Waltzingmouse September Pajama Party - Challenge 4. Bedtime Story Sketch.

I'm back again with my second post today for the Waltzingmouse September Pajama Party - check out the full details here http://waltzingmouse.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/welcome-to-september-pajama-party.html .

Challenge 4 is the Bedtime Story Sketch as shown below.

I really liked this sketch and I needed a couple of new home cards, so I decided to make two versions of the same design in different colours. 

I had received a lovely parcel of new stamps and dies from Claire on Saturday and I couldn't wait to play, so I chose to use the Funky Flowers stamps and dies, together with the Gift Card It Stamp set and dies.

I started with two white 5"x 7" card blanks and matted one with Aqua Core'dinations card and the other with pink card. The two large white panels were then stamped with tiny flowers and leaves using Memento Pistachio dye ink. I added some of this ink to an acrylic block, misted it with water and used a small paintbrush to paint the leaves. I used the same technique to paint the flowers, using Teal Zeal and Angel Pink inks. 

The two centre panels were cut using the gift card die and stamped with the smaller leafy vine border. The tiny house (from Country Labels Four) was stamped with Desert Sand and Gray Flannel ink, which I also used for the sentiment. I added a band of ribbons to each card and mounted the centre panels with foam tape to add dimension. 

Finally I added flower and leaf embellishments, cut from felt with added tiny spotted buttons for the blue card and pink card stamped with flowers for the pink one. 

I am really pleased with how these turned out! Thanks for looking!

Waltzingmouse September Pajama Party - Challenge 1. Doodle Do.

Firstly I must apologise for my long absence from blogging. I haven't been able to create anything recently as my husband unfortunately suffered a stoke at the beginning of August and our lives were turned upside down for a while. Things could have been so much worse though, so we are very thankful for the wonderful treatment he received and that he is continuing to get a little better each week. Given the circumstances, I thought that it would be appropriate to make a thanksgiving card!

I am joining in with the Waltzingmouse September Pajama Party today - you can check out all the details here http://waltzingmouse.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/welcome-to-september-pajama-party.html . Challenge 1 was to create a card and add some doodling. My offering is not so much Cock-a-Doodle-Do but more Turkey-a-Doodle-Do!

I decided that I'd like to create my own Thanksgiving turkey by using the Funky Feather stamps. I also used the small pair of wings from the Fine Feathers stamp set. I chose the lovely oak and maple leaf stamps from the Peace and Plenty stamp set to stamp my background with Memento Espresso Truffle dye ink and the sentiment also came from the same stamp set.

I started with an eight inch square white card blank and added a layer of khaki coloured card which I had stamped with the two leaves. I used the fine tipped end of a Memento Espresso Truffle marker pen to add doodling - trios of small dots, veins on the maple leaves and dots around the frilly edges of the oak leaves. 

I used a grand scalloped Spellbinders die to cut a large scalloped circle from smooth white card. Then I inked up one of the long feather stamps with Desert Sand ink at the top, a stripe of Espresso Truffle ink and Toffee Crunch ink towards the bottom. The feather was stamped repeatedly around two thirds of the circle to form the turkey's tail feathers. I used each scallop as a guide for the first layer and overlapped the feathers towards the centre of the circle (see below).

The photo below shows the detail of the tail feathers, once I'd stamped more feathers in between each of the the first ones.

I used a similar technique (with the addition of Potter's Clay ink) to stamp the next layer of smaller feathers onto a separate piece of white card. This was fussy cut out, doodled with extra markings and added to the card with clear foam tape to add dimension. Then I took another piece of card and stamped the short plump feather to form the turkey's body. I added the wings (from the Fine Feathers set), doodled his legs and feet, cut it all out and added it with clear foam tape. The final layer was the plump feather body again - this time with the addition of a doodled turkey head! Details were added with Memento marker pens and I used more clear foam tape to assemble the turkey. Finally I added a few turkey footprints, some more doodles around the scalloped edging and the stamped sentiment. The photo below shows this in more detail.

My Thanksgiving Turkey was so much fun to make! Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge # 173 : No Outline Watercolour - Friend Card.

Hello again! This is my second post today as I have made another card for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday challenge - see all the details here http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2014/07/make-it-monday-173-no-outline-watercolor.html.

Please click on the photo above for an enlarged view.

My second card also uses the "Friends 'til the end" stamp set, rustic look card and second generation stamping with Smokey Shadow ink. Again I used a number of masks to give the illusion of depth. This time I used New Leaf ink to watercolour the leaves and Orange Zest, Canyon Clay and Terracotta Tile inks for the flowers. I went around the flower arrangement with a very light wash of Fine Linen ink and stamped the sentiment (also from "Friends 'til the end") with Smokey Shadow ink. The final touch was the addition of some orange and lime green twine (True Hemp crafter's cord) to the spine of my card.

I am really happy with how this turned out! Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge # 173 : No Outline Watercolour - Sympathy Card.

This week's challenge at the Papertrey Ink blog saw Heather Nichols demonstrating how to obtain a beautiful watercoloured card without the stamping showing too much. You can check out Heather's lovely card here http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2014/07/make-it-monday-173-no-outline-watercolor.html .

Please click on the photo above for a clearer view.

 

I used the lovely "Friends 'til the end" stamp set, some rustic looking cardstock and a smokey shadow PTI inkpad. This ink was still a bit too dark for this technique, so I used second generation stamping to achieve a lighter look. I made masks for several of the stamps to gain depth as I was stamping. I dabbed some inkpads onto an acrylic block and spritzed with water before using a waterbrush to watercolour the image. I chose to use Spring Moss and Ripe Avocado for the leaves and Plum Pudding and Royal Velvet for the flowers. I went around the outside of the floral arrangement with a very light wash of the Smokey Shadow ink and stamped the sentiment, from the Meadow Greens stamp set, using the same inkpad. Finally I added some purple twine (True Hemp crafters cord) around the spine of my card to complete it.

 

This was a fun technique to try and I ended up making another similar card in different colours as well - I'll be back later on to show that one.

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday challenge # 172: Rainbow Medallions.

Hello there! Sorry that I have been missing for a while, but I have been enjoying some quality time with my daughter who is home from University for the summer holidays.

This week on the Papertrey blog Dawn Mcvey has been stamping the same image with many ink colours to create rainbow medallions. You can check out her card and video here http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2014/07/make-it-monday-172-rainbow-medallions.html .

I had a rummage through all of my Papertrey Ink stamps and settled on the pretty frame stamp from the "Boutique Borders: Love" small stamp set to make my card with.

Please click on images for a larger view.

 

I selected the same eight colours of ink that Dawn had used. From top left to bottom right - Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Limeade Ice, Raspberry Fizz, New Leaf, Winter Wisteria, Blueberry Sky and Hawaiian Shores.

 

 

Using smooth white card I started to stamp the frame image in various colours, overlapping in the centre as shown.

 

I continued to stamp in this way, changing inkpads and rotating the card for each stamped image, as shown below.

This is how it looked after stamping six different coloured impressions and you can see how they all overlapped in the centre of the card.

 

 

The bottom layer complete. I then trimmed it down to fit onto a five and a half inch square black card blank.

 

 

The circular stamps that I have from PTI are all quite small and I decided that I wanted to cover a larger area in the centre of my stamped base layer, so I die cut an octagon shape from white card and repeated the different coloured stamping. This time I only inked up about half of the stamp so that I would get a crisp image all around the edges of the octagon.

Next I cut an even smaller octagon from the same white cardstock and this time just inked one end of the stamp before repeating the rainbow stamping. You can see the completed second and third stamped layers below. I cut slightly larger scalloped octagons from black card and used them to mat the two extra stamped octagons before layering them onto the card.

 

 

Finally I cut a tiny octagon from white card and used black dye ink to stamp the circular "just for you" phrase from the "Around and About Sentiments" stamp set. I also stamped the larger flower from the same set - just about managing to ink each of the eight petals with a different ink before I stamped it! This was also matted onto a small black scalloped octagon and added to the card. The final touch was the addition of a tiny black pearl to the centre of the flower and I was done!

 

I am so pleased with how this turned out and I shall certainly be on the look out for other stamps to use with this technique again. 

Hand Quilted Starry Night Notebook Cover

My daughter and many of her friends are great fans of the BBC series Dr Who. I also have fond memories of hiding behind the sofa when I was a little girl whilst my Dad watched it too (although it was broadcast in black and white then)!

 

Last year I was delighted to discover that a large selection of Dr Who themed fabrics was available from American company Spoonflower, so I ordered a couple of cotton fabrics which were specially printed to order. I have always admired the work of Vincent Van Gough so I was particularly taken with this "Starry night landscape - blue police boxes (1350 dpi)" by Bohobear (Kristi Duggins) http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/984129 . This design was based upon episode 10 of series 5 "Vincent and the Doctor" which was first broadcast in 2010. The Doctor (then played by Matt Smith) and his assistant Amy Pond travelled back in time to meet Vincent Van Gough and there were lots of references to his paintings in the plot and sets, etc. Kristi designs lots of interesting, current fabrics and you can see more of her work on her Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/bohobear . I chose the Kona cotton which is a good weight for quilting as I thought the swirly design would lend itself well to being quilted.

 

I decided to hand quilt a notebook cover, which was originally intended as a 20th birthday present for one of my daughter's friends, Lindsey. However I have never hand quilted anything this detailed or this size before and I hugely underestimated how long it would take me to do. I started the project last June and worked on it for several months. I finally completed it yesterday and gave it to Lindsey for her 21st birthday! Apologies for the long, photo heavy post - but having spent over a year making this I feel justified in showing it off at last! As usual, please click on the photos below for a larger view.

 

 

The front of the finished book cover.

 

The back cover.

 

Inside, showing the ribbon marker and extra bookmark.

 

Inside the front cover, showing the construction of the pockets.

 

Detail of the glass beads and key charm used on the ribbon marker.

 

A close up of the fabric, showing the blue stitching around each tiny Tardis and the swirls.

I used white metallic thread to quilt around the larger white stars too.

 

At this angle it's easier to see the depth of the quilted texture all over the outer cover.

 

A close up of the bias binding at the bottom and the bead detail.

 

A close up of the pen holder loop made from bias binding and trimmed with narrow ribbon.

 

Finally, I adapted this card (originally shown on my blog here http://thehardystamper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/stamped-emboss-resist-and-watercolour.html ) and gave it to Lindsey along with the notebook. I hope that she liked them both!

 

 

I really enjoyed making this notebook cover. It was challenging as I didn't have a pattern or any instructions to follow - and although it's not perfect I'm really pleased with how it turned out, especially as it was my first attempt at anything like this. I struggled with my old sewing machine when it came to making up the cover. It's over 36 years old now and was making strange clunking noises and breaking needles - but I was determined not to be beaten! If I had a better sewing machine I would like to have a go at machine quilting one day - I'm sure it would be a lot quicker!

 

Thanks for reading this far :)

 

Lynn

Cure For The Monday Blues Challenge # 21 - Placing Pizzazz

I have been feeling in a floral mood today - probably because we have some gorgeous blooms out in our back garden at the moment. I'm not sure exactly what these purple flowers are, but they have very dark centres and pretty frilly leaves and are looking particularly lovely this year.

 

 

 

 

We built an arbour last year and planted some honeysuckle at the back, which we took as a cutting from my Dad's original plant. We bought a pair of red climbing roses to train up the trellis each side - we chose these as my Dad used to love roses and David's Mum used to love red flowers, so we thought it would be a nice way of remembering them both. This year they are doing really well and have produced some stunning velvety red blooms, so I couldn't resist taking some photos to share.

 

 

 

This week Taheerah has chosen an inspiration photo which also has bright flowers, http://littlemisst-papercraft.blogspot.com/2014/06/cure-for-monday-blues-challenge-21.html , so I decided to focus on those and design a more Clean and Simple card. Those of you who know me will realise that I don't usually do CAS - I am always too tempted to keep adding layers and embellishments - so I think I've been much more restrained for once - Lol!

 

Source: Pinterest

 

 

I decided to concentrate on the three blooms in the inspiration photo above, so I selected the pretty peony stamp from JustRite's "Seeds of Summer" clear stamp set (CR - 03755) and started by stamping it onto some Friskett masking paper and cutting it out carefully to make a mask. Working directly onto a white DL card blank I then stamped a vertical row of three of the peonies using Watering Can Archival Ink and my mask. I used Tim Holtz Distress Markers in bundled sage, festive berries, mustard seed and spun sugar to scribble some ink onto an acrylic block, then I picked this up with a fine detail tipped waterbrush to watercolour the flowers. As I hadn't used watercolour paper the card warped a little, so when it was dry I found my iron and actually ironed it smooth again!

 

 

Please click on the photo for a better view.

 

 

The Thank You sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's "Many Thanks" clear stamp set and was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento Dye ink. I used foam tape to adhere the sentiment to a banner which I made by stamping the polka dot background from the "Gingham & Co" clear stamp set by Waltzingmouse Stamps with Rose Bud Memento Dye ink and trimming into a banner shape. At this point I had to sit on my hands to stop myself from adding anything else!

 

So I have probably shocked you three times today - with a CAS design, doing some ironing, and (very unusually for me) completing and blogging a card several hours before the actual challenge deadline! I think I'd better go and lie down in a darkened room!

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!

Pastel Watercolour Wash Background

I decided to make a second card using the same technique as in lesson two (see my post below this one), but this time using Pastel shades of Distress ink. I selected Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade, Bundled Sage and Shaded Lilac and used Bockingford watercolour paper again.

Please click on the above photo for a clearer view.

 

I mounted my watercoloured panel onto a pale pink card blank. The sentiment and basket of wool stamps are both from Newton's Nook "Basket of Wishes" stamp set and I used a black dye ink to stamp them onto watercolour paper. The basket and balls of wool were coloured using the same four shades of Distress Ink Markers, I fussy cut it out and mounted it to the card with foam pads. I think the finished card looks really effective and I will certainly be making more backgrounds like this one.