ink blending

Let It Snow Deer…….

Hello yet again. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge – anything goes Christmas/Festive. Here is my card:

I seem to be masking a lot recently – I blame Gina K! She showed us how easy it was when she taught on the Crop and Create at the beginning of October. I even went so far as to buy some mylar and create my own masks for shapes I will use again and again – like this oval shape……and therefore I also have the oval itself as well to use as a mask if I so wish.

I used a piece of Strathmore card stock, cut it bigger than I need – I’m always smudging stuff so I thought I’d try it that way – and placed down the piece which had the oval cut out of it.

I then decided where I wanted this gorgeous border stamp from Uniko, stamped that onto a piece of masking paper, cut out the wavy bottom bit, and stuck that down on the top of the mylar – then ink blended.

I didn’t want the ink blending below the border and this worked perfectly well – and no smudges!

Whilst the homemade stencil was still in place, I added some white ink through a dotty/snowy stencil. That didn’t work very well – the white ink was a little too juicy – so I added some white ink splatters and some additional water splashes. I think it turned out lovely:

I let this panel dry before I stamped the deer and tree border in black – having the stamp three times using my Misti (thank goodness for this tool) to get a darker and more solid image.

The sentiment is also from Uniko – some masking here too. The sentiment was too long for this card, and so I centered to have two ‘Let It Snow’ visible, and then covered the part of the stamp I didn’t want – inked it – then remembered to remove that from the stamp before stamping it on the card. Now that would have been traumatising if I had forgotten!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Animals Challenge – anything goes with an animal

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Creative Fingers Challenge – anything goes

Allsorts Challenge – anything goes – option vintage – not taken

Cards Galore Encore – anything goes

Jingle Belles Rock Challenge – Christmas Creatures

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Beautiful Inside and Out

Hello. Following on from my craft time yesterday, I created a card for the current challenge at Just Us Girls:

I’s a colour challenge this time round, and I decided to use my new set from The Greetery. One of our online shops in the UK has started to stock The Greetery – I took the opportunity to purchase several sets. This was one of them.

I first used the base stencil to blend the first layer of the flowers in yellow, then used Altenew inks and rest of the stamps to create the full image.

I then used the matching die to cut out the middle of the image to create a window – this would make a great shaker card, something I’ll try in the future – and used the matching stencil to ink blend some Salvaged Patina Distress Ink around the outside.

The sentiment is from Altenew, and stamped with Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide – better than the Distress Inks when stamping – and then layered the floral panel onto a white card base with 3D foam.

I searched my stash for some turquoise embellishments, and found these tiny stars, which I added as you see.

S for Stencil, T for Two

Hello. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘S’ and ‘T’. Our prompts for these letters are S for Stencil, and T for Two. As long as they are Christmas creations and follow our theme, then you’re good. Here are my cards:

The first card is using several stencils actually. It didn’t start out that way, but that’s how it went. The central poinsettia image and the background image are stencils from Uniko. It involved a lot of masking – a lot! I also used a Hero Arts alignment stencil for part of the masking process too.

I first used the alignment tool to make the square on the card base, then added the poinsettia stencil. then masked around it, then used Distress Oxide to create the purple flower in the centre.

Some change of the masking, I then did the green – but when I finished the card I didn’t like the green – which is why there is a frame around the flower…..

All sorts of masking, using itty bitty pieces of post-it notes as these gave me the angles and the movement I needed. In the end I also stenciled the background, using the little square mask from the Hero Arts stencil set – and even more post-it notes for the bottom edge.

As I didn’t like the green, I created a frame using some stitched square dies, then ink blended the same pink oxide so it matched.

The second card has an ink blended background, splattered with water, then when it was dry I stamped the Hero Arts ‘Winter Swirls’ background stamp with white pigment ink.

The snowmen are from Hero Arts also – coloured with Copics, some white detail for the scarves, and placed as if they were in a blizzard……..

I hope you can come and join us for our Christmas themes this time round – I hope to see you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Snowman card:

Creative Fingers Challenge – anything goes

Jingle Belles Rock – photo inspiration

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Krafty Chicks Challenge – occasions

Poinsettia card:

52 CCT – Christmas and stencils

Christmas Craft Creations – Christmas and non-traditional colours

Winners - please take this to share on your blog

Color Throwdown – Winter Scene

Hi guys. I am lucky enough to have been randomly chosen featured stamper for a recent Color Throwdown Challenge, and so once again I am Guest Star Stamper for the new challenge.

Here are the colours for this week:

And here is my interpretation of those colours:

I started by ink blending two shades of blue Distress Oxides onto a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock. This card is a new purchase for me, and I can certainly see why this is a favourite for ink blending – I am sure I will use this again and again.

Once blended, I die cut the Forest Backdrop in Concord & 9th ‘Dove’ card stock, as well as die cutting all the other elements in that same colour – with some white for the house roof, the underneath of the trees and the moon.

I stuck down the backdrop, then added all the elements, with either foam squares or directly with glue, and then added some glitter oen to all the white areas.

I also added some of the stars in grey and white for the sky – adding the glitter pen to them all.

The moon is actually two die cuts placed together to create a shadow effect. I did contemplate shading the die cuts with a Copic marker, but I struggle with that – unlike Nichol Spohr – but I will keep practising – just not with this card….

I enjoyed the challenge of using these colours to create a card, and I hope you can join the team this time round. xx

I shall also be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafting Happiness Challenge – anything goes

Time Out Challenge – coloured card base

Jingle Belles Rock – photo Inspiration

Deer Season’s Greetings

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started another ‘anything goes Christmas’ challenge – here is my card:

The deer and trees is a die set from Crafters Companion – bought on a whim – and found again when I was entering some new buys into the CML app.

I die cut the main deer image into the front of my card panel, then used some light brown/Kraft card stock for the trees. When putting the card together, I did cut off the frame for the trees, as it seemed to be poking through the front window a little more than I liked.

I used another of my ink blended backgrounds – I still have lots of those ready for crafting – and die cut a slightly larger square than the main panel, and placed it behind the deer, then glued the trees onto that.

As the back of the base looked a little messy, I die cut a rectangle to cover the different layers and adhered it to make it look neater.

The sentiment is from Uniko – I wanted a fairly plain, un-coloured sentiment, so as not to detract from the main image.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations – anything goes, as per usual……. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creatilicious Challenge – anything goes with option of animals

Tuesday Taggers – simple design, simple to make

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Craft Rocket Challenge – CAS

ABC Christmas Challenge – P, Q, R

Hello. ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters above and we want to see your Christmas makes with the following themes:

P for Plump – think Father Christmas, Robin, Pudding

Q for Quality Street chocolates – using the chocolates or the colours

R for Ribbon

Here are my cards with P and Q:

P for Plump:

Q for Quality Street:

For the first card, I used the Hero Arts Alignment tool to ink blend a square in the card base. I then stamped, coloured with Copics, and die cut the balloon images from Clearly Besotted, and drew some white gel pen on for the balloon strings.

I also received some little gem sticky thingies from my Stampin Up Demonstrator that day – so I added those too…..

For the second card I’ve gone a completely different route – not so much CAS, is it?

The purple background is alcohol ink on Yupo paper. That purple panel was die cut using a Sue Wilson Big Bold Words die – saving the negative space and each individual little piece which came out – then put the sentiment, it’s outline, and all those little pieces onto a piece of black card which was backed by a double sided sticky sheet. To the part of the base outline which was left, I sprinkled some Creative Expressions black glitter, then placed the sentiment piece back onto the purple Yupo paper.

There’s a lot of colour and inspiration from the Design team – I hope you get time to check them out and join us for our challenge xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Purple card:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Love To Craft Challenge – anything goes

Christmas Cards All Year Round – Christmas with O and/or P – (Purple)

Mix It Up Challenge – mixed media – alcohol inks, glitter,

Balloon card:

Cupcake Inspiration – balloons

Crafters Café – anything goes

Christmas with the cuties – CAS cute Christmas

Crafty Animals Challenge – anything goes with an animal

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