A Threefer of Flowers, Tea, and Doves

Three cards from me today, getting some challenges done.

First up, flowers for The Sisterhood of Crafters:

I finally used this Tim Holtz large flower stamp - I've had it for a few years! For an A2 card, you can really only use part of the stamp.

I stamped it and coloured it with Distress markers and a water brush. A simple sentiment and a black border and it was done!

Next a card for a special woman in my life (one of my best friends who shares my love of going out for tea and treats) - for Shopping our Stash challenge:

Stamped, watercoloured, bordered with a co-ordinating colour - that's all there is to it. 

And last, (of course, I have to have one Christmas card in here as I really need to build up my stash for my sale), for Addicted to CAS "Monochrome":

I stamped and heat embossed (with a glittery blue embossing powder) the image and sentiment, trimmed with a stitched rectangle die, and added it to a dark shimmer card base that provides a nice frame for the image.

   

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Tim Holtz flowers, sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - mixed media, white, and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Distress markers

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Serendipity Afternoon Tea, PTI sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, cream and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - SU Gifts of Christmas
Ink - ColorBox True Blue
Paper - white cs, dark blue shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, blue glitter embossing powder

Summer Tea Time

The Four Seasons Challenge is celebrating summer right now and there is nothing I like better in the summer than having tea in the garden with friends.  And the Paper Players challenge is asking for Food and / or Beverages.  So I made this card that has both food and beverage, and is perfect for summer tea in the garden. 

I've had this stamp for years and have no idea who made it.  I coloured it with coloured pencils, trimmed it with a stitched rectangle die, and bordered with some dp that's been in my stash for as long as I've had the old stamp - good to revisit some old supplies!

I would love to be sitting down to tea and cake right now!  I can do the tea but I don't have any cake on hand!

The Paper Players

The Four Seasons Challenge "Summer"

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white cs, unknown dp
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangle die

One of My Favourite Things

One of my all-time favourite things that makes for a perfect day is afternoon tea in the garden.

I pulled out an old unmounted stamp I have with a straw hat, a teapot, flowers, and a cake.

I haven't used the stamp for years and can't remember what brand it is - if anyone knows, please let me know.

I stamped it in grey as I wanted a soft look, then watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched rectangle, and popped it up on fun foam on a straw coloured card base to matche the hat.

Nice to think of summer and having tea in the garden!

I'm linking it up to two challenges:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #113 "A Perfect Day" - my perfect day is a sunny afternoon having tea with a friend in my garden.

Less is More "Bring Something Back" - an old stamp or a technique - I used a very old stamp.

Supplies:

Stamps - unknown unmounted stamp

Ink - Versafine Smokey Grey

Paper - watercolour paper, straw coloured cs

Size - A2

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

Rusty Teapot

Today's Ways to Use It challenge over at SCS is "Two for Tea" (to feature tea on your card), and with tea being my favourite beverage, I had to take part!

A while back I was at Loll Thompson's house and we played with her rusting powder. I used it to edge a couple of panels, and I still had one sitting in my UFO box. It was the perfect size for the stamp I used (teapot and sentiment all in one stamp), and also the rusty colour is the colour of tea (regular black tea at least!).

I stamped in Distress Oxide Vintage Photo (the new oxide inks stamp nice and sharp compared to the regular Distress inks), heat embossed, and then coloured in the teapot with a bit of the ink.  I sponged a bit of regular Antique Linen around the stamping so it wasn't so stark white - I wanted quite a vintage look.

I mounted it on fun foam on a piece of text dp.

In case you're interested in how the rusting powder is used: you paint gesso around the edges of the cs, then sprinkle on the rusting powder, let the gesso dry, then spritz with vinegar, let it dry, and repeat the vinegar a couple more times. It streaks and runs just the way something does when it goes rusty. Quite a neat effect but it has a really horrid smell during the process!

Supplies:

Stamps - Hampton Art

Ink - Distress Oxide Vintage Photo, Distress Antique Linen

Paper - white cs, unknown dp

Size - A2

Accessories - rusting powder, gesso, vinegar, clear embossing powder, 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