HLS April Watercolour Challenge - Wild Thing!

Time for the Happy Little Stampers April Watercolour Challenge already!  My goodness, how time flies!  This time our twist on the challenge is all about rainbows.  I knew I'd be having fun with that!

Ever since I bought the New Release Happy Little Stampers set, Born to be Wild, I've been imagining that wonderful image of the Zebra coloured in rainbow stripes.  With the optional twist of this month's challenge, I finally had an excuse to get out my watercolours and "go wild".  

Since I decided to use the "Wild Thing - you make my heart sing" sentiment, I thought the addition of some musical notes would finish my card off perfectly.  I carefully shaped the die-cut music around the zebra, leaving him free to flaunt his colours.

A narrow strip of Washi Tape with tiny hearts below the sentiment, and the card was done.

Check out the great samples created by the other Happy Little Stampers and then link your own creation up to our HLS April Watercolour Challenge.

Happy Easter!

A few years ago I bought a stamp at Michael's.  I fell in love with the adorable image of the chick which had just hatched from its shell.  With Easter upon us, I thought it was about time to introduce the stamp to ink and created this sweet ATC.  For those who aren't familiar with that acronym, that means I've created an Artist's Trading Card.  The dimensions are set in stone:  2 1/2" x 3 1/2".  On the back the creator has his/her name, the name of the stamp and the date.

I hope you'll all have a very Happy Easter with family and happiness surrounding you. 

I'm entering this in the HLS March ATC Challenge - Anything Goes with a Twist of Sparkle

And in the CAS on Friday Challenge #129 - Easter

Everything is Better With a Friend

When I found this wonderful House-Mouse Designs image by Stampendous in a darling little craft store in Calgary a couple of months ago, I fell in love.  What could be sweeter than the House-Mouse combined with a beautifully drawn image of a hummingbird?  Of course I bought it!  Now, finally, I've introduced the images to ink, thanks to the Addicted to CAS challenge and its theme of "birds". 

I stamped the image onto a piece of Watercolour paper using my Stamping Platform to ensure that the lines would be evenly stamped.  Before removing it from the platform, I took a sentiment from an old Hero Arts stamp set and added that along the bottom right.  After letting the ink dry completely, I commenced colouring.

Because a friend of mine introduced me to Prismacolors and Gamsol, I decided to use that colouring technique.  I loved the versatility of blending several colours together for my Hummingbird.  The House-Mouse was easy enough, as was the flower, but that brilliantly coloured bird was my challenge. 

When I had finally achieved the look for which I was striving, I added some clear Wink of Stella to the jewel-tones of the feathers and was done.

I can see myself enjoying many more hours, playing with this image.  

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:  

House-Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge #262 - Anything Goes

Addicted to CAS Challenge #132 - Birds

Double D Challenges - Just Wing It

Peace - CAS Christmas March Challenge

I was happily surprised to see the creation of this CAS Christmas Challenge.  CAS is one of my favourite styles.  Of course it helps to enter a number of Christmas Challenges throughout the year because it takes away the pressure of having to create a whole bunch of Christmas cards just before the deadline.  That, unfortunately, has too often happened in past years.

This month's challenge for the CAS Christmas Challenge is all about Holly.  I was surprised to see that I've kept a number of lovely retired stamp sets, all of which have various images with holly.  I even found a gorgeous stencil of holly and berries.  Making the card was far easier than deciding which image I would use.

In the end I chose the lovely sprig from the lovely (but retired) Watercolor Winter stamp set.  Instead of using the second stamp to add the colours, however, I decided to hand-colour the leaves and berries.  After adding colour with my Prismacolor Pencils, I used a paper stub and Gamsol to blend the colours.  Then, to add some dimension, I shaded in a very light shadow of green in areas, following the form of the image.  When it was completely dry, I added a touch of clear Wink of Stella to the highlight on each berry and also to the shadow behind the image.

For my sentiment, I turned to the retired Peaceful Wreath set and used the word "Peace", stamped in Green. 

I'm entering this card in the CAS Christmas March Challenge - Holly

And also in the Merry Monday #282 - Inspirational Photo Challenge

Twofer (March 2018 - Blossoms)

Well, I finally feel well enough to attend to some obligations and to catch up on partly begun projects.  Of course I'm still not functioning at full speed (neither brain or physically).  For example, I knew I had created my two card for Darnell's Twofer Challenge and that I had taken photographs.  All that was done before I got ill.  For some reason I had it in my head that I had also partially written the post---this post right here.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the draft (titled "Twofer") and found nothing but the title.  *sigh*

Here I am, finally putting this post together.  The blossom stamp which I decided to use is by Altenew and is called "Extra Special".  I fell in love with the clean lines of the image, the fact that it was a "triple stamp" style with which one can actually stamp in the details and colours, and also the wonderful sentiments.  Of course it took me over a year to finally use it after I bought it.

For the first card, I  used Memento Tuxedo ink for the outlines and sentiment.  For the colours, I decided not to do the "triple stamping" but, instead, decided to use the brand new set of Chameleon alcohol markers which I had just bought.  I love the way the colours virtually blend and shade themselves.

After adding a very narrow matte of the same green as the leaves, I attached the layers to my base of Heavy Whisper White and the card was done.

Challenges:  Crafting With An Attitude #37 -  Anything Goes

For my second card, I used black pigment ink to stamp on Silver Foil.  Once that was perfectly set and dry (thanks to my heat gun), I used the matching die to cut out my image (did I mention that the Altenew stamp set came with a die?)

I know black is one of the first colours that comes to mind with a death or funeral but my decision to use it was based purely on its wonderful contrast to the silver foil.  Since I also intended to heat emboss the sentiment in silver, I knew the black background would make it "pop".

To finish up I added a matte of silver foil and then also added rhinestones to the centres of the flowers, once I had coloured them black.

Challenges:  HLS March Anything Goes With Dies Challenge

Of course one has to show both cards together for the Twofer Challenge.  Are you ready?  They look fabulous together, don't they?

I don't know why I waited over a year to finally use this set.

I'm entering these cards into the Twofer Challenge #3 -  Blossoms

I'm also entering these cards into The Flower Challenge #18 - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers - New Release Blog Hop

This is so exciting!  As a member of the Happy Little Stampers Design Team I had the opportunity to get some of the New Release stamps ahead of time and also to take part in this Blog Hop, celebrating the stamp sets.  How awesome is that!

You have the chance to win amazing prizes just by hopping along with us. We, the Designers have prepared a feast of inspiration with the new sets and we can't wait to show you what we have come up with!

Let's take a look at the new sets - you are going to LOVE them!

How to win? You need to do the following -

1. Comment on this blog post

2. Follow the links below to our Designer's blog posts and leave them a comment.

3. The Blog Hop will run for 1 week from 12th March 2018 @ 6am to 19th March 2018 6am AEST.

3. That's it! Enjoy the show!

I've created four cards using the two brand new stamp sets which I bought, Born to Be Wild and Dandelion Wishes.

My first card features the stunning zebra from the Born to Be Wild set.  I kept the card simply black and white and used two sentiments from the set.  The first sentiment, I stamped vertically along the left side in black.  The second sentiment, I stamped horizontally along the bottom using red.  

My second card features the same stamp set but the wonderful image of the lion this time and a different sentiment.  I decided to use a number of different colours for this card to give the effect of a lush jungle and the warm colours of Africa.

For my third card I turned to the Dandelion Wishes stamp set and, again, decided to use black and white.  I heat embossed the image of the three dandelion clocks using white embossing powder on black cardstock.

My fourth and last card features the single dandelion clock from which some of the seeds are blowing away in the wind.  I decided to heat emboss it using white embossing powder as well, but this time on white cardstock.

I used a sponge dauber to apply the various inks, using the emboss-resist technique.  Then I stamped randomly with the dauber, using the same colours, to give the illusion of a bokeh effect.

I hope you've enjoyed the cards I've created using these beautiful new stamp sets.  

We have 10 prizes up for grabs. All our winners will be chosen at random and you MUST comment on ALL the blogs in the Hop.

Let's Go!

Comment on this post and then follow the links in the Hop.

Happy Little Stampers 

Kylie

Anita

                           Heidi - You are here    

Jane

Michelle

Linda

Stephanie

Helen Liu

GOOD LUCK :)

A Piece of My Heart

I love Penny Black stamps, especially the adorable cats and critters.  This one is all about the critters, hedgehogs, in fact.  Is there anything more cute than two little hedgehogs in love?

I decided to stamp the image from the Piece of My Heart set on Shimmery White cardstock.  I love colouring on this paper because it has a lovely surface and also allows a soft shimmer to show through the colours.  The results are really very satisfying.  After stamping the image, I used a stitched square die to cut it out, making sure I had a skinny border on two sides of the remaining cardstock.

I used my alcohol Stampin' Blends to colour the adorable little hedgehogs and that heart they share, adding a bit of sky and ground.  Then I added foam adhesive strips to the back.

I used a base of Heavy Whisper White, added a piece of Real Red cardstock and then added the negative piece of Shimmery White left from cutting out the image.  I carefully lined up the stitched square with the image and attached it to the spot from which I had cut it.  Because of the foam adhesive strips, you can see a bit of red border underneath.

As you can see, I also added a scattering of red foil hearts above the die-cut.

I'm entering this card into the PBSC February - Anything Goes

I'm also entering this card into the Double D Challenges: Woodland Creatures

Back to the Beginning

Just about seven years ago, when I began my interest in paper crafting, I fell in love with an embossing folder.  It was a simple one.  Four trees of various heights stood to the left with a lot of empty space to the right.  Little did I know that what attracted me to this embossing folder, what compelled me to buy this embossing folder, was my love of simplicity.  Oh, I've done fancy.  I've done very fancy.  But in the end, I always find myself trying for simplicity.

This embossing folder, by Tim Holtz, a name which I didn't even recognize at the time, gives me that simplicity.  I was, therefore, thrilled to see that the second part of the "Less is More" 7th Birthday Celebration called for dry embossing.   This is, in effect, my 7th year celebration as well.

Except for the die-cut sentiment which I glued on with Tombow liquid adhesive, this is a one layer card.  I've used Heavy Whisper White as my single layer, embossing the three trees directly on it.  It's clean.  It's simple.  It showcases an embossing folder close to my heart.

I'm entering this card into the "Less is More" Challenge #365 - Dry Embossing