Contemporary Holly

Hello there. Yes, I know I've already made my last post as a DT member for Visible Image. but I made this card earlier in the year and then the holly image went out of stock....but I love this card and I really wanted to post it on my blog, so here are all the details. 

The stamp will no doubt be back in stock again for next year, and you could always substitute that image for the star or a snowflake stamp by Visible Image if you wish to make a card like this.

Here's how I made it:

First, blend a background with 3 distress inks on a panel of white card

When the ink is totally dry, stamp the Fibonacci stamp in clear ink and heat emboss with sparkling snow embossing powder. This powder gives a subtle sparkle to the embossed image.

Take a piece of scrap vellum and stamp and emboss the inked holly using the sparkling snow embossing powder.

Cut the holly leaf out, being careful around the word 'HOLLY' because that will be used later on. Turn the cut leaves over so that the embossing is underneath and then water colour the backs of the leaves and berries with the distress inks.

I decided that the background needed a little more 'ooooph' so I took the ink splats and added a few splats with the distress inks. The orange was really vibrant so I had to use second generation inking for that colour. Darken the edges of the panel with the distress ink.

Add the panel to a square card blank with fun foam. Using the Fibonacci as a guide, attach the holly to the tightest part of the spiral with some tiny 3d foam pads. Cur around the rest of the word 'holly' and attach that to the panel with tiny 3d foam pads too. The final step was to add glossy accents to the berries and set the card aside to dry completely.

And there you have it; a holiday card in contemporary colours.

Stamps Used:

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

  

  

   

Other Supplies:

White card, Distress Ink (speckled egg, salvaged patina, crackling campfire), Versamark clear ink, WOW! Sparkling Snow embossing powder, glossy accents, 3dfoam 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 giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

TWITTER

That's it from me for now. 

Have a Joyful, Safe and Festive holiday season and here's wishing you a Healthy and Happy New Year

Hugs,

Sharon xx 

Keep Your Gin Up!

 

Hello there. This is my last post as a DT member for Visible Image. 

I'm really sad to be saying goodbye to the VI team because I have had lots of fun using their awesome products and I really enjoyed working for Mark and Helen, who are THE BEST bosses! However, I have decided to take a break from all DTs in 2022, and possibly even a little break from card making (although I will still make a few cards just for fun). I have too many other things that need my attention (like learning to speak Portuguese fluently!) so my card making will be just for my own pleasure next year.

Anyway, Keep your gin up! I'll still be around in blog and Instagram lands from time to time.

Right, to my card for today. I love a bit of rhubarb gin and that was the inspiration behind this card. Here's how I made it.

First stamp the gin bottle in a purple ink onto some scrap card and colour around the glass part of the bottle with lilac and lavender alcohol pens.

Next stamp two more bottles - one in black ink and one embossed in white heat embossing powder. You will use the labels on those two bottles and the bottle cap on the black version.

Colour part of the label on the black ink version with some grey marker pens. Colour a rectangle of black around the '% vol' and 'cl' part of the label on the heat embossed version. I used a Zig marker for this as it is a water-based ink and therefore it is easy to wipe it off the white embossing. Cut the whole label and the bottle cap out on the black inked bottle and cut the black inked rectangle from the white embossed version. These will be layered up on the purple bottle.

 

Now create a background by blending bundled sage Distress Ink through the renaissance stencil, then stamp the 'lemon slice' stamps around the edge of the panel in twisted citron Distress Oxide.

Before assembling the card,  stamp the drips onto the label with a darker purple ink. Now add the background to the card blank and stamp the 'keep your and 'up' sentiments. Finally layer the gin bottle up onto foam as follows: purple bottle, black inked label & black bottle cap, and lastly the white embossed small black rectangle. 

Stamps and Stencil Used:

 

  

  

Other Supplies:

White Card, Prism inks (blackcurrant jam, purple velvet, Versafine onyx black ink, bundled sage Distress ink, twisted citron Distress Oxide ink, Versamark clear ink, WOW! opaque bright white embossing powder, Promarkers, black Zig marker, 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 giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

TWITTER

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

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Cheers!

Hello there. Welcome to December!! Can you believe that we are already in the last month of 2021? 

Here's a big 'Cheers' to everyone. It's time for the holiday festivities to start, and what better image could I have used than a nice cool glass of lager?  This 'Bring On The Beers' is a super stamp set for all those in your life that love a glass of beer or lager. Of course, it is from the last release by Visible Image and if you like it, just drop lots of hints about a present that you'd love to get on 25th December 😉

There are lots of photos here because I've tried to show you most steps in the way I coloured this image, so let's just crack on.

First, stamp the image in a yellow colour onto some scrap card. I used a water-based ink because I used alcohol markers to colour.

Next lay down a base of the palest yellow you can find.

Then add some darker brown to the edge on one side of the glass and part way along the top under the froth.

Add more colour with an apricot coloured marker and blend it where it meets the darker brown.

Repeat that process on the bottom right of the glass, and add a tiny bit of the darker colours towards the top next to where the 'shine' from the glass will appear. Then use some greys and a white marker on the bottom of the glass. Just use a little bit of colour around the edges.

Now for the froth inside the glass. (I left the froth on the top alone). Use some pale, creamy beige colours with the darker colurs on the left hand side of the froth.

When you are happy with the result, cover the image with glossy accents and set it aside to dry. Once dried you will cut the image out.

Now for the tag background:

Onto a piece of scrap card, blend antique linen distress ink through the Time Tunnel Stencil

Now use speckled egg on top with the ripples stencil

Next use Tattered rose, and wild honey through the circles on the Two Tone stencil.

Then use the 'bubbles' stamp in the set with hickory smoke. Cut a tag out from this and (once the ink is dried on the background) stamp and clear emboss the sentiment onto another spare piece, edging both pieces with some blended grey ink.

On a separate square shaped panel, stamp the bubbles around the edge in the hickory smoke ink. Put everything together onto a card blank.

 

Stamps And Stencils Used:

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

  

  

  

  

Other Supplies:

White Card, Prism Ink, Promarkers, white opaque pen, Glossy Accents, Distress Inks, blending brushes, Carabelle Studio tag die, Wow! clear embossing powder, 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 giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

TWITTER

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 #457 - Photo Inspiration

Hello. It's the last challenge of the year over at Less is More and for a change we're ending on a photo challenge. So all we need to do is take inspiration from the photo.  

Image by monicore from Pixabay

I took inspiration from the kraft coloured packaging, the red twine and the glittery, swirly pattern on the white bauble on the left and the gold bow. 

Although it doesn't show on the top photo, the gold can be seen here on the sentiment.

The present stamp was stamped and embossed in two stages. First the image was stamped and embossed in white onto a panel of kraft card. Next it was stamped and embossed in red onto a scrap of kraft card and then the bow was cut out and glued onto the white present on the panel. The sentiment was embossed with a sparkly gold embossing powder.

The background stamp used on the card blank is another of those 'unknown make' ones that I have in my stash.This was embossed with white powder.

STAMPS:  Papermania (Joyeaux Noël by Stephanie Dyment), Unknown background stamp  

INKS: Versamark clear  
OTHER: Kraft card, WOW! embossing powders (opaque bright white, gold sparkle), Heat It Up! embossing powder (crimson red)

LIM BLOG
LIM FACEBOOK PAGE
LIM INSTAGRAM

Please head on over to the challenge blog to see it and for some fantastic inspiration from the design team and while you are there please say a goodby to those of the team that are leaving the challenge. They have been such a fantastic inspiration to everyone.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Chocolate Caramel Cake - yummy!

Who loves a chocolate sponge cake for their birthday? Well, I do for one, and I bet there are loads of other people that do too. But how do you make a chocolate cake even better? Add some super-smooth chocolate icing and how about a caramel flavoured filling. Yummy!

This Blow Out The Candles stamp set by Visible Image is stunning and it is just perfect teamed up with the Tea Party stencil! I adore the images in this set with the two cakes, candles, candle sparkle and fantastic sentiments too. It is going to be used a lot!!!

Here's how I made this card.

First stamp the cake image onto a scrap of white card using a brown ink. I was originally going to colour the whole cake in pencils so I laid down a bit of colour for the caramel filling. Then I changed my mind and decided to use my zigs to get a richer colour.

So, the next step was to colour the icing and go over the caramel filling with  my zig pens. I also used a white tipex pen to accentuate the highlights on the icing to help make it look more glossy on the finished image.

After colouring in the sponge, next came the obligatory glossy accents to really give that icing some shine! I let the image dry and then cut it out and added some 3d foam to the back of the image.

Now for the backdrop. I inked through the Tea Party stencil, well...what's a piece of cake without a refreshing cup of tea, eh?).

Then I stamped the 'sparkle' for the candles from the same stamp set around some of the dots from the stencil. I used the same distress ink.

To really make the background catch the eye I heat embossed more of the candle sparkle stamp in clear embossing glitter (once the distress ink had dried). This photo picks up some of the sparkle.

Then the sentiment was stamped using two colours of ink, just masking off each bit that wasn't being stamped, onto spare white card. It was cut into a flag shape and backed with a mat of brown card before adding 3d foam to the back.

Layer the background up onto some brown card and add it to a card blank and then attach the cake image and the sentiment. 

Stamps and Stencil Used:

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

  

 

 

  

 

Other Supplies:

White Card, Versamark (Vintage Sepia), Zig Clean Color Real Brushes (060, 061, 062, 063, 065, 066, 075), White Opaque Pen, Glossy Accents, Distress Ink (Salvaged Patina), Versamark Clear ink, WOW! Clear Sparkle Embossing Glitter, Brown Card, 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 giveaways
FACEBOOK GROUP come share your work with us
INSTAGRAM
PINterest

TWITTER

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

Hugs,
Sharon xx