One Stitch at a Time Challenge 92

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want you to use a digi! That's all - easy! Our sponsors this week are Stamping Boutique

My image this week is from Barbara Jensen Designs, and it's called, not too surprisingly, 'Parrot'. It's available at Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps.

I coloured the image with Promarkers, and cut it and two matt layers with my petite oval Nesties. I had lots of fun with all those blues! The background papers come from two sources. The floral one I've had for a very long time! It was part of a Sizzix pad I bought years ago! (It was the first patterened paper I'd ever bought.) The plainer paper is left over from one of my sessions with various Mica sprays. I must've used most of the sheet, but there was enough left for this card. I seem to remember wrapping the card in cling film to get a subtle pattern from the various colours.

My embellishments were all cut using Marianne Creatables dies, and were cut from Craft Creations Sparkle Paper.  (That's very reduced at the moment, but I'll have to see if I can justify the postage cost before I buy anything ...)

Hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges:

Ooh La La where they want sparkle,

Paper Creations where they want us to 'bling it up' (hope my shiny flowers with gem brads are bling-y enough!)

The Crazy Challenge where anything goes,

Papertake Weekly where anything goes,

Divas by Design where anything goes,

Dutch Dare where they want things with wings,

Crafty Catz where anything goes,

Hotshot Craft where they want us to use Promarkers,

Totally Papercrafts where they want anything but Christmas.

Sweet Stamping where they want things with wings.

Crafty Cardmakers Embossing Challenge

This time on Crafty Cardmakers, we want to see your embossing! It can be heat embossing, or dry embossing by machine or hand - it's up to you!

This time, we're sponsored by Joanna Sheen, who's offering a £10 voucher to the lucky winner.

As is often the case, I couldn't make up my mind, so I've got a couple of cards to show you.

This one uses a background which I stamped in gold ink then embossed with holographic clear powder. Then I edged the card with more of the gold ink. The image is a die cut I bought while on holiday a while ago. I heat embossed it, first with a blue ultra-thick powder, for about four layers, and then with some gold ultra-thick powder, before stamping the result with a floral background stamp while the embossing was still melted.

I finished the card with some matting, and some sticky gems coloured with Promarker.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenges where anything goes,
Paper Pretties where they want texture (embossed dragonfly and background),
Crafty Creations where anything goes,
Sew Many Cards where anything goes,
Stamp Something where anything goes,
AI Factory where they want something from a nature walk (dragonfly),
Creative Inspirations where they want glitzy and bling,
Card Cupids Blog where they want no patterned paper (hope this counts - it wasn't patterned when I started!).


And then, there's something a little different!

The image is from Crafts and Me, and was stamped (in black) and heat embossed (clear). (One tip I picked up some years ago when I was struggling with stamping in general, was to put your colour with ink and emboss clear as it tends to record more detail because the embossing powder 'smudges' when it melts.) I've watercoloured the image with a combination of Aquamarkers and Twinkling H2Os.

The background is Coredinations Chocolate Box card, and I used a Spellbinder's Borderability (for the scallops), and embossed with Cuttlebug folders in my Wizard, then sanded to reveal the blue shade underneath.

The flowers are from some gorgeous lace I'm hoarding (and yes, I've got it in two different widths - I like it that much!) The lace and the ribbon are both from Hobbycraft.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown where they want die cuts (borderability die with scallopped edge)
Top Tip Tuesday where they're having a flower frenzy,
Papertake Weekly where they want punches or die cuts (borderability die with scallops),
Everybody Art where they want flowers,
Creative Craft Challenge where they want distressing (distressed embossing),
Clear it Out where they want ribbon or trim (ribbon and lace pieces),
Fabulous Friday where they want ribbon,
Really Reasonable Ribbon where anything goes,
I Did it Creations where they want ribbon and lace (the flowers are from a piece of lace).

Aquamarkers

Anyone who ever visits this blog will know that I'm a Promarker fan. I've tried watercolouring using various options - paint, twinkling H2Os and markers, but I generaly prefer the result I get with Promarkers.

However, I was lucky enough to win some Aquamarkers by way of the Passion for Promarkers challenge blog, and I've given them a try. The pack I got included a blender pen, so my first attempt tried to use them as I would Promarkers. I stamped an image onto watercolour paper, put some colour directly onto the paper and used the blender pen to move the colour and combine shades. This didn't work very well - mainly because with almost no blending, I was picking up surface paper on the pen nib. The result was that the inked image got worn away in places, and the blending didn't work that well.

So, I switched to applying colour with a paintbrush. Once I'd done that, I added some shadows directly and blended them with the brush. This worked a lot better than the previous method, but it'll take some practice before I'm as comfortable with it as I am with Promarkers, if that ever happens. But, in the meantime, I have a result.

The image, of course, is one of Ching Chou Kuik's, and it's stamped on watercolour paper in Versafine ink. I added some detail with Sakura Stardust pens. The papers are by My Mind's Eye and Personal Impressions. I added some flowers - the large ones are Prima and the little ones from Wild Orchid Crafts. I finished them off with a couple of ribbon rosebuds I've had for so long, I've forgotten where they came from.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges: Colour Create who are looking for pink, cream and green,
Magical Monday Challenge where they're 'Going back to Nature' with some sort of magical creature - mermaid with bamboo and flowers.

Easter Cards

Now, I know lent has just started, but I managed to do my Easter cards yesterday. I only send them to close family, and these days, that numbers five cards.



I used a stamp I got from Mad About Cards in their £1 shop, and watercolour markers. The sentiments are computer generated. Then, I did something a little different with each card. This one uses a fabulous flower from Fred She Said which I cut out and layered and finished with a lilac gem, and some lilac Co'redinations embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.


A completely different colourscheme here, and this time I finished it with some paper from Papermania and flowers cut with my nesties. I printed out some circles with a gradient from pink to maroon and used those to get the tinting. The flowers were actually made for a different card but they didn't work in the end, so I was very pleased to be able to use them here.


This is the third of my colourschemes, and this time I embossed some yellow Co'redinations card with a Cuttlebug folder and finished the card with some paper flowers from my collection, each with a golden gem.


Back to the first colourscheme, but this time the backing paper is from Papercellar, but it originally had alternating white and grey flowers. I coloured the white ones with lilac Promarker , and finished the card with a multi-layer tissue paper flower.


This final card is another repeat colourscheme, but this time I used some really pretty paper that came with a magazine a while ago, and I finished it with another of those nestie flowers - this one is larger than the others, and was cut so it had white petal tips on the bottom layer, and I coloured those with pastel yellow Promarker to fit the rest of the scheme.

I don't often use watercolour markers like this, but this stamp just cried out to be used that way. I like the way it can give cards which are bright and spring-like, while still remembering the point of Easter.