Bubble Fairy

I am so thrilled and honoured to have been invited to be on the Design Team for the CAS Mix Up challenge run by Loll Thompson (Stamping with Loll) and Bonnie Klass (Stamping with Klass).  I start with the May challenge:

I love heat embossing.  It was the technique that lured me into stamping and cardmaking.  There is something quite magical about the way heat embossing turns ink and powder into something completely different in a few short seconds.  It can be as simple as clear embossing powder over pigment ink (like the sentiment in my card) to the wonderful rich shine you can get from gold embossing powder to the complex effects of Frantage ep or UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) or, as I used on the fairy in my card, wonderful multicolours from Kaleidoscope ep.

The fairy was stamped with black Versafine ink on regular white cs and heat embossed with the most amazing embossing powder - Stampendous Kaleidoscope ep. Depending on how much you heat it, you can get different colour tones - I heated different sections of the image for varying amounts of time. I think you can see blue, orange, green, and black tones in the photo.

Here's a close-up of the fairy:

I made a background with two different Tim Holtz stencils (that tied in to the bubbles and dots in the stamped image) and Pearlescent embossing paste (my choices of other elements), stamped my sentiment and heat embossed it with regular clear ep, die cut a panel with a stitched rectangle, and put fun foam behind it for dimension.

I fussy cut the fairy, and stuck down the bottom edge flat to the background with regular double sided tape and then used thin foam tape as she headed upwards out of the bubbles, and then near the top of her, I used two layers of the foam tape as I wanted to give the impression of her flying off the card.

Please come and join us at CAS Mix Up - you must include stamping and heat embossing, and then at least one of the other elements from the list of "Your Choice Options" on the right hand side of the challenge page.  The challenge is open until May 24th.

Supplies:

Stamps - Inkadinkado fairy, Rubber Stamp Tapestry sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - PTI white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Stampendous Kaleidoscope embossing powder, clear embossing powder, Tim Holtz Bubbles and Dot Fade stencils, Dreamweaver Pearlescent embossing paste, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, fun foam, foam tape

Earth Day Tree

Splitcoast Stampers is celebrating Earth Day with some of its challenges.  The Ways to Use It challenge is "Plant a Tree" and the Free for All challenge is "Mother Earth".  I created this card:

I used alcohol inks on Yupo paper to create a background of earth and sky. I die cut a tree to go on top of my background.  The panel is popped up on a piece of fun foam for dimension.

Supplies:

Paper: cream and brown cs, yupo

Paper Size: A2

Accessories: alcohol inks, fun foam, Memory Box Coastal Tree die

Pearl Ex Holly

This week's 52 Christmas Card Challenge is "Christmas Foliage".  I went with holly.

I used a Penny Black holly stencil with texture paste on black cs and sprinkled interference green Pearl Ex on the embossing paste while still wet.  I like the variegation in colour it gave.  I want to try other colours of Pearl Ex on embossing paste.

I trimmed down the panel and bordered it with pale green shimmer paper, and put it on a white shimmer card base.

Red glitter dome embellishments finish it off.

Another one ready for Christmas!

Supplies:  Penny Black stencil, embossing paste, Pearl Ex powder, red glitter dome embellishments, white and pale green shimmer cs, black cs

Stenciled Flowers for Julie

This week's SCS CAS challenge is "It's About Birthdays".  The perfect opportunity to get a birthday card made well in advance of my sister's birthday.  And it's another card for the CAS Mix Up challenge "stamping + stenciling + your choice" - my choice was the Color Burst powders I coloured the flowers with.

I placed a flower stencil over watercolour paper and sprinkled different colours of color burst powders through the openings, then (with the stencil still in place) spritzed with water. Most of it came out really nicely but I had one big unattractive muddy splotch so put my sentiment on a die cut and covered it up! Thank goodness we have die cuts!

I added little strips of black cs to the top and bottom so that I would end up with a perfect square which I popped up on fun foam on my card base.

A few of us got together at Loll Thompson's (Stamping with Loll) house on Saturday and played around with different products.  We compared Color Bursts to Brushos.  I own Brushos and have used them a lot.  For this card, I used Shirl's Color Bursts just to try them out.  My general feeling was that the two products give very similar results so if you own one already, you don't need the other.  So I'll be sticking with my Brushos.  I also think the Brushos are better value (more product for the money) and, if you keep them in their original containers with small holes poked in the lids, you have more control over how much powder comes out.  I found that too much powder would come out of the Color Burst containers.

Thanks for dropping by.

Supplies:

Stamps: SU sentiment

Paper: watercolour paper, PTI Vintage Cream, black scraps

Paper Size: 5.25" square

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Color Bursts, flower stencil, Sizzix label die, fun foam

Techniques: stenciling with color bursts

Put the Kettle On

My friend Christine (aka calex) was in the UK recently and brought me back a lovely tin of tea - on the outside of the tin, it said "keep calm and carry on", so when I saw this stamp saying "keep calm and put the kettle on", I just had to buy it so that I could use it for a thank you card for her.

Both my background and the small tag were made by sprinking mostly blue and a little bit of red bister on coated cs, then spritzing heavily and letting the colours run, then leaving it to dry on its own.

The larger tag was cut from a piece of aqua blue dp over which I stenciled a tiny script stencil with texture paste.

It's finished off with a scrap of ribbon and a few sequins that were exactly the right colours!

I'm entering it in the CAS Mix Up challenge for April - "stamping + stenciling + your choice". The things I chose from the list for "your choice" are bister and die cutting.  And in the SCS Mix-ability challenge "Nesting Shapes" - to use the same shape twice but in different sizes. I used two different sized tag dies. My mixed media are bister powder and embossing paste.

Stamps: Stampendous "Keep Calm..."

Paper: white cs, coated cs, Little Yellow Bicycle dp

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Staz-on black

Accessories: blue and red bister, ribbon, sequins, Die-namics tag dies, TCS script stencil, texture paste

Inked and Spritzed Background

Today's SCS Free for All challenge is "Happy Birthday" (to make a birthday card). I made this one for my friend, Gerald.

 

I made the background by patting Broken China and Faded Jeans on the centre of a rectangular acrylic block and then Brushed Corduroy around the edges (love the Distress mini ink pads for things like this!). Then I spritzed with water and pressed in on my cs. I let it air dry.

I inked up a large text stamp with Brushed Corduroy and randomly wiped off parts of the ink, and stamped on top of the background. Then stamped the plant and sentiment in dark green ink and heat embossed with clear ep.

No puppy pictures today but I'll definitely be posting more in the future!

Supplies:

Stamps: Impression Obsession plant, Inkadinkado text, A Muse sentiment

Paper: cream and dark green cs

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Versafine Olympia Green; Distress Brushed Corduroy, Broken China, and Faded Jeans

Accessories: clear embossing powder, Nesties rectangles