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

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

Neat and tangled watercolour challenge...

Hi everyone,

A quick post to share a card I have made for the Neat and Tangled blog challenge, which this week is...wait for it...watercolour :) :) :)

Anyone who has ever glimpsed at my page before will know it's pretty much my favourite thing in the world, and Neat and Tangled stamps are just sooooo perfect to use with it so...well, how can a girl resist!

And here's my card...

I created the background by misting some distress inks on my craft sheet and pulling my watercolour paper through it (mustard seed, spiced marmalade, scattered straw, and dried marigold).  I then stamped the delightful 'My favourite' stamp in a really pale yellow colour and then traced over the top in Peerless watercolour paint (Japonica Scarlett and Orange yellow).  I love how this gives the whole image that awesome watercolour effect instead of it being block ink.  I then gave the card a few 'flicks' with my brush to get some nice 'splatters', and embellished with a couple sequins, and a small wood veneer heart that I coloured and clear heat embossed.  

I love the colours on this card, we don't get much sunshine here in Newcastle, U.K, so it's lovely to create my own :)

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

Little tangles blog challenge #37

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well, I'm nursing a cold so have been trying to cheer myself up by playing with some of my favourite stamp sets...sure fire plan right?

So, if you have visited my blog before, you'll be aware i have a little bit of a craft crush on Neat and Tangled stamps, and was lucky enough to be chosen as a winner in a previous blog challenge of theirs...I could not believe my luck!!!  I just can't get enough of them.  And their new releases...oh wow, I HAVE to get my hands on them, they are just amazing.  My favourite is the 'cloud' set.  I just think I would use it again and again, but like I say, they are all amazing...have a look for your-self here, Neat and tangled , you will not be disappointed!

So, their challenge this week is 'Acetate' and here are all the details... Little tangles,

...and here's my entry...

I created the patterned cardstock by stamping the 'on the strip 2' (my prize for winning the minicards challenge :) :) :) - Thank you soooooo much Neat and Tangled :):):) ) stamps out in a random pattern, and heat embossed it with 'white diamond' embossing powder.  I also stamped out and heat embossed my sentiment, which was put together using the 'sparkle and shine' set.  I then die-cut a panel from the cardstock to make way for my acetate 'shaker' panel, created by joining two pieces of acetate with thick foam tape to create a little 'pocket' in which you can put, well, anything you want that will fit!  I put my sentiment in there with a few lovely sparkly gems to 'Sparkle and shine'!!!  I finished the card off by adding a nice 'pool' coloured glitter card on the back panel of the card to really make the acetate and sentiment 'pop'.

I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out, I really like acetate so enjoyed working with it...even if it can be a little bit tricky sometimes (acetate, fingerprints and embossing powder do not go well!).

As always, I hope you like it.  I would love to read your comments so please feel free to leave one

xxx

Sweet, neat & tangled...

Hi everyone,

One of my new favourite things on this planet is Neat and tangled stamps.  They are just so brilliant, the designs tick all my boxes, especially the large sentiments.  I just love 'em and have been lucky enough to grab myself some, (these beauts sell out, fast!), of my favourites, (obviously I would like need them all at some point when my bank balance allows).

So, i decided to have a crack at the little tangles blog challenge, which this week is 'mini cards' ... how cute??!!  

So, I'm not gonna lie, I am still obsessed with watercolour.  I normally get bored of a 'trend' pretty quickly, but I just cannot get enough of this technique.  I guess it's because the results are so different every time.  I also think these stamps are crying out to be used in this way as they are so striking, they really do stand alone without need to add much else to your design!

So here is take on the challenge...

My mini cards are 3"x4" and I really like how they turned out.

I used watercolour card to stamp each sentiment on (I used 'My favourite', 'dreams', and 'hope anchors') and heat embossed in clear powder.  I then watercoloured my backgrounds in 3 different colourways using distress inks which I 'misted' on my craft sheet, and pulling my card through the ink (I used 'peacock feathers', 'picked raspberry', and 'seedless preserve', all mixed with 'mustard seed').  Once the backgrounds were completely dry, I 'ironed' the embossing powder off, leaving a lovely flat 'batik' kind of effect (*tips hat to the master/card making goddess/craft crush...Jennifer Mcguire*).  I used a little black card to mat onto my card base, and that is that - as I said before, these stamps speak for themselves so I really didn't want to add anything extra.

I did do another set in the same manner, but mixed all the colours together on each card - they came out like this

I love both sets to be honest, I hope you do too.

Please feel free to leave a comment xxx