SDC 35: Red, yellow and orange

Here is my entry for the latest Stampotique Designers Challenge on the theme of red, yellow and orange. We can only use Stampotique stamps for this one, so I have used two designed by Jo Capper-Sandon. Jasmin was stamped using Memento black ink and coloured with Copics. The background was made using torn paper masks and a variety of Distress Inks in the three colours.

Embossing Resist

I've been playing around with stamping and clear embossing on patterned papers over the weekend and here are some examples I made.

On the first two cards I stamped the images on the paper with Versamark ink and embossed with clear ep. Dye inks were then sponged over. The third card was done in the same way but using an old bookpage.

SDC: Flower Power

Flower power is the latest theme on the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog. I decided to go for something bright and cheerful in the hope our weather might change! It's been so cool, grey and rainy for the past few weeks and I'm still waiting for summer to arrive. We could use any stamps this time but I have used two by Stampotique, as well as some old book pages at the base of the card and for the punched flowers which have flowersoft in the middle.

Christmas in July!

As I mentioned recently, I am already in the throes of making Christmas cards as examples for my Autumn term card making courses. One of the techniques I'm planning for the more advanced group is creating backgrounds using gesso, and here are a couple of cards I've just made. On the first card I've made a layered background - sponging and blending various blue dye inks onto the card and then stamping over in dark blue. This was then painted with a thin layer of gesso and when dry I have stamped again around the edges. The large snowflake was stamped and clear embossed onto white card and inks sponged over. All stamps are from Stampin' Up's Serene Snowflakes set. I used a Tim Holtz die to cut the letters for 'snoel'. I can't claim that this was my own idea... I saw a card by Pete Hughes (of Sizzix fame) in a magazine a year or two ago using die cut snowflakes and the word snoel which really made me smile. I thought it was such a good idea that I've used it several times since.

The second card has a background of 'blended paper' - torn strips of printed and stamped papers that have been glued onto card and then covered with a layer of gesso. I didn't add any colour this time as I wanted a simple white, black and silver scheme. The 'Peace' stamp is by Inkadinkado.

Stampotique Designers Challenge: scraps

The latest Stampotique Designers Challenge is to use as many scraps as possible - so here is my entry. The background has been made using the 'Blended Paper' technique in which I glued torn strips of left over printed and stamped papers to a piece of card and then covered with a layer of gesso. I have added colour using distress inks, as well as bit of spattering. I stamped 'Sheer' three times on a piece of paper that had been used as protection under a variety of stamping and inking activities and made the 'skirts' using a short piece of ribbon. The flower was made using old book pages. I had a lot of fun making this card and I certainly used up lots of scraps that were just lying in a heap on my table!

Tattered Floral

I recently made this flower using layers of muslin that I cut using the TH Tattered Florals die and then sprayed with Glimmer Mists. The background for the card came about by one of those happy accidents that happen now and again - I was doing some stamping using StayzOn white ink, some of which got stamped onto the paper underneath my card. A little later I was using the same piece of scrap paper under some card I was applying ink to and I noticed that the StayzOn was acting as a 'resist'. I really liked the soft and muted result it made, so thought I'd try it out to create a background. I have left the card deliberately simple, just adding a strip of TH tissue tape, and a short quote.

Crocheted flower

Crocheted flowers seem to be very popular at the moment so I thought I'd have a go at making one myself. I used to do a lot of crocheting a long time ago... it must be at least 30 years ago, but I haven't done any since. I knew I'd seen the instructions for making the flower in one of my card making magazines some months past, so I had to search through my huge pile of mags to find it! I made two flowers which I layered together and then used gathered ribbon behind and have used it on this card. I was quite pleased with the result although the darker pink flower is a little bit wonky - this is due to uneven tension I think. Oh well, I'll just have to make lots more to get the practice.