March of the Penguins!

Hello, welcome if you've arrived here by way of Michelle's blog on the Shady Tree Studio blog hop! If you didn't come that way and you'd like to follow the hop then back up to Shady Tree Studio where it all starts and find out how to be in with a chance of winning one of the eight sets of stamps up for grabs!

I love the penguin that features in the new Naturally Christmas set! If you've seen the movie March of the Penguins, you'll probably remember what an endearing sight it is to see a whole horde of penguins all stoically making their way across the snow and ice. I thought it would be fun to recreate that "en mass" experience on a pop up stage card!


The penguins are quite tall so I added some torn card stock snowbanks towards the front of the stage to fill in the space (if your taller pop up items are too near the front they'll hang over the edge when the card is flattened down for mailing). The penguin at the back is raised up on a torn cardstock hillock so he gives some variety to the height of the group, too.

I wanted the trees to have taller trunks so I didn't ink up the end of the trunk before stamping so that I could extend the lines with a fineline marker.

The back of the card is lined with a piece that has snowflakes embossed using a Fiskars texture plate and I sprinkled glitter around the feet of each penguin and along of the joins where the snowbanks meet the base of the stage.

To keep the card closed, I created a belly band using the checkerboard border and a sentiment from the other new set being released today - Homespun Holiday. The checkboard lines up easily to extend it right across the band but if you're worried about it, just make sure the join comes where you want to place an embellishment or other element (the cut out penguin in this case).

Stamps: Naturally Christmas and Homespun Holiday sets by Shady Tree Studio
Paper: Smooth white, black
Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Other: Copic markers, Threading Water edge punch, Fiskars texture plate, Glamour Dust glitter

The lovely Carla is the final stop along the way, I'm sure she'll have something wonderful to share with you on her blog at Paper Pastorale. Hope you've been enjoying the new stamps so far along the hop!

Beary Merry Christmas!

Sorry to have been missing in action - I've been busy with work and with crafting that I can't share with you yet!

We're nearing the end of the month so my time as Shady Tree Studio's guest designer is almost over. The new sets are released on 29th and the cute bear on this gift tag is in one of the sets. I've gone for a Polar bear look by adding just a tiny hint of shading with a warm gray Copic and otherwise leaving him white - quick and easy. He looks great as a brown bear too!

I decided he needed a little extra protection from the winter chill so I've stolen the scarf - it really belongs to the snowman from this same stamp set! I paper pieced it onto one bear's body and then cut out a second head and mounted it over the top of the scarf on a foam pad. I cut a paper fringe to add to the end of the scarf, too.

Stamps:
Naturally Christmas (Shady Tree Studio)

Paper: DCWV mat stack (stamped with a text background stamp)

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black), Distress by Ranger Tumbled Glass

Other:
Copic Markers (Warm Gray 1, Black, Pale Pink)
Detail white embossing powder
Inksessentials white pen by Ranger
Threading Water edge punch by Fiskars,
Eyelet
Baker's twine
Nestabilites by Spellbinder

Thanks for stopping by! I'm playing along with the Shady Tree Studio blog hop tomorrow - it will start on the STS blog so do drop by if you have the chance - there will be a chance to win stamps!

Jolly Holly!

I'm playing with Shady Tree Studio stamps again today for more Christmas in July.

This little gift card holder gives the Holly Jolly set a contemporary look just by using a slight twist on traditional colours with a lighter, brighter green than your usual shade for holly and hot pink in place of red.

There's an image of a potted holly in the set - I coloured and cut out just the bow from that to add to the base of the wreath.

I finished off the inside by stamping the holly border along the top of the pocket that holds the gift card in place (you can just see it peeking out on the left side of the photo).

Stamps: Holly Jolly set plus sentiment from Embrace Christmas (Shady Tree Studio)

Paper: Cryogen White

Ink: Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Inkssentials gel pen by Ranger
Corner Chomper
Scor It
Foam tape

Thanks for stopping by!

Let it snow!

I'm joining some old friends this month as Guest Designer with Shady Tree Studio's Christmas in July event. Nancy, owner of STS, used to design stamps for CHF and some of her DT are old buddies from my days on the CHF team. Thanks for inviting me along this month, Nancy!

In the run up to this year's release, we've been making some projects with stamps from the 2010 Christmas release. The Just Believe set has a lovely naive feel which is perfect for pairing with kraft!

This clean and simple, one layer design would be suitable for mass mailing as it's totally flat so there's no risk of having to pay extra postage. Quick and easy to make too with no need for any specialist tools - you could whip up a batch sitting in front of the TV!

I simply stamped the snowman, added the border by hand with a fineline marker and stamped the sentiment. Slightly wobbly framing goes with the homespun charm of the image so no need to worry about trying to draw perfectly straight lines!

Colored pencils (Prismacolor or equivlent) work beautifully on kraft cardstock as it tends to have a bit of "tooth" to it so you get good coverage of white for your snowman. I added a tiny bit of shading down the back of his body and head with a brown pencil. The snowflake is stamped repeatedly around the outside and a few white gel pen dots fill in the flurry.

Stamps:
Just Believe stamp set by Shady Tree Studio

Paper:
kraft (mine is a chopped up file folder!)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Pigment ink by Clearsnap (Frost White)

Other:
Drawing pen by Zig
Prismacolor pencils
Inkssentials gel pen by Ranger
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers

Thanks for stopping by! The DT girls have been posting projects all week on the Shady Tree Studio blog if you fancy a bit more Christmas in July!

Break out the brushes!

I've obviously had a bit of a watercolouring mood on over the last few days! I have a couple of things to share today that both use inks as watercolours and I just picked up a cute little stacked wheel palette of Koh-i-Noor watercolours when I popped out earlier today, too.

First up, a lovely new image from the Saturday Evening Post line - these images are all cover art from the magazine and I think this one is my favourite of the SEP releases so far! Aren't these lions just beautiful?

I used Adirondack Stonewashed ink for the sky - it's one of the very few Adirondacks I've found that breaks down in water and I chose it here for that reason. I thought the purplish tones coming out of the blues made for an interesting wash.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Lion and Lioness (Saturday Evening Post line)
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)
Finial under sentiment from For the Men (Rummage Bin line)

Paper: Smooth white (inked with Stazon around edge)
140lb hot press watercolor paper

Ink: Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Scattered Straw, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Spiced Marmalade)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Stonewashed)

Other: Sewing machine and thread

Then I'd been itching to pair up this sentiment and the olive branch since I got the Vegetable Harvest stamps last week and the SCS "clean and simple" challenge this week gave me the perfect opportunity. The challenge is to make a monochrome card.

I've used only shades of green - even the bit that looks fairly black on the pic is actually Versafine Olympia Green, I filled the open space of the stems by squidging a little Versafine onto an old CD and then applying it with a paintbrush. The other greens are all dye inks used as watercolours.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Vegetable Harvest (Shady Tree Studio line)
Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Watercolor paper

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Olympia Green)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Willow)

Other:
Paper piercer

Although they both use watercolour techniques, these two cards use different papers - hot press for the lion image because the smoother surface is perfect for these more detailed stamps and a very textured one for the olives as the texture gives interest to the white space of the design. For those of you in the UK, it was a bargain buy from The Papermill but it was a while back - might still be worth a look though!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed today's cards!

Make lemonade

Today's dare over on Daring Cardmakers is to use fruit on your project. I just got a new stamp set called "Fruit Basket" so the timing is perfect! My only problem was deciding which fruit since they're all lovely! (ETA - on revisiting the DCM blog to leave the link to this, I see Jo has added her sample and we've picked the same saying, how funny!).

I decided to make a "pick me up" card for somebody having a difficult time of it at the moment using the old saying "When life gives you lemons... make lemonade!" combining the DCM dare with the current "clean and simple" challenge on SCS which is a sketch.

I computer generated the sentiment (fonts are Baskerville Old Face and Lainie Day Script) and the lemons are coloured with Copics so this was a quick card (other than the fact I can dither for hours when trying to choose fonts!).

Stamps: Fruit Basket (Shady Tree Studio at Cornish Heritage Farms).

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Paper: Yellow (Bazzill), smooth white and Epic Laid Black (Prism)

Other:
Copic markers
Computer and printer
Classic Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Paper piercer
Nail art gems

Thanks for stopping by - hope your day is more lemonade than lemons! I'm hoping mine will be as I'm entering this in the Charmed Cards blog candy!

Dreaming of summer!

There are new Shady Tree Studio stamps being released today and when I got this one, I was immediately reminded of the beautiful, delicate single layer yellow poppies that fill our garden every summer. I know them as California Poppies although I don't know if that's their real name.

I cut multiple masks so I could airbrush a little blue around them as well as overlapping the stamping and although that made the process a little time-consuming, the masks are stored in the CD case along with the stamp for next time so I only have to invest the time once!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Perfect Poppies (Shady Tree Studio - releasing today)
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Copic Airbrush system
Inkssentials white pen by Ranger

Thanks for stopping by to take a look, I hope you enjoyed the card!

Oh - just in case anyone is wondering about that temporary blog banner! I changed over to a three column blog style as I like the wider central column and the opportunity to make use of both sides of the screen. Sadly, I didn't anticipate the fact that my existing blog banner would look very small and sad with the new layout! I have a new one planned when time permits but something seemed necessary in the meantime!

Imagined Blooms

As it's such a grey and dreary day, I thought imagining some bright spring colours might cheer us all up a bit! This stamp is part of the Shady Tree Studio line releasing at Cornish Heritage Farms on 15th January.

Not only is it a new line, it's a new artist (some of you may know her as Phantom on Splitcoaststampers) and I think she's done a fabulous job. There are several sketchy flowers in this first release and this is my first play with one of them.

I thought some loose water colouring would suit the sketchy style of these beautiful blooms!

I remembered to let colours dry before moving on to the next one this time (some of you may remember the elk dribble incident!). I used Distress ink (lid squished down on to the pad and a brush to pick up from the pool of colour) as they stay true so you know what colour you're going to get on the paper.

Stamps (from Cornish Heritage Farms):
Artsy Blooms (Shady Tree Studio line) - releasing 15th January
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
140lb hot press watercolour
Suede Brown dark (Prism)

Ink:
Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (used as watercolours - Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Broken China)

Other:
Sewing machine and thread

Want to win? There are sneak peeks of more stamps from this line and a chance to win some of them over on the Be Creative blog - why not hop over and leave a comment, you might get lucky!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the card!