Harlequin Poppies

Hello everyone, I have a project to share with you today that featured on last month's TV shows on Hochanda.

This project was created using the fabulous Drawing Cartridge paper, which is such a great product. I love to use smooth watercolour paper in a lot of my projects, which can be a bit pricy. Cartridge paper is a cheaper alternative, and this paper from the website is perfect for adding water, and lightweight enough for fussy cutting. It is smooth enough for stamping as well, so a good all rounder for your projects.

I started my project by blending bands of Peeled Paint and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Ink across the background, and then spritzed them with water for a mottled effect. Once the background had dried naturally, I added a circle mask, and stamped a harlequin image from the Harlequin Fragments stamp set around the masked area, using a deep Fired Brick Distress Ink, mixed in with a little Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. I added some extra shading around the edge of the mask, before removing the mask.

On another piece of the cartridge paper, I added some colour using green, red, yellow and orange Distress Oxide Inks, and then stamped some of the flowers and a butterfly from the Butterfly Poppy Collage stamp set, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink. I heat set the images and cut them out. I stamped a sentiment from the Loving Sentiments stamp set into the circle aperture created underneath the mask, using the black ink as before.

I added large black brads to the flowers to loosely give the illusion of the flowers being poppies, before attaching them to the card, and added some leafy die cuts. Finally, I adhered the background to a large black card blank.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

It's about the Little Things

Hello everyone, I have a few projects to share with you today which were featured on Lesley's recent TV shows on Hochanda. I had the opportunity to viit the TV studios and see Lesley in action close up. It was very interesting to see the processes involved.

I am focusing on the DL sets that were on the show, using some of the little worker stamps, and showing how they can be used in a variety of ways.

For my first card, I created a very pale wrinkle free distress background, using a Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet Distress Ink, before adding an oval mask over the top. I added a bit more Distress Ink, and some shading around the edge of the mask and the edge of the card with Paris Dusk Memento Ink, to give the feeling of some shading and depth to the background. I also added a bit of grey pencil around the edge of the oval mask. Adding the grey pencil really helps to create the impression that the oval is a separate layer on top of the background.

Using one of the silhouette images from the Autumn Hedgerow stamp set, I stamped over the background, using a variety of ink colours in tones of blue and plum ( Memento Teal Zeal, Nautical Blue and Archival Plum), using first and second generation stamping, to give a bit of depth to the background. I removed the mask, and stamped an image from the Pretty Poppies stamp set, using Archival Cobalt Ink, and added a sentiment from the same stamp set inside the oval. I coloured the image with Distress Inks and a waterbrush.

For my second project, I created a gelli plate background, by brayering some Peeled Paint Distress Ink onto my gelli plate, and then scrunched up a piece of cling film and dabbed some Fired Brick Distress Ink onto the gelli plate with the cling film randomly. I took a print from the gelli plate and trimmed a piece of background to size. From the spare offcut, I stamped and embossed the two butterflies from the Butterfly Poppy Collage stamp set, using copper embossing powder, and added some extra colour, using Distress Ink.

I created another panel using Shabby Shutters and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, and then using a mixture of the small stamps from the Autumn Hegdrow stamp plate, I stamped and embossed the focal image using copper embossing powder. I added background stamping afterwards, using a mixture of Autumnal colours and first and second generation stamping, building up the design until I was happy with the result.

To create the card, I added some hessian ribbon and some olive green ribbon to tone in with the overall colours that I had used. I added my all time favourite sentiment, taken from the Nature's Peace stamp set.  I adore this sentiment, and love the opportunity to use it whenever I can.

For my final card, once I again, I created a gelli plate background, in much the same way as the previous card, using the same colours. From the offcut, I die cut a small rectancle, and stamped the small berry image from the Nature's Peace stamp set over the background, using second generation stamping, as I wanted a very pale effect. I stamped and embossed the verse from the stamp set, using Potting Shed Archival Ink and clear embossing powder.

For the main background, I stamped another small image, the leaves and nuts this time, again using brown ink. I coloured the images using Polychromos pencils, for a vintage feel. I matted my layers using dark brown card, and created a very masculine card, great for lots of different occasions.

I hope that my projects have given you lots of ideas using these great little stamps, either by themselves, or mixing and matching with stamps from other stamp sets. Thanks for stopping by, xx