Bejewelled Butterflies...

Hi everybody,

Hope you are all well.

I've got some simple water colouring I'd like to share with you today...

Now, if I had to, (like really really really had to), choose a favourite technique, I think I would have to choose watercolour, (I'm so sorry inks, pens, papers, powders - you are all beautiful and I love you all very much!).  I just love the simplicity, the naivety, and how calming and enjoyable it is to do.  You don't have to be a master artist, just have fun and enjoy the process.  

I chose to use the stunning 'Bejeweled' set from Altenew for my card.  The loose, cool, stylised design screams out watercolour, and inspired me to keep it clean and fresh by using only a couple of colours.  I used Spectrum Aqua pens to paint my beautiful butterflies, but there's so many options when it comes to watercolour, we're spoilt for choice! I stamped both butterflies off the page, in Versamark Ink, heat embossed in white powder, and added my colour.  My sentiment is from the same 'Bejeweled' set, and is stamped out in the same two colours I used on my butterflies, mixed on the stamp, and spritzed with water to carry the laid-back theme through.  

I hope this has made you wanna go get your paints out - go on...you deserve a little 'you time' :)

As always, everything I used is linked below, so click over to the store and check out all the gorgeous Altenew designs!

See you next week.

Jillx

A dream come true...

Hi everybody,

Well, well, well ... I have got the best news ever to share (well, for me!) - I have been asked to join the Design Team over at my favourite place on The Internet....Make the Day Special!  I can't believe it, I am such a megafan of their blog, and their shop - oh my oh my - I think I own half of it haha.  Pretty much my full stamp collection is from there - Tara who runs it (amazingly well, and all on her own I might add!), has THE best taste, and the prices are unreal amazing.  Yes, I'm gushing, but i really really love it!!!  So I obviously wanted to share my very first post here as well - and here it is :)
...

Jill here.  I can't tell you how pleased I am to be part of this amazing and talented team, it really is a dream come true.  I only hope I do you guys, and all the awesome products we all love, justice!

So, without further ado,  here's a sneak peek at my first offering...

Deciding what to do for my first post was such a tough decision!  I came to the conclusion that the best way to introduce myself was to stick to a couple of my, (and hopefully your) favourite things - Mama Elephant and watercolouring!

I used Mama Elephant's 'In My Heart' set, Lawn Fawn's 'Grassy Border', and 'Spring Showers' dies and a whole lot of watercolour, to create my bright Springtime scene.  

I die cut my back panel into several pieces, giving each piece a watercolour wash using Distress Inks, and pieced it back together so it remained in one layer.  My little cutie patooties from the 'In My Heart' set, are watercoloured, again using Distress Inks, fussy cut, and added to the front of my card using foam adhesive to really make them 'pop' off the page.  I stamped out my sentiment direct onto my card, and heat embossed using a Black Sparkle powder.  I finished  by embellishing with a couple of bright yellow enamel hearts to give an extra splash of colour, and there you have it.  The sun isn't shining up here in the North of England, so I thought I'd make it shine on my card!

I really hope you like it, and all the products I used are listed below, so go and give them a closer look!

See you all next week.

Jill

                  

*I should have published this post on 1st May...oopsy*

Delightful Distress...

Hi there,

A quick post before I have to go to work (booooo), to share a card I have made to enter into the current challenge going on over at the, always awesome, Lawnscaping Challenge blog.  Please excuse me as I brag for a moment...but I LOVE this blog, and was beyond thrilled to discover I won the last challenge...how exciting?!  So in any case, back to the task at hand, sorry, I just couldn't help but share my awesome news :)

Now, this time round, the theme is 'Distress Addicts'.  And here's my card...

I am out and proud...My name is Jill and I am a Distress Ink addict.  Like out of control, head over heels, in love, couldn't live without them, kind of addict.  So Lawn Fawn, plus Distress...I was obviously only ever going one direction!

I started by stamping out the heart border for, 'Belinda's Borders', several times to create a background, and heat embossing in clear powder.  I then smooshed and spritzed Abandoned Coral (February's release...and oh my what a release!), Worn Lipstick, and Tea Dye Distress Inks, on my craft sheet, pulled my card through the ink, and put aside to dry.  I then stamped out these gorgeous little bunnies, from the 'Snow Day' set, and painted them up using, yup, you guessed it, Distress Inks.  I added a wee little bow from the 'Monster Mash' set to my little girl bunny.  I also stamped out my speech bubbles from the 'Chit Chat' set, and added the 'U' to an empty bubble to complete my loved up sentiment, (I plan on giving this card to my amazing boyfriend as we are about to celebrate our 10th year together).  I coloured my speech bubbles using the gold watercolour form the Kuretake Gansai Tambi set, and used my finger to smudge some of the colour away to add to the 'distress' look.  I stamped out  the heart, also from the 'Snow Day' set, heat embossed in Platinum Sparkle, and cut out.  I also heat embossed some tiny hearts confetti at the same time to use as embellishments.  I used a couple of border punches on vellum, some ribbon, and some raw twine to ground my scene, and adhered all my bits in place using foam adhesive.  I added my little hearts to go all out on my loved up setting, and mounted onto a kraft card blank.  And there you have it.  I like how this card came together, and love the way my background came out.  I hope you do too.

I'd love to know what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Hopefully see you soon.

Jillxxx

Make The Day Colourful...

Hi there,

I'd love to share a card I have made for this month's challenge going on at the awesome, Make The Day Special Challenge blog, which this time round, is a colour challenge.  Pick your palette, and go for it...

I chose those beautiful chilled out tones of the first option, and here's my card...

I used Mama Elephant's, 'Zenith Borders', stamp set to create my background.  I stamped out one of my borders, a couple of times, in Versamark, and heat embossed it clear powder.  I used Distress Inks, in Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Squeezed Lemonade, and Dusty Concord mixed with a little Victorian Velvet, to wash all over the top of my stamped borders.  Once everything was dry, I ironed the embossing powder off to create this kind of flat, batik effect.  I then used Mama Elephant's, 'Happy' die to cut right out the centre.  I also cut this die a few other times, on kraft card stock, and, using the double sided adhesive Stick-it, stacked the dies on top of each other, adding the coloured piece to the top, and inlaying the whole thing back into my panel for a really dimensional look.  I finished my sentiment by stamping out 'vibes' from Mama Elephant's 'Happy Everything' set, which is just A-MAY-ZING, a sentiment for any occasion. and just sooo cool looking, I LOVE it!!!  I finished off by embellishing with a few co-ordinating sequins and mounted the whole thing onto a kraft card base...and there you have it.

I'm really happy with how this card came out, which is a lot more down to Mama Elephant and there awesome products than me haha, but hey ho.

I'd love to know what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Hopefully see you next time.

Jillxxx