Todays card was inspired by a piece of mount board I found on the desk and a decision I wanted to play with blue inks… and then I just went with it!
I added inks to the acrylic block, sprayed with water and used it as a stamp. This gave it a fun background. Once it was dry I then added some stamping using a background wooden block stamp.
Then I took the fancy phrases stamp and stamped it using the stamp platform in both the brown and the black archival. This made it quite a dark brown colour as my black archival is very dry.
I used my watercolour pencils to add some more colour to the image.
I decided the Kraft cardstock would make a nice base for the card and also added the sentiment to some leftover cardstock and made a banner.
I know it doesn’t show in the photos but I also added wink of Stella to the flowers in the image to give some sparkle.
To finish off I added the sequins as embellishment and then decided it was done.
Todays card is one of those where I wanted to try and use a product up … admittedly one panel isn’t going to do it but it’s a start!
I no longer feel the urge to do art journaling so I am looking at some of my supplies and trying to find ways of using them … for example these Art by Marlene collage papers. Not all of them work on cards as the designs are quite large but I thought this one worked as a background to a larger size card blank like this one.
But then it needed something quite bold to work with it as the paper is so bright and so busy. So I cut some panels of cardstock and then used die cuts to tray and create a focal point above the busy background. I think this along with the stamped and embossed and fussy cut sentiment worked quite well.
I added in the little pearlescent flowers too to add a different texture.
So I’ve not exactly used up my collage paper stash .. I’ve still got a fair few pieces left but at least I found a use for one panel and quite like the card I created using it! Now what to do with the rest?
This card was sort of inspired by both Jennifer Maguire (her video made me grab the stamp) and instagram YVON0202 who I had seen using this stamp with a few colours … but I did go for a different style in the end so inspired by but far from copied!
I used stampin write markers to colour the image in using lots of different greens and some water spray which helped to blend them. If you want to see how I made it I did video it!
I decided to then use the Forever Flourishing dies and Biggest wish stamp set for the main elements with an embossed white panel behind the focal image. The twine and the sparkly gems finished it off.
I took some pics the night I made the card but this next one shows the colours better in the daylight.
Love that twine bow and the colour mix in the background and love even more that I have a second background yet to be used.
Once again I also videoed the process which you can watch if you fancy it!
A really quick card that I put together using scraps off the desk once again.
I made this card so quickly because I had already fussy cut the dsp flowers and the Art by Marlene collage paper was sitting on the desk ready for using!
These first few photos are taken in the evening when lighting is not great … skip to the bottom to see it in the light!
I used card Candi to embellish and those True Love dsp flowers are fab against that bright background!
Love this bright card with the black and white elements. Sentiment is in white embossing on the black with a tiny pop of the Parakeet Part my as a mount to the sentiment!
I’m back delving into the box of Craft Stamper magazine stamps and sorting out which are for keeping and which are for leaving my stash… today it was this one with a collage type feel to it that I decided to play rainbows 🌈 with.
I stamped it in a row along a longer piece of cardstock so I could make a DL card from. I then stamped it again in black on a separate piece so I could colour in the creature (I think it’s a moth but I went colourful as though it was a butterfly!)
I then cut that out and mounted it onto black. I used black to also mount the background panel but I also used my scoreboard to edge it a little … it’s subtle but it’s there I promise!
I then decided to go a bit rainbow mad with the die cut letters and used a rainbow washi I’ve got to cover some card then die cut the letters on different parts and at different angles. I stacked them on other die cut letters to give them the dinension too.
Next I took some of the stamp from a happy celebrations for the other part of the sentiment and mounted that onto black.
I also added some shiny black stars as embellishments.
As much as I love this card I think it is unlikely I would use it again and have plenty of collage type stamps I could use instead, so it’s going into the get rid pile rather than the keep pile.
First design team contribution for Creative Knockouts of 2023 to share with you today. The theme is Celebrations and we are sponsored by Alex Sybera designs.
I chose this Lovely Bouquet image which was kindly gifted for using for the challenge.
Our challenge was celebrations so I went with happy birthday as that is the thing we celebrate most in our house.
I printed the image onto cream cardstock and coloured in using my Stampin Blends. Admittedly I should have paused between the printing and colouring as it did move the line art ink a little but not enough for me to consider it ruined.
I then fussy cut the whole image out.
I created a base panel and used my scoreboard to create some border lines … this was because I was also entering this card into a challenge over at UK stampers forum to include dry embossing.
I adhered this panel to the base card, which is slightly larger with foam behind the middle section so it is slightly raised.
I then stuck the flower image in place.
I decided on some ombre letters for the sentiment so I coloured the scrap cardstock with my stampin blends before die cutting the letters using Playful Alphabet dies. I then cut more out of the scrap cardstock so I could stack them for dimension.
Next I used a stamp from the Artistically inked set for the birthday, cut it out, stacked it once and then edged it with the yellow ink to give it a little dimension.
Finally I added the little flowers as embellishments.
Really pleased how it came out and how cute this card is. I must also remember to use the scoreboard more for the creating of borders like this as it is so elegant.
I have an a5 box which has a fair few Craft stamper magazine stamps in it …
… which I NEVER think to use so making it one of my things this year to go through and either get rid or put in a more accessible place so I think to use them and this card is the first card I’ve made using them.
And I love it!
I grabbed the Rennie MacIntosh style tile stamp and stamped it in black all over a piece of cardstock and then again on a separate piece which I added colour to. I then cut that out and decided to turn it into a tile by heat embossing clear over it twice so it becomes nice and glossy. I used to do this a lot but I forgot about it until now and suspect I made do this again more often as I LOVE it.
I added a black mat behind this tile and also the piece of cardstock which I trimmed down to be slimmer than the card front.
Next chose to use the Biggest Wish stamp onto the cream card in black which I then fussy cut and mounted onto black and fussy cut that too.
Finished off with some black card candi on the front to embellish.
Inside I added one of the off cuts of the card panel I had stamped and a small strip of black.
Really love how this came out and this made me immediately put this stamp into the keep pile as I can imagine using this again.
This last week has been busy and what’s more even when I had some time I could have crafted in, the hubby was using the chair in the craft room so it was too much effort to move things around to be able to craft. So today has been my first time of getting to the desk and getting crafty.
Now I am sure this isn’t just me, but when I’ve had a break it’s almost like I don’t know what to do so I always find it sit and stare at stuff a while and the first card I make is a bit of an oddity! And this is one of those cards.
It started by me grabbing the piece of Art by Marlene collage paper and sticking it to white cardstock, then a piece of the leftover sprayed paper from last weekends photography session (see last weekends blogs for explanation). I then created a sentiment and found an embossed sprig from the Natures Prints set already made and then some gold sequins!
As I say oddments … but I actually think it looks ok overall and I like the zingy colours.
And now I’ve got through the initial block on creativity I’m off and ready to create in a more thought through way … so I already know because it’s happened by the time I’m writing this post that two more projects have come together quite easily – one of which in particular I am super super happy with … but you will get to see those as an when I get round to writing them up.
So this next week … and probably the one after that … are likely to be just as busy but at least my hubby won’t need to borrow my chair anymore so if I do get some time I might get some more crafting done for you to see… but be warned there may be a few gaps as life gets in the way!
Firstly I forgot how much I loved this combo of the jar of flowers stamps and the jar punch… but I also forgot how fiddly working with vellum can be if you don’t like seeing adhesive through the vellum! So let me explain what I did for this card.
Well I started with a cream base and used an old Memories and More card I had in the stash to make the background because that has some distraction just in case I needed it when it came to adhering the jar of flowers!
The flowers and stems I stamped, coloured and fussy cut from cream cardstock. What you can’t see is that I didn’t line them up to meet as I knew I would be adding the jar ‘lid’ so I skipped a bit and that helped me extend the length of the stems a little. But I actually ended up cutting them short in the end as they didn’t look right as the longer length! Ah well.
I then punched the jar from the vellum. Stampin up vellum is a nice weight of vellum to deal with and I would not want to do this with a lighter one as it would not sit as well on the card and may curl upwards or not emboss well.
I stamped and embossed the lid. Now I know if the jar did have a lid you wouldn’t be able to put the flowers in but I decided on artistic licence because I needed some part of the vellum jar to not be see through so I could use that part and the part where the twine was to add adhesive.
So once I had heat embossed I added glue behind the stamped element and then added the flowers. I then also tied the twine round so it went round the flowers as well as the jar.
Now I wanted to raise them a little off the background so I added some scraps of cardstock behind the flowers and then a little behind the stems in the jar this allowed the jar to slightly angle as I had more dimension behind the flowers than the stems which I hope means that the jar is less likely to bend upwards as I am not adhering the bottom as such!
What I did do to add to this though was to place a sentiment on both the jar and the background to try and anchor it in place further down.
I then added the little gold flower sequins as embellishment and called it done! What do you think?
I’ve made a lot of cards using the jar of flowers combo and still get pleasure out of doing so … so you can probably tell this one is staying in the stash for a little longer!
Inkyfingeredcat 