Makeesha’s Inspiration #9

 Time for another Inkspiration Inspiration from Makeesha.

I saw this card that Kirsty had made for the challenge and wanted to make something along the same line. I love the soft watercolour feel of her card and how she has recreated the impressionist look with stamps. Very clever girl that Kirsty. This is what I came up with.

 

First of all I cut my watercolour paper to size and then ran it under the tap to wet it all over. I prefer to do this instead of just spraying it with water on one side only, because it causes the paper to curl less. After a couple of shakes to get the excess water off, but still very wet,  it is ready to stamp. I used A Rose is a Rose (SU!) stamp set, stamping the big roses first and adding a couple of leaves and blossoms. I also used the spotty stamp from Boho Background (SU!) to create a bit of interest in the background. Doing this while the paper is wet creates patches of colour instead of a clear image.

By the time the first layer of stamping is done the paper has dried enough for the next layer. This next layer will still spread out and blur but not as much as the first. Some areas of the image have been stamped over up to four times till I was happy with the results. By now the paper has dried out a lot more and was ready for the final stamping. using my Rose Red marker I added colour to selected edges of the second part of the two step rose stamp. At this stage it’s good to keep in  mind that a little bit goes a long way. This was then stamped over the top of the roses to add a bit of definition and contrast. The sentiment from Best Yet (SU!) was stamped on an experimental scrap I tested my stamping on.

 I love using water colour paper and I purchased some from SU! to see how it compared with what I already had. I like the SU! paper but wanted a comparable paper that could be bought much cheaper. I like to experiment with my stamping and a lot of it never gets made into a card and SU! water colour paper is a bit too pricey just to experiment with. I am happy to say I have found my cheaper alternative. Art Spectrum Watercolour Pad 300gsm 100% cotton, medium surface. And it’s made in Australia! It took me a while to find it after a lot a searching. So shop around till you find an art supply store that stocks it. You won’t be disappointed.

Thanks for dropping by to see what I’ve been making.

Theresa

Taking a Walk on the Bushy Side

Years ago, when I use to live in a small rural village, I use to go walking nearly every day. There was a lot of open spaces and  treed paddocks to walk thru. I don’t believe that in the ten years I lived there that I ever went three days without going for a walk. Somedays I could hardly wait to get going, or somedays I’d go a couple of times a day. Somedays I was so frustrated I’d march my tension out, other days I was peaceful and just marveled in the joy of going on my walk.

Then I moved to the city. I knew my walk would be something that I’d miss the most, but I thought I’d just readjust to walking around my suburb. Alas I never did get into a habit. It was just not the same. I later moved to a small country town, but it is still essentially a suburban type area, just with a lot less traffic, so I still didn’t walk.

I was telling my friend about how I really missed my bush walks and how I’d like to get back to doing it again. He said I was welcome to walk on his property and his daughter would show me some of the walks. I did not have to be asked twice!!!

I walk with my little guide (she’s 10 years old) up to the top of the hill. Sometimes we go off the cattle tracks and just shimmy up the side of the hill. This photo shows just one such off-the-track route we took.  I was on all fours on this leg coz it was so steep. LOL. There’s a lovely little clearing  up ahead and my guide and I stop, rest, have a chocolate and find a tree to climb!!! I get up the highest, but I do have an advantage of having long legs.

After we get to the top and admire the views of the valleys on both sides of the hill it’s time to come down. Coming down of course requires good balancing skills. And good judgement about where to put your feet. I only made one error when I stepped onto a stone that rolled out from under me.

On the return journey we stopped for a little photo opportunity. Three dogs came up for the walk with us. One of the dogs races around madly thru the scrub, the other one is always off doing his own thing, but this brute lumbers along beside me the whole way. When I first encountered this fellow I was quite intimidated by the sheer size of him, but since then he’s never given me reason to worry.

I’m totally loving my new bush walks. I plan on going once a week. I’d go more often but that might be stretching the friendship. Also the dogs might not be so friendly if I turned up while the owners were at work. Woof!!! Well I hope you liked my little story about a-day-in-the-life-of -Theresa. I might get to share another story some day.

Thanks for dropping by. Theresa

Etsy Inspired 42

Today I thought I’d have a go at the Etsy Inspired Challenge. We needed to use photos from Tony Carlisle’s Photo Gallery as inspiration for making a card or scrap page. Nothing sprang to mind on how I was going to make a card using Tony’s images as inspiration,  Below is the image I eventually used to make my card.

 

Today is also the day I got around to playing with some of my new Distress Inks. I put the challenge to the back of my mind while I messed about making background papers. As I was making a green paper, my ideas started coming together as to how I could make a card and this is what I made.

 

I made my paper with Peeled Paint and Scattered Straw inks onto watercolour paper. I used a Magenta butterfly rubberstamp, stamped with Whisper White craft ink and clear embossed. I made a puddle of Black Soot ink on a palette and aquabrushed the butterfly black. I also lightly stamped a stem from Stem Silhouettes (SU!) onto the background.

I liked how this card turned out. I might go and make some more, experimenting with different colour combos. Thanks for dropping by for a look.

Theresa

Inkspiration Sketch 9

Thanks to all my visitors popping into my blog these past couple of weeks. I’ve had some issues with my blog uploading, so I’ve scrapped the entries I’d typed up and I’m starting again.

Last Sunday I made a card for Makeesha’s Inkspiration challenge, and this week it was a sketch. On the weekend I also participated in a Virtual Stamp Night hosted by Splitcoast Stampers and one of the challenges there was to make a card using brown, yellow, green, red and white. I liked the first card I made with this colour combo that I thought I’d use it again for this card.

Colours used for this card are Choclate Chip, Ruby Red, More Mustard, Old Olive and Whisper White. The stamps I used are SU! Friends 24-7 and Friendship wheel.

Just a quick post today. See ya soon, Theresa.

Design Dazzle Inspiration.

This weeks SCS inspiration site was  Design Dazzle. I picked out this picture for my card….

and I made this card….

For the main image I stamped the tree (Unity- Growing in Unity) with Pretty in Pink ink onto Whisper White CS.. I then used my Process Red Prisma colour pencil to add shading to various parts of the trunk and branches. Using my stamp-a-ma-jig so I could get perfect placement, I over stamped the tree with versamark, then clear embossed. Doing this effectively makes a mask of the tree. I then inked up my brayer with Choc Chip ink and rolled it over the tree to make the background.

This was my second attempt at the main image. The first one I felt wasn’t up to scratch with the stray embossing powder that had melted to the paper and showed thru when I brayered it. This one turned out better, but then I manage to get a nasty mark on it and I really didn’t want to do it all over again. This called for a bit of improvisation and it also explains why the sentiment it there the way it is. Just thought I’d let you in on that incase you thought it looked a bit odd.

Thanks for dropping my to see my latest creation.

Theresa

Just For Tracey

I’m chatting away with some of the Aussie girls at SCS and Tracey asked that I post another card. So this is for you Tracey. I went thru the SD card and found this one.

I firstly I stamped out the negative flower silhouette from Mostly Flowers in Ballet Blue ink. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get perfect alignment. On the white  layer I clear embossed a stem from Stem Silhouettes, then using the emboss resist technique, I sponged using Ballet Blue and Bashful Blue. I made the folded flower from a scrap of double sided paper (unknown)and attached with a Brilliant Blue brad. The other card layers are bashful Blue.

So there you go Tracey, a post just for you.

Keesha’s IC Challenge 8

Today I thoguht I’d give Makeesha Byl’s latest colour challenge a whirl.

With this challenge I also wanted to use a stamp set that would be a challenge to use with these colours, so I chose Friends 24-7. Firstly I stamped the flourish in Certainly celery, then over stamped with Pink Passion. I wanted to create a green shadow by doing this. I stamped, coloured and cut out the flower stems. I got to use the Friends wheel for the first time despite having it in my possession for a couple of months. I used it to make the background as well as cutting out one of the phrases and using it as my main sentiment. I fished out my retired Certainly Celery DSP to add to the bottom right corner.

I liked the way it turned out. It is definitely a very different look than the colours that have been used on a lot of card using this set.

Thanks for dropping in for a look at what I’ve been creating.

Theresa

Unity Guest Designer Challenge.

I made a couple more cards for the Monochomatic Challenge for Unity.

I wasn’t going to submit this card at first, but when I showed it to my friend Kirsty, she said she loved it, so I changed my mind. I started out by stamping the tree from May KOTM onto patterned paper and colouring with my Prisma pencils. I wasn’t thrilled with the result so I put it aside and decided to change direction. I made the card with various pinks from the scrap box, doing lots of paper piecing and punching out the ’sweet’ sentiment. As I was sticking it all togther I had a rethink about the tree and cut it up and collaged it to the card.

For this next one I used repeat stamping to design my card.

First I stamped out onto scratch paper how I wanted the  tile to look like, with my corner flourish from the May KOTM. I then measured each “square” and cut different patterned papers to size. No stamp-a-ma-jig here folks. I just stamped the corner image into the corners of my cut squares and cut the the tiles out before adhereing them into the stack that you see. The mat looked bare to me so I used the ‘for you’ and weed stem from the kit to make my own background. All stamping was done with Pumpkin Pie and Marigold Morning (SU!). I just love how I can use this corner stamp to make a variety of different paterns. I did a few other combinations on my scratch paper. I don’t do scrapbooking often, but this stamp would be perfect for making your own borders.

Thanks for popping in for a read, hope you are having a fruitful day.

Theresa.

Growing Buttons.

When I went and did my Unity shopping last week I picked up this set called Flirty Flowers. I liked the elemental style of the stamps as well as the words. I also picked up two Sassafrass papers which looked very funky. By the time I got home I was keen to start stamping. I had a quick look at the latest SCS challenges and found a challenge to use buttons, so off I went and created this card.

 

I cut the scallop edge off the Sassafrass paper and used in on the bottom edge of the card. I ferreted thru my inky drawers to find my long neglected VersaColor cubes.So with my pigment ink in hand I stamped the green flower stems. The sun and ‘grow’ were stamped with dye ink. I quickly located a jar of red buttons that I had sorted out many, many years ago and attached the buttons to the top of the stems. I used So Saffron and Purely Pomegranate CS (SU!) to layer the card before putting it onto a white base.

Did you know….Pigment ink tends to sit on top of  paper, as opposed to dye ink which sinks into the paper. That is just one of the differences between these two types of ink.

Hope everyone is having a good day.

Theresa

Having a Bit of Unity Fun.

It’s been a week since I last posted, but I’ve been a little bit distracted with all things Unity lately. I was doing some *uh hem* research into Unity and found that there is an Australian store that has linked up with Unity to offer their KOTM. This was great news for me as I was hesitant to join up on account of the fluctuating exchage rates at the moment. Even better news, is that the store is only a 90 min drive from where I am, and in the area of where I do my visiting when I’m in the city. How great is that!!

So off I went to the big smoke to do a wee bit of shopping ( and visiting stamping friends too, of course). I signed up for my first Kit of the Month, got to take it home with me right there and then, and instead of doing my housework, I’ve been making a few cards with it. With the May KOTM now in my posession I was able to particpate in a Unity Guest Designer Challenge.

The requirement was to make a monochromatic card using the April or May KOTM. The May kit has 20 images in it and I selected four for this card. I stamped the images with Pink Passion (SU!) onto various pink patterned papers. The flowers on the trees were punched out with the Boho Flower punch (SU!). I used two shades of Co-ordinations CS with Pink Pirouette (SU!). I made this card up out of the scrap box which always makes me feel good. I have the usual assortment of paper scraps that most paper crafters have and I’m making a real effort to go and dig some of them out and use them.

The June KOTM is now up on the Unity Website if you’d like to go and have a look-see. There are some fabulous images in it. Some of my favs are the teapots, ladybugs and the pear tree. I’ll have to wait a few more weeks before I get it into my hands, but in the meantime I’m sure I’ll have plenty to keep me creatively satisfied with my May Kit.

Have a fabulously creative day.