I'm fine, how are you? I actually completely forgot I coloured this in. Two years ago. Yes, two years ago! I met up with some lovely crafty friends one weekend in Birmingham and had a lovely time stamping and colouring. We mostly did talking, but I stamped a few images and coloured them in and never made them into cards. Well now is the time!
With my business all about reducing waste, it was high time I went through my scrap box and pulled out this panel which I'd coloured with Copics all that time ago. I wanted to practice highlights and shading. I'm not too sure how successful I've been, but I enjoyed using some of the grey-blues in my collection. The stamp is from Simon Says Stamp.
I'm really enjoying revisiting my card making and getting a bit of a stash going again. Always useful when you're reminded it's someone's birthday or you just need to send a Hello.
Thank you for visiting as always. Keep crafting!
Ruth xx
Do you ever wonder why you spend so much on craft supplies, especially colouring media, when you can use your children's pens and get really great results?
A while ago to entertain the kiddies one day after school we got out their blow pens and I decided to join them with my own stencils and I used this gorgeous one from Simon Says Stamp that I got some time ago and just haven't used to its full potential.
While they were occupied using pink, purple and orange on balloons, I pinched three colours, two green and a yellow, and with just a basic white card blank I used my stencil and blew gently to create the pattern. You do have to blow fairly gently and steadily, something the children still have to work on.
With my Lawn Fawn Love die and some scrap green card I had, I die cut three and layered them up to get some dimension. I added the 'nature' from my SSS One With Nature set with some VersaFine Onyx Black before placing the 'Love' above.
Simple and yet so effective. It won't put me off buying Copics, but I may play with more of my kids supplies too! I would recommend washing your Blow Pens out after use - especially if you've had other children using them too. They do store quite a lot of moisture!
Happy Crafting Everyone :)
I managed to make another couple of cards from my gelli print session that I mentioned in my last post. I even used up some NBUS!
One of my favourite stamp sets of all time is the Simon Says Stamp One with Nature set and I finally bought the dies in a recent spend there. The main printing was done with the leaves stencil I also bought from SSS. This is such a lovely stencil. In the green card, you can just see the hint of it on the die cuts. I used two shades of green on this print - a sort of tone on tone gelli print.
My second card uses a print I made from all the leftover bits of paint on the gelli plate. I basically gave the plate a light coating of one colour and it lifted all the layers underneath that hadn't picked up in previous prints. Don't you think it really looks like bark? I absolutely love it!
I die cut the pieces then had trouble working out where to put them on the card, so I hit upon the idea, which I am sure I've seen somewhere else, of random stamping and then covering up some of the stamped images with the die cuts. I popped them up on foam tape then cut the pieces that were hanging off the edge of the card.
I hadn't left a lot of space for a sentiment, but the inking was a light grey, and as the sentiment is meant to be a bit wobbly, I thought it would look nice just stamped on top.
Almost a one layer card!!
Hope you're all enjoying life and keeping on crafting as much as you can :) Happy Crafting Everyone!
Hello! Did everyone have a good Easter break, despite the weather? I hope no one is melting too much with the sudden mini heatwave that has come upon us. Towards the end of the Easter holidays, I took myself off for a mini break at lovely Steph's house where we met up with lovely Lisa and spent a lot of time chatting, eating and crafting. Often at these events, I don't do a lot of crafting, mostly talking, but I surprised myself and I ended up making three cards and even tried out some new techniques. Somehow being in a different environment really helps!
I watched Ale Suta's video where she showed how to do this stencil background technique and it really inspired me to try it myself. I borrowed one of Lisa's stencils and several distress ink colours from Steph I don't have and blended away on a piece of Winsor and Newton Bristol Smooth I'd taken with me. I then cut it out with a stitched rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp.
The stamp is one of my NBUS from Simon Says Stamp which I've just coloured with some Copic markers.
I just fussy cut the images and adhered it to the background with a bit of foam to add some dimension. I just attached it to a white card blank.
It was so nice to get away and do some crafting and I'm really hoping it will become an annual thing. I shall post cards two and three over the next week. On Sunday I'm off to my Copic 4 class. Time to clean them I think!
Hope you enjoy the sunshine we have for now. Happy Crafting!
Hello crafty chums! How did it get so close to Christmas? I have managed to write all my cards and send them off - I didn't quite get them all hand made (burn out!!!), but I was pleased I managed to make what I did. Next year I plan to start quite early - so this Boxing Day maybe??
I made rather a large purchase in November from Make the Day Special (they are rebranding in January as Seven Hills Crafts! Can't wait!) and one of the items bought was a set of the mini ink cubes from Altenew. I've seen them so much on Instagram with all the wonderful Design Team's work, and although I do prefer colouring images, I'd like to extend my crafting repertoire with some inks. As they retail for less than £10 with four colours in each pack, I thought this was a reasonable price, plus they don't take up lots of storage space.
I really, really love the colour combinations especially Ocean Waves and Sea Glass - they are such beautiful blue-greens.
I had a good play around on Friday evening seeing how they fared with solid images using my SSS 'One with Nature' set:
They coordinate perfectly as I'd hoped, and although I found they did require the odd second stamping to give full coverage with a solid image, they covered well and didn't stain the stamps as much as the Ranger inks.
I love how all the colours work together, even with my other blue inks, so I can see more options when using them. This is with Ranger Caribbean Coast:
I also love how you can stamp light on dark and this strange alchemy occurs so the light is seen on the dark - I had no idea that would work!!
I used my Neenah Classic Crest 110lb card to get the best coverage - if you want quality results you often need to use quality products.
Can I blow my own trumpet a bit?? It is nearly Christmas :) I absolutely love the card I made using them. I started with a rectangle of Neenah Classic Crest 110lb cut with the largest of my SSS stitched rectangles. I then picked three of the four ink colours and stamped a tree block in each on the front of my panel. I then stamped the tree outline on top, slightly offset in a different colour to the base. I then stamped the sentiment down the side in Desert Night. I felt the bottom was a bit empty, so I cut some strips of snippets I had lying around and glued them just underneath. I then adhered it to a blue A2 card base (I am loving coloured card bases at the moment!).
[Supplies: Neenah Classic Crest 110lb; Blue and turquoise card stock 240gsm; Simon Says Stamp Shapes with Stitches - Rectangles; Simon Says Stamp One with Nature; Altenew Crisp Dye Inks Cool Summer Night - please note I bought mine at Make the Day Special, but it is closed for Christmas and will open in the new year under a new name Seven Hills Crafts; Stick It! Permanent Adhesive Roller;]
What do you think? I am definitely going to buy more of the Altenew cubes over the next year. I don't need or want all the colours as I don't do a lot of just stamped cards, but I do like that they coordinate perfectly and it gives me more options when I make cards.
Thank you so much for reading as always. We move into the last few days before Christmas, and my younger sister has arrived to spend some time with us, so I have two very excited small people - it's going to be a fun few days!
Another week has gone by, crafty chums, and now we're into the end of September. As is always the way, the weather in the UK has been quite sunny - with showers in between. My tomatoes have started to ripen finally and the apples are rosy-ing up on the trees. Almost jam time!
I got a bit carried away with one of my new stamp sets from Simon Says Stamp - One With Nature. I started out by using my inks to make just one card, but then decided I'd try out different inks and watercolour media. In the process it reminded me why I like some of the things I have more than others.
This is quite a long post with lots of pictures, so sit back and put your feet up :)
1. The Original Card Concept - Ranger Dye Ink
I love these stamps - they feel a bit retro, so I went with what I think are '70s colours (I was born in the 70s and don't remember much until the early 80s, so please forgive me!) - and stamped the background before offsetting the outline image. I then simply stamped the sentiment in the middle with Black Tie ink. It's so simple it hurts!
I did a little blog post way back in April about my wondering which inks to buy and I plumped for Ranger Dye Inks. I still really love them as they give great coverage and can be purchased for a reasonable price in the UK. I have found though that the colours are quite limited, so I'm hoping they may release some more in the future.
2. The Original Card Concept with Memento Inks
Here it is again, but this time with my Memento Inks, which I had purchased very early on, but have never really got on with. I'm learning that not all inks are the same and these I find don't give as good coverage. I have worked out, however, that instead of dabbing the ink pad onto the solid stamp, if I smear it, it doesn't come out so splotchy on the card.
3. The Watercolour Version - Inktense Pencils
Ahhh, my beloved Inktense Pencils. I've been watching lots of Julia Altermann's (of Just-One-More-Card) videos on YouTube. She is full of great advice on using coloured pencils, including Inktense, and I have found that her tip of light layers works well. It does take time to colour with these, but I think the results are worth it.
I've used Tim Holtz Water Colour Card stock and Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink for this one.
4. The Watercolour Version - Spectrum Aquas
Again using TH Watercolour Cardstock and Jet Black Archival Ink. This time I'm using my Spectrum Aquas. I love these too, and they take less time to colour with than my Inktense. They also do washes beautifully. I like to use them by scribbling them first onto an acrylic block then picking them up with a wet brush.
Here they all are together. I simply rounded the corners and adhered them to a Kraft card base, also with rounded corners, with some fun foam.
[Supplies: Simon Says Stamp - One with Nature; Neenah Classic Crest 110b cardstock; Hobbycraft Premium White Cardstock 300gsm; Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock; Ranger Dye Ink (Cheese Puff and Lily Pad); Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink; Memento Dye Inks (Cottage Ivy and Tangelo); Derwent Inktense Pencils (0240 Sienna Gold, 0250 Cadmium Orange, 0260 Burnt Orange, 0300 Tangerine, 1400 Apple Green, 1500 Field Green, 1510 Beech Green, 1520 Hooker's Green, 1530 Felt Green, 1550 Spring Green); Spectrum Aquas Floral, Primary, Essentials (Lime, Bud Green, Leaf Green, Meadow, Moss, Olive, Terracotta, Marigold, Orange); Fun Foam; Dovecraft Kraft card 5x7; double sided tape]
You'll notice I haven't used my coloured pencils - didn't have time; or my Zig Clean Color Real brush markers - still not liking them; or my Copics - because I didn't have enough in the right colours! So last night I bought some more Copics and I am planning to start my Online Card Class for Copics during the upcoming 30 Day Colouring Challenge (more information on Kathy Racoosin's blog in due course). I'm not doing it alone - I will be doing it with Aileen from Colour and Sparkle - it's so nice to have a crafty friend to learn it with, and with the wonders of the internet, the fact we're on opposite sides of the globe doesn't matter! We'll be posting as we go :)
I thought I'd also link my first card up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - No Designer Paper - haven't entered a challenge for a while!
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you've enjoyed it and found it helpful. Thank you too for your kind comments. They do really make my day. Wishing you all a fabulous weekend :)
