Night flight

Hello

A quick one today sharing one of the designs I've been playing with for a craft night. I'm hoping to introduce the group to heat embossing. One or two may have done it before, but I think it will be new to most.

I've made two cards, nearly identical, with both black and white embossing. The first using watercolour...

...and the second with marker pens and Distress Ink.

I really can't decide which I prefer. What do you think?

Thank you for taking the time to stop by xxx

Seahorse

Hello

Today I'm sharing a card made for a special birthday and also for the #tagalongbasket challenge with Isa on Facebook. The idea of the basket challenge is to use supplies that have never been used or have been unloved for a long time. As my friend is a marine biologist it was the perfect excuse to dig out all of the sea themed stamps and stencils I have, most of which have never been touched.

 

The background was made with Distress Oxide inks through stencils on watercolour paper. 

It took quite a long time to colour all of the elements with Inktense pencils and fine liners.

Of course it needed a little bit of sparkle.

When I need a special card I often make multiple elements so that I can pick from the ones that turn out the best. Fortunately there weren't too many mistakes so I managed to make three cards. As so much time and love went into the cards they had to go to people who would really appreciate them...our mums on Mothers Day.

Thank you for taking a look. Have a lovely day xxx

Flamingorgeous

Hello

A quick and cheery post today with this colourful flamingo from Pink Ink.

Coloured with watercolour pencil and distress oxide inks.You can just about see the sparkles, not easy to photograph in artificial light. Spring is just around the corner so hopefully not long now until there's a bit of sunshine to craft by.

I hope your day is full of warmth and cheer xxx

Bear princess

Hello

I'm sharing another mainly one layer card today. I challenged myself to see if I could do something with the Pink Ink bear hugs stamp that would be a bit more feminine.

 

I made a mask for the bear and crown by stamping the images on paper and cutting out. I used the inner oval and outside frame of a Clarity oval stencil.

First I positioned the paper bear mask to give me an idea where it was going and stamped the crown. 

Then I masked off the crown, put the frame in place and stamped the bear slightly overlapping the crown, so it wasn't perched on the top of its head.

With outside frame, bear and crown mask in place the script was added using a Giogiocraft stencil.

Keeping the crown mask on and swapping the outside frame for the inner oval, another Giogiocraft stencil was used for the flowers. The arcs were added with a PaperArtsy stamp.

I traced around the edge of the oval with a gel pen and added squiggles. Then two shades of grey Promarker for shadows around the bear and the oval.

Finally the bear was coloured with Inktense pencils and a waterbrush.

The sentiment was stamped, embossed and added separately. The only bit that isn't flat.

I like how she is leaning out of the frame.

A good card for my strong, courageous female friends who fight for what they treasure and believe in. I am blessed to have several of these awesome people in my life.

Thank you for stopping by. Hope you have a lovely day xxx

 

 

 

A seasonal hare

Hello
Just a quick post with the third project in the #craftingwithgiogio challenge on Instagram. It took a long time, with a lot of mistakes. I think I went out of my comfort zone in too many ways and ended up messing around with too many media.

The theme was seasonal.

I dislike it so much I've only taken one photo with the phone. What I did like though was using gesso through stencils to get the clouds and patterns in the fields. Will need to experiment some more.

I'll add some journalling...but not today...

Constructive comments gratefully received. Thank you for stopping by.

Materials used:

just about anything I could lay my hands on

Giogiocraft stencils lots of them

Pink Ink Designs love is in the hare stencil

Hobby Art lino cut hares stamps

gesso

Faber-Castell gelatos

Archival ink

Distress Oxide ink

PapaerArtsy Fresco Finish acrylic paint

watercolour pencils

acrylic paint pen

 

Let Your Hare Down

Hello
Today I have a series of cards made with the lovely Pink Ink Hare Fauna stamps.

I like images that look as if they have depth but are actually flat, so I started by stamping the hare and then masking it off. To be honest it would have been a lot quicker to just stamp the hare, cut it out and stick it on a background...but where's the fun in that!

Distress Oxide inks through GiogioCraft masks were used for the background before colouring the hare with watercolour pencils. An outline in grey ProMarker helps the image stand out from the background.

Then I had a play with different colour combinations... 

I can't decide if I prefer the analogous or complementary palettes. Which do you prefer?

Hope you have a great day xx