A second look at the third stamp ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  As I mentioned on yesterday’s post I used the same stamp again and used a load of snippets too and here it is …

 

Another little A6 card

I like this cool blue and white collage-esque card

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

As You Like It Challenge Favourite Markers or Inks or Pencils & Why: 

Spectrum Aqua pens because I can use them if I’m working in a tight space and my fingers aren’t as stained when I use them than when I use my inks 

CASology Challenge #204 Row: I stamped a row of starbursts
Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge Tic Tac Toe: stamp – stencil - spray

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes 
 Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use a Die plus Spectrum Noir pens/products

I have been experimenting with collage for the last couple of months.  It’s a wonderful way to use up those snippets and I just love the look.  So after I stamped these flowers/bursts I knew that this blue and white stamped panel would look fabulous on a collage card.  I played around with my snippets to create this much more sedate but yummy card.  As much as I love bold bright colours there is something so soothing and so Scandinavian about this card that I have fallen in love with it lol!  More collage experiments will be going on for the next couple of months.

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: Hero Arts K5585 Starbursts

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug die cutting machine

Winnie & Walter ‘happy’ die

Crafter’s Companion Inspiration Magazine embossing folder

Stencil:

Stamplorations gridlocked stencil

Miscellaneous Tools:

Ink blending tool and foam; paint brushes; water pot

Supplies

Card Paper:

Crafter’s Companion Sheena Douglass A4 Stamping Card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Aqua pens: Nature set

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Perfectly Primary

Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens: clear overlay set

Adhesives/Mediums:

Collall all purpose glue; Washi tape

A very old stamp ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  I’ve enjoyed and had fun using some of my really old stamps with newer mediums.  I’ve created mainly floral cards which I hope won’t continue next month, lol, as I do not want to bore you at all.  Anyways I have a card to share with you today and here it is …

 

A cute little A6 card

I think this is my fourth favourite card this month: do you do that?  Or am I a complete nut lol!

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Deep Ocean Challenge Colours of Summer

Die Cut Diva’s Challenge Anything Goes

Fussy & Fancy Friday’s Challenge  Say It With Flowers

Happy Little Stamper’s Die Challenge June Anything Goes

Noor Design UK Challenge Summer is Coming

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge Tic Tac Toe: stamp-stencil-spray

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

 Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use a Die plus Spectrum Noir pens/products 

 Virginia’s View Challenge  #22 All About Colours  

I have a folder of AquaTints backgrounds ready and waiting to be used and the background as well as the lacy border are from that folder – it’s good to use them!  I mentioned in my last post that this has been all about flower stamps for me lol! 

Getting the Spectrum Aqua pens has meant that a lot of my old stamps are once again useful.  I have been able to ink up the flowers in two colours, the branch in brown and a little green for the moss you find on the older cherry blossom trees.  Once I had stamped the image a few times I heat set the flowers to make sure they were dry and very gently went in with my Primary Spectrum Noir AquaTints to colour the sky and I have fallen in love with this stamp all over again – that’s why I love my stamps because I have good designs and newer mediums make those older stamps modern again: thank you Spectrum Noir!

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: Dee Gruenig Sunday International EZ Mount stamps: Cherry Blossom

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug die cutting machine; Crafters Companion Die’sire flower die

Stencil: Tim Holtz layering stencil: lace

Miscellaneous Tools:

Martha Stewart border punch; paintbrushes; water pot; heat tool

Supplies

Card Paper: Crafters Companion Sheena Douglass A4 Stamping Card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Aqua pens: Floral set

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Perfectly Primary set

Embellishments: The Works: half pearl

Adhesives/Mediums:

White gesso; Washi tape; Collall all purpose glue

# VOS: very old stamp min. 18 years old

A third new to me Hero Arts stamp ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  I have been playing with another of the gorgeous stamps that I was lucky enough to win from the lovely Brenda and here is the first card I’ve created using it …

 

An A6 card

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Lawnscaping Challenge #132 Distress Maniacs 

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #235

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use a Die plus Spectrum Noir pens/products

  Virginia’s View Challenge  #22 All About Colours

This card was created with mainly Spectrum Noir and Spectrum Aqua products and it was such fun to create lol!  I have another card I created using the same stamp which I will share with you on the next post.  I created a mini landscape, sky and grass, using my Perfectly Primary Spectrum Noir AquaTints onto a piece of Sheena Douglass A4 white stamping card and left to dry.  Once dry I coloured the stamp with my Spectrum Aqua pens and stamped the flowers three or four times before lightly spraying with water so that they would diffuse a little.  I then used the Beautifully Grunge AquaTints to change white card to purple and I sprayed that too because it creates a lovely distressed look.  I coloured white card with my AquaTints before using my Die’sire flower die.  Some lovely roughened edges and I was happy!

On a more personal note we just got back from seeing my family and meeting our niece.  Oh my goodness she is so petite and I have fallen deeply in love with her!  Such a beautiful little girl, only about four weeks old; and I can’t wait to see her once again.  My back is in more of a state than it already was but it was so good to see my mum looking well and meeting our precious new family member.  I think I am going to be a naughty auntie as far as my brother and his partner are concerned lol!  I am going to spoil her and any other, hopefully, little ones that come along.

I feel deep sorrow because of the Brexit vote and how it is negatively affecting our country already.  I have a hunch that this is not going to end well for any of us and could end up with a lot of people being mentally and physically hurt.  We have heard many stories of friends no longer being friends because of the way they voted.  We have heard worse stories of racist comments and physical racist attacks that are affecting many right now.  I promise not to un-friend anyone who voted to remain that is your choice and I made my decision to remain.  Lets hope that there is no more racism and a complete end to this rotten nastiness now.

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: Hero Arts: K5585 Starbursts wooden stamp

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug die cutting machine

Crafter’s Companion Die’sire flower die (Crafter’s Companion Inspiration magazine)

Miscellaneous Tools:

Tonic Distressing Tool; paint brushes & pipettes from AquaTints; spray water bottle; water pot

Supplies

Card Paper: Crafter’s Companion Sheena Douglass A4 Stamping card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Beautifully Grunge & Perfectly Primary

Spectrum Aqua pens: Floral set

Embellishments:

The Works: large half pearl

Adhesives/Mediums:

Collall all purpose glue; double sided tape; funky foam

A second new to me stamp ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week was a good one and you have awesome weekend plans.  Today’s card came about because of the background I created.  Playing with my AquaTints on a piece of A6 card and allow myself to let go again and here it is …

  

An A6 card

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

As You Like It Challenge Favourite Die & Why: 

my regular visitors must be bored!  I love this word die because: it’s perfect for different occasions as well as being gender neutral!

 Creative with Stamps Challenge #3 Male/Masculine

Happy Little Stamper’s Die Challenge June Anything Goes

That’s Crafty Challenge Male/Masculine

The ABC Challenge ‘J’ for just as you like

Time Out Challenge  #49 Masculine, optional Mixed Media Twist

We Love to Create Challenge #13 Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes 

I am not 100% sure how or why I created this background but I love it, love, love, love it!  To my eye it looks like granite or concrete with a little lichen growing on it and I really hope I can create one like this again.  I need to allow myself just to let go more often lol!  I think I used two or maybe three of my AquaTints sets, I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been. 

For the background I used the grey from the Spectrum Noir Landscape set to colour a piece of damp card before adding blues and greens from the Landscape set too.  I also used the black from the Essentials set to add a little black here and there.  I was trying to create the look of stone and I think the depth, the shadow, and the lighter areas are why this background works.  The happy die cut from an AquaTints snippet and the stamped panel was an AquaTints snippet too.  I inked up the stamp with my Spectrum Aqua pen before stamping and then fussy cutting it out. 

I think it’s a nice card for a male with no fussy or sparkly details so that should make it acceptable.  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: Magenta stamp

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug die cutting machine; Winnie & Walter happy die

Miscellaneous Tools: paintbrushes; water pot; spray water bottle

Supplies

Card Paper:

Sheena Douglass A4 white stamping card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Essentials; Landscape; maybe Beautifully Grunge set

Spectrum Aqua Nature set

Adhesives/Mediums:

Collall all purpose glue; double sided tape; funky foam

An old stamp ...

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

 

 A 5" x 7" card - love the colours!

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Allsorts Challenge #368 How Does Your Garden Grow

As You Like It Challenge Favourite Die & Why: I love this word die because: it’s perfect for different occasions as well as being gender neutral!

Dare 2 B Artzy Challenge Bling: loads of shimmer from the Perfect Pearls & Stickles

Fashionable Stamping Challenge #112 Beautiful Blooms

Fussy & Fancy Friday’s Challenge #166 Say It With Flowers 

Paperbabe Stamps Challenge #35 Anything Goes

Penny Black & More Challenge Flower Power 

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #234

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge use patterned paper 

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use a Die plus Spectrum Noir pens/products

Whilst I was putting some flower stamps away I noticed my lovely old Penny Black brushstrokes flower stamp.  Because I hadn’t used this stamp with my Spectrum Aqua pens I thought it was a good idea to play lol!  As I was looking at my table I saw the patterned paper snippet, created by me snippets and a rejected background snippet as well as the flower and I thought I might as well have a little play.  I inked up the stamp and stamped four of them across a piece of white card and then sprayed them lightly with water.  I created a Perfect Pearls wash and added a little to each of the flower heads.  I dried the panel then I stamped two more of the flowers with no water or Perfect Pearls added to them as I wanted them to be in focus.  I cut this panel to size then took my distress tool to the edges. 

I die cut the ‘happy’ from AquaTints coloured card that had heat embossing detail added to it through one of my Tim Holtz stencils.  I attached the die cut to the stamped panel once dry.  I created AquaTints and Perfect Pearls wash which I used to colour the flower with and left it to dry.  I roughened up the edge of a snippet of DP paper and attached it halfway across the card lilac card.  I then attached the stamped panel to the card using funky foam and double sided tape.  I squashed the flower then added a pearl to the centre and went around the outside of the pearl with Stickles glitter glue.  

Several snippets used up, an old stamp updated because of the new pens and a couple of old stash items used too which makes me a happy woman!  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: Penny Black Brushstrokes stamp

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug die cutting machine; Winnie & Walter ‘happy’ die

Stencil: Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Woodgrain

Miscellaneous Tools: heat tool; paintbrushes; water pot; water spray bottle

Supplies

Card Paper:

Sheena Douglass A4 stamping card

K&Co paper courtesy of Country View Crafts candy

Pearlescent lavender card #

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Aqua Floral set & Nature pen sets

Perfect Pearls pigment powders: Interference Violet

Cosmic Shimmer EP: black #

Embellishments:

Stickles glitter glue: purple #

The Works: half white pearl

Adhesives/Mediums:

Versamark IP; Collall all purpose glue; Washi Tape; Double sided tape; funky foam

# VOS: very old stash and no idea if still available to purchase, min. 4 years old

Pink layers ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your weekend was a good one and your week will be good.  I wanted to apologise up front for the lack of visits from me.  It’s the usual issue with my fibro, RA and back all going at once.  Sadly I can’t manage to blog or visit much because of the discomfort and pain.  Hopefully it will all settle again soon.  Anyways back to business and I’ve a card to share with you today and here it is …

   

The stamped panel, the patterned papers and the embellishments required an A5 card!

Lots of lovely lush layers, lots of pink with the brown just works!

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

Allsorts Challenge #368 How Does Your Garden Grow

Craft Stamper Challenge Let’s Get Inky

Die Cut Diva’s Challenge Anything Goes

Fashionable Stamping Challenge #112 Beautiful Blooms

Noor Design UK Challenge Summer is Coming

Penny Black & More Challenge Flower Power 

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use a Die plus Spectrum Noir pens/products

That’s Crafty Challenge In the pink

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #298 Watercolour

Wednesday’s Creative Inspirations Challenge #Spring into Summer

You know I love shabby/distressed cards and I’m very grateful to Pamellia, Nikki, Autumn and Sara for cheering me on and for teaching me so much about this style. 

When I started out I knew I wanted to create a shabby style card, mainly pink, use lots of embellishments, as well as incorporating my Tim Holtz flower stamp set and Spectrum Aqua pens.  Once I stamped and water coloured these flowers I put the card to one side to dry.  I used very old pink card which I knew I wanted to cover because it’s fuchsia pink.  Then I started playing around with gorgeous papers and gorgeous die cuts that are a gift from my lovely friend Helen.  I cut the pink card and papers to size and used my Tim Holtz distress tool which has become one of my favourite tools without me realising it lol! 

I tried to distress edges with scissors but there was some blood involved and that was why OH purchased this tool along with needed supplies which were my Christmas presents last year.  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: Flower Garden stamp set

Great Impressions: You’re Fabulous stamp

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug die cutting machine; Spellbinders large Classic Circle die set

Miscellaneous Tools:

Tim Holtz Distress Tool; paint brushes; water pot; quilling tool

Supplies

Card Paper:

Sheena Douglass A4 Stamping card

Pink card #

Craftwork Cards 8” square paper stack #

300 gsm card

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:
Spectrum Aqua Floral pen set: rose pink & bud green

Spectrum Noir AquaTints

Memento dew drop IP: rose bud

The Works: white gesso

Embellishments:

EBay: sequins

Craftwork Cards: flowers die cuts #

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

June's first not a card or tag ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  I have been playing with different mediums, seeing what they do and how they do it.  It has been interesting, to say the least, and I know I need to find out some more details of one of them, at least lol!  It was a fun play session though and here is my project …

 

Lots of bright blue, pink, purple and a little green too!

It was fun to create and fun to learn more about some of my mediums

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

A Vintage Journey Challenge Texture I've used texture paste and crackle accent

Country View Crafts Challenge Crackle

Creative Artiste Challenge Anything Goes

Creative Corner Challenges Shabby 

Dare 2 B Artzy Challenge Bling 

  Happy Little Stamper’s Mixed Media Challenge

 Rubber Dance Art Stamps Colour Challenge

Stamps & Stencils Challenge June Floral Frenzy

That’s Crafty Challenge In the pink

Things to Alter Challenge #6 Anything Goes

This canvas started out because of the challenges about texture and colour.  I wanted to experiment with texture paste and crackle as well as my usual experiments.  I have learnt more ‘what not to do’s’ as well as the ‘wow that worked’.  I’ve also learnt that mixing up the genres sometimes works too.  I wanted bold colours, shabby, shiny and lots of texture and I think I achieved it.  Many thanks to the challenges that particularly share the step by steps – you are very generous with your skills and are great for me as I am more or less housebound which means getting to courses is a major issue.  I really appreciate it that you share your talent and how to with us all.

Although I wanted texture and crackle I was not sure why or what else to do.  So I allowed myself to go with the flow.  I used snippets of background card that I had coloured with my Beautifully Grunge & Essentials Spectrum Noir AquaTints.  One of the backgrounds is pink and gold and the other is purple and gold.  I used the same stamp and a Staz On ink pad to add stamped details.  Once I was happy with the papers attached them onto a piece of chipboard. 

For the next step I attached a stencil and applied texture paste.  I left it to dry before colouring with white acrylic paint that I added pink AquaTints to: I love the ombre!  Once that part was dry I added a piece of ribbon to hide the join between the texture paste and the stamped cards. 

Then I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto white parchment which I attached to a piece of white card using very old gem brads at the top.  I added a dragonfly brad to the bottom.  I coloured some of chipboard cogs with Americana acrylic paint and I coloured the other embellishments so that they would work with the colours and attached them onto the chipboard.  Once this was dry I added a layer of Crackle Accents to the top half and over all of the embellishments.

The fact that it has worked is more by luck than anything else, I think, but I do know I am become a little more comfortable with these different to me products and mediums and for that I am very grateful and happy.  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 It’s All Perspective stamp set

Rubber Dance Art stamps: Round in Circles stamp set

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug die cutting machine

Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz Tattered Floral die

Stencil:

Stamplorations Stamps Foiled stencil

Miscellaneous Tools:

Heat tool; paintbrushes; palette knife; water pot

Supplies

Card Paper:

Country View Crafts: chipboard sheets

Sheena Douglass A4 white stamping card

Snippet parchment

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Noir AquaTints: Beautifully Grunge; Essentials & Landscape

Spectrum Noir: Sparkle Overlay pen

Americana acrylic paint: Coastal Waters

Artiste acrylic paint: gold

The Works: white acrylic paint

Staz On IPs: Blue Hawaii

WOW pink EP

Embellishments:

Wild Orchid Crafts Chrysanthemum flowers; Tando Creative Chipboard Cogs; EBay sequins

Papermania gem brads #; Dragonfly brads #

Adhesives/Mediums:

Ranger Crackle Accents; DecoArt texture paste; Versamark IP

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

Another Hero Arts stamp ...

Hello my lovely friends and visitors, I hope your week is going well.  This is another stamp that I was lucky enough to win from Brenda.  It’s another Hero Arts stamp and I know I used this one last year lol!  It’s a lovely gorgeous stamp perfect for CAS or messy and as I am still having a thing for thick vellum/parchment and it was fun to make another one of this style and here it is …

  

An A6 little card

This is the back of the card - I added a snippet to hide the double sided tape

This is the inside, I have propped the overlay open

A final look

Created for me and especially for these Challenges

 AAA Cards Challenge #66 Watercolours

A Blog Named Hero Challenge Vellum 

Pixie’s Snippets Playground #233

Spectrum Noir Facebook Challenge Use a Die plus Spectrum Noir pens/products

Wednesday’s Creative Inspirations Challenge #Spring into Summer: 

 I am in summer flower mode!

The sentiment was die cut from another watercolour painted reject, the flowers were stamped with my Spectrum Aqua pens and the little card in the middle is a snippet that was left over from another project.  It didn’t take me long to create and it felt good to use that snippet of card immediately, yes I know I am sad but I love using snippets and rejects lol!

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:

Hero Arts H4464 Two Flourish Flowers (front)

Hero Arts G4916 Elegant Flowers (inside back)

Dee Gruenig Sunday International EZ Mount stamps: cherry blossom branch

Die Cutting Machine & Dies:

Cuttlebug die cutter

Winnie & Walter ‘happy’ die

Miscellaneous Tools:

Paintbrushes; water pot

Supplies

Card Paper:

Sheena Douglass A4 white stamping card

Parchment #

EP Ink/Paint/Pen Colours:

Spectrum Aqua Floral & Nature pen sets

Spectrum Noir Perfectly Primary AquaTints

Sakura sparkle pen was used to add a little shimmer to the middle of the stamped flowers

Adhesives/Mediums:

Crafter’s Companion double sided tape

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