Behind the mask...

Hi everybody,

I'd like to share  a card I have made for the current  challenge going on over at A Blog Named Hero, which this time round is 'Masking'. 

 

 

I will also link up to, the always awesome, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge blog, where over there this week, 'Anything Goes'!

And here's my card...

I used Hero Arts 'Dotted Grid' background stamp, Lawn Fawn's, 'Scripty Hugs' die, a whole lotta Distress Ink, and some rubber cement to make my card.  I started by inking up my Dotted Grid stamp in Versmark and clear heat embossing, creating a resist to act as a mask.  I then watercolour washed my piece using Distress Inks in Cracked Pistachio (The perfect addition to the Distress family...in love!) , Peacock Feathers, and Worn Lipstick.  I then die cut my 'Hugs' sentiment in masking paper.  I wanted to watercolour around my die cut, but find when I use masking paper alone, especially when using a lot of water, it seeps under and I don't end up with a very good image, so instead, I used the negative space from my die-cut, and sponged rubber cement through it (a technique Jennifer Mcguire recently shared using a plastic mask), left to dry, and then went to town with my Distress Inks as watercolours again.  When all my pieces were dry, I ironed off the clear embossing powder to leave a flat piece, almost batik like, and rubbed away my rubber cement.  I used Avery Elle's Custom Panels die to cut my top piece for some added interest, and edged with some card I had heat embossed in Silver Sparkle.  I also embossed a few little hearts in the same powder and used these to embellish.  And there you have it.  The rubber cement worked great with all that water swooshing all over it, although I think a thicker coat would work even better.

I made another card in the exact same way, but in reverse, to get most use out of all my pieces, you can see the other card blow.

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

See you next time.

Jillxxx

It's the little things...

Hi everybody,

I'd like to share a card I have made for this weeks challenge over at CASology.  It  is the first time I am linking up there, despite the fact I stalk it all the time LOL.  There is such an incredible amount of talent over there, so thought I would give it a go and hope some of their awesomeness rubs off on me :)

I will also link up to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge, where this week, 'Anything goes'! 

  

So this week's 'cue word' on the Casology blog, is 'mini', and here's my card...

I decided I wanted to make a card that featured mini shakers.  I love a shaker card, and they're all the rage at the minute, so why not make them 'mini'?  I used Mama Elephant's 'Shooting Star' stamp and matching die set.  I cut the star three times from the front of my card, and stamped the teeny little star from the stamp set, three separate times onto acetate, to put behind my windows.  I stamped out my sentiment in black Archival and clear heat embossed.  I adhered my cute star fellas in place, and filled my teeny tiny shakers with tiny little micro beads, (I think they're meant for nail art but, hey, they worked a treat!), and glitter, in three different colour ways.  I adhered my panel to a white card blank, and there you have it.  

Cute and clean, I hope you agree, and I really hope you like it.

See you next time,

Jillxxx

Creating gives you wings...

Hi everybody,

I'd like to share a card I have made for this weeks challenge going on over at Less Is More, where this week, the theme is, Wings!

And here's my card...

I wanted to do something a little different to the obvious birds & butterflies, so I used this gorgeous little winged cherub from Mama Elephant's 'Love from above' set for my image and sentiment.  I wanted my image to shimmer, so coloured it using my Luminarte Twinkling H2o's - which I haven't used in far (!!!) too long.  I added some glitter to my cloud, some paint splats to my background, and embellished with some sequins to finish off, and there you have it.  Some 'Love from above' to let that special person know you care!

I hope you like it.

See you next time,

Jillxxx

Happy 100th Lawnscaping...

 Hi everybody,

So, Lawnscaping are celebrating their birthday of 100 challenges!  Woop woop.  Awesome team, awesome challenge, awesome blog...I love playing along over there.

So, obviously, it only makes sense to make them a birthday card!  So congratulations guys, Happy Birthday, and here's my card...

I literally could not wait to ink up these new sets from Lawn Fawn the second they landed at my front door.  My little guys are from 'Let's Play', and my frame is from 'Flirty Frames'.  I stamped my frame out in Memento and made another copy to use as a mask.  I then masked the frame off and stamped these ridiculously cute little fellas inside, and coloured using alcohol markers.  I cut a piece of card using Lawn Fawn journalling card die, and decorated it using the zigzag border form 'Belinda's borders' in various Hero Arts inks.  I stamped out my number balloons using Mama Elephant's 'Balloon Et Cetera' set, again, in Hero Arts inks and cut them out.  I matted on some Lawn Fawn patterned paper and stamped out the 'you make life fun' sentiment - coz that's what Lawnscaping do - they make life fun!  I edged my paper with the stitched border stamp, again from 'Belinda's borders', and built up my card using foam adhesive on the number balloons and my frame to make them stand out, and finished by tieing on some black strings for the balloons.

And there you have it, a cute and simple card to wish the team massive love and congratulations!

*I made a similar card at the same time, but this time I used various brown Distress Inks to create a sepia effect, like an old yellowed photo, (you get it...because they're 100?...arf arf), with the 'Say Cheese' die instead of the 'Flirty Frame' and you can find that card below* 

Thanks for stopping by, see you next time,

Jillxxx

Fierce and fun...

Hi everybody,

It's Jill here with my second, and last, guest spot, so I thought I'd do something fun and a little bit quirky.

I was going to use my new stamps from Mama Elephant's recent CHA release (Oh my word, the 'Three Amigo's' though...), but obviously you all fell for them as quick as I did as they sold out in no time!  So I thought I'd re-visit some of my all time favourites instead.

And here's my card...

   

My little lioness is from Mama Elephant's 'Cosmic Stars', and my sentiment is from Mama Elephants 'Everyday Greetings', which has to be one of my all time favourite stamp sets, just so many great sentiments and inspiring words, done in such a cool style.  Now this card took a whole lotta masking, but I like how it turned out so was worth the patience (which is not my forte!).  I started by stamping out my lion several times onto masking paper and cutting out. I then made my background up by stamping the same little fella over and over, masking as I went.  I also stamped the same image out on a separate piece of card and coloured using alcohol markers, adding a little bow, to turn my 'he' into a 'she' (stamping can make life so much easier can't it?).  I stamped out my sentiment onto vellum, heat embossed in a Black Sparkle powder, and cut into a wee banner.  I embellished with some Lawn Fawn twine, and built up my layers using Mama Elephant's 'Index Card' dies and some Lawn Fawn patterned papers.  I used foam tape to adhere my lioness over one of the previously stamped images, which I had also coloured, to really help her 'pop'.  This card is about not being afraid to stand out from the crowd, and I really hope you like it.  I can't tell you how thrilled I've been to step in as a guest, and thank you so much for taking your time out to read my post, it means the world!

Love always,

Jillxxx

Dreaming is believing...

Hi everybody,

Well what can I say, how very very exciting...this is my first ever post as a 'guest designer' for the, always awesome, Make The Day Special blog!  I can't tell you how much I love MTDS, it's like my favourite place on the internet haha, so what an absolute honour!  And I am beyond thrilled to share my card with you, and here it is...

I have used WPlus9's 'Dream Believer' stamp set, and 'Dreamcatcher' die (which are both currently in stock in the store...just click on the links) with a whole lotta Distress Ink as watercolour to create my card.  I love the recent trend with dreamcatchers, there's something just so cool and gentle about them, and that's where I took my inspiration from, to create a kind of floaty, chilled out vibe...if you know what I mean?!  So I cut all the elements from my die out of watercolour card and washed the various bits in different Distress Inks (Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, and Mustard Seed), also partly washing my background panel through the same inks at the same time.  I inked my 'Dream Believer' stamp up, again with the same inks, and misted with water so that it spread all over the background. Once dry, I stamped the same stamp again, right over the top, in Versmark, and heat embossed in a Silver Sparkle powder.  I tried to keep some dimension to my dreamcathcher die when building it up to add to the floaty feel.  I embellished with a few teeny tiny stars that are actually intended for nail art but hey ho, if it works it works, right? And that was pretty much that!  

I really really reeeeally hope you like it, and hope to see you again :)

Thanks so much for looking, and I wish you all a dreamy day!

Jillxxx 

Masked love in one layer...

Hi everybody,

I'd like to share a card I have made for a couple of fun challenges going on at the moment.

I'm going to play along with this week's challenge over at 'Less Is More', which this week is 'One Layer Cards', and the theme is 'Love'.  Ahhhh, love sweet love, you can never make too many cards telling that special person you love them!

And also this months challenge going on over at 'I heart Avery Elle', which this month is 'Masking'.  I love the effects you can get from masking, so was really looking forward to getting stuck in.

And here's my card...

 

I used Avery Elle's 'Oh Happy Day' stamp set to create my card.  

I started by die cutting a heart shape to use as a stencil, placing the heart in the middle of my card, and painting around it with a thin layer of masking fluid - I knew I wanted to add A LOT of water, so just using masking paper wouldn't be enough as my colour would bleed.  Masking fluid is awesome stuff, and can come in handy so often.  You can also use it for loads of fun techniques - so if you haven't tried it yet - do it!  You won't regret it!  I then stamped out my 'Love you' sentiment diagonally across the heart, and heat embossed it with clear powder.  I chose my colour palette from Distress Inks, using Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserve, and Fired Brick.  I 'smooshed' them on my craft sheet and gave them a good spritz of water, took my brush, and painted my heart.  I often wonder if I'll ever get bored of watercolour, but I just don't think it's possible!  It's so easy, yet so effective, and different every time.  Once my heart was dry, I carefully removed the masking fluid (you just rub it away with your finger or an adhesive remover), and, using all the same colours, added some ink splats for a little added interest.  I then stamped out the arrow, masking off part of it as I inked it up, to just leave me the tip and tail, and stamped it out, lining it up with my sentiment to give the impression the arrow is shooting through the heart. I also stamped out the sweet little bird silhouettes to sit on top of my heart.  I finished my card by adding a spritz of 'shine' spray over my heart, and ironing off my clear embossing powder to give a truly flat one layer card.

I'm pretty pleased with how this card came out and love the vibrancy of the Distress colours in the heart.

I'd love to hear what you think so please leave a comment!

Untill next time...

Jillxxx

I thank my lucky stars...

Hi everybody,

A quick post to share a card I have made for this weeks challenge going on over at the lovely, 'Less is More' challenge blog, where this week, it's all about 'Pink & Grey'.

And here's my card ...

Now my laptop is playing up tonight and I'm posting this via my phone, so first and foremast - I'm sorry if it's a little all over! 

I started with a piece of watercolour card, and stamped out my sentiment, which is from WPlus9's, 'Lucky Stars' set, using Hero Arts 'Charcoal' shadow ink, and adding a few extra stars etc from the same set, to frame my words.  I then went back over my stamping in Versamark Ink and clear embossing powder to 'seal' it.  I then water colour washed over my heat embossed stamping, using Pickled Raspberry & Worn Lipstick Distress ink, and, whilst still wet, added some extra star detail using a mask and the same inks.  Once this was dry, I went back over my little stars using the same mask and a glitter paste from Cosmic Shimmer.  I used some smoky grey American Crafts cardstock as my card base, and there you have it.

I really hope you like it, and as always, would love to read your comments!

See you soon.

jillxxx

Clean, simple, and shaken...

Hi there,

I'd like to share a card I have made to enter into a few fun challenges - The current challenge over at Lawnscaping Challenge Blog, which this time round is, 'Clean and Simple';  and, a new challenge to me, Virginia's View Challenge Blog, and over that'a way, they 're celebrating all things 'Shaker Card'. I will also link up to this week's challenge over at Simply Less is More, where this weeks challenge is 'Little Ones', which I think fits perfect with the wee elements making up my card.

     

And here's my card...

So, I started with a panel of Neenah 'Desert Storm' cardstock, and stamped out my little scene with these, off the scale cute, little birds on a line, from Lawn Fawn's 'Oh Happy' Day' set.  I also stamped my birds onto some Lawn Fawn patterned paper, and paper pieced, in a couple of bright colours, over my stamping.  I die cut my balloon using Paper Smooches 'balloon die, to create my 'shaker' element.  I stamped out my sentiment onto some acetate, and heat embossed in 'Black Sparkle' embossing powder.  I then lined up my stamped piece of acetate, and adhered it in place behind my balloon.  I filled my balloon with a selection of different coloured Doodlebug sequins to tie in with the colours of my my little birds, and using shaker tape, adhered my panel to my card base. 

And there you have it. Clean and simple, but cute and playful, I hope you agree.  As always, I would love to read your comments, so please feel free to leave them :)

Untile next time...

Jillxxx