My Lovely Followers

Wednesday 31 May 2017

Mermaid for Each Other



Hello!

Well this ended up being rather later than I planned. Time flies and all that.

I made another mermaid card, this time with the Lawn Fawn set Mermaid for You.

I stamped several images and coloured them with my Zig Markers, and then cut them out with the matching dies. Then I used a stencil to make my background, with my Clarity Stencil Brushes and several colours of Distress Inks.

I cut some banners and a heart from my specialty card stock, the top banner is actually a Boysenberry colour, but I just could not yet the colour to come out right in the photograph.

I trimmed my card base at the bottom with my corner chomper and stamped the sentiment along the top, then I layered everything on my card with tape adhesive and foam tape.

I finished with a few sparkling clear sequins, and some wink of stella pen on the tails and fish.

Hope you enjoyed my card for today, I'll be back tomorrow with some more inspriation, trying to wade through my draft folder as I have a few days holiday from work.

Thanks for dropping by!



Wishing You Happiness (Gulls)

Hello!

I thought I'd join in with the Color Challenge over at MFT Stamps and made a simple little card using the Seaside Seagulls stamp set and the could stencil.
This is a super quick post so I'm not listing every single thing I used, but I did use the following MFT products:

Blueprints 15
Blueprints 20
Seaside Seagulls Stamp Set
Seaside Seagulls Die-namics
Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Square STAX
Rectangle Word Window Frames
Cloud Stencil
Premium Dye Inks
Calm and Cozy Chevron Paper Pack

This was the colour scheme
If you'd like to join in with the challenge, you can find it here

That's all for now but I'll be back later with more to share.

Thanks for visiting!




Saturday 27 May 2017

Tilly Dancing


Hello!

Today I'm sharing a card made for Whimsy Stamps with the sweet little Tilly Dancing.

I coloured her with my Distress Ink markers:
Vintage Photo,  Antique Linen, Wlanut Stain, Victorian Velvet, Brushed Corduroy


I fussy cut Tilly once I'd coloured her up and because that meant I lost the sparkles from her wand, I sort of added them back in with some bling.

I kept the colours subtle and delicate to suit the image. 

I also used the Hand Stitched Nested Rectangle dies on my card.

A bit of cheesecloth between the layers helps add a softness to the card.

I used the following items from The Ribbon Girl

Thursday 25 May 2017

Mermazing



Hello!

It's mermaids again from me today...well it is the weather for it in the UK this week!
I went for something much simpler than my previous card this time, starting by making a cardbase (A2) from MFT Limelight card stock. Then I took some Tim Holtz watercolour paper (I like this when there will be a lot of white space as it is a bright white), and did some ink smooshing. I used distress inks in Peacock Feathers and Twisted Citron and set that aside to dry.

I stamped one of the images from MFT's Mermazing stamp set on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and coloured her with my Zig markers (I really need to start noting down colours for these).
 I do the skin with my distress markers in Vintage Photo, as it works better for me than the zig markers for flesh tones.
I added a little wink of stella to her tail for a bit of sparkle, which of course does not show up on the photo, and cut her out with the matching die from the MFT Mermazing Die-namics.
Then I used the stitched rectangle die from MFT Blueprints 20 to trim my ink smooshed background added some splashes of white acrylic paint and adhered it to my card base.

I decided where I was going to position my mermaid and then stamped a sentiment with some Black Onyx Versafine ink before popping her up with some foam tape.

Finally I added a few clear gemstones and sequins to finish.

Items Used:

MFT Cardstock Limelight
Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper
Distress Inks Peacock Feathers & Twisted Citron
Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper
Versafine Black Onyx
MFT Mermazing Stamp Set
Zig Markers 
Vintage Photo Distress Ink Marker
MFT Mermazing Die-namics
Wink of Stella
White Acrylic Marker
Glue
Foam Tape
Clear gems and sequins.

I hope you like my card today and that it may have released your inner mermaid.

Thanks so much for visiting!


Wednesday 24 May 2017

Sending you Oceans of Love

Hello!

I don't know about you, but it seems to be all about the mermaids recently. I seem to have made a swathe of mermaid cards, that I will share with you over the coming weeks.
This one is using the Mermazing stamp set from MFT Stamps.

I couldn't resist colouring her up in Ariel colours with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and colouring the little fish to look a bit like Flounder. Yes I know it's a clown fish, and believe me I have coloured him to look like Nemo for another card, but for Ariel he needed to at least have the colours of Flounder.

I stamped a few other images from the set to add some interest to the card and pick up the theme. I stamped the background with the MFT Mermaid Tail background stamp, embossing with white embossing powder and blending MFT Spearmint Premium Dye Ink and MFT Tropical Teal Premium Dye Ink over the top.

I made a vertical US A2 size top folding card with MFT Berrylicious card stock. 

I cut a piece of smooth white card stock a quarter of an inch smaller on all sides, 
then  out my stamped and blended base with the stitched rectangle die from MFT Blueprints 20 and layered them onto my card base.

I cut out all my coloured images with the matching die-namics and then stamped a sentiment from the set onto white cardstock which I cut out with the banner die from Blueprints 20.

I arranged all my elements on my card and once happy I adhered them in place, popping some of them up with foam tape and adhering a mini action wobble to the back of the mermaid so that she looks like she's swimming when you touch her.

For finishing touches I added Wink of Stella to the mermaid's tail and the shell and added a few sparkling clear sequins.

Items Used:
Smooth White Card Stock
MFT Berrylicious Card Stock
Hot Pressed Watercolour Paper
Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper
MFT BB Mermazing Stamp Set
MFT BB Mermazing Die-namics
MFT Mermaid Tail BG Stamp
Versamark Ink
Versafine Ink Onyx Black
MFT Premium Dye Ink - Tropical Teal
MFT Premium Dye Ink - Spearmint
White Detail Embossing Powder
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
Adhesive
Foam Tape
Mini Action Wobble
Sparkling Clear Sequins

Thank you so much for visiting!



Tuesday 23 May 2017

Technique Tuesday # 19 Watercolouring

Hello!

Recently I bought a palette of 6 Gansai Tambi watercolours called 'Starry Colours'

These are all iridescent gold toned colours and I thought it might be fun to colour a card with them using all 6 shades.

So first I stamped the MFT Etched Flower background stamp with Versamark ink on some watercolour paper and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Then I set to with my watercolours, I did use all 6 colours, some more sparingly than others.


Once it was fully dry I gave it a light rub over with some absorbent paper to make the white pop and then cut the frame shape around the edge and cut out the word love with a die. I cut 4 more words in some white cardstock and set everything aside.

I stamped the Happy Anniversary sentiment with Versamark on some lustre gold card and heat embossed with white detail embossing powder.


Then I made a US A2 size horizontal top folding card base in smooth white cardstock and started to build my card.

I glued the central piece in the middle of my card and then popped up the frame around the edge with some foam tape.
I glued all the layers of my word together, finishing with the stamped and watercoloured layer on the top. I then glued these stacked letters back into my background in the spaces cut out by the die (do make sure you keep any little pieces like the space in the centre of the O when you die cut the word, as you will need to glue those back in to make your card seamless).

I cut my sentiment out and popped that up on my card with some foam tape underneath my camouflaged word die.

I finished off with a few gold and clear sequins.

I used the following items on my card:

Smooth White Cardstock
Hot Pressed Watercolour Cardstock
Versamark Ink
Detail White Embossing Powder
MFT Etched Flower Background Stamp
Gansai Tambi Starry Nights Palette
MFT Pierced Rectangle Frames
MFT Happy Greetings Die Set
MFT Essential Sentiments Stamp Set
Gold Lustre Card Stock
Champagne Sequin Mix


Monday 22 May 2017

CASE a card Monday - Unforgettable


Morning!

My CASEd card today takes it's inspiration from one by Francine Villeume, who was my Saturday Spotlight post. You can find that post here if you missed it.

Not sure how to CASE a card?

Well here are some suggestions:

Just match the color combo.
Change the theme/sentiment.
Flip it horizontally.
Match how they used an embellishment.
Try the technique they taught.
Use their card as a “sketch” to start with.

So what I did for my card was, I used the basic layout , and techniques.

The differences?

Obviously the stamp used is a different one, the colour combination is different, I added a couple of layers to my base card because I'm not a whizz at the single (or mostly single), layer cards like Francine is, I used larger water droplets and small flicks of white acrylic paint on my ink blended background, and more enamel dots, arranged differently.

I've included a picture of Francine's card at the end of my post, so you can see the differences and the similarities.


Items Used:
MFT Smooth White Cardstock
Tim Holtz Watercolor Cardstock
Strathmore Bristol Smooth Cardstock
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens - Light Violet, Violet
Adorable Elephants Stamp Set
MFT Adorable Elephants Die-namics
MFT Blueprints 20
MFT Cozy & Calm Chevron 6 x 6 Paper Pad
MFT Razzle Berry Premium Dye Ink
MFT Grape Jelly Premium Dye Ink
MFT Plaid Patterns 6 x 6 Paper Pad
Enamel Dots from stash

This is Francine's original card

Card by Francine (www.1001cartes.ch) card, cards, karte, carte, carterie, cardmaking, cardmaker,  crafts, papercrafts, handmade, diy, stamping, #1001cartes, mftstamps, #mftstamps, birdie brown:

That's it from me today, but join me tomorrow for another technique Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting!

Sunday 21 May 2017

Rainbow Giraffe Shaker Card

Morning!

It's a shaker card from me today, a bit of a fun one. This card was totally inspired by 2 things. The first was seeing Sandy Allnock colour a giraffe with rainbow spots and that made me think of the 'Taste the Rainbow' Skittles advert where the giraffe is eating the rainbow and being milked for Skittles lol.

First I stamped one of the giraffes from the Giraffing me Crazy stamp set from MFT stamps, coloured him with my Zig Markers and cut him out with the coordinating die.

Then I used the Irregular Circles stencil from Simon Says Stamp, to make a spotty background in a rainbow of colours. I used the medium size pierced rectangle frame die to cut this out and kept both the frame and the piece in the middle.

I made a top folding vertical card base from Razzle Berry card stock, and adhered a piece of Smooth White cardstock on top, cut with a stitched rectangle frame from Blueprints 20.

I built my shaker frame with an acetate window and foam tape walls, and the filled with a rainbow of sequins, using the stenciled piece that I'd saved as the back wall.

I adhered this to my card base and then popped my giraffe up on top with a little foam tape. I cut the 3 clouds from the Seaside Seagulls Die-namics and used a blending tool and some Tumbled Glass distress ink to shade the edges.Finally I stamped the What's Up sentiment from the giraffe set onto the biggest cloud and arranged them all on my card so the giraffe looks like his head is in the clouds.

I hope you like my card for today, I really am going to find it hard to give this one away lol!

Thanks for dropping by!


Saturday 20 May 2017

Saturday Spotlight - Francine Vuilleme

Hello!

Time for another Saturday Spotlight. This will actually be the last one for a few weeks because I have a lot on over the coming weeks and lots of other things to share with you.

So as the title says, this Saturday's spotlight is on 

Francine Vuilleme

Francine is Swiss and has the most fabulous CAS style. Her colouring skills are awesome and she shows masses of creativity and ingenuity in her designs.
I only stumbled across Francine's work this year so she was a new find for me, but I was blown away by her style. She has been on many Design Teams, but you may have seen her current work as part of the MFT, or Penny Black design teams.

I've got my head around CAS a lot more recently, but I don't think I could ever attempt the kind of one layer cards that Francine sometimes makes without it looking very flat!

I'm extremely honoured to say that she is on the same design team as me as she is guesting for Whimsy Stamps for 3 months.
I've included some of my favourite examples of Francine's work below as well as links to her blog, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channel.

No automatic alt text available.








If you're not familiar with her work, I urge you to go check it out, you won't be sorry you did.

Thanks for dropping by!

Friends Furever

Hello!

I'm having a bit of a catch up this weekend, as I have a few projects I still need to share.

This is my DT card for the new theme over at Deep Ocean Challenge, which is 


I made a simple card using MFT's Friends Furever Stamp set and matching Die-namics.

I coloured them with my distress ink markers and popped them up with some foam tape.

I used the Friend die from MFT's Words for Friends die set to cut out the word Friends, (cutting an additional s), several times in white cardstock and then again from some watercolour paper that I'd done some ink blending on.

The paper is something I found in my stash and the enamel dots are from Whimsy Stamps Summer Breeze and It's a Party enamel dots sets.

I do hope you can join in, there's a lovely prize of  a gift voucher



from the Ribbon Girl


As well as stocking a ton of pretty embellishments for your crafty needs, they now stock a wide selection of beautiful design papers.

I'll be back later with some more goodness, including my Saturday Spotlight.

Thanks for visiting!

Friday 19 May 2017

Lee Holland - Kitten with Cake

Hello!
Have you been enjoying all the new releases from Whimsy Stamps?

I have another from the new release to share with you today, this is Kitten with Cake  from the 



I coloured this cute little kitten with my distress ink markers, fussy cut him out and popped him up on some foam tape. I used several Whimsy Dies for a quick and simple card and added a shaker element for additional interest.

Whimsy Products Used

Hand Stitched Nested Rectangles

Thanks for visiting!

Wednesday 17 May 2017

Whimsy May Release Day 1

Hello!

It's that time again so get ready for some fab new stamps!

I'm kicking things off today with the cutest of cute from Sylvia Zet and our Wee Stamp collection.

This is called Sleeping Cutie.


Isn't she just adorable?!

I coloured her with my distress ink markers and used some older Pion papers and lots of Ribbon Girl goodies.


Don't forget to check out the rest of the teams fabulous makes!
If you Facebook, you can find them all here or check out our Instagram page here.

The team has lots of lovely ideas to show you over the next 3 days and I'll have some more new release goodness to share with you on Friday.

Thanks for dropping by!

Monday 15 May 2017

Waving Hello

Hello!

I'm dropping by with a sweet and simple card I made using the Lawn Fawn Stamp Set Mermaid for You

I coloured 2 of the mermaids very simply with my Distress Ink markers, adding a little detail to their tails with the pen nib. I cut them out with the matching dies and set aside.


I took a piece of watercolour paper and a couple of different colours of distress ink and did a background with the smooshing technique, picking up the diluted ink on a piece of acetate and smooshing it onto the watercolour card to make an unstructured and random pattern.

After I had the desired effect, I added a few drops of water and blotted off the excess, and then splattered on some drops of white acrylic paint.

Once fully dry I cut it down with a large rectangle die from Blueprints 20 and then cut a piece of turquoise lustre card 1/8th of an inch bigger all round to mat it.

I made a US A2 top folding card base and adhered my mats to the card, centreing them.

I arranged my mermaids to decide where I wanted them, and stamped a sentiment from the set in black onyx Versafine ink, then adhered the mermaids in place, popping them up with some foam tape.

Finally for a finishing touch I added a few sequins.



Items Used

Lawn Fawn Mermaid For You Stamp Set
Lawn Fawn Mermaid For You Die Set
MFT Blueprints 20
Smooth White Cardstock
Blue Lustre Cardstock
Hot Pressed Watercolour Paper
Versafine Ink, Onyx Black
Distress Inks
White Acrylic Paint
Sequins
Collal Adhesive
Foam Tape
Ranger Multi Medium Matte



Sunday 14 May 2017

Adorable Elephants - Happy Birthday

Hello!

So I'm sneaking in, close to the wire, an entry for the Wednesday Sketch Challenge #332 over at MFT.

I have to admit here that I was very liberal with my interpretation of the sketch. The main elements are there but I've added bit and moved them a little. I used a circle rather than an oval, but if you draw a line in your mind's eye to encompass the balloons you get a longer and more oval shape. You have to step outside the box sometimes when using sketches, they can be more of a jump of point rather than a literal interpretation, (though that's fine too).

Anyhooo.....I used the Adorable Elephants stamp set again, and I coloured the elephant in pink......Razzle Berry pink to be exact. Yes that's right MFT Razzle Berry Premium Dye Ink, can you use those inks to watercolour your project like you do with distress inks? Why yes, yes you can, and very successfully too I might add.

Why is my elephant pink, I hear you ask? Well.....why not? 😊  I think he looks very cute in pink.
The pale pink is actually a Zig marker because I don't have a pale pink in my MFT inks....yet.

I used a few different items here and I've listed them all below for you with links back to the items in the MFT shop, but I actually bought mine in the UK from Dies to Die for.



That's all for now, thanks for visiting!



Saturday 13 May 2017

Hey Gullfriend

Hello!

No Saturday Spotlight today, I have decided to make these fortnightly rather than every week as there's a bit of work to both these posts and the CASE a card Monday posts that follow, and because I have such a lot of other stuff to share with you,  so keep an eye out for the next of these posts on Saturday 20th.

In the meantime I have a simple card I made using the new MFT Seaside Seagulls set. I just love this set they are sooooo much fun, and the sentiments are a hoot too, which makes him indoors roll his eyes, but that just makes them even more fun lol!


I started with a US A2 size card base made from smooth white cardstock, and adhered some patterned paper cut with a large scalloped rectangle die. I've listed all the items at the end of my post, I haven't added links, but I bought all my MFT goodies at Dies to Die for.

I then took a piece of watercolour paper, my cloud stencil and several colours of Distress Ink (I used Tumbled Glass, Abandoned Coral, Shaded Lilac and Blueprint Sketch), to stencil my sea and sunset tinged clouds. To do the waves you just turn the stencil upside down!


Once I was happy with how it looked, I cut it out with a rectangle die and glued this onto my patterned paper.

I then stamped 2 of the gulls onto some Strathmore Bristol Smooth. I coloured them in with my
Zig Markers using Light Grey, Dark Grey and Bright Yellow and cut them out with the
matching die-namics.

I stamped one of the sentiments from the set onto a scrap of smooth white cardstock and cut a frame from a scrap of the patterned paper I'd used for the base.

I glued the frame over the sentiment and then stuck it down in the centre of my inked rectangle. I arranged the gulls and popped them up with some foam tape.

I finished the card off with a few sparkling clear sequins in different sizes

Items and Equipment Used

Smooth White Cardstock
MFT Calm and Cozy Chevrons 6 x 6 Pad
MFT Blueprints 20
Tim Holtz Watercolour Paper
MFT Cloud Stencil
Various Distress Inks (colours mentioned in post)
Ink Blending Tool and Sponges.
MFT Double Stitched Rectangles STAX
MFT Seaside Seagulls Stamp Set
MFT Seaside Seagulls Die-namics
Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper
Versafine Onyx Black Ink
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
Size 2 Watercolour Brush
MFT Rectangle Word Window Frame Die-namics
Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins
Paper Trimmer
Scoring Board and Bone Folder
Big Shot Die Cutting Machine
Misti Stamping Tool
Double Sided Foam Adhesive Tape
Collall Multipurpose Glue
Ranger Multi Medium Matte
Craft Tweezers

That's all for now, thank you so much for visiting!

Friday 12 May 2017

Lawn Fawn - Happy Wedding

Hello!

I'm definitely having a TGIF (thank God it's Friday) day today are you?

Luckily I still have plenty of cards tucked away in my draft folder,  still not quite sure how lol!

Anyhooo.......the card I have to share today is a Wedding Card. I love making wedding cards and this time I did something a little different. I used the super sweet Happy Wedding stamp set from Lawn Fawn, this set is so cute with lots of small images perfect for weddings, anniversaries and engagements and made a little wedding shaker card.


I used my Zigs to colour the images, and kept it simple as the images were very small, with pastel pink and blue colour scheme suitable for most weddings.

I used a few MFT dies to make the layout and shaker element of the card and the sequins are a mix of Coconut Ice and Cool Breeze from Lucy.

I've added a list of things I used but no links today as I've so little time and am not under sponsorship.

Smooth White Cardstock from Papermill Direct
Lawn Fawn Happy Wedding Stamp Set
Lawn Fawn Happy Wedding Dies
MFT Blueprints 20
MFT Pierced Frames Die-namics
MFT Stitched Sentiment Strips
MFT Mini Scallop Rectangles STAX
MFT Calm and Cozy 6 x 6 Pad
Mix of sequins from Little Things by Lucy

That's all from me today, I'll catch up with you at the weekend.
Have a great Friday and thanks for visiting!


Thursday 11 May 2017

So Happy I Found You (maze card)


Hello!

I'm back with another MFT card today. This one uses the recent MFT card kit. I had to order this from the states and having just received the customs bill from FedEx with an extortionate £12:00 admins charge on top of the customs charge, I don't think I'll be doing it again lol, but this kit was so different it really was irresistible. However next time I fall in love with the kit I'll just wait for the following month or so to have the separate components released.

Anyhooooo.......on with the card. Below I talk you through how I made it.

I made a standard US A2 size white cardbase from some medium weight smooth white cardstock, and topped that with some Orange Fizz cardstock cut a quarter of an inch smaller all round.

The I took a piece of ............and cut that with the stitched rectangle from my Blueprints 20 

I cut a piece of smooth white cardstock with the same die and then trimmed it with one of the Basic Scalloped Edge die-namics.

I used the die that came with the kit to cut a hole for my maze in both the white cardstock and my patterned paper, and also cut the 'frame' for the maze in the same patterned paper with another die in the kit.

I stamped one of the sentiments from the kit in Orange Fizz dye ink, onto the edge of the white cardstock, curving the sentiment onto my acrylic block before stamping so that it matched the shape of the edge.

I centred my patterned paper on my card and positioned my maze piece in the hole, gluing it in place to stop it from spinning around, and then cut a little heart from a scrap of Grape Jelly cardstock and glued that  in the centre of the maze. I did give the heart a little coating of wink of stella before attaching it.

Next I added a little ball bearing from the kit to the maze, my shaker window, and then glued down my white card and the patterned trim.

I stamped the 2 little birds from the Friends Furever stamp set onto some Strathmore Bristol paper with Black Onyx Versafine ink, and coloured them with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens, in colours to match the papers. I cut them out with their matching dies and then adhered them at the start and finish of the maze. popping them up with a little foam tape.

For a finishing touch I added a few orange enamel dots from my stash.

Looking at it now I reliase that I forgot to colour in the little bird's beaks lol, so I will need to go back and set that right.

MFT a-maze-ing card kit
(this is now sold out but the individual elements will be available in a later release)
MFT Blueprints 20
MFT Plaid Patterns 6 x 6 Pad
MFT Friends Furever Stamp Set
MFT Friends Furever Dienamics

I hope you enjoyed my card for today, thank you so much for taking the time to visit.



Wednesday 10 May 2017

Hello

Hello!

I've been busily colouring in some new images for the Whimsy Stamps May release (next week, can't wait to share them with you), so for this post I thought I would take a break from the gloriously cute images and go all grown up on you, with a card made purely with Whimsy dies (apart from that teeny sentiment) 

This card was inspired by a card from Laura Bassen. You can find the original card on Laura's blog here. As I mentioned before on my Saturday Spotlight on Laura, (if you missed that you can find it here), not only does she make the most fabulous cards, her personality totally shines through in her YouTube videos. She's so FUN! She really makes me laugh and you can totally see her joy in crafting and in life on general, I just love her sunny and slightly loopy persona.


Anyhooooo.... on with today's card. When I saw Laura's card I immediately thought of the honeycomb pattern die from Whimsy Stamps and I thought it would be fun to use the same technique as Laura used with her Puncinella die. Note that I am thinking 'Punchinella' in a strong Italian accent.....go watch Laura's video on this and you'll see why lol!

I didn't add too much more to the card once the little hexagons were in place other then a little Hello sentiment, heat embossed in white on the aqua card I used behind my top layer, a little off cut strip of my blended card, a couple of skinny strips of my aqua card and a few sequins to finish.

I think it kind of looks a bit like DNA structure lol

Items Used

Smooth White Cardstock
Blue Lustre Cardstock
Watercolour Paper
Distress Ink Pads - Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough
Whimsy Hand Stitched Nested Rectangle Dies
Whimsy Honeycomb Pattern Die
Whimsy Stamps Happy Sayings Stamp Set
Versamark Ink
White Embossing Powder

That's all from me today, but I'll see you again soon. 

Thanks for dropping by!



Tuesday 9 May 2017

Technique Tuesday #18 - Stencils 2 Ways

Hello!

I got a lovely package of MFT goodies to play with this weekend, so I thought I'd use some of them as the focus of my Technique Tuesday this week.

I chose the Giraffing me Crazy stamp set and stamped a few of the images out with Versafine Black Onyx on to Strathmore Bristol paper, and coloured them in with my Zig Clean Color real Brush Markers. I cut them out with the coordinating dies and set them aside.

Them I set to work with my stencils.

First I took a piece of Tim Holtz watercolour cardstock and taped it down, rough side up on my work surface. I chose the rough side because I wanted a textured finish to help the bricks look more...well brick-like.

I used the following colours of distress inks: Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain, laying down the lighter colour first and then gradually adding the deeper colours towards the bottom and blending out. 
I used my Clarity Stencil Brushes for this rather then an ink blender because I wanted a softer subtler blend and also because I find it easier when the stencil has lots of detail as they're gentler on the stencil and less likely to damage it.


Once I was happy with my blend I cut it out with the large double stitched rectangle die and then cut a 'window' in the wall using the new peek-a-boo square window die.

I set that aside and took a small rectangle of white cardstock and taped that down to my work surface and then stenciled a sky using the new Cloud Stencil, Tumbled Glass distress ink and an ink blending tool. This is the other kind of stenciling where instead of stenciling through a pattern, you blend off of a mask. I could have stenciled the sky directly onto my card base, but I was being lazy and didn't want to bother masking off my card lol.

I glued the sky directly to my card base and then adhered the brick wall with some foam tape, positioning it carefully over my sky.

I then added the little sprigs of leaves with some multi medium matte and popped the giraffes on with some more foam tape for a lovely bit of dimension.
I stamped my sentiment from the same set, onto some white cardstock and cut it out using the Rectangle Word Frames, keeping the frame part to use on another project, and adhered it to the top of my brick wall.
I finished off the whole thing with a few orange enamel dots.

I do hope you like it, the idea is that they are supposed to look like they are in the giraffe house at the zoo, looking out at the sky with the greenery poking through the window!

I used the following products on my card today:

MFT Giraffing me Crazy
MFT English Brick Stencil
MFT Cloud Stencil
MFT Double Stitched Rectangle Die-namics
MFT Peek-a-boo square window Die-namic
MFT Rectangle Word Frames Die-namics

All my MFT products came for Dies to Die for

That's all for today, thanks for visiting!


Monday 8 May 2017

CASE a card Monday - Split Cards

Hello!

As my Saturday spotlight was Jennifer Maguire (if you missed that post you can find it here),
I'm casing one of Jennifer's cards today.

As an added bonus this Monday you get 6 cards instead of 1 lol!







and this was Jennifer's original card that I took inspiration from


I used a background stamp and I didn't have a large floral stamp and I coloured them with zig markers, distress ink blending and then colouring using a blending tool.

I did 3 different but similar style cards, and 6 different sentiments, but you could batch produce them fairly easily if you used the same sentiment etc.

I hope you like me CASE for today and that it's given you some ideas of how to use a card for inspiration.

Thanks for visiting!