Penny Black - Refreshing

Hi everyone.  I'm sharing another of the Penny Black new Release - Refreshing.  This image is from the stamp set Refreshing (30-695 ).

I love this sweet little posy.  I smooshed a background of Mustard Seed and Wild Honey.  Once dry, I stamped my flowers in water-proof black ink.  I heat set to make sure the ink was dry before bleaching out the background colours from the flower petals and stems.  I blotted with a wet paper towel after bleaching to make sure there wasn't any bleach residue that would effect my colours.  Then watercoloured with Distress inks.  I added a bit of shading with watercolour pencils, not much as the flowers are so small.  Once everything was dry, a white Posca pen was used to whiten the centers of the flowers before adding crystal drops.  Frame the image in a small rectangle and stamped a sentiment in black ink.  Done! :)

Close-up ...

Thanks for coming by for a visit!

Products
Refreshing (30-695)
Happy Snippets (30-358)
Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media paper (140 lb.) - Blick Art Materials

Stamps:  Refreshing and Happy Snippets (both Penny Black)
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.); White card stock (Neenah 110 lb.)
Ink:  Black (Versafine); Distress Inks:  Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, bleach, paint brush for bleach, water brush, watercolour pencils (Derwent)

CAS Christmas May Challenge

Hi everyone.  Welcome to the CAS Christmas May Challenge.  This month is hosted by me! :)
I want to see your cards with ...

So happy to have Lynne (Designs from the Loft) as our Guest Designer this month!  Welcome Lynne!

I started with one of my favourite Christmas bird images from Stampendous.  I'm still hooked on bleaching, so I again used a piece of tan mixed media paper to stamp my image in dark brown and heat emboss in clear.  Then I bleached out the bird, branches and berries.  I watercoloured over top of the dry bleached area to add in colour.  I also bleached along the tops of the branches so it looks like snow ... not sure that worked as I wanted. :)  After watecolouring, I added clear shimmer to the snow and crystal glaze to the berries.  Once everything was dry, I stamped my sentiment in dark brown, heated embossed in clear so it matches the image.

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I hope you'll check out our challenge blog to see Lynne's beautiful Winter Berries card, along with the amzing cards from our Designers.  I know you'll be inspired!

Stamps:  Snow Bird (Stampendous); Snowglobe Sentiments (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Tan Mixed Media paper (Strathmore)
Ink:  Disress Inks:  Black Soot, Brushed Corduroy, Candied Apple, Aged Mahogany (Tim Holtz);  Early Espresso ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories & Tools:  Clear embossing powder, heat tool, bleach, paint brush, Sheer Shimmer, Crystal Glaze (Nuvo)

Challenges:
CAS Christmas May Challenge - Winter Berries

Penny Black - Wings and Vases

Hi everyone.  Back again with another card using the new release.  I'm using Wings & Vases (30-704) again.  There are lots of images in this set, each of them beautiful!

This time I made an acrylic block background using Lindy's magicals.  The ink was left over from a Stencil Monoprint I had made and I couldn't let them go to waste.  Once dry, I stamped the vase of roses and heat embossed in princess gold embossing powder.  I love this yellow gold embossing, especially with pink, orange and yellow.

I used a small paint brush and some bleach to remove colour from the flowers, leaves, and vase.  I liked how there was still a little bit of colour after bleaching, so decided to leave it as is.  A simple sentiment (It's your day 30-553) was heat embossed in gold to match the vase.

Entering into the CAS Mix Up April Challenge - Bleaching.

Penny Black Products
Wings & Vases (30-704)
It's your day (30-553)

Stamps:  Wings & Vases; It's your day (both Penny Black)
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Magicals:  Yellow Rose of Texas, Hag's Wort Orange, Pretty in Pink Pink (Lindy's); Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  acrylic block, water mister, Princess Gold embossing Powder (Ranger), heat tool, bleach, small paint brush

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up April Challenge - Bleaching

CAS Mix Up April Challenge

Hi everyone.  Welcome to April's CAS Mix Up Challenge.  This month I'm the host and I'm asking you to try .....

I learned this technique from Susan (Cardmaker's Garret) last year at our craft retreat.  It's such a great way to add colour to an image and to the background separately, while keeping the colours crisp and clean.

For the card above, I started by making a Stencil Monoprint with a dotty stencil.  I then took a small paintbrush and a little bit of bleach and painted over my flowers and leaves to remove the dotty background from inside the images.  I blot with paper towel after every addition of bleach so that it doesn't spread where it's not wanted.  Soon I had a white image of flowers and leaves.  You can leave it to dry thoroughly, or as I did, I painted over again with clean water to wash (dilute) any bleach residue.  Then dried with my heat tool before watercolouring with distress inks.

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We are thrilled to have Mac (The Sweetest of Peas), joining us as Guest Designer this month!  Yay Mac!

I hope you'll join us at CAS Mix Up, adding your CAS, bleached card to the gallery.  As always, there's a few video tutorials for anyone who would like to check them out.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

Stamps: Flutterby (Penny Black); Happy Snippets (Penny Black)
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Black (Versafine); Distress Inks:  Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn (Tim Holz)
Accessories & Tools:Mini Tiny Circles Stencil (The Crafter's Workshop), water mister, water brush, Circle die (Spellbinders)

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up April Challenge - Bleaching

Penny Black New Release - Merry and Joy

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing three cards all made from the same stamp (poinsettia poem 40-700), which is part of the newest release from Penny Black.  I'll be sharing more cards over the next few months using many of the new, beautiful Christmas images.

For my first card I've heat embossed the image in white.  Used distress inks and dye inks to watercolour the image, adding a wash of soft gray in the background.  The sentiment "NOEL" is from a different stamp set in the new release (all the trimmings 30-618).  I framed the panel with a new frame die set (stitched loops 51-573).

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Second card uses a portion of the image ...

For this card I smooshed blue and green distress inks to create a colourful background.  The same poinsettia poem image was stamped over top and heat embossed in silver.  I used a small paint brush and bleach to remove the colour from the image.  Soft gray dye ink was used to add some definition to the petals and leaves.  A sentiment, "MERRY", which is from another stamp set of the new release (merry builder 30-619), was heat embossed in silver to match the image.  The panel was popped up on foam for added dimension.

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Third card uses just a small portion of the image ...

This time I coloured the stamp with distress markers, adding one colour at a time, stamping, and then using a water brush to move the colour from the outline to fill the image.  It gives a very delicate, light look to the watercolouring.  This has been done expertly by my dear friend Bonnie for years, and I finally gave it a try.  LOVE the look!

Only a portion of the image was die-cut with a circle.  The circle was popped up on foam for added dimension and a small red card stock banner was added with white embossing of the sentiment "Greetings of the Season", which is part of another new stamp set (merry up 30-622).

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I hope you've enjoyed the three different techniques I've used with this gorgeous poinsettia image.

Penny Black Products:
poinsettia poem 40-700
all the trimmings 30-618
stitched loops frame die 51-573
merry builder 30-619
merry up 30-622

Dreaming - Flower Collection

Hi everyone.  Back with another image from the Flower Collection (30-575), which is part of the new Dreaming release from Penny Black.  There are four images plus one sentiment in this stamp set and I have now used three of the images and the sentiment.  LOVE THIS SET!  Today features a pretty bouquet of flowers in a pail.  I've used different colours, techniques, and layout for each card.

Starting off with a very CAS design.  Image stamped in light gray permanent ink and watercoloured with distress inks.  Used a sentiment from one of the other new sentiments sets called Huggable (30-588), along with knotted twine at the top (haven't used twine for ages!).

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Next up is the same image, stamped in black and heat embossed in clear onto a smooshed (coloured) background.  The smooshing was done with a few drops of Liquid Metals and water quite a while ago and was in my stash.  I love the soft seafoam green colour.

I used bleach and a small paint brush to remove the colour from the flowers, leaves and pail.  Once dry, distress inks were used to watercolour the image.  To finish a simple sentiment (Happy Heights 30-548) was stamped in black and heat embossed in clear to match the image.  The card is finished with a Square Frames (51-517) and popped up on foam over the card base.

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For the last card, the same image was stamped onto mixed media paper and heat embossed in silver, then fussy-cut.  A circle aperture was cut into the card front with a frame of silver on top. The sentiment (from the same stamp set -- Flower Collection) was stamped and heat embossed in silver to match.

The card front was popped up on foam from the base adding lots of dimension.  The image was watercoloured with distress inks and popped up into the circle window.

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You can see all the shine from the silver embossing.  So pretty!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed my cards.

Entering these challenges:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - July. - Hugs card

CAS Watercolour July Challenge - Bouquet of Flowers. - Hello card

Penny Black and More July Challenge - Summer Colours. Thank You card

 ******Summer Colours******

Card #1:  Hugs
Stamps:  Flower Collection 30-575; Huggable ? (both from Penny Black)
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Grey Shadow Archival (Ranger); Distress Inks:  Salty Ocean, Abandoned Coral, Festive Berries, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Pumice Stone (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  water brush, twine (The Twinery)

Card #2:  Hello
Stamps:  Flower Collection 30-575; Hello sentiment (Happy Heights 30-548) - both from Penny Black
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.); White card base (Neenah 110 lb.)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Distress Inks:  Seedless Preserves, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Black Soot (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Square Frames 51-517 die (Penny Black); Emerald Liquid Metals (Ken Oliver), Clear embossing powder (Ranger), heat tool, water brush

Card #3:  Thank You
Stamps:  Flower Collection 30-575 (Penny Black)
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmor 140 lb.); White card base and front (Neenah 110 lb.); Silver Foil (SU!)
Ink:  Versamark; Distress Inks:  Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn (Tim Holta)
Accessories & Tools:  Circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinder), Silver embossing powder (Ranger), heat tool, water brush


Challenges:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - July
CAS Watercolour July Challenge - Bouquet of Flowers
Penny Black and More July Challenge - Summer Colours

Twofer Challenge #18

Hi everyone.  Today I'm playing along for fun with the Twofer Challenge #18!   I am no longer on the Design Team, but am still part of the team working with Darnell on the Admin side of things. :)

I will miss being on the DT with the other team members ... they are all so lovely!  A special thanks to Darnell for giving me this opportunty to be one of the Twofer Designers for 1 1/2 years.

You know how much I love flowers, so had to play along! :)

The challenge is to create two different garden cards for two different occasions, using the same stamp, die, or stencil.  Please make sure to take a photo of your two cards together and use that as your entry to the gallery.

I was way out of my comfort zone for my first card ... hardly any white space!  I started with a magicals background I had in my stash.  I stamped the garden image in black and clear embossed.  I then used bleach to remove the colour from the flowers, birdhouses, birds, and leaves.  Once finished, I went back and watercoloured those same images with distress inks.

I cut up the panels, one thicker for the sentiment and two thinner ones at the top, just to give more interest to the card. :)  Honestly, that took me the most time with making this card. :)

Here's a close-up ...

For my second card I used the same image and stamped onto mixed media paper.  Figured out where I wanted to crop it for framing and cut it down to size.  Watercoloured using watercolour pencils, taking the colour from the tip of the pencil with my paint brush (Darnell shared this great tip with us at our retreat --- thanks Dolly!).  Easy, peasy and done quicky.  Framed and added sentiment.

Here's the close-up ...

As always, the Design Team and wonderful Guest Designers, Kathy and Robyn, have provided lots of amazing inspiration.  Come play along!  The challenge is open until end of day, July 24th.

Stamps:  Good Neighbors (Penny Black); Happy Snippets (Penny Black)
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.); White card base and stitched frame (Neenah 110 lb.)
Ink:  Magicals; Black (Memento); Distress Inks: Brushed Cordoroy, Gathered Twigs, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean, Twisted Cirton, Mowed Lawn, Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, water brush, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Stitched Frame die (Lil' Inkers)

Challenges:
Twofer Card Challenge #18 - Garden

Bleached Brushos

Hi everyone.  Sharing one of my many cards that I've finished at the retreat so far.  This technique was led by Susan (Cardmaker's Garret).  Such a fun and easy technique with great results.  We were all thrilled to learn this and we all vowed to use it again and again!

Smooshed the brushos for background and let air dry.  Stamped the image in permanent black in and then used a cheap, small paint brush to remove colour from the flowers using bleach.  Don't use a good brush because the bleach could damage it.  Finished the card with a black card base and frame with white heat embossed sentiment.

It's been a whirlwind week with very fun and crazy days filled with crafting, laughing and lot of good food.  The people attending aren't bad either. LOL!!

We are staying at a huge house in Crescent Beach BC that we got for a song and a dance.  Turns out it's a bit run down with lots of little quirks, but it just made things even more fun.

Joining me this year are Susan, Christine, Nancy, Dolly, Trina, Bonnie, Linda, and Colleen.  Most I have "known" on-line for years, but first time meeting Bonnie, Linda and Colleen.

It's been a fantastic time!!!

Hope to share more cards soon, but might have to wait until I'm back home.  We have a couple more days before the retreat is over and we're excited to welcome Maureen (Scrappymo!) for lunch and a visit tomorrow!

Stamps:  First blush (Penny Black); Special Sentiments (Penny Black)
Paper:  Watercolour paper (Blick Cold Press); Black (SU!)
Ink:  Brushos, Archival Black; Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, small cheap paint brush, bleach, white embossing powder, heat tool