Really Useful Cards

Hello everyone, I wanted to show you some really useful ideas for cards. We often need a card in a hurry, and need to rustle up some thing in next to no time. Lots of these cards could be made in different colour options, you could make a set of them and give them as a gift to someone.

My first two cards were made using textured linen card, and I blended three colours of Distress Ink over the background first. I used a circle mask to create a sun in the sky. I then stamped the foliage from Eastern Grasses across the top using Versafine Clair ink in a couple of colours. I used first and second generation stamping to create a bit of depth. I added a sentiment from the stamp set using the same inks as before.

 You could make lots of these and just choose your favourite colours, they are quite quick to make, just vary the sentiment to suit the occasion.

I have left the sentiment off the next card, it could be used for any occasion. I chose a large bloom from Fresh Florals and inked it up with two different colours of red Versafine Clair. I stamped the image randomly over a piece of kraft card to create a background. I stmped the poppy image onto an oval of drawing cartridge and coloured the image with Koh-I-Noor watercolour paints. I added a touch of Distress Ink around the edge.

This last card is an older card that I made some time ago, but I thought that I would share it with you again. I used some very thin masking tape across the background and then added Distress Ink in between each section. I removed the masking tape and stamped the image onto the panel using black ink. I backed the panel onto black card. I coloured some ribbon with the green Distress Ink, and once it was dry, I stamped the ribbon with the words from the Amazing Mackintosh Words stamp set using black Archival ink.

I hope that you will try some of these ideas for quick cards. Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and take care, xx

Beautiful Bold Butterflies

Hello everyone, I am sharing more butterfly cards with you, following on from my last post. Butterflies are such a universally popular image, and I hope that you will enjoy what I have to share with you today.

I created my first card using the Just Butterflies and Butterfly Blush stamp sets. I coloured a piece of drawing cartridge using Distress Oxides and then stamped some of the butterflies from Butterfly Blush using Versafine Clair. I added some white dots using charcoal through a stencil, however, you could achieve a very similar look by using white paint and one of the dotty stamps from Make Your Mark.

I added some texture paste to a piece of MDF, and once it was dry added some paint and gilding wax. I stamped and embossed the butterflies onto vellum, cut them out and layered them up onto the panel. The sentiment from Butterfly Mind was stamped onto a spare piece of background.

The following two cards are older projects, but once again, I hope that you do not mind me sharing them with you. I masked off  the edges of the cards, and added Distress Ink in the centre of the cards. I was aiming for aurora borealis effect, and hopefully achieved that feeling in these cards. I added water splatters, and then stamped the foliage from Briar Rose Butterfly along the bottom using black ink. The butterflies were stamped onto sparkly acetate using Archival Ink and I added coloured vellum to the back, but you could just stamp them onto card, colour them as normal and use a sparkly pen over the top to achieve a similar look. The sentiments come from the Birthday Words stamp set.
 

By changing the colours and foliage, you can create a completely different look, these are really pretty and would make a nice set to give as a gift as well.

 

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and take care, xx

All About the Butterflies

Hello everyone, I have some projects to share with you today created with some beautiful butterfly images that we brought to Hochanda last month. My first card was created fairly quickly using a piece of drawing cartridge, onto which I drew a circle with a pencil. I chose several colours of Versafine Clair in shades of blue and green and stamped an image from the Thistle Butterfly stamp set around the circle. I stamped each colour five times, to ensure an even coverage, varying the direction that I stamped to make the foliage appear more natural. Although these colours are not necessarily true to nature, I love how they turned out.

Once I had finished the wreath shape, I added some splotches with an image from Just Useful, using some of the same colours that I had used in the wreath. I added a touch of shading around the edge of the background with Distress Ink. I added a sentiment in the centre of the wreath from Birthday Words.

I stamped and embossed three butterflies from across the four sets, I just chose whichever butterflies appealed to me most, to be honest. I used some of Lesley's A5 Doubled Sided Designer Papers, they are so useful for this sort of thing, and will last for ages. I used white embossing powder for a delicate touch.

I am sharing two older projects with you today using the Honeysuckle Butterfly stamp set. These two projects were really fun to create, so I hope that you don't mind seeing them again. The first was a canvas that I made using a sheet of old music paper. I painted over the top using a zingy green colour, and decoupaged the image which I had coloured using pencils. I stamped around the edge using Archival Ink. I added lettering to create a collage effect, you could use book paper, die cuts, whatever you have in your stash to create this effect.

 

This next project is more subtle, but again, I loved creating this one too. I used a Brusho background, and added stamping using an image from the Elegant Edges stamp set around the edge of the background. The butterflies are decoupaged, leaving one wing free for real dimension. This card is just waiting for a sentiment for the right occasion. It would make a lovely Mother's Day card, don't you think?

 

Thanks for stopping by, take care and stay safe, xx