Twofer Hearts

Finally getting cards finished for Darnell's second Twofer Challenge:

A friend had asked me to make five Valentine cards for her, one of which is one of my "twofer".  I then had the idea for the second card but only just got it finished - darn those Winter Olympics as they are so addictive they've eaten up a lot of my free time!  But since it's not a Valentine, it didn't matter.

The heart die I used creates a beautiful background of lots of heart shapes linked together.  When you cut it, all the little interior hearts come out of it, giving you many tiny hearts for other projects.

The background for the Valentine was made by sprinkling red and pink Brushos on coated cs and spritzing with water.  I then die cut the hearts background out of cream shimmer cs and glued it down.  I die cut one large cream shimmer stitched heart and popped it up on top with fun foam.

I made the second card for one of my sisters.  She is the most incredibly supportive and encouraging person, and I often forget to tell her how much I appreciate her.

The background is purple and blue Brushos sprinkled on Yupo and spritzed with water.   I stamped the branch and sentiments with Staz-On and added three of the tiny cream shimmer hearts that came out of the background die cut on the first card.  The cardbase is the same cream shimmer cs as the hearts.

Darnell's Twofer Challenge is a great way to get more out of our products and to see ways to use the same thing to make cards for very different occasions.  

Supplies:

Stamps - PTI sentiment (1st card); SU World of Dreams, River City Rubber Works (2nd card)

Ink - Archival Red (1st card); StazOn black (2nd card)

Paper - cream shimmer cs, white and coated cs (1st card); cream shimmer cs, Yupo

Size - A2 (1st card); 4.5" square (2nd card)

Accessories - red and pink Brushos, stitched heart die cut, SSS stacking hearts die (1st card); blue and purple Brushos, SSS stacking hearts die (both cards)

Twofer Birds with a Nest

The wonderful Darnell of djkardkreations has started a new challenge blog called "Twofer".  The idea is to make two cards using the same stamp or die for two different occasions or celebrations.  The first prompt is:

I have no feather stamps or dies but I do have lots of birds.  So here's my Twofer:

I used a new die of a branch, nest, and birds.

First up I made a birthday card for a friend who is an avid bird watcher.

I've always been full of admiration for people who can colour die cuts that have no lines or definition on them.  But I gave it a try.  My results did not make me that happy, but thanks to advice from a few stamping friends, I went back over it and added more shading and definition and am now happier, though I'm going to practice with some less complex dies!

My colouring was done with Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, but then I went back in with Inktense pencils to deepen up the birds, add a bit of shading on the large branch, and some twiggy texture to the nest.

The background was done by sprinkling some blue Brushos on coated cs and spritzed with water.  When dry, I stamped the sentiment with StazOn and trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangle die.


My second card uses the same die to create a pale silhouette against blossom to use as a card to celebrate spring:

The die is cut from a piece of cs I'd sprayed with a slightly shimmery grey spray - it was sitting in my UFO box.

For the background, I sponged various pink and green Distress inks through a stencil, added a sentiment in green ink, and used a co-ordinating pink card base.

It's certainly far easier and quicker to use a die cut as a silhouette than to paint it!!

Looking forward to Darnell's next Twofer challenge - it's fun to come up with two ways of using the same stamp or die.

Supplies:

Stamps - unknown birthday sentiment, Stampendous spring sentiment

Ink - StazOn black (first card); Distress Peeled Paint, Tattered Rose, and Picked Raspberry (second card)

Paper - white and coated cs, watercolour paper (first card); white and pink cs (second cs)

Size - A2

Accessories - Ali Express die (both cards); blue Brushos, Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Inktense watercolour pencils, Li'l Inker stitched rectangle die, fun foam (first card);  Tim Holtz blossom stencil, shimmery grey/silver spray