Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Welcome back for another week of Colour INKspiration. 
The colours this week are just gorgeous.  Once you get them together they are lovely to play with. 
I'm so pleased with how this card turned out.  I had no idea what to make looking at the photo but when I got the ink and paper together I had a little brainwave!  Hope you like this card.  It is for a swap I'm participating in and the instructions for making the Pocket Slider were sent to me as part of the swap.  It seemed a perfect opportunity to challenge myself.  I fell in love with the Watts of Occasions stamp set the first time I flicked through the catalogue but I'm yet to put it through its paces properly. 

The inspiration picture makes me want those boots but I'm a practical person and they aren't really practical in Central Qld. 

I heat embossed the image in Silver and used my aquapainter to colour the bulb and the border, and then some wink of stella over the top.  I have very few pieces of Rich Razzleberry card or DSP.  If you've been around SU for a while you'll appreciate how old this striped DSP is.  But it came in handy which vindicates me for holding onto things some times!!! 

Again I used the Sponged Mask Embossing Technique for the paste, I love the variegated effect in the colour on the paste. ( minimal waste and mess, you can see how to do that here).  The sliding mechanism means that the message is not quite hidden but is a nice surprise when you open the card. 

The side view gives you a better appreciation of the mechanism. 

Since I had the stamp set out I made a second card with an alternative image.  They are all so cute. 

The insides of both of them

ON a side note, and purely indulgent I'd love to share what I've been up to this week. (  And possibley to explain why I have been so inactive on my blog and facebook page)

We went to Brisbane for my daughter's graduation.  She gave the student address at the Graduation ceremony and it was quite an occasion.  She has now moved even further south to Canberra with a graduate position, and I was thinking of her when I made this second card. 

With her very proud Dad. 

Maybe if I'm going to visit her in Canberra I'll need those boots after all!!! 

Next on the hop this week is the very talented and joyful Jackie.  She's been busy in Thailand so I can't wait to see what she has had time to create for us. 
Don't be afraid to get inky and show us what these colours inspire you to make, we'd love to see your creations on our Facebook page too. 

Monday, 17 July 2017

I was asked to do a class using interactive cards or designs that were more interesting than the simple basic card.  Since I always struggle knowing when to stop it's no surprise that of course I took the challenge and amplified it to not 1 but 3 interactive designs.  The class was lots of fun and this is one of the projects we made. 

I had never made a waterfall card and had thought that it would be way too complicated so I put it off for ages.  This class seemed like a good reason to try one and I was so surprised at how easy it really is- and just how super cute and effective.  It was a big hit and I may have just convinced a few people that they NEED the Message in a Bottle set! 
I searched Pinterest (of course) but was unable to come up with too many cards made recently using current stamp sets so I just set about experimenting with the sets I have and I am really happy with the results. 
I found the best tutorial on Split Coast Stampers although there are plenty around. ( it was a new craze back in 2007!  according to SCS).  I did add the punched half circle at the base which Dawn Griffith shows in her video also. 

folding mechanism 2" x 9" score at 2", 23/4", 31/2", and 41/4" so you have 4 score lines 3/4" apart, use the tag punch at the 9" end

4 squares Cardstock 2x2"

4 squares of very vanilla 17'8 x 17/8" TIP: I scored the very vanilla page at 17/8" intervals and cut it into strips 17/8"wide for the class so each participant had one pre-scored strip and they stamped the images in a row before cutting into squares, just made my job easier, and it was less confusing for them. 

We did the Message in a Bottle in class, but I made a few other samples and I'll photograph them and post them tomorrow.  I would love to enter this for the Global Design Project #95 Kids but I think I may have missed the deadline! 

I had a little Berry burst on the trial sample but went with only 3 colours for class

For the class they had one strip of Very Vanilla and did all the stamping in one go before cutting it along the score lines and mounting on the 2"Denim Squares. 

I was really happy with the Baby cards because I've had Bookcase Builder in my stash for ages - You know those sets you just have to have- then didn't know what to do with it!  I think this could be the answer. 

I did try and do a short video but that doesn't seem to have worked so well! 

Sunday, 16 July 2017

Welcome back for another week's creations inspired by the catalogue.  There are loads of images in the artistic expression section, but my card is taken directly from the banner photo today using the wood rings image in the top right.  To be honest I didn't realise that was a stamp until I had a closer look but the whole card appealed to me and I used DSP as the background instead.  It's easy to be artistic with so many brilliant tools available to us.  If you follow by blog (which is easy to do- just register your email address in the little box below the fourth rainbow swirl box on the right side of this page) then you'll know that I am a big fan of a square card, this one is 12cm x 12cm, a good luxurious size. 

The inspiration photo this week has so many gorgeous cards and they are all made using background stamps.  Just when I think my wish list has gone down to a manageable size it zooms up again!  Which one of these beauties will I need first? 

For this card I cut the lovely words "hugs" from gold foil but it got a little lost on the paper so I mounted the ring onto a circle of vellum and that gave it a whole new life.  The gold thread is a retired SU thread but it worked better than linen thread.  And for the flower I simply used the pansy punch and once I had punched out 2 Powder Pink flowers I worked them with my bone folder until the paper fibres became loose enough that I could gently separate the cardstock into 2 pieces- the pieces have a sort of velvet feel on the underside.  It's an old technique but a good one, and then you have 4 layers instead of 2 which gives your flower more dimension.  If you layer some of the flowers back to front you get a nice texture. The leaves are simply a plain punch pansy cut into wedges. 

I made a matching gift bag using a square of 6x6 DSP. 

You can see more of these cute bags and the instructions on my post from 14/06 here

Thanks so much for looking today. 

Be sure to hop all the way around and then create something inspired by pages 132-181 and share it with us on our Facebook Page.