Twofer - Silhouette Cat called Blue

Hi there.  I am rushing in at the last moment with two cards for Darnell's Twofer Challenge where we have to use the same stamp/die for both cards but created for two different occasions.  I missed it last time and was determined that I would make it in time for this month's challenge.  I was away for most of last week and time is running out.  The only stamp I have which fits the bill is this sweet cat from Indigoblu called Blue's Look Out.  Here are the two cards together which I am entering into the Twofer Card Challenge No. 4.

For this first card I used just part of the stamp and a white stitched die cut square which was lying around on the table just waiting to be used.  I inked the stamp up using my Lyra Aqua Brush Duo Pens, spritzed it with water and stamped it on to the card.  I then used the pens to add little bits of extra colour and to fill in the background by laying the colour down on my glass mat and using a waterbrush for a softer look.  I also add a few black lines for definition around the flowers and flourishy leaves with a fine micron pen.

I decided to mount this on to a snippet of kraft card on which I stamped a pattern using parts of the same stamp and my Versamark Ink to give a watermark effect.  In the photo it doesn't show up very well, but in real life it has a soft pattern which doesn't detract from the main image too much.  I then stamped a sentiment on to the kraft card using Ground Espresso Distress Ink.

I finished by mounting the whole thing on to a 6" square white base card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 324 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Stamping Sensations April Challenge - One for the Girls.
Happy Little Stampers April Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes (no twist).
Fashionable Stamping Challenge - No 134 Animals.

For the second card I smooshed some Salty Ocean and Wild Honey Oxide Inks on to a piece of white card.  I did try to get the Salty Ocean at the top and the Wild Honey further down and after drying I added a bit more Salty Ocean over the Wild Honey to give a more yellowy green tone, and then also added a bit of Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink at the top to give some variety to the blue.   I have noticed that the Oxide Ink colours do look quite different to the ordinary Distress Inks when mixed together.  I then stamped the cat image using Versafine Majestic Blue Ink.  I then die cut this using a Crealies Pierced Rectangle die.

I added a sentiment at the bottom using Salty Ocean Oxide Ink and mounted the rectangle on to a piece of foam for added dimension, and then mounted this on to a 7" x 5" white base card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

The Artistic Stamper - Birds and Bees (there are three little silhouette birds as part of the stamp).
613 Avenue Create Challenge - No. 208 Anything Goes (no twist).

Thank you for taking a look at my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

Rubber Band Technique

Hi there everyone.  At CAS Mix Up this month they have asked that we use the rubber band technique on the card we make.  This means using them wrapped round a brayer or an acrylic block and inking or heat embossing in some form or other.  I decided to make a check/plaid pattern, and this is how it turned out.

I have recently bought my first four Distress Oxide Inks so decided to use these.  I found two wide and one narrow elastic bands and wrapped them round my acrylic block making sure they were perfectly flat with the two wide bands on either side of the narrow one with a similar space in between.  Using a piece of white card I inked the three bands up with Salty Ocean and stamped two sets of three stripes horizontally across it.  I then turned the piece of card and after cleaning off the bands inked again with wild honey and did two more sets of stripes vertically.  I then did two more sets of stripes vertically using Worn Lipstick placing the lines just to the right of the previous Wild Honey ones.  When perfectly dry I blended Squeezed Lemonade over the whole thing and then I die cut this using a Stitched Square die from The Works.  I was very lucky that the gaps between the two sets of stripes was about the right distance when it came to die cutting the piece and the lines are fairly straight although only done by eye.  A more luck than judgement piece I feel...lol.

I made a double layer sentiment to give a bit more dimension using the Sue Wilson Mini Expressions die, and then heat embossed the top one with WOW Metallic Gold Embossing Powder before sticking the two together.

I decided to give the white 6" square base card a bit more interest by adding two dry embossed corners to it using a Tim Holtz Mixed Media mosaic like corner die, and then added the stitched square with the sentiment across the middle letting it hang over each side.  I then added another small stamped sentiment beneath the square and gold heat embossed it to match the main sentiment.

Thank you for dropping by today and I hope to see you again soon.  

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS Mix Up April Challenge - Rubber Band Technique + Stamping + Own Choice (I have used Heat and Dry Embossing)
Seize the Birthday - Vibrant Colours.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Add Some Texture.
Uniko Challenge - No. 46 Colour.

Silhouette Tree with Stencilled Leaf

Hi everybody.  I'm here with another masculine birthday card, and a quick one as this was a last minute make.  I used a couple of stamps by Sheena Douglass from her A Little Bit Sketchy range, the tree from Looking Up and the balloon from Under the Bridge.  The two balloons from this set were one stamp but I cut them apart as I thought it would be handy to be able to use them individually.

A while ago I found a free image of a leaf on line and I made myself a stencil from a piece of card so I could keep it to use again.  I then stamped through the stencil shape on to a piece of white card using one of the stamps from a Chocolate Baroque set of stamps called Texture Fragments, and some Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink.  The card was fairly thick so I put lots of pressure on to get a good impression.  I was going to leave it like this but decided to brush some more ink across the whole thing to give the outline shape a sharper look.

I continued by stamping the silhouette tree so it covered part of the leaf using Versafine Smokey Gray ink.  I inked it up very carefully to avoid the surrounding scene on the stamp, and using my Misti I stamped it a couple of times to get a nice dark image.  I then heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder to make it stand out more.   I then die cut this using a stitched square from

a set by The Works, the largest die.

I stamped a sentiment top left, and added two balloons, using the smallest balloon stamp top right, again using the Versafine Smokey Gray ink, and I decided to add three little birds just over the top of the tree with a fine black Micron Pen.  I then used some Black Soot Distress Ink well watered down, and spattered some across the image, and finished by adding this to a 6" square white base card.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Cards 4 Guyz Challenge - No. 192 Travel or Transport.
Penny Black and More April Challenge - Black and White Plus One.
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Embossing (Heat or Dry).

Matryoshka Anniversary

Hi everyone.  I have a set of Russian Matryoshka dolls and dies which came free with a magazine a while ago.  There are six characters, i.e. man, woman, boy, girl, baby and cat which make up the set, so I thought that perhaps the man and woman would make a nice anniversary card.  I used another freebie hearts embossing folder for the background, and my Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Hearts die.

I started with the background embossing and inked up the folder using my brayer and some Adirondack Stonewashed Ink before laying the snippet of white card inside and running it through my machine.  It inked up quite well apart from around the central heart where it ended up with some ink in the wrong place, and so I then die cut the scalloped heart to go over it using another snippet of white card.  Unfortunately to cover the mistake the scalloped heart has to sit a bit further down and not in the middle but I think it looks OK, as they say there are no mistakes, just happy accidents..lol.

With some more snippets of white card I stamped the two dolls using Versafine Smokey Gray Ink and coloured them with some Spectrum Noir pencils and then cut them out with the die. 

I then mounted the hearts background on to my 6" square white base card and then adhered the scalloped heart and the two figures, and added the stamped sentiment using the Misti and Versafine Smokey Gray Ink and heat set with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

Thank you for dropping by today and hope to see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 323 where we use up our snippets of paper and card etc.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Uniko Challenge - No. 46 Colours ( I have used 3 of the colours: blue, green and pink)