Look What I Caught!

This is a card that I made recently for my youngest grandson to give to his dad for his birthday.  The stamp is one that I've had for years and I love using it.  I have used it for children's cards and scrapbooking alike, it is so versatile.  I have used a Sheena Douglass embossing folder, my old stamp, some Pearl acrylic paints, Brilliance ink - Sky Blue, Pro Markers and some punched out creatures.  The base card is white and for once I have left it alone, except for some creatures punched out of pearlescent paper.  I then took a piece of white card and sponged the paints all over it.  When dry I cut a panel, smaller than the card front, and embossed it in the folder through a machine.  I used this folder as it looks like ripples of water.  On another piece of white card I stamped the little boy in black ink and heat embossed the image with black powder.  I then coloured the image with Pro Markers, and fussy cut it.  I blended black Distress Ink around the edges of the embossed panel then matted it onto black card.  I added a little silver gilding wax to the edges of the black card and layered it onto the base card.  I attached the boy with dimensional glue, then added clear glaze to the jam jar to make it look like glass.  I made a tag out of a piece of the sponged card and matted it onto black card, adding black ink and gilding wax to the edges as before.  Next I die cut letters from pearlescent papers and made up the sentiment, adding black ink to the edges of the letters to make them stand out.   I attached the sentiment to the tag, added a couple of buttons and punched out dragonflies.  I also attached dragonflies to the embossed panel and added glitter to all the wings.   I then threaded some ribbon through the tag and attached it to the card with dimensional glue.  I love this little card it's so versatile.  It could be used for a child's birthday or an adult's.   

Meadow Poppies

This is a card that I made recently for a dear friend's birthday.  The design is inspired by Sheena Douglass and her design team, with a few touches of my own.  The stamps used are bySheena Douglass, the embossing folder is one from the 'Textures' range by Crafter's Companion, the inks are all Distress inks and the corners are made with a Tattered Lace die.  The base card is white and I have cut a piece of Kraft card to size to cover the front.  I embossed the panel in the folder through a machine giving it a lovely Hessian texture, then blended ink around the edges to emphasize and distress it.  I attached it to the base card, then cut a smaller panel of white card for the focal design.  I blended three colours of DI onto the card; Scattered Straw, Frayed Burlap and Vintage Photo.   When dry I stamped some meadow flowers repeatedly along the bottom edge of the panel, then I stamped the poppies a couple of times over the flowers.  I used water and a brush to faux bleach the flowers, stems and leaves of the poppies, dried them, then painted them with DI's; Fired Brick and Mowed Lawn.  I stamped the poppies onto a piece of scrap paper, cut them out and used this as a mask.  I then stamped some script randomly across the panel using the mask to protect the painted poppies, giving the effect that the script is behind the poppies.  I blended Walnut Stain DI around the edges to add depth, and attached the focal panel to the card.  I die cut two leafy corners from some dark brown Core'dinations card and attached them with wet glue.  Then I die cut a small panel from Kraft card, stamped a swirls across it using second generation ink, added a sentiment and some shading, and attached it to the  card with dimensional glue.  I love this card, I think it suits both male and female recipients, and is a great worker card suitable for lots of occasions.

Silver and White Elegance

This is a beautiful card that I made recently for a friend's daughter.  I love to use silver and white or gold and white for wedding cards, this design would suit a silver or golden anniversary as well.  Although I have only used two colours there are a lot of elements to this design which, when put together, give the card a wow factor.  I have used Centura Pearl card, silver mirror card, Sheena Douglass Ancient Arches embossing folder, Platinum Planet Brilliance ink, Creative Expressions swirl stamp, and several floral and foliage dies.  The base card is a white scalloped edge card and I stamped the swirl image along the edges.  I embossed a piece of Centura Pearl card in the folder through a machine, in fact I put it through twice as the panel was wider than the folder.  I matted the panel onto silver mirror card leaving a border, then layered it onto the base card.  Next I die cut lots of flowers, in various sizes and shapes, out of Centura Pearl card.   I glittered the edges of some of them, and inked the edges of the others.  I also die cut some foliage sprigs in pearl and mirror card, and some trailing ivy in pearl card, glittering the edges.  I then shaped the flowers with a ball tool, and assembled them in layers to make 3D flowers.  I added  a pearl to the centres, and arranged the flowers and foliage onto the card.  I attached them all with dimensional glue.  I then die cut the sentiment out of mirror card and attached it in the same way.  I added names to personalise the card by die cutting the letters, spraying them with 'Stick and Spray' then covering in glitter, and attached them with dimensional glue.   

Moonlit Paradise

This is a lovely card that I made recently for a friend's daughter.  I love these stamps and the two-tone paints that I used, they give the work a bit of opulence.  I wanted to design something a bit special as it's for a milestone birthday.  I have used stamps by Sheena Douglass from her 'Laguna Bay' collection.  The paints are Pebeo Dyna paints, I also used Chipped Sapphire DI, and an Embossalicious embossing folder.  The base card is a white 8"x8" card which I edged with the DI.  The focal panel is a piece of navy card onto which I have stamped an Orchid corner image in onyx black Versafine ink and heat embossed with clear powder.  I painted the images in greens and blues.  On another piece  of navy card I stamped the humming bird and hibiscus flowers and heat embossed them.  I painted the images in different colours and added silver to all the images as a highlight.  I then fussy cut the humming bird and hibiscus flowers.  I embossed a piece of Centura pearl card in the folder through a machine.  I cut a large circle and added glitter to the raised cloud pattern, then edged it with the DI, to make a moon.  I then attached the moon to the centre of the focal panel and attached that to the base card.  I attached the bird and flowers to the card with dimensional glue.  I painted another piece of navy card with blue Dyna paint, then die cut the sentiment.  I die cut the name and numbers from white card and glittered them, then attached everything to the card.  I really love this design, it could be done in any colour scheme for any occasion.   

Fresh as a Daisy

This is another lovely card that I made recently for the staff at my grandson's nursery.  I dug out some stamps that I've had in my stash for years, Daisy Daydreams by Kay Karley.  I thought the simplistic style of these stamps would suit a card given by a toddler.  I chose bright, summery colours of Brilliance Inks - yellow and lime green - on Centura Pearl card to give the design a fresh look.  I stamped a daisy border around the edges of the base card using lime green ink and heat embossed    with clear powder.  I added icicle Stickles to the daisies.   I then took another piece of Centura Pearl card and stamped it all over with the daisy background stamp, and heat embossed as before.  This time I painted the daisies yellow with diluted ink, and added Stickles to the centres.  I die cut the panel and blended ink around the edges.  I coloured another piece of card with green ink and die cut it slightly larger than the background panel.  I then matted and layered them onto the base card.  On another piece of white card I stamped 3 butterflies, 2 small and 1 large, and heat embossed them.  I then painted them with diluted inks and added Stickles as before.  Next I stamped some individual daisies and a sentiment and heat embossed as before.  I painted the larger daisy and added Stickles to all the flower centres, then fussy cut all the embellishments.  I shaped them all with a ball tool and attached them with dimensional glue.   A lovely design that will make a good worker card, suitable for all ages and occasions.

A Rose for Teacher

This is a pretty card that I made recently for my grandson to give to his teacher at the end of his time in her class, her name is Rose.  The stamps used are either freebies from a magazine or so old that , they have been discontinued.  I used Distress Inks Picked Raspberry,Worn Lipstick and Mowed Lawn.  I also made my own shade of acrylic paint to co-ordinate with the inks.   The base card is Centura Pearl, and I have embossed it in a folder through a machine.  Then I blended some DI around the edges of the card.  The background panel is a piece of white card onto which I have stamped a pattern of roses using Versamark Ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I then rubbed ink all over the panel, and polished it afterwards with a soft cloth.  The embossed pattern resists the ink, showing a white pattern through the coloured ink.  This is called the resist technique.  I coloured another piece of white card with acrylic paint, then die cut it.  I edged the shaped panel with ink, then cut the background panel slightly smaller than the coloured panel.  I matted and layered them onto the base card.  On another piece of white card I stamped a couple of rose images in Sepia Versafine ink, and heat embossed them with clear powder.  I water coloured the images using the DI's then fussy cut them.  I also die cut some foliage sprigs and painted them in the same way.  I stamped a butterfly, painted it then cut it out too.  I then stamped and heat embossed a sentiment onto white card, then die cut it and added ink around the edges.  I attached it to the card with dimensional glue, then added the flowers and foliage behind it.  I coloured a piece of white card with diluted ink then die cut the name from it.  I inked around the edges of each letter to add shading and attached them to the card with dimensional glue.  I like the simplicity of this design, it makes a nice change from some of my more complex artwork.  I think this design will work for a variety of occasions, and it can be personalised to suit.   

Fishing with Daddy

This is a lovely card I made recently for a family birthday, my youngest grandchild gave it to his daddy.  I have had the focal image stamp so long that the company name has worn off!  I find it so useful for both card making and scrapbooking alike.  So as well as the image of the boy I used a Sheena Douglass embossing folder from the 'Little Bit Oriental' collection, and coloured the project with pearly acrylic paints and Pro Marker pens.  I started with a piece of white card and used some sponges to blend the pearly acrylic paint all over.  When it was dry I blended Black Soot DI around the edges.  I then embossed the panel in the folder through a machine.  I then matted the background panel onto black card.  On another piece of white card I stamped the image of the boy in black ink and heat embossed with black powder.  I then coloured him with Pro Markers and fussy cut the image.  I added clear glaze to the jam jar to give it the look of glass.  I used a white gel pen for the highlights on the boots.  I made a tag using the same paints as the background, stamped some hand and foot prints in blue ink and matted it onto black card.  I used alphabet dies for the sentiment cut out of the same card, and edged the letters in black ink.  I punched some 'beasties' out of pearly paper and added all the embellishments with dimensional glue.  I added some buttons and ribbon to the tag then attached that with dimensional glue as well.  I wanted to create a naive, simple card for a child to give to a parent, but I think this design would suit a card FOR a child as well, and cover lots of occasions too!