Cure For The Monday Blues Challenge # 20 - Love's Young Dream

Challenge number 20 for the Cure for the Monday Blues (see full details here
http://littlemisst-papercraft.blogspot.com/2014/06/cure-for-monday-blues-challenge-20.html )
was to make a card using this lovely photograph as inspiration.

Source: Pinterest

 

The photograph shows a pretty bedroom that was designed for a young girl, using pinks, pale aqua, touches of gold and splashes of bright, vibrant colours. Further information about the design can be found here http://honeyandfitz.com/2013/12/19/chloes-mermaid-inspired-big-girl-room/ where you can see all the attention to detail and some before and after photos.

 

I decided that I'd like to try to replicate the pretty floral rug on my card. Here is a close up of the actual rug design which can be found here http://www.pbteen.com/products/martina-rug/ .

 

 

I started by making an A5 card base from some sturdy pale pink pearlised card, then I used an A4 Spellbinders embossing folder to emboss a strip of darker pink card with a polka dot pattern. I highlighted some of the dots with a Distress marker to mimic the bedspread and adhered the polka dot strip to the left of my card blank. I cut a smaller rectangle of Papertrey Ink pale aqua pearlised card for the floral panel then used Versamark ink and gold embossing powder to heat emboss the sentiment (from Hobby Art's clear Sentiments stamp set - CS026D). I also heat embossed the chandelier from the Elusive Images UDLSP0329 Bella stamp set (now Chocolate Baroque) onto pale pink card and fussy cut it out. I used Memento Teal Zeal dye ink to stamp some of the doodled swirls from Elusive Images stamp sets UDLHC0131 and UDLHC0132 and one of the small flowers from the Fantasy Floral set (UA4SP0185).

 

For the brightly coloured flowers I used a selection of coloured card and dye inkpads, together with a white pigment inkpad. Some of the leaves were from the Chocolate Baroque Tangled Garden stamp set (UA4SP0400) and some of the flowers were from the Fantasy Floral set (UA4SP0185). The rest of the leaves and flowers came from set UDLHC0100 FunkyDoodles - Fresh and set UDLCH0101 FunkyDoodles - Retro. After I had stamped everything I fussy cut it all out and then edged each one with a broad black Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen. I made sure that I covered up all the cut edges with the black ink so that I'd have a crisp outline. I further embellished some of the flowers and leaves with an Inkssentials white pen and a fine black Pitt pen.

 

Please click on the photos for a clearer view.

 

I then began the labourious task of layering everything onto the aqua panel using double sided tape and foam pads. Where leaves and flowers were overhanging the edges I trimmed them off flush. Some of the flowers and leaves were partially raised on foam pads and those in the foreground were raised completely. I stuck the panel to my card base using some strong red lined tape then finally I shaped the chandelier and adhered it with tape on the outer edges and foam strips in the middle.

 

 

This close-up photo gives you some idea of the dimension of the floral panel. The colours are much brighter in real life - unfortunately it was dark when I took my photographs and they appear more subdued.

 

Although I had started making my card early on Sunday afternoon, it took me much longer than I anticipated to complete it (over eleven hours in total), so I wasn't able to enter it into the challenge in the end. However, I enjoyed revisiting some of my older stamps and CASEing the rug photo and I shall be sending my card to a friend who has a birthday later this week. Thank you for looking!

Stamped Emboss Resist and Watercolour Wash

I have four cards to show you today, all using the third technique taught in the recent online watercolour for card makers classes. All stamped background images were stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed using Wow! Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder. I then used my Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolour paint set to add a watercolour wash over each background. The white embossing acted as a resist and gave a lovely result.

 

 

For my first  card I stamped the Big Bold Background Belle Flowers by Chocolate Baroque (USQSP0407) onto Bockingford Watercolour paper and heat embossed. I used three colours of paint for the watercolour wash, which I did using a wet on wet technique. I layered the panel onto orange and blue card and a 6" square scalloped card blank. The Birthday die cut and wishes stamp are by Papertrey Ink and I added faux stitching with a Hot Off The Press stamp over the velum and orange card strip. Finally I embellished with a few sequins, which I stuck on with Ranger's Studio matte multi-medium.

 

My second card was made in much the same way, but this time using the largest stamp from Wendy Vecchi's Art Colors Life set (LCS053). I chose Purple Lake, blue and Viridian green paints for the watercolour wash and used Bockingford watercolour paper again. The "Happy" stamp is from Clearly Besotted's "Happy Everything" stamp set and the Birthday die cut is by Papertrey Ink. I also used sequins to embellish this one.

 

Please click on each photo for a better view.

 

For my third card I used the beautiful background stamp from Joanna Sheen's Tales of the Ocean - Fossil stamp set (JS317). Using Bockingford watercolour paper again I painted with a selection of coral, grey, yellow ochre and beige coloured paints, but this time I tried to keep within the shapes of each fossil, rather than blending the colours too much. The panel was mounted onto coral coloured card and a mottled beige C6 card blank. The sentiment stamp and die are from Clearly Besotted's Mini Basic Banners set and I used Memento London Fog ink. Once again I embellished my card with a few sequins (these came from Abakhan).

 

 

My last card is a lager 8" square one. This time I used smooth white card as I wanted to capture the detail from the lovely Big Bold Background Leafy Trails stamp by Chocolate Baroque (USQSP0406). For my wet on wet watercolour wash I chose Lemon Yellow, Sap Green and Viridian Hue paints and blended them together where they met. I used the same stamp and Memento Pear Tart ink to stamp the white card blank, layered the panel onto green card and added a die cut and stamped sentiment (from Papertrey Ink). Finally I embellished with two different sizes of pearls, which I placed where each berry was on the stamped image. I was really pleased with how this turned out - it looks so fresh in real life!

Pretty Pink Posh Sequin Shaker Blog Hop

There is a big blog hop going on at the Pretty Pink Posh blog here http://prettypinkposh.com/2014/04/sequin-shaker-blog-hop.html where there are lots of wonderful shaker cards to admire.

 

I decided to join in, so I made this undersea scene, viewed through a porthole! I have had the porthole stamp for ages, but can't remember which company made it - sorry! I started with an A5 silver shimmer card blank and added a layer of PTI Hawaiian Shores card.

 

 

 

I took some pearl shimmer card and stamped the porthole using Memento Gray Flannel dye ink. I then cut out the centre circle using a Spellbinders standard circle die. I taped some thick acetate which I had saved from old Spellbinders packaging to the back of the aperture. The sentiment is from a set by Hobby Art Ltd and was stamped using the same Gray Flannel dye ink on  to PTI Aqua Mist card, which had been die cut using one of the Spellbinders Labels eight dies (S5 - 019). This was then layered onto a PTI Hawaiian Shores die cut from the Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight dies (S5 - 148). I embellished the sentiment panel with a couple of brads which look like screws.

 

 

 

 

I decided to use a square of PTI Sea Shimmer card to make the undersea view. I drew a feint circle (slightly larger than the size of my acetate window) to aid in placing the stamps. I used a selection of Elusive Images stamps from the following stamp sets :- Underwater Kingdom - UA5SP0326, Seadragon - UA5SP0327, Mermaid Queen - UA5SP0328 and Something Fishy - UDLSP0330. These are currently available from Chocolate Baroque here  http://www.chocolatebaroque.com/search.asp?keyword=mermaid . They were stamped with a mixture of Gray Flannel and Tuxedo Black Memento dye inks. I also stamped most of the images onto some masking paper and fussy cut them out, so that I could mask off the images in the foreground whilst building up my scene. The panel was then coloured with Copic Ciao marker pens and the fish were accentuated using a Wink Of Stella Clear glitter pen.

 

 

Then it was time to add some pretty blue and green assorted sequins. I used 3mm thick foam tape on the back of the porthole panel to raise it up enough for the sequins to be able to fit inside. I snipped the tape at intervals so that I could bend it around the circular aperture and I made sure that it completely met up and that there were no gaps. A few more foam pads kept the panel flat and made it easy to fix to the card front.

 

 

Here is a close up of the sentiment panel. I thought that the words were quite appropriate to describe the various coloured sequins in my "ocean".

 

 

 

Finally, here is a close up of my undersea scene, complete with mermaids and brightly coloured fish. As usual you may click on any of the photos to enlarge them for a better view.

 

 

 

This card was so much fun to make - I hope you like it!

Cure For The Monday Blues # 11

This week's cure for the Monday Blues inspiration photo took me way out of my comfort zone.  http://littlemisst-papercraft.blogspot.com/2014/03/cure-for-monday-blues-challenge-11-and.html . In fact I had more or less decided not to enter this week until I received an email from Taheera and she reminded me about it - so I felt obliged to have a go! I thought that I would really struggle to come up with something, but in the end I had so many ideas that I actually made two cards today! 

 

 Source: Pinterest

 

 

My first card is a more feminine version, where I decided to concentrate on the right hand side of the inspiration photo . I started with a white 5" x 7" card blank and layered on some dotty pink designer paper from my stash and a smaller rectangle of Papertrey ink Spring Rain card. I used Memento Rich Cocoa ink and Papertrey Hibiscus Burst ink to stamp the Waltzingmouse Woodenheart Alphabet onto white card, substituting a small heart for the letter O. The panel was then layered onto a rectangle of Papertrey ink Dark Chocolate card and adhered to the card with double sided tape. I used the Hibiscus Burst ink again to stamp JustRite's "Autumn Damask Background stamp" (CL - 03895) onto white card and cut out a pennant shape. The Sweet Heart sentiment (from Waltzingmouse Stamps "Half Baked Gingerbread Joy" stamp set - as was the small heart) was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Wow Bark regular embossing powder and I added a small heart shaped pearl. The floral heart stamp was by Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque) and I used Versamark ink and Wow Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder on some PTI Hibiscus Burst card, then cut it out and mounted it onto the card with foam pads.  I was very happy with the result.

 

 

 

For my second card I started with a black 5" x 7" card blank and layered on a piece of  yellow Core'dinations card from the Tim Holtz and Ranger Adirondack collection, then a layer of Papertrey ink Raspberry Fizz card, which I embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder. I used Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink to stamp the Elusive Images damask background (from plate UA4SP0156) onto white card, trimmed it and added the panel to my card with double sided tape. I used Versamark ink and the Wow white embossing powder again to stamp the "Smile" sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps' "Compact Sentiments" set onto turquoise card and one of the pretty bird images from Elusive Images' "Birds of a Feather" set (from plate UA4SP0218) onto another piece of the Raspberry Fizz card. I cut two of the smaller Spellbinders Labels One dies out of yellow and black card, layered them up and stamped the larger of the cameo ladies from Waltzingmouse Stamps' "Cameo Creations" using Raspberry Fizz ink. The panel with the bird was raised up on foam pads and the final touch was a row of three black gems in the bottom right corner.

 

 

This was the card that caused me the most problems as the colours were not what I'd usually go for at all - but I think that sometimes it's good to challenge yourself a bit more - it is called a "challenge" after all!  Thanks for looking!

Happy Mother's Day and Cure for the Monday Blues Challenge #10

This is my second post today, please scroll down to see my Sunday Stamper #300 card.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums and Grandmothers out there! I think that this is the first year that my daughter has been away from home for Mother's Day and I am missing her a lot! She is away at University in Kent, but was sweet enough to send me a beautiful card, a copy of "The Great British Sewing Bee" book and a pretty bunch of roses - I am a lucky Mum! We will probably Skype later on and catch up with all the news and I am very much looking forward to her coming home for Easter.

 

Over on Taheerah Atchia's blog http://littlemisst-papercraft.blogspot.com/2014/03/cure-for-monday-blues-challenge-10.html the current Cure for the Monday Blues challenge #10 is running. The inspiration photo this week is of a gorgeous blue and white bedroom with pops of bright pink and orange colours.

 

 

Source Pinterest.

 

I decided to make a card using some of my beloved Chocolate Baroque stamps, Papertrey Ink coloured card and ink and Memory Box dies. I probably have more Chocolate Baroque and Elusive Images stamps than any other brand, as I used to be on the Design Team for Elusive Images, before they became Chocolate Baroque. I love their designs and the grey rubber stamps are always really deeply etched and are wonderful to work with.

 

I loved the flowered wallpaper, the bright quilt and the textured rug in the inspiration photo, so that's what I went with.

 

 

Here is my finished card. As usual, you may click on any of the photos to enlarge them for a better view. This blog post is photo heavy, as I actually remembered to take step by step photos this time!

 

 

This is the gorgeous big stamp which I chose to use for the wallpaper background. I masked off the top of a white card blank and stamped directly onto the card using Papertrey Spring Rain ink.

 

Then I used an acrylic block as a palette, stamping the inkpad onto it and using a fine waterbush to pick up the colour and watercolour the flowers and leaves. I tried to shade the underside of the petals and leaves so that they would look a bit darker.

 

 

This was painstaking, but I was thrilled with the finished result! The photo below shows the background after I had finished watercolouring it.

 

 

The photo below shows the selection of bright Papertrey Ink card that I picked out (Spring Rain, Orange Zest and Hibiscus Burst), together with matching Zing embossing powders (Grapefruit and Apricot), Versamark ink, a Memory Box Tessatina border die and a small elephant stamp from a larger A4 Chocolate Baroque stamp set (UA4GW0157 - originally released in 2007 by Elusive Images).  

 

 

I used the Versamark ink to stamp two of the elephant images onto the Orange Zest card and very carefully applied the Grapefruit pink embossing powder to the decorative blankets on each of the elephants' backs. I then added the Apricot embossing powder to the remaining areas and heat set them.

 

 

Each elephant was then fussy cut out - I used a craft knife and cutting mat to cut out the area around the trunks.

 

 

 

I used my Grand Calibur to cut out the Tessatina dies twice - once from Spring Rain card and once from the same white card as my card blank base. I pushed out all of the small inner pieces from the white die cut, then added a strip of strong, red lined tape at the rear. Then I took the small inner pieces from the blue die cut and inserted them into the spaces on the white one, using tweezers. You can just see the red tape underneath in the above photo.

 

 

 

I cut a strip of Hibiscus Burst card (to represent the bright quilt in the inspiration photo), mounted it towards the bottom of my card blank, then added the embossed elephants using foam pads for added dimension. The Tessatina border die cut was added beneath this to mimic the rug - I think it looks like the elephants are strolling along a decorative path!  

 

 

 

I needed a sentiment and decided to use the same Hibiscus Burst card to cut some letters from a Memory Box alphabet die set, to spell out the word "hello". I adhered these letters to the top right of my card using small dabs of Ranger Glossy Accents. As there are some large letters hanging over the wallpaper in the inspiration photo I thought that these would be ideal.

 

 

 

Finally I used some more of the Glossy Accents to highlight each letter and give it a nice glossy, dimensional finish.

 

 

I must say that I am very pleased with how this turned out! Although it was very time consuming, I am looking forward to doing the same watercolouring technique on some more of the big background stamps as I think it looks really effective. Thanks for reading this far!