Hi everybody!! I'm oh so slowly getting back into the swing of things and creating the odd card. I've got so many new stamps/dies etc that I feel like I need a months holiday to have a chance to use them all!! Its a wonderful situation to be in though, considering I'm usually living vicariously through everyone else's crafting hauls....
The current theme for the Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge is 'Bright and Cheerful' so I thought it was a wonderful chance to create a card with an image I coloured a few weeks ago:
I am absolutely over the moon with how my stencil colours turned out!! I don't use stencils very often (they kind of scare me for some reason) so using all these colours was a bit of an experiment that paid off. It kind of reminds me of Japanese kimono fabric and I have a few other colour combo's in mind to try out as well.
I started off by stamping the pug from Funky Fossil Designs 'Pugs and Hugs' on white CS with Gina K Amalgam black ink. I coloured him with my Altenew Artist Markers and then fussy cut out.
The stencil (also from Funky Fossil Designs 'Round in Flowers') was held over the card front with washi tape. I gathered up different Distress Inks in blues, greens, pinks etc and their mini-blending foam rounds. I don't own any foam daubers so I pinch the round foam into a point and add different inks to the stencil, trying not to muddy the colours as I go.
Once I removed the stencil I put the pug on some foam tape. I then white heat embossed the sentiment (from the same stamp set) on black CS and put this on foam tape as well, along with some iridescent jewels from Pretty Pink Posh.
I've got so many more cards to share with you that I made before I went away last weekend, its just finding time to sit down and blog. At the moment I just don't seem to be able to find time at all to craft, nothing is different in my life but my list of things to do is ridiculously long. As usual I just need to put myself first every now and then and do what I love. Easier said than done......
Take care
Shona
I'm back!!! So sorry I've been away from blogging and card making for a while. I went to Auckland last Thursday morning till Sunday night (18th to 21st July) helping the Uniquely Creative store (from Australia) at their first ever SENZ (New Zealand craft show). It was only my second time going and it was AMAZING!! I was in charge of the 'make-n-take' table, teaching people to watercolour with different paints that they sell. It was so busy as the table was extremely popular. So many people fell in love with watercolouring and really loved my tips and tricks to help them with depth and shading. I felt like Kathy Racoosin!!!
I came back though to FIVE DAYS of laundry as everyone was sick and it rained the whole time I was away. It then carried on raining until yesterday (Friday) so not much work gardening for me but gave me a chance to sort out all the washing, get the house in order and go thru all the amazing things I purchased!! Now I'm finally ready to start creating again!
Two weeks ago I stayed at my Mum's for the weekend and made a huge amount of cards to take with me to Auckland and for challenges online. Unfortunately I've now missed most of the deadlines but not the one for the Poppystamps Challenge thank goodness because I really love the card, especially the little birdies:
I've used some very new and very old products in making this card. I find it very hard to move on my older stamps/dies because I still love them so much and think that I might need them someday!!
I started off by stamping the Poppystamps 'Flower Garden' background stamp (which I purchased with a voucher I won from a previous Poppystamps Challenge) in Versafine ink on white CS. I then die-cut it using my very old but still amazing Pretty Pink Posh 'Stitched Duo 2' dies. This was popped up on the card front with some foam tape.
I won the Poppystamps 'Whittle Birds' from one of their latest New Releases. I die-cut them 3x each from white CS and coloured with my Altenew Artist Markers and put them on foam tape, the larger ones being on a double amount to make them stand up more. All I had to do then was white heat emboss the sentiment (from the same PS 'Flower Garden' stamp set) on some black CS and put on foam tape.
I'm also going to join the AAA Birthday Challenge #3 where their theme is 'For the Girls, who I think would love these pastel coloured birdies.
I've still got so many cards to share with you, I need to go and mow my Mum's lawns and I'm only a quarter of the way through pruning back all my roses. Thank goodness its a gorgeous, sunny day so hopefully I can get thru all my jobs. Wish me luck!!
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone!! I've just come back from a weekend at my Mum's house, where MANY cards were made, lots of chocolate consumed and I'm nearly through Season 2 of Boston Legal on dvd....it was awesome!!! We also went to see the movie 'Crawl', a horror movie about alligators, which was real 'edge of your seat' stuff, highly recommend it!!
I'm popping in today to remind you all about our current theme at The Flower Challenge. Its all about 'Pretty Pastels' which I think is a huge favourite when it comes to colouring floral images. Being right in the middle of Winter there aren't many flowers around at the moment (although its been so warm, some roses are still going strong and even some tree's have started blossoming....), I can't wait for Spring to see all the flowering cherries start to bloom.
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Uniko and they are giving a stamp set to the winner. They have some gorgeous floral stamps, so would be so hard to pick just one!!
Since Uniko is our Sponsor, I decided to use their stamps (which I had in my stash) for my card design. The flower is from one of the very first Uniko stamp sets I purchased and its still fabulous, especially for colouring:
I've always loved light blue (especially Tiffany blue) and pairing it with a pink is such a sweet combo.
I started by stamping the flower image from Uniko 'Flower Power #2' with Versafine black ink on watercolour CS and immediately clear heat embossing with Simon Says Stamp 'Clear Embossing Powder'. I did this 10x!! I then watercoloured each flower with Catherine Pooler 'Fiesta Blue' ink, not worrying about getting it perfect. I did a soft colour layer first, dried the flowers with the heat gun and then went back in with the same colour but with less water to add some depth. Once they had dried I fussy cut them out.
For the background I wanted something 'pretty' and not too solid, so I stamped the Uniko 'Large Background: Scattered Polka Hearts' stamp on the card front using Catherine Pooler 'Be Mine' ink, stamping it twice for a darker hue.
To create the ring of flowers I die-cut a piece of grey CS with a Couture Creations circle die and added white foam behind it, adhering to the card front. I cut little squares of foam tape to put on the back of all the flowers and then set about layering them on each other around the edge of the circle. For the sentiment (from Uniquely Creative 'Beautiful Birthday Wishes') I stamped it on white CS with Versafine black ink and put on a double-layer of foam tape. And instead of sequins I glued clear jewels from Pretty Pink Posh in the middle of the flowers, with a smaller one by the sentiment.
I'm going to link this to the AAA Birthday Challenge: Game #3 where their theme is 'For the Girls'.
And will also join the Stamplorations - July is World Watercolour Month linky party.
You have until Thursday 25th July to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if your needing any inspiration, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our talented Guest Designer Michelle of Handmade by Michelle have created for you. Looking forward to seeing all your pastel gorgeousness in the Gallery!
Take care
Shona
