Spring Blooms in Winter

 Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm hoping to bring some Springtime vibes to your day...

With some 'no-line pencil colouring', on kraft.

I used Wplus9's 'Spring Blooms' , and Paper Smooches 'Happy Birthday Words Dies' to create my card.

I started by masking off a border around my panel, and stamping out my design, using a selection of the beautiful blooms and foliage from the Spring Blooms set, in a light ink (I used Antique Linen Distress Ink but you could afford to go a little darker than that as your pencils will cover it - trust  me - it was blumming hard to see where I'd stamped!).  Once I had my design in place, I went in with my pencils.  I used the Spectrum Noir pencils, but use what you have for a similar effect.  I followed the outline of my stamping to give me an idea of where I was going, then blended my pencils in light to dark shades.  Once my colouring was complete, I outlined the whole piece with a white pencil, just to help the images 'pop'.  I then took Paper Smooches 'Happy Words Die' and cut it from the front of my card, over my main design.  Initially, I was going to just build up my die-cut using cream card, and in-lay the piece back in, but it didn't stand out enough, so decided to cut the piece once more from vellum, and add this over the top using 'Stick-it', so no adhesive showed.  I love how this turned out and think it adds a real prettiness and softness to the masculinity of the kraft card, whilst still allowing the design to show through.

I added some white highlights to my blooms and foliage, using a white gel pen, and added a scattering of tiny Glossy Accent dew drops over the whole piece for a little added interest.

And there you have it.

I really hope you like it, as always, everything I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx

     

Paisley Party of two.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and today I've got two cards for you...

Using the same stamp, in the same way, creating the same style, but resulting in two very different looks...

I used Wplus9's Paisley Patterns to create my cards.  I have had this stamp set for so long, and, every time I look at it, I love it...but was still to actually make something with it!  Shocking, I know.  So about blumming time, I showed it some love.

I concentrated on my background for both of my cards.  Heat embossing, in white, on karft card on one; and stamping out in colourful Hero Arts inks on the other.  You get loads of stamps in this set, and can build the patterns up in so many different ways, so many possibilities in one set.  I filled in all my empty space with the gorgeous little flourish stamps in the set, and added a touch of clear heat embossing to the Kraft card. 

I then used Wplus9's Hand Lettered Thanks Die, and cut it from the front of each panel.  I cut it several times, from scrap card, to build it up, and in-laid it back in.  I then cut the same die from vellum, covered on both sides in Stick-It.  I added the vellum to the top of the die-cut, added a layer of white glitter over the top, and sealed it all in with a layer of Glossy Accents.

I embellished the kraft card with a scattering of pearls, and the colourful card with a scattering of sequins, and there you have it.  Two, pretty  much, identically built cards, but two very different looks.

I hope you like them.  As always, everything I used is linked below, so be sure to go have a peek.

See you next week.

Jillx

   

Hey Foxy Lady

Good afternoon - sorry I'm a bit late posting today but I had to revise my plans on what I was posting today.  I had planned an extensive demonstration of all the exciting things you can do with our new foils from Thermoweb but I hit a few snags (they are new to me too!) and rather than post something which won't help you understand what they can do or help you avoid the pitfalls I found (and therefore waste foil - better that I do that so it doesn't cost you!) I thought I'd postpone it until I try some tips I found.  My issues were related to the printing and foiling with a laminator - it seems that because I have a colour laser rather than a black and white one, it can cause some issues so I want to try a black and white one to compare before I show you what to do.   I am also trying to video it, not something I have ever done before so bear with me (and don't laugh when you see and here me!) and I will try and have it sorted for next week.

So, for today I decided to do a little bit of foil but also to show off my favourite new stamp and die set that has just arrived from Lil' Inker Designs.

I adore this fox - it is such a versatile set as the stamps that match the die have different sets of eyes so you can do girls, boys and different experssions.    I die cut her from orange and white card and simply used 3 pencils to add a little shading a furry texture.  Stamp the face and stick him together (I added stick-it to the back of the card before I started to make it super quick and easy!)

I wanted to sit her on a little hill so I die cut a blue back ground using the rectangle dies.  For the green hill I wanted to add foil so I covered a strip of green card with Stick-it and then simply pressed the lime foil onto the sticky surface and it you get super shiny foiled card -yummy!  To make it hill shaped I die cut with the rectangle to get the stitched edge and then rather than using the standard grassy border die I used the grassy cupcake die and sat the bottom edge just inside so it wouldn't cut the bottom but cut a slightly curved top to make a hill shape.

The sentiment comes as two lines but I did a little stamp surgery and cut in between the lines with very sharp scissors so I could stamp it as one long banner across the card.  This isn't as scary as it sounds and it just goes back together as originally intended but gives you more scope from your stamps.

NEWS FROM THE STORE:

• Lil Inker Designs are live in store
• Thermoweb ICraft foils are in store and some colours are already selling out
• Altenew have FINALLY shipped the order I placed around 10 weeks ago and I hope it will be in store by Tuesday.
• Mama Elephant's latest release and massive restocks will also be here this week

 Catch you next week