ink blending

Snowy Season’s Greetings

We are starting a new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas/festive’. Here is my card:

This stamp is from Pink Ink – and is quite large……so the card ended up being a substantial size – but fun to make.

I stamped then heat embossed the image, then stamped another to make a mask for the top portion – the tree and top of the card.

I then ink blended the background with Distress Inks, before water-colouring my image. Some of the smaller details I coloured with Copics. Once it had all dried, I splattered some Copic Opaque White all over – I mean all over – to get a blizzard effect – the snowman is still taking this tree home despite the weather!

I decided it needed a frame, so I used die-cut a frame using some stithced rectangle dies, then ink blended with Distress Inks to match the background.

I quite enjoyed using the variety of medium to create this card and will definitely have a play again.

I hope you can come and join us in our challenge – I look forward to seeing you there. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Colour Crazy Challenge – anything goes colouring

Krafty Chicks Challenge – occasions

Mix It Up Challenge – anything goes mixed media

Christmas Craft Creations – anything goes Christmas

Avenue 613 – anything goes with optional twist of water-colour

Happy Penguin Holidays

Hello. A new challenge has started at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas/festive‘. Here is my card:

The cute penguin image is from Gerda Steiner, coloured with Copics, with the sentiment from the same stamp set.

The background is ink blended Distress inks with a little gitterly splatter. Hills created using Lawn Fawn dies, and Lawn Fawn glitter applied to the top of each hill and their hats.

I also decided to add some glittery clouds on the top with a little – just a little – ink blending.

I hope you can come and join us and increae your crafty stash ready forr the end of the year – I look forward to seeing your creations. xx

Let’s Meet Up Soon…..

Hello everyone. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘D’, and Veronika has chosen the theme of ‘Dragons and/or Dinosaurs’. Here is my card:

The stamp set is an oldie – but it’s a goodie, and my first thought when I saw what the theme was.

I stamped the images onto Neenah 80lb card – what? I hear you say. You are colouring on a different kind of card? Well – yes…….I recently attended a virtual class with Jenn Shurkus and she always uses Neenah 80lb to Copic colour. So – I thought I’d give it a try – it took a few weeks to be able to acquire some, but let me tell you – I like it.

I tried the 110lb to Copic colour before and didn’t like the results. I think it’s too thick and dried too quick to get a good blend. I feel I’m talking like I’m an expert – but you know what you and you like what you like, don’t you. I am NOT a Copic expert – but I have fun when I colour small images………..not a colourist either. Images that are too big, and colouring pages bore me, doesn’t relax me – so I like the little colouring I do when it comes to cards.

Anyhoo – back to the game in hand……..I kept the colour scheme quite simple. In this world the grass is pink, to match the dragons, and help them camouflage!

The slimline card base is Neenah 110lbs, the second layer is Neenah 80lbs with an MFT cloud stencil and the new Distress Ink ‘Salvaged Patina‘.

The grass is a piece of Creative Expression ‘Blush’ card, die cut to match the scallops, then die cut again with a Mama Elephant grass die, and then some ‘Kitsch Flamingo’ blended into the top edges.

I didn’t put the sentiment on the front of this card – I felt it would spoil the overall effect – and so I will be putting something on the inside. Now the restrictions in the UK have eased a little, and we can meet people indoors, in restaurants etc – I am hoping I can meet up with a friend or two over a meal and a little bevy…….

I miss the nipping out for a coffee with a mate, or meeting someone for a quick evening meal somewhere – I am hoping my diary will rapidly fill with dates like this!

I hope you can come and join us with your dragons and/or your dinosaurs – I;m looking forward to seeing your creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafting Happiness Challenge – anything goes -option of hello

Colour Crazy Challenge – week 19 – anything goes and include colouring

Stamplorations Stencil Challenge – anything goes with a stencil

Happy Little stampers stencil Challenge – anything goes with a stencil

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes

Lot’s Of Birthday Wishes

Hello there. I am very pleased and excited to announce I am going to be a Surprise Party Guest and Design Team member at Seize The Birthday for the next couple of months.

Here is my party guest invitation and challenge theme for the next two weeks, followed by my card:

The invitation to join this challenge came just a day or two after I had received this ‘Lift Flap Grid‘ die from Mama Elephant – it’s almost fated…..

I started with a piece of Distress white heavy card stock and ink blended three Distress Inks, then cut that with the lift flap grid. I initially placed a piece of white card behind the back, but I thought this was going to be a little stark, so I used some ‘Dove‘ card stock from Concord & 9th.

The white grid I had die cut – I do this just to see how things cut and how they look – I placed on the grey card, drew a little pencil line around each opening – so I knew where I wanted to put each of the tiny little sentiments.

I hunted through my stash – using the CML app – and found a multitude of tiny sentiments – I was stuck deciding on which to use – but just went with it.

I then stamped a few of the images from ‘Little Cat Agenda’ – well I stamped them all actually and picked which I wanted to use -then coloured as you see – quite muted colours, but I think they stand out well on this flap background.

The theme of this challenge is always birthday, with an optional topping each challenge. I am looking forward to be a part of this challenge, and I look forward to seeing you in the gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Watercooler Challenge – occasions

Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Lil red Wagon Challenge – Happy Birthday

Die Cut Divas – window or aperture card

Happy Christmas Deer

Hello. A new challenge has started at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. As always, the theme is anything goes Christmas/Festive. Here is my card:

I started with ink blending the background using Distress Inks Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers. Just the two colours – and where they met, a light coverage, as I knew I wanted to stamp the hillside there.

Once the panel was dry, and the hillside stamped, I die-cut the rectangle with a stitched die to add some interest, then stamped the sentiment.

The three deer were stamped in Gina K amalgam ink, then coloured with Copics, adding some blush to their cheeks, and some white gel pen for highlights.

I thought the two prancing deer were looking down at a very drunken deer – but maybe that’s the way my mind is working currently……..

I hope you can come and join us and add some festive creations to your stash – I look forward to seeing what you create. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Krafty Chicks Challenge – occasion

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas

Watercooler Challenge – Occasions

Aud Sentiments Challenge – animals and a sentiment

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CAS with bleaching

Hi again. A lot of crafting done today…………….

I had some bad news from a dear friend of mine today. Her son has died from the dreaded Covid-19! Her son! How on earth do you cope with that? I don’t have children, so I couldn’t possibly imagine how that must feel. He must have been around 40 years of age, and was working as a bus driver after the lock-down………………..As nurses we are expected to continue to work, and as a bus driver, he who would be in more contact with the general public, was trying to get the rest of us to work during this pandemic. I can’t comprehend how she must be feeling right now.

I have a card planned in my mind, as I can’t go and give her a hug. I can’t go anywhere near her, with the lock-down in place, and especially as she is in the vulnerable age group, but at least I can send a card with some pretend hugs……………………at least she will know I am thinking about her!

I took to my craft room and tried a new technique to try and ease my own mind.

I tried some bleaching on my image. Here is the card before I tell you any more about my technique:

I ink blended the Distress Oxide ‘Barn Door’ as I wanted a very vibrant red colour, which would stand out from the bleaching. I dried it with my heat tool, then stamped and embossed the Uniko ‘Peony’ in Altenew Gold embossing powder then went hunting for some bleach……

Erm – as we have a septic tank – I didn’t have any pure bleach – we’re not supposed to use too much bleach – so I improvised. I took some ‘Domestos‘ – which is bleach technically – but it is ultra-thick…….and just tried it.

I noticed it took the colour away VERY quickly, but I also noticed I could determine how much colour was taken off depending on how long I left it there – so I tried a little ‘blending’. Removing some very quickly from the inner petals to try and create some darker petals, and removing a second or too later for the lighter and outer petals.

I then cut thisa piece into a square, and added a wonky stitched rectangle frame.

The sentiment is from a new Tracy Hey stamp set – full of encouraging words and phrases – I can see I’m going to be using those a lot in the next few weeks.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Mix-Up – CAS – bleaching + stamping + your choice (embossing and die-cutting)

Craft Friends Challenge – atg

Crafty Creations Challenge – atg

Crafters Castle Challenge – atg

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

Peeking Daisy

Hello again. I am amazed at how much I am able to craft when the builders aren’t here. I am sure it will be worth it when they have finished, which should be another 2-3 weeks, and I’ll have two brand spanking-new bathrooms – and I’m going to use them both!

This card is using a new purchase from Simon Says Stamp. My sister was coming from Canada, so I took the opportunity to get some stuff delivered to her for her to bring over to me. The postage was less – even though I had to wait longer……….

This my card using the Simon Says Stamp ‘Peeking Daisy‘:

A picture from a different angle:

You may be thinking it looks quite simple, but let me tell you – there was loads of measuring – to make sure the circles were equal from each other, equal from the edges, and that the daisy images were all the correct way up and looked the same.

This die is a solid circle, but there are two teeny tiny holes on the back of the die, which I lined up with pencil lines I drew across the middle of the piece of card, just managing to see through those holes – which ensured the flowers were lined up and the right way round.

Instead of rubbing the pencil lines off the little daisy images – I think they may be too fragile – I ran the card through my die-cutting machine to flatten the edges – and this side is the ‘wrong’ side of the die cut.

Then I used a challenge colours – I don’t have the specific challenge colours, but substituted Catherine Pooler inks – again drew pencil circles using the die itself as a template, and ink-blended as you see.

The sentiment is from MFT, and is one whole sentiment, but instead of cutting the sentiment apart – not have the nerve for that yet – I masked each part off prior to stamping.

I must say I like the end result, even though that ruler and pencil certainly had some use out of them for such a CAS card.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – Bermuda Bay, Mango Melody, Night of Navy

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Simply Less Is More – use small images less than 2 inches

Addicted to CAS – CAS Daisy

Enjoy this moment….

A quick post to share the card I have made for the photo inspiration from (Pin)spirational:

I have been thinking about the photo inspiration for quite a few days now, and was going along the sparkles and the word ‘love’ – but then I saw how beautiful the tree was in the corner of the photo – and remembered this stamp from Altenew – ‘Moments in Time‘.

I began by cutting a circle out of some masking paper, and using the cut-out to ink blend two distress oxide colours. I used the circle shape to kinda represent the ‘o’ in the word love…..

Once dry, I then stamped the tree, then the sentiment, in Altenew Obsidian ink. I didn’t smudge anything! I am so pleased with myself!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Pinspirational – photo inspiration

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Moving along with the times – CAS

{PIN}spirational Challenges