Sparkling Snowflake

Hi all.  I made a card with this this large snowflake die which I recently acquired at a local store, but it seems to be sold out at present.  I also used some Creative Expressions Pixie Powders which have a lovely Mica shimmer to them and also used some gold acrylic paint which I bought ages ago but have only just got around to using.  Snowflakes of any sort are a favourite of mine and don't need any excuse to use them.

I started with the background using blue, green and gold powders which I sprinkled on to my glass mat and spritzed with water before laying my piece of card over the top, and I kept adding extra in the same way until I was happy with the depth of colour.  When dry I die cut the snowflake out of this piece of card and put it to one side.  I then painted another piece of card with the gold paint and die cut the same snowflake from this too.

I then cut a piece of double sided sticky sheet to just a little larger than the snowflake and peeled back one side and attached it to my white base card and peeled back the other side and adhered the top layer to it, minus the cut out star, being careful to get it in the right place before pressing it down.  I then stuck the gold layer star in to the aperture and finally glued the top layer over that using some wet glue and which now stands proud.  With hindsight I should have put the tacky sheet on the back of this before I cut out the snowflake which would have made it much easier to adhere.  I thought that the gold layer would show around the edges of the top snowflake but not sure it has made that much difference, and it would have been fine just to use white or maybe the blue card instead.

 

I finished by adding the sentiment on to a piece of dark blue card using Versamark Ink and then heat embossed it with Silver Metallic Embossing Powder, and cut it into a fishtail banner.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I hope to  see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge - "Y" is for Your Favourite Things and "Z" for Zzzzzz (a sleeping image)
Christmas Card Throwdown: December - Pick a Previous 2020 Challenge Theme (I have chosen June's theme of Snowflakes.
Merry Little Christmas Challenge - No. 29 December: Anything Christmas Goes.
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 85 Anything Christmas Goes.
Winter Wonderland Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes (end of year challenge)
Allsorts Challenge - Week 602 Got to be Christmas.

Winter Anniversary

Hi everybody.  This is the last anniversary of the year that I make for, and as it is winter I decided to do something with the season in mind.  I recently bought this Crafter's Companion set of silhouette foliage stamps called Festive Foliage (I bought the set in a local store and it seems to be unavailable now)  and I used a Sweet Dixie heart die.

I got the idea from some recently released stamps from Penny Black and one has foliage in a heart shape, so I decided to use this idea and stamped a selection of these stamps in a heart shape on a piece of kraft card using Tea Dye Distress Ink...this was a colour close to the colour of the card and I wanted to be able to colour over the top.  I first used the largest heart die from the above mentioned set with a pencil to mark out the shape...I wouldn't say it is the perfect heart but not bad.  I then coloured with a waterbrush using my Inktense Pencils which having lots of pigment work well on kraft card.  When it was dry I rubbed out the pencil line  and matted this on to a piece of dark green card before adding it on to my white 6" square card.

I finished by adding a die cut heart within the heart backed with a piece of foam to give it dimension, and I
stamped the sentiment using Versamark Ink and then heat embossed it with WOW Metallic Gold Embossing Powder.  I then added some sparkle on the berries using a clear Wink of Stella pen.  It looks a bit strange in the photo, just as though there are white specks, presumably just the way the light has caught it.  It is a new pen so a bit over juicy I think.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Crafty Creations December Challenge - Anything Goes.
NBUS Challenge - No. 21 Anything Goes with your Never Before Used Schtuff. 
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 391 Sorry it's so last minute!  Where we use our snippets of card, paper etc. ( I used a couple of snippets of kraft card for the topper and heart and also a snippet of green for the matted layer)

Winter Robin

Hi everyone.  I have a card today featuring the Winter Robin by Hobby Art Stamps,  which I notice is unfortunately out of stock at the moment, and was intended as one half of my Twofer entry, but sadly the second never materialised.  I'm afraid my mojo is somewhat spasmodic and the spirit is willing but the flesh is a bit weak at present..lol.  The compensation is that this can now be my entry for the Rudolph Days Challenge run by the lovely Mo, and of course is the last one for this year, and great that I managed to finish on a high note there where I have sadly failed with others.

 

I stamped it with Versafine Majestic Blue Ink and heat embossed it with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I had intended to do it in shades of blue but then I decided after all to use these colours of Distress Inks which I applied with a waterbrush.  I didn't think it made that much difference to the finished look as the blue is very dark in real life, although looks a little more blue in the photo.  I then added the gold stars using a freebie stencil which I have had for a very long time, using Brilliance Galaxy Gold Ink, also used for the sentiment which I heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I also added some white gel pen to highlight the snow and holly and berries, and added in a few shadows using coloured pencils.

I layered it on to a piece of gold mirri card before adding it to my 6" square white card.

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

I am also entering the following challenges:

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - No. 84 Anything Christmas Goes.
ABC Christmas Challenge - 'W' for Winter Wonderland (my choice) and 'X' for Xtra Special.
Merry Little Christmas Challenge - No.28 November Anything Christmas Goes.
Sparkles Christmas Challenge - No. 118 Gold or Silver or Glitter.  (used gold for stars and sentiment)
Winter Wonderland Challenge - Festive Things With Wings.
Christmas Crafts All Year Round - November Challenge Family and Friends.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Uniko Challenge - Tis The Season (optional twist Sparkle)
Krafty Chicks Challenge - No. 535 All Occasions.

Rose Blush

Hi everyone.  I have a card to show today made with the pretty Rose Blush stamp by Indigoblu.  This card was made with the CAS Mix Up Challenge in mind which this time is a Watercolour Challenge with the theme of Off the Edge. 

I stamped the image using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and then watercoloured with my Inktense Pencils and a waterbrush, sometimes laying some pencil down on the image and the moving the colour round with the brush, and then I also added extra colour by lifting from the pencil on to the brush and painted it on. 

I finished by adding the sentiment again using the Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and then added it to a 6"square white card.  

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

CAS Mix Up November Challenge - Watercolour - Off the Edge.
Seize the Birthday Challenge - No. 203 1,2,3 or Anything Goes.
Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Your Favourite Stamp (this is definitely one that I love).
Love To Craft Challenge - No. 52 November Anything Goes.
The Coloring Challenge - The Daily Marker Coloring Challenge.

 

                                  

                                                                                                  

It's A Bright Sunshiny Day

Hi there everybody.  I have a birthday card to show today using another pretty bird stamp from Crafty Individuals called Bluebird and Branch with Berries.   This may seem an odd choice of colours but as well as some other challenges I wanted to enter the Colour Hues Challenge and kraft and yellow were the colours for this...not colours I would normally have chosen but it's good to step outside your comfort zone sometimes.

I cut a piece of kraft card into a square and stamped the bird onto it using Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink and then heat embossed with WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I then used my set of Inktense Pencils to colour the bird in browns and the chest of the bird in yellow.  I also added some hills in the background and some yellow on the horizon taking it up a bit to to add more interest.  I also added a very little orange to the horizon and on the bird but it is basically yellow.  I decided to use the pencils without any water as the kraft card isn't the easiest surface to work on and I thought that they worked better used without as I didn't want to dilute the colour too much.  

I added a yellow background mat and the sentiment in the Vintage Sepia Ink and heat embossed with the Clear Gloss EP.

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

I am entering the following challenge:

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge - WWC297 All About Occasions.
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Anything Goes.
Crafty Creations Challenge - No. 415 Anything Goes.
We Love to Create Mixed Media Challenge - Wk 11 Anything Mixed Media Goes.
Colour Hues Challenge - No. 5 Yellow and Kraft.

Long Eared Owl

Hi there.  This card was made using a NBUS (never used before) Crafty Individuals Stamp called Owl on Branch with Berries and the background was coloured using Brushos.  I stamped the owl with Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink and coloured with Derwent Inktense Pencils.

I started by placing some Ultramarine Blue and some Leaf Green Brushos on to my glass mat, roughly where I wanted them to be and spritzed with water.  I then laid the card over it and ended up with the basic background.  I then painted with them using a waterbrush and finished the scene with the distant hills in Purple and the sun using Yellow, and I did darken it with a bit of yellow Inktense Pencil at the end as I thought it looked too pale.

I then stamped the owl onto the background scene using the Vintage Sepia Ink and coloured just the branch, and extended it a bit to take it off the edge, using the Inktense Pencils, and then again onto another piece of the glossy card and coloured, and fussy cut out just the bird and added it over the top of the original to give it more dimension.  I finished by adding a sentiment using the Vintage Sepia Ink and whilst wet heat set it using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I will be back again soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge - No. 257 Birthday for an Adult Male.
The Crafter's Cafe Challenge - No. No. 254 Anything Goes.
Crafty Animals Challenge - No. 44 Anything Goes with Animals, Birds, Bugs, Bees or Insects.
Mix It Up Challenge - No. 43 Anything Goes + Making Your Own Background.
NBUS Challenge - No. 20 Where we use any items not previously used (Never Before Used Schtuff)
Fab n Funky Challenge - No. 501 Anything But Christmas.

Nature Flowers

Hi all.  This card was for a 70th birthday, and I decided to use a snippet left over from my brayered background that I did here on this card.  I added some flowers from a set by Art Journey called Nature Flowers, using Versafine Imperial Purple and WOW Opaque Bright White Embossing Powder and I also used another stamp which is in the background called just Ripples Small, with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink.

To finish I added the sentiment and numbers using WOW Metallic Platinum EP.  

Before I go I have a new follower to introduce called Gundi and you will find her lovely blog here, and if you haven't visited before I'm sure she would be delighted to see you.

Thank you for stopping by today and I will see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 390 where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc.
We Love to Create Mixed Media Challenge - Wk 11 Anything Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Try it on Tuesday Challenge - Embossed.
Seize the Birthday Challenge - Texture (white heat embossing).