Just Add Daisies

Challenge: Just Add Ink #175

This is my entry in the Just Add Ink sketch challenge this week.  I have wanted to try the Polaroid style since I saw it recently, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!  I used the Square Framelits to cut the square from the black mat. I don't often brayer, but decided I wanted to give it a go for the background of the 'photo' so used Coastal Cabana at the top and Pistachio Pudding from the bottom before stamping the Upsy Daisy stamp from Best of Flowers.  The sentiment is from Label Love, I used my marker to ink up just the sentiment, it gives even more versatility to this set.   The large pearl is coloured with a black permanent marker to match the theme of the card.

Happy Stamping

More Butterflies

As I went to title this post I realised that the image on my card is again butterflies, maybe it is time for me to get out in the garden!  Mind you it is a bit cold and overcast today, who knows what has happened to summer this year, just last week it dropped to 1.6 Celsius (that is 34 Fahrenheit for my US visitors) - maybe that is why I am craving butterflies, they have all hidden from the cold!

I have taken inspiration from three different challenges for this card, Just Us Girls challenge is to use collage stamping, Friday Mashup was to make a thank you card using DSP, and Colour Throwdown gave me my colours although I had to change Soft Sky to Pool Party.

I joined today with On-line Card Classes for Clean and Simple Card Making.  The reason I mention this is because one of the first techniques was to use masking to add a layer to a card without actually adding a physical layer, and I wanted to try this out.  In the class they used the masking to create a frame, I used it to add feature to the centre leaving a blank frame around the outside - which left it less clean and simple lol.  On reflection I could have stamped off the En Francais image so it wasn't as strong, but I think the All a Flutter butterfly stands out enough.  To bring in a little more of the Daffodil Delight I added some extra little butterflies from the Clearly for You stamp set and used some 1/8" Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon over a piece of the 3/8" Soft Suede Taffeta Ribbon.  The Thanks So Much sentiment comes from the Pocket Silhouettes set.

Hopefully I will get a few more cards made today as I am off to do some of the on-line classes and try a few Clean and Simple cards.

Happy Stamping

Crafter's Technique Class

Just a quick post tonight, as I have just finished an on-line class on Crafters Anonymous - and I wanted to prove I can use a different stamp!!!  Tonight was a technique class, and we learned the Magic Ink technique. 

I used a combination of Regal Rose and Daffodil Delight on this card.  After embossing the butterflies onto glossy white cardstock, using white embossing powder, I used re-inkers on an alcohol soaked cotton ball to make the background, dabbing it all over the cardstock.  I also used the re-inker to colour a piece of white gross grain ribbon to match, although it has come out a little darker than planned.   

Happy Stamping

My Own Challenge

I have been doing a few challenges lately and so decided to set myself a challenge!  The challenge is to reach into my scrap cardstock box and pull out 2-3 pieces and use them on a card!  This time around I pulled out a scrap of More Mustard, Old Olive and Cajun Craze.  I paired the All A Flutter with the sentiment from Butterfly Prints, using the En Francais background stamp and some paper piercing.  I hope you like what I created.

Playing with Bleach

I had seen this technique when I watched the demonstrators dvd when I first joined up with Stampin' Up! and have been curious to give it a try ever since. Basically you use bleach (yep the stuff from under the kitchen sink) to strip the colour from your card stock. Here is an example of how I did this on the All A Flutter stamp after embossing with gold. I was really pleased with the result as it just lifted enough colour to highlight parts of the butterfly wings. The base card stock was More Mustard with a Chocolate Chip layer, I also used the Fresh Cuts stamp set for the background and some added paper piercing on the card along with very vanilla grosgrain ribbon.

I was really pleased with the result. Now I have one Aqua Painter that is just for bleach (carefully labeled as such) so I can use this technique more often. It may be an option also for when we lose our pretty light purple colours - a spritz of bleach may take just enough colour out of the darker purple to give the effect you are after.

I would suggest doing a test on a scrap piece of card stock (preferably an off cut of the one you are using as I found some variance of colour even on different sheets of More Mustard)