ink blending

Making Spirits Bright

Hello everyone. The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge – anything goes Christmas. Here is my card:

There’s a lot of glitter and shine with this card, and I’ll try and show you on the following pictures.

To begin, I started with the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Whispers of Poinsettia’ die and stencil set. I started by using the stencil and ink blended all the layers with different coloured inks, then used the matching die to cut it out.

To add more drama, I used a black panel and cut to an A2 card base size, then used another Pinkfresh die set to cut the frame out of black, and used an embossing folder for the cut out portion of the frame. The poinsettia panel was also die cut with the larger of the frame dies, placed behind the frame, the black embossed panel added behind, and then I added some splatters that with some gold shimmery acrylic paint from Liquitex.

When I say ‘some’ splatters – I kinda went to town with it….

A gold glitter card stock panel was cut, and all the layers added with wet glue.

I added a foiled sentiment and them some ombre glitter gems for the centre of the flowers.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational – seasonal

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas, option of snowfall not taken

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

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media

Crafters Café – anything goes – option of Christmas taken

N is for Night

Hello everyone. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘N’, and Pamela has chosen the theme of:

‘N is for Night‘ with some ideas such as clouds, moon, sleeping image, stars etc

Here is my card:

I decided to break out my Copics to colours this scene – I’ve not used them in a while.

The images is from Clearly Besotted, stamped with alcohol friendly black ink. I use Gina K Designs Amalgam for this.

I then used a range of tones for the colouring of the image, before stamping again and fussy-cutting around the sky line – yes – me – fussy-cutting!! – to create a mask. This mask was placed over the image and another small circle of the masking paper created for the moon.

I used some Distress Oxides and ink blended the sky, darker at the top edge. The moon mask moved during one of my swiping of the blending brushes, and some of the ink got into the moon area – but that was certainly a happy accident as it made the moon look more realistic….

Once ink blended and the masks removed, I used a heat tool to dry completely ( so I thought) and used the star detail stamp and used a white sparkle embossing powder……another happy accident was that I hadn’t actually full dried the moon area, so some sparkle landed on there – again, I liked the look of that so left it as it was.

I created a rectangle frame using a couple of dies, one with a stitching detail, then glued the coloured image and the frame to a white crad base.

The sentiment was stamped as you see.

So – a card with a couple of minor hiccups – but all came out good in the end….

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Crafters Café – anything goes – option of Christmas not taken

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Believe In Yourself

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘M’, and Tee has chosen the theme of :

‘Mythical Creatures‘

Here is my card:

For this card I used products from Waffle Flower Crafts, utilising some die sets, and layering stencil sets for the open book and dragon and castle images. The book was die cut first, then the layering stencils used with Pinkfresh Studio inks to create the scene.

The background panel was also using a Waffle Flower Crafts older die set, the Cloudscape Panel Die.

The cloudscape was die cut, then each of the cloud layers were ink blended individually, the brown lower piece also ink blended. This frame was glued to a card base, then each of the cloud layers were inlaid back into their respective places, the brown layer glued in, then the book attached.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

I also added some opal glitter drops for extra interest.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme, and I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of fancy folds not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Purple & Green Hugs

Hello there. A new challenge has started at Cardz 4 Galz, Helen has chosen the theme of:

‘Purple & Green’

Here is my card:

For this card, I chose to go with products from Concord & 9th, and The Greetery.

The first thing I did was to use the ‘Bitty Botanicals‘ stamp set for the green foliage, then added the various tones of purple for the flowers using the matching stencils.

I then added the ‘Diamond Ribbons‘ stencil and die set combo to create the trellis and attached that with glue so each diamond framed each of the floral images.

Onto that, I added a word die from Concords & 9th, with the shadow layer being from vellum.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme of purple and green. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ellibelle’s Corner Garden Party – anything in of from the garden

Crafters Café – flowers

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of fancy folds not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

Red Poinsettia

Hello everyone. I have a card to share for the new challenge at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge.

I again used the ‘Sketched Poinsettia’ from Waffle Flowers Crafts, but this time I used more traditional bold colours.

I first stamped then gold heat embossed the image, then used the layering stencils to colour it in. This was then die cut with the matching die, and put to one side whilst I thought about the background.

The striped red paper was cut to the size of an A2 card, and I then used some letter press plates from Pinkfresh Studio to hot foil the frame and the inner rectangular piece, cutting them out with the matching dies. This gave some subtle gold highlights to certain places of the die cuts.

The poinsettia was added, and then a hot foiled sentiment on the top. The final touch were some gold gems.

I hope you can come and join us in our challenge, and I look forward to seeing you in our gallery.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Colourful Options – any colour, any theme, any combination

Crafts Galore – anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas – option of circles & squares not taken

Crafters Café – flowers

Beautiful Blossoms – anything florals

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Hello Friend

Hello everyone. I have just had a week in very warm Tenerife and now I’m, I can get to crafting and posting. The new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz has started. I am hosting this time round, and have chosen the theme of:

‘dies and/or punches’

Here is my card:

I chose to use some dies purchased from Simon Says Stamp, along with some dies from Pinkfresh Studio.

I first created the flowers by die cutting all the elements from the ‘Exotic Blooms’ die set from coloured card, then added some ink blending to the base of each of the floral layers, and then each of the leaf layers. The centre stamens were cut from gold card stock.

The florals were created, then I used the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Notched Corner Frame‘ dies. I first created the frame using a grey card stock, then I used the other layers of the frame to create the notches within the white card panel behind the florals to add a little interest to the background.

The gold foiled sentiment was added as you see.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

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

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of fancy fold not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

Teal Poinsettia

Hello once again. The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

To create this card, I used the Waffle Flower Crafts ‘Sketched Poinsettia‘ stamp, die and stencil set. I first gold heat embossed the image with Altenew gold embossing powder, used the matching stencils to ink blend and colour the image in, then used the matching die to cut it out.

I used Pinkfresh Studio inks for the main floarl element.

For the background, I wanted a bold back-drop to the flower, so I used a dark blue card stock, and a Spellbinders embossing folder. This panel was cut slightly down to create a white edge.

The Spellbinders sentiment is gold foiled and die cut.

the elements were added as you see, and some dew drops added around and about.

I hope you can come and join, and I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of nature taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Inlaid Greetings

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter K, and Helen has chosen the theme of ‘keep it simple’. Here is my card:

To make this card I used a die from ‘A Pocket Full Of Happiness’. This company is now being stocked in one of UK stores, and this die set is one of a few I bought.

I used the die, then with each of the pieces which fell out, I ink blended, and then inlaid them back again. This was actually quite easy when using the Waffle Flower grip mat, and took very little time at all.

I chose to mat the white panel with black, and added to the front of the card base nearer the top, to make way for the sentiment.

The sentiment is also from the same floral die set, again die cut, then the fall-out letters ink blended and inlaid, matted again with a black piece of card.

As you know, this is about as simple as I get – no embossing folder, no gems or jewels…..

I hope you can come and join us in our challenge with your ‘keep it simple; creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Everybody Art – anything goes

Addicted To Stamps & More – die cuts and/or stencils

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers – optional mood board

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Joy To The World

Hello everyone. After a busy few days over the Bank Holiday weekend, including a de-stash stall in our market area here in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, I find I am a day late in posting for the new challenge at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

The Santa Collage is from Waffle Flower – such a joyous and festive layering stencil set. I first die cut the collage panel, laid the stencils in order, and ink blended using traditional Christmas colours – a bright red, a bright green – then added white gel pen for some extra details.

I also added some pencil scrawls across the list Santa is holding, and gold acrylic paint dots on the solid red present.

The sentiment is from a previous foiling session – I have quite a few ready for attaching to cards – and is from Pinkfresh Studio.

I will definitely be using this stencil set again, maybe in different colour ways, but I do like the traditional look for this.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of trees and/or leaves not taken

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Addicted To Stamps & More – die cuts and/or stencils

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Hugs Leafy Frame

Hello everyone. There is a new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz. Johanna is hosting, and she has chosen the theme of ‘Use Vellum’. Here is my card:

I started by ink blending the leafy frame from The Greetery, using all of the layers from the stencil set and Pinkfresh Studio inks, adding some darker ink towards the bottom of each leaf, then die cut using the matching die.

The background panel was created using an embossing folder, onto which I attached the frame using small pieces of 3D foam.

I then took the vellum and die cut some extra foliage to place around and about to create more subtle details.

The sentiment was created by swiping one of the ink pads I had used for the ink blending, and using a Time 4 Tea Designs die, with the shadow layer also in vellum.