicorns Rock die set'. I glued the rainbow to the cloud panel and the swing underneath the cloud as well. The cloud panel was then popped on foam tape, as well as the unicorn to give it some dimension.
The sentiment (from the same Unicorn set) was kept simple by stamping on a strip of white CS and popped on foam tape, along with some YNS 'Summer Chill Gumdrops'. I then added lots of Wink of Stella to the edge of the cloud panel and the clouds attached to the rainbow. Looking forward to using this stamp set a lot more in the future!!
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'.
Will also link to The Cat's Pajama's Challenge #348 as I can't imagine being up in a cloud in Winter swinging away. Also the kids and I always wander down to the park in Summertime to play on the swings and other equipment, which I love.
Unfortunately this is also my last post as the Your Next Stamp Guest Designer for July. I've had so much fun being part of the team this month and thank you so much to Julie and Karen for all your support and giving me this incredible opportunity. I can't wait to knock your socks off with more cards using YNS products in the future!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there!! Hope your week has been kind to you and you've managed to squeeze in some crafting somewhere. The weather has been weird this week with rain, cold and today hot and windy, so no wonder people are getting sick. Dave had a terrible cold/cough last week and I think both the kids are getting it now. I don't seem to get sick, I think its because I don't sit still for long so the bugs can't get me!!
The current challenge at TIME OUT has this fabulous photo to inspire you. You might like the colours, the patterns or the beachy vibe....its totally up to you!!
Our Sponsor this week is Stamplorations. Shery (the owner) is a sweetheart and always generous with our Time Out Design Team. She is offering a $15 gift certificate to the winner of this challenge!!
The first thing that caught my eye in the photo is the colour of the wicker/cane furniture. It also reminded me of driftwood. And I loved the light blue cushion, so incorporated all of that into my design:
I love using this wood veneer CS but don't have much left, so trying to use it sparingly....although not so much in this case lol!!
I started off by die-cutting the wood veneer CS with the Stamplorations 'Bloomtangled #2 cover die'. I left the pieces in the die and pressed on some Glad 'Press n Seal'. This kept all the pieces in place as I removed it from the die.
I wanted only parts of the die to be blue, so grabbed a couple of paint chips and die-cut those areas. I added the Press n Seal to the back of them as well.
Now the fun part......One by one I removed the pieces of wood veneer and replaced with the blue pieces. It didn't take too long to do. I then covered the front of the die-cut with Press n Seal, removed the back piece and then added double-sided tape all over it (I could of used a sheet of adhesive but didn't think about it at the time.....). I then pressed it on to the front of the card case and removed the top Press n Seal sheet. Ta Da!!
The sentiment (from Stamplorations 'Blossoming') was stamped in Versafine black ink on white CS and heat embossed with clear powder. I adhered it to black CS, cut a frame and then popped on foam tape. And I added some gum drops from Your Next Stamp in a similar blue.
I have four challenges I would like to enter:
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
Stamplorations Never-Ending Challenge (Use a Stamplorations Product)
Stamplorations Cutplorations Summer Challenge (Anything Goes)
Kat Scrappiness July Challenge (Crazy for Backgrounds)
You have until Wednesday 1st August to link your projects to TIME OUT and if your needing any ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the DT girls and our fabulous Guest Designer Heather of Wire Wrapture have created for you. Looking forward to seeing your designs in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone, I'm back with a second card from my Distress Oxide Ink watercolouring marathon at the weekend. I'm very tempted to do some more but don't want to overload you all with thousands of cards with the same watercolouring. Will try to hold back my excitement for a few weeks....
In case you didn't see my last blog post, I shared with you my excitement over a recent Jennifer McGuire video where she showed you how you can watercolour with the Distress Oxide Inks. I tried it on Saturday and loved it so much, I now want to do it on every card!!!! I painted three different panels using the Simon Says Stamp 'Beautiful Flowers' stamp set on all three and this card is my second design:
I'm so happy to finally have 'Picked Raspberry' in my oxide ink collection and it goes so beautifully with 'Wilted Violet'. I got a bit creative with my layout for this one.....
I started off by cutting a panel of kraft CS the same size as the card base. I stamped the large floral image from the SSS stamp set across the bottom of the panel and heat embossed in white. I then used the 'Picked Raspberry' and 'Wilted Violet' Oxide inks and water to paint the flowers only.
I decided to fussy cut this out and created another kraft CS panel slightly smaller than the card front. I white heat embossed one of the single flowers from the stamp set in each corner and coloured with the 'Picked Raspberry'. I also white heat embossed the sentiments from the same SSS set. This panel was put on a piece of white foam and then on to the card front.
I added foam tape to the back of the fussy cut flower piece and put that into place. I was going to cut the sides of it so it was in line with the other panel but really liked how it looked. All I had to do then was glue on some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I've linked this (for the first time...) to the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #102 where their theme is 'Your Favourite Technique'. I've always loved heat embossing and still find it magical. And of course Oxide Ink watercolouring is definitely an instant favourite!! Hopefully I linked my photo to the challenge properly.....
Just realised I forgot about the potatos boiling on the stove (having mashed potatos.....). There is a huge mess but it's still edible thank goodness. I was so engrossed in typing this I didn't even hear the timer, which reminds me I really need to book myself a hearing test......
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody!! Its been such a great weekend with lots of card making done and a fun day with the kids today playing pool at a local bar. There is hardly anyone there during the day and they make the biggest bowls of fries. We laughed so hard at our attempts to get the balls in the holes. It was a lot of fun and will definitely have to do it again!!
Its not very often I do a blog post where I'm not showing you a card for a challenge or for a DT spot but I wanted to show you how much I'm loving a new to me watercolour idea from Jennifer McGuire!!
Recently Jennifer released this video about watercolouring with Distress Oxide Inks. I didn't know you could do that and loved the effect she got without much fuss. You will have heard me over the past year mentioning my frustration with my watercolouring skills. I thought this looked fun and what did I have to lose:
I am absolutely shocked as to how smooth the Oxide Inks are to paint with and you can make them as sheer or as opaque as you like. And the chalky finish is gorgeous. I don't use coloured CS very often on my cards but knowing now I can get such good results and coverage with these inks, I better stock up on more colours!!
All I did was heat emboss the Simon Says Stamp 'Beautiful Flowers' image on some navy CS with white powder. I don't own any green Oxide Ink apart from Cracked Pistachio, which I didn't think was good for a leaf colour, so I didn't paint them. And I'm glad I didn't because I really like their detail against the painted flowers.
Using Oxide Inks 'Peacock Feathers' and 'Mermaid Lagoon' and some water, I painted the flowers, using a watered down mixture for the first coat and then less water for the second. Once it had dried I heat embossed the sentiment (from the same stamp set) in white and cut the panel down to be smaller than the card front. I popped it on a piece of white foam and added some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
If you haven't seen the video yet, I couldn't encourage you more to take a look. And if you saw it but haven't tried these inks out, you must do it asap!! I have two other panels I painted with the same floral image and inks (in different colours) that I will turn into cards shortly and share with you. I was just so excited about being able to do this, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops!!
And if Jennifer McGuire lived nearby, I would be running over to her place, hugging her and telling her she has changed my 'watercolour' life!! I can't wait to see your cards with this type of watercolouring and I need to buy some more inks as I think I'll be doing this technique for a while.....
Take care
Shona
Hi there everybody!! Its Sunday afternoon here in New Zealand and we finally have some sunshine after a rainy Saturday (although it was good for lots of card making.......).
I'm still having a fabulous time as one of the July Guest Designers at Your Next Stamp. Today is 'Feature Day' and a YNS customer suggested the theme of 'Christmas in July or use Christmas colours red/green'. Unfortunately I don't own any YNS Christmas stamps yet....so I created this card with the perfect red/green fruit:
Its the middle of Winter here, so I can't wait to plant my strawberry plants soon and have lots to eat in Summertime!! Also when I was younger and traveling through the U.S. I spent a few days in New Orleans and had the biggest, most delicious Strawberry Daiquiri at a place with a fountain that had flames coming out with the water. It was my only drink of the night but it was all I needed (if you know what I mean.....).....
I started off by cutting a panel of white CS smaller than my card front and stamping the strawberry image from YNS 'Happy Hour' stamp set all over it. I then coloured them in with my Altenew Artist Markers.
Using the wine glass die from the YNS 'Happy Hours Co-ordinating Dies' I die-cut the middle of the panel. I placed the panel over the card front and stamped the wine glass (also from the 'Happy Hour' set) within the die-cut space. This was also coloured with Altenew Artist Markers and I then added Glossy Accents to the red part of the glass to give the illusion of liquid. The panel was then popped over top with foam tape.
I stamped the sentiment (also from YNS 'Happy Hour') on some white CS, backed it with black CS and put on foam tape. And I added more shine with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
I'm going to link this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Use a die or punch'.
Will also link to The Cat's Pajama's Challenge #348 where their theme is:
I really suggest you pop over to the Your Next Stamp Blog to see what the Design Team have created for 'Feature Day' and leave a comment because you have a chance to win a stamp set of your choice!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll be back here soon with more cards from my 'rainy day' card making marathon yesterday!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there and welcome to the weekend!! Its 9pm Saturday night here in New Zealand so hopefully that means that most of you (around the world) have finally made it to the end of the week and about to start your weekend!!
Its been a rainy day today, perfect for staying inside, watching movies and crafting!! Well, that's after I've done the washing, cleaned the toilet, sorted the dishes etc.....yuck!
After playing around with some Altenew products for the current Altenew Inspiration Challenge I ended up trying something completely new for me and I'm so excited that it worked:
I don't own many background dies because they are rather pricey but I think I've found a new way to use the ones I have!! I dry embossed the background die and then glued the pieces on top. It gives almost a quilted texture, the grey CS looked almost squishy and gives it some dimension without taking up too much room. Yay!!
I started by cutting a panel of grey CS and dry embossing the Altenew 'Spring Shower Cover Die' into it. I then die-cut the same die from white CS, set myself up in front of the tv with my glue and Quik Stick and glued most of the die-cut pieces on their places in the embossing. The panel was then adhered to the card front.
After all the time I spent gluing those tiny pieces, I didn't want to cover it all up with a massive sentiment or stamped images. So I used my mini-blending tool and Altenew inks 'Dusk' and 'Ocean Waves' to create an ombre look on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS. I then die-cut the Altenew 'thanks' die from it and also twice more from white CS. These were all glued together and then to the card front. I then stamped the sentiment from Altenew 'Adore You' on a strip of white CS with the same 'Dusk' ink and popped it up on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins. And to give it some shine I added LOTS of Glossy Accents to the 'thanks' die-cut.
I love how this background looks and can't wait to try it out with some of my other background dies!!
I've got two other challenges I would like to enter:
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge (Use die or punch)
Kat Scrappiness July Challenge (Crazy for Backgrounds)
I've been doing all sorts of colouring and watercolouring this afternoon so have lots of finished images for cards. Will see if I can rock out a few designs before I hit the hay as its been such a busy day.....lol....
Take care
Shona
Hi there, thanks so much for stopping by! I just wanted to let you know that I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today with my second 'Girl Friday' post for July, sharing this 'rainbow' card:
Pop on over to the CFS Blog to find out how I put this together!!
I'm going to link it to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Use A Die or a Punch'.
Will also link to the Kat Scrappiness July Challenge where their theme is 'Crazy for Backgrounds'.
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody, hope your having a fabulous weekend!! Its just Max and myself at home at the moment as Dave and Phoebe have flown up to Auckland to see his family. Its too expensive for us all to go, so Max and I are hanging out watching movies, playing basketball and eating junk food.
I'm just wanting to remind you about our current challenge at The Flower Challenge where we have a 'Monochrome' theme for you. This basically means you can create a project where you have the same colour tone and there are already some gorgeous photos and ideas from you all in the Gallery!!
For my first card I watercoloured some flowers using grey and white. This time I'm going all white with some die-cutting and vellum:
This card actually started out in a completely different direction. I planned to colour some of the die-cut pieces in different shades of blue and inlay back into the piece. I also decided to colour in the actual die-cut area but got marker pen all over the place. So after a bit of fussy cutting, this card emerged and I actually like it better!
I started by die-cutting the Stamplorations 'Bloomtangled #2 Coverplate' from white CS which had been backed with double-sided adhesive. This made it very easy for me to then adhere to the card front. After making a mess of my original colouring idea, I decided to cut away the ruined part of the card front and carefully fussy cut along joining edges of the die pattern.
Using a Wink of Stella pen I coloured in the smaller die-cut areas several times to show a lot of shimmer. Wish I could have captured it with my camera. I cut a panel of plain vellum and adhered behind the card front so it returned to a whole rectangle shape. I then white heat embossed a sentiment from Stamplorations 'Blossoming' stamp set. I put the card underneath my MISTI for a while with some heavy things on top to stop a lot of the warping from the heat gun and then glued on some pearl white sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm going to link this card to the Cutplorations Summer Vacation Challenge where they have an 'Anything Goes' theme.
Will also link to the Stamplorations Never-ending Challenge for the use of their products.
You have until Wednesday 25th July to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created to inspire you. Looking forward to seeing you in the Gallery!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everyone!! Its finally Friday and time for me to have a 4-day weekend, which is awesome. Will try to let the fact that today is also 'Friday the 13th' not ruin my fun!!
I'm up on the Your Next Stamp Blog today giving you an idea for the newest challenge:
This colour combo is so divine and the sketch has my brain overloaded with card designs. You can use the colour or the sketch....or even both!! One random person will win a $15 gift certificate and if you use YNS products, you get an extra $5 on top!! There is also a chance to win thru social media, all the details are on the YNS blog.
Even though I was in love with the colour combo, I thought of an idea for the sketch straight away, using some new stamps:
I stamped the images from the YNS 'Framed Flowers' stamp set on some white CS using Memento Ink. I then used my Altenew Artist markers to colour them in, including the black frame around each flower. I fussy cut them out and put them on the card front with some foam tape.
The YNS 'Thanks' die was die-cut 5x from black CS, all glued together and then to the card front. I then heat embossed the sentiment (from YNS 'Star Friends') in white on a strip of black CS, and popped on foam tape along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled.
You have until Thursday 26th July Midnight EST to link your project to the Your Next Stamp Challenge. Pop over to the blog to see even more inspiration from the YNS Design Team. Good Luck!!
Take care
Shona
Hi there everyone, hope your having a fabulous week and your a lot warmer than I am right now!! I'm popping in quickly today to remind you about our current challenge theme at TIME OUT.
We have this fantastic quote to inspire you for this challenge. You could use one word, the whole phrase or maybe the way this quote makes you feel for your project...its totally up to you!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is the fabulous Sarah Gray who sells her stencil designs from her Folksy Store. The winner of this challenge will receive 3 stencils of their choice from her store!!
Like for a lot of us, the 'smile' word jumped out at me from the quote and I found a perfect sentiment to go with it for a friend:
I want to hit a pinata every time I look at this card!! It has such a party feel to it and definitely makes me smile!
I started off by plonking myself in front of the tv with my Distress Oxide inks, CS and mini-blending tool. I knew I would be using the MFT Stamps 'Fringe' die on the coloured CS, so only had to colour strips big enough for the die. Once I had finished blending I die-cut each colour, doing two of the purple so I could cover the whole card front. I used double-sided tape to adhere them to the card, starting at the bottom.
The MFT Stamps 'Smile' die was cut 5x from black CS and glued together. I couldn't glue each letter to the fringe so decided to stick them to a strip of white CS. This was then adhered in place. The rest of the sentiment (from MFT Stamps 'Raving Raccoons') was heat embossed in white on a strip of black CS and glued into place along with some sequins from Neat and Tangled. I then ruffled all the fringe around the sentiments.
I'm going to link this to the MFT Stamps Sketch Challenge #393 where their sketch is:
Will also link to the Kat Scrappiness July Card Challenge where their theme is 'Crazy for Backgrounds'.
You have until Wednesday 18th July to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge. And pop on over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our wonderful Guest Designer Amanda of Diamond Laine Designs have created to inspire you. Can't wait to see what you come up with!!
Take care
Shona
