Simon Says Sparkle...

Hi there,

I'm going to share a card I made for the always awesome, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, which this week is 'Make it Sparkle'.

Also this week, Simon Says Stamp, are showcasing the incredible, Neat and Tangled, who I LOVE, so a total double whammy of fun for me this week!


And here is my design...

 

Sparkle...you either love it, or you hate it...and I definitely fall into the 'love it' category!  I have no problem with being a little over the top, life's to short to shy away from glitter I say!!  

I started with my DCWV 'Twinkle stack' and chose my two feature colours, I went with a delicious full on sparkle silver, and a more subdued gun-metal.  I cut my gun-metal sheet with Lawn Fawn's 'journal card' die, and heat embossed Neat and Tangled's 'My favourite'  (one of my favourite stamps ever ever ever) in silver embossing powder on the front.  I used Cosmic Shimmer's 'Gunmetal' glitter paste over a Studio Calico 'Falling Star' mask to give added sparkle and texture to the background.  I added a few gorgeous shimmery ribbons as little flags and tabs, and kept it very simple (three layers of glitter is quite enough to have going on, even for me haha) by embellishing with a few little sparkly gems.  

And there you have it.

I really hope you like it and would love to read your comments.

Jillxxx

Mama Elephant, Up and Away in watercolour...

Hi there,

Today I'm posting a card I have made wih the awesome Mama Elephhant stamps, for their amazing blog challenge, which this month is 'Watercolouring and birthdays', and all the details can be found here...


Mama Elephant August blog challenge

So, it's fair to say, "My name is Jill and I am a watercolour addict", LOL!  Serious though, I often worry, is it time I 'walk away from the watercolour'?, ...but I just can't break up with this technique.  I love it more all the time, it looks awesome, is soooo versatile, and the results you get in next to no time...well, need I go on?  So yes, I am out and proud and going nowhere!!!

And here is my card...

I made this card for my friend who lives over the other side of the world in Austrailia! 

I started by die-cutting my cloud shapes from Mama Elephant's 'Landscape Trio's Creative Cuts', for the background, and watercolour washing them using Distress Inks (Tumbled Glass and Broken China).  Although it doesn't show up too great on the pictures, I added interest, and a more 'dreamy' feel, by adding Pearl White mica powder to my Ink.  I then stamped out this incredibly cute little monkey image, and the balloons, from the 'Up and Away' set, and coloured them using my distress inks and a water brush;  again, adding interest by mixing mica powders with my colours.  I then stamped out my sentiments from the same Mama Elephant set, and also an old Hero Arts sentiment to make sure it was obvious it was for a birthday (coz the ballons weren't enough of a give-away, right?), onto vellum, and cut them into thes little cute banners.  I knew I wwanted my card to be really dimensional, so decided to cut a front layer with an aperture, using Lawn Fawn's 'journal card' die, to really give it depth.  I tucked my little banners in the side to keep everything neat and sweet and added my little fella and his balloons to the very front.  I stamped the balloon string onto acetate and cut them out to make it look like he really is just floating along with his balloons, (nothing weird about a monkey floating through the sky on a bunch of balloons surely?), and there you have it.  I have added a few 'progress pics', to give a better idea of my process.

I love Mama Elephant, and I love watercolour, so really enjoyed playing along with this challenge and really like how my card turned out.

As always, I would love to read your comments.

Thanks so much for popping by.

Jillxxx

Family love...

Hi everyone,

Just want to share a card I have made for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, which this week is 'In The Family, and you can find all the details here...

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge

Now, to me, family isn't defined by biology, it is defined by love, and here is my entry...

I decided to use some supplies I hadn't used in a loooooong time - my alcohol inks!!  So my background is a mix of Blue, Pool, Yellow and Gold alcohol inks, with a tag coloured to match in distress inks.  I then stamped both the background and tag using this lovely sentiment, which sums up my thoughts on family to perfection, using Sheena Douglas's 'Only word's, Through the rain' stamp set and over-laid them so the stamping would match up whilst giving dimension.  

I decorated the card using some vellum and an EK Success 'Doily' border punch, some twine and sequins.

I've gotta say, I really enjoyed making my background with the alcohol inks, and have been inspired to experiment a little further with them.

Thanks for stopping by, please feel free to leave a comment.

Jillxxx

Simon Says - Let's be clear! ...

Hi everyone,

Just want to share another card I made for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which this week is 'Lets be Clear'.

I decided I wanted to have a good play with my embossing pastes, and see what effects I could achieve when using them on acetate ( please see previous post for more samples).

And here's my entry...

I started with a top folding tent card, made from acetate, masked off and taped to my craft sheet.  I then used this gorgeous Memory Box 'Star' background stencil, and used a palette knife to cover in Dreamweaver white embossing paste, which is just the most amazing embossing paste, it's soft, creamy and a brilliant white, a pleasure to work with!

I cut the Lawn Fawn 'Speach bubble border die' from vellum and white heat embossed this gorgeous Mama Elephant sentiment from their awesome 'splendid' set.

I finished the card with a strip of striped silver glitter card from the DCWV glitter stack, and a few gorgeous sequins from doodlebug.  And there you have it....

Again, I was too wrapped up in creating to think about a space for a message, but when I send this out, I will add white card, die cut the same size as the speech bubble, and adhere this behind.

And here's another example of the same technique I thought I would share....

Such a fun technique with endless possibilities!

I really hope you like it.

Thanks for looking.

Jillxxx

Embossing paste on acetate...

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well.  I am enjoying a well deserved and over-due day off so thought I would share a few cards I made for the Simon Say Stamp Wednesday challenge which this week is 'Let's be clear'.

Now I'm pretty sure I am not alone in being slightly obsessed with embossing paste at the moment, so thought I would have a play around and see what the effects are like when using on acetate.

And here's my result...

I started by creating my card blank from acetate and scored to create a top folding card.  I then taped my front to my craft mat and covered small polka dot mask in Cosmic Shimmer silver glitter embossing paste.  I LOVE this stuff, it comes in some incredible colours and is so easy to work with.  I then die cut a circle from vellum, (well, why not go the whole hog and go clear all the way), and heat embossed this gorgeous sentiment from Mama Elephant's 'Splendid' set - one of my all time favourite sets!  I then used my EK success circle scissor to create this thin silver circle frame to bring it all together and adhered to the card using small amounts of clear glue gel behind the frame.

I didn't have time, but when I send this card out, I will die cut a circle the same size as the vellum to pop on the back of the card for my message to go on.

I was really happy with the effect and instantly had to try the same thing with some of my other favourite masks (see other posts).  So another reason to love embossing paste!  These fellas just keep giving ey?

Well, I hope you like it, as always, I would love to read your comments.

See you next time.

Jillxxx

Stamping with water...

Hi everyone,

Here's another a card I made to enter into the awesome Hero Arts 'One layer Challenge' where the challenge is, yup, you guessed it, to use only one layer.

And here it is...

I started with a piece of watercolour card, scored in the middle to create a top folding tent card.  I covered my whole card front in distress inks: Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade, and Spiced Marmalade, making sure I put a lot of ink down.  I then spritzed my Hero Arts 'Starburst' background stamp with water, and stamped this onto my cardstock;  so instead of stamping with, and adding more, ink, I removed some, creating this awesome 'bleach' look and leaving me with a gorgeous two tone effect.  I then created some inky 'splatters' using Picked Raspberry distress ink and a water brush.  My 'Make a Wish' sentiment is from Hero Arts 'It's your day' set and I stamped it right in the centre of the sunburst design, for maximum effect, in Ranger's 'black sparkle' embossing powder..  I then added a few black enamel dots and there you have it.

I have to admit, I love how this card turned out and I hope you do too.  As always, please feel free to comment.

See you next time.

jillxxx   

Be a hero...

Hi everyone,

Today I'm sharing a few cards I made to enter into the 'One Layer Challenge', going on over at the Hero Arts Blog,

I literally LOVE Hero Arts so was the perfect excuse to get all my stamps and inks out and have a good play.  The clue is in the title, it's a 'one layer' challenge, 'use one piece of cardstock as your card base, with no additional paper layers'.

And here's my first effort...

My card base is made from watercolour paper and I started by heat embossing the 'flower dot background' onto it in clear embossing powder.  I then masked off my butterfly and coloured it using Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky distress ink and added some extra colour and detail to it using Dusty Concord and Mustard Seed distress ink as watercolour paint.  I then painted the whole of the background using two different shades of yellow/orange Peerless watercolour paint.  Once all the paint was dried, I ironed the embossing powder off to leave a more 'batik' effect. The sentiment is from the 'Just a note' set as I thought it matched the design perfect, and is heat embossed in Liquid Platinum.  I added a few sequins to embellish and there you have it.

I really hope you like it and please feel free to comment.

jillxxx

Do more of the things you love...

Hi everyone,

A quick post to share another card I have made for Neat and tangled 'Little tangles' challenge, which this week, is 'watercolour'.  I love Neat and tangled stamps, and I love watercolour, so it's no surprise that I''m jumping all over this one haha.

And here's what I came up with...

I made a mask by die-cutting the Lil -Inker 'stitched butterfly' from an Inkadinkado masking sheet, and used both the positive and negative parts to create this effect.  I masked off the background/surround to start with and pulled my card through some misted distress inks to colour the butterflies (I think it was mustard seed, peacock feathers, spiced marmalade, and picked raspberry).  Once dried, i then masked off the butterflies so i could watercolour the background/surround, again using distress inks as my watercolour medium (picked raspberry and mustard seed).

I then stamped and heat embossed the delightful 'Dream' stamp in 'liquid platinum' embossing powder and embellished with some ribbon banners, a wee little ribbon 'jean tag', and some little silver hearts which I covered in glossy accents.

I then matted onto black card, and foam mounted the whole thing onto some pool coloured glitter card, just for a hint of sparkle.

I am really happy with how this turned out, I love the contrast between the two separate watercolour washes, and think it almost looks like tie-die.

I hope you like it, please feel free to leave a comment

jill xxx

Simon says love your friends :)

Hi everyone,

A quick post to share a card I made for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, which this week is 'You gotta have friends', a lovely idea for a challenge to create something for a friend.

And here's what I came up with...

This is actually an acetate card that I planned on being clear, but I made a last minute change and decided to add that lovely pool glitter card on the back - I'll post pics of the card as I planned it also, and see which you prefer.

The stamp set I used is Avery Elle's 'Red & Goldie', which I LOVE!!!!  It is just so cute. I coloured my image using distress inks as watercolours and trimmed with a little black card and some yellow polka dot paper from the amazing Lawn Fawn 'Lets polka' pad.  

I finished the card with some cream twine and a small wood veneer heart which i coloured and clear heat embossed.

Here is the card before I added the pool glitter card, I'm still undecided which one I prefer as I do love an acatate card, but I do really like the contrast between the pool and the yellow.  Hmmm, what do you think?

I hope you like it, please feel free to leave a comment.

jill xxx