Beautiful Leaves - Some No Line Colouring

Hi! How are you doing? Great I hope.

Today I have some no-line colouring with some of the gorgeous brand new stamps by Visible Image. The latest release from Visible Image has some fabulous  stamps and stencils in it; there really is something for everyone.

I love that there is a larger size of this particular leaf in this new set because it is just the perfect size for a bit of colouring. So, I cut a piece of  Strathhmore Toned Grey paper to a mat size for a 15cm x 15cm card and added a square post-it note in the centre.

Then the leaf was stamped all around the paper using a light grey ink.

Any gaps were filled in with the flowerhead from one of the flower stamps in the same stamp set, and then I set about colouring it.

When colouring with polychromos pencils, the first thing I do is lay down some white in the areas that I want to have white in them, because it is impossible to add that later. Then I used a light green to softly colour where the leaf appeard inside the bubble, and I used 2 blue pencils to add a bit of shading to the bubbles to make them look 3d. (The arc that you can see in the photo must have been a reflection of something because it's not there, or it moves, in other photos).

Then I moved on to the leaf veins, which were coloured in the darkest green, and added a little yellow on some of the leaf spots. I varied where theses spots appeared on most of the leaves for a bit of interest.

Next the rest of the leaf was coloured in. Four different shades of greens were used, the lightest at the top and the darkest at the bottom. I also blended some darker shades around the leaf veins,

and then the pink flower heads were tackled. I added blue for shading to separate the petals and just used pinks for the petals, again the lightest at the top by the white and the darkest at the bottom.

Carry on in this way all around the card. A lovely relaxing thing to do!

Now it just needs the sentiment heat embossing in the centre and mounting onto some gold card and a bit more grey paper. Put it all on a card blank and the card is finished.

Stamps Used:

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

Other Supplies:

Strathmore Toned Grey paper, Square post-it note, Memento London Fog Ink, Polychromos pencils ( 101 white, 104 light yellow glaze, 110 phthalo blue, 112 leaf green, 123 fuchsia, 125 middle pink purple, 129 pink madder lake, 140 light ultramarine, 159 hooker's green, 171 light green, 266 permanent green), Versamark Clear Embossing ink, WOW! metallic gold rich embossing powder, gold mirror card, white card blank. 

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

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

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Less is More #413 - More (but still CAS)

Well, I had so many ideas for today's Less is More challenge, but time just ran out on me once again. I did manage to make this one card though.

Cue Card

Sponsor http://www.uniko.co.uk/shop/

So the idea is to use lots of small stamps, be it images or sentiments, but making sure the design is still CAS.

This is one of my cards made with the capsule crafting idea that Kristina Werner is doing in February I mentioned it and added links to Kristina's videos about it in my last LIM post). I am totally sold on this capsule crafting idea now because this card came together in minutes. I really stretches your imagination to have a very limited set of supplies, but the bonus is you don't ummm and errrr and dally about whilst deciding what to use.

Here's what I used on my card:

STAMPS: Uniko Originally Organic Additions       
DIES: Sugar Pea Designs Card Front Builder  
INKS: Hunkydory Prism (Butterscotch, Cinnamon Swirl, French Navy, Blue Lagoon, Artic Mist), Versamark Clear Embossing Ink
OTHER:  White Card, WOW! Opaque Bright White Embossing Powder, 3d foam tape. 

Don't forget to pop over to the LIM blog for lots of amazing inspiration from the design team.
Thanks for popping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Alternative Sentiment Designs

Hi! I'm back with my second post of today. Here is another 3 card designs that I came up with yesterday that use some of the soon-to-be-released stamps by Visible Image (you can see the other designs by clicking HERE). These stamps are available on pre-order until 15th February 2020 and they are such fun to use! You'll be glad to see that this post is much shorter than the other one, and hopefully I'm showing versatility in these cards that I hope will spark some additonal ideas for you.

Let's start with this striking red card. Honestly, it is SO easy to make if you have some of those inch wide ink cubes.

First cut a piece of white card slightly smaller than your card blank and stamp your sentiment onto it. Attach it to your work surface with masking tape. Tear a bit of scrap paper and use masking tape to secure it over the top of the piece of white card. Now drag your ink cube from the scap paper onto the white card, reducing the pressure as you get towards the middle of the card. Repeat this all the way down the edge. Now do the same again with a darker ink pad, reducing the pressure a lot earlier.

Before you remove the scrap paper and masking tape, stamp some of the heart images along the red part using your darker ink.

Stamp and heat emboss 3 hearts in gold embossing powder onto gold mirri card and fussy cut them out.

Attach the inked white card to a red card blank (or cut a mat of red card) and then add the golden hearts with 3d foam.

Now for the blue sympathy card.

Cut a white panel again and using a light blue ink and a cloud mask, blend some clouds all over the panel.

Stamp the sentiment into place. The stamp the wings into place using 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation ink so that they get lighter as the move further away from the sentiment.

Mount the panel onto a blue card blank (or onto a blue mat, and then onto a card blank).

Finally The Thank You Card

Cut a white panel and doodle a border.

Mask off the border and stamp the 'Thank You' into place first, then stamp the heart at various heights across the bottom of the panel.

TIP: Always think about your design and what items you are going to use. Don't do as I did, I used the wrong type of ink for alcohol markers!!! Luckily I manage to work so that the ink didn't smudge into the coloured area (I should have used and ink like Memento).

Colour the heart at the top of the 'thank you' stalk, then doodle some simple patterns into the remaining hearts. Attach this to a black mat and then add the whole thing to a card blank.

Stamps Used:

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

           

Other Items:

Papermill card (white hopsack and smooth red, blue and black), gold mirri card, Distress Ink (varn door, aged mahogany, tumbled glass), Versafine onyx black ink, Prism ink (blue lagoon), Versamark clear embossing ink, WOW! metallic gold rich embossing powder, 3d foam pads, cloud mask, blending foam, black micron pen, Promarkers (cerise, carmine and hot pink), masking tape

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

That's it from me for now. Don't forget to take a peek at the other cards I made with these sets by clicking HERE. Thanks for stopping by and I really hope to see you again soon.

Hugs,
Sharon xx

Using Sentiment Verses

Hello there. There's some fantastic new stamps and stencils by Visible Image that are due to be released on 15th February (they are available on pre-order at the time of writing this post) and I managed to get my hands on 3 of the sentiment stamps and the accessory stamp set that compliments the sentiments. The accessory stamps are beautiful and they will also make some brilliant stand-alone cards, watch this spot ;-), but I had a play with all 4 of these sets yesterday and came up with 6 cards.

The first 3 are here in this post, and you can see the second 3 (which have very different designs) by clicking HERE. These are the other designs:

The cards in this post show that a beautiful verse is not just for the inside of a card.....they work equally well as the main focus. These verses are absolutely gorgeous!

My first idea was to make a 'set' of cards that it would be easy to replicate, but that had a timeless, elegant look, because I love to inspire people with cards that are easily achievable.  I say 'set' because the basic design for these cards is the same, however I've changed how the accessory stamps are used as well as the shape of the apertures in each card.

ALTERNATIVE DESIGN IDEA: There are always new people coming into this wonderful crafty world and hopefully a set like this won't scare them away. However, for people looking for something a little more advanced, it would be very easy to make these into shaker card.

TIP: Although I've used a lot of dimension on the layers in these cards, it would be really easy to omit the foam to make flat cards for posting.

Let's take a look at how these were made.

Firstly, cut 2 pieces of card to size for the front layers and die cut an aperture in each one. TIP: If I made these cards again, I would arrange both layers and secure them with low-tack masking tape, place my die where I wanted the aperture to be and die cut both layers at the same time. That way you can be sure that the holes with line up beautifully.

Once you have the layers die cut, lay the larger one on top of a card blank and lightly mark the aperture opening on the card blank with a pencil.

If you intend to use an open image on the card blank area such as I have done here with the wedding rings, stamp and heat emboss that into place, then use some masking fluid (or a mask) to cover up any parts you wish to remain white. (You should be able to make out the pencil marks I made to mark the aperture in this photo.)

Tape the edges of the card blank with low-tack tape to stop them getting inky, then blend inks to create an ombre effect where the apertures will be. Make sure to leave a little area of white that will appear at the top of the aperture. Set these aside to dry completly.

Once dried, stamp and heat emboss the sentiments. To line up the sentiments into the apertures it is a good idea to place the card blank into a stamping platform, lay the largest mat on top and align the stamp with the opening before getting the stamp to stick to the stamping platform door. Remove the mat and stamp as normal then heat emboss.

You can always stamp some additional images for interest, as I have done on the green version before moving on to assembling the card.

If you are stamping images onto the very top layer do that next. I stamped the wings on the sympathy card, and the flower stalk on the thank you card and heat embossed those with clear embossing ink. I also added some sparkle to the wings with a gel pen.

Assemble the card by firstly erasing any pencil marks, then adding foam (either foam tape or fun foam) to each layer and adhere those to the card blank. Add any additional pieces of the accessory images, like the flower (which I heat embossed, water coloured and glittered with a gel pen)

Here are the cards with the products that have been used.

Stamps Used:

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

             

Other Supplies:

Papermill white hopsack card, Spellbindrs deckle edge rectangles and square dies, MFT stitched circles die, Distress Inks (tumbled glass, broken china, peacock feathers, bundled sage, twisted citron, mowed lawn, spun sugar, worn lipstick and picked raspberry), Distress Oxide Inks (tumbled glass, mowed lawn, wilted violet, shaded lilac), Versamark clear embossing ink, WOW! Embossing Powder (gold sparkle, primary ebony, clear gloss, platinum, metallic gold rich), waterbrush, Sakura Gelli Roll Pen (clear star), pencil, eraser, masking tape 

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

Don't forget to take a look at the other designs I made with these stamps by clicking HERE.

Hugs,
Sharon xx