CC&S 166 Sketch: Watercolour Lifting

I've had lots of fun getting messy with inks again creating my DT card for CAS Colours and Sketches this week. I spotted this card on Anita's blog HERE and it reminded me that I had watched the same fab watercolour lifting video technique from Jennifer McGuire HERE and decided to try it out using this week's sketch drawn by our hostess Jane.

Next time I try this technique, and I will try it again because I loved doing it, I will use different paper. For this card I used a 230gsm watercolour paper but it seems to be a bit too porous and I don't think I managed to achieve quite such a marked effect as either Anita or Jennifer. I inked up four pieces of paper directly from inkpads, brushed them with water and dried them off with a heat gun. I then used a background stamp with Versamark and clear embossing powder on each piece. More water on top followed, mopping it up with kitchen roll which removes some of the ink leaving darker patches trapped underneath the embossing!

I then cut five equal pieces, inked the edges and placed them on a 7" x 5" card blank following Jane's sketch. The poppy die was cut from linen card and stuck on top with the sentiment hand-stamped to the side.

Supplies Used:
Watercolour paper: 230gsm (Crawford & Black)
Inkpads: Fired Brick, Broken China, Frayed Burlap, Worn Lipstick (TH Distress)
Stamps: Butterflies Block (Tanda Stamps), Sentiment Sampler (Paper Smooches)
Die: Prim Poppy (Memory Box)

The inspiration for my colour scheme was drawn from this week's challenge #334 at ColourQ so I would like to enter my card into their competition. I don't own any SU colours so have just used the closest that were suitable for this technique.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. I hope you all enjoy a lovely Easter weekend whatever you're doing.

Stef x

CC&S #156: Wildfowl and Wetlands

This week I have taken a few more liberties than I normally would with our sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches. I usually like to stick very close to it otherwise, personally, I don't see the point of having it. Sure it provides a starting point but if you're going to stray too far away from it I'm not sure how your design can still be an interpretation of the sketch. Anyway, as I said, a personal view!

Apart from the sketch I started with the fact that our eldest daughter Laura has just got a brilliant new job at Slimbridge, the HQ of The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the UK. I bought this stamp set from Stampin Up (the first product I have ever bought from them!) as I had seen some beautiful cards made with it and thought I may be able to make some for Laura and I to sell to support the work of the charity.

Secondly, I noted that Happy Little Stampers have a CAS challenge using the technique of 'Smooshing' this month and I just love getting messy with all different kinds of inky products.

Last, but definitely not least, I used the blue/green/silver combo from this week's challenge #324 at ColourQ. I can't resist blues and greens, they are just my favourite colours.

I played around with the inky products below till I was happy with my smooshed piece of card. While it was drying I cut an oval aperture from a piece of white cardstock. I didn't want to add a stripe of anything to the top and bottom of the design so thought that by raising the middle I was still being true to Patricia's sketch. I added the reed stamp off the edge of this piece and because the silver doesn't show up that well as a separate colour in the smooshing or as the gorgeous sheen that it is in the photo, I stamped and embossed the greeting in silver EP and die-cut a matching oval to replace the circle in the sketch.

Supplies Used:
Inkpads: Mowed Lawn DI (Tim Holtz), Sage (VersaColor), Green Green (Whisper), Smokey Gray (VersaFine)
Wax Paste: Turquoise (Inka Gold)
Spray Mist: Silver (Cosmic Shimmer)
Stamp Set: Wetlands (Stampin' Up)
Dies: Classic Ovals Large (Spellbinders)
Snippets: White textured card scrap, Silver EP

It's Martin's brother's birthday this week so I think I'll send this card to him, especially as he doesn't live far from Laura and no doubt visits WWT at Slimbridge with his family.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Our new DT members designed some great inspirational cards last week so do drop by and see what they've made this week - I know some of them were very nervous at being on the other side of the table but they needn't have been, they were amazing!

Stef x

Happy Birthday!

Today I have found a little time to join in with a few other challenges! I started out wanting to make a 1st birthday extravaganza card for Game #39 at AAA Cards Challenges.

But when gathering inspiration came across a few other challenges that my card would also fit. Inspiration for the cupcake comes from AAA Cards birthday game photo:

I bought this large stamp several years ago and have used it for lots of different projects including some notebooks I made with my Guides. I thought I would use marker pens in bright, bold colours, a bit of a challenge in itself for me as I'm much more at home with soft, muted colours. Inspiration for the colour palette comes from this week's challenge (#290) at ColourQ:

I think this colour combo is simply gorgeous (probably because it includes a shade of turquoise, my favourite colour)! I decided to use sketch #185 from this week's challenge at Freshly Made Sketches as it suited my card composition really well and I needed a background to use the fourth colour:

And because of the bold, strong shapes in my design I thought it would also fit right into this week's challenge at CASology where week #145's cue card is SHAPE:

I wouldn't normally combine so many challenges into one card, but I've had lots of fun this afternoon and they all seemed to fit together so well! The design was simply finished with some frosting on the hearts and swirls which you can just about see in the photo. Gotta have a bit of frosting on a special birthday card!

Supplies Used:
Stamp: Large cupcake CG157 (Hero Arts)
Dies: Scalloped rectangle (Spellbinders) & 'Tag Along' (Clearly Besotted)
Promarkers: Poppy, Pink Carnation, Peach
Frosting: Crystal Stickles (Ranger)
Sentiment Font: Bodoni MT Black
Snippets: Pearlised turquoise cardstock, Peach cardstock (Core'dinations)

Thanks for visiting my little world today!
Stef x

Uniko Studio #12, Freshly Made Sketches #146, ColourQ #251 and Cake!

Looking for some fresh inspiration to make Martin's Mum a birthday card I have decided to combine three card-making challenges that are all new to me as well as having my first play with my recently acquired 'Beautiful Blooms' stamps from Uniko Studio. My current favourite style of card-making is definitely CAS so I immediately loved the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, especially with Bev's beautiful flower stamp in mind. For my colours I decided to play along with the ColourQ challenge and although I don't have any StampinUp products, I have matched the colours as closely as I could. The composition of the card speaks for itself really; the centre of the flower is decoupaged and lightly embossed though this doesn't really show up too well in the photo!

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

Uniko Studio #12: Anything Goes

Freshly Made Sketches #146

ColourQ #251

 

 I've also decided to start showing some of my other homemade creations here as life is too short for me to try and keep up with more than one blog! So here is a strawberry cream sponge that I made for a 'Bring and Share' end of term Division Guiders'meeting that I attended during the week! I think they all enjoyed it!

Thanks for visiting!

Stef x