Todays cards both have an owl theme, and both are made with Uniquely Creative Wise and Free products. The top card is all papers and matching Creative Cuts, with some sequins and flowers added, and the second card is paper from the collection for the background and some Creative cuts, but also some stamping! The stamp is Uniquely Creative Wise and Free stamp and I coloured it with copic markers. A flower, doily and sequins to finish this one. After weeks and months of no rain today it is finally raining! Hopefully it is spread wide enough that it helps the firefighters in our Hills area as we are expecting more hot weather by Tuesday. I am just grateful to see it, and have all the dust settled. last night we had to do something we have never had to do before ..due to the choking smoke we had to head to the hardware store and pick up face masks. We are miles from the fire zones, so can only imagine what it is like closer to them. Today I am starting the big craft clean up… anything I haven’t used in the past year is going.. I have to make some room for new things so this is my only option… lets see how far I get before I get distracted….Til next time….
Category: stamping and watercolouring
Stampin Up Back on your Feet..
I have had great fun this week colouring the stamped images from a stamp set by Stampin Up called back on Your Feet, and then fussy cutting the images and turning them into cards. The cards on left were coloured with watercolours and the cards on the right were done with Copic colours. The papers were bits and pieces from lots of different companies. I have a box of 6″ pads and I just flipped through these to find what I wanted to use. The die cut shapes were foam mounted on to the card fronts to give a bit of dimension. As well as playing with this stamp set this week I have been preparing some lessons, ready for August when Helens classes will start! Til next time….
Stampin Up lovely Lattice..Watercolouring with re- inkers..
Today’s two cards focus on a stamp from Stampin Up called Lovely lattice. The top card has an embossed layer – the same Stampin up embossing folder as the card on the previous post ( Lace Dynamic Embossing folder) and I stamped the Lovely Lattice stamp on watercolour paper and coloured it with an aquabrush and re-inkers. For the lower card I stamped onto watercolour paper with versamark ink, and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Again I coloured with an aquabrush and re-inkers, also painting a very light wash over the background. If you want to know more about watercolouring with re-inkers check out my little clip on my you-tube channel – the link is over there on the right hand side of the page! I have been a bit time poor over the last couple of years, but I am retiring at the end of this week so will have more time to focus on my blog, and you-tube channel – exciting times!! til tomorrow…
Watercolouring with Ink..
Last weekend after I had finished preparing all my May classes I had a little time to just create, and so I gathered my distress re-inkers, a pallette, paintbrush and my new stamp set ( Uniquely creative Flawed and fabulous),stamped out some images onto watercolour paper and just started painting. Of course it didn’t stop there . by the time I had coloured them all I knew exactly how these cards were going to go together! All my art work was fussy cut out, matching cardstock was found, and another new die and stamp ( both by stampin Up) were added to the table. The top two cards have the Stampin Up crackle background stamped in brown and I left the bottom card clean. The Stampin Up Trellis die was die cut with white cardstock and then I experimented. The bottom trellis is painted with prima alchemy silver paint, the top right is coloured with Nuvo mousse in rose gold, and the top left is coloured with Nuvo mousse bronze with a top smearing of platinum to lighten a little. The Nuvo mousse is best put on with your fingers! A great afternoon creating and I may even do something similar for a class.Til tomorrow….
Meerkats!
I am back from my cruise, which went really well, and I met many new and keen crafters in my classes – we had great fun! The weather was terrific and the seas were calm – always a bonus. Now it is back home, and back to work, and of course back to my craft room, where all my projects at the moment are for upcoming classes. Meanwhile today’s cards are 2 very quick cards I put together for my son and my nephews birthdays. they are both fans of meerkats so when I saw this stamp set from Art impressions I knew straight away it would be perfect for them, this year and probably for quite a few years to come, used in different ways. I only lightly coloured the meerkat in the forefront of the card this time, just with a little bit of distress ink, and I hand drew the frame around the stamped background image. Til tomorrow…..
Carta Bella Flora..
I had a couple of sheets of paper by Carta Bella from their Flora range, and I thought I would show you a couple of cards I made with it. The bottom card is made relying on the papers to do the talking, with a bit of fussy cutting involved in this one, and the top card I had a new stamp set from Stampin Up called Bird Banter, which I stamped ( I used a Tim Holtz stamp press to line up the branch) and coloured my bird with Zig markers and a water brush. I dabbed a little Nuvo crystal drops around the bird just to add a little texture. The dies I used were by Seven Paper Dolls, and I used Canson watercolour paper to stamp on. I have found when watercolouring the best paper to use is the most expensive you can afford, in the case of watercolouring, the better quality the better. The Canson I used is a cold press paper, but the girls at work swear by hot press paper so I have bought a couple of sheets to experiment with and I will let you all know my findings! Meanwhile in the craft room I have organised all my fair boxes ready to go, completed an order, prepared my July classes , so up to date and doen’t it feel great! Til tomorrow…..
Stampin Up Birthday Blooms..
Once again for some reason my computer has decided these cards look better on their sides! So please just imagine they are standing in a landscape format!! I have used the same stamp ( from Stampin Up Birthday Blooms) and I have stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with Zig markers as I was experimenting with these wonderful new markers. With one colour you can get a graduation of colour by colouring directly where you want the colour darkest, and then I just pulled the colour around with an aqua brush ( a normal paintbrush and cup of water would also do the job). I scattered some drops of clear Nuvo around to look like water drops, and the dies are a nesting stitch die by seven paper dolls. Matching ribbon trim, a bit of patterned paper on the top card, and a bling flat backed pearl and these were super easy and what I would call clean and simple! Til tomorrow…..
Stampin Up Waterfront stamp set…
Staying with my new Stampin Up purchases I made this card for my dads birthday at the end of this month with Stampin Up Waterfront stamp set. there are endless possibilities with this stamp set, I just have to find the time to sit down and discover them all! For this card though, I did the background with Distress oxide ink pads, ( love the chalky finish) and then stamped with these Stampin Up inks…Tranquil tide,lost lagoon,always artichome and summer starfruit. I used my stamp press to position the stamps exactly where I wanted them to stamp ( how did we mange without one?) I have been busy this morning catching up on chores around the house so that I can spend a little time in the craft room preparing April classes, so that i am a little ahead when i head off on my cruise at the end of this month. Not long now! til tomorrow….
Oh so succulent stamp set..
For this card I used the Stampin Up Oh so succulent stamp set, stampin onto watercolour card and colouring with inks. Although I have the matching die set i found it quicker and easier to fussy cut the images myself. On another piece of white card I did a watercolour wash in blue, stuck down half a doily, die cut a circle and trimmed it to a pot shape, and then arranged my plants! I trimmed some of the front of the card off, and added a strip of patterned paper on the back part of the card. I truly enjoyed making this card even if I did spend a little bit of time on it! I have been busy this week making orders, 12 at last count, but everything is caught up with now and I am hoping to cut into my new papers ( 2 lots now.. Kaisercraft High tea and sage and grace) in the coming days. til tomorrow….
Hey Chick…a fun card..
A stamped and coloured card today, made with a fun stamp set from Stampin Up called Hey Chick. I stamped the chickens onto watercolour card, and stamped an extra one on a scrap. Coloured with ink pads and an aquabrush, coloured the extra one and fussy cut it out and popped it on the card with 3d foam pads. I punched a tag and stamped with the sentiment ( which was in the stamp set and found some prima wooden alpha blocks to finish, although I did toss up whether to die cut the U R letters which would have worked too. This was just a very quick make to try out the stamps but I love the chickens! Today is a day off, so i have been catching up on computer related tasks, and ruminating….Apparently my classes on the cruise were very popular and I have been asked if I want to do it all over again next year. I have to check with a few people…my boss, and my right hand sister helper, but I am pretty sure I will be cruising again next year! Yay! til tomorrow….
Helens Card Designs 