gouache

Caroling Cats

Hello there. I have been having fun with my Copics the past few days, and have created a card for the new challenge which has just begun at ABC Christmas Challenge.

The letters this time are ‘C’ and ‘D’, and Wilma is hosting and chose the theme Cats and/or Dogs. Here is my card:

I began by using the Clearly Besotted ‘Sing It’s Christmas’ stamp set and stamping onto a piece of card. I then stamped the image again onto some masking paper and cut that out with scissors – no matching dies with this set – aren’t I brave?

Once I had masked the image of the cats and lamp-post, I created a circle mask, and used three blue toned Distress Oxides to blend a background.

I let that dry for a couple of hours, then coloured my images with Copics, and stamped the musical notes.

I realised that the Distress Oxides blurred the images a little at the end – probably I didn’t mask good enough – so I went in with a black artliner and expanded the lines a little, and made some of the others a little darker…now I look at it, you can;t really tell I did that – should I have kept that to myself? 🙂

I then decided to do some white gouache splattering……..uh huh…..at this stage I hear you ask…..

I masked the coloured images again, then splattered – and almost went too far with the larger drops, so I stopped, and took a white gel pen and added smaller ‘snow’ flecks instead. I was too nervous to continue with the larger splattering after all the colouring I had done…..

You can see the larger splatters, and then the smaller gel pen spots I added. I even went over the cats themselves to pretend they were in a blizzard – yet still singing……..

I’m really pleased how this turned out – no smudging on the white card – and I even found a piece of blue card as a base which matched pretty well.

I hope you can come and join us – I am soooo looking forward to seeing your Christmas creations which include cats and/or dogs. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Christmas Blog Challenge – Christmas and Little Friends

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas – option quick and easy

Catch The Bug – anything goes

Pink Gem Challenge – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Snowy Bountiful Branch

Hello again. I have a card here which is made for the new challenge beginning at The Alphabet Challenge . The theme this time is ‘Snow’. I have gone for a muted, almost romantic look:

I first took a piece of mixed media paper, and ink blended some Distress Oxides with my blending brushes – I wanted an uneven edge to the blending, almost a blurring effect, and wanted to use colours which the red and greens of the branch would work with.

Once blended – and made sure it was dry – I then stamped the Altenew ‘Bountiful Branch‘ in all it’s glory. I had forgotten how beautiful this stamp set was – I may make more cards from this!

I then took some white gouache and splattered it all over to create the illusion of snow – I never know when to stop, and I never know which brush to use, how much water etc…….but just go with it.

The sentiment is from Gin K Designs.

I decided to off-set the main image as you see it laid out here – I just fancied it. No other particular reason…………

I hope you can come and join us in creating something for this challenge and theme – I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers – no patterned papers

Crafty Sentiments – atg

A Bit More Time To Craft – atg

The Merry Little Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas

Winter Wonderland

I have a card to share today, made for entering a few challenges. I have been making cards the past few weeks, but mainly to fulfill my Design Team obligations.

I haven’t made many other cards, as losing my dad just over a month ago, and then the funeral happening last week – I’ve struggled to get my head around things a little………

I’ve been spending a little time just going through my stash, cataloging what I have – isn’t it amazing what products we have and never used? The stamp I used for this card was one of my ‘finds’!

Here is my card:

I used Distress Oxides to blend the background – I think it was Squeezed Lemonade and Barn Door – then splattered some white gouache for a little snow effect.

Once that had dried, I stamped the image from Woodware’s ‘Winter Wonderland’ in a brown Altenew ink, then clear heat embossed it for some shine, and doing the same with the sentiment which is from the same stamp set.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas

Color Throwdown – red, yellow, brown

Crafty Friends Challenge – atg Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas