Just Add Ink | #283

I'm playing along with Just Add Ink again as I needed a birthday card and I spotted their sketch to inspire me.

I started with some Tim Holtz Watercolour Paper and a Heidi Swapp stencil through which I applied some Texture Paste in a random fashion.  Once that had dried I used various pink and mauve shades of Distress Inks to watercolour around the dried paste.

I then took a piece of white cardstock and gold heat embossed a background stamp from Hero Arts and cut it to a banner shape.

Using the same Distress Inks I used on the background, I stamped and diecut images from Stampin' Up's Flower Patch set.  After applying the ink, I spritzed the stamps a couple of times with water to create a looser look to my stamping.  

I gold heat embossed a sentiment from the Flower Patch set and cut it into another banner shape.

A loose nest of gold thread and some gold sequins were the final finishing touches.

This was a fun card to make as it's not my usual clean and simple style, but I know the recipient will love it :-)

CAS-ology | Nautical Challenge

I mentioned in my previous post that I was playing along with some card challenges to get the creative juices flowing and here is a card inspired by the Nautical theme over at the CAS-ology Blog.

I decided to do some watercolouring with Distress Inks to create a softer colour palette than I usually use.  I also stamped in Versafine Sepia Ink instead of my usual black, and I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The stamps were from Stampin' Up, the wood veneer anchor from Studio Calico and the tag die from Sizzix/Tim Holtz.

Thanks for stopping by!

Feeling Sketchy | Sketch #122

We have a new sketch to play with at the Feeling Sketchy Challenge Blog and our challenge sponsor is Creative Embellishments.

Creative Embellishments is a small, family owned company located in western New York that was started by a dynamic husband and wife team. Michael Kramer is a prolific graphic artist who creates websites, mobile websites, logos and images for print design. Nicolle is a stay at home mother of 4 and a passionate artist who has been actively creating for over 8 years. She enjoys altered art, mixed media applications and all styles of scrapbooking. What started out as a hobby, in order to pass down memories and family history to her children, evolved once she discovered the vast online community of artists and scrappers 3 years ago. She has been featured on numerous scrapbooking, challenge and top paper manufacturing websites; as well as, serving on many different design teams. She's also had the honor of having her work published in print magazines and a well-known sketchbook.

Here's Sketch #122.....

I decided to make a background on watercolour paper using a wash of Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.  While that dried I stamped the wreath from this stamp set with Ranger Black Archival Ink and die-cut it with the co-ordinating die.  I cut an additional two wreaths from white cardstock and layered them all together for extra dimension and durability.  

I then applied a very loose wash of Picked Raspberry Distress Ink to the wreath.

I stamped my sentiment from this Prima stamp set in Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink.

The finishing touch was some pink ribbon.  I did make this card just before Mother's Day, but this design would translate well to other occasions by simply stamping a different sentiment.

Be sure to head over to the Feeling Sketchy Blog for more inspiration and all the challenge details.