Abstract Valentine's Cards for DecoArt Media

Welcome all to my latest post for the DecoArt Media DT. For this project I've created some non-traditional Valentine's cards using Fluid Acrylics and I have a video tutorial to share with you.

One of my resolutions for 2017 was to try to free up my creative process and this video is part of that exploration. I've been free and easy with the paint to create layered backgrounds using bold brush strokes and mark making tools - I've used junk from around the house (like bubble wrap and bottle lids) but you could use stamps if you prefer something more precise. This may be the first time ever that a resolution has lasted into February!!!

One tip when creating this way is to stick to a relatively limited colour palette as too many colours will make mud. I've essentially used primary colours here - but chosen muted versions of the blue and yellow tones for a more sophisticated vibe.

I hope you like my video tutorial and have a go a cards like these for yourself.

See you soon!

Katy x

Winter Pink Your Life Card

Continuing this week's snowy theme, I am sharing a sweet little card created with one of the lovely Pink Your Life stamps that were released last year.

Here's how I made it:

1) Stencil the snowflakes onto deep blue cardstock using Dreamweaver Embossing Paste. Allow to dry.

2) While that is drying, stamp the angel and colour her with pencils. Stamp a snowflake with Versamark and emboss it with Sparkle Puff embossing powder before cutting out with the matching die.

3) Add a really light wash of blue Twinkling H20s (you could use ordinary watercolours too but I like the sparkle in H20s) over the snowflakes. You don't want complete coverage, rather a mix of blue and white areas.

4) While you have the H20s out, add a paint wash around the edge of a white card blank and to the snowflake die cut.

5 Assemble as shown, using 3D foam to raise up the angel.

Thanks for visiting me today - hope you come back soon.

Katy x

Stampendous products used:

Stampendous/Pink Your Life Cling Stamp - Little Angel

Stampendous Cling Stamps - Delicate Snow

Stampendous Cutting Dies - Delicate Snow

Stampendous Stencil - Snowflake Cascade

Stampendous Embossing Powder - Sparkle Puff

Dreamweaver Embossing Paste - Regular

Plus:

Black inkpad

Watercolour paint

Blue and white cardstock

Colouring pencils

Haunted Halloween Card for Stampendous

We have a Halloween theme this week at Stampendous so I am sharing a quick card I made with some of this year's new release stamps. This creepy little fellow (called Who Am I?) is one of faves, he's so funny looking, love him!

I stamped Haunted Mansion and placed a circle mask before sponging the whole background with ink. After removing the mask I added yellow ink to the 'moon'.

The castle and Who Am I were stamped again and coloured with markers before being added with 3D foam.

Finally, I sponged black ink through the Bats stencil and cut out two bats to add in front of the inked moon.

Stampendous products used:
Who Am I? Cling Stamp (CRQ226)
Haunted Mansion Cling Stamp (CRR267)
Dreamweaver Stencil: Bats (DWLL525)

Happy Halloween!
Katy x

That's Crafty All Square Challenge

Time for another That's Crafty! Challenge and the theme this time is All Square. I've made a quick square card with a square stencil and a twinchie embellishment.

1 On a 4" square card blank, stencil the squares with Mustard Seed Distress Ink. Add splatters of Bora Bora PaperArtsy paint with a splatter brush.

2 Run a painty finger around the edge to make a border. When dry add a doodled black border with pen.

3 Stamp the Dina Wakley stamp (All the Gals set) onto a scrap of monoprinted card. Edge with Bora Bora paint and add some details with white gel pen and a doodled border. Stamp and add the sentiment.

And that's it - quick and simple today. Have fun in the challenge and good luck!

Katy x

Mixed Media Card for Susan K Weckesser

I use paint on my art journal pages all time, and I thought why not use the same techniques to create a card? I think the painted panel makes a fun and dynamic background for the focal fox image.

Here's how I made it:

1 Create a painted background by swiping paint across a piece of card with a baby wipe. Add some white areas with a credit card.

2 Stencil the loops with Susan's Doodle stencil, followed by the X design in red. When dry stencil the numbers in modelling paste.

3 Add blobs of grey paint with the rubber end of a pencil and doodle over them when dry. Stamp the Going Wild wording over the background repeatedly as shown, using just the arrow part around the edges.

4 Colour the fox with pens (I used Graph It markers) and add him on 3D foam pads.

5 Mat the panel to grey card. Stencil a border with grey ink onto a card blank and glue the panel in place above.

Thanks for stopping by today - see you soon I hope.

Katy x

Susan K. Weckesser products used:

Unity stamp: Going Wild

Doodle Stencil for TCW

That's Crafty Zest Zing Challenge!

Sharing a couple of makes for the That's Crafty Challenge Blog team today. The latest challenge theme is Zest Zing - so we want to see those bright summer shades!

I created a tag and a card for the challenge, using the same materials (listed below). Each is pretty simple using paint and stamping, along with a little bit of stencilled detail.

Products used (mostly available from That's Crafty):

PaperArtsy stamps: Darcy EDY09, Lin Brown 06 &28

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish: Limelight, Zesty Zing, Coral, Tango
DecoArt: Gesso, White
Archival Ink: Jet Black, Watering Can
That's Crafty Dinky Stencil: Bubble Wrap (076)
TCW 6x6 Stencil: Citrus Montage
Homemade circle stencil
White gel pen and black fineline pen

Good luck in the challenge!
Katy x

Flower Wreath Card for Susan K Weckesser CT

A quick make today from me for the Susan K Weckesser Creative Team. I used the gorgeous In My Garden set to make a pretty, summery card.

To start with I marked a light pencil circle in the centre of a square card blank and stamped the phrase inside the circle. I used a die cut card circle for this, then used the negative part to allow me to lightly ink the area just inside the circle.

I used the circle as a guide to stamp a wreath of flowers around the greeting. I stamped the flowers again and coloured them with alcohol markers and cut them out. I cut between each petal and bent the petals around a pencil to add shape. I then glued them over the stamped images on the card. I used glue gel to give them a bit of lift and enable them to overlap.

A simple card, but I think very pretty for a summer birthday.

Lovely to see you today. Take care.

Katy x

Susan K Weckesser for Unity - In My Garden Set

Happy Birthday Janelle!

Wishing our team helper at Stampendous a very happy birthday - you rock Janelle! Thank you for all your support. Have a wonderful day!

The card I made for Janelle today is quite simple but I tried to keep the design elegant and feminine. The background is stamped with Dream Text in grey ink. I then added a strip of torn paper and splattered some watercolour paint in peach and pink. I stamped part of the Dream Text stamp again and cut out the 'celebrate' part to add to the bottom of the card.

The Angel Aviary image is coloured with Coloursoft pencils in a soft light palette. She's adhered to the card with 3D foam.

Katy x

I used these Stampendous stamps:

Angel Aviary

Dream Text

Stampendous Nathalie Kalbach Hop - Elephants on Parade!

All this week Stampendous are having a blog hop along with Nathalie Kalbach to showcase some of her gorgeous Stampendous stamps!

Here's todays hop list:

Stampendous Blog

Katy Leitch - you are here!

Nathalie Kalbach Blog

There are three lucky commenters during the hop that will each win a prize package that includes all three of Nathalie Kalbach’s Foam, Cling Rubber and Stencil Stamp sets. This is open to everyone! To be eligible comment on each blog post on the Stampendous blog and that of each designer’s blog post on the hop this week. Give a shout out to your place of residence, we want to see how far our hop goes around the world! We’ll announce winners on Monday June 20.

***

So for the hop today I've been having some fun with Nathalie Kalbach's Elephant stamp set (the set contains a foam stamp, a cling stamp and a stencil) - what a cutie he is!!! I've created two cards which are quite different - one clean and simple, one lush and richly decorated.

The above card was created very simply - I sponged the plain side of the foam stamp with three colours of paint before stamping the image on a white card blank. I then stamped the cling image over the top in black ink. The card is simply finished with a printed greeting, doodled border and gemstone eye.

My second card was inspired by the colours of Indian fabrics. My background is created by painting ColourArte Silks in three colours over a piece of Mixed Media card. When dry I stencilled over with Radiant Gels (which is a thick lustrous gel). I used the stencil from the set for this.

I then stamped the elephant onto purple cardstock with Versamark and embossed him with Pirate Gold embossing powder, before applying him to the card with 3D foam tape.

Finally I edged the card with purple paint and added a little shadowing beneath the elephant with charcoal pencil.

Hope you love heffalump as much as me!

Katy x


Products used:
Stampendous products:
NKCFS01 Nathalie Kalbach Elephant Foam, Cling and Stencil set
EP102 Stampendous Metallic Embossing Powder Pirate Gold

Other:
Card 1:
White 5x7" card blank
Pink, purple and lime acrylic paints
Black gemstone
Black inkpad
Black fineline pen
White gel pen

Card 2:
ColourArte Silks - Mango Mamba, Spiced Pumpkin, Solar Gold
ColourArte Radiant Gel - African Jade
My Colors cardstock - Grape Vine
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics - Dioxazine Purple
Gold gem
3D foam tape

Shine!

Today's my Visible Image DT day and I've created a clean, fresh card using the Shine Bright stamp set.

I've used simple masking to make one bulb the focal point on my card - the images at the back are stamped in grey to make the focal image pop even more. After stamping the greeting, I drew the cords on the bulbs by hand using a black marker pen.

The bulb is coloured with three shades of Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed and Wild Honey, getting darker in tone towards the outside. The ink is applied and blended with a wet paintbrush. I also highlighted the greeting with a quick wash of Mustard Seed ink.

I think this card is suitable for any kind of occasion where someone has made an achievement - a new job, graduation or even overcoming an obstacle in their life. This stamp is also great as it's totally gender neutral.

Hope you've enjoyed today's make - see you very soon :).

Katy x

Shine Bright Stamp Set

Dancing Dragonflies

I love mixed media but I also love a clean and simple card too. Sometimes when a stamp is as nice as this one from Visible Image you just want to let it speak for itself.

I simply stamped the dragonflies and sentiment with black Archival Ink and then coloured them with Distress Inks and a water brush - I used Peacock Feathers and Twisted Citron - love that combo!

And it's as (very) simple as that but I think this is a really effective and pretty card, especially if you are in a hurry!

Katy x

Live in the Moment Stamp Set 

Monoprinted Card

Sharing a quick card I made as part of my demo for Stitches today. It's got a monoprinted background using the Grafix Impress Monoprinting Plates

.
I didn't take any step pictures of this process but the background is created with a stencil and corrugated card to make the lines. It's finished with stamps from Wendy Vecchi.

Hoping to film some more monoprinting videos soon so keep your eyes peeled!

See you soon,
Katy

Crafts Beautiful article

Very chuffed to have had an article in the March issue of Crafts Beautiful mag :). I created a couple of cards which didn't make it into the feature so am sharing them here. All the pieces were made with DecoArt Media fluid acrylics and crackle paint. The paint is applied as a wash over the crackle and also used to colour the flowers, leaves and butterfly.

The colours are my absolute faves in the fluid acrylics line - Green Gold and Cobalt Teal Hue - lush together! The crackle is subtle but so pretty. I really enjoyed making these and it's still a thrill seeing my work in print. I'm in the next issue too - exciting!!!!!

Thanks for indulging over excited little me!
Katy x

Craft Stash Vids

I am feeling so, so lucky right now. It was such a gamble going freelance but so many people have put their faith in me and I feel very humbled by that. My latest venture is doing videos for Craft Stash using their wonderful collection of dies. They are lovely folk to work with! I've done two videos this month that I'd like to share with you.

My first video shows two cards created using the Apple Blossom Leaf 3 die and working with the Apple Blossom Hexagon die as a stencil. The background uses my old favourites - Distress Inks.

My second video is this bee card - I hate to blow my own trumpet but I think it's soooooooooooooooo cute!!! I used the Apple Blossom Hexagon Panel die again, cutting it up to make a honeycomb effect. The stamps are JOFY for PaperArtsy, in case you were wondering ;).

Finally here's one you might have missed last month - I didn't realise it had gone up already (what with Stitches prep, the last few weeks are a bit of a blur!!!)

Dies are all available from Craft Stash - 20% off your first order if you join their mailing list too by the looks of it (gotta love a discount!).

Thanks for stopping by today - see you soon.

Katy x

Sparkle in the Rain for Visible Image

I have a card to share with you today using another of the new stamp releases (you may have seen them on Create & Craft recently). This card uses Sparkle in the Rain from the new releases and some old favourites too.

I've got a short video for you on how I made it:

Thanks for visiting today:)

Katy x

I used these Visible Image stamps:

Sparkle in the Rain

Ink Splats

Edgy

Create your Future for Visible Image

Today's make for Visible Image is a clean and simple tag card. I'm often asked what I do with the tags I create and they make great cards - simply cut another tag, fold a small flap at the top and adhere the flap to the back of the decorated tag to allow it to stand.

I stamped the overlapping circles in black Archival then coloured each one with Distress Ink - I used Twisted Citron, Abandoned Coral and Cracked Pistachio. I stamped a splat in black inside each circle to add detail. I stamped the words and cut them out individually before mounting to the card on 3D foam pads. I matted the tag onto black card and created a back as described above to allow it to stand.

This card really highlights how brilliantly words can work as a focal point when combined with abstract or background images. Hope you like it!

Warm wishes,

Katy x

I used these stamps on my card:

Create Your Future

Orbital

Ink Splats

Visible Image Debut!

It's my first post as a member of the Visible Image Design Team today! I found out about the team before Christmas and I've been dying to make a start! My stamps arrived on Monday so I haven't had a lot of time to make - hence I've just done a clean and simple card for today. I'm calling it 'Winter Butterfly' because I think the colours are really seasonal.

I stamped the Edgy image in Pumice Stone Distress Ink onto a panel of card, then stamped the butterfly and sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black. I stamped the butterfly again onto card and coloured it with Distress Stains in Peacock Feathers and Tumbled Glass, finishing with a few dots of white gel pen. I glued just the centre of the painted butterfly to the card panel so the wings are raised up. I added the panel to a white card blank with 3D foam tape - love this white-on-white layering; I think it looks really classy.

I don't often work with clear stamps but I have to say these stamp really nicely and they are SO thick and heavy-duty!

There's inspiration almost every day on the Visible Image blog and if you want to check out more work with Visible Image stamps or share your own, they have a Facebook Group too.

You can find the stamps I used via the links below:

Large Butterfly

Edgy

Imagine Dream Inspire

Thanks for stopping by :).
Katy x

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