A wild Ride...

Hi everybody,

Jill here.  I hope you're all well.

I've got some of the newest release from WPlus9 for you today, and boy oh boy what a killer release it was!

I used the 'Going Places' stamp and matching die sets to make my card.  I'm not sure if it shows well on the pictures, but I added a sneaky little shaker behind the hot air balloon!  

I started by stamping out my elements, and watercolouring them using Distress Ink.  I washed over my background at the same time, to create a pretty sky of pinks and blues.  I then took the matching die set, and cut out my pieces, cutting the balloon from my background at the same time.  I only needed to cut the balloon to create my little shaker window, so inlaid the rest back in.  I covered my window in acetate, filled with some beautiful Neat and Tangled sequins, and sealed up.  I cut a couple of layers of clouds using Mama Elephant's 'Landscape Trio die', one layer from white card, and one layer from vellum.  I then put all my pieces together and built up my scene.  I stamped my sentiment onto vellum and adhered using 'Stick-it' (I can't stop sticking vellum any, and every, where now I know 'Stick-it' is invisible!).  I matted onto another layer of vellum, and another piece of card I had washed with Distress Ink, then onto a soft grey card base.  I embellished with a couple of black enamel hearts, and there you have it.

I hope you like it and would love to read what you think of the newest Wplus9 release.

Everything I used is linked below, so be sure to go and be blown away by how awesome the new sets are!

See you next week.

Jillx

Mini Mice Shakers...

*To avoid any confusion...this is one of my posts for the amazing, Make The Day Special Blog...I just like to share here too*

Hi everybody,

Hope you're well.

I've got some bright and bold watercoloured shakers to share with you today...

Which I brought, slightly, back down to earth with the help of some vellum.

And, just for a change, (she jokes), I used all Mama Elephant goodies...I can't help it, I just look at them and I need to play with them!

I started by die cutting three circles from my panel.  I then took the uber cute little mice from the 'Tandem Rides' set, and stamped them out on my leftover circles.  I coloured them using the Zig Clean Colour Pens with water - such vibrant colours!  

I then used the 'Zenith Borders' set;  repeatedly stamping out one of the borders and clear heat embossing, to create my background, ready for some smooshing and washing across with various Distress Inks, (Mermaid Lagoon, Mustard Seed, and Picked Raspberry).  Now I love me some bright and bold colour - but my background ended up resembling a ker-azy tie-dye t-shirt..a bit much, even for me, so I muted it slightly by covering in vellum.

I adhered some acetate behind my windows, surrounded in shaker tape, added all the delicious sequins and glitters I wanted to use, and covered the back with a piece of acetate - it's such an easier way of sealing everything in so you can then line your background up without needing an extra 3 hands!  I cut the 'Friends' die a few times and covered the front in Black Sparkle embossing powder.  I then stamped out the 'Happy Birthday' from the 'Woodland Gifts' set, (love, love, love this font!), and, again, heat embossed in Black Sparkle.  I added the little speech bubble from the 'Tandem Extras' set for a bit of extra fun and lined up my little critters along the back, adhering them to a piece of card, and then putting the whole thing together.  There was quite a lot going on already (understatement of the year!), so I skipped on embellishments!

Oh, I also added a little trim of die cut grass behind each little window - but it kind of got swallowed up by all the mayhem haha. 

As always, everything is linked below, so go check out the cuteness.

See you next week where, I promise, I'll 'step away from the Mama Elpehant'...maybe ;)

Jillx

Friends Furrrrever...

*To avoid any confusion...this is one of my posts for the amazing, Make The Day Special Blog...I just like to share here too*

Hi everybody,

I got the awesome 'Meowwwww' set from Neat and Tangled, and have been dying to do something with it.  It's cute, but in a different way to most my sets.  It's funny, (I mean seriously - the deadpan look on that cat's face), original, and, dare I say it...it's down right cool!

It's one of my best friend's birthdays this month, so I made this card for her.  She's cat nutty, and a little on the alternative side of life, so thought I'd go a little 'out there', and this set was just perfect!

I started by stamping out my kitty, his little toy, and my sentiment, in Black Versafine ink, and clear heat embossed.  I always heat emboss when I want  to water colour my images as I like the way it helps your colours pool up at the edges.  I then covered all my images with masking fluid to protect them whilst I got messy with some ink splats!  I used Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink mixed with water, and flicked and sploshed the colour all over my panel.  Once dry, I rubbed away the masking fluid, and coloured everything using more Distress Ink, adding a little glitter to the love heart.  To make them stand out more, I covered all my images in Glossy Accents ... now had I have known I was going to do this, I could have skipped the whole 'masking fluid' step as the Glossy Accents will mask your image on it's own, but hey ho, it's all part of the fun, right?  I added a little bit of ribbon, a teeny twine bow, and a couple of red enamel dots to jazz things up a little.  I then added my panel to a black Avery Elle notecard, and went with a 'jaunty angle' just for kicks :)

And there you have it.  Something a bit more cool than cute, and messy than manicured!  I really hope you like it.

See you next week.

Jillxxx

Pastel water colour...

Hi there,

So, it's no secret I am watercolour obsessed, and I've had an idea in my head for a while that I've been dying to try out.  I really wanted to achieve something almost pastel like, but in water colour.  As luck would have it, the awesome Mama Elephant's current Flickr challenge is...watercolour!  So perfect time to try and put the picture in my head, onto paper.

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

I stamped, and cut out, all these cutie pie smiley balloons from the Tandem Extra set.  I used Mustard seed, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick, and Peacock Feathers, mixed with a small amount of Picket Fence Distress Stain to mellow it out and make it pastel.  I used the same paints to create a watercolour wash across my background.  I die cut some clouds in white card and vellum, to add to the dreamy feel of the pastel.  I also die cut the Mama Elephant 'Friend' die, several times, and glued together to create a substantial stand out sentiment.  I coloured the top layer in the pink pastel, and clear heat embossed in a sparkle powder. 

... And that's where the fun ended and the hour long frustration began haha.  I knew I wanted the balloons to be holding up the 'friend' die in the pretty sky, and I wanted them to be holding it up by actual threads...and boy oh boy was that a fiddly nightmare to get right!  Never mind,  I love how it looks so think it was worth it, but my advice if anyone wanted to try it...fake it!  glue your string on, and fake the knots!  So once everything was in place, and looking all pretty, I finished off my sentiment, using the 'Friend Indeed' set, give my balloons a quick coat of Glossy Accents, and added a scattering of beautiful sequins to embellish..  And there you have it.

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

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jillxxx

Emboss like a boss!

Hi there,

It's Jill here again, and I'm thrilled to be sharing another card with you for the brilliant Lawnscaping Challenge Blog.  This time round, it's all about my very very most favourite technique ever...Embossing!!!

And to make things even more exciting, the current challenge is sponsored by none other than the amazing Lawn Fawn themselves...so get your emboss on!

Here's where it took me...

I would say I use embossing, of some description, on pretty much every card I make.  It's such a versatile and fun technique.

My favourite technique is mixing heat embossing up with a little water colour and creating backgrounds.  I love the way all the colours pool up, in and around, the resisted areas.  It just looks so cool and beautiful, and even better - it's different every time!  Uniqueness guaranteed!  I used Lawn Fawn's 'Blissful Botanicals' with Distress Inks, (Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, & Peacock Feathers), to create my background.  I then cut Lawn Fawn's 'Scripty Thanks' die, a handful of times, from a piece of card I had already clear heat embossed with a spotty background stamp.  I water colour washed all my die cuts, again in Distress Ink, (Spiced Marmalade & Mustard Seed), and glued together to make a stand out sentiment.  I then stamped out my little bees, from Lawn Fawn's 'Hello Sunshine', on card and vellum, clear heat embossed, and painted them up in, yup, you guessed it, Distress Ink - same as my sentiment.  I then cut off their little wings (ouch! ...don't worry...they survived!), and added vellum ones instead to make them soooo much cuter!  I then used Lawn Fawns 'Smitty's ABC' to stamp out my 'honey' onto vellum and, of course, heat embossed.  I then constructed my card, adding the bees with foam tape for some added dimension.  I embellished with a scattering of clear sequins for a little sparkle, and there you have it.

I hope you like it and would love to read your comments on what you think, and what your favourite embossing techniques are!

I would just like to thank you all for taking the time to read my post, I have enjoyed guesting with Lawscaping soooo much.  Thank you all very much for your time!

Good luck with the challenge!

Hopefully see you again.

Jillxxx

Hey there, teacher...

Hi there,

It's Jill here, and I am delighted to be sharing a card I have made for the current Lawnscaping challenge, where this time round, the theme is, 'Back to School'.

This challenge is sponsored by the delightul Ellen Hutson, and you gotta be in it to win it, so get your supplies at the ready!

Here's what I came up with...

I've got a lot of friends who are teachers, so thought it would be a sweet idea to do a kind of 'Just Becasue...' card to brighten up your teachers day.  I mean, boy, do those guys put some long hours in?!

I created my blackboard by simply dusting black card with my anti-static bag!  I used Quinn's lower case dies to cut the 'teacher', and built up my sentiment using stamps from Flirty Frames, and Let's Play.  My wee little cutie pie worm is from 'Bugs and Kisses', and my little appple, is actually, well, not an apple, It's a teeny heart which I coloured and added a leaf too to transform into an appple! 

I adhered some vellum behind my spaces, surrounded in shaker tape, and filled the teeny compartments with all sorts of yumminess, like sequins, tinsel, and glitter, to create a lovely little shaker.

I matted onto some gorgeous Lawn Fawn 'Let's Polka Mon Amie' patterned paper, and there you have it.

I can't wait to see all your designs, so be sure to hit the link and play along!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Jillx