Back in the Zone

Evening,

Finally a successfully crafty day. I have been distracting myself with my cross stitch over the last few days, in the hope that following a pattern that I have chosen and love, will get my creative juices working. But with a deadline looming I have had to just sit and play, and I have finally got in to the zone.

Of course I can't share any of it with you, so here instead are another couple of cards made using fabulous Aall and Create stamps and Distress Oxide inks.

I do love a mop up background, they are always so different.

I have to admit though that sometimes it is a bit of stamping that turns them from something that I am really not sure about, into something that I absolutely love, and a bit of painting with bleach never hurts.

Another fabulous way to use Distress inks and Oxides is with this rather wet and wispy Watercolour stamping technique.

It is so much easier to achieve if you use a Misti or Stamping Platform of some type as the technique  requires that you re-stamp over the image once you have first stamped onto the wet card with your Distress inks.

Now I just need tomorrow to be as successful as today and I'll be a happy bunny.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Three of a Kind

Evening,

I back home safe and sound, and laptop all charged up. 

I recently had to replace the charger when the laptop slipped off the sofa and landed on the charger while it was plugged in, so I think that I might order one that I can leave with the Grandchildren for when I go to stay. I have a couple of drawers in a cupboard where I keep a set of toiletries, underwear and pyjamas to save me having to bring them with me each time, so I think that it would make sense to add a charger into the mix lol.

As I've told you before, when making samples I often have no idea of what I'm going to make. Sometimes I try out an idea or technique in several colours before deciding on which card I will send to Creative Expressions.

I coloured the ribbon with ink to match the stamping, but it was a little messy when placed at the top of the card,

so I decided to remake the card.

Of course it ended up very slightly different to the first one. I also added a strip of the embossed card over the top of the ribbon on the first card to help hide the mess.

The stamped panel on all of the cards have been created using a Misti or Stamping Platform.

Ink the stamp with Distress Inks (or similar) and spritz with water before stamping on to watercolour card stock. The colours will bleed, particularly if you lightly spritz the card stock first.

Clean the stamp, dry the cardstock, and then restamp the image using Versafine Clair ink. By leaving the stamp on the Misti/Stamping Platform in between inking, the image looks as if it has been watercoloured with minimum effort.

Of course you can always add more colour to parts of the image with a paintbrush.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx

Layering Stamps and Dies

Evening,

I'm so glad that it's Friday, and tomorrow we have a crafty get together. Our last class before Christmas saw us playing with Altenew Layering stamps and dies.

I do love the Altenew layering stamps, they make colouring images so easy especially if you are not very confident with it like me.

I used my stamping platform/Misti to create several similar floral images.

There are co-ordinating dies available which makes the cutting out so much easier. I'm all for anything that makes crafting quicker and easier, and there are lots of tips out there from people like Jennifer McGuire.

I layered my die cut leaves and flowers onto a piece of handmade background from my stash.

Even one flower is enough to create a simple yet elegant card.

More handmade background paper and a diecut wreath along with a stamped and embossed sentiment.

Better go and get packed up for class tomorrow. I always worry that I will forget something.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

Hugs Kimx
 

Floral Birthday Wishes

Hi All,

What a gloriously sunny day we have had today. In fact it rather caught us all by surprise, since meeting Mummy on her lunch break, for a picnic in the park, turned into rosy red faces for us all lol. 

So here are a few bright floral cards from one of the Distress Oxide classes pre-lockdown.

I stamped and embossed the image onto a piece of cardstock using my Stamping Platform/Misti.

It is a fabulous piece of kit, especially when you have multiple images that you want to stamp.

It enabled me to stamp up several pieces of card stock quickly and easily in one sitting before using Distress Oxides to create the backgrounds and colour in the images.

I even cut one of the pieces in half for a couple of smaller cards.

I must remember to smoother everyone in sun tan lotion tomorrow, especially if they are going to be playing out in the garden again.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Watercolour Grasses

Afternoon All

I'm gradually working my way through the photos of card samples that are on my laptop. Of course once I have finished with them there are loads more in boxes just waiting for their camera ready moment lol.

This card, the last of my Sam Poole samples makes use of a couple of techniques that I favour.

This grassy image was first stamped using a distress oxide ink pad on to a piece of wet watercolour card stock. The colour will bleed leaving a rather blurred image which is actually what you want.

This technique is best done using a stamping platform of some kind because you need to stamp back over the blurred image once it has dried, this time using a versafine ink pad and you need it to be in exactly the same place. I also like to heat emboss this second image which of course means that the cardstock must be completely dry.

I stamped and embossed part of the image on to a scrap of cardstock which I then die cut into a small tag. Having coloured it with more distress inks I layered it onto the main panel to form a spotlight.

I used the main grassy image on the kraft card base, this time stamped using versamark ink to create a watermark image. A bit of faux stitching finishes off all the various components.

That's me for today, I need to cross at least one thing off my to do list, and I'm nowhere near that at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Hugs Kimx

 

Just for You Su

Evening ,

Apparently today is National Do Something Nice Day, so I am trying to do something nice for a crafty friend.

One of the Girls that comes to class on a Saturday, or at least she used to before classes all went on hold, loves hares. So I am sharing this card especially for her.

This is one of Jane's fabulous new stamp sets designed for Woodware. JGS743 Hare in the Brambles.

Using a stamping platform of some description, I first inked the image with brown (can't remember which colours) and Forest Moss Distress Oxides, and spritzed with water before stamping onto wet mixed media cardstock.

The colour bleeds out, a little or a lot depending on how much water you use. Dry the image and place back in to the stamping platform before reinking the dry stamp with brown Versafine Clare ink and embossing with clear powder.

I used another of Jane's stamp sets JGS746 Word Fragments 2 to create the pale sentiment background on the right hand side.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs 

Kimx

Designer Boutique Baubles

Evening Everyone,
I hope you caught Suz fabulous shows on Create and Craft today featuring the wonderful Designer Boutique stamp sets.

 I think this bauble one is one of my favourites.

I have used it here on a bit of handmade background paper and then painted the baubles with watercolour Mica paints.

 This card was created using the stamping platform/Misti.

I first inked the image with brown distress oxide ink and spritzed it with water.

I stamped it on to watercolour card stock that was also sprayed with water. Once I had dried this image I stamped again with a brown Versafine Claire ink and embossed the image. Once again I painted with watercolour mica paints.

This card was made using ink sprays over an embossed image.

I had to remake the card to do a step by step tutorial for Creative Expressions, and as you can see no two cards are the same when you work with inks and dies lol.
I've got an early morning trip to the post office tomorrow with samples for Jane's next show on Friday, so I had better get to bed.
Thanks for stopping by.
Stay safe and hugs
Kimx

Lino Cut Robin and Holly

Evening Everyone.
A couple more cards tonight using another of Jane's new Christmas stamp sets Lino Cut Robin and Holly.

 I love this set,

 and let's face it you have to have a robin on a card at Christmas.

 The watercolour look was achieved by first inking the stamp with distress oxides

 and then spritzing it with water before stamping it onto wet watercolour card stock.

 A stamp positioner is fairly essential for this technique, because once the ink has dried

you place the card stock back into the positioner and stamp directly over the top of the image in dark brown Versafine Claire ink

and then emboss with clear embossing powder.

This one just uses the dark brown ink,

and I think that without the Christmas sentiment it would make a perfectly good birthday card,

 particularly for a winter celebration.

These last two cards are made using a couple of first generation (unspritzed)

and second generation (spritzed) images.
Thanks for stopping by.
Stay safe. Happy Crafting and hugs
Kimx

Classic Rose Bunch

Hello All,
Today is National Red Rose Day in the USA.
Both my Dad and maternal Grandma loved roses, in fact I still have one in a pot by my front door that my Dad gave me over 20 years ago. It is very straggly and I'm sure that it is in need of one of those rather drastic haircuts that we all could do with at the moment, but as I am absolutely rubbish with plants, I am quite frankly scared to do anything to it in case I kill it off, so I just leave it alone. Probably the wrong thing to do all together lol.

Here are a couple of cards using another of Jane Gill's stunning floral stamps JGS656 Classic Rose Bunch.

I used Distress Oxide inks to colour in the stamped and embossed image.

This card is very similar, just different background paper.

I added faux stitching and some 'rain drops'.

It's amazing how a different technique can give an image a completely different look.

Here I first covered the stamp with red and green dye based inks and then spritzed it with water before stamping it on to watercolour card stock.

Once the ink has dried I stamped again this time using black ink.

This technique definitely relies on the use of some sort of Stamping Platform to ensure that you stamp the image in exactly the same place.
We are hoping for our socially distanced get together tomorrow afternoon, so let's hope that it rains itself out today.
Have a great weekend whatever you are doing.
Stay safe and hugs
Kimx