The Card Concept #136 - Bright florals

Hello

I love the stunning inspiration photo for this month's The Card Concept #136 challenge.

The gorgeous blue textured background & stunning colours in the bouquet of flowers was a feast for the eyes. For my card I went with a stenciled background for a faux textured look & tried my best to bring in similar coloured flowers for a clean & layered look.

I white embosssed Altenew Flower Garden stamp set on Fabriano extra white watercolour paper & coloured with Daniel Smith watercolours. Background is ink blended with Tumbled Glass distress ink.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit. 

Favourite flower

Hello

Trying to pick a favourite flower is nearly impossible but when it comes to stamped images I'm always drawn to peonies. There are just so many lovely designs out there & I was thrilled when I saw that Alex Syberia  had released some digital images. Her work is always so beautiful & these digi designs are just stunning. My first thought when I saw them was how beautiful they would be using the Foil Quill. With a few simple steps they came out just perfect! I tried the design on both Canson Mixed Media paper & Strathmore Bristol Smooth with near perfect results each time.

The flowers & leaves were coloured with Daniel Smith watercolours. I used the Altenew Bubble Wrap stencil for the background with Cosmic Shimmer Metallic Gilding Polish in Blossom. The sentiment was also done with the Foil Quill using Golden Rule Sketch Font from the Silhouette store.
I am sharing this at The Flower Challenge #35 - Use your favourite flower.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Have a great day!

CIC407

Hello

Unfortunately card making hasn't been on the list of priorities lately & I miss it! I've had to put a lot of focus into dealing with my back issues so I could finally come off medication.
I made this card for my 96 year old mum & had to take a quick shot with my phone as I was lucky to get it into the post in time last week.

This is probably the most colouring I've done for a while & was done over about 4 sessions. I've invested in a desk top easel which allows me to sit on the lounge with it propped on cushions so I can colour to my hearts content without affecting my back. It's a bit strange learning to colour on a semi vertical angle but I think it turned out ok.
I used WPlus9 Beautiful Bouquets Dahlias white embossed on Fabriano Bristol paper & coloured with Zigs. The Mothers day was die cut using my Silhouette & although it looks dark purple in the photo it was actually more the colour of the purple flowers on the card.

I am entering this into Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #407

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Hello

Hello

I'm sharing a card using some more new items I received just before Christmas. In particular some Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone. It took me so long to decide to order this but I am so glad I did! I have lots of texture pastes & you can use glitter with them but the mess can be frustrating. Not only is there no glittery mess with these glimmer pastes but they are simply dazzling! Moonstone is a clear iridescent and the colours in the glitter matched the colours on my watercolour panel perfectly!

Now, apologies for the photography but I must have taken 40 different shots with both phone & camera in several different lights trying to bring out the colour of the glitter! I nearly went insane doing it but this was the best shot if a little dark. The close up below is a little better.

I started with a panel watercoloured with Worn Lipstick, Squeezed Lemonade distress inks & splattered with Prima Color Bloom Empress Gold. I die-cut W&W Hello cutaway from the watercolour piece & twice more from white card & stacked. Before adhering to the card front I applied the Nuvo Glimmer paste using Prima Tubaroses stencil which was also part of my new stash.

I am entering into the following challenges -  

The Card Concept #64 - Pretty things - my inspiration was the colour of the flowers & gold accent for a CAS design

Happy Little Stampers January CAS Challenge - Stencil

SSS Wednesday Challenge - New Something 

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Merry Christmas!

Hello

I'm feeling the pressure a little with only days to go to Christmas! I'm not sure about everyone else but the days just seem to disappear so quickly but then I guess the entire year has been that way!
Thought I would share some more Christmas cards with foil.

For both of these I watercoloured lightly on Neenah cardstock then sprayed lightly with Shimmer Spritz.  When dry I printed a Hero Arts sentiment from the Silhouette Design store with my laser printer & foiled with Deco Foil Silver Stars which has a pretty holographic effect. The second card didn't photograph as well but the close up shows the foil nicely.

I backed these with American Crafts Pow Glitter paper & added some PPP Iridescent Mini stars to the second.
I am entering these into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make it Sparkle

I hope everyone has a very happy & safe Christmas. May the New year bring peace & togetherness for all!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit!

Wishing

Hello

It's certainly been a while since my last post. Not intended but life just gets in the way some times. I haven't been totally slack though as I have been busy making Christmas cards but more of that in another post.
Today's card is for The Flower Challenge # 2 -

I pulled out a MFT set that I hadn't played with for a while & made a couple of cards. This was my favourite of the two. I used Distress Markers to colour the stamps & stamped onto watercolour paper that had been spritzed with water. I pulled out some of the colour with a wet paint brush to create a soft background & also added a little extra distress ink to the flowers for a bit more colour. A little black Stickles was added to the flower centres & then finished with a SSS die cut & stamped sentiment.

Thanks so much for tasking the time to visit.

Floral Christmas

Ok, so I've failed dismally so far this year in the Christmas card department. I think this is only the second one I've made so far. This originally wasn't even meant to be one.

I've had these flowers sitting on my desk partially coloured for about a year. Yes, you heard right! For some reason I just kept shuffling them to the bottom of the pile. Nothing particularly challenging about the image except it was partially coloured & I wasn't very happy with the outcome. So determined to clear my desk of *ahem* rubbish (the polite word) I decided to get it out of the way once & for all. I started to go with a loose, outside the line watercolour look but wasn't happy with the outcome so blended out the colours to a soft background instead. A few splatters in matching colours & then all I could think of was how Christmassy it looked. So I added a Christmas greeting, some sequins & there you have it!

I was thrilled to see a new challenge devoted to floral images - The Flower Challenge 

So I have entered this into their very first Challenge - Anything Goes.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

It's been a while...

Yes it has! It started with my DH & I both coming down with a very nasty flu virus within 24 hours of each other. Three weeks later I was still trying to shake it off. During this time we were also away for a week for our 33rd wedding anniversary. A cabin set in rainforest on the side of a hill overlooking a gorgeous lake. Blissfully quiet & so pretty! It was a great place to recuperate.
The day I arrived home was a different matter though. We had been in the house for about half an hour when my back problem flared up and eight hours later after my home meds wouldn't work I was in the hospital ER for morphine. A week later it flared again, then another week later again. Both times I was able to control with strong meds which leave me pretty useless. So the end result of so many recurrences is that I am a little restricted to what I can do. I can't sit at my craft desk or computer for very long which is very frustrating. I dabble but to create a card from start to finish is out of the question at the moment so I am utilising the time to complete partly finished projects.
Anyway the card I have today is made with an Wplus9 image I stamped with distress inks probably 6 months ago!

I matched it with a background I found in my stash which I had watercoloured a fair while ago too. Some gold card for a fine edge and a gold embossed sentiment to complete. I couldn't resist adding some pretty yellow sequins although in the photo some of them look green & a little Wink of Stella to the flower centers.
I thought I would enter this into The Card Concept Challenge #58

I thought the colours were a good match & I'm going with mixed media for the watercolouring & embossing.

Just a quick pic of the view looking out from our deck at the rainforest cabin

This is the walkway up the mountain

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Hugs

Hello


A quick post today to share a card that I made for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 364

I used the daisy & some leaves from Winnie & Walter's In Bloom: Addies Garden. I stamped one flower then masked before stamping the other and then masked both to stamp the leaves. Flowers & leaves were coloured with Zigs and I used some Black Diamond Stickles in the flower centers for a little shimmer & dimension. The word is a digital element from Winnie & Walter cut twice on my Silhouette and stacked before adding Wink of Stella. Finished with a coat of Glossy Accents.
Also entering this into Inkspirational Challenge 111 - Masking

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We are once again in for some wild, wet weather but on the up side my daughter flies in this afternoon for a couple of days so I'm off to finish preparations.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Lovely day

Hello

Sharing a card today that I made with some watercolour scraps.

I cut a white wreath on my Silhouette with a design from the Silhouette store and snipped off the attached leaves as they didn't work with what I wanted. Using the watercolour scraps I cut some leaves from Paper Smooches Foliage 2 & 3 and flowers from some Elizabeth Craft dies. I softly ink blended a circle in Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink and then layered the wreath, leaves & flowers. The flowers gave me an opportunity to use a variety of sequins I hadn't used before as the flower centres. I finished with one of my favourite sentiments from SSS.
I am entering this into the following challenges -

Happy Little Stampers June Anything Goes with Dies

CAS Mix Up June Challenge 

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

You amaze me

Hello

So today's card is outside my comfort zone on so many levels that I'm not really sure what I was thinking lol. I initially wasn't going to post this but bit the bullet anyway. Firstly I'm not really into creating scenes even simplistic ones like this which is probably obvious when you see this card. Secondly I used digital stamps (FishScraps) for the first time and printed the images on Ranger Watercolor Paper using my laser printer. That in itself was a bit of a gamble as I wasn't sure it would work on that sort of paper or how it would hold up once wet. Thirdly I used Molotow masking pen for the first time (bubbles) but using smaller images wasn't so bad if it failed.

The printing on the Ranger Watercolor Paper (smooth side) was perfect and I was so pleased to know this worked as it opens up a heap of possibilities. All the images were coloured with Zigs and the sea floor as well. The water was coloured with a combination of 3 distress inks. The masking easily removed from the bubbles (phew!) & then I lightly coloured before adding Glossy Accents. The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set.

I thought I'd enter this into Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 363 - Under the Sea

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Hello

Hello

I made today's card for Winnie & Walter's Rerun # 10 In Bloom: Addie's Garden.

I used Ranger Watercolor cardstock & Versafine Onyx Black to mask & stamp a selection of blooms & leaves. They were coloured with Peerless watercolours and then I cut around the bottom edge of the blooms. Mounted with foam tape onto base card and used my MISTI to stamp the sentiment.

The colours in the second photo are more accurate of how the card looks. I inadvertently mucked up my camera settings while in the middle of taking photos (yeah, I know. How did I manage that? Right?) and for the life of me couldn't get it right again.


Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

With love

Hello

I made today's card to enter into the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 360. This will be the first time I have entered this challenge but always love seeing their inspiration photos. Since looking at cupcakes is all can do these days I may as well enjoy the creative aspect.

I fell in love with the colours right away as these were the exact colours I had at my wedding long, long ago!

 With my limited photography skills this card was so hard to photograph. I tried something different for the background. I really love my embossing/texture pastes but the gold is very bright & brassy and I wanted something more subtle. So I used Ranger Texture Paste with a Tim Holtz stencil & then when the paste was dried I applied Kuretake Gansai Champagne Gold over the top. I wasn't sure if this would work but it was perfect. It is such a lovely soft gold with so much sparkle.

The Altenew Wild Hibiscus flowers were stamped & embossed with AC Zing Gold EP & then coloured with Altenew inks using a waterbrush.

I am also entering this into the following challenges -

CAS Mix Up Card Challenge 

Happy Little Stampers Mixed media Challenge - Shine 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Flowers

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.