Two of your Five a Day!!

Hello there :0)... yes I've turned my attention to Fruit and Veg for my Monday morning blog post and it just so happens that today also marks the start of National Vegetarian Week too!!. I could pretend I planned it that way but that would be fibbing!!

I fell in love with the sketchy images in the Hero Arts 'Stamp Your Own Salad' set, they have a bold graphic feel and I could see textiles and patterns popping out at me so I suppose it's a bit odd that I should be trying watercolouring with these images. They help you cheat a little at watercolouring but the recipients of your projects will think you've spent ages on them :)

Because the images have a crosshatch scribbled look to them it means they lay down a nice amount of ink when you use distress ink pads so all you need is a damp waterbrush to fill in the base colour. I found second generation stamping best because its best to start with a pale colour!! Once the base colour is dry you can then build up extra layers and shades to add shape and texture to your images. It's all about taking some scrap watercolour card and having a play with ink and water :)

With the tomatoes above, I completed one fruit first and then blasted it with a heatgun to dry it off before stamping the second image behind it. You don't really need to make masks because you can roughly judge where to wipe the ink away from your image before you stamp it.... any overlap or gaps can easily be rectified when you add water. I got brave and tried inking half the tomato to make a wedge shape.... by wiping some of the ink away in the centre and using second generation stamping I managed to get a paler impression to work with. I Googled an image to make sure I replicated the inner colours and shapes right. I had a few practices first on scrap card :)

The carrots are created pretty much the same, one at a time and allowing them to dry in between layers. The tops aren't quite right for carrots (think they're supposed to be parsnips actually) but that's okay unless you show your husband who's a keen gardener!!

I stamped the tops in a pale green and used darker ink to colour them. The colour bled a little with these so I decided to go with it and work on that look but it's quite hard to make an accidental colour bleed look accidental!!

To finish them off I kept the base card simple and used Lawn Fawns Argyle and Gingham backdrops to add a subtle pattern. The sentiments are from Wplus9's Hand Lettered Thanks and Fresh Picked.

                

                           

Thanks for stopping by :)
Jenny x

High Contrast Card with Glitter and Flower Dies

Hi crafters, Julia here!

I wanted to give my flower dies a nice workout, and I also wanted to create a high contrast card. I usually shy away from dark colors, but I think they work beautifully with vibrant colored card stock and the glitter.

For some additional highlights, I used double sided adhesive tape and some Stick It sheets (if you don't have double sided adhesive tape, you can just cut a strip from the Stick It sheet).

I first put down the strip across the card and poured some Elizabeth Craft Microfine Glitter in Antique Silver on it. You need to gently rub the glitter into the adhesive to make it stay there permanently and guess what – you can use one of your ten always-present-tools for that: your finger ;)

For the sentiment – that took a while to figure out. I won't bore you with a description of my failures. Suffice to say: the good reviews for the Stick It sheets didn't exaggerate in the slightest. I was absolutely unable to die cut my other adhesive sheets with my word die so I could just put the adhesive on the card. It just didn't cut, even with a shim. The Stick It sheet worked like magic. I peeled off one side, stuck it onto the card, rubbed it to make it stay, and then peeled off the other side. Once more my glitter came out and – voilà!

I hope you enjoyed the card and have a great weekend! Cheers!

Paper and Wood

Today I wanted to feature the new papers we got in store this week - I'm really pleased I can widen the selection we have in store for you and hope you like them too.  For my card, I wanted to make the paper the star of the show so selected a few co-ordinating sheets from the My Mind's Eye Jubilee Sherbet pad and went to town with one of the WPlus9 Fanciful Feather dies.

I arranged them on a grey base card, took a quick snap so I could check I put them back how I wanted them, and then proceeded to glue them all down (if you think ahead which I didn't this time - you can adhere your papers to double-sided glue sheets before die cutting and then there's no need to mess with glue on fiddly feather fronds.....)

I used one of the Everyday Circles from Neat and Tangled for my sentiment, popped up on foam and given a full layer of glossy accents to make it look like flair.  Then I added some of the gorgeous new enamel dots which co-ordinate with the papers (I have to say their manufacturer photos do not do them any justice!)

I've got one more card to share with you using the papers but also with a little tease of something else new coming very soon......

The base card is kraft and the red strip is Raspberry Jam ink brushed direct to paper on it.  The white wood panel is from one of the Christmas paper pads (you don't have to use them just for Christmas!)  Sleigh Bells has some great year round prints too.

Now for the tease - that lovely round die cut with the inlaid die cut "you" is from our forthcoming wood veneer collection - gorgeous sheets of real wood, that as you can see, can be easily die cut and can be stamped and coloured too.  And the best news - they come with a self-adhesive backing so couldn't be easier to use!  We hope we'll have packs in store in a couple of weeks so watch this space as I'm sure you're going to love them as much as I do!

For this one I die cut a circle and then die cut the "you" from the new WPlus9 thank you die from it removing the word and leaving the "holes" behind.  I die cut the word again from a paler veneer and pieced it back into gap.  I stamped Spring Blooms directly onto the wood with raspberry jam ink, versafine sepia (for the leaves and sentiment) and then pumpkin pie for the flower centres.  As you can see, the inks don't run on the wood and give a crisp clean finish.  I added a sentiment from the stamps that match the die but as you can see, you can do a lot more than make thank you cards with them!  I scattered a few sequins from the Neat and Tangled Festive Fall Mix which co-ordinate perfectly with the wood.

Here's a close up on the wood so you can see the lovely texture it will add to your projects.

Now for the store news for this week:

Mama Elephant's latest release and restocks are currently in customs clearance

Lil' Inker Designs restocks and their "as yet to be revealed" August release is also in Customs clearance and should be here in time for us to release when they do in the US.

Lawn Fawn have now shipped my MAHUSIVE box of the new release and restocks and it's coming FedEx so should "hopefully" be quicker than normal.  It's the first time we've used this method though so I'm not sure how much quicker it will be - I'll be keeping my eye on the tracking system and will keep you informed.

That's all for me this weekend folks - enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend - make the most of it - it's a long wait for the next one!

Tara