Slimline with Pine Cone, a Tobogganing Bunny, and a Wreath

Three more cards for challenges about to close - all Christmas this time.  First up for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Slimline":

I put the stamp in my MISTI and inked it up with Inktense watercolour pencils, spritzed lightly with water, and stamped on watercolour paper.  I stamped the sentiment in red and sponged a bit of Distress Pumice Stone along the bottom edge.  Trimmed the panel and bordered it with red cs.

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge wants to see Four-legged Friends.

Stamped and coloured with coloured pencils, trimmed, added to a red card base, and embellished with small die cut snowflakes.

And lastly for the ABC Christmas Challenge "F is for Foliage" and "G is for Gems":

I made a thin circle out of scrap green cs using two circle dies, then punched many little pine branches out of scraps of dp (mostly pieces that had images of grass or leaves on them). I glued them onto the die cut circle, added it to the background square of dp, and bordered with a square of red cs. Finished with a small die cut sentiment in the middle like the inspiration image has and red gemstones for berries. It's not the quickest card to make but I really like the final results.  

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black image, Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Distress Candied Apple and Pumice Stone
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and red cs
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - Inktense watercolour pencils

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and red cs
Size - 5.5x4"
Accessories - coloured pencils, small snowflake dies

Supplies for card 3:
Paper - off white and red cs, dps, scraps of green dp
Size - 5" square
Accessories - Martha Stewart pine branch punch, Spellbinders circle and square dies, Spellbinders joy die, red gemstones

 

Three Square Cards

My computer died last Thursday so had to get a new one.  So I'm very last minute getting a bunch of cards posted for challenges that are about to end.  

We Love Stamping wants to see wildlife - I went with a bear.  Addicted to CAS wants stripes - my bear has a lovely striped scarf.  And Time Out Challenge wants a clear element on the card - I used Glossy Accents which dries clear.

I stamped and coloured the bear and the oval of ice. Added the sentiment and trimmed with a square die. Popped it up on fun foam on a blue glitter card base. And then painted Crystal Glaze over the oval of ice.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants snowmen.  Christmas Cards All Year Round wants something that starts with E or F.  I went with F - my card has friends having fun together.  And Jingle Belles want something whimsical - I think it's pretty whimsical to have all those critters building a snowman.

Stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a square die, bordered with a green square, and a sentiment stamped in red and trimmed with a small label die with the red ink rubbed around the edges.

AAA Birthday wants a birthday card with die cuts.

For the background, I used the Watercolor Imprint technique, following the instructions in this tutorial.  I used Distress Oxide inks.

Then die cut the birds on a branch out of off-white cs and tan cs, very slightly offsetting them when I glued them together so that there's a slight tan shadow. Stamped the sentiment (a belated birthday sentiment) in Brushed Corduroy and die cut it with a banner die.

      

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown bear, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - blue glitter cs, white cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam, Nuvo Crystal Glaze, Spellbinders square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Anita Jeram (Colorado Craft Co), Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, SU Real Red
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and green cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, small label die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Brushed Corduroy, Blueprint Sketch, Mowed Lawn 
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and tan cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - sentiment banner die, Rubbernecker leaf stencil, unknown bird die

Variations of Bleached Tulips

The Group of Cardmakers are trying the technique of bleaching on cards.  I don't mind using actual bleach but if you don't like using bleach, you can try using water (though I found it much less effective).  Since spring is just around the corner, I decided to use three different tulip stamps.

The card I am most happy with is this one:

I created a smooshed background with various red, orange, and yellow Distress inks on watercolour paper.  I used a bit too much water and it all blended into this dark peach colour.  I put it in my MISTI and stamped the tulip in Versafine black and heat embossed with clear powder.  I then used bleach and a waterbrush to lift the background colour from the tulip.  I also splattered a bit of bleach on the panel.  I chose to leave the tulip white and not add any colour to it. Trimmed it with a stitched rectangle die and added a sentiment.

Next up:

Another smooshed background - this one on white cs with yellow and orange Distress inks.  I then stamped with Distress Walnut Stain and heat embossed with clear powder.  I used bleach and a waterbrush to lift the background colour from all of the flower heads.  The embossing powder had not stuck to all of the image so I lost a bit of my stamping when I did the bleaching.  So I put it back in the MISTI (luckily I hadn't taken the stamp out) but the restamping ended up slightly off set so there's a bit of an out of focus look to the bottom of the image.

This time I added some colour - I used a bit of Distress Candied Apple to add colour to the bottoms of each flower head.  It came out more pink than red, likely because of the bleach residue on the cs.  

I trimmed the panel, popped it up on fun foam on a text embossed background, and added a sentiment.

I'm adding this card to the following challenges that all want "spring": Try It on Tuesday, Stamping Sensations, and Allsorts. 

   

The third one uses a collage style stamp:

I used various red and orange Distress inks on white cs for this smooshed background.  Again too much water and I ended up with a mostly pink background.  Like the second card, I stamped with Distress Walnut Stain and heat embossed in clear, and again, not all of it ended up embossed.  So I found when I bleached the flower heads, some of the brown lines bleached out and in other spots I ended up with pink bits mixed in with the brown embossed details of the flower heads.  I liked the effect so didn't add any additional colour in the petals, but did use a brown coloured pencil to add back some of the outlines of the petals.

I trimmed the panel, added it to the card base, stamped a sentiment that I cut into two sections and angled on the card.

Final impressions:

• I prefer using watercolour paper to regular cardstock as I found I got better bleaching.
• Heat embossing creates a dam to help you keep the bleach where you want it.  
• If you stamp with a water-based ink and don't manage to heat emboss it thoroughly, the bleach will lift it.  Therefore I will avoid Distress inks for my stamping as they are not as effective for heat embossing.  The pigment ink I used for the first card was much better. 

Brushos (or other powders that work with water) are also effective.  Here's a card I made several years ago using Brushos for the background.  See this post for details.

 

Head over to the Group of Cardmakers blog to see how the rest of the group used bleach.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - AALL & Create tulip, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, various red, orange, and yellow Distress inks
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, bleach, Lil Inker's stitched rectangle die, Spellbinders oval die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Stamplorations Framed Tulips, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Distress Walnut Stain, various yellow and orange Distress inks, Distress Candied Apple
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - bleach, clear embossing powder, text embossing folder, fun foam

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Darkroom Door tulip collage, Tim Holtz sentiment
Ink - Distress Walnut Stain, various red and orange Distress inks
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - bleach, clear embossing powder, brown coloured pencil

A Baby Horse and an Easter Bunny

A twofer with animals today!

For Simply Clean and Simple, the theme is Baby Animals.  And AAA Cards is "Zoo or Animals".

I sponged Distress inks onto cs, and then stamped the horses (using my MISTI to get a good strong silhouette image).  I trimmed the panel with a hemstitch square die and layered over pink cs.  My sister's riding coach is having a baby girl so she asked me to make a horse-themed card for her to take to the baby shower.

Then for two Easter challenges - Double D and Festive Friday.  The Festive Friday elements I used are pastel colours, rabbit, Easter eggs, and Easter greeting.

I stamped the eggs from the old SU Nature Walk set in pastel shades of blue and then fussy cut them.  I arranged them on focal panel and then inked and spritzed some pastel green leaves around them, and sponged in some pastel blue in the spaces.  The rabbit is die cut from a leftover scrap of pale brown/beige smooshing.  I sat him on the biggest of the eggs and added a small sentiment.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Lavinia horses, SU sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Mowed Lawn, Faded Jeans, Spun Sugar, and Wild Honey
Paper - white, pink, and cream cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Spellbinders hemstitch square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Nature Walk and SU sentiment
Ink - various pastel greens, blues, beige Distress inks
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Charlie & Paulchen rabbit die

Blue and White Christmas and Belated Flowers

A couple of cards just in time for some challenges!

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants blue and white cards - my favourite colour combination!

I made a background by sprinkling blue Brushos on watercolour paper and spritzing with water.  When dry, I trimmed it with a pierced dot rectangle die.  I die cut the dove and sentiment from the same white cs as the card base.

The Paper Players want a clean and simple card featuring florals. 

Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils and blended with a bit of Gamsol, trimmed and mounted on a red card base.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Sledding Bear

The new Peace on Earth mood board has images of skating and sledding.  I pulled out a Penny Black stamp of two bears sledding.

Stamped and coloured with coloured pencils and trimmed with a square die.  I stepped out of my comfort zone and set the background dp at an angle.  Not sure I like it, but I think it adds to the sense of downhill movement.  I added some Stickles to the snowflakes on the image.

Here's the mood board.  Head over to Peace on Earth to see how it inspired the rest of the Design Team.

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, snowy dp
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, Stickles, Spellbinders square dies