Think pink ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  Whilst checking on some family on Facebook I received the sad news that the lovely and very talented Eileen Dobson has lost her fight with cancer.  Some of you many know of Eileen because of her awesome Let’s Craft & Create Challenge.

I actually meant to share what I created a week or two ago but forgot and now it seems it’s the right thing to do and to share, here it is …

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Allsorts Challenge #365 Pink

Let’s Create and Craft Challenge Think Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use Flowers

We Love to Create Challenge #11 Mixed Media Anything Goes

Edit: I forgot to say this is the first time I drew and water coloured with my Spectrum Aqua pens, AquaTints and Spectrum Sparkle pens.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon  ttfn Karen x

Tools

Miscellaneous Tools: paintbrushes; water pot; heat tool

Supplies

Card Paper: Sheena Douglass A4 Stamping Card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Sparkle clear overly pen

Spectrum Aqua pens: floral set (I think)                                   

Primary Spectrum Noir AquaTints

Pencils 

Another sketch ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week was a good one and you have fabulous weekend plans, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK so all the roads out to anywhere nice are going to be packed and it will probably rain too!  I have another birthday card to show you today and here it is …

   

A6 card and for giving by hand because of the depth

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges 
 AAA Cards Challenge #65 Happy 2^nd Birthday Wishes

To the lovely & mega talented Design Team @ AAA Cards Challenge

Country View Crafts Challenge Stencil
Creative Artiste Challenge #14 Anything Goes
Creative with Stamps Challenge #2 Clean & Simple

 Happy Little Stamper’s Mixed Media Challenge 

Love to Create Challenge #11 Anything Creative/Mixed Media

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge Make a Wish: to keep on experimenting! 
Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

  Stamplorations Stamps Challenge 

The ABC Challenge H for Heavy with Embellishments:
three chipboard hearts, sequins, UTEE and modelling paste

I recently located a box full of Woodware chipboard shapes, lol, I think they are more than ten years old!!  They must have been a special offer on QVC at some point as I know that’s where a lot of my really old stash came from.  I have made sure that I can see them, like I have with my pretty flowers, so that I can try and remember to use them. 

When I saw the sketch at Stamplorations at the beginning of the month I knew they would work as the flower elements so I attached one of my mixed media experimental backgrounds to three of them.  Once the glue was dry I sanded the edges and then coloured them with gold acrylic paint – it looks better this way!  Luckily enough there was a bit left over and I was able to use that to fit with the sketch and of course it needed a bit of stamping here and there – I love the swirly-ma-gigs and a sentiment plus a few sequins too.  For a fabulous change I have used the whole A5 experimental piece so none will go into the snippets bag: yay!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon  ttfn Karen x

Tools

Stamp: Stamplorations Stamps: Dee’s Artsy Impressions Banners & Balloons stamp set

Stencil: Stamplorations Stamps: Gridlocked stencil

Miscellaneous Tools: paintbrushes; heat tool; pipettes; palette knife; water cup

                

Supplies

Card Paper: Sheena Douglass A4 White Stamping Card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Beautifully Grunge set

Adirondack IP: meadow #

Artiste gold acrylic paint

Gold UTEE #

Embellishments:

Woodware Chipboard shapes #; sequins from my stash

Adhesives/Mediums:

Versamark IP

Versamark IP

Maimeri Glossy Gel

Collall all purpose glue; Washi tape; funky foam; double sided tape

# VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase: 9 years old

New Butterfly stamps ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  I have a card to share with you today and here it is …

 

A 6" square card

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

 Allsorts Challenge #364 Happy 7^th Birthday Wishes

To the lovely & mega talented Design Team @ Allsorts Challenge

Butterfly Challenge #55 Butterflies and A for Aperture &/ Apricot

The orange is as close as I can achieve to apricot
Crop Stop Blog #16 link party (Distress ink pads)
Deep Ocean Challenge #129 Shabby Chic or Vintage

Happy Little Stamper’s Die Challenge Anything Goes with Dies

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #3 Black & White Plus One Other Colour

I am sharing that you don’t have to use Kim’s stamps to enter and win at Paperbabe Stamps Challenge!

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #230 

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge Make a Wish: to keep on stamping!

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

 Sweet Stampin’ Challenge Terrible Teenagers

I recently was a lucky winner over at Paperbabe stamps challenge: yay!  I already have several sets of Kim’s stamps and I love them all.  I knew I had won the challenge but hadn’t popped over to the shop for a while so when I saw Kim released a new set of stamps that were all about the butterfly: I was overjoyed!  So I got to play with those stamps over the weekend and I love them!  I need to make sure I spend some time playing with these as well as checking out Kim’s post as there is more ways you can create butterflies than the usual with this set.  I also got to play with a NBUS die to try out inlaid die cutting.  I inlaid the die cut circle very easily but those little bits from the Spellbinders die: you can see I didn’t manage that so I used some wet glue and black glitter.  I will try again but with something less detailed in future.  I also managed to use quite a few pre cut flowers which is fabulous as I have shrunk one pile just a little but every little bit counts.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon  ttfn Karen x

Tools

Stamp: Paperbabe Stamps: Butterfly Pieridae

Die Cutting Tool & Die: Cuttlebug machine; Spellbinders Shapeability die set

Miscellaneous Tools: ink blending tool and foam

Supplies

Card Paper:

300 gsm card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Distress IPs: Weathered Wood; Spiced Marmalade

Versafine IP: black

Embellishments:

Craftwork Cards die cut flowers #

Black glitter #

Adhesives/Mediums:

Collall all purpose glue; double sided tape

# VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase, min. 5 years old

Inspired by a photograph ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  I’m back with a card and a little something else to share and show today and here is my card …

  

Another A6 and not too deep

 

A final look

And here is the little something else I created …

  

It's going to go on a piece of silk braid with a sliding knot

 

Sparkly and wonderful texture too!

 

A final look at both

I want to enter both my card and pendant into these Challenges

  Altenew Stamps Inspiration Challenge

I was inspired by the blues and greens and metallic in this photograph

Card Mania Challenge CMC#80 Flowers

Country View Crafts Challenge Stencil

Seven Hills Crafts Challenge May Embossing

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use Flowers

 I want to enter just my pendant into these challenges

 Anything But Cute Challenge
Mixed Media Celebrate Your Style: I never thought I would create or be able to create mixed media distressed projects that I would like but I love this!  I’m evolving and learning all the time and I love it!

Deep Ocean Challenge #129 Shabby Chic or Vintage

 Happy Little Stamper’s Mixed Media Challenge

 Mixed Media World Challenge MM#14 Glam Grunge

Southern Ridge Trading Company Challenge May Feminine

 Stamplorations Stamps Mixed Media Challenge

When I saw the photograph I was immediately drawn by the rich shades of blues and greens as well as the tones of copper and gold.  I knew I wanted to try and create a card that captured the photographic elements what I didn’t expect was that I would also want to create a chipboard piece which is going to be a pendant for me: yay!

The photographed inspired me to create a blue, green and a little grey or black background, a heavily textured lime green piece of card to add texture to my card and chipboard.  I used my Spectrum Noir AquaTints to create the background, to colour the card that had texture medium added to it and to colour some parchment that I have added to the chipboard.  A lot of different techniques and supplies were used but I haven’t listed the processes as it would make this a very long post indeed.  If anyone has any questions please ask and I will answer as I am always more than happy to share the process on a separate tutorial post.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon  ttfn Karen x

 Tools

Stamp: Altenew Stamps: Whimsical Flowers stamp set

Stencil: Stamplorations Stamps: Gridlocked stencil

Miscellaneous Tools:  paintbrushes; heat tool; palette knife; paint palette; water pot

Supplies

Card Paper:

Crafter’s Companion Sheena Douglass A4 Stamping Card; parchment paper; Tando Creative Chipboard

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Primary; Beautifully Grunge

Artiste: gold acrylic paint

Gold UTEE #; Gold EP #; glitter #

Embellishments: Swarovski gems & metal pin heads #

Adhesives/Mediums: Collall all purpose glue; Maimeri Glossy Gel; home made texture paste

# VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase, min. 8 years old

A sketchy ..

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your weekend was good and your week has started well.  I have a card to share with you today and here it is …

  

An A6 nice and flat too

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

 AAA Cards Challenge #65 Happy 2^nd Birthday Wishes

To the lovely & mega talented Design Team @ AAA Cards Challenge

  Allsorts Challenge #364 Happy 7^th Birthday Wishes

To the lovely & mega talented Design Team @ Allsorts Challenge

 Country View Crafts Challenge Stencil

 Happy Little Stamper’s Mixed Media Challenge

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge Make a Wish: to keep on experimenting!
  Stamplorations Stamps Challenge 

 Sweet Stampin’ Challenge Terrible Teenagers: I think they’d be okay with my card

 Taylored Expressions Share Joy Challenge  

#36 sketch or clean & simple: I chose CAS.  

This card is for a box of cards I am gifting to a family member

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #294 Embossing: wet or dry: most definitely wet

I made this card especially for several challenges but I have to admit that part of the reason for making it was the fact that I love playing and stamping with my balloon stamps too, lol. 

I’ve also been experimenting too, as per usual, with my mixed media supplies.  The strip down the border and the balloons were coloured with my Spectrum Beautifully Grunge AquaTints, I am obsessed with the lime green at the moment, it happens every year: the coming of spring means my colour choice brightens.  So I coloured an A5 piece of white card with the lime green AquaTints and left to dry.  Once it was dry used Washi tap to attach the stencil and applied my own texture paste, removed the stencil and threw gold UTEE over the top and left to dry.  The next day I heated the UTEE and achieved the lovely bubbly texture.  Because the stencil is 5” x 7” there was some green coloured card left so I stamped and embossed my balloons onto that and then painted the glossy gel to see if the texture would be touch-able/feel-able as well as visible: yep it is!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon  ttfn Karen x

Tools

Stamp: Stamplorations Stamps: Dee’s Artsy Impressions Banners & Balloons stamp set

Stencil: Stamplorations Stamps: Gridlocked stencil

Miscellaneous Tools: paintbrushes; heat tool; pipettes; palette knife; water cup

                

Supplies

Card Paper: Sheena Douglass A4 White Stamping Card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Beautifully Grunge set

Adirondack IP: meadow #

Gold UTEE #

Gold detail EP #*

Adhesives/Mediums:

Collall all purpose glue; Washi tape

Versamark IP

Maimeri Glossy Gel

VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase: # min. 9 years old; #* 3 years min

Butterflies and blossoms ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your having a good weekend is going well and please accept my apologies for lack of visits – I am hoping to be able to pop around and catch up next week, right now things are a little busy and somewhat frantic too, and of course, my back has been playing up this weekend when I am trying to get projects finished!  I have another home décor to share with you today and here it is …

   

It is so pretty and spring like!

With lots of lovely details

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

  

Anything But Cute Challenge Mixed Media Celebrate Your Style

Country View Crafts Challenge Stencil

Craft Stamper Challenge May Anything Goes

Creative Artiste Challenge #14 Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge #129 Shabby Chic or Vintage

Southern Ridge Trading Company Challenge May Feminine

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use Flowers

  Stamplorations Stamps Mixed Media Challenge May

  Stamps & Stencils Challenge May Think Pink

Things to Alter Challenge #5 Anything Goes

The more of these hangings that I create the more I want to keep lol!  But we would run out of room if I did that so DH and I have had a word and we are going to pick the ones we like the best to keep and display in our home and the others will go to family and friends, if they want them of course.  The other bonus, as far as I am concerned, is that I am finally using all the ‘best stuff’ that I have been hoarding for such a long time because I thought they were too good to add to a card or would make that card too deep (P&P issue wise). 

I cut the stamping card to slightly bigger than the chipboard piece.  The next step was to smooch Distress paints onto my craft mat which I lightly sprayed with water before mopping up the colour onto the card and used my heat gun to dry the paint in between applications until I was happy.  I stamped and embossed the butterflies onto the background and also added some crackle paste through a Tando Creative stencil.

I used some of the remaining white card to stamp and heat emboss the butterflies onto and coloured them with my AquaTints and this time I didn’t dilute them too much.  One word though I wish I had written down what colours and proportion I used to create the awesome teal colour!  Tim Holtz’s Distress Peacock Feather colour is very similar to that and I love that colour so much.  I fussy cut the butterflies and attached them onto the chipboard by gluing just the body of the butterfly in position.  I coloured Wild Orchid Crafts Cherry Blossoms with pink AquaTints and once dry I added pink Stickles glitter glue.  I punched two holes for the ribbon to be thread through then attached the word band by feeding ribbon through the slots on that and took the ribbon around the back so that the ends would be hidden.  I then played around with the layout of the rest of the embellishments and attached them in position.  My final step was to add a piece of card to the back of the chipboard so that the ribbon was  hidden.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and comment.  I really do appreciate it and I hope you get some time to do what you love to do soon  ttfn Karen x

Tools

Stamp: Tim Holtz Perspective stamp set

Stencil: Tando Creative Sequin Waste stencil

Miscellaneous Tools: heat tool; paintbrushes; water pot

Supplies

Card Paper:

Country View Crafts: Chipboard

Crafter’s Companion: Sheena Douglass A4 Stamping Card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Country View Crafts

DecoArt: white crackle paste

Tim Holtz Distress Paints:

Crafter’s Companion

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Beautifully Grunge; Primary

White EP #

Embellishments:

Tim Holtz Idea-Ology: word band

Wild Orchid Crafts: cherry blossoms; chrysanthemums

Stickles Glitter glue pink #; ribbon #; oriental coins #; heart charm #; butterfly bead #

Adhesives/Mediums:

Collall all purpose glue; double sided tape (for the ribbon)

# VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase or what brand or company I purchased these are from because they are at least 6 years old