Indigo Blu Challenge # 26 - Off The Edge

Hello! Today's card was made for a friend who likes cars, whose birthday is also today. I am also entering it in the Indigo Blu challenge # 26 - Off The Edge (I'm hoping it qualifies since the map images are stamped over the edge on my background). You can see all the details of the challenge on the Indigo Blu blog here .

I started by stamping the large Indigo Blu Map Background four times onto smooth white card using Watering can Archival ink, to give the impression of a much larger map. I then carefully watercoloured the entire map with Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen, Shabby Shutters and Bundled Sage Distress Ink markers (by scribbling ink onto an acrylic block and picking it up with a water brush). 

The car image and fun sentiment are from the Indigo Blu Little Voice stamp set and were stamped directly onto the map with Black Archival ink. I then stamped the car again four times onto some dark green card and fussy cut the layers to decoupage using clear foam pads. I used Spring Moss card and ribbon to mount my stamped images onto a 5" x 7" white landscape card blank. Finally the bodywork of the car was emphasised with a thick layer of Glossy Accents to make it nice and shiny! The photo below shows the car in more detail, with it's traditional racing green bodywork. I hope my friend Arthur likes his new car!

Thank you for looking and for your lovely comments!

Lynn

Word Dies and Heat Shrink Craft Foam.

I am currently taking part in the Online Card Class "Stretch Your Dies" which is run by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner. The lessons are spread over seven days and there are loads of useful tips and galleries full of inspiration. I was late to the party, due to ongoing problems with our broadband connection and not being able to view the video classes until recently - but I plan to work my way through all of them and post my cards here as I get time.

The very first lesson was a video by the very talented Jennifer McGuire, showing how to use word dies to create a tone on tone background and how to make fun little embellishments out of die cut Craft Foam. Here is my finished card. It was very time consuming to make (I was fiddling with it for about three days), but I am so pleased with the finished result!
I started with a black C6 card blank and used WOW opaque white embossing powder to heat emboss the long border stamp from Waltzingmouse Stamps "My Heart" set down the left hand side. The white background panel was made using several die cuts from a Papertrey Ink Birthday die (I used Stick It on the back of my card before cutting each word out, so that they would be easier to adhere to my card). I added a strip of gold foil and mounted the panel onto a rectangle of white craft foam, before adding it to the card.

Then I got rather carried away die cutting all these individual small flowers and leaves from Craft Foam! I used a selection of dies from Papertrey Ink, Waltzingmouse, Impression Obsession, Magnolia, Poppystamps, X-cut and Simon Says Stamp.

Next came the fun part! I used my heat gun to heat shrink the flowers and leaves until they were much smaller. The Birthday word was cut from black foam and shrunk in the same way. The photo below shows the foam before it was shrunk on the top row, with the smaller heat shrunk versions below.

I stuck everything to the card front using Ranger's multi - medium matte and added pearls as a finishing touch. 

Thanks for looking!

Lynn

Cure for the Monday blues # 46 - Rise & Shine!

Hello there! I have been having trouble with our internet connection this week and haven't been able to post on my blog for what seems like ages! I've made a card for the Cure for the Monday Blues challenge # 46 - Rise & Shine! You can find all the details on Taheerah's blog here . The inspiration photo this week has a monochrome palette with a pop of yellow here and there.

I decided to focus on the yellow pillow with clouds and the sweet little bird - and here's what I came up with.

I started with a white card blank and added a layer of Papertrey's Soft Stone card followed by a layer of Lemon Tart card. Then I diecut several white clouds using my Memory Box Marshmallow Clouds dies, stuck them to the yellow card and trimmed the edges. The cute bird and sentiment are both from Waltzingmouse Stamps Sewing Box Hugs stamp set. I used Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink to stamp the bird three times onto Soft Stone and Lemon Tart bitty dots papers, cut them out and layered them up with clear foam tape. That's it - so CAS for me, LOL!

Thanks for reading and for your kind comments,

Lynn

Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop

Today I am joining in with the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop which has been organised by Amy Tsuruta for the coffee loving cardmakers group. You can find all the details and other entries here. We were asked to make a card with the theme of Coffee, Tea or Cocoa and a Spring feel to it. I chose to go with tea, since I have more stamps and dies that are tea related than coffee ones. Here is my entry.

I used a 5" x 7" white landscape card blank and added some pretty patterned paper from Graphic 45's Botanical Tea collection. Where the papers joined I covered the seam with some Spring Rain Papertrey card which I had diecut with a Cottage Cutz "Tea Time Border" die. I used some of Ken Oliver's Stick It adhesive before I cut the border and I can highly recommend it as it saves so much fiddling about with glue and is really secure. 

The fancy teapot, cups and saucers and teaspoons were all cut and stamped with My Favourite Things Die-namics "Always Time For Tea" stamp and die set and more of the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea papers. They were added to the card with some clear foam tape for added dimension. Finally the sentiment, also from the same MFT stamp set, was added (appropriately) in Espresso Truffle Memento dye ink.

I decided to make a second card, which was almost identical to the first, apart from the design and position of the tea set. I wanted to ensure that the text on the background paper was visible on each card since it is a quote about tea and friendship and ties in nicely with my chosen sentiment.

There are already over 400 entries in this blog hop - that's an awful lot of beautiful inspiration! Thank you for taking the time to read this far! 

Lynn

Cure For The Monday Blues # 44

I decided to play along with Taheerah's Cure for the Monday Blues again this week as I liked the inspiration photo and had an idea for my own interpretation of it. You can find all the details on Taheerah's blog here.

The inspiration photo is an eclectic pinboard collection, but my eyes were drawn to the "notes" pinned at the top right. So here is my offering for this week. Sorry about all the dots before your eyes, but I decided to photograph my card against my lovely new polka dot tablecloth!

I started with a 6" square white card blank and some Core'dinations Whitewash card that had a black core. I embossed this with a Spellbinders embossing folder and sanded it back to reveal the black core "holes" for my faux pinboard, then I set about making my "notices". The small notepaper stamp is by Mama Elephant from their "Type It" set - thanks to my good friend Penny for the loan of these lovely stamps! I used Memento Dandelion dye ink and a small scalloped border stamp from a set called "Always Time For Tea" by Die-namics to make my yellow patterned paper. All other stamps used are from Waltzingmouse stamps. I found that the small "bars" type stamp from "Free Spirit Boy" was perfect to make the marks on the top note and the middle sized heart from "Sweethearts" was just right for the one in the centre. A couple of colourful brads were ideal for the pins (and I have loads of neglected brads just waiting to be used up)!

The bottom note was a bit more problematical as I couldn't find a tiny horse stamp anywhere - so I adapted the little reindeer from "Nordic Winter" and just didn't ink up his antlers. The lovely scripty hello sentiment from the "Happy Hello Thanks" set was just the job though. I used a resist technique, stamping it in Versamark ink and clear embossing it, then I used a Tuxedo Black Memento marker pen to draw the speech bubble and colour it in, before ironing off the embossing between two sheets of copy paper. A little pink washi tape was used to mimic that in the top photo. The final touch was a bow tied from thick black thread - I liked the effect of the loops as there were also several in the inspiration photo. I'm really pleased with the finished result!

Thanks for looking,

Lynn