Favourite Blue / A Card for a Child

Sweet Stampin' wants us to use our favourite colour.  Mine is blue.

My best friend also loves blue and she asked me to make an anniversary card for her to give to her partner.  

Stamped in royal blue ink, heat embossed with shimmery embossing powder, trimmed with a stitched square die, and bordered with royal blue cs.

Try It on Tuesday challenge wants to see a card aimed at children or featuring children.  I stayed with my favourite colour and did a variation of a card I've done before, featuring a child and also suitable to give to a child.  It's also for the We Love Stamping "Make It Cute" challenge.

I created a background by inking up an embossing folder and stamping with it.  I then stamped the tree, child and pony, and sentiment (created by combining two different stamps) in black, trimmed it and bordered it in a matching blue.  

 

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Visible Image
Ink -  ColorBox Royal Blue
Paper - white shimmer and royal blue cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - SU Irridescent Ice embossing powder, Lil Inker stitched square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Isobel Craft Collection Thelwell stamps, Penny Black and Simon Says Stamp sentiments
Ink - Archival Jet Black, Distress Broken China                                                                            Paper - white and blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder

A Poinsettia and a Pony

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants flowers on a Christmas card.  What better than a poinsettia?  I'm also adding it to Rudolph Days.

Stamped and watercoloured, framed with a pierced dot frame (cut twice and stacked for more dimension), gold pearl drops added to the centre of the flower and glossy accents added to the berries.

For ABC Christmas Challenge "S is for Stencils", I stencilled snowflakes in the background.  It's also for Sweet Stampin' "For a Child" - that child could have been me as I spent my childhood longing for a pony!  And for Stamping Sensations "Animals'.

I did the stencilling first and then put the panel in my MISTI so that I could get a good impression with my black stamping.

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - poinsettia, sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - MFT pierced rectangle frame, watercolour paints, glossy accents, gold pearl drops

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Isobel Craft Collection Thelwell stamps, Penny Black sentiment, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, Distress Broken China
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TCW snowflake mask

Win a Stamps / Dies Set over at Snippets!

Di over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop has invited me to Guest Design and offer up a prize for the new challenge in the Snippets Playground.  I had a hard time deciding what to offer up but decided to go with something representing one of my other crafty passions - knitting.

The prize is a set of matching stamps and dies - Hero Arts "Knitting" and "Knitting Frame Cuts".

Do lots of you have a stash of white and cream snippets?  I sure do.  There is always a pile like this on my craft desk, mostly created by cutting cs down for square cards:

 

I made two cards using some of the stamps and dies and using up some of the snippets of white cs.

 

I used the same stencil for both backgrounds but on the first card I did a stencil monoprint (see the video tutorial here) with a couple of shades of blue Distress inks, and on the second I lightly and somewhat randomly coloured through the stencil with turquoise and purple Distress inks and my blending brushes.

The images are stamped and coloured (with Inktense watercolour pencils for the first card, and regular coloured pencils for the second), then I die cut the coloured image and a second one out of more snippets, glued the two together for more dimension and added to the background.

Please note that the sentiment "Sweater weather" is not part of the prize.

Please come and join us over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop for a chance to win this set of stamps and dies.

Supplies:
Stamps - Hero Arts Knitting, unknown "Sweater Weather" sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black, various shades of Distress blue, purple, and turquoise
Paper - white and black cs, mixed media cs
Size - 4.75" square and A2
Accessories - Hero Arts Knitting Frame dies, Inktense watercolour pencils, regular watercolour pencils, Tim Holtz knitting stencil

A Childhood Memory

The Day of the Month Card Club is celebrating National Puppy Day.  I'm sneaking in under the wire with this card:

I was thrilled when I found this stamp as it totally reminded me of my childhood.  

I have always had a dog in my life and when I was a child, my sister and I always had little birthday parties for our dog. I don't think any of our dogs ever actually sat up the table like this one, but we did give them a treat and sing Happy Birthday to them!

I pulled out a background I'd made with pale blue and a tiny bit of gold Magicals, spritzed with water on watercolour paper. Stamped and heat embossed the image over it, added a bit of colour with coloured pencils, trimmed with a wonky stitched square, and popped up on fun foam on a kraft card base. I die the sentiment out of a remaining scrap of the Magicals piece.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps - Viva Las Vegas
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, kraft cs
Size - A2
Accessories - pale blue and tiny bit of gold Magicals, clear embossing powder, coloured pencils, MFT Wonky Stitched Square die, Tattered Lace sentiment die, fun foam

A Child and a Dog

Mid-month already and time to remind you to join in with the May CAS Watercolour Challenge!

I've gone with another Christmas / winter themed card.

I love this image.  I've lived with dogs my whole life and look back so fondly on those childhood dogs who were our constant companions and went out with us whenever we were out playing with our friends.  Life was a lot freer then and my friends, our dogs, and I would be off alone all day in the woods, in the ravine, or, in winter, at a deserted sand quarry where we tobogganed for hours on end - no adults in sight!

I stamped the image and watercoloured it with my Gansai Tambi paints.  I mixed some black with the iridescent white paint for the ground.  And then mixed the palest blue with a lot of the iridescent white to do a very light wash over the top area of the panel.

Then I added more blue to the iridescent white and painted it onto a scrap of watercolour paper.  When dry, I die cut to small snowflakes and the sentiment from it.

I popped the panel up on fun foam on a blue/grey card base.  In real life, it's much closer in colour to the snowflakes than it appears in the photo.

Here's a close-up of the focal panel to try to show you a bit of the shimmer in the background and snowflakes:

Looking forward to seeing your cards that would be suitable to give to a child.  Check out the other cards by the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Bobby (bits & pieces) over at CAS Watercolour.  You have until May 24th to link up.

Supplies:

Stamps - ? child and dog stamp

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, blue/grey cs

Size - 6.25x4.75"

Accessories - Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Tattered Lace sentiment die, Cheery Lynn small snowflakes die, fun foam

Child on a Polar Bear

CAS Watercolour is asking for a card for a child this month.

I decided to make a child's Christmas card.

I stamped my image and watercoloured it with my Gansai Tambi watercolour paints.  For the snowy ground, I mixed the pale blue and the iridescent white paints that come in the set.

I die cut the image with a wonky stitched circle die, popped it up on fun foam, and added it to a red card base for contrast.

There is lots of other inspiration for you from the rest of the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Bobby (bits and pieces).  Please remember to keep your card clean and simple, and be sure to follow the theme.  You have until May 24th to enter.

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, red cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, MFT wonky stitched circle die, fun foam

Sparkle Paste Snowflakes

Summer starts in the month of June and here's me making a winter / Christmas card for my Design Team card for the June CAS Mix Up challenge!  This month we are looking for:

I'd been meaning to do a card for last week's SCS Ways to Use It challenge, "Kids & Pets, the Perfect Mix!" since I'm such a dog lover and I have the perfect stamp for it in my NBUS box.  It occurred to me that it was ideal for embossing paste snowflakes so I decided to do it for CAS Mix Up, and post late to the SCS challenge.  Here it is:

I stamped my image on Bristol vellum cs - ideal for coloured pencils.  I used my Prismacolours and Gamsol to colour the image.  Then I laid the Memory Box snowflakes stencil over it, masking off any snowflakes that interfered with the image (like a huge one right on the dog's head).  I used the beautifully sparkly Cosmic Shimmer Frosty Dawn embossing paste.

I added a thin border of sparkly cs and popped it up on fun foam.

Here's a close-up of the embossing paste snowflakes:

Because of the proportions of the image, I made this an unusual size of card - 4.5x5" instead of the usual 4.25x5.5".  So it was a good opportunity to use my envelope maker and a piece of dp from my stash to make an appropriately-sized and co-ordinating envelope.

Please head over to CAS Mix Up and check out the other cards by the fabulous Design Team and our June Guest Designer, Marianne of Marianne's Cards 'n Stuff.  You have until June 24th to link up a card that includes stamping, embossing paste or gel, and at least one other option from our list on the right hand side of the CAS Mix Up page - I have stamping, embossing paste, stenciling, and coloured pencils with Gamsol.

And if anyone knows the brand or name of the stamp, please let me know.  It's unmounted and disappeared into my NBUS box with no note of where I got it!

Supplies:

Stamps - ? dog and child stamp, Northwoods sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - white glitter, white, and Bristol Vellum cs

Size - 4.5x5"

Accessories - Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Memory Box snowflake stencil, Cosmic Shimmer Frosty Dawn embossing paste, fun foam