Less Is More #402 - OLC Stencils

Cue Card

Sponsor

Hi, Today's cards are all one layer cards using stencils. Summer is such a busy time for me so I only made two cards for you today but if you head over to the Less Is More challenge blog  you will find some amazing inspiration from the design team and Sarah Grey who is the fabulous guest designer (and sponsor of the challenge).

1) Sparkle

This card uses a combination of masking, stencils, stamping and lots, and lots of shimmer.

Mask off the top triangle and lay down a base of spun sugar. Ink through the geometric maze stencil with shaded lilac, ink through the two tone stencil with squeezed lemonade, then add a little subtle shading to the sides of the triangle with seedless preserves before stamping the scripted streets in faded jeans. Repeat this to make the bottom triangle. Stamp the sentiment in faded jeans. Now mask off the top triangle again and add micro glaze over the inking to stop any of the colours running, then swipe the area with versamark ink and heat emboss with clear sparkle embossing powder. Repeat this process with the bottom triangle. Finish with a few tiny gems.

STAMPS: Visible Image (Scripted Streets & Rays of Light) 
DIES:
STENCILS: Visible Image (Geometric Maze & Two Tone)
INKS: Distress Ink (spun sugar), Distress Oxide (shaded lilac, squeezed lemonade, seedless preserves, faded jeans) Versamark clear
PENS:
OTHER: White card, masking tape, scrap paper, microglaze, WOW! clear sparkle embossing powder.

2) Bee Birthday

There's something always so cheerful about bees and a honeycomb stencil is all you need for a bee image.

Tape your card and the stencil to a craft sheet. Place a mask over the top (scrap paper with a hexagon cut out of it) and ink througgh both that and the stencil with fossilised amber, then add some wild honey to the edges of the hexagon shape. Remove the mask but keep the stencil in place and ink around the outside of the hexagon shape with squeezed lemonade. Stamp the fingerprint in grey ink then let all the ink dry. Stamp and heat emboss the bee and sentiment in black embossing powder. Use a white pen on the wings to fade the shapes made with the stencil. Add some stripes of yellow stickles to the body, then add stardust stickles to the wings.


STAMPS: Clearly Besotted (In Print), Happy Little Stampers (Doodled Flowers) 
DIES:Sizzix Hexagons
STENCILS: Tim Holtz (honeycomb)
INKS: Distress Inks (squeezed lemonade, fossilized amber, wild honey), Prism (thundercloud, Versamark clear
PENS:Opaque white Posca pen
OTHER: WOW! Stickles (yellow and star dust), 

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That's it from me for now. I hope you found something you like and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Christmas Star

Hello there. I've been playing with the newly released Christmas stamps by Visible Image and I think I've just found the design that I will mainly be making this year.  It features one of the smaller stamps in a set and it is great to be able to showcase a tiny stamp.

Here's how I made this card:

First, cut a panel of white card to 10cm by 10cm and white heat emboss the star onto it in the middle. Now die cut a star shape into some scrap paper to make a stencil and place it over the panel so that the embossed star is in the middle and ink through the aperture with a light yellow ink.

Add a little more interest to the inky star shape using two darker colours of ink.

Then remove the 'stencil' and stamp the sentiment with the darker colour oxide ink.

Now take a panel of white card that measures 12.5cm x 12.5cm and blend the two lighter colours of distress ink around the edges.

Take the text stamp and do some partial stamping around the edge of this panel and set it aside to let the ink completely dry.

Once dry, stamp more of the star images on that panel and heat emboss with a sparkling white embossing glitter.

Mount the layers onto the card with fun foam for some dimension. Finish with a little bit of  yellow stickles on the central star image.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
          

Other Supplies:

Sizzix Nesting Star Die, Distress Inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade), Distress Oxide Ink (Fossilized Amber), Versamark Clear Ink, WOW! Opaque Bright White Embossing Powder, WOW! Sparkling Snow Embossing Glitter, Yellow Stickles, Fun Foam, White Card, Scrap Paper, Blending Tools, Heat Gun

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Christmas Angel

Hi.  I was in an inky mood the last time I was in my craft room, so I decided to have a little play with my gelli plate. It has been a long time since I played with that because I thought I had thrown it away, but it turns out that I had only put it away in a 'safe' place. Yes, one of those 'safe' places where you can never remember where they are!  I was very happy when I found it though!

So, I thought it was about time (in the middle of a baking hot summer) to start getting those cards ready for the main festive winter holiday.  In recent years there has been a lot of white or mainly white cards around in December, which disappoints me because I love to see warm colours as well as the icy ones at that time of year (as long as they have some sparkle or shimmer on them). So I broke out the gorgeous Angels stamp set by Visible Image and created this warming holiday card.

Here is how I made it:

Using a brayer on a gelli plate, brayer a layer of Prism smoked paprika ink. I have a large gelli plate so I had to mask off a portion with plain card to get the size that I needed to work on.
In a pallet, mix some brushos with water and then using a fan brush splatter spots onto the gelli plate.

Add your card panel on top of the gelli plate, press all over then pull a print. Trim the panel so that it is straight, leaving a small white border.

Stamp the angel image and the word into place with versafine onyx black ink.

Next make a moon mask, and blend around the outside edge of the mask with spiced marmalade ink.

Take the text stamp and wipe smoked paprika ink over it then stamp the script multiple times onto the panel.

Stamp the stars in place.

Blend around the outside edge of the panel with mustard seed.

Using a clear star gelli roll pen add some sparkle on top of the stars and around the outside edge of the moon. Outline the angel image with a white posca pen. Finally, spritz the panel with some gold glimmermist and mount it onto a black card blank.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
            

Other Supplies:

Prism Ink (smoked paprika), Distress Ink (mustard seed, spiced marmalade), Versafine onyx black ink, Brushos ( yellow, orange, prussian blue), GelliRoll pen (clear star), Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (gold), opaque white Posca pen, gelli plate, brayer, blending foams, white card, black card.

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

That's it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Peace Angel

Hi.

My card today could be used either as a sympathy card, a general religious card, or possibly even as a Christmas card. I love the cards that the rest of the Visible Image design team have made with this stamp because they are so full of drama and colour. However, I wanted to show that the beautiful Guardian Angel stamp could be used in a light, peaceful, tranquil and airy way, as well as a dramatic and vibrant way. I think this card has a calmness about it, so I possibly met my objective.

Here is how I made it:

First I masked off an area on a panel of white card and laid down a little soft colour with distress inks and blending brushes.

Then I added a little more masking tape inside the the panel (at an angle) and blended more purple ink. I was thinking that this would draw the eye down to the figure in the final card. Then I removed that internal bit of masking and stamped some images and text inside the panel. I used the script stamp from the Scripted Streets set, and the bubbles and feathers from the Guardian Angel set with shaded lilac, bundled sage and iced spruce distress inks.

To give the panel a little more interest and shine I took the spray attachment out of the bottle of Perfect Pearls Mist and added some large drops of the liquid. Then I removed all the masking tape and edged the panel with a ruler and a distress marker. The last thing on the panel was stamping the sentiment in shaded lilac distress oxide.

I didn't want to use any black ink on this card so I stamped the angel and the doves in a grey ink and then fussy cut them out.

I wanted to show just how good this stamp is, and that you do not have to be an expert colourist to be able to use it. So on the robes, I scribbled very loosely with a blue pencil and a tiny bit of grey, then just added some highlights with a sparkly sakura gel pen ( the doves were also sparkled with this gel pen). I added a little yellow to the outside edge too because leaving it white meant the image didn't stand out enough from the background I created.

I think this close-up shows how 'un careful' I was in the colouring, and yet the image still looks good on the card. (erm ....yes....I did try to give the mouth a smile with the darker flesh coloured pencil).

The panel was mounted onto a white card blank with fun foam and then the angel and the doves were also added on top of foam for a dimensional look.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
              

    

Other Supplies:

Prism Ink (thundercloud), Distress Inks (tumbled glass, bundled sage, shaded lilac, wilted violet, iced spruce), Distress Oxide Ink (shaded lilac), Distress Marker (wilted violet), Polychromos pencils (107, 130, 132, 154, 234), Sakura Gelly Roll pen (clear star), Perfect Pearls Mist (blue raspberry), white card, blending brushes, ruler, masking tape, 3d foam

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

That's it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Proud Of You!

Hello there. Well, my guests have gone now, the house is almost back to normal and there is just a little more washing to do before I'm back up and running again. It has been wonderful having people in the house and going out and about with them.....but it is torturous when you can't get into your craft room to play. I'm looking forward to getting in there this weekend, even if it is a baking 35 degrees inside!  Anyway, on to my card.

Today's card has been made with the LGBTQIA community in mind. I have used a number of stamp sets on this card - even though it is really clean and simple. That's not normally like me - I like to use 2 or max 3 stamp sets to make my cards achievable and affordable for everyone. However, it's good  to change things up from time to time to show how a number of different sets work beautifully together. Of course all the stamps are from the latest release at Visible Image.

This is the simplest card to make.

On a white panel stamp the swipes of colour using a rainbow of distress inks and the swatch stamp from the Have I Told You set.

Stamp the figure in black ink onto white card and fussy cut it out (hopefully there will be a die of this figure soon - hint hint!)

Now stamp the sentiment in black ink onto a small panel of white card. Attach the sentiment and the panel with the rainbow swatches to a card blank with fun foam for dimension. Attach the figure over the inked colours with 3d foam pads.

Stamp the inside of the card blank with two colours of ink using the swatch stamp again. Stamp the sentiment into place. Now (being very careful with masking this stamp) ink up the face only on the trust your own madness stamp and stamp that into place too.

Stamps Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
           


             

Other Supplies:

Distress Inks (festive berries, carved pumpkin, mustard seed, mowed lawn, blueprint sketch, wilted violet, picked raspberries, broken china), Versafine onyx black ink, white card, fu foam, 3d foam pads.

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

That's it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

AAA Guest Designer - Leaves will grow

Hello there. I'm thrilled and delighted to be guest designing with the awesome AAA card challenge today.

They have a fab theme this time which was a lovely challenge for me because I do like to use a few stamps normally, but I stuck with the one image of the new tree from Visible Image

I think this Tree Of Life stamp set is a new favourite of mine and the two sentiments I've used are positive too.

This card was made by blending a rainbow of distress ink onto a card blank (making sure I masked off the edges first!), stamping the tree, colouring the leaves and adding some stickles to them for a bit of bling. Then I die cut a circle into a panel of white card (and some fun foam for mounting the panel on), and stamped the sentiment. The panel was added over the card blank on top of the fun foam so that the tree appeared in the centre of the opening.

On the inside I stamped the leaves several times and coloured them with Zig clean colour real brushes before stamping the sentiment into place.

Stamps And Stencil Used:

(please click on the picture to be taken direct to the stamp set in the online store):
               

   

Other Supplies:

Distress Inks (festive berries, carved pumpkin, mustard seed, mowed lawn, bglueprint sketch, wilted violet), Versafine onyx black ink, Lawn Fawn stitched circles dies, stardust Stickles, fun foam, white card.
Inside coloured with Zigs ( 022 Carmine red, 070 orange, 051 lemon yellow, 047 may green, 032 persian blue, 080 violet)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafting From The Heart #247 - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #394 - Anything Goes
Creative Moments #172 - Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread #98 - Anything Goes
Through The Craft Room Door 16 July - Anything Goes (second card from me)
Try It on Tuesdays - Colours Of The Rainbow

Visible Image social media and other links (just click on the words in capital letters):

SHOP where the fantastic stamps are sold
BLOG with all the latest news and posts
FACEBOOK PAGE with info, inspiration and weekly giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us and enter the monthly 'show and tell' challenges
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

That's it from me for now. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Less is More #400 - Use Small Stamps

The new challenge at Less is More is all about using small stamps today - that is images that are less than 2 inches. So I made 3 cards, one with a small image and two with peg stamps.

Cue Card

Sponsor

1) Sympathy

On these first two cards I used the same set of stamps. I haven't taken my peg stamps out for years and years and I'd forgotten how pretty they can look. Peg stamps have to be the smallest stamps that I have. Here I have a monochrome cascade of the images.

So easy to make. Randomly stamp the peg stamps in greys on a panel. Die cut and glue on the sentiment. Add fun foam under the panel, mat the panel to black card and then attach the whole thing to a card blank.

STAMPS: Habico Peg Stamps tropical flowers
DIES: Tattered Lace
INKS: Prism Inks ( grey marl, thundercloud,slate grey, midnight black), Adirondack slate, Verscolor #92 Silver
OTHER: White card, black card fun foam

2) If You Believe

And here I have stamped a background directly onto the card blank with the same stamps, but this time using colours. It's a great way to add some interest when you want to concentrate on just a sentiment in the centre of a card.

STAMPS: Habico Peg Stamps tropical flowers
INKS: Prism Inks ( canary yellow, orange zest, red chilli, blackcurrant jam, purple velvet, rainforest green, peacock green, evergreen), Versafine onyx black
OTHER: White card, fun foam

3) Flower

I have been itching to colour the swet little flower pot stamp from this Visible Image set since I first received it.

Using some postage stamp shaped dies, die cut a piece of white card and a piece of vellum. On the vellum white heat emboss the word 'flower'. On the white card, stamp the image and colour it with Zigs. Attach both die cuts to a card blank, raising the smaller on on 3d foam pads.

STAMPS: Visible Image(stay weird, random art of kindness)
DIES: Happy Little Stampers (now discontinued)
ZIGS: Flowerpot (021 light carmine, 022 carmine red, 023 scarlet red, 048 emerald green, 049 green shadow,050 yellow, 051 lemon yellow, 061 light brown, 067 mustard, 202 peach pink, 302 haze blue, 400 marine green
OTHER: Whte card, vellum, 3D foam pads

I'd like to enter these cards into the following challenges:

Sympathy
Get Creative Challenge #82 - Anything Goes optional Monochromatic

Believe
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Make your own background

Flower
The Three Muses - Flowers

LIM BLOG
LIM FACEBOOK PAGE
LIM INSTAGRAM

Head on over to the challenge blog for some fantastic inspiration from the design team

That's it from me for now. I hope you found something you like and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx