Intense watercolour wash with a silver emboss overlay.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I've got some pretty, strong watercolour for you...

Using my Gansai Tambi paints with a little help from Mama Elephant and My Favourite Things.

I've seen a few of these beautiful but intense blue watercolour backgrounds with a stunning silver embossed overlay floating around blog land, so thought I'd give my own a blast.

I started with a piece of water colour card & my Gansai Tambi paint set (I have the large set which is currently out of stock , but we still have the smaller set and theses paints are so beautiful you could achieve an awesome look easy, using fewer colours).  I wet my card and, instead of washing & swooshing colour across it to create a gentle blend, I kind of 'dabbed' it on randomly around my card, changing colours and doing the same until my piece was covered.  I then went back in with my darkest colour to make sure I had some areas of real intense concentrated colour.  Once dry, I added a splattering of white & gold flicks and splashes and left to dry again.

I then stamped out one of my all time favourite background stamps, the MFT 'Geometric background', onto my card and covered in Silver Sparkle embossing powder.  I then took a dry cloth and 'buffed' away the powder from the edges so it didn't cover my entire background.  I love doing this as I think it makes more of a spotlight of your background, and gives it a more organic feel.

I then heat embossed a piece of card in matching embossing powder and cut Mama Elephant's 'Birthday Script Creative Cut' from it. I wanted something to anchor my die to my card, and also give me space to finish up my sentiment, so cut a circle from vellum.  My sentiment is then made up and completed of words from other stamp sets.  You could pretty much write a book if you look at all the words and phrases in all your other sets, so don't be afraid to mix and match and even (don't hate me), chop stamps up to say what you want to say! 

I adhered everything in place by adding teeny weeny drops of glue behind the chunkiest parts of my sentiment to avoid any adhesive showing up behind the vellum.

I added a scattering of matching sequins, matted my piece onto light grey card, and mounted the whole thing onto a white card blank.

I really hope you like it.  As always, everything I have used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx

 

Resisting Christmas is futile!

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week I'm sending Merry Christmas wishes via a pretty winter sky using the emboss resist technique...

...and Mama Elephant's 'Merry Christmas Wishes'.

There's nothing I love more than a huge, massive sentiment stamp; and there's nothing more I love to do with a huge, massive sentiment stamp than emboss it and cover it in a beautiful, pretty, inky watercolour wash!  So I couldn't wait to get my hands on this stamp and do just that!

My idea was to create a little winter scene using Lawn Fawn's Little Town and Grassy border dies, then have the sentiment stamped into a lovely wintry sky.

I started by cutting a panel from a piece of watercolour card, then cutting the Little Town and Grassy Borders from it.  I took the top piece and stamped this gorgeous 'Merry Christmas' from Merry Christmas Wishes  onto it, and clear heat embossed.  I then added a few little stars from Mama Elephant's Rock and Paws around the sentiment to add interest to the sky, clear heat embossing those also.  I then went to town with a wash of pinks, purples, and blues to create that dreamy romantic winter sky ideal.

I washed my grassy piece in greens and kept my little town white, adding a piece of card behind, that had been washed in yellow to create little lights glowing out across the winter evening.  I then in-laid all my pieces back together.

I added scattering of coordinating sequins to add a little sparkle, matted my panel onto a piece of navy blue cardstock, then mounted the whole thing onto a white card blank.

I really hope you like it, as always, everything I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx

  

Simply a mouse in some spectacles.

Hi everybody,

Jill here and this week I've got a super simple and, hopefully, sweet card to share...

Using Mama Elephant's adorable Page Huggers set.

This set is originally designed to make little book marks, but the critters (you get four different cuties) are just so beyond amazing looking, they work in any way you want them too.  The faces on them...you know when a set just melts your heart to look at....this does that to me, it turns my insides to mush!

I started by stamping out my little mouse in a light grey ink to make the whole scene a lot softer than using a harsh black, and added this sweet heart balloon from Paper Smooches Hullabaloo set.  I coloured everything, including my background, using Zig Clean Colour Brush Pens with water to create a soft water colour effect.  I LOVE my Zigs, yes, they're a little pricey, but they are just so wonderful and easy to work with.  They're pretty much my 'go-to' colouring tool nowadays.

You get a load of little accessories in the Page Huggers set so I thought I would add a pair of spectacles to my little pal and added a coat of Glossy Accents to the lenses and to my balloon.

My sentiment is from Mama Elephant's Woodland Gifts and is stamped out in a grey ink, but a few shades darker than my critter to allow it to stand out.

I added a few flicks and splashes across my background for a little added interest and added a string to my balloon for my mouse to hold.  I then cut my panel using Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles, and mounted the whole thing onto a pale grey notecard.

I really hope you like it, as always, everything I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx

    

  

Definitely not Christmas, dinosaurs!

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week I am definitely not doing Christmas (it's inescapable, no?), and instead, I'm re-visiting an old classic...

...Paper Smooches Cuteasaurus.

I made this card for a friend of mine who is dinosaur doolally, and what an absolute pleasure it was to ink this set up again.  This was one of my first ever Paper Smooches sets and the beginning of my journey in this awesome hobby we all share, so will always hold a special place in my heart.  I LOVE re-visiting older designs, there's so many cool releases all the time it's easy to get tied up in lusting after the newest sets, but, like many things in life...you just can't beat the old classics!

I decided I wanted to practise my pencil colouring, and opted for kraft card, because, well, I just love the look of it!

I started by stamping out the main element of my sentiment, this 'friend', from Mama Elephant's Friend Indeed, in black Versafine and clear heat embossing.  I then built up the line around and under it with some sprigs of grass, mostly drawn in by hand.  I then masked off accordingly and stamped out the rest of my scene using Paper Smooches Cuteasaurus and, again, masking as I went.

I then coloured my whole scene using colour pencils, adding white accents to the eyes and teeth using a white gel pen.

 

I finished off my sentiment with this phrase from Mama Elephant's Sunday Sentiments, again stamped in black Versafine and clear heat embossed.  I added a balloon from Mama Elephant's Woodland Gifts, and added it to my little cuteasaurus' hand with a piece of black thread.

I added a slick of Glossy Accents to my balloon, and a wee enamel heart embellishment to finish, and there you have it.

I really hopefully it encourages you to give some of the older sets a glimpse...you might just be missing out on a beautiful old classic :)

See you next week.

Jillx

  

Soak up the fun in a sea of vellum.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm making a splash in a sea of vellum...

...using My Favourite Thing's 'Soak Up The Fun'.

I started with an idea to create a circle aperture of coloured vellum waves with these cute sea critters swimming in amongst them, but when I was looking through my circle dies, I came across this absolute beaut, 'Hoop Die', form Neat and Tangled that I hadn't used in a while, and thought it would add a nice little twist on the scene, so opted for that.

I started by cutting a panel using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangles, then cutting the hoop die from it.  I then cut the hoop die again to build the frame up, and in-laid it back in.  I cut strips of vellum using Mama Elephant's Landscape Trio cloud die upside down to create waves and coloured using alcohol markers.  I then adhered these to the back of my hoop aperture, creating pretty wave layers.  I stamped out my critters, coloured using Copics, fussy-cut, and adhered in place, bobbing about on the ocean!

My sentiment is from the same Soak up the Fun set, and is stamped out onto the banner from Avery Elle's Woodland Wonders set, and fussy-cut.  To add a little more interest to my background, I stamped out a load of the little bubbles that come in the set, and filled them with Glossy Accents.

I then mounted my finished panel onto a cream card blank, and there you have it.

I really hope you like it, as always, everything I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx