Card for Visible Image DT: Shine!

Hi and happy Wednesday,

Time to share another project I made with Visible Image stamps for your inspiration!
My project is a flower card with different blue tones, using only one water colour pan:


First I made the flowers. I stamped and heat embossed the flowers on mixed media paper and cut them out using a paper punch.



I painted the circle shaped flowers with watercolour, starting with light blue (i.e. watercolour mixed with plenty of water). Usually I use my heat gun for drying a water coloured surface, but this time I just put the flowers aside and let them air dry (drying happened very quick anyway).

While the flowers were drying I made the sentiment text: First I stamped the image with black Archival ink, heat set the ink with heat gun, and then stamped the sentiment text again using embossing ink and gold embossing powder. The top layer is positioned a little bit to the left from the black text; this way the black stamped image created a black shadow for the golden top layer. When working with clear stamps such re-positioning is easy to do as you see through the stamp.
For this project I needed only one of the three words; the remaining two are also cut out and will most probably end up on two ATC cards !


The background is painted with blue watercolour, and once it was dry I glued down pieces of a chipboard grid.


Before gluing the flowers on the card front I pressed the flower centers with a stylys which made the flowers bit dimensional. The leaves are cut from a folded piece of blue cardstock.



Here are pictures of the Visible Image products I used (click on the pictures for more info):

     

Have a nice day!
Hugs, 
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12 Tags of 2016: March


Hi!
Finally I was able to kick off my 12 Tags of 2016 project. I was totally inspired by the March tutorial; I loved the contrast between bright colours and grunge brown background. Also my new Distress Crayon sets arrived just in time, so this project gave me the perfect opportunity to play with them, too!


I had the butterfly die in my stash, and for the background texture I used a die from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz Mixed Media Thinlits die set. To highlight the bright colours I wrapped pink and yellow embroidery yarn around the tag before gluing the corrugate cardboard on the background. I also outlined the butterflies with a white Sharpie.





February tag is also under work, and I'm hoping to share my version of it soon!

Wishing you a nice weekend!
Hugs,
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Another card for March TIMI: Hello Friend



Hi!
Craft Stamper March Take It Make It challenge was started last Friday. Today the Design team is sharing more stamped projects for your inspiration. Just follow this link and enjoy!

Inspiration for my second March project was the cute Stampendous cat stamp. I stamped the image on white watercolour paper and covered the edges with masking fluid. When working with watercolours I love using masking fluid to cover parts I want to keep unpainted. In this case I painted only the left side of the image, so covering only the edges was enough.




Masking fluid is liquid rubber. It can be applied with a brush, but removing the fluid from the brush is tricky and most propably the masking fluid will ruin the brush. So be aware of this and don't dip your best brush into the liquid!
Silicone brushes/applicators work very well with masking fluid, but a very inexpensive option are wooden BBQ skewers (especially if you don't need to cover large areas with the fluid).

Only a thin layer if masking fluid is usually enough for covering the area underneath. Masking fluid dries quickly but if you want to speed up the process you can dry the surface with a heat gun. Just don't use too much heat.

If you have not yet played with masking fluid I really suggest you give it a try. If you have any questions please leave a comment. I'm happy to help you!



Once the watercolour background was dry I removed the masking fluid and coloured the cat with Distress Markers.

I had an idea of the cat peeking behind a patterned paper corner. For this I made a cut around the right side of the cat's face and slid a piece of green patterned paper underneath. Before placing the green paper under the stamped image I re-stamped the right side of the cat face on it. Stamping the cat whiskers on the patterned paper was an easier solution than fuzzy cutting them :)




I hope you play with our March challenge. Our lovely sponsor is
And one lucky winner will get a 20 Euro voucher to spend in the Basement Studio online shop! Cool!

Wishing you an inspiring day!
Hugs,
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Sizzix March Make Off with Annika and Quinn!



Hi,
Did you check out the first 'Make Off' by Sizzix, in which two Sizzix designers, Pete Hughes and Anna Draicchio went head to head and created four projects each with the Tattered Florals die.
The blog readers voted for their favourite in Facebook and Twitter, and now the votes are counted. Check out the winner here!


This month Sizzix bloggers Annika Flebbe and Quim Diaz were challenged to use only the Framelits™ Die Set 8PK - Circles, Scallop, and they each created two projects including an embellished gift box, sentimental cards and scrapbook page.


Check out the inspiring projects they made and download the step-by-step instructions here.
Also remember to vote for your favourite designer on Sizzix Facebook page or in Twitter!

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Card for Visible Image DT: Soul Music


Hi!
Time to share another card I made with Visible Image stamps:


This card was really fun and easy to make: I started with inkin the background with yellow, orange and brown Distress Inks. Inspired by the little dots on the saxophone player image I decided to add some patterns on the background, too. For this I used the 'Retro Dots Background' and 'Orbital' stamps; I misted the stamps with plain water, pressed the moist stampes on the inked background and dried with heat gun. What an easy way to add interesting details on your card project!


Once the background was completely dry I stamped the two main images with embossing ink, and using black embossing powder I heat embossed the images on the card front. When playing with black silhouette images I like to use black embossing powder instead of black ink; it's the easiest way to get a truly black image and to create a strong contrast between the image and the background.





Here are pictures of the Visible Image products I used (click on the pictures for more info):

     
  
Wishing you a nice day!
Hugs,

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Card for March Craft Stamper Take It Make It challenge: Paris



Hi!

Time for a new Craft Stamper Take It Make It challenge!
This month 'Anything Goes', so take out your stamps and start crafting!
Our lovely sponsor is
And one lucky winner will get a 20 Euro voucher to spend in the Basement Studio online shop! Worth playing for, isn't it!

It's no secret that I LOVE stamping. And I have to admit that I own lots of different stamps. I don't mind mixing images from different sets or manufacturers, and finding new ways to use my favourite stamps is always fun.

For this card I used several Tim Holtz/Stampers Anynomous stamp sets and masking fluid.
When working with stamped layers you start with the image that will appear on the top of your layers. This time it was the bicycle:

I covered parts of the bicycle with masking fluid and stamped the lady on top. The masking fluid will actually make the image appear behind the bicycle which was the result I wanted to create.

Then I stamped the Eiffel Tower and covered it and the lady with more masking fluid. I also added some more on the bicycle for avoiding the bicycle to vanish in the background.

Then I took a piece of scrap paper and covered the bottom third of the card. The green trees are stamped with a flower stamp- when you use green ink instead of pink or yellow your flower stamp image becomes something very different!


When I was finished with stamping I removed the masking fluid and coloured the lady and the bicycle. The sky and the ground are painted with watercolours, and the finishing touches are made with a dry brush and white acrylic paint.


Hope this inspires you to look at your stamps with a fresh eye. Combine sets in a new way and create something very unique!

Wishing you a wonderful day,
Hugs,
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Card for March MMCC: Hello Spring

Hi!
When driving home from the office and it's light until 6 PM you realize that spring is very soon in Finland! How I have missed those light green spring colours, blooming garden trees and birds singing thoughout the day. Inspired by the March Mixed Media Carch Challenge I made a spring themed card, wishing that the long winter would be soon over:




I did not have a large tree stamp, so I decided to draw the tree myself. I traced the lines with a pencil and draw the tree using my sewing machine:



Once the tree was ready I gently erased the pencil lines and painted the tree with watercolours. For colouring the background I used yellow and green Distress inks.


The leaves are cut from a folded piece of paper I had coloured with watercolours. I glued them down on the card front together with wooden birds (Studio Calico) and punched flowers (punch: Stampin'Up). Each little white is embellished with one metallic bead seed.


The sentiment is stamped on a piece of wooden popsicle stick and glued on the card front.

I loved playing with the bright spring greens and yellows! Hope you get inspired by our March theme and play along!

Wishing you a wonderful day!
Hugs
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