Get Well Soon

At the last bristol payday I coloured two images with Jane's zig pens, the rose from a previous blogpost and this one. I have no idea what colours I used but I know I enjoyed myself immensely.

After a playday it takes me ages to unpack and do anything with the images I have coloured but not this time, both were made into cards the very same evening.

Ingredients
Image: "dahlia" Penny black
Sentiment: "brushed Greetings II" clearly besotted
Card: "summer sunrise" Papertrey ink
Dies: Blueprints 24
Dots: "dewdrops" Michaels

Best Wishes

I have been umming and ahhing over the Zig clean colour brush markers and I asked my friend Jane to bring them to bristol payday so I could see if I needed/wanted them.

I had this magazine and free stamp with me so I decided to try this first, I picked my colours and started, my oh my they blend like butter. I didn't use any water with them only the pens themselves and they are so bright and vibrant, I might have convinced two other ladies they needed them as well lol.

Ingredients
Image: "free stamp" Simply cards and Papercraft
Sentiment: "brushed greetings II" clearly besotted
Dies: Blueprints 21 mft stamps
Card: "hibiscus burst" Papertrey Ink
Gems: dewdrops from Michaels

With Sympathy

This is the second sympathy card I made for a crafty friend, I went with a tried and tested design as this always works best when making difficult cards.

I have found since I resigned my craft room my Misti is now used on every card and it certainly helped when getting this sentiment stamped.

Ingredients
Image: "merci beaucoup" Clearly Besotted
Sentiment: "brushed greetings II" clearly besotted
Dies: Blueprints 21
Card: "winter wisteria" Stampin Up
Gems: Studio G

Copics:
Flower - BV13, 02, 01, 000
Stem - YG67, 17, 25
Shadow - BG11, 10, blender

Thinking of You

I will always think these are the hardest cards to make, I tried having some on hand ready to go but that just didn't feel right so I'm back to making them only when they are needed and I hope they are needed very, very infrequently.

Two of the ladies from the weekly craft group I attend lost someone very close recently and this is one of the cards I made.

Ingredients
Image: "elegant butterflies" clearly besotted
Sentiment : "curly cute" stampin up
Dies: blueprints 20 mft
Card: "blue raspberry" mft

Copics
BG15,13,11, YG17, 23, 21

Topiary Tree

For this card I am channeling by inner "Jen Nelson" . I adore Jen's clean, simple and elegant designs and it made me wonder if I could achieve it without adding stuff.

I remembered I had bought the "creative stamper" magazine a few years ago for the lady image but hadn't thought of using the trees, that is until Jen did lol. This topiary doesn't come with a pot so I used the smaller topiary and just carefully inked it and then stamped the green on top.

I used a scrap or snippet if you will of watercolour paper and stamped the images in "vintage photo" and "mowed lawn" distress inks then simply used a wet/damp brush to move the colour. I used the shading dots already on the image to show me where the darkest areas should be.

Once I assembled the card I thought it needed something but my hubby said it looked lovely as it was, high praise indeed from my hubby lol.

Ingredients
Image: Creative stamper
Card: "cement" MFT
Dies: "basic stitched edges" mft
Sentiment: "keep it simple - Happy birthday 2" paper trey ink

Hello Gorgeous third times a charm

I can't believe I've stayed true to my statement to use the remaining stamps from this set before putting it away, of course there is still one left to use but I'm almost there lol.

This is a little unusual colour scheme for me but the paisley paper was the inspiration and I liked the dress coloured gold so I went with it.

Most of my layouts are following a similar theme, when I feel stuck in a creative rut I go with the familiar and what worked previously. As usual my rut isn't colour or colouring but layouts, I might need to find a sketch challenge to help.

Ingredients
Image: "hello gorgeous" Penny Black clear set
Paper: "moonlight" stampin up
Card: "harvest Gold" Papertrey ink
Dies: Blueprints 1, 2 and 18
Sentiment: "sweet little sentiments" clearly besotted, "nightshift blue" ink from MFT
Other: "clear" sparkle pen

Copics
Skin - E000, 00, 11
Hair - C9, 7, 5, 3
Dress - YR24, 23, Y26
Bag - B97, 95

Sparkle Pens

I watched a video from Carissa Wiley where she used the new sparkle pens from Crafters Companion to watercolour an image, the pens stay wet longer and are able to blend with each other. I was intrigued as I love a bit of sparkle so when Crafters companion had the pens on offer I bought three packs. Technically though one pack doesn't count as its clear lol.

The fig and cosmos blended perfectly together to create a beautiful purple so they were my starting point for the flowers, I only had one green so to lighten it I used the clear, I also used the blue and clear for the water. They were even easier to use than I thought/hoped they would be and I nearly ordered the other packs as soon as the card was finished lol.

Ingredients
Image: "delightful day" Clearly Besotted
Card: "violet" Lifetree crafts and Ranger watercolour
Dies: Blueprints 20 from MFT
Dots - Dollar tree
Sparkle Pens - Fig, Cosmos, Sage, clear and moonstone from Crafters Companion

Birthday Bear 2

Well way back on the 17th March I said I was going to make this card but my craft room was such a disaster a major clear out was required which took a little longer than I expected.

So I made the same card as this one, different sentiment and the bear is more grey but it is essentially the same card. I could actually feel my mojo returning as I made this card and I hope that it sticks around this time.

Ingredients
Image: "birthday bear" MFT stamps
Paper: studio G
Card: Michaels 110lb white
Sentiment: "birthday bear" MFT stamps, stamped with "steel grey" ink also MFT
Dies: Blueprints 13 and jumbo peek-a-boo all MFT

Copics
Bear - T7, 5, 4, 2, 0, R20
Balloon - R89, 39, 37

Party til the Cows come Home

I had seen a card with this background coloured like landscapes when it was first released and I knew I wanted to try that technique, when I made the card though it seemed to be lacking something so i had to pop a coloured image on it and a witty sentiment to match. Now I'm happier and its much more me.

Next time I might try more abstract colours but I have to say it was very therapeutic to watercolour this and it is something I would like to try more.

Ingredients
Image: "whole herd" MFT stamps
Background: "balloon strings" mft stamps, watercolored with - Shabby shutters, peeled paint, mowed lawn, twisted citroen, tumbled glass, stormy sky, salty ocean and chipped sapphire distress inks
Card: "smokey shadow" paper trey ink
Sentiment: "whole herd" MFT stamps
Dies: Blueprints 2 and 13, pierced flag stax all MFT stamps

Copics
Cow - T7, 5, 4, 2, 0, R21, 20, SK09

A Birdie Told Me

Sorry to disappear for a while, I reorganised my craft room and its been out of bounds for a few weeks. I normally have cards saved that I can blog but not this time, I didn't plan very well and almost resorted to buying a card, until I saw the price that is lol.

A very good friend recently moved into a new home and I wanted to send a card so although its a little late and a little wonky I hope she likes it.

Ingredients
Image: "a birdie told me" Digistamp Boutique
Dies: frame builder, blueprints 1 and 2 all mft
Card: "kraft" hobby lobby and "timeless" core'dinations
Woodgrain: dark chocolate ink from paper trey ink and western backgrounds from MFT

Copics
Bird - Y11, 15, B000, 00, 01, 02
Branch - E77, 74, YG17, 25, 23, 21
House - E77, 74, B02, YG17, 25, 23, 21