A Rainbow, Gloss and Micro Beads

Sometimes, when in a creative block (or if I have too many ideas jostling to be made first), I find that setting myself a challenge helps to either get those creative juices flowing again or get those creative ideas under manageable control. I actually went into idea overdrive when I received the last set of stamps released by Visible Image and putting the brakes on the ideas was exactly what I needed to do. So for this card I set the challenge of:

• use only 2 stamps from one stamp set 
• add some texture
• and use rainbow colours

I  knew the stamps that I wanted to use (the fabulous Random Art Of Kindness) and it made sense to use a flower and one of the sentiments. The flowers in this set are perfect for adding texture too.  So whilst searching through my stash for some textural elements I came across a jar of clear glass micro beads that I've had for ages and decided to use those too.

This was such a simple card to make. The card blank was masked so that I had a band to work on and a rainbow of distress inks was blended into that band. Then the flowers were stamped 'off the edge' of the band.

The masking was removed and the word was repeat stamped under the band (making sure to start in the centre and work outwards towards the sides).

A white pen was used to fill in the tiny circles around the flower centres, then a clear drying glue was added to the 'petals' and they were covered with the clear glass micro beads. I love how the beads take on the shades of the underlying colours.

Finally glossy accents was added to the centre of the flowers and everything set aside to dry.

Here you can see the smooth texture of the glossy accents and the bumpy texture of the micro beads

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, twisted citron, salty ocean, wilted violet), Versafine onyx black ink, opaque white Posca Pen, Glossy Acents, Creative Expressions clear glass micro beads, white card blank


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Craft Stamper Magazine TIMI March - Anything Goes (entry #3)
Ike's World #118 - C is for CAS
Lemon Shortbread #89 Anything Goes
L'il Patch of Crafty Friends #103 - Anything Goes
Penny Black and More March - Going Round in Circles
The Corrosive Challenge #03 March - Anything Goes
Through The Craft Room Door March 19 - Anything Goes
Try It On Tuesdays 19th March - Say it with flowers

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. I hope you like my card and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Less is More #391 - Take 3

I've been mega busy since I got back from the UK and I currently have a house full of guests, so I'll be brief with my post today.

It's time for a fun recipe at Less is More and here is our cue card:




So that could be 3 of anything really! e.g. 3 words, 3 images, 3 colours etc. etc. etc.

There is a fab prize up for grabs from Visible Image for this month's winner, so make sure you enter to be in with a chance. The LIM guest designer is the fabulous Joanne James from The Crafty Owl (she was the January winner). Head on over to the challenge blog for some fantastic inspiration from Joanne and the design team

I only have 2 cards for you today so let's take a look at them

1) Air Guitar - 3 stencils, 3 words and 3 silhouettes

This card uses  3 stencils, it has 3 words and it has 3 silhouettes too. I've not gone overboard have I?

I masked a band on the card and inked through it with squeezed lemonade, then added the fibres stencil on top and used mustard seed. Wild honey was inked through the Stars and Stripes stencil and black soot used to add 3 silhouettes from the Play guitar stencil.

A bit of highlight from a white posca pen and 3 words finished this card off.

STENCILS: Visible Image (fibres, stars & stripes, play guitar)
STAMPS: Visible Image (zodiac pisces, zodiac sagittarius)
INKS: Distress Inks (squeezed lemonade, mustard seed, wild honey, black soot) Versafine onyx black
OTHER: masking tape, white posca pen

2) Wings of Change - 3 butterflies

Here I've used two of the stamp sets and one stencil from the latest Visible Image release. These butterflies are so gorgeous! I stamped them onto water colour paper and used my zigs to colour them before fussy cutting them. The edges of the wings have been glittered with stickles for some sparkle. 

The subtle background on the panel was created by using tumbled glass distress oxide on my gelli plate and adding the Entwined Butterflies stencil over the top before pulling a partial print on one side of the panel. It was finished with some second generation inking of the sentiment and ink splats from the Art Rebel set.

STAMPS: Visible Image Wings of Change, Art Rebel
STENCIL: Visible Image Entwined Butterflies
INKS: Distress Oxide (tumbled glass), Prism (purple velvet) Versafine (onyx black)
OTHER: Gelli plate, brayer, Zig Clean Colour Real Brushes (cobalt blue, light violet), Canson Aquarelle water colour paper, Stardust Stickles, fun foam, white card


LIM BLOG
LIM FACEBOOK PAGE
LIM INSTAGRAM

That's it from me for now. I do hope you liked these and it would be lovely to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Flower Dress

Hi!
Well, I had a lovely time away from home visiting my Mum in the UK, but it is SO good to be back in the beautiful Portuguese sunshine and with access to wifi again! It's a shame that I missed the freak February hot spell in the UK but the rain and cold wind reminded me of why we moved to Portugal. I really missed the beautiful views from my house, the glorious sunsets every day and the fabulous weather over here.

Anyway, enough chat. Today I've made the gorgeous Creative Chaos flower stamp by Visible Image into a party dress.

It's easy to do, you just turn the paper upside down, stamp it, mask it, stamp it twice more to the outside edges and place the stems 'just so' to make the bodice. The happy birthday makes a great set of legs too.

Or, as one of my VI team mates pointed out...it could be seen as a fuchsia too.

I don't have a ton of photos to show today as I stamped and coloured this whilst having a crafty day at my friends house.  It was great to use her Zig clean colour real brush pens to water colour the image and all I needed to do when I got home was to stamp the legs, add some sparkle to the bodice and layer it up onto a card. Needless to say I am hooked on the Zigs and have invested in my own set now.

Hmmmm ....I wonder what other ways this stamp can be creatively used?

Stamps Used:

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

Other Supplies:

Canston Aquarelle 300gsm/140Lb water colour paper, 
Versafine onyx black ink, 
Zig clean colour real brushes (light green, turquoise green, blue, deep blue, violet, light blue), 
quickie glue pen, 
glamour dust, 
black and light blue card stock, 
fun foam.


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Craft Stamper Magazine TIMI March (Entry #2)
Colour Crazy Challenge week 9 - Anything goes , must colour image
Crafters Castle #15 - Anything Goes option of use glitter (I did!) Not sure if their linky will work as it had reached max no of allowed entries.
Jo's Scrap Shack FFC#272 - Anything Goes
L'il Patch of Crafty Friends #101 - Anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge #3 March - Anything Goes
The Joy Of Sets JOSTTT03 - Tic Tac Toe - Green (I hope there is enough), water colouring, sparkle

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

Dusky Oxide Roses

Hello there. I'm over in the UK this week so I'm hoping that technology is kind to me and that this posts on the correct day because my Mum doesn't have the internet at her house.

Anyway, it's Thursday so that must mean that it is my  Visible Image day. This week I've made a picture and coordinating card.

Here's how I made these.

First, a little bit of yummy fun with 3 gorgeous colours of  distress oxides making an ombre background, then stamping fab images in white ink, and the word 'beautiful' in all three colours of the distress oxide.

Spot the anomaly? Yes, the background here is square, but my finished picture is rectangular. That's because I started out with the intention of making a square card, but change my mind. So the lovely stamping around the edge of this piece ended up being trimmed off.  To finish the background a spritz with water.

The roses were water coloured on heavy water colour paper with the same three colours of distress oxide colours.

To complete the picture, I fussy cut one of the roses, stamped the stem onto a piece of oxide blended paper and roughly cut it out, added the 'hope sentiment and set it all in a picture frame.

For the card, I ink blended a strip of paper, adding some fired brick above the seedless preserves, and as it was rather a bright red I went over the top with some iced spruce to get it to tone in with the colour pallette.  The strip was adhered to the side of a 15cm x 10.5cm top folding card blank.

The roses (3 of them) were fussy cut with a slight border and arranged on a panel of white card, cutting two of them into pieces and arranging them to fit. The panel was raised on fun foam

The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed on a piece of oxide blended card and the final touch was a few sequins with gems in the middle.

Stamps Used:

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

Other Supplies:

Distress Oxide Inks (antique linen, worn lipstick, seedless preserves, barn door, iced spruce), Water colour paper, White card, Versafine onyx black ink, sequins, gems, Picture frame, fun foam.


I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:
A perfect time to craft 03 (March) - Anything Goes
Addicted to stamps and more! #331 - Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs 6th March - Anything Goes
Craft Stamper March TIMI challenge - Anything Goes
Creative Moments #164 - Anything Goes
Through The Craft Room Door 5th March - Anything Goes

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 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 #390 - Horoscopes

Hello. Here we are at the start of another month and today at the Less is More challenge we are playing along with a theme. Now at first I thought this might be a hard one to join in with but....

....you could use either star signs, horoscope animals (like fish, lion, bull, crab, scorpion), horoscope constellations, or any other link with horoscopes that you can think of.

LIM are welcoming a brand new sponsor for the March challenges

https://visibleimage.com/shop/

And the guest designer is one of my Visible Image team mates....the fab Jane from Jane's Journals. She's made a fantastic card with the  Zodiac Cancer stamps so please hop over to her blog to leave her some love.

The LIM design team have also made some incredible cards this time so pop over to the challenge blog to see them.

I made 3 cards...and then I found another one that I made a while ago - so 4 cards to share this week

1) Pisces

To start off - a one layer card where everything has been done straight onto the card blank.

I love all the Zodiac stamps that Visible Image make and as we are currently in the Pisces time of year I chose to use that one to kick off with.

The words, or characteristics, that come in each set are brilliant for using on many different projects. Here I've used the word 'artistic'.

Anyway, I thought a simple distress oxide smooshed background would really suit the fish. (Oxides - another thing I absolutely love!) Then I added the dates and star sign name in a way that pleased my eye.

The fish are glittered with some stickles, having first treated them with a bit of microglaze to stop the ink moving again. A simple but lovely-looking card in real life.

STAMPS: Visible Image zodiac Pisces
INKS: Distress Oxide (cracked pistachio, peacock feathers), Versafine onyx black
OTHER: Microglaze, stardust Stickles, white card.

2) Cancer

Here's another 'watery' horoscope sign: cancer the crab. This little chappie is a fun image and the smaller stamp (you get 2 sizes in the set) is perfect for a CAS design because it takes up so little space.

Here it is coloured with distress inks, fussy cut and layered up in a 3D way. The stars are all grunge paste covered in silver glitter. It looks like he is helping to put the stars in the sky, doesn't it?

STAMPS: Visible Image Zodiac Cancer, You Are Not Alone and Believe In Unicorns
STENCILS: Stars and Stripes
INKS: Versafine onyx black, Hunkydory Prism ink (Arctic Mist  ) Distress Inks (faded jeans, barn door, aged mahogany, dried marigold, spiced marmalade, rusty hinge)
OTHER: White card, grunge paste, silver glitter, 3d foam pads, fun foam.

3) Leo

This card is a bit of fun, just to show that you do not need zodiac stamps to create a card with a horoscope theme. I think this would make a great card for a child who is a Leo, because this lion is so friendly really.

So I got the Oz Cowardly Lion set out and made it look like he was just peeping around the corner of the card.

I think it looks like he is just popping in to say Happy Birthday.

STAMPS: Visible Image: Zodiac Leo and Oz Cowardly Lion
DIES: Sweet Peas Build A Card Front
PROMARKERS: For the mane: soft peach, peach, mandarin, orange and cocoa. For the face and body: satin, tan, caramel, cocoa and umber. For the tongue: coral
OTHER: Card from Papermill Direct (Flame, Buff smooth and White super smooth). Fun Foam, Memento tuxedo black ink. 

4) Capricorn

 And a final card being sneaked in...just because I made this a while ago and completely forgot that I had put it away for this challenge

I used polychromos pencils on a geometric background shape and added the stylized representation of the Capricorn goat in the centre.

I heat embossed some of the words about the star sign characteristics that come in the Capricorn set as a border along one side.

STAMPS: Visible Image Zodiac Capricorn and Visometry
POLYCHROMOS PENCILS:  130,131, 132, 153, 154, 156, 230, 232, 234
INKS: Versafine onyx black,Versamark clear
OTHER: White card, black card WOW! opaque bright white embossing powder.



I'd like to enter the cards into challenges as follows:

PISCES

Papercraft Crew PCC328 - Simple Stamping
The Little Red Wagon #486 - Love it!

CANCER
The House that Stamps Built F2719 - Anything Goes
Papercraft Challenges #31 - All the Critters

LEO
Everybody Art Challenge #441 - Animals
I love Promarkers #378 - Anything goes with option of no patterned paper (a second entry from me)

CAPRICORN
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes (2nd entry from me)
Through The Craft Room Door 26th Feb - Anything Goes (a 2nd entry from me)

LIM BLOG
LIM FACEBOOK PAGE
LIM INSTAGRAM

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

Lilac Butterfly

Hi! Thanks for stopping by.

Today's card is pretty and soft and delicate and really easy to make. It actually looks much better in real life than it does on a photograph and I love the way it turned out.  I used a fabulous stencil and a gorgeous stamp set by Visible Image.

It didn't use too many supplies - there is just some glitter, dies and versamark ink missing from this photo.

First I found 2 pieces of die cut card in my stash - these are the dies that cut them. 

The smaller scalloped piece of card was taped down to my craft mat so that the edges would remain white. Then the stencil was arranged at an angle so that I could get that beautiful rose image when it had been inked.

A soft inking with a light ink using a blending brush was all that was needed.

Next the butterfly was stamped in a darker ink on a piece of scrap card

and the lighter ink was brushed over the top to give a background colour

and then it was glittered before being fussy cut.

The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto vellum. I have loads of this hanging around from way back when (I once wanted to use vellum on everything I created back then as a 'signature')

 and then all the parts were put together onto a card blank

Stamps Used:

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

Other Supplies:

White Card, Sweet Pea card front builder dies,  low tack masking tape, blending brush, Altenew inks (wisteria & hydrangea), quickie glue pen, glamour dust, Versamark clear embossing ink, WOW! Opaque bright white embossing powder, vellum, fun foam. 


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiment Designs 26 Feb - Anything Goes
Dragonfly Journeys #135 - One Word
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge 27th Feb - Anything Goes
The Corrosive Challenge #2 - Anything Goes (a second entry from me)
Through The Craft Room Door 26th Feb - Anything Goes

Inkspirational #181 - Use Your Stash


Just Us Girls #476 - Photo inspiration

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

See What Others Don't (I saw 'The Matrix')

When I first set eyes on this brilliant 'See Everything' stamp from Visible Image I immediately saw references to the film  'The Matrix'.

Do you know that on 31st March this year it will be 20 years since that film was released?  It really doesn't feel like 20 years....until you watch it again and notice how big the PC monitors were back in 1999 and how much phone technology has changed in the last 20 years. It's still a cracking film though.

Anyway, how did I make a link to the matrix? Well, those little circles reminded me of the lines of code that descend and sparkle on the computer screens in the film. The lines radiating out from the eye in the centre reminded me of a sort of a scanner, and scanning for Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and other humans was what Agent Smith was doing in the film. The two figures at the bottom of the stamp reminded me that the human race (those that were awake from the matrix) had descended into the earth and were living in Zion. And finally there is the sentiment; only those that were awake from the matrix could see what others didn't. So, I had to make a card in greens, black and smokey grey with a touch of sparkle as homage, didn't I?

This is how I made the card:

First the larger circles were coloured with some green Promarkers. Only 3 colours were used as shading and an uncoloured white spot was left on each circle as a highlight.

Then all the small circles, the eye and the figures at the bottom of the stamp were coloured

Next I added some cracked pistachio distress ink by softly blending from a piece of paper aligned to some of the lines radiating out from the eye, to try to imitate the laser type scanners that you often see in movies.

After that I added glossy accents to each individual tiny circle (but not to the larger ones) and left it to dry overnight.

On the next day I wanted to add the sparkle and some darkness to the piece. So I used a charcoal pencil and drew some rough lines over the image and smudged them with my finger. I thought this sort of represented the movement of the lines code falling down the screen.

Then some glamour dust was added to give that representation of sparkle, and hickory smoke distress ink was blended over the two sides of the piece.

The sentiment was stamped onto a scrap of card coloured with a matching promarker and three of the corners of the sentiment piece were rounded before it was backed with fun foam. I mounted the whole thing onto a card blank and added two slim pieces of black card on the two outside edges.

Stamps Used:

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

Other Supplies:

Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Promarkers, (Pastel green, mint green and green. Plus a bit of tea green and holly in the eye), cracked pistachio and hickory smoke Distress Ink, charcoal pencil, Glossy Accents, Glamour Dust, White and Black card, fun foam.


I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
A Gem of a challenge #3 - Anything Goes
Country View Challenges Feb 2019 - Black White and one other (I hope the smudgy grey counts for black - if it doesn't the feel free to delete my entry)
Crafting By Designs 20 Feb - Inspired By A Movie
Dream Valley Challenges #96 - Sparkle and Shine (I have glossy accents and glamour dust)
I Love Promarkers #378 - Anything Goes with the option of no patterned paper.
Passion For Promarkers #491 - Colour It
Shopping Our Stash #389 - Make Your Mark
Through The Craft Room Door 19th Feb - Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesdays #209 - Masculine anything goes

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