Beautiful Bouquet - Ranunculus Version 2

As part of my "you have more than enough craft stuff to last two lifetimes" I have to be able to utilise any new stamp in at least three ways, so before I bought this stamp I had already thought of the ways to use it, so far I have done two of the three but its such a versatile stamp I can now visualise another few ways to use it.

My first technique was of course to copic colour so my next technique had to be very different, I was inspired by videos from Jennifer McGuire and Kelly Latevola when I made this.

I stamped the image and sentiment with versa mark and embossed with detail white embossing powder from stampendous. Next I swiped the peacock feathers ink over the paper, I was going to blend with the tool but this was much quicker and made it darker. Then I simply used a brush and water and painted over the flowers, dabbing off the colour as it lifted. I was hoping it would be lighter but for a first attempt I think it looks ok.

Ingredients

Image: "Beautiful Bouquet - Ranunculus" WPlus9

Sentiment: "brushed greetings 2" Clearly Besotted

Dies: Blueprints 24 from MFT

Distress ink: "Peacock Feathers"

Beautiful Bouquet - Ranunculus

I had seen so many beautiful cards made with this stamp around blogland I had to get my hands on it, I have become addicted to flower cards recently which is odd as I'm not a flower person in real life. I was inspired by Kelly Latevola who is on the WPlus9 design team and she also loves flower cards and bright colours, normally the pinks I would have chosen would have been more muted but I thought I would give Kelly's bright combo a whirl and I have to say I really like it. I just wish I could add the drop shadows she does, maybe next time. 

Ingredients

Image: "Beautiful Bouquet - Ranunculus " WPlus9

Sentiment: "wet paint" Papertrey Ink

Die: Blueprints 24 from MFT

Card: "raspberry fizz" Papertrey Ink

Copics

Pink - RV09, 06, 04, 02

Yellow - Y17, 13, 11

Purple - V17, 15, 12, 01

Green - YG97, 95, 93

Background - BG11, 10, blender

Katzelcraft Stamps - Doggy

I seem to be breaking out my stencils more and more recently, I'm liking the soft backgrounds but as I said previously it's not reducing my paper mountain lol.

I made this card for my cousins partner a lovely guy who adores my cousin and their daughter. He's into fishing but I've made him quite a few fishing cards so I thought what else can I make, they have a jack Russell and this stamp reminded me of him.

The layout is the same as the chicken soup card and I'm liking it a lot so expect to see it loads lol.

Ingredients
Image: "Les chiens" katzelcraft stamps
Stencil: "abstract" mft stamps
Ink: "cracked pistachio, peacock feathers and salty ocean" distress inks
Dies: blueprints 3, 4 and 5 all mft and spell binders A2 matting sets A and B
Sentiment: "keep it simple - happy birthday 2 " papertrey ink
Card:

Copics
Dog - W8, 7, 6, 3, 2, 1, 0
Bone - E53, 51, 50

Viking For You

I had been waiting for this stamp to come back into stock and I couldn't wait to stamp and colour it straight away, problem then was how to add it to a card, it was screaming for a bit of a scene so I started there. Of course I didn't have any mountain dies so I had to buy those and once they arrived I discovered I didn't have any grass dies either, but everywhere I looked they were out of stock so I improvised with the icicle border and it seems to work ok. 

I used my favourite green distress ink combo for the mountains but the one in the background needed to be a bit darker and I was unsure which one to use so I tried Pine feathers and it worked perfectly. I did think of cutting the mountains with coloured card but I think the distress inked background makes it seem more natural.

Ingredients
Image: "Viking" Avery Elle
Dies: "stitched mountain range" and "icicle border" all MFT stamps
Card: Michaels 110lb white
Sentiment: "label maker" MFT stamps, stamped with "slate" Simon Says Stamp Ink
Distress inks: "mowed lawn, pine feathers, twisted citroen, tumbled glass"

Copics
Skin - E11, 00, 000
Hair and Beard -
Hat - N4, 3, 2
Trousers - YG97, 95
Top and Boots - E79, 77, 74

Fairy Sweet

This little card was made with leftovers from a few cards I've made recently and not put the stuff away. 

One of my new resolutions has been to use up all those images you stamp when you get a new set and never seem to get around to using. I'm not sure how long this will last but I am at least trying to use some of the huge piles of stuff I have. Plus if I use it I can buy more lol.

Its been far too long since I played on the swings at the Snippet Playground, I think I have become so conditioned to using my snippets it doesn't even register anymore lol. It would seem that the lessons learned in the playground stick with me, now I need a lesson on how to stop buying and I'm all sorted lol.

Ingredients
Image: "little fairies" Lili of the Valley (LOTV)
Paper: "fairytale dreams" Nit Wit
Card: "Grape Jelly" MFT stamps
Dies: circle stax, small scalloped circle stax, blueprints 1 and 2 all MFT stamps
Sentiment: Free set from MFT stamps

Copics
Skin - E11. 00. 000
Hair - E74, 77, 79
Wings - BG11, 10, blender
Dresses - V17, 15, 12, 01, N3, 2, 1, 0
Crown and Wand - YR24, 23, 21

Challenges: Snippet Playground

Chicken Soup

Its been ages since I used a Dustin Pike image, I really like the comedic nature of his images and this one was no exception, it made me chuckle as I was colouring it. The self help book also kept springing to mind  "chicken soup for the soul".

I had an idea and it almost worked to make the circles look like developing spots. I might try it again but lighter colours, I'm liking this simpler design although it isn't helping to reduce my paper mountain lol.

Ingredients
Image: "chicken soup" Dustin Pike
Card: "steel grey" MFT and 110lb white from Michaels
Dies: Blueprints 2 and 13 both MFT
Stencil: "concentric circles" MFT
Inks: "harvest gold, summer sunrise, orange zest and pure poppy" all Papertrey Ink
Sentiment: "keep it simple - get well" Papertrey Ink

Another Thinking of You Card

Another of my good crafty friends has lost someone close to them and I wanted to let them know I am thinking of them and as a card maker there is no better way than with a card.

Ingredients
Image: "Elegant Butterflies" Clearly Besotted
Sentiment: "Brushed Greetings II" Clearly Besotted
Dies: "wonky stitched rectangles" MFT stamps
Card: "Grape Jelly" MFT Stamps

Copics
V17, 15, Y17, 13

No Bones About it

I had an idea for this stamp set as soon as I saw it but when I tried to execute that idea it just wouldn't work. I told hubby about the idea and why it wouldn't work and he came up with the idea of a liftable flap, so off I went.

This is my second version of the card, on my first one I created mountains with distress ink but it was much too dark for a five year old boy but at least the concept worked, so I googled dino images and noticed the trees and though I can use my newly acquired "wee trees" and they worked perfectly.

I stamped the dinosaur in "gathered twigs" distress ink and hubby liked that it looked like skin so I didn't stamp it again to get complete coverage, I did however shade it a bit with copics and use my multi-liner to outline the image. I was very nervous outlining but I have to say it was loads easier than I thought and it gave it a more finished look.

Ingredients
Image: "no bones about it" stampin up, outer dinosaur stamped in "gathered twigs", bones stamped in "grout gray" mft stamps
Sentiment: "no bones about it" stampin up
Dies: "safari borders"  and square stax both mft
Trees: "wee stamps" clarity, stamped with gumdrop and jellybean ink from MFT
Sky: "tumbled glass" distress ink
Sand: "fine linen" from pti and "natural" from mft
Number: Shaded with "jellybean" ink from MFT

Cheers for Beer

Last year when I bought this stamp set I made a few cards, the person I wanted to make one for though had already had their birthday so when their big birthday was looming near I decided to break out the set yet again.

Last year I made the backgrounds using the MFT plaid builder stamp set and I was going to do the same again when I thought I don't use my stencils enough so out they came and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Ingredients
Image: "craft beer" Papertrey ink, stamped in "potters clay" memento ink
Sentiment: "basic numbers" Clearly besotted
Dies: Blueprints 15 from MFT and "simple stitched hillside borders" Lawn fawn
Card: "midnight muse" Stampin up and "grout gray" MFT
Stencil - "stars" heidi swap, with potters clay (memento) and Enchanted evening (pti) inks
Dots - Teresa collins, studio g and Papermania

Skater Boy

I saw a card by Amy from a Thousand Sheets of Paper blog and she used the basketball boy from the greeting farm with the Papertrey swoosh and I thought it was so cool.

I  should have left bigger gaps between the different elements but this is definitely a style I will be using often as it was so easy to produce and it looks like it took longer than it did.

Ingredients
Image: "twin marko" The Greeting Farm
Sentiment: "cartoon speech bubbles" Frantic Stamper
Paper: "love my boy" KI Memories at Jessica Sprague
Card: "New Leaf" Papertrey ink
Dies: "swoosh" Papertrey Ink

Copics
Skin - E11, 00, 000, R20
Hair - E59, 57, 55
Trousers and Hat - BG49, 34, 32
Skateboard - G46, 43
T-Shirt - W2, 1