I had fun joining Carissa Wiley's Snowflake Class at Pinkfresh Studio yesterday.
So many ideas from this card design that I plan to use again ... the embossed sentiments on Vellum are perfection.
More learning on card number two. I love the purple ink blend with a bit of dark blue at the top ... and the Vellum snowflakes are magical.
Always grateful for some learning time in the studio.
The newest Challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to create something with an ombre design.
I decided to use Catherine Pooler Inks to create an Ombre background with Apricot, Ginger & Terracotta.
It took me several times to get one I loved, so I used the leftovers to die cut some leaves using Spellbinders Autumn Leaves & Mini Fall Blooms. I'm also linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Die Cuts Challenge.
I arranged them in reverse Ombre order falling down the side of the card. I finished with coordinating enamel dots from AlteNew and a sticker sentiment.
I do love Autumn.
I hope you'll Shop Your Stash for some Ombre designs and come join the fun.
This week's Just Us Girls Challenge is to CASE a Designer.
I've always been amazed at my friend Seeka's Ink Blending prowess, so I chose this monochromatic ink blended card to inspire my design.
Rather than limey greens, I went with the trio of yellow inks from Simon Says Stamp Saturated Ink Collection. Seeka only used two colors (a light and heavy) and I went with three (but wished I had stuck with two due to the heavy contrast on the bottom fourth on my card).
My CZ Design Yay You sentiment didn't take up quite as much real estate as Seeka's, so I added a tiny one at the bottom.
I'm also joining the Crafty Friends Summer Color Challenge ... because nothing says summer like the color of the sun.
This card reminded me that the only way to get good at ink blending is to do it more often ... practice, practice, practice. Thanks Seeka for the inspiration.
The newest challenge at Shopping our Stash is Blending In - we're creating with Ink Blending.
I love ink blending, but it's also a technique that I know I could use a lot of practice to get better. I went through several possible ideas and settled on ink blending Gina K. Designs large Timeless Poppies image. I started by stamping it in white pigment ink on white cardstock and then I embossed with detail white embossing powder.
Next I blended Gina K. Designs' Red Hot and Red Velvet inks on the blooms and Blue Lagoon and Tranquil Teal on the leaves and out to the edges of the card.
When I have done similar techniques in the past, I used a baby wipe when I was done ink blending to brighten back the white embossed detail ... only one thing I forgot ... Gina's inks are reactive. I ended up swiping up and down the entire surface with the baby wipe to get an overall similar look across the entire surface (but it also lightened the inks a bit).
I stamped the sentiment from Gina K. Designs Grand Greetings using both shades of red ink with the darker shade along the bottom and added some glittery enamel dots.
I'm also linking-up at the Color Hues Challenge where the shades are red & blue.
The May Challenge at Poppy Stamps is Floral Fantasy.
I pulled out my Poppy Stamps Peony Bouquet and decided to revisit an inking technique from this inky card from two years ago. I used my MISTI to stamp the Peony image with fade-out grey ink and then grabbed a combination of yellow and peach dye inks and my masking tape and went to work.
After adding the ink, I re-stamped in Jet Black Amalgam Ink (which is why the MISTI is so important). I used the Happy Birthday sentiment from the same set, and then trimmed down my panel to mount with foam tape on a white card base.
Before I revisited the instructions (that reminded me to stamp in fade-out ink), I had already stamped the image with Jet Black Amalgam Ink, so I made a second floral fantasy design.
I cut the Easter Egg off the Poppy Stamps Decorated Egg Stitched Frame and attached it over my stamped Peony Bouquet with foam tape. I used the same sentiment and finished with some Pink Fresh Studio bright pink jewels.
I'm also linking this card up at the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge & Springtime Challenge at Make My Monday.
I started my artsy day with some Ink Blending for the Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero April Ink Blend It Up Challenge.
I wanted to use my Hero Arts Bug You Stamps for a Masculine Birthday Card, so I chose what I thought were some "buggy" colors for my blend.
I wasn't particularly in love with my blend, so I decided to combine it with the Hero Arts Every Which Way Stencil and the Baby Wipe Technique. You place the stencil on top of the ink-blended panel and the lay a baby wipe over the stencil. I use a brayer to make sure the baby wipe comes into contact with the inked-paper as much as possible. The baby wipe pulls up the ink leaving a pattern behind (very fun and easy). I did it several times since I was trying to get the stencil to give the paper a grass-like effect for my bugs.
I stamped, die cut and colored my bugs using a combination of metallic Karin markers and a Green Stabilo Pencil that I blended with my fingers. I ended-up cutting down my blended panel to work with the Sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch.
I added some scraps of alcohol ink blended & foiled paper to the band across the card and finished with a sentiment from Hero Arts Message Strips Stamp & Cut and a few enamel dots.
I'm also joining the Springtime Insects Challenge at My Time to Craft, the Masculine Challenge at Allsorts Challenge Blog & lastly the Simon Says Happy Birthday Challenge.
When I was playing with my alcohol inks on Sunday night, I started on a piece of Ranger Black Alcohol Ink Blending paper, but I couldn't quite make it work, so I set it aside.
Last night I tried again bringing out pearlescent and glitter inks together with some white and finally got a cool effect. I came in at the end adding a touch of silver foil.
I decided with all of the silver to feature a vellum butterfly sticker on silver paper from my stash. I used the layout from the Inspire.Create.Challenge replacing the circle with the butterfly ... but looking at it now through the camera lens, I wish I would have angled it a bit (why are design facets always clearer when you photograph).
I stamped my Impression Obsession Words for Art Sentiment on vellum in black ink and clear embossed and backed it with silver metallic paper to stay with the theme. I'm linking-up at the Simon Says Stamp Thinking of You Challenge as this one goes in the mail.
Now to figure out more inks that will work on this black paper.
I'm linking-up at the TGIF Challenges Alcohol Ink Blending Challenge as well.
The current TGIF Challenge is Alcohol Blending, so I thought getting inky was the perfect way to end the weekend. Alcohol Ink blending was one of the first techniques I learned using refills for alcohol ink markers. I've always enjoyed the magic of it.
I decided to use the Ranger Silver Ink Blending Cardstock that has been unopened in my stash for much too long together with new Marabu Alcohol Inks. I use a sprayer of Alcohol Ink and an air puffer to blow the around.
I also went in and added silver foil to the top of the almost dried inks. I decided to use this as my background for the current Sketch at The Paper Players.
I decided to use the Love Your Guts Die by CZ Designs from Simon Says Stamp as my Sketch Shape die cut from Vellum & Silver Glitter Foam. I'm also linking-up at Crazy 4 Challenges where the theme is Vellum.
I finished with a few clusters of silver glitter enamel dots.
Another card for the 2nd day of the Crushing on Cardstock class at Online Card Classes. This one was taught by Jennifer McGuire and was about layering dies with die cut backgrounds.
I combined Carved Pumpkin & Mustard Seed Distress Oxide Ink for my blending together with the Iowa Delight Die and the Greetings from Iowa stamp from Memory Bound in Ankeny, Iowa and the Hero Arts Bold Graphic Confetti Die.
The current Lawn Fawn Challenge is all about Fun with Food ... and what better summer food than ice cream.
I started by ink-blending my base panel with Prize Ribbon, Dusty Concord and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide Inks. Then I gave it a few spritzes of shimmer spray for overall glimmer.
I blended more Distress Oxide inks onto a scrap of white cardstock, so I could stamp the Ice Cream Container, Ice Cream Lid and Spoon from Lawn Fawn's Treat Yourself. I die cute white cardstock with the Lawn Fawn Cross-Stitched Circle Stackables and positioned them inside.
I'm also linking-up at the Little Red Wagon Stay Cool Challenge. The Simon Says Stamp Challenge is also about Food & Drink (don't you love that you can both eat & drink ice cream).
