Making Changes

Edited Sunday August 31 - So I have changed my header once again, actually to something a little simpler and what I was initially looking for. When I have more time I will figure out how to change the colours for my titles etc. to match my header. Hope you are having a good day.

Change is good right? So, I got it into my head yesterday that I wanted to update my blog header. Using Photoshop Elements and an image of a more recent card, I created a new header that I was fairly happy with. I wanted to see how it looked on my blog, so I removed my old header, added the new and wasn't 100% happy with it. When I tried to put my old header back into place it didn't fit properly and for the life of me I could not remember how I had resized it so many years ago. I have just enough computer knowledge to get done what I have to and just enough to also get me into trouble. So the new header it is. I wanted to change the colours for the rest of my blog, but again could not remember how I had done this in the past and did not want to find myself in the position of totally messing up my blog. Oh well, hopefully I can tweek it here and there in the next while.

Hope everyone is having fabulous long weekend!

Papertrey Ink July Blog Hop - Watercolour Wishes

I didn't think I was going to be able to get a card in for this month's hop at Papertrey Ink, but managed to make a quick watercolour card using Kay Miller's method from this past weekend's Stamp-a-Faire event. I was inspired by the colours and the florals in the pillow.

For the first card I created using this technique I used Distress Inks and for this one I used regular dye inks. I prefer the results with Distress Inks, need to get more colours.

Thanks for visiting!


Supplies:
Stamps - The Sweet Life, Hooray (PTI)
Dies - Stitched Rectangles (Lil Inkers)
Ink - Lagoon, Tulip, Sunset, Baby Pink (CTMH), Versafine - Onyx Black
Paper - 140 lb. Watercolour Paper (Strathmore), Stampers Select CS (PTI)
Other - raindrops (PTI)

SAF 2016 - Farewell

This year's Stamp-a-Faire event at Papertrey Ink is coming to a close tomorrow morning. I didn't complete as many of the challenges that I had hoped to, but did enjoy all of the inspiration and videos from the design team - I think this was my favourite year yet. Fabulous job girls! Here is a picture of what I did get done. I started a card for Lexi's Color Blocking, but just as I was finishing it up I messed up on my inking and didn't have the opportunity to start over. Great techniques and ideas to try in the future.

Thanks for visiting.

SAF 2016 - Watercolour Like A Master

Well, it is Monday afternoon and I only managed to complete one more challenge from this weekend's Stamp-a-Faire at Papertrey Ink. Kay Miller has a fabulous video on creating a watercolour masterpiece. This was so fun and I love how easy it was to create a pretty card.

I used 'The Sweet Life' stamp set for my florals and Ranger Distress inks. The sentiment is from 'Hooray'.

Supplies - The Sweet Life, Hooray (PTI), Watercolour paper (Strathmore), Versafine Onyx black, Copic black, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron, Antique Linen, Picked Raspberry Distress inks (Ranger)

SAF 2016 - Masterpiece Inspiration

The 2:00 p.m. challenge is to be inspired by one of the Masters. I chose the beautiful floral piece by Georgia O'Keefe. I love large floral paintings and her poppy is gorgeous. The largest PTI floral image stamp that I have is Peonies on Parade, so I stamped it onto watercolour paper with versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I then watercoloured with my Peerless watercolour paints. I love the vibrant colour you can get with these paints.

 Supplies: Peonies on Parade, Hooray, Royal Velvet CS (PTI), watercolour paper (Strathmore), Versa Mark, White EP, Peerless Watercolours, Versafine Onyx Black, Black shimmer tape

SAF 2016 - Gilded in Gold

The 10:00 a.m. tutorial and challenge is all about gilding in gold. You can see Danielle's tutorial here. I created a birthday tag. I have a Krylon gold leaf pen that I haven't used for a while and first tried to use that, however the tip had dried out and I couldn't get good results. I then use some Testor's gold hobby paint that I have had forever and it worked beautifully.

I cut my tag from a coaster and my Branching Out die cut from heavy watercolour paper. Using post-its I gilded the bottom of the tag with gold and also painted the leaf die cut.

Supplies - Tulip Time stamp, Branching Out Die, Tag Sale Die (PTI), Versafine Ink, embroidery floss.

SAF 2016 - Starry Night

The 8:00 a.m. challenge at Papertrey Ink's Stamp-A-Faire features a video by Amy Sheffer on how to create a night sky. My first attempt ended up in the trash bin. When I added the water I didn't like how it affected my ink blending and my painted trees at the bottom didn't look much like trees by the time I was done. So I started over blending inks until I was happy, stamping images from Meadow Greens for my trees and spattering with white and metallic silver acrylic paint.

It doesn't show up well in the photo, but the upper right corner of my night sky shows pretty shades of pink, purple and green in real life.

Supplies - Meadow Greens stamp, Birthday Cheer Die, Soft Stone CS (PTI), various inks, silver foil CS, sequins, rhinestones, silver thread

PTI Stamp-a-Faire 2016 - Masterpiece Gallery

Get your creative juices flowing everyone, it's time for PTI's yearly Stamp-A-Faire event! Tomorrow is a day packed with fabulous inspiration, tutorials and chances to win from Papertrey Ink.

To kick off the event tonight there is a Gallery Reception for us to share a project that we are most proud of. I chose the card below which I created for MIM#131 from September of 2013 - Striped Embossing by Betsy Veldman. I had just started using Papertrey products earlier that year and used two of my favourite stamps from my limited Papertrey supply at the time. I can't access the link any longer but I am pretty sure this card was highlighted in the newsletter for that month.

If I recall Betsy demonstrated how to create an ombre or striped effect with heat embossing. I used three shades of blue embossing powder to create the stripes in the title. Then I created stripes in the round on my blooms.
Thanks for visiting.

Pretty Vellum Wedding Wishes

Today I have another card for Altenew's July Inspiration challenge.

For this card I stamped two of the images from Persian Motifs onto vellum with Versamark and heat embossed with Silver Pearl embossing powder. I coloured the images from the back with Copic markers. The vellum panel was so soft and pretty that I kept the rest of the card fairly simple. I trimmed the vellum panel, adhered it to a A2 card base and added a cardstock frame and silver embossed sentiment on vellum.

Supplies:
Stamps - Persian Motifs (Altenew)
Dies - Double Ended Banner (PTI), Labels 18 (Spellbinders)
Paper - Stampers Select White CS (PTI), vellum
Ink - Versa Mark, Silver EP (CTMH), Copics - Y13, Y35, YG03, YG17, RV02, RV13
Other - snaps

Magnolia Wedding Wishes

I have another card for Altenew's July Challenge. Below is the inspiration photo and the theme is - Weddings. I recently received a couple of Altenew stamps in the mail and have been anxious to use them. My card features Magnolia's For Her - such a pretty set and one I am enjoying playing with.

 

I stamped my floral images with VersaMark ink onto Ranger's watercolour paper and heat embossed with a pretty silvery white embossing powder. I watercoloured using Peerless Watercolours and also spattered some yellow watercolour onto my linen textured A2 card base. After fussy cutting the images I adhered them to my card base using foam adhesive. Added a vellum embossed sentiment and some raindrops and rhinestones. 

Thanks for looking and have a fabulous weekend!

Supplies:
Stamps - Magnolias For Her (Altenew)
Dies - Double Ended Banners (PTI)
Paper - Fine Linen CS (PTI), Watercolor Paper (Ranger), Vellum
Ink - Peerless Watercolours, VersaMark, Silver Pearl EP, Silver EP (CTMH)
Other - rhinestones, raindrops

Pretty Pink Wedding Congrats

Hello everyone, today I have a card that I created for Altenew's July Inspiration Challenge - Weddings and also Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

This is my first time using my new stamp set from Altenew - Persian Motifs. I absolutely love this stamp set and already have a few other cards stamped and ready to be completed.

I love how this card turned out. I used a new to me technique - heat embossing on vellum and coloring the images on the back side with Copic markers. After colouring I added Wink of Stella to the front side of the images and then fussy cut around the edge of the blooms before adhering to my A2 card base. A heat embossed sentiment and a few bitty rhinestones finished my card.

Here is the inspiration photo from Altenew:

 

Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Stamps - Persian Motifs (Altenew)
Paper - Fine Linen CS, True Black CS (PTI), vellum
Ink - Versa Mark, White EP, Copics - R83, 85, 89, G07, 14, 28
Other - bitty rhinestones