Papertrey Ink: Blog Hop March 2017

How gorgeous is this month's inspiration picture over at Papertrey Ink for their blog hop?  Just love it:

  

prints designed by the talented Victoria Johnson

I used the colours and floral pattern as my inspiration to make some simple backgrounds using lots and lots of inks.  Here are all the inks I used:

Avery Elle: Aquamarine, Mint to Be, Sapphire, Fog
Fresh: Sugar, Blush, Peony, Fuchsia, Provincial Gray, Blue Sage, Steel Blue, Mint, Sicilian Blue, Turquoise, Sky Blue

The first card I made into a Mother's Day card.  I die cut the stamped panel of Pretty Peonies with a stitched rectangle die and foam mounted it to an Enchanted Evening card base.  I added a double edged banner stamped with the Fresh Bouquet sentiment I love so dearly.

Simple and colourful!

I took the second background stamped piece and die cut it the same way.  I also foam mounted it to Enchanted Evening and added a scrap bird die cut I had been holding on to.

I really like this colour combination ... would usually not use all these colours but it's always a great chance to try something new.

SAF 2016: Masterpiece Inspirations

Red Poppy, Georgia O'Keefe

I took my inspiration from this gorgeous poppy painting by the talented Georgia O'Keefe.  I white heat embossed Delightful Dahlia stamps on Strathmore cold press watercolour paper.  I mixed some deep reds with my aqua brush and filled in the flowers.

 I die cut the flowers and added green leaves stamped with Avery Elle celery.

 I popped these up on foam tape and added them to a woodgrain card base.

I watercoloured a piece of Strathmore paper die cut with a double ended banner and stamped the Don't Forget to Write sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black.  This was also popped up on foam tape for some dimension.

If you are looking for some gently used stamp sets, take a look here - new ones have been added.
http://cardsbycara.blogspot.ca/2016/05/stamp-set-sale.html

SAF 2016: Pointillism at Play

The fabulous Heather Nichols taught us how to stamp with dots for a play on pointillism.  I tried with some flowers but I think my clear embossing powder was challenged and had a devil of a time having the embossing show up.  I salvaged the flowers and leaves but will only show a peek at that card at the end ... not my best work!!

 I decided to do some pointillism and masking instead and used a Sweet Speech die to create a post-it mask.  I added dots from Harvest Berries and Polka Dot Basics in a variety of Fresh Ink and Avery Elle colours - mint to be, steel blue, sea glass, aquamarine ...

I stamped these all on a piece of soft stone card stock that I then mounted to a white card base (Recollections 110lb white).  I added a Mini Blooms sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black.

Here's my other one .. the first try at this technique!!  Don't look toooo closely! ;)

Check out my sale of stamps and dies here:
http://cardsbycara.blogspot.ca/2016/05/stamp-set-sale.html

April 2016 Papertrey Blog Hop

This month's inspiration picture is very cool  over on the Papertrey Blog hop... I took the concentric overlapping circles and used those as my jumping off point.  I created some stencils with different size circles and used some makeup sponges (!!) and Avery Elle/Fresh ink for overlapping colours.  What fun!  I used shades of blues, teals and greens because they were calling to me from my wide array of inks. :)  Here are the colours I used:

Avery Elle: Aquamarine, Sea Glass
Fresh Ink: Pool, Blue Sage, Sicilian Blue, Turquoise

 A very simple card with an unusual layout in the corner on a piece of Kraft cardstock as my base.  I used lots of foam tape behind to make sure it was tacked down properly and a Hugs die using a perfume packaging that I loved the colour of ... :) It is a divine scent that I love called Sì from Giorgio Armani.   I just love it but only buy it when there is a special as it is not cheap ...  At any rate, the packaging is this pale peachy pink that makes me think of the amazingly talented Debby Hughes ... 

I layered multiple die cuts to make it more substantial and glued it on using my new favourite adhesive - Tombo Mono Aqua.  Clear and fab!

A bit of clear Wink of Stella on the die cut and that's it!  Well, I'm off to hop and take a look at everyone's wonderful creations.  Happy hopping! :)

CASology week 182: adore

This week's challenge over on the CASology blog is all about the word ADORE.  I decided to use this as my reminder to get some Valentine's cards made.

I grabbed some anaglypta wallpaper samples and used my PTI hearts coverplate.  I also cut out some red shimmer card stock and scrap black hearts as well.  (The black is actually packaging from some perfume - it had a nice texture and heft to it!) 

I added the hearts and stamped the sentiment multiple times with my trusty MISTI which worked perfectly with the ever popular Versafine Onyx Black.  If I had done this on my own, it would've never worked, especially stamping on textured wallpaper!!

 I made a few more Valentine cards - this one using the Gold Luxe pack from PTI.

The 'U' is stamped with Fresh Ink fuschia and some Versafine Onyx Black.  Lots of double and triple stamping with the MISTI, again!

And my last one was with some Avery Elle orchid ink and Bloomer bursts from PTI with the sentiment from the same company.  The sentiment is stamped in Fresh Ink fuschia and Versafine.

I raised this panel up with some foam tape to add a little texture to an otherwise incredibly simple card! :)

Thank you to CASology for getting me to get these Valentines done!! :)

Papertrey August 2015 blog hop

What gorgeous colours for this month's blog hop!!  I was happy to get my fingers all inky - I have been away most of the summer and haven't had a chance to make any cards.

Here is the inspiration pic:

I experimented with watercolouring a Bloomers die but it didn't stand out enough so redid the diecut with a simpler design.  Here's what I finally came up with:

I used my MISTI stamping tool to get solid impressions and a thick plastic quilting sheet I had cut down to push the card stock against.

I used a variety of Avery Elle and Fresh pigment inks to stamp the Watercolor Wonder stripes - I just love the saturation of pigment inks!  From top to bottom - Red Currant, Fuschia, Pixie, Peach.

I added some Fresh Sugar ink to the edges of the Bloomers die cut and added some Soft Stone accents to the flower before adding a Versafine Onyx Black Scripted stamped sentiment (now, that's a mouthful!)  I used some foam tape to add dimension to the die cut and show off the placement of the sentiment on both the card base and Bloomers flower.

And here's my other creation using the same colours and Ashley's Make it Monday technique of masking the sentiment:

-----
If you have a moment, check out my gently used item sale *here*.  I have stamps, ink pads and other things too ...

PTI Make it Monday #216 - Hello there

This week, over on Nichole's blog the uber talented Laura Bassen is showing how to dress up cover plates.

I had a great time mixing Perfect Pearls with inks and painting away on a water colour piece of paper die cut with the Circles cover plate.

I added a piece of water colour paper in behind with some splashes of colour and impressed it with the In Bloom impression plate.  I love the look this gives peeking out!

I then used a Scripted die to cut some Enchanted Evening card stock - a nice colour combination with the pinks and the navy.

 You can see the Perfect Pearl pearlescent sheen a bit better here:

The inks were a combination of Avery Elle and Fresh inks blended with Pefect Pearl pearlescent poweder and water.

If you have a moment, check out my crafty sale of items including a brand new ombre ink pad:
http://cardsbycara.blogspot.ca/2014/11/some-items-for-sale.html

PTI Make it Monday #206: Mixing Stamped Patterns

Danielle Flanders did such an amazing job on this week's Make it Monday mixing her gorgeous creations ... I had a great time stamping my patterns but then got stuck trying to put them together to make some cards.  I am not enamoured with them all but will still share ...

I took my colours from some pictures from Rifle Paper Co. - I just love their modern whimsical designs!

I did some swatches to see how they look together:

 And here are my designs using all PTI products - Irresistible Ikat, Ombre Builder, Watercolour Wonder, Leave it Be and Swoosh.

My first card is quite ethereal and hard to photograph with pale subtle colours.  I used a Feather Finery die with the Leave it Be, layered some foam tape using the Ikat polka strip and a Wet Paint III die cut with a portion of the Ombre builder.

 I rounded the corners with a Corner Chomper and that's about it!  A very simple pale pastel card.

My next card is not my fave but I will show you anyhow .... I used a Wet Paint III die on a bunch of different patterns that I had stamped:

 Five patterns are included here with various scales ... some worked better with this die than others. :)

This next one only uses two patterns but I like the layout of it.  I took a Kraft card base and laid a Watercolour Wonder striped piece over, matting and centring it.  I then used a circle die to cut out the centre.

I stacked four die cut layers of Recollections 110lb white card stock with the top being an Ombre Builders pattern from one of the sheets I stamped.

My last card also only uses two patterns but I thought I would share it anyhow:

I used an Aqua Mist card base, the Leave it Be background layered with a DCWV black chalkboard scrap and the Swoosh pattern.

Thank you to Danielle for challenging me to try a bunch of different patterns ... it was a lot of fun even though I found this to be rather difficult ... Nevertheless, I tried my best.