Exciting News about a New Challenge

The wonderful duo of Loll Thompson and Bonnie Klass, creators of the CAS Mix Up challenge, have come up with a new challenge that will go live on October 1st.

The challenge will be to create a clean and simple card using watercolouring.  Each month there will be a different theme, or occasionally a different watercolour technique.

In honour of this news, I thought I'd post two watercolour cards I made in the summer but never got around to blogging.  They are variations on a technique called Vintage Watercolour that I learned from this tutorial on SCS.

I stamped the image (which is an outline stamp) in Distress Vintage Photo and then pulled some of the colour out of the Vintage Photo ink.  I put a bit of Tattered Rose (for the flowers) and Old Paper (for the leaves) on my craft sheet and added some to the inside of the image.  I did not use the Elegant Writer the way Heather did in her SCS tutorial as I wanted to keep my card just in brown tones.  With Antique Linen, I did some sponging around the edge of the panel and stamped some script and a postage mark.  And used Vintage Photo for the sentiment.  The watercoloured panel is popped up on fun foam for some dimension.

I did pretty much the same thing for the second card but used way more water so ended up with a lot of splotchiness.  I used Victorian Velvet for the flowers and Adirondack Lake Mist for the sponging and text in the background.

Watercolour is a fabulous and versatile technique so be sure to check out the new CAS Watercolour challenge and be inspired by Loll and Bonnie to join in starting on October 1st!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Elements of Style and French Foliage

Ink - Distress Vintage Photo, Victorian Velvet, Old Paper, Antique Linen, and Tattered Rose; Adirondack Lake Mist

Paper - PTI Vintage Cream cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - fun foam

Heartfelt Wishes for Loll

A few years ago I connected through SCS with the wonderful and talented Loll Thompson.  Because we both live in the Vancouver area, we started getting together to make cards, try out new techniques, share supplies, and most importantly, get to know each other.  We have become good friends and when Loll learned she had breast cancer, she shared the news with me and some other stamping friends, but wanted it kept fairly quiet.

Needless to say I made a couple of cards to send her while she was going through her treatment.  Loll has now shared her story on her blog so I have her permission to mention it and to pass on her encouragement to everyone to do their monthly breast self-examinations.

Here are the two cards I made for Loll:

 

The background was done as an experiment of marbling with food colouring dropped on top of soapy water.  I was hoping to use it for the CAS Mix Up marbling challenge but I didn't get a true marbled look so used it for a card for Loll instead as it's in colours she likes.  

I added some randomly-inked text (using Distress Old Paper ink), die cut with a stitched rectangle, added a die cut spray of flowers and some sequins, and stamped and heat embossed my sentiment in gold on vellum. 

Here's the second card:

On this one, I experimented with alcohol inks on translucent Yupo.  The alcohol inks spread out into larger circles than they do on regular Yupo.  I used a new die cut for the flower and my pierced frames to border it.

Loll titled her post about her cancer "Truly Grateful" because she had really good results from the surgery.  I'm also grateful to have her on the mend and facing a positive outcome for a full recovery.

Supplies:.

Stamps -
1st card - Inkadinkado script, Chocolate Baroque sentiment
2nd card - Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink -
1st card - ColorBox Gold, Distress Old Paper
2nd card - Staz-on Black
 

Paper -
1st card - white cs, vellum, watercolour paper
2nd card - white cs, transparent Yupo
 

Size - A2

Accessories -
1st card - dish detergent, red and yellow food colouring, sequins, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle, gold embossing powder, Memory Box die, fun foam
2nd card - various alcohol inks, MFT pierced frame die, Memory Box flower die

Dogs and a Mouse

I haven't done a post for a couple of days so am including three cards here: a couple of dog cards, one sad and one happy, and a card with a mouse!

The sad one was made for a friend whose elderly dog passed away.

 

I did the dog by inking up the stamp once, stamped it full strength, and then stamped it off twice without reinking as it goes off the page to give the idea of her wagging her tail right to the end as her life fades away.

On a happier note, I recently came across a stamp that reminded me so much of my puppy, Tessa, and her litter mates when I went down to see them a couple of weeks before I got Tessa.  They were weaned off of their mother and just starting to eat mushy food - and they all shared it from the same bowl.  They would step in the food sometimes and then track it all over their pen.  There is a lot of clean-up and laundry involved if you breed dogs!  Whoever designed this stamp's image sure knew what they were doing!

I turned it into a thank you card to send to Tessa's breeder.

I stamped the image in Distress Tea Dye ink as it is close to Tessa's colour, then watercoloured it with various Distress inks.  I added the pawprints on the bottom right to balance with the sentiment.

Tessa no longer steps in her food and is growing up into a well-mannered (most of the time) and very sweet young dog (most of the time) - she's now five and a half months old.  Here's a recent photo:

And finally a card I made with a sweet mouse - I sent it to a 10 year old great-niece who loves to read.

I used an ancient stamp I have of a mouse on a stack of books - simply stamped and watercoloured.

The sentiment below the mouse makes me think of my childhood - whenever my mother asked me to do something when I was reading, I'd always reply "as soon as I finish this chapter".

I cut it out with a tag die, made a background with a text stamp, and popped it up on fun foam.

Thanks for dropping by!

Supplies:

Stamps -
1st card: SU D is for Dog
2nd card: PB puppies, Bouji paw prints, Savvy Stamps sentiment 
3rd card: Kidstamps mouse, Wendy Vecchi text stamp, PTI sentiment 

Ink -
1st card: Memento Tuxedo Black
2nd card: Distress Tea Dye and various others, Memento Tuxedo Black
3rd card: Versafine Onyx Black, Adirondack Lake Mist 

Paper -
1st card: PTI Vintage Cream, Deja Vu dp, black cs
2nd card: watercolour paper, cream cs
3rd card: green and white cs, watercolour paper 
 

Size - all are A2

Accessories -
1st card: dimensionals, twine, Spellbinders tag
2nd card: Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, fun foam 
3rd card: watercolour paints, Die-namics tag die, brad, fun foam

Marbled Tea for CAS Mix Up

This is my reminder card for the September CAS Mix Up challenge "Marbling".  Our challenge is to use stamping, marbling, and your choice of at least one other element from our list of choices on the right of the CAS Mix Up page.

For my card, I chose die cutting (the teapot), Glossy Accents (on the teapot), and heat embossing (on the sentiment).

I used the shaving foam method of marbling and .  See here for a tutorial on it.  I stuck to just two colours of Distress reinkers - Faded Jeans and Seedless Preserves.  After swirling the inks on the foam, I just started playing with different scraps of cs.  First I pulled a piece of regular fairly heavy cs through it.  This got me a very dark marbled piece.  I then tried a few others.  I did not like the results on glossy or coated cs so tossed them.  But my final pull was on a piece of quite lightweight watercolour paper and I really liked it so used it for the background for this card. 

I showed the results to Loll Thompson and she suggested using the very dark first pull for die cuts and that's what gave me the idea for this card.  Thanks, Loll!

I die cut the dark piece with the PTI teapot die, and cut a second teapot so I could layer it for more substance.  I then coated it with Glossy Accents to make it look more like a china teapot.  I trimmed the background piece so that I could place the teapot on it as if there was a swirl of lovely blackcurrant tea scent coming out of the spout.  With a paintbrush, I added a bit of watered down reinker around the base of the teapot to ground it.

I added a stamped (in dark blue) and heat embossed sentiment, bordered with navy cs, and popped it up on fun foam for dimension.

Please think about getting very messy with some marbling and join us at CAS Mix Up - you have until September 24 to link up.

Supplies:

Stamps - PTI Tea for Two sentiment

Ink - Versafine Majestic Blue inkpad; Distress Faded Jeans and Seedless Preserves reinkers

Paper - PTI Vintage Cream cs, watercolour paper, navy cs

Size - A2

Accessories - shaving cream, clear embossing powder, PTI teapot die, Glossy Accents

Altenew Peonies

 Altenew is running an "Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop".

I was thrilled as I'm on the Design Team for the CAS Mix Up blog and our blog was invited to take part in the blog hop, along with 17 other challenge blogs.

One of our founders, Bonnie Klass, made our blog's card but the rest of the CAS Mix Up Design Team is also making cards for the challenge.  Here's my card using the gorgeous Altenew Peony Bouquet stamp set.

 

Peonies are one of my favourite flowers and I have a few of them growing in my garden.  One of the loveliest is a pink one, so I watercoloured my images in shades of pink.

The stamps are heat embossed in white on hot press watercolour paper.  I used my Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, with the wet-on-wet technique (taught to me in a get-together with Loll Thompson, the other founder of CAS Mix Up).  See here for a video on how to do it.  I love the way the water moves the paint when you drop it in.

I fussy cut all of the images and arranged them on a die cut stitched rectangle panel that is popped up on fun foam.

Head on over to Altenew if you want to join in the blog hop and to link up your creation using Altenew products.  You might win a $35 gift certificate!

Supplies:

Stamps -  Altenew Peony Bouquet, Hero Arts sentiment

Ink - ColorBox White, Memento Bamboo Leaves

Paper - white cs, hot press watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - white embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Gold, Black, and White for Merry Monday

One of my favourite challenges is the Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge.  After a break for the summer, they are back with a new challenge.

I recently picked up a couple of older Penny Black stamps in a sale and this was a good opportunity to use one of them.  It seemed to suit being stamped and heat embossed in gold:

I added a heat embossed sentiment in black, die cut it and a black border with stitched square dies, and added 3 black gemstones to the bottom corner for balance.

Thanks, Merry Monday, for all of your great challenges!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black image, Wordsworth sentiment

Ink - ColorBox gold, Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - white and black cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - gold and clear embossing powders, Lil Inkers stitched square dies, black gemstones

Acrylic Star with Alcohol Ink

I've really been enjoying experimenting with alcohol inks in the last few months.  For today's card, I took a die cut acrylic star and dripped a couple of shades of red alcohol ink onto it.  Then I added a couple of drops of gold mixative.  Love the end result!!

To turn it into a card, I made a background with a stencil and gilding flakes, die cut it into a circle, then die cut a slightly larger gold circle to border it.

I stamped and heat embossed a sentiment that I love to use with star-themed cards.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps - Great Impressions sentiment

Ink - ColorBox Gold, red alcohol inks

Paper - white and gold cs

Size - 4.25" square

Accessories - star die cut, scrap of acrylic packaging, circle dies, gold mixative, gold embossing powder, TCW stencil, gilding flakes