ink blending

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

Snowy Seasons Greeting

Hello there. I have a card to share with you today as there is a new challenge starting at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is – anything goes as long as it’s Christmas.

I took the opportunity to use my Copics again – kinda getting into the colouring, but I still don’t see it as relaxing – just a way of getting more from my stamps, and allowing me to use digital images…..I’m going to be doing a Copic Colouring course in September with Faye Wynn-Jones – the first of four such classes, but in the meantime I’m Googling and You-tubing and basically using all kinds of resources out there – and there are loads!!

This card is using the stamped images from Honey Bee ‘Snow Birds’, the base and tree and house images from Lawn Fawn, with a Distress Crayon sky background……..The sentiment is die cut four times and stacked for dimension.

I have a couple of packs of these crayons – but never used them – I don’t how to!

Anyhoo – I saw a Create and Craft programme which spent an hour using them, so I had a go. I used water-colour card-stock, drew the two blue colours down, them after moistening my finger in a damp baby wipe – smooshed it through the colours……….it looked easy on the programme.

My colours didn’t really move that much – but I could see they were trying. So – I took the moist baby wipe and blended them with that! Hey presto – ink smooshed baby-wiped background……..

I kept the base card bigger than the frame, because I think it looks like a frame too – and I do like to flout the rules – having a wider edge on the sides than at the top! I could have cut it down – but I like it this way………

As I mentioned, it is a new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge, but I am also entering this card into the following:

Christmas At Sweet Stampin’ – anything goes Christmas with option of non-traditional colours

Aud Sentiments Challenge – anything goes with a sentiment

Daring Cardmakers – anything that flies

Playing with backgrounds

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Hi there. I’ve been playing with my Avery Elle ‘Brring On the Joy’ stamp and die set. I saw this on a YouTube channel, and thought how cute they looked. If you know me at all, I struggle with cute. I never know how to colour the little animals, how to arrange them – but I thought with penguins it would be simple…..a little bit of black, a little bit of white, some colour for the scarves and shoes….and there we have it.

Now, my main struggle was the background. I wanted to play with my Distress Oxides, and took the ‘Faded Jeans’ – the only oxide I have that is blue – and set to playing.

I first used normal card – too much blending, and the card started to break down. Without water, too. So – water-colour card. Actually, this is a little thinner than card, but thicker than paper.

I did one background by smooshing the ink pad onto my craft mat, added water, and then lay the water-colour card down. This was too random for me, and not enough coverage, so I took my blending tool and made it more even. That was pretty decent.

The I just took the ink pad, ran it over the water-colour card, wet it down, evened it out…a more solid background. Kinda liked that too.

The next one, I ink blended the traditional way, and even used a cloud stencil I had handy for some detail in the background…..You can tell which one that is. I just kept playing, and trying different techniques, and the only one I didn’t really like, and couldn’t do anything with – was when I didn’t use water-colour card or paper……. quite obvious, really! Oh – and I finished off with some water splattering……..got to really – rude not to!

I think I’ll be making some similar cards, as I like the sentiments, they are cute……and I liked playing with the oxide.

I shall be entering one of these cards into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – Christmas

The Merry Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas with the Cuties – Christmas animals

 

 

Colourful inspiration

Good evening all. For today’s card I have been playing with loads and loads of inks. Can you tell? I have been ink blending and creating Brusho backgrounds, and die cutting. Quite a bit of playing and fun I had.

For the base card, I used a piece of Crafters Companion water-colour card, and blended colours from Lawn Fawn. These inks are wonderful and blend very, very nicely. I will definitely use them again for this technique. I also did some water splashes to create some added interest to the background.

I actually tried to emulate the colours from the Daring Cardmakers challenge with the middle bottom image being of what I saw as sea and sun-setting sky.

You had to use three elements from these pictures, so I continued to create another ink-blending background, from which I cut small strips – to match the top middle picture, and laid those down in a criss-cross pattern just off to one side.

The third element I used were the flowers. Well, I couldn’t just put one or two on, could I? I started by creating a Brusho background with one of the blue colours, added some yellow, added some purple. I just kept adding until I liked the colours.

I then stamped the flowers from the Altenew ‘Adore You’ stamp set onto that background with Versafine Black Onyx and die cut them with the matching stamp set.

I glued everything down flat, and I used a glue I haven’t used before but bought at Doncaster Dome craft show this past weekend – Tombow multipurpose liquid glue. My goodness that stuff is strong, isn’t it? It may take over from my usual favourite glue from Creative Expressions – Cosmic Shimmer. I really like the Tombow….

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:

Daring Cardmakers – June Elemental challenge

Crazy 4 Challenges – at least three of something (strips, flowers)