A colour challenge over at the Global Design Project this month
I wanted to do a valentine that I could maybe give to my husband - we will be celebrating 35 years this year ! - where does the time go? I wanted to use the SU Animal Outing and especially the giraffes as my husband is 6'5" and affectionately known as Jolly Tall (which was a character in a children's book when my children were little).
I stamped the first giraffe and then stamped again on to acetate so that I could reverse the image and have them kissing. I added a retired SU heart embellishment between them. I cut this out with a heart framelit. I only have Flirty Flamingo in a maker pen so I added it to some non stick paper and then used a watercolour pen to add a soft wash of ink over the heart. I've taken a bit of poetic licence by using SU Stampin Blends in Daffodil for the giraffe. I used one of the sentiments from the same set for another heart and inked it in the same way.
For the background hearts I used the SU Hearts decorative mask and sponged it in Real Red.
What a great challenge over at The Library this week - Romeo and Juliette.
I was lucky enough for my 50th to be taken by hubby to Verona and we stayed in the hotel right opposite Juliette's balcony. We were able to visit her house and stand on the actual balcony too - it was a really lovely weekend.
For my card I knew I definitely wanted to use a rose stamp and found out that I actually only own one! Kaisercraft's Rosabella stamp set has this lovely rose. I also wanted to use a quote from Romeo and Juliette and found the most famous rose quote and printed it off. I then sponged it with SU Creamy Caramel to age it. I cut out the panel with a framelit and added the quote behind.
I used SU Watercolour Pencils to colour in the rose using Calypso Coral, Real Red and a touch of Melon Mambo - I used Old Olive for the leaves and added a drop of Gloss Accents to the rose bud to resemble dew. I then cut this out and added it to the panel. The sentiment comes from the same set. I then added this to white card stock.
The Challenge over at Allsorts this week is Take Flight.
I've had this bird stamp set in my stash for ages and haven't used it yet so thought it deserved an outing. I'm not even sure what set it is from. I really love the Happy Birthday sentiment that comes with it too. I decided to do it as a simple card with white on white. I used some retired SU ink Creamy Caramel for the background - lightly sponging it then adding some stamps from Painter's Palette for the background.
I stamped the bird in Early Espresso then used some SU Watercolour pencils to colour him in. I left the colouring quite rough to look like feathers. I added a stitched dot line around the outside and layered it onto white card stock.
Our sketch this week at Try Stampin on Tuesday has the optional extra of pastel colours. I'm not really a pastel sort of person - I much prefer earthy rich colours but I think I managed to get a slight pastel feel to this card. I've used the lovely Mischievous Mole from Clearly Besotted. I used Tim Holtz Distress inks to create the cloud scene behind him, masking off the little mole and the flowers and then using Stampin Up Watercolour pencils to colour him in.
I used a strip of retired SU DSP Naturally Eclectic across the card stock and added a stitched line around the edge of the card. A few coloured pearls in the centre of the flowers finish off the card.
I have a few hours today to do a bit of stamping and stopped by the TGIF challenge #tgifc248 which this week is to be inspired by the new Stampin Up catalogues.
I do have a copy of both of these but as I am not a Demo I haven't actually bought anything - am I allowed to say I wasn't inspired (yes I'm hiding behind the desk lol). However I fancied being up to the challenge to choose an image and maybe adapt it with some retired SU sets. As you may know I run a Facebook Group for Stampin Up current and retired called The Joy of Sets and I'm all about still using your old stuff - especially if you are not a Demo and don't have the pressure to keep buying new.
Looking through my stash I found a stamp very similar to the card I wanted to CASE. I used Nature's Perfection and what I take to be a hydrangea stamp which looks very similar to the Water Lily and the card I took my inspiration from Saleabration cover - top right square.
I've used some of the current Perennial Essence DSP which is my absolute favourite on to some purple card stock. I stamped and cut out two of the flowers - stamping them in Island Indigo and colouring in with Bermuda Bay watercolour pencil. I added some Bermuda Bay ribbon. The sentiment is from another retired set Background Bits and I embossed it in white embossing powder on to some Melon Mambo card stock and cut it out with a stitched framelit. The little border of hearts was a die cut from my stash. I added a few pearls to the bottom.
I love how this turned out and it just goes to show you can still make use of your retired goodies.
We all have them - crafters keep the tiniest pieces of paper - just in case! We have a great challenge for you at Sweet Stampin to use up those scraps. I decided to use mine with a die I hadn't yet used. This tulip on the border die from Technique Tuesday had lain in the bottom of my die cuts box unloved and unused so I thought it deserved an outing. I used some strips of paper from Kaisercraft Memory Lane pack that had been left over from a scrapbook layout I had done. Such gorgeous papers - really really hard to cut honestly! I glued them first to a scrap piece of white and then cut them out with the die.
I used some SU Pool Party cardstock for the top background and added a tulip stamp from Clearly Besotted in the same ink. I added some Mint Macaron to the bottom and added the sentiment from the same Clearly Besotted set. A few pearls and some retired SU ribbon finished off the card.
I found a new challenge to me on my travels called the Sisterhood of Crafters. Their challenge at the moment is to use newly acquired stash. I was lucky enough to get some Visible Image stamps for Christmas and decided to have another play with the Curious Cats stamp.
I started off by creating a background with Tim Holtz distress inks in lots of different orange and yellow colours for my newly adopted cat Amber. I inked the stamp in Hero Arts intense black and coloured in the eyes with a green pen and added Glossy Accents to the eyes and the nose to give it a sparkle. I sponged around the edges in Black Soot.
I added it to a piece of grey card stock and sponged around the edges with some of the same orange colours - I added the sentiment and some paw prints. I then layered this onto a lovely piece of gold coloured shiny card stock.
I'm also adding this into the following challenges:
Make My Monday - Fairytale - Puss in Boots was always one of my favourites
Try It On Tuesday - Colourful Grunge
Craft Stamper - Anything Goes
We are going with florals for our theme over at SU Only Challenge this week. A lovely thought that spring may be on it's way - but I'm not sure winter has finished with us yet!
I've used the lovely set Floral Essence for my card. I started off by stamping the larger flower using a very old SU ink called Almost Amethyst. I then layered this onto some Elegant Eggplant card stock. I stamped the main flower in Elegant Eggplant and stamped it twice - cutting one of the flowers out and layering it on top with a dimensional.
I used Crushed Curry for the middle of the flower and Pear Pizazz for the leaves. This was cut out with a stitched framelit and layered. I added some old SU ribbon and a heart embellishment and added a touch of Wink of Stella to the bold flower. The sentiment from the same set was cut out with a retired banner die. I used the die to cut out two parts - one in white for the sentiment and another in the purple card stock which can then be layered on top of the white. I mounted it all on to some Perfect Plum card stock. All my card stock is retired but you could do use similar colours from the new colours in the recent catalogue.
I hope you are inspired by our gorgeous images over at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week. I took my inspiration from the mug and the snowflake. These little mugs were gifted to me by my swap partner on a Christmas Envelope swap we did before Christmas on my Joy of Sets Facebook Group. They are just so lovely and I knew I wanted to use them.
I added some papers from Kaisercraft Christmas Collections which complimented the colours of the mugs. The snowflake is a Tim Holtz die - one of my recent purchases! I added some Wink of Stella to the snowflake to make it glisten. The sentiment is from a Clearly Besotted stamp set called Let It Snow. I added some of the lovely bronze jewels from SU and mounted it all onto some gorgeous bronze card stock.
I've been playing with a new stencil - from The Crafters Workshop called Mini Damask. I sponged it with Tim Holtz Tattered Rose and Scattered Straw to make the soft background. I then used a retired SU stamp set called Bliss - the main stamp looks very similar to the stencil and I inked this in Fresh Fig. I added two oval thinlets and inked them in the same Distress Inks and then added the sentiments and some pearls. The Happy Birthday is from my stash - I'm not sure which set. The butterfly is from the same SU set and I used an old SU butterfly punch to cut it out. A touch of Fresh Fig ribbon finishes off the card.
I'm adding this into the following challenges:
Just Add Ink - Birthday Celebration
TGIF Challenge - Birthday
Global Design Project - Celebration
Make My Monday - Anything but square
Watercooler Challenges - Celebration
A very CAS card from me today for the challenge over at CAS Colours and Sketches #353
I started off with a layer of white card and a piece of patterned paper from Kaisercraft Enchanted paper pad. For my panel across the front I used some thinlets in leaves and branches simply in white. The sentiment is from a retired SU set Cottage Greetings stamped in Fresh Fig. A single little star at the bottom completes the card.
The challenge over at Inspired By is Quiet with a lovely image for us to follow.
In my day job when I'm not crafting I am a Reiki healer. Quiet and mindfulness is a part of what I try and do every day and I try and instil this to my clients - take time out to just Be. I recently shared on my Facebook page a wonderful quote I found written 125 years ago! I wonder what Octavia Hill would think of our lives today?
So for my card today I reached for a wonderful set of stamps by Visible Image called Mindful Moments. I started off with a stencil from the same company called Atomic Flower and used some Tim Holtz distress ink in Shabby Shutters ( a nod to the shutters in the image) and SU Mint Macaron to sponge over the stencil.
I then used some Distress Inks and Oxide inks and some water to make a background for the image of the main stamp. I stamped this in Mint Macaron and then cut her out - I used some of the same paper for the sentiment and used a framelit to cut it out. I added the small stamp to represent the Chakras in Mint Macaron and then added a few sequins. I made this a 6" x 6" square card.
A double challenge again over at Try Stampin On Tuesday - I chose to go just with the sketch and I couldn't think of anything to do with wet -mad really as that's all we have in the UK at the moment is rain!
I used a few new sets I received for Christmas for my card. I started off with a stencil from Visible Image stamps called Atomic Flower. I used some Tim Holtz Distress inks to sponge the background. I cut out the circle with a stitched framelit and inked it up with similar colours. I then added the tree stamp from Visible Image stamp set Tree of Life and stamped some of the leaves. I used the die cut from SU Colourful Seasons as a branch behind the tree. I coloured in the leaves with some Tri-Blends from Spectrum Noir and used one of their glitter pens in Smoked Quarts for the tree trunk. The Sentiment is from the same stamp set and this was embossed with some very old SU embossing powder in brown.
In my small stash of new craft goodies over Christmas were some of the wildflower thinlets by Tim Holtz and I fancied having a play with them. I was inspired by the sketch over at Sunday Stamps #SSC222 this week and decided to play along.
I started off with a circle cut out with a stitched framelit and I sponged this up wit Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Shabby Shutters. I used a script stamp from the SU retired set Background Bits stamped in Tim Holtz Crushed Olive. I then cut out the wildflower thinlets in various coloured card stock and used some Tri Spectrum sparkle to give them a bit of a shine. I then started on my background using a circle stencil and Tim Holtz Ripe Persimmon and Mustard Seed Distress Inks blending the two into the middle. I used the cut out from the thinlet to create a stencil of the flowers and inked that in the Crushed Olive. For my banners I used some retired Washi tape. I added some ribbon to the bottom and some Copper Thread for the bow at the top.
We are blog hopping again at Joy of Sets - this will now be a monthly event on the 2nd Saturday of the month. Members of my Joy of Sets Facebook Group will be joining together on the hop to show you some inspiration. Last year we were organised by Andrea Parr from Crafty Little Things and my thanks to her for all her hard work - this year the reins have been taken over by Angie McKenzie and she has set up some fabulous themes for the year.
Our first one is I'm sure close to all our hearts after the Christmas period - Something New - I've chosen to go with some new products I got - some Tim Hotlz Distress Inks in colours I didn't have and a lovely new set from Visible Image stamps called Curious Cats. This was a gift from my daughter who knows what a mad cat woman I am. Visible Image stamps are also sponsoring Joy of Sets Tic Tac Toe challenge this month - so why not come and join in there too -
I mixed together Dusty Concord, Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers for my back ground - using water colour paper and a Distress Sprayer. I added the cat image in Hero Arts Intense black and coloured in the eyes with Mustard Seed. I added a few sequins and some Spectrum Noir sparkle in clear to give it a shine.
To continue on the hop - click on the button below
Here is the complete list of our Blog Hop together with the individual links:
