Monday, August 29, 2011

Penny Black Elegant Card Challenge 2

This is the second card which I created for the Penny Black Elegant Card Challenge.



Stamps Used:
Penny Black 4200K berry wreath
Penny Black 30-086 let it snow clear set

Other Supplies Used:
Encore Ultimate Metallic Honeydew Ink
Versafine Onyx Black Ink
Liquid Pearls - various colours
Stickles Glitter Glue - various colours
McGill Photo Label Punch

This card was a very quick & easy to make. I love making cards that take minimum effort, but deliver maximum impact - and that's why I love using stickles and liquid pearls. The stickles and liquid pearls dry dimensionally to add sparkle/shine to any project.

To start, I stamped berry wreath with metallic honeydew ink on cream cardstock, then stamped the "very merry christmas" sentiment from the let it snow clear set with Versafine black. I love the mellow soft green colour of the honeydew ink - in fact, I love all the colours in the ultimate metallic range, as I think they produce lovely stamped images with a rich metallic colour, without the need for embossing. For outlining or for stamping greetings, I always use my Versafine black, as it gives a very neat crisp image. Also, I think the versafine also gives the best results with the clear polymer stamps. I find sometimes the clear stamps can "resist" waterbased inks a little bit, and the inks tend to bead up on the stamp, so the resulting impression can be a bit patchy. With the Versafine, I don't get that problem.

The design of the berry wreath stamp is perfect for embellishing with stickles and/or liquid pearls. I like to use a mixture of both to give a bit of sparkle from the stickles, and the subtle shimmer of the pearls. I layered the image onto olive green card, then attached to a dark green card blank. I finished off by stamping "celebrate" (also from the same clear set, just inking very carefully so as not the get the rest of the greeting) with Versafine black onto cream card, and punching out with the oval part of vintage label punch, then mounting onto a punched label. A length of ribbon and a few yellow rhinestones add the finishing touches. Total make time: approx 10 mins.

Penny Black Elegant Card Challenge

This is the card I made for the Penny Black Elegant Card Challenge. It was inspired by Jill Foster's card, which is in the Penny Black Flickr Group Pool Penny Circle.



Stamps Used:
Penny Black 40-075 christmas pride
Penny Black 1999L letter background
Penny Black 30-087 winter wonders clear set

Other Supplies Used:
Distress Inks - Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain
Brilliance Inks - Galaxy Gold & Pearlescent Ivy
Verasmark Ink & Clear Embossing Powder
Inkssentials Ink blending tool & foam
Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eight Die
McGill Vintage Label Punch

Following Jill's Video Tutorial, I stamped and embossed the christmas pride poinsettia stamp twice with versamark ink and clear embossing powder on white cardstock. I then sponged the distress inks with the over the image, starting with the lighter colours, working from the middle of the image outwards to the tips of the petals. I also sponged on some brillance galaxy gold ink to give it some shimmer. I then cut out the two images, cutting only the centre portion from one of the images. I mounted them together with mounting foam to make the flower, and added a rhinestone to the middle.

To make the background, I diecut a label out of dark green cardstock using the Nestabilities label eight die and my Sizzix Big Shot, I then trimmed carefully around the outer edge of the green label following the line. I then stamped the letter background over it with galaxy gold ink. To create a mat for the green label, I diecut another label out of white cardstock and sponged the edges with scattered straw distress ink, then layered it under the green label. To create the frame, I diecut a label from corrugated card (which I salvaged from a cardboard box), trimmed it to size and sponged with walnut stain distress ink & galaxy gold brilliance ink, then mounted it with foam tape. I stamped "JOY" from the winter wonders set with brilliance pearlescent ivy, punched it out with the label punch and sponged the edges with distress ink.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Penny Black Gold Card Challenge

"OMG!! I can't believe I won last week's Penny Black Nature Card Challenge. This is my first time winning a card challenge and I am absolutely thrilled! For details on my winning card, please check out this post." YMel

This week on the Penny Black Blog the card challenge was to create a card using a gold-red-cream colour combination.
Stamps Used:
Penny Black 3986J crystal wreath
Penny Black 3900H christmas flourish
Hero Arts CL343 Holiday Sayings (JOY)

Other Supplies Used:
Distress Inks - Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Fired Brick, Barn Door
Ink blending tools
Brilliance Rocket Red & Galaxy Gold
Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eight
Stickles - Various

To make the background, I stamped crystal wreath and christmas flourish with distress ink on white cardstock, then sponged on more distress ink to fill in most of the white spaces. Over the top of that, I sponged on some brilliance galaxy gold. To make the wreath, I stamped on cream cardstock using brilliance rocket red, then cut the image out, & sponged on some distress ink to define the edges. Then I embellished with rhinestones & stickles glitter glue. I also stamped JOY on cream card, punched it out, and then added some distress ink to the edges and lightly in the middle. I cut a frame out of red cardstock using the labels eight nestabilities die, and then mounted all the elements onto red cardstock with foam tape.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Australian Papercraft Essentials Issue 17

Just wanted to share a little sneak peek at some of the cards in my newest article which is in this months issue of Australian Papercraft Essentials (Issue 17). The cards are all made using the super cute Mimi in Paris clear stamp set from Penny Black (30-071). Check out the article on pages 39-42 for full instructions & materials list.
Mimi in Paris





Monday, August 15, 2011

Another Card for the Penny Black Nature Challenge

Ok, I admit I have been very slack at updating my blog posts in recent times, but I have been inspired by the talented ladies in the Penny Black Flickr Group (Penny Circle http://www.flickr.com/groups/pennyblackinc/) and I am attempting to keep this blog a little bit more current.... So here's another card which I created for the Penny Black Nature Card Challenge (which was on the Penny Black Blog on Aug 8, 2011 http://pennyblackinc.wordpress.com/).



Stamps Used:
Penny Black 4160K cheerful
7 gypsies library stamp - events

Other Supplies Used:
Distress inks - various colours
Versafine onyx black
Ink blending tool
Stickles - various colours
Glossy accents
White gel pen

Following on from my previous card where I used distress inks to create the backgrounds for my cards, I was wanting to experiment to see if I could use them to colour my image. I had read somewhere that you could "watercolour" your image using distress inkpads so I started by stamping the flower stamp (PB 4160K cheerful) on white cardstock with the versafine black, then picking up some colour from my distress inkpads with a waterbrush and painting them onto the stamped image. I wasn't satisfied with the colours - the water from the waterbrush pen diluted the ink too much and the colours looked "washed out". I decided to use the ink blending tool instead to sponge colour onto the flower image. With a newly stamped flower image, I started by sponging on the lightest colour first (eg. tumbled glass for the blue flower), then adding darker accents (broken chine & stormy sky) to the centre and edges of the flower. I made a total of 5 flowers in different colours, and chose the best 3 for the card and cut out them out. At this point, although I was quite happy with the colours, the flower seem to lack dimension... so, seeking inspiration, I flipped open the Penny Black Touch of Whimsy Catalog 2011 and had a look at some of the cards in it. The flower on the back cover caught my eye, the designer Kathy Racoosin (http://thedailymarker.blogspot.com/) had added white highlights to her flower to give it dimension. I thought it looked amazing and decided to borrow her idea. On top of that, I added some coloured stickles glitter glue to my flower centres & petals, and when that dried, added some glossy accents over the top for the flower centres. I also stamped a whole bunch of the leaves, sponged on some green distress inks and cut out. I attached the leaves to the card with double-sided tape, then attached the flowers on with foam tape. I stamped the "thinking of you" from the 7 gypsies library stamp, punched it out and attached it to the card to finish.


Here is a close up of the flowers I did.








Penny Black Nature Challenge

Here are a couple of cards which I created for the Penny Black Nature Card Challenge on the Penny Black Blog (http://pennyblackinc.wordpress.com/) for the week beginning Aug 8 2011.



Stamps Used:

Penny Black 3989K joyeux noel
Penny Black 1999L letter background
Penny Black 3939K queen anne's lace
Penny Black 30-018 crystalline


Other Supplies Used:

Distress Inks - Barn Door, Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed
Ink Blending tool & foam
Versafine Onyx Black ink
Stickles - Golden Rod, Xmas Red & Candy Cane
Opalite Ink - Golden Mist & Crystal Blush
EK Success Photo Label Punch
McGill Vintage Label Punch

The background on both cards was created by first stamping randomly on white cardstock with the queen anne's lace stamp. I used different colours of distress ink - mainly barn door, worn lipstick and fired brick (sparingly). Then I used the ink blending tool to apply more distrss ink in various colours over the stamped piece, filling in most of the white areas - I concentrated the red colours on the edge, and the orange & yellow colours towards the middle. I then masked off parts of the image with scrap paper, and stamped the letter background stamp on the exposed areas. I then sponged on a bit of Opalite Ink (crystal blush around the edge & golden mist towards the middle). Next, I inked up the joyeux noel (cardinal on branch) stamp with the black versafine, taking care not to ink up the "joyeux noel" sentiment, and stamped this over the created background. I then inked up the "joyeux noel" sentiment, and stamped that on a small piece of white card. I punched the sentiment out, and lightly applied some distress ink on it, then layered over a small oval punched out of black cardstock. I finished the card by adding some Stickles glitter glue to the berries on the stamped image. The second card was created in a similar fashion to the first, except I used the "season's greetings" sentiment stamp out of the crystalline clear set.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

3D Floral Cards

Here are some peeks at the cards we made during the 3D Floral Cardmaking Class at the recent Melbourne Craft & Quilt Fair (28-31 July 2011).









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