Happy Mother's Day

I decided to play with two of my favourite products today; some of Sue Wilson's dies and one of Phill Martin's complete cosmic shimmer collections and matching Colour Cloud blending ink.  I'm really pleased with the result and I hope that my Mum will be too.

Indigoblu 'Weird Science' Stamps

As soon as I saw these stamps, I knew that I would have to get them; so many people in my family are scientists of one sort or another!  My sister is taking her final exams to become a GP next week, so I thought that they would be the perfect way to encourage her.  I am also entering this into the Indigoblu blog challenge A Touch of Red.

Finished Yupo Card

Having played around with Yupo yesterday, I used the piece that I finished as a focal point on a card.  As the alcohol inks that I used were bright, I wanted a pop of colour in the matting and layering, but also some black to match the stamped elements.  As you can see, I had lots of fun trying different lay outs and several colour elements.

The finished piece.

Playing with Yupo

I'm late to the game with this one, but I finally discovered Yupo on YouTube and as I have quite a few alcohol inks I thought I'd get some and have a play.  I wasn't pleased with my initial efforts and almost threw them away; but I persevered, added layers and I'm happy with the two pieces I've created so far trying a multitude of techniques.

The second finished piece.

Glitter Background Card

I finished a card with the background that I made yesterday - see description here. Once again I used the double pierced squares (set B) by Sue Wilson to create a frame, and the larger of the Pierced Flags as a backing for the sentiment on the front of the card.  They are fabulous die sets and I keep coming back to them.  This time I stamped all over the frame to tie in with the glitter panel background.

Colouring with Glitter

There's a technique that I have seen used by Sue Wilson where she uses a double sided adhesive sheet behind a die cut pattern and adds glitter to the front of the card to colour the image.  I decided to have a play myself.  Rather than use the ombre effect that Sue used on her card, I used some contrasting colours and shades of the same colour to make a more rainbow effect on my panels.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do with the finished panel yet: cut them into sections; stamp a verse down the right hand side or cut out the square and add it as the focal point to a larger square card.  Watch this space!

Large Background: Finished Card

I finally got my act together and made a card using the large A5 background stamp that I've been playing with.  Having practised adding colour on a spare background, I used my best copy for this card.  I stuck to using distress inks to add colour, but this time also used a water brush to add more precise details to elements such as the key.  I also added decoupage elements to finish off. I'm entering this in the Craft Stamper Make It Take It February Challenge.

Large Background Experiment: Part 2

As I am experimenting with adding colour to the large background that I was working on yesterday, I started with one of the backgrounds which didn't quite stamp well enough.  Having decided to use Archival ink and stamp using the mega mount as an acrylic block, I used one of the failed backgrounds as a starting point.  I love distress ink pads as you can blend them really well with the small round blending tool and lift the colour using water if you need to.  Here's my first attempt - you can see where the beetle didn't stamp properly, but I just wanted to try out colour placement.  I used a water brush and kitchen towel to lift the colour from the shirt cuff, 'hello', the compass hands, balloon boat and around the key.

Experimenting with A5 Background Stamps

Hi everyone, sorry it's been a while since I posted; I will try and do better.  Only a week until half term and then I will have a little more time.  
As a starting point for my latest card, I wanted to use one of the new A5 background stamps by Docrafts.  I chose the Steampunk background, as I want to create a masculine card; I will be trying the same techniques using the Musicality A5 stamp as this is more feminine.  As it is such a large stamp, I initially used the technique of inking up the stamp and laying the card face down onto it.  I used Versamark ink and black detail embossing powder to heat emboss the design.  As you can see, I ended up with an out of focus effect, as I had obviously moved the card when I was rubbing over the back.