HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #HSS320

It's time for a sketch challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week. 



I've used one of the flowers from the Floral Essences stamp set this week - inked up in Powder Pink and Blackberry Bliss.  I added some of the new DSP from SU called Pressed Petals - I really like this paper and think it goes so well this this stamp set.  I stamped it onto a stitched framelit and added a larger one out of the matching DSP.  The tag was made with a non SU tag punch and I added a strip of the DSP to the bottom.  There is a brad in the top of the tag and some twine.    The sentiment is from Jar of Love.

 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY #TSOT419

Our sketch challenge today at TSOT has the added option of using some embossing.

I used the Basket Weave Dynamic Textured Embossing folder from SU.  I used Crumb Cake card stock and then inked it up with some retired SU Chocolate Chip ink.  I used Lots of Lavender for my main image inking it in Blackberry Bliss and then stamping off for the background image.  I used a Spectrum Tri Blend pen for the leaves.  I added some very old SU ribbon and some non SU gems which are a sparkly purple green colour and very pretty.  The sentiment is from another retired set That's The Tag stamped in Blackberry Bliss and coloured in with the Tri Spectrum blender pens again.

I'm also including my card in the Double Trouble Anything Goes challenge - we will be doubling up with them at Joy of Sets Tic Tac Toe next week so look out for double the fun soon.

 

SERIOUSLY CAS

I found a new challenge site today which looks seriously CAS - clean and simple.  They even put up a little video to show exactly how much "'white space' the ideally would like.  I'm always up for a CAS challenge and try and do as little as I can get away with so here's my card for this group.  They are called AAA cards and their challenge this week is as follows:



I chose to use a Clearly Besotted stamp set for mine and went for the Warm Solutions set which has a matching die set. I used SU Very Vanilla for my base. I also kept my card CAS in that I only used the one colour which is Blackberry Bliss from SU.  I stamped out the little tea cups and used the die to cut them out.  I added a splash of watercolour ink underneath the cups just so they aren't floating in space.  I added the little die cut of the heart and the fabulous positive saying.  A very British saying don't you think?

 

COLOURFUL SEASONS

My card today is for the Fab Friday challenge - which is a colour challenge



I made this card a few days ago and when it was first made those colours looked so vibrant.  It's had a few days to settle and I'm surprised how soft and muted they have gone - maybe I needed more ink in my water colouring to keep the bright colours showing?  Or it could be the paper I used as I don't have any water colour paper at the moment.  

I've used Colourful Seasons for my card and am pleased this one didn't retire this year as I don't have very many current sets left.  I started the card using my aqua painter using the colours above.  I then stamped over them with a Tim Holtz dots stencil and alternated the colours.  I used the small dot stamp from Timeless Textures to carry the dots on and off the paper.

I used Bermuda Bay as the base card stock and also cut out the chair from the matching thinlets.  However I embossed the chair first running it through the Big Shot so that the chair had some texture.  The sentiment is from another retired set from SU Cottage Greetings.  I added a few sequins just to finish off the card.

 

LATTICE FOLD CARD - FLORAL ESSENCES

I've had another play with this technique I've just found but this time I've paired it with the new Floral Essences and matching DSP from Stampin Up.

I used Perfect Plum for my base and cut out the lattice fold.  I added a piece of the DSP Perennial Essence and used the same paper to cut out the words from the retired Amazing You thinlets.  I added a piece of pink behind the cut out too to form a shadow.  I stamped the flower in Blackberry Bliss and used an aqua painter to colour it in in the same colour.  The leaves were cut out from teh same paper.  The little diamantes are from my stach.  I added some Spectrum Noir shimmer to the wording.  

I'm adding this into Inkspirational challenge this week which is asking for Folds.

I'm also joining in with the Snippets Challenge #357 this week - I sure used some snips making that Lattice lol! 


 

SWEET STAMPIN - IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC

We are celebrating J K Rowling's birthday over at Sweet Stampin - I know - how's that for a challenge!  My children were at the right age when Harry Pothead (as he is known in our house lol) came on the scene, so we read the books, watched the films, even had the board game!

What amazed me was how clever she was writing all this for children when a lot of it is part of every day life for Wiccans or witches.  Magic is all around and isn't the Disney type with witches with warts and flying broomsticks and wands.  

So my card is a bit more serious take on the whole idea of Magic using my beloved Cherry Pie Art stamps.  The circular writing with the dragonfly is the Wiccan creed - Every mind the rule of three - three times what you do to others will come back on your threefold - in other words, be kind and harm none.

 

LATTICE FOLD CARD

Oh my goodness I found this new technique on You Tube - isn't it exciting when you see something new! It's not a new concept but it was new to me.  The lady I watched was called Barb Mullikin and she very kindly also gave us the template to be able to make this lovely card.



The challenge over at Global Design Project is #gdp199



And the challenge at Color Throwdown is #CTD553 




Although I don't have any stamps I do have the new DSP from SU called Follow Your Art.  I chose one of the papers from this set to fit in with the Challenge at the Color Throwdown as the background then used the reverse side as the backing for the stitched framelit.  The sentiment is from Painter's Palette which I thought went with the theme.  I added some ribbon and then left it alone so that the lovely lattice would be take centre stage. I'm going to be playing with this a lot!

I'm also adding this to Addicted to Stamps which is Anything Goes #351






 

SMALL IMAGES

I seem to have been still in Christmas mode with my next card - hard to believe when we are suffering a heat wave in the UK that I should be thinking of Christmas! My card has been inspired by the challenge over at Less is More #400 which is small images.




Water Cooler Wednesday is doing Occasions and they mentioned Christmas so I'm adding that in there too

I've chosen a Clearly Besotted stamp set here called Shake it Up which has these cute little images to go inside the matching snow globe.  I stamped out my little images first and used a mask and then stamped the globe and the little small stamp showing the snow bank.  I coloured in the images with some SU watercolour pencils and a blender pen.  I fussy cut them all out and then hung them on some ribbon.  There is a touch of sparkle for the snow.






 

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

I'm joining in with TGIF Challenge Christmas In July with another card inspired by one of their Design Team Elizabeth Price.- I hope it's ok to post two!  I loved the way her card looked and the fact that she said it probably couldn't be repeated as it was a question of add this then that.  That's exactly what happened with my card.

I went for an unusual palette for Christmas as I normally do reds and greens so this was completely out of my norm.

I started off by using masking off a part for the moon then using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks in Fossilized Amber and Pumice Stone to create the background.  I sponged the edges to give it the vintage look.  The script type stamp is an old Cherry Pie one and I inked it in stamped off Blackberry Bliss by SU.  I added some gold pen to parts of the ancient script.  I  inked some of the trees from SU Winter Woods in the Pumice Stone to give them a soft effect.  The trees were cut out of Very Vanilla card stock and covered in ink and a touch of white gel pen for snow.  The ribbon and flowers were from my stash.  I wrapped some bronze thread around the card before sticking it to some SU Crumb Cake.  I also added the Reindeer from Gina K Designs and the snowflakes from the same set called Season of Joy.  I love how this turned out and may well keep this colour palette for this year's cards.

 

ARTIST TRADING COINS AND TIM HOLTZ

A friend of mine Jane Allmark who has her own blog Amethyststarcrafting is organising an Artist Trading Coins swap.  I'm sure I did these years ago in a forum but Jane thinks they are only a year old but I'm sure they are older.  Anyway I jumped in to join in with her swap and I've made four coins.  They are 2.5" big.

I started off by using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks to make all the backgrounds for my coins.  I added some water to get that mottled effect and also used one of Tim's stencils for the little dots. I think this is my favourite stencil of his and it gets used a lot.

The images I stamped are from an old stamp set which I call Folk Art but I''m not sure who it is by but it has these cute animal and flower images. I stamped them in Memento ink and then used some Tri Blend Spectrum Noir inks to colour parts of them in.

I really enjoyed making these - then I received an email from Simon Says Stamp saying it is Work It Wednesday and what are you working on that is Tim Holtz related - voila! They are also able to go into Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Card - not a card! 

If you would like to join in with Jane's Swap I've included her link above.




 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT418

A lovely sketch at Try Stampin on Tuesday #TSOT418 for you to have a go at this week.

 

I've used SU Floral Essences with a slightly different colour way for the flowers of blue's and browns - I love this combination and think it's worked quite well with the flowers.  I used Early Espresso and Soft Sky and used a blender pen for the blue and the Early Espresso pencil for the brown.  The smaller flowers were inked in the same colours with the opposite colour added to their middles, but these are now covered by some pearls.

I used two Designer Series Paper - a retired one of Tranquil Textures for the brown and a strip of the Soft Sky from Bundle of Love.  What gorgeous thick paper that is.  I added some crumb cake ribbon across the top.  The sentiment was inked in Versamark and Soft Sky and then clear embossed.  A Wink of Stella and a little button on the first flower finishes off the card.

SUOC228 - FAVOURITE NEW PRODUCTS

Our Challenge over at SUOC228 this week is Favourite New Products from the new Stampin Up Catalogue.  I am not a demo so I don't get as many new goodies as those that are but I have fallen in love with the Floral Essence set of stamps and the gorgeous Designer Series Paper.  Monet is one of my favourite artists and this paper just screams his water lilies to me - I think it's good enough to just put in a frame on its own.

I used some of it as a background for my card.  I stamped the flowers in Blackberry Bliss, Basic Gray and also used a very old SU ink pad called Spectrum Stampin Pad which has five inks in one that you can push together to get an inked combination.  This was such a clever product I'm surprised SU don't bring it back!  I cut out all the flowers - I'm not very good at fussy cutting but these were really simple to cut - I used an old banner framelit for the sentiment and added some sparkle with Spectrum Noir sparkle pen. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what all your favourite new products are - do pop along to the rest of the Design Team and have a look at their inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by - I love to read your comments.

Don't forget if you love SU both current and retired I run a Facebook Group called The Joy of Sets where we have lots going on including RAK's, swaps, challenges.  

 

TIM HOLTZ DISTRESS OXIDE INKS

I've been having a play with my Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks and getting a bit inky.  Jennifer McGuire has a great video on you tube showing the benefits of the Oxide inks against the Distress Inks so I thought it was time I actually got some water out and had a play.

I only have five colours so far so the colours I used for my background were Fossilized Amber, Chipped Sapphire, Salty Oean, and Black Soot. These are not my normal colour choices as I'm more of an earths greens and reds time of girl so I'm surprised that these are the ones I have gone for so far.

On my travels through blog land I found the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge so I'm adding my card into there. It also fits in with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is to make your own background. I also think my colours go with the challenge over at Sunday Stamps.

I started off by adding some of the ink to a craft sheet, wetting it then adding the paper until I got the desired affect.  I then dried it with a heat tool and added some more of the ink on top until I was happy with what I had.  I have a tim Holtz little dots stencil so I added that on top and then used some of the Salty Ocean on top.  I then ran that through my big shot with an old SU dots embossing folder to give it a raised look.  I played with some more inks on separate pieces of paper and cut out the large butterfly and the smaller one which are from SU butterfly thinlets.

The sentiment is an old Tim Holtz one - from a set called Visual Artistry and I thought it really went with the idea of the butterflies changing.  I inked it simply with the Salty Ocean Distress Oxide ink. I added a few pearls to the inside of the smaller butterfly.  




 

SATURDAY'S CARDS AND SOME CHALLENGES

I have a spare Saturday with hubby being away for the day so a good chance to catch up on some crafting and some challenges.

The first one that caught my eye was Inkspirational Challenge #191





I used my Clearly Besotted Hello Cupcake stamp set for this set - I used some of the new DSP from SU as the background and cut it out with some stitched banner framelits.  I then stamped the hippos direct on to the DSP and coloured them in with SU watercolour pencils.  I added some Glossy Accents to the icing on the cakes.  I used some Versamark to add some interest to the card stock using the little hearts, dots and fruit slices from the set.  I added a little bow of twine to the middle to finish off the card.

My second card is for Freshly Made Sketches - #397




I have a new set from Card-io Stamps which I hadn't used yet so wanted to have a play with that.  Amongst my box of papers I found a background I had made a few weeks ago and never used. It was made with some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks on a particularly inky day of crafting!  I cut the piece I had made into two strips and added them to some SU card in Lemon Lime Twist.  I then stamped and fussy cut out the bottle of champagne and the two glasses from the stamp set.  I coloured them in using Tri Spectrum Noir blends and a touch of gold pen.  I added some interest to the base card by using Versamark and the champagne cork stamp. The sentiment is from SU Amazing You. Now all I need is a Celebration!  

My third card today is for Just Add Ink#466 .  and TGIF which is doing Christmas In July. I love this seasonal image and I'm going to make sure I do this with my lanterns at Christmas time.  I was inspired to use Merry Mistletoe, a retired SU set, by a you tube video I saw by a lady known as Stampin Star Creations.  She had used the mistletoe from this set to turn it into a Christmas Tree which is just inspired! 

 

RETRO RUBBER COLOUR CHALLENGE - #rrcb115

There is a colour challenge over at Retro Rubber this week -




My card uses a retired SU set called Amazing You together with the matching framelits - this retired in March 2018 I think so it is just over the year old.  I used Spectrum Tri Blends to colour in the flowers and some SU Wild Wasabi ink for the green.  The thinlets were first cut out of the yellow and then the purple and layered on top of each other so that both colours would show.  A touch of sparkle on the flowers and some glitter circles inside the flowers finishes off the card. 

 

RAINBOW CARD

The challenge over at Try It On Tuesday is colours of the rainbow.  I was inspired by Jennifer McGuire to do a rainbow card out of scraps of card stock - something we all have lots of I'm sure.  This was such a simple technique I'm going to be doing a lot more of them.

After I had glued all my different strips I cut the card stock down to the size I wanted and glued it to the base.  I then used one of the SU thinlets from Amazing You for the word Celebrate and a butterfly thinlet for the butterly. I added some rainbow coloured enamel dots to the butterfly.

I'm also entering this into the Less is More Celebrations challenge #399


 

MALE CARDS

I've been playing with my new Cardio stamp sets again - such great stamps that allow you to make a scene but I don't have enough of them yet. However, I chose just one from a set called Garden Hosedown for my card for two challenges - Watercooler Wednesday #WWC230 who wants male cards and Addicted to CAS #163 which had the challenge word of Heat.

I started off my sponging the background with some Tim Holtz inks - Bundled Sage, Barn Door, Worn Lipstick and Fossilized Amber.  I then stamped the BBQ with Black Momento ink and added the flames in the red and yellow inks.  The smoke stamp was inked off SU Basic Gray.  The sentiments come from Clearly Besotted.  This was then simply added to a white background to keep it CAS.