Bliss – Inkyfingeredcat

Bliss, Hello Doily, Masks/Stencils, Use them or Lose them

Use them or lose them re evaluation

16 Apr 201616 Apr 2016 Catherine

So this year I have decided to challenge myself to make a set of cards, scrapbook page or journal layout using each of my stamp sets as I know I have some I rarely use!

A few weeks ago I was undecided about two stamp sets… hello doily and Bliss. I wasn’t sure if they really needed to be kept or not. As I felt like doing a journal page I decided to use these stamps within the journal and give them a re-evaluation!

I started with a double spread I had added grunge paste through a finnabair stencil on it. Then stamped the Hello Doily a few times round the pages in Watering Can archival ink.

Once that was dry I chose some distress stains and added them but tried to leave some ‘white space’. I struggle with white space when I do art journalling as I seem to want to add colour and pattern everywhere. So I was pleased I remained restrained and left some of the page untouched.

This was the page when the inks were still wet. I had used Fossilised Amber, Cracked Pistachio and blue Lagoon distress stains. Love the way the colours blend even without adding water.

Once it was dry I added some stamping in Twisted Citron distress ink using the Bliss flourish I love so much.

I also added the Bliss stamp used Peeled Paint. Again it was just for background and what I needed.

Next I added some gesso to tone down the colour and add some more layers

I kept this quite patchy as I didn’t want to get rid of too much colour.

I grabbed a stencil to add some more pattern in the background. It is very subtle but adds to the final finish.

I decided I wanted a bit of spray ink so grabbed the Dylusions yellow spray and added a doily as a stencil and then the white over a squiggly stencil.

Time to add some features and a title. It’s the butterfly from the Bliss which I stamped in the watering can archival in a set of three. I also added some washi tape. Then I decided it needed something else as a pop of colour… so out came the gelatos and some red and metallic green and yellow.

I added the title using stamping and then a wooden word which I added the Pebeo Fantasy paint to. I did plenty of splattering in black and white and then added a little white paint on some of the raised texture.

I also used another happy stamp randomly round the pages.

Love how this came together and although not exactly as white space as I had wanted, I managed to not cover ever last millimetre with colour!

Now are these stamps for keeps or not? I’ve decided no matter how much I like this page I am going to add both stamp sets to the lose them pile as don’t imagine using them again.

Entering this into the challenge over at Anything but Cute as my Earth day themed challenge.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Bitty Banners, Bliss, Gingham Garden, One Sheet Wonder OSW, Use them or Lose them

Three sheet wonder

11 Mar 201611 Mar 2016 Catherine

Once again I am on my mission to use up some of my stash of papers … so another one sheet wonder type thing going on… but with three sheets of Gingham Garden dsp! I actually started the planning and cutting for this one night in/on the bed.

The three chosen sheets of dsp above which I chose three random ways of cutting up using the Pinterest board I have set up for osw as inspiration. Then I started copying sketches from Mojo Monday (a great sketch site that has old sketches available for use) & putting card ideas together from that.

Next I had to get coordinating cardstock for the papers… I decided rather than cutting into too much new cardstock I would first raid the scraps box and use up stuff already cut into!

And then started putting things together with the relevant card blanks…

I did have to use some fresh card stock for the bases… but otherwise I managed most of this from scraps.

Then I made them up into little sets. Here is the first of the sets…

For all of these I used the Bliss stamp set to add the flourish stamp in the background and the little butterflies and the sentiment from Bitty Banners.

I also added stickles a plenty to give them a nice bit of bling.

Pop back tomorrow to see how I finished the others off.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Bliss, Masks/Stencils

Use them or lose them #9 set 2

03 Mar 201627 Feb 2016 Catherine

So this year I have decided to challenge myself to make a set of cards, scrapbook page or journal layout using each of my stamp sets as I know I have some I rarely use!

This week I am playing with the Bliss stamp set. I’ve had this set for ages… about 6 years I think. But apart from the flourish which I used on the cards I shared on Sunday I rarely use these stamps. So for today’s cards I was determined not to use the flourish.

I started with a distress ink square (I used a Clarity framer stencil for both cards) and onto this I added water through a swirly stencil. This gives a very subtle pattern to the background. I then stamped the butterfly three times in the Seedless Preserves ink and added the sentiment in Black.

I then doodled the border round the inked square.

For this one I graduated the colour diagonally and chose the circle framer. Then I used the leaf stencil and inked that with peeled paint distress ink. The butterfly and flowers I stamped on a separate piece of card and cut them out …. might have worked better if I had masked them off after stamping first?

Again a doodled border and a sentiment from another set of stamps.

I added butterflies to the envelopes

I just used one ink colour and did a first, second and third generation inking to get the graduated colour.

Love how the cards turned out but not convinced about the stamp set. I have Papillon Pot Pourri which fits the punches I have so the butterfly isn’t really a must have. The flower isn’t my favourite and can’t see me using the Bliss sentiment much. There is a small bird in the set but only ever used that once … It’s not exactly my style. This leaves the flourish.

I do love the flourish… but do I need it?

Ho hum! This is a real undecided set. But I think it goes into the Lose it pile… well maybe I hang onto that pile for another week or so before I decide completely?

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Bliss, Butterfly, Use them or Lose them

Use them or lose them #9: Bliss

28 Feb 201625 Feb 2016 Catherine

So this year I have decided to challenge myself to make a set of cards, scrapbook page or journal layout using each of my stamp sets as I know I have some I rarely use!

This week I grabbed the Bliss stamp set and decided to have a go with this. I got this set in saleabration about 6 years ago… and it was all about the flourish for me… and I still love this flourish but don’t use it very often these days.

I decided to make a couple of cards using up some patterned paper from the stash that has a lovely satin finish to it. I took some creamy yellow cardstock from the stash and cut a square and stamped the flourish in the centre in black. On another piece of the same cream cardstock I also stamped two butterflies in Fired Brick distress ink and added some clear embossing powder to them. Once heated this gave them a lovely shine.

I punched out the butterfly and edged it with a su marker then added it with a glue dot into the centre of the flourish. I then edged that panel with the same red, mounted it onto the dsp and then a panel of red cardstock to finish it off.

I made two cards and also decorated the envelopes…

The final touch was to add some dots of stickles…

Love how this came out. Love this flourish too. Not sure I can part with this stamp set yet. Wonder if I can make something else with it before the end of the week so that it can stay!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Bliss, Dies, Santas Gifts, Stripes, Woodland

Two sheet wonder continued

13 Feb 201613 Feb 2016 Catherine

Yesterday I shared the first part of the two sheet wonder I made using these jazzy graphic papers. Now time to share how I finished the others.

These four were all added to with the present from Santa’s Gifts… a Christmas set that can be used all year round for cute cards if you think carefully.

And these all had the flower from the Bliss set added.

This final one I kept simple as I thought the paper did enough.

Love how these all came out. Nice and jazzy and two sheets of dsp used up!

Happy crafting!

Catherine