Winter scene on doily

This card is for CardPatterns #138 and for the Hero Arts October challenge (holiday card theme). Here's the CardPatterns sketch:

The sketch made me think of these big doilies that I have, here's my card:

I stamped the image on the doily and applied Stickles to the snow. The background cardstock is dry embossed and sanded Core’dinations paper. The two snowflakes were die cut, one from a alcohol inked scrap and the other was coated in glitter.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps: Winter Scene K5524, Merriest Christmas Wishes CG377; Archival ink Cobalt; Stazon ink Timber Brown; alcohol ink: Sailboat Blue, Silver; Diamon Stickles; Core’dinations Espresso cardstock; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Spellbinders snowflake dies; string; Imaginesce rhinestones; organza ribbon; doily, tulle.

Shrink plastic baubles

This card is for the Hero Arts October challenge (holiday card theme). I was playing around with shrink plastic the other day and got the idea of making baubles out of shrink plastic.

To make these, I first cut the baubles out of the plastic and then stamped the images with Stazon ink. The three baubles were coloured in different ways. The snow on the round one and on the village one was coloured with a white pencil before shrinking. The sky on the round one was coated with two shades Stickles, after shrinking. The houses were coloured with alcohol ink before shrinking and after shrinking I added snow to the roofs with a gel pen. The tree bauble was coated with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with glitter after shrinking. I used my heat gun to shrink the baubles and they didn't shrink completely evenly, but I thought that added to the old-fashioned feeling.

The snowman was dry embossed on watercolour paper and then the whole paper was covered in Rock Candy Distress crackle paint. It gave a snowy glittery effect that was hard to capture on the photo. The background was sponged with Distress Ink Stormy Sky and Tumbled Glass. The sentiments were stamped with alphabet stamps on the plastic before shrinking and translates ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Christmas peace’. Here are some close ups of the baubles:

Thanks for visiting!!

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps: Winter Scene K5524, Classic Evergreen K5515, Snowing Village CG396, Basic Lowercase Letters LL188; Ranger and Panduro shrink plastic; Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder; Distress crackle paint Rock Candy; Distress Ink Stormy Sky and Tumbled Glass; Stazon Jet Black; Stonewashed alcohol ink; Waterfall, Jeans and Diamond Stickles; silver glitter; white pencil; white gel pen; silver DMC floss; Kaisercraft rhinestones.

Pears

This card is for the Play Date Café Challenge 104 – the PDCC is turning two years old. Here’s the inspiration board:

I was inspired to use my solid pear stamp. It is one of my oldest stamps and because of its large solid surface you can do lots of fun techniques with it. On this card I embossed it using three different colours embossing powder.

The background was stamped with a text stamp using Distress Ink Victorian Velvet. I found two scraps of patterned paper that worked well with the colour combo and also used a pair of scalloped scissors on the edges of the green cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: October stamps pear; Reprint Brev från Toscana script stamp; Hero Arts letter stamps; BasicGrey patterned paper; Ranger embossing powders; lace; Core’dinations Peeled Paint cardstock.

Best Gifts

Here is my layout for How Much Is Too Much challenge #183 (Gifts). This week our guest designer came up with the challenge, and Amy challenged us to scrap about gifts (either actual gifts or blessings in your life), and to

- Frame your page with an edge of background paper, a doodled/stitched border or a frame
- Use at least one stamp/digital brush/rub-on
- 3 ribbons/strings
- 6 circles
- 8 brads or buttons
- 10 flowers
- 2 elements that bleed off the page
- 4 crocheted or felt accents

Check out what the team did on the blog. I hope you will play along with us! Here's my layout:

When I looked through a pile of photos, I came across these two photos of handmade gifts from my sisters, three trolls and a musician made from bottle caps. These are some of my most special gifts and I am happy to have done a layout about them. The photos are a bit dark though, and I might have made a mistake when I picked the bottle green cardstock as background, which is not what I normally would have used. The layout was framed with machine stitching and I used a whole bunch of stamps. Six different circle stamps were used to stamp a tone-on-tone background. I ended up using more than six circles, because it looked a bit empty with just six. Two of the circles bleed off the page. Eight green buttons were stitched randomly on the background. The three strings were braided and stapled to the page. I didn’t want to include big flowers on this page, so instead I used a small flower stamp and stamped it ten times on the patterned paper. I used two felt arrows and die cut a heart and a swirl from felt.

The three light bulbs were stamped on shrink plastic with Stazon ink, and I also stamped my sisters’ names and a star on each one. Shrink plastic is so much fun, it is like magic to see the pieces shrink. I especially like how tiny the names came out.

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Supplies: Artistic Stamper light bulbs; Hero Arts: Big Clock CG166, Many Dots CL519, Thoughtful Messages CL184, Home Sweet Home ST513, Basic Lowercase Letters LL188; Technique Tuesday circles; 7Gypsies circles; Tim Holtz, BasicGrey and Life Stories patterned paper; Ranger shrink plastic; Versafine green ink; Stazon Jet Black; Tim Holtz Sizzix heart and flourish die; BG letter stickers; American Crafts felt arrows; felt; twine; buttons.

Time to Hike

Today I am posting the fourth of the idea cards Stampscapes printed with my cards. Here's the original post about this. I wanted to do some small, sponged Stampscapes scenes. I normally use glossy paper for my scenic stamping, but here I used ordinary matte cardstock instead.

It is fun making these mini scenes. A circle was cut from white smooth cardstock and dye inks were sponged on top, leaving the middle of the circle lighter and going darker around the edges. I made several of these and then selected stamps that fit with the circles. The stamping was done with green and brown inks. Brown ink was applied to the trunk of the tree and green ink to the leaves. A few flowers were added with a white gel pen. The panel behind the circle is a piece of canvas which was coloured with Distress Stain and water and then stamped with a script stamp. The background cardstock was dry embossed and sanded to create additional texture.

Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: Stampscapes: Backpackers 002A, Twisting Oak 226E, Foliage 035A; Hero Arts: Old Letter Writing (S4878), Designer Woodgrain (S5208); Archival ink: Olive, Coffee; Distress Ink: Stormy Sky, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo; Distress Stain Peeled Paint; Core’dinations Ranger cardstock (stormy sky); Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies; trim; canvas; twine; white gel pen.

Glittery Tree

This card is for the Hero Arts October challenge (holiday theme) and for Stamping A to Z (G for Glossy Accents, H for Hero Arts, Heat Embossing).

The tree was gold embossed on a die cut and then coated with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with glitter. When dry, Distress Stain Antique linen was used to ink the cardstock around the tree and then the edges were sponged with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The snowflakes on the background cardstock were also gold embossed. For snow, I used vellum embossing in a dot folder, layered in two layers and then Stickles was added to the edge. Here's a close up of the glitter:

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Supplies: Hero Arts Stamps: Snowy Tree CG370, Tiny Flakes CG387, Merriest Christmas Wishes CG377; Tim Holtz Sizzix Ornamental die cut and dot embossing folder; Distress Ink: Vintage Photo, Walnut Ink; Distress Stain Antique Linen, vellum; Stickles Diamond; Glossy Accents; heart brads.

Bird in Birch Tree

This card is for the Play Date Cafe Challenge #103, and for Stamping A to Z on Two Peas and the Hero Arts October challenge (Holiday theme). Here's the gorgeous Play Date Cafe inspiration board:

I wanted to do a Christmas card, even though these colours are not traditional Christmas colours. I was also inspired by the big letter to add a grungeboard letter to my card.

The Birch stamp was embossed with blue powder and the trees and the bird were covered with Glossy Accents, making them look like they are raised from the embossed surface. The ‘G’ was inked with Rusty Hinge, coated with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with glitter. The orange background is watercoloured with Rusty Hinge smeared on my craft sheet and misted with water. The grey swirl stamp is stamped on glossy cardstock. 'God Jul' means 'Merry Christmas'. TFL!!

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps: Merriest Christmas Wishes CG377, Florentine Pattern S545, Starry Sky S5448; Distress Ink Rusty Hinge; Adirondack Slate; Hero Arts chalk ink; Judikins Jeans embossing powder; grungeboard letter and circle; ribbon.

Cabin at Falls

Here's the third of my scenic stamping pieces that have been turned into Stampscapes idea cards. Here's the first post about this. This scene was a birthday gift to my sister. It measures 5.5” x 8.5” and it done on glossy cardstock.

This scene uses quite many stamps and was first planned on scrap paper. The stamping was done with black and green ink. The Tree Duo was stamped repeatedly among the trees behind the cabin to make the forest denser, as well as on top of the tall mountain. Dye inks were applied with a Stylus Tool and Fantastix, starting with the lightest shades of ink. I wanted to keep the scene relatively light, so I was careful when applying the darker colors. The white of the paper was left in parts of the sky, waterfalls and river. A bit of purple was added to the mountains and pink to the water and sky.

The Water Pattern was stamped in the river using blue ink in first and second generation impressions, going lighter where the water is lighter. Highlights and flowers were drawn with white, pink and purple gel pens. Mist and clouds were added with white pigment ink and I tried to use it to make the tall mountain look like it is further away. At first, the birds were stamped twice in the sky, but I smudged the second impression; luckily the Oak Branch concealed the mistake perfectly.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: Stampscapes: Cascading Falls Lg. 015G, Tall Rock with Falls Lg. 082G, Side Falls Lg. 075G, Rock 129B, Waterside Bluff (left) 148F, Waterside Bluff (right) 149F, Cabin with Fence 144F, Buck Lg. 009B, Pine Tree 196F, Oak Branch 203G, Water Pattern 231C, Flock in Water 225D, Grass Texture 208D, Curvy Branch 271G, Migrating Birds 152D, Tree Duo Lg. 086B, Pebbles 256A; Inks: Archival: Jet Black, Olive; Adirondack: Aqua, Pool, Stonewashed, Willow, Lettuce, Pesto, Slate; Distress Ink: Pumice Stone, Dusty Concord; Jenni Bowlin Soap Powder; Memento: Sweet Plum, Bamboo Leaves, Pear Tart, Danube Blue, Angel Pink, London Fog; Colorbox Frost White; gel pens.

Dictionary Poinsettia

This card is for Stamptoberfest challenges Celebrate Just Because (celebrate a funny holiday in October), Combo Card (stamping and another papercrafting technique, Stamping A to Z (D for Distress, F for Florals) and for the Hero Arts October challenge (Holiday card theme).

Today (16 October) is Dictionary Day and it inspired me to use a dictionary page as background. The poinsettia was stamped on the dictionary page, masked and then the leaves were stamped. I used both positive and negative masks to colour the poinsettia with Distress inks using sponge daubers. The word ‘poinsettia’ was encircled on the dictionary page and inked with a bit of Antique Linen. Seed beads were stitched to the flower centre with golden thread. I also used a bunch of golden threads, tied them together and stitched them down with seed beads. The dictionary page was crumbled up. I thought the flower was a bit dark, so I outlined it roughly with a white gel pen.

Thank you for visiting!

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps: Poinsettia & Berries CG363, Christmas Reindeers CL540; Distress Ink: Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen; metallic gold DMC; gold seed beads; white gel pen.

Night Sea

This is the second of my scenes printed as a Stampscapes idea card. Here's the first post about the idea cards. The scene is done on glossy cardstock and is 5.5” x 8.5”.

One of the interesting things with black and white scenes is that the importance of light, value and contrast becomes more apparent than when you work with a variety of colors. It is fun to see how much you can achieve by using only shades of black ink.

I planned out the scene on scrap paper and then the images were stamped with Jet Black ink. Star Birth was stamped twice and Cloud Cumulus Lg. was used to fill the space between the stars, moon and sea. Black and grey dye inks were applied to the scene, starting with the lighter grey inks and gradually going darker, taking care to leave some areas white (many of the stars, the moon, the roof of the house and areas of the water). A Stylus Tool and Fantastix were used to apply the ink. Highlights were added with a white gel pen.
Finally, using a tooth brush, opaque white Acrylic Artist ink was splattered on the scene, especially around the cliffs and on the sea. Some of the ink was applied as mist around the moon and in the water, using a fairly dry brush. When splattered, the ink remains opaque white, but when applied in a dry brush fashion it becomes more translucent.
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Supplies: Stampscapes: Seaside Cove 139H, Seaside Dwelling 249E, Star Birth 217G, Cloud Cumulus Lg. 019G, Sailboat 153B, Eerie Moon 282F, Pines and Rocks Sm. 267E, Spooky Branch Sm. from Nature Sheet #12; Ranger Archival Jet Black; Adirondack Slate; Distress Ink Black Soot; Memento London Fog; Daler & Rowney Acrylic Artist Ink white; white gel pen.

Christmas Village

I have two cards to share today, which were made for a Stamptoberfest challenge to colour the same stamp with two different mediums. The cards are also for the Hero Arts October challenge (Holiday theme).

The Brown Village was embossed with glittery white powder on kraft cardstock and coloured with coloured pencils. I went over all the houses with the white pencil at the end to tone down the colours a bit. Here's the second card:

The Blue Village was embossed with glittery white powder on dark blue cardstock and coloured with a mixture of Perfect Pearls and water, mixed on my craft sheet and applied with a paint brush. I used interference blue powder, pearl powder as well as three shades of blue. The background was stamped with Versamark and two shades of blue Perfect Pearls were dusted on top. Perfect Pearls are so hard to photograph, but I think you can see the shine a bit on the second photo.

 Thanks for looking!!

Supplies: Hero Arts: Snowing Village CG396, Merry Christmas Trees CL459, Magic of Christmas CL462, Magical Background CG211; Stampelboden text stamp; Perfect Pearls: Interference Blue, Perfect Pearls, True Blue Sparkle, Blue Raspberry, Blue Smoke; Derwent coloured pencils; lace; Kaisercraft rhinestones; Cuttlebug embossing folder; vellum; pearls.

Between Two Pines

Yesterday, I got such a fun parcel in the mail, containing copies of the five idea cards Kevin Nakagawa from Stampscapes has printed using my scenic stamping pieces. I am SO happy and honoured that my cards have been turned into Stampscapes idea cards and I hope they will inspire other scenic stampers and that they will inspire people to try out scenic stamping. It is such a fun form of stamping and it is absolutely wonderful to be able to create your own landscapes. Only your imagination sets the limits to the places you can create.

The idea cards look fantastic and the colours are perfect. They look exactly like the originals. I had fun writing text and instructions about the cards, which is printed on the back. The three bigger scenes are printed on 8.5” x 5.5” (21.5 x 13.8 cm) cards and the two smaller ones on 5.5” x 4.25” (13.8 x 10.5 cm) cards.

I made all these scenes before I started the blog and since they haven’t been posted here, I thought I would post my originals, one at a time, to celebrate that the idea cards have been printed. I am going to do it chronologically, in the order they were made, so the first one to be posted is Between Two Pines. This scene was inspired by the lovely quote, which immediately made me think about one of my favourite books, giving me the idea for this scene. It is 4” x 6” and is done on glossy cardstock:

Yellow and green shades of dye inks were applied using a Stylus Tool, starting with the lightest shade and leaving some of the white of the paper in the centre. Thereby, I tried to create a stream of light in the middle of the scene. There is a great tutorial for this technique on the Stampscapes website. I like how the stream of light places the focus both on the rider and on the doorway between the two pines. The pine trees were stamped with green dye ink using first to third generation stamping, in order to create depth. The lighter second and third generation images appear to be further away. With this technique and by varying the height of the trees, you can stamp a whole forest using only the Pine Tree stamp (it is one of my favourite scenic stamps). The man on the horse was stamped at the bottom of the ray of light and ferns were stamped as a foreground. Highlights were added with a white gel pen.


Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: Stampscapes: Pine Tree 196F, Horseback 173A, Ducks in Formation 027A, Fern 102A, quote from Scenic Sentiments Sheet #3; Archival Jet Black ink; Adirondack: Willow, Pesto; Distress Ink: Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss; Memento: Dandelion, Cottage Ivy, Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves; white gel pen; glossy cardstock.

Double Deer

This card is for Stamptoberfest Double Take and Patterned Paper challenges, and for the Hero Arts October challenge (Holiday card theme). The Double Take challenge is to stamp an image on tissue paper, turn the paper around and stamp it again to get a mirror image. Anne gives a good description of the technique here. The Patterned Paper challenge is to use at least three patterned papers. Here's my card:

I used this fun reindeer stamp and stamped it six times on tissue paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used gel medium to glue the tissue paper to patterned papers, cut the bodies and jerseys out and then paper pieced the deer on the green patterned paper. Some snowflakes were stamped around them and Stickles added to the snowflakes, jerseys and noses. The background is dry embossed Core’dinations cardstock.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps: Christmas Reindeer CL840, Merriest Christmas Wishes CG377; 7Gypsies, BasicGrey and unknown jeans patterned paper; Frosted Lace Stickles; Ranger Studio multi-medium matte; Memento Tuxedo Black; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Core’dinations Espresso cardstock; ribbon; crepe paper, tissue paper.

Blue Archipelago

This scene is inspired by the archipelago where I grew up, which has a lot of stone islands. I planned it on scrap paper first and tried a few different combinations before I was happy with the placement of the islands. It is interesting to note how the placement of a stamp can change its normal application. The island to the top left, is a fairly small stone stamp, but its placement close to the boat makes it look like it is a relatively large stony island instead.

The scene is done on glossy cardstock and coloured with dye inks using a Stylus Tool. All the stamping was done with Archival Jet Black ink. At first, I was planning to do a black and white scene, but instead I added shades of blue into the water, while keeping the stones and the sky largely black and white. I added just a tiny bit of dark blue to the latter to make everything blend together. I started out applying Aqua on the sea and gradually built up darker layers with grey-blue and grey inks. I wanted the sea to be pretty light, so I left a fair amount of the white of the paper. Finally, quite a lot of mist was added to the water and the sky by dry brushing white pigment ink to the scene. Highlights were added with a white gel pen.

Supplies: Stampscapes stamps: Brookside Boulders 185G, Boulders with Lichen 205F, Foliage 035A, Leafless Limbs 053F, Reeds 067B, Rock (2) 130B, Rocks and Grass 301A, Sailboat 153B, Rocky Cliff Rt. 134G, Cloud Bits 292C, Eerie Moon 292F, Shimmering 286E; Adirondack inks: Aqua, Lake Mist, Slate, Denim; Distress Inks: Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Black Soot; Memento: Paris Dusk; Archival Jet Black; Colorbox Frost White; white gel pen; Kromekote glossy cardstock.

Autumn Leaves

It is my turn to host the How Much Is Too Much challenge. October is such a beautiful autumn month. One of the things I love about autumn is all the textures you find in nature during this time of the year: all the leaves and the different colours, everything being made more apparent by the clear air. Few things are more beautiful than the reflection of autumn trees in a calm lake. My challenge is called 'Beautiful Autumn', and I want you to use:

- Leaves in some form (embellishments, patterned paper etc.)
- Paint, ink or mist to add a bit of texture to your page
- Distressed edges
- Something orange
- 10 jewels, pearls or beads (for the date)
- 10 ribbons (also for the date)

Check out what the team did on the blog. I hope you will play along with us!

The layout was also inspired by two Stamptoberfest challenges on Two Peas (Beautiful Leaves and Distress, Don’t Stress). The first one is to combine alcohol ink and leaves, and the second one to use Distress products.

I had fun creating texture and playing around with leaves on this page. The background is watercolour paper, which was first sponged with paint through a tree stencil. I used a really old leaf stencil and applied gesso on the cardstock through the stencil using an old plastic card, resulting in dimensional leaves. Then the background was coloured with Distress Stains (Wild Honey, Crushed Olive, Fired Brick), water and a bit of Perfect Pearls. I also used leaves stamped on alcohol inked glossy cardstock. At first I had no idea of what to do with 10 ribbons, but then I got the idea of cutting 10 green scraps of ribbon into small scraps and using them as grass. The 10 jewels were used in the title and on the trees. Here are some close ups:

Supplies: Hero Arts Real Leaves LL684, Home Sweet Home ST513; Studio Calico label stamp; Distress Stain: Wild Honey, Fired Brick, Crushed Olive; Adirondack paint dabbers: Red Pepper, Espresso, Sunshine Yellow, Sunset Orange; Adirondack alcohol ink: Butterscotch, Sunshine Yellow, Sunset Orange, Red Pepper, Peach Bellini; Panduro tree stencil; Plaid leaf stencil; BG letter stickers; Hambly screen print; MM bird charm; DMC floss; watercolour paper.

Spooky Christmas

This card is for one of the most unusual challenges I have ever done, a Stamptoberfest challenge to combine Halloween and Christmas stamps. Since we don’t celebrate Halloween, I don’t have any Halloween stamps, and instead I used bare branches, a somewhat spooky house and a moon stamp. I also used a black and white plus blue colour combo, to add to the spooky feeling, but I am not sure whether the card really looks spooky or more just wintery.

All the stamping, except for the moon was done with black ink. The Santa and reindeer stamp is part of a bigger collage stamp, I used a black marker to only stamp the Santa part of the stamp. The scene is done on glossy cardstock (11x21 cm) and coloured with dye-based inks, using a Colorbox Stylus tool. I started with the lightest blue and grey shades and gradually built up darker shades. Mist was added with white pigment ink and I also stamped the branches and trees with the white ink. Highlights were added with a white gel pen.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: Stampscapes: Bare Branch 121B, Bare Branch Lg 122F, Spooky Branch Sm; Cloud with Moon Lg 105E, Reeds 067B, Tall Grass Sm 254B, Pebbles 256A; Sutter: Glacier Mountains H-2129, Wildlife Enterprises Bev’s Place, Snowy Fence, Snowy Trail D-1259; Crafty Individuals reindeer and Santa stamp; Adirondack dye ink: Aqua, Slate, Denim, Pitch Black; Distress Ink: Stormy Sky; Jenni Bowlin ink: Spice Tin; Archival Jet Black; Colorbox Frost White; white gel pen; Kromekote glossy cardstock.

A lovely day

Happy Weekend! Today, I have a card for a Stamptobefest challenge on the Stamping Board at Two Peas, called Embossed Art (to stamp and emboss on top of a mixed media background). It is also for a SOF11 challenge to use Distress products.

Gesso was brushed on a piece of watercolour paper and then Distress Stains were used to colour it (Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet). Peeled Paint reinker, Perfect Pearls and water was misted over a brick stencil. I felt that the background needed some more opaque parts, so I used a paint dabber to make dots and painted a heart. I used an old plastic card to make a border with the pink paint. When dry, the dots and heart were outlined with a white gel pen. Two strips of paper from an old dictionary were added to the background. The bird, branches and text were white embossed. Finally, I added a few pieces of mica and three rhinestones.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Supplies: Crafty Individuals branches and bird stamps; Tim Holtz Stamper’s Anonymous bird stamp; Artistic Outpost sentiment stamp; Adirondack paint dabbers: Salmon, Mountain Rose; Crafter’s Workshop stencil; Distress Stains: Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet; Peeled Paint Distress Ink reinker; mica flakes; old dictionary page; white gel pens.

Autumn is the second spring

Today I have two cards to share for Stamptoberfest (SOF) challenges, at the Stamping Board on Two Peas. The first card is for Jan’s SOF11 Beautiful Leaves challenge (to combine alcohol ink and leaves). I was inspired by Anne’s recent card to drip alcohol inks on glossy cardstock. Here's my card:

I used using yellow, orange and red shades of alcohol ink. The leaves were stamped on top and I also gold embossed some script. I love the sentiment I used on the card, but couldn’t decide where to place it, finally I left it in the middle of the focal panel. Normally, I would have placed it somewhere else, but I thought it looked best in the middle. The background was embossed and sanded.

Supplies: Hero Arts Real Leaves LL684; Stampscapes sentiment stamp; Alcohol ink: Butterscotch, Sunshine Yellow, Sunset Orange, Red Pepper, Peach Bellini; Spellbinders label die; Core’dinations Wild Honey cardstock; Kaisercraft rhinestones.


The second card, 'Grunge village' is pretty different from the first one and is for a Stamptoberfest to do masculine cards. I wanted to try using a doily, but I am not sure how it worked out. Most pieces on this card were in my scrap box.

The village was die cut from grungepaper, coloured with Distress Inks, covered with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with a bit of glitter. The bird was a leftover from another project (double stamping with Stormy Sky and Brushed Corduroy). The brackets were coloured with Bundled Sage. The background was watercoloured and stamped with Distress Inks (Tumbled Glass and Pumice Stone). The cardstock right behind the village was painted with gesso and then with a mix of gold Perfect Pearls and water. The doily was misted with the same mix (just adding more water).

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies: Tim Holtz Stamper’s Anonymous bird stamp; Hero Arts Stripes CG118, sentiment; Tim Holtz Sizzix die; 7Gypsies chipboard; gold Perfect Pearls; Distress Ink: Tumbled Glass, Pumice Stone, Stormy Sky, Brushed Corduroy; doily.

Resist technique cards

I have two cards to share today, both are for a Stamptoberfest challenge to use the 'white negative technique' and for Hero Arts October challenge (holiday card theme). One of the October challenge themes is to do Christmas cards using non-Christmas stamps, something I enjoy doing. Here's the card:

The fabric background stamp was stamped with Colorbox Frost White and clear embossed. Then Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy were applied with a sponge dauber to colour the non-stamped areas. Finally, the piece was stamped with a script stamp using Brushed Corduroy. The ink was wiped off from the embossed areas.

Supplies: Hero Arts: Large Fabric Design CG244, Merriest Christmas Wishes CG377; Tim Holtz Sizzix On the Edge die; Distress ink Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy; Colorbox Frost White; Cuttlebug embossing folder; lace; buttons.

The white negative technique works best with stamps that have quite a bit of open areas, otherwise you don't really see the the script stamp, and I thought this tree would work well.

Again, the image was stamped with Colorbox Frost White and clear embossed. Stormy Sky was sponged on top and then a text stamp (with Swedish Christmas songs) was stamped on top using Faded Jeans. The background was made with Distress Stains on watercolour paper and then stamped. I stamped the Christmas song stamp again on kraft paper and cut out a line to use as a sentiment.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Have a great day!

Supplies: Hero Arts: Snowy Night CG217, Tiny Flakes CG387; Inkywings text stamp; Distress Ink: Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans; Distress Stain Faded Jeans; Colorbox Frost White; lace; Core’dinations Walnut Stain cardstock.

Fish friends

This card is a Stamptoberfest challenge on Two Peas to do children’s cards. I did a bright card with a sea theme:

The background was a failed attempt at stamping with Pearl Dabber paint and then inking on top. It has a pearly shine IRL. I found it in my box of scraps and decided to use it on this card. The fish were coloured with Distress Ink, water and Perfect Pearls. The frame was a left over from a die cut. It was coloured with Distress Stain Wild Honey and stamped with Dusty Concord.

Thanks for looking!!

Supplies: Hero Arts: Fish and Shells CL486, Magical background CG211, Florentine Pattern S5458, Solid Dots Pattern CG314; Distress Ink: Broken China, Dusty Concord, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade; Distress Stain Wild Honey; Perfect Pearls; sequin waste; Tim Holtz Sizzix die cut; Kaisercraft rhinestones.

I sometimes dreamed

I have two tags to share today, mainly made out of scraps. They are for Stamptoberfest challenges at the Stamping Board on Two Peas. Stamptoberfest runs between 1-16 October and there are lots of fun challenges. Here's a link to the master thread.

I am hosting a challenged called 'Ink + Water'. My challenge is to use Distress Inks (or other dye inks) and water to get a watercolour effect.

The first tag is for SOF11 Distress, Don't Stress challenge (use Distress products) and for the Masculine challenge.

The background was watercoloured with Distress Ink. I used Distress Stains quite a lot on this tag. A die cut grungepaper house was covered in printed tissue paper (which I got very long ago), then coloured with Faded Jeans stain. The roof, cloud, and grungeboard star was also coloured with Distress Stain (Brushed Corduroy, Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint). Much quicker than using normal ink. The dog and circle was covered with Antique Linen stain to tone down the bright white a bit. The background was stamped with Brushed Corduroy stain. The fence was die cut from grungepaper, painted with Picket Fence Distress crackle paint and then covered with Brushed Corduroy stain. There’s a piece of torn mica in the window and a piece of stamped music on vellum behind the door. The sentiment was cut from an old book.

And a close up of the fence:

Supplies: Hero Arts Music Background CG222; Happy Definition CG269; Artistic Outpost music stamp; Distress Stains: Faded Jeans, Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen, Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint; Picket Fence Distress crackle paint; Tim Holtz Sizzix On the Edge Fence die, Artful Dwellings, Flourishes, Tattered Florals; dies ledger embossing folder; metallic mesh; grungepaper and grungeboard; 7Gypsies tissue paper; Webster’s pages pp; MFT cloud die.

The second tag is for SOF11 Distress and Children's card challenges. I was in a tag mood yesterday.

As with the first tag, the background is watercoloured with Distress Ink. I have a bunch of such tags in my scraps, which have been used to soak op leftover Distress Ink on my craft sheet. It was stamped with Forest Moss. The cloud was coloured with Broken China and covered with Distress Stickles. The boy was watercoloured with Distress Ink and the gauze was dyed with Broken China reinker and water. A branch was die cut from grungepaper and painted with Distress crackle paint. The panel behind the sentiment is covered with Perfect Pearls.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog!

Supplies: Hero Arts Stripes CG118; Artistic Outpost Huckleberry Finn stamp; MME ‘Boy’ stamp; Tim Holtz Sizzix Branch Tree and Scallop die; Distress Ink: Forest Moss, Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw, Bundled Sage, Vintage Photo; Vintage Photo Distress crackle paint; grungepaper; gauze.

So Special

I am so very happy to be guest designer at Card Patterns this week. Here's the great sketch:

I had a lot of fun with the sketch, here's my card:

I tried a fun technique for the background. Heavy watercolour paper was embossed and then inked with Archival ink Aquamarine. A plastic card was used to smear gesso over the piece. Since the Archival ink is permanent, it did not bleed. When it was dry, I clear embossed the whole piece. I cut it into tiles and glued them to black paper. Finally, it was sprayed with turquoise Perfect Pearls spray, which gave a great shimmer to the cardstock and pooled here and there on the tiles, making them shine. Perfect Pearls is so hard to capture on a photo. The three butterflies were stamped with Stazon ink on modelling film and coloured with alcohol inks. When dry, they were heated and shaped. Love this stuff, it keeps its shape so great. A piece of Core’dinations paper was die cut, embossed and sanded and the card was finished off with some old book paper, gauze and a bit of stitching.

Here are some close up pictures:

Thanks so much for visiting!

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps: Three Artistic Butterflies LP215, Sweet Threads Labels CL519; Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folders and scalloped On the Edge die; Stampers Anonymous Clearly for Art Modeling Film; Archival ink: Aquamarine; Alcohol ink: Pool, Sunflower Yellow, Orange; Stazon Jet Black; Turoquise Perfect Pearls spray; watercolour paper; gauze; old book paper; tiny attacher.