Three Variations on a Vintage Rose

I've never used washi tape before (and hardly have any) but I do have some by Tim Holtz so pulled out his rose design tape to use for this week's SCS Ways to Use It challenge "Tape, Tape, and More Tape".

I stamped the image in brown archival ink and then watercoloured it by pressing a bit of various Distress inks on an acrylic block and picking it up with water and a brush. I sponged around the edges of the panel with Distress Frayed Burlap as it is close to the background colour in the washi tape.

Added a sentiment and a few champagne coloured pearls.

As well as using the washi tape, I used a rose stamp I've had for years and never used. And a new sentiment stamp I got recently. So everything on the card (with the exception of the inks and the pearls) are "NBUS" so I'm adding my card to Darnell's NBUS challenge.

And because the rose is watercoloured in pink and green, I'm also adding it to the CAS Watercolour challenge ("pink and green").


The Flower Challenge has a sketch challenge this month.  I don't really like sketch challenges but I had the idea that I could use an earlier stamping and watercolouring of the same rose stamp that had a smudge down at the bottom.  I cut out the flower with a circle die, cut another circle in blue to match the dragonfly, and placed it over some pink dp with a bit of blue in it.  Die cut the sentiment and added a few pearls. 

And one more with the same stamp that I've made for a friend whose birth month flower is the rose and whose favourite colour is yellow.  This time I coloured with copics and sponged the edges with the same archival ink I had stamped with.  I wanted to use my rose embossing folder with it.  It is a British ef so its proportions are different to our North American A2 cards.  I tried to trim it down to fit an A2 card base but it looked wrong so I cut a British size card and it works way better.  The overall card is the same width but taller.  I added a few heart-shaped gemstones to tie the colours in the focal panel to the rest of the card.

Nice to get three cards done for my stash!                                          

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Hampton Art rose, Chocolate Baroque sentiment

Ink - Ranger Archival Potted Soil; Distress Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, and Frayed Burlap

Paper - watercolour paper, cream cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Tim Holtz washi tape, pearls, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Hampton Arts rose

Ink - Ranger Archival Potting Soil; Distress Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles

Paper - watercolour paper, cream cs, My Mind's Eye dp

Size - A2

Accessories - pearls, blue marker, Spellbinders circle dies, Tattered Lace sentiment die

Supplies for card 3:

Stamps - Hampton Arts rose, Hero Arts sentiment

Ink - Ranger Archival Potting Soil

Paper - cream and white cs

Size - 6x4.25"

Accessories - Copic markers, heart shaped gems, Crafts Too embossing folder

April Showers = Dandelions

I made a card today for two recent SCS challenges - the CAS challenge "April Showers" and the Ways to Use It challenge "That’s What the Doctor Ordered".

Because I'm using a stencil and two stamps that I've never used before (and I've had the sentiment stamp for many years!!), I'm also entering it in Darnell's NBUS challenge.

April showers is definitely what I'm experiencing today - very dreary and drizzling all day. So a good day to make a card!

 

I started by stamping the dandelion in black ink. Then I laid the raindrops stencil over it and sponged with two shades of blue ink. I added the sentiment once I removed the stencil so that I could think about its placement amongst the raindrops.

I trimmed the panel down and added a thin strip of black cs to the right side to balance the sentiment. The panel is popped up on fun foam and a bit of Wink of Stella added to the centres of the dandelion seeds and to the little sprigs at the bottom.

I know the showers help my flowers to grow but they seem even more successful at getting the dandelions to grow! I need to get out and weed the garden!

Supplies:

Stamps - Magenta dandelion, Gina K sentiment

Ink - MFT Black Licorice, Memento Summer Sky, Distress Tumbled Glass

Paper - white and black cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Simon Says Stamp raindrops stencil, Wink of Stella, fun foam

Pink and Green Tulips

The CAS Watercolour challenge for April is a colour challenge:

Very appropriate colours for this time of year, I think, as I immediately thought of lovely bunches of pink tulips.  So that inspired my card.

It is so much fun being on the Design Team for CAS Watercolour.  It's really making me explore all the different ways of doing watercolouring.  For this card, I turned to Heather Telford's tutorial here of colouring the image with Distress stains and then pulling the colour inside the lines with a brush and water.

Doing it in the MISTI makes it so much easier.  I inked up my outline stamp of tulips with three shades of pink and and two of green Distress stains, and then stamped onto hot press watercolour paper.  I took my paint brush and water and pulled the stains into the image to fill them in, add shading, etc.  I lost a bit too much of the outline so, when dry, I reinked the stamp with the same stains (luckily I'd left it in the MISTI - if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to do this step) and restamped.

I watered down a bit of one of the green stains and did a tiny bit of splattering.  I trimmed the image down with a stitched rectangle die.  Then I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on vellum and cut it out with a banner die.  The panel is popped up on fun foam.

Since this was a new technique to me, I wasn't totally happy with my first attempt.  It wasn't bad enough to toss so I turned it into a card too.  Here it is:

I used a bit too much water on it which makes the flowers look a bit too faded out, and I restamped the image while the flowers were still wet so even my restamping bled out a bit.  I also added more splatter and a different sentiment treatment.  I like this version, but prefer the one above.  How about you?

You have until April 24th to join in at CAS Watercolour.  Please be sure to follow the parameters of the challenge - your card must include watercolour of some sort, have a colour scheme of pink and green, and be CAS (clean and simple).

For more inspiration, check out the other cards by the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Marcia of Marcia K Designs.

Supplies:

Stamps - Technique Tuesday Tulips, Stampendous sentiment

Ink - Versafine Olympic Green (sentiment on first card), Distress Peeled Paint (sentiment on second card)

Paper - white cs, hot press watercolour paper, vellum

Size - A2

Accessories - Distress Stains (Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Spun Sugar, Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick), Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, banner die, clear embossing powder, fun foam

Inlaid in Stick Frames

Another month flown by and it's time for the April CAS Mix Up challenge - Inlaid Die-Cutting.

I used a new (to me) die called Stick Frames and I inlaid it with some Inka Gold smooshing.

I used blue, green, and gold tones of Inka Gold and followed Loll Thompson's Inka Gold video here.

With the Sticks Frame die cut, I cut once from my Inka Gold piece, once from gold shimmer cs, and once from a scrap of ivory cs.  I layered the gold and ivory stick frame part of the die cuts together - it's a very flimsy die so needs the extra strengthening of two layers.  I then glued that onto white cs and took the negative space Inka Gold pieces and inserted them into the stick frame (the teeny tiny pieces were very fiddly!).

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment below it, die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle, and popped it up on fun foam for dimension.  I played around with some blue and green sequins as I felt the upper left corner of the panel needed something but could not get an arrangement that made me happy so left well enough alone.

There are other great examples from the Design Team and our April Guest Designer Maria (of the White Mood blog) over at CAS Mix Up, as well as some links to videos to give you ideas for Inlaid Die-Cutting.  We'd love to have you join us but please be sure your card is CAS (clean and simple), and includes stamping, inlaid die-cutting, and at least one "your choice" from the list on the right hand side of the CAS Mix Up blog.  For example, my choices on this card are Inka Gold, smooshing, and heat embossing.  You have until April 24th to link up your card.

Supplies:

Stamps - Savvy Stamp sentiment

Ink - ColorBox gold

Paper - watercolour paper, gold shimmer cs, cream cs

Size - A2

Accessories - PoppyStamps stick frames die, Inka Gold, gold embossing powder, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, fun foam