Oh baby

I have been trying to step out of my card comfort zone lately and been experimenting with some of the more "challenging" techniques like colouring as well as different card designs.   I have made a few tri shutter cards which I will blog about another day but I really wanted to show off this beauty.

It is a side step card.   I had a tutorial printed out ages ago with the measurements so am unable to credit the right person.  It was an imperial one however and required me to cut my card stock fairly oddly so I will keep an eye out for some good metric measurements.

I had some panels leftover from a techniques class I am teaching today that makes some gorgeous background panels using straws, reinkers and glossy cardstock (plus a hefty dose of OMG out of breath).   You can see them peeking out on the steps of the card.   I wanted to show my ladies an alternative way of using their created pieces instead of just stamping straight on them.  Does the pram look watercoloured??    Sure does but guess what.   It is actually paper pieced using one of the many pieces I had laying around my desk after a multitude of trial runs to find my favourite colour combos.    I stamped the Pram in Staz On and then carefully cut just inside the lines what would be the fabric.   Added a tiny amount of colouring with my blender pen to the rest of the image and I think I created quite a cute little baby card.   

Now - who is next to have a boy because this beauty will NEED to find a loving home....

Hope you love todays card.

Julz

JAI entry two

So I entered the challenge over at   Just Add Ink to Just Add Colouring yesterday already but wanted to quickly share a recent attempt at watercolouring that I made.

My daughter (18) was invited along to a 3 yr olds birthday party and obviously mum was commissioned to organise a card.   I have had this retired stamp a while and previous attemps at watercolouring it have been completely tragic.   But practice practice I have been and I was fairly happy with how this version came out.  


Thankfully when my daughter asked for a card I already had this piece coloured so it was easy to quickly pull together a simple cute and girly card.    It uses a new greeting set from the current annual catalogue called Remembering your Birthday - I love how it has a matching sentiment for inside the card and a good selection of fonts & sayings - including a great belated one!

Hope you enjoy


Julz

Just Add Colouring

Hi there

Over at Just Add Ink this week is a new challenge - Just Add Colouring.  I must admit that colouring is not exactly one of my strengths but something I am definitely working on.   I have however been playing around a bit with some sponging, and hope that sponging does indeed count towards this challenge.

I have been a member of the amazing Stampnation community for a few months now.   With regular challenges and videos brought to us by the extremely talented Catherine Pooler it is a fantastic resource especially when the mojo is lacking.   During the month of August ran Inspiration Nation - 5 weeks of picture challenges to inspire us. 




This gorgeous picture was the final challenge (the cool thing about Stampnation challenges is that they NEVER close) and I was inspired by the red gingham in this picture.    I didn't have anything gingham however, no stamp or DSP so in my efforts came up with the idea of using sponging to create a gingham piece.

With the help of my stripes embossing folder, a craft knife and a hefty dose of patience I made a mask piece out of a piece of scrap card.




I used the mask to apply Real Red ink first horizontally and then vertically onto a piece of white cardstock, making sure my second layer was a little darker.    I absolutely LOVED the effect that I got - it really does look like gingham.   

I also wanted to include the colours of the burlap as well as the flowers, so matted the gingham piece underneath a crumb cake panel which I cut a circle out using my circle framelits and then paper pierced using my piercing tool and matt to add some visual interest to an otherwise plain layer.   I also added a flower I made using a combination of my big shot flower dies, and a banner label using the Remembering your Birthday stamp set - a really versatile set of birthday sentiments.      I really love how this card turned out and hope you all do too.

Im hoping to have a play around with some water colouring later today - so hopefully there will be another entry.    Having had a look at the other entries this far there is likely not a hope in hell I will get a mention but a girls gotta try right!!!


Till later


Julz

New holiday catalogue!!

Just a quick post this evening about the brand spanking new Holiday Catalogue that is now available to order from.    I have had my hands on these goodies since the beginning of August and have had a small chance to play with some of the things I purchased.   The new catalogue is a little different than previous ones - with inspirational photos in the first half, and an index of products in the second half.   I love that there are so many ideas in the first half - for Halloween, Thanksgiving (maybe I need to have a thanksgiving this year?) and of course the most important upcoming event - Christmas!!!   It isn't that far away really.

Some of the cute new products I just had to have included the new Winter Frost Designer Series paper stack - (48 pieces of 2 double sided designs suitable for card fronts) amazingly sparkly silver stamping ultrafine glitter, silver ribbon the diagonal embossing folder and the Festive Flurry stamp set with coordinating framelits.   I really love the coordinating colours in the Winter Frost paper (pg 29) - Island Indigo teamed with Pool Party - a fabulous alternative to traditional colours.      For those of you who prefer the traditional however, the Season of Style Designer Series Paper (pg 23)may be more up your alley with more vintage colours of Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake and Whisper White - both are equally stunning anyway however I would love it if you left me a comment about your preference.

With these products (and one or two extra goodies) I came up with this cute project - a card and matching tree decoration.    I would make a fabulous gift for those you want to give something small to - pop the decoration in a bag with a few little chocolate bars and you have the perfect neighbour or teacher gift.

Hope you all enjoy this little sneak peak.   As usual if you wish to order anything please feel free to email me.

Julz