ink blending

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I was able to create with products received over a year ago when attending the ‘Let’s Stamp Together’ from Scrap book & Cards today and Concord & 9th products:

The product includes the stencils to create this jolly Santa, layering stencils which are fun to use, and the matching dies.

First job was to use the stencils to create him, then die cutting the image.

I chose this snowflake foiled background created using a toner sheet, so silver heat embossed the sentiment onto his beard.

One of my cats decided she wanted to ‘help’ me take the photo, so here she is – for a little light relief:

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Inkspirational – use stencils – option of snowflakes

Tuesday Taggers – all about Santa

As You Like It – Christmas/Festive

Give a Crafter a Cookie – photo inspiration

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas

Postage Collage Christmas

Here is a card I created using some of the rest of the images from the Waffle Flower Postage Collage I used the other day:

I had already ink blended and cut apart the images, so I created the muted holly background using a recently purchased holly stencil from Clarity Crafts, and cut it down slightly smaller than an A2 card base.

This panel was glued directly onto the card base, and the three images attached with 3D foam – jaunty angles – the foiled sentiment added, and then some gold sequins for added detail.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational – use stencils – option to use snowflakes not taken

Sparkles Christmas Challenge – Christmas and poinsettia

Stencil Fun – stencils – option of winter related taken

CAS Baubles

Hello. I am venturing into the CAS realm again with this card:

For the image on this card, I ink blended the whole of the Waffle Flower Christmas Collage stencil, then chose this one image for this card. The other images will be used on another card.

I first took a A2 card base, and used Clarity Crafts embedders to create the impression. I have a DT friend who is on the Design Team for Clarity Crafts, and she does some fabulous CAS cards – you might want to check our her blog here. Anyway, she uses the embedders and has given hints and tips – which I try to follow – and this time I think it worked….

After using the embedder, I stamped the sentiment, then attached the image with glue.

I find it hard not to add plenty of things and not add dimension -but I will persevere with the CAS look sometimes – just for fun…

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of CAS taken

Festive Friday – at least 3 items from the list – red, green, white, Christmas sentiment

Simply CAS – anything goes CAS – option to use reds and greens taken

Sending Holiday Cheer

More time spent in my craft room these past few days. Hubby has been away, I have not been at work very much – and the weather has been a little dreary – to say the least.

Here is a card I created using an older product suite from Pinkfresh Studio:

The frame image was gold heat foiled, then coloured using the matching layering stencils. I chose to go with varying tones of red and blue using Pinkfresh Studio inks.

Once this was ink blended, I used the matching die to cut it out, then also cut another two so I could layer it up for more stability and dimension.

The sentiment was also gold foiled, then die cut, again layering a couple more times.

I wanted to try the ink with an embossing folder again, I haven’t had much luck with this in the past, so I thought I’d give it another go after seeing many people have success.

I used a Spellbinders embossing folder, inked the flatter or ‘bottom’ of the folder with a light blue ink, and ran it through my machine……..love how it turned out. A subtle background colour to the more vibrant colours of the images.

The background panel was adhered to the card base, the image frame and sentiment then attached.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Hand Stamped Sentiments – photo inspiration – I was inspired by the baubles and foliage

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of thanks not taken

Fab ‘n’ Funky – Christmas

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Sparkles Forum Christmas – Christmas and Poinsettia

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas

Christmas Village Shaker

Hello everyone. I was able to create a shaker card using an older product suite from Pinkfresh Studio:

I first stamped in black then clear heat embossed the image. I find that no matter what black ink I use – and I have several – and if I just heat set the ink, I still get some bleeding around the outlines. The heat embossing solved that problem for me.

I then used the layering stencils to colour on the image, different colours on each stencil to get more variety, but I wanted a bright little village so used the brighter colour tones.

Once coloured, I used a notched fram3e die to cut it down a little, then hunted out my Toni Studios shaker pouches – stored ‘safely’ but found none-the-less.

I created the pouch, added some colours of sequins which I felt matched some of the colours of the image, sealed the pouch, then attached to a white card base.

The sentiment is gold foiling.

These Tonic pouches really do make shaker cards so very easy – the hardest part was selecting which colours of sequins to use.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of CAS not taken

Addicted To Stamps & More – Christmas

12 Months of Christmas Link-Up – anything goes Christmas

Sweater Weather

Hello. I received this sweater die as part of a Simon Says Stamp kit, and thought it was adorable, so I had a play with it yesterday:

I chose to follow the colours at the current Color Throwdown Challenge, by die cutting the sweater in the colours you see, and I also ran the die cut back through with the embossing mat to make the details stand out a little more.

I also ink blended each sweater in a slightly darker matching colour, to again enhance the details.

Keeping it fairly CAS – for me anyway – I used a Spellbinders embossing folder to create the background panel, then added the three sweaters with 3D foam.

The sentiment is from a Gina K Designs stamp set – stamped then cut out with a banner die from one of her Master Layouts die sets, glued directly down to the background.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Sparkles Forum Christmas – Christmas and festive wear

Simply CAS – CAS – holidays/winter

Color Throwdown – yellow, orange, green

Christmas Bingo – column I – winter/free/snowflakes

Poinsettia Season’s Greetings

Hello again. It is time for the new challenge at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas‘. Here is my card:

I wanted a dramatic and different look for this die card, with a lot of dimension.

The background panel is a piece of black shimmery card stock, and dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder.

The main image is a Pinkfresh Studio die and layering stencil set, and as the background was black and dramatic, I also went with a different colour scheme.

The layering stencils were ink blended using Pinkfresh Studio inks, then die cut with the macthing die set. I added a couple more layers to the flower image, then attached to the black embossed panel.

I also added gold gems to the centre of the flowers as they are my favourite embellishments to use, and there is rarely a card I make without some sort of gem or jewel around it somewhere. I feel they add a certain interest and detail which doesn’t take over the card.

The sentiment is gold foiled.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our Christmas theme.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

As You Like It – favourite embellishment – gems/jewels/enamel dots

Stencil Fun – stencils – option to use some gold taken

Craft Rocket – Christmas/Winter

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Beautiful Blossoms – florals – optional mood board

So Very Merry

Hello again. Having just returned from a few days away with hubby to Tenerife, I was itching to get into my craft rom and play with some new products which were part of a recent Online Card Classes class. I watched the first day of class whilst away, but still have to catch up on the rest.

I started by gold heat embossing the ‘Easy Repeat Holly‘ background stamp from Concord & 9th and Kristina Werner using the Taylored Expressions ‘Gold Sparkle’ embossing powder, then used the matching layering stencils to colour the image. On the holly leaves, I used two tones of green, the darker towards the base of the leaves to create some dimension.

This panel was then cut down slightly and attached to a white card base.

The snowman was die cut, glued together, and set to one side, whilst I gold heat embossed the sentiment, then used the matching die to cut it out.

When I placed the snowman and the sentiment on the background, they seemed to get a little lost, so I die cut a circle of vellum, attached the snowman and sentiment to the front of it, then glued it down – applying glue only behind the two die cut pieces.

I shall certainly be watching the rest of the lessons for the class, and I’m sure I shall be utilising some of the techniques demonstrated with these products.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Tic Tac Toe – top right diagonal to bottom left – snowman/snow – gold – Christmas sentiment

Creative Knockouts – time to be merry

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option to use some gold taken

Craft Rocket – Christmas/Winter

P is for Pumpkin

Hello once again. It is time for the next challenge at The Alphabet Challenge. We have reached the letter ‘P’, and Deborah has chosen the theme os:

P is for Pumpkin

Here is my card:

I used a Spellbinders layering stencil set for this card. Using all layers, in varying colours to create and Autumnal feel. Each of the layers was ink blended, and each pumpkin had ink blending dimension to them – I used a light hand for the whole image, then went in with a stringer blend for the base of the pumpkins.

This panel was attached to a white card base with glue, then sentiment stamped – also by creating a gradient of colour – darker at the tope, lighter at the bottom, then die cut with a Pinkfresh Studio nesting die. I had to use a partial die cutting technique to make the label the correct size for the sentiment.

I did add a little ink around the edges of this die cut to make it stand out more.

I look forward to seeing many, many pumpkins in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Four Seasons Challenge – anything goes fall

Stencil Fun – stencils – option to use some gold not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

ABC Christmas Challenge – W and/or X

Hello again. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘W’ and ‘X’, Fabiola is hosting, and the Christmas themes are:

W is for Wings and/or X is for X-stitch – any stitching

Here is my card for the theme of ‘wings’:

The birds were created first, and by using the ‘Birdie Friends in Winter’ combo. The birds were die cut, then ink blended using the matching layering stencils. Two of the birds have hats already, but I also die cut and ink blended another couple so I could clothe all of them with those cute hats.

The background panel was put through an embossing folder and attached to a card base.

The five scalloped pieces were die cut then ink blended with a couple of pink tones – I thought these pinks would be good for the background of each bird – allowing the blue and red on the birds to stand out.

These pieces were attached to the background in a jaunty fashion, the birds attached with thin 3D foam, a gold foiled sentiment added, and some gold gems also placed around and about.