Winter Blues

Today is the start of another month, just where has the time gone?????? This also means that a new challenge is up on the blog at Show Us Your Stuff. This month it is all about colour, remember to make sure that you add a hand made embellishment to your creation.

 

For this challenge I made three totally different cards.



The hand made items I used for this card are the snow covered hills & the fussy cut image which I then coloured.

products used: stampin' up ink - dapper denim, marina mist, soft sky, soft suede & garden green, archival ink - jet black & cornflower blue, stampin' up stamps - peaceful pines & festival of trees, faber-castell big brush pen - permanent green olive, gelly roll pen - white, ranger embossing powder - silver, versamark, stampin; up cardstock - whisper white, mixed media paper, aleens glitter snow, prima art basics heavy gesso - white.

The handmade items are the resin butterfly from The Resin Rainbow, which was white but I altered with alcohol ink and the wooden veneer from flutterbydesigns - circle confetti.

products used: lindy's stamp gang spray - tiffanylou blue, Caribbean blue, blue Hawaiian blue & tilt-a-wheel teal, faber-castell big brush pen - cobalt blue, sharpie - white, Adirondack alcohol ink - sail boat blue, archival ink - cornflower blue, white thread, mixed media paper, stampin' up stamp - helping me grow, stampin' up metallic foil doilies, vivalasvegastamp - plate 1471, the resin rainbow butterfly - white, flutterbydesigns - confetti circles, stampin' up cardstock - whisper white, izink - volubilis.

 

The handmade items used here is the chevie border from burdys embellies and the wood veneer from flutterbydesign - abstract 2 which I altered with silver emossing powder.

products used: archival ink - forget-me-not blue & jet black, versamark, burdys embellies - chevie borders, stampin' up ink - dapper denim, ranger embossing powder - silver, stampin' up punch - circle 1", stampin' up cardstock - whisper white, white cotton, flutterbydesigns wood veneer - abstract 2, kaisercraft stamp - script, stampin' up stamp - honeycomb hello (retired)

Hope that you are able to join us this month

Happy Creating

Some Days

Some days I just don't feel like creating, some days I want to create but the mojo is not there, some days I want to create but nothing works and some days it just happens. Lately I have been in the I want to create but the mojo is missing, so this morning I was asked to create a sympathy card. I decided to keep it nice and simple.

 Really love this colour combination.

All products used are Stampin' Up: Ink - Island Indigo and Pool Party, Stamps - You've Got This and Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Cardstock - Whisper White

Happy Creating

Poetry and Hearts

Poetry and Hearts that is the new challenge at Show Us Your Stuff for the month of May.

Sounds easy for a challenge doesn't it and so it should but me being me made it harder that it should have been. First I had to find the right piece of poetry. Rose are Red, Violets are blue is the first thing that came to mind, I mulled it over for a little while but then rejected it. My Country (I love a sunburt country, a land of sweeping plains. Of ragged mountain ranges.) by Dorothea Mackellar was the next poem that popped into my head, love this poem but I just couldn't picture how it was going to work. I decided that I need to search the internet and found Dr. Seuss. Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive, who is youer than you.

I had every intention of creating a layout I even started it but just couldn't work it out in my head. Will work on it during the month and hopefully come up with a completed page to share.

Instead I created a journal page.

 

Products used: stampin' up decorative masks - hearts & stars, whipped spackle, water colours paints, prima art basics - heavy gesso, kaisercraft paper - art of life  6 1/2" pad, stampin' up - tags and labels framelits dies, the resin rainbow - continuing circles black, charms creations - heavenly hearts, mixed media paper.

Happy creating





Just Add Aqua Cotton

Because I was having so much fun playing with my stamps and was not sure what I wanted to create for the April challenge at Show Us Your Stuff I created a set of three cards. Now these three cards are the same but different. Have I confused you, let me show you what I mean.

  

I started out making my atc (artist trading card) size rectangle which I then coloured, stamped, heat embossed and then stuck my embellishments to. The other element which makes them the same is that I have only used one colour of ink - soft suede. It is amazing how many browns you can get from just one ink pad.

Products used: Ink - Soft Suede, Stamps - Gorgeous Grunge, Summer Silhouettes, Timeless Textures and Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Dies - Butterflies Thinlits and Bold Butterfly Framelits, Cardstock - Whisper White, Vellum - Botanical Gardens Designer Stack, Corrugated Paper - Kraft, Sequins - In Colour assortment, Emboss Powder - White, Versamark, Sepciality Designer Series Paper - Typeset, Cotton - Aqua

If you have any question about any of the products I have use please either leave a comment on my post or email me at deeseldee@hotmail.

Happy Creating

Sponsor at Show Us Your Stuff

When you belong to a design team like I am lucky enough to be at Show Us Your Stuff you try and help out as best you can. Each month I need to create my pieces to help inspire blog followers so they will join in. This month I put my hand up to take it that little bit further. I am the sponsor.

Back in Oct 2013 I became an Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator. I had been using the products for a few years by then and now I can share them with others.

At Stampin' Up!, we are excited to share our exclusive line of decorative stamp sets and accessories for greeting cards, scrapbooking, craft projects, and home décor! Since 1988, our wide assortment of stamp images, techniques, and designs has been helping crafters discover and express their creativity. Stampin’ Up! products are not sold in stores but may be purchased at home workshops or through a network of independent sales consultants called Stampin’ Up! demonstrators. Currently, more than 45,000 demonstrators throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom teach the art of stamping and share their enthusiasm for stamping, scrapbooking, and card making.

If you would like the chance to win the voucher below please pop on over to Show Us Your Stuff and link up your entry.

If you are interested in find out more about Stampin' Up you can either leave a message on this post, contact me via facebook or email me at deeseldee@hotmail.com 

Happy Creating

Get Creative With Stamps

I love using my stamps and that is what the challenge this month at Show US Your Stuff is all about.

Do you have a stash of stamps that don't get used? Well go and get them out and get creative. You can use them for cards, layouts, journal pages and mixed media designs. Because stamping is fun and I enjoy it a lot I created a set of three cards and an individual card for this months design team reveal.

Today I will share with you the single card that I created.

 

Please don't forget to pop on over to the blog to find out what the other designers created using their stamps.

 

Products Used: Cardstock SU - Whisper White and Pear Pizzazz , Watercolor Paper SU, Blossum Accents SU - Watermelon Wonder, Ink SU - Soft Suede, Watermelon Wonder and Old Olive, Ribbon SU - Natural Cheveron, Framelits - Secret Garden (discontinued), Stamps SU - Hardwood and Teeny Tiny Sentiments, circle die cut, Embossing Powder SU - Clear

 

Happy Creating

Cards for the School Raffle

Every year the primary school that Master C and Miss C attend hold a school concert. Last year (feels funny saying that) they made it into a bigger event with a second hand book stall (which I am sure half the books there were from this household), dinner, which was a sausage sizzle or paella and a raffle.

For the raffle I created some cards to donate.

 

Happy Creating

Discolouration at Let's Get Arty

This month at Let's Get Arty  they have a challenge that I found a little tricky I really had to put my thinking cap on, but I think I did it justice.

For the challenge you had to use Discolouration. I needed to make a colour strong and then reduce the pigment so it was faded and stained. The perfect product to achieve this look were my distress inks.

The photos above are the start of my process. I first covered my mixed media paper with Vintage Photo ink, using the ink pad straight onto the paper. The second photo is after I have wiped it back. I did this stage a couple of times trying to get the desired result.

The photos below are my final back ground. I did the process in the above photos and rub the ink off but not quite as much and then I splashed water, and added a little bit of archival ink around the edges and then the heat embossed image in the middle.

 

I used a Stampin' Up punch to create the flower which I then coloured with my gelatos and big brush pen. The stem is hand draw again with a big brush pen.

 I never have any idea how my designs are going to turn, this one is simple but effective. The pop of red against the browns really works.

Happy Creating

Winter has Set In

Winter has begun here in Geelong, apparently it is the coldest start to winter since 1949. Gee thanks mother nature, when will summer be back. This cold, wet and rainy weather is the perfect time to spend in my space.

With all this time spent in my creative space I am quick of the mark this month and have created a card to enter into the June Challenge over on the ARTastic Challenge Blog. The art work they have used this month is by  Luka Va titled 'Bird King'

Along with using the art as inspiration you must also include wood veneer and/or birds. Not only was I able to find a bird within my stash but it was made out of wood veneer, could not have more perfect. Now what to do with it. 

The humming bird on the left is what it originally looked like and the one on the right is what I did to it. I pulled out my gelatos and started experimenting. I first used 2 different browns and it just didn't look right, so I added gold to the mixed and still I wasn't thrilled with the look. My next move was a bold one, I found my blueberry gelato and started to colour. The result is this gorgeous teal colour. 

The colours of the art work that stood out to me were the orange of the beak, aqua on the wings and the teal of one of the small birds. The other elements that stood out to me was the wood grain in the back ground and the triangles on the chest of the large bird.

I used all of these elements and turned them into the card below.

Products Used - Dylusions Paint (Vibrant Turquoise & Squeezed Orange), Faber-Castell Gelatos (Chocolate, Cinnamon, Gold Champagne & Blueberry), Faber-Castell Big Brush Pen (Cold Grey) Stampin' Up Ink (Smoky Slate), Stampin' Up Stamp (Hardwood), Stampin' Up Cardstock (Whisper White) Texture Paste, Mixed Media Paper, MME Cut &Paste Enamel Dots.

Happy Creating

Love You To The Moon

There is nothing like leaving it to the last couple of days to enter a challenge, but here I am doing it.

I am entering the current challenge (May) at ARTastic Challenge Blog. For the challenges they provided a piece of art to be used as inspiration and this month it is from Sarah Beetson titled - Return of The Young Prince. The required criteria is that you must use Stars.

I loved the blue of the background and the Prince's eyes, they are what stood out to me most along with the oh so colourful stars. Below is the card that I created using the piece of art as inspiration.

Every night when I kiss my daughter good night I always tell her that I love you to the moon and beyond and she always answers the same

Products Used:

• Stampin' Up Star Stencil
• Texture Paste
• Blue Water Colour Paint
• Sand paper
• Big Brush Pen
• Indigo Blue Mega-Flakes
• Mixed Media Paper
• Stampin' Up Black Cardstock
• White POSCA Paint Pen
• Stampin' Up Stars Framelits Dies

Happy Creating.

Wings

The current challenge on The Mixed Media Card Challenge blog is 'Wings' and you have the option of adding foil.

I am the first to admit that I am addicted to butterflies so when in my blog travels I came I across this challenge I knew I could not go past it. The other reason why I could not go past this challenge was because card making is my first love and mixed media is my second so all round this challenge was screaming my name.

When creating I always save the left over bits, I started with a small bowl and it has now grown into a draw. I am one of those people who cannot throw anything out because you never know how useful it will be in the future. Now that my draw is almost full, I have been trying to use these left over bits. The background on this card was created by using pre-cut strips of paper. The strips are from where I was cutting card inserts down to size. Seems appropriate for them to go back onto a card. I then used my Derwent Inktense Blocks to colour the background

Just recently I purchased the Butterflies Thinlits Dies from Stampin' Up and this was the perfect excuse to use it, not that I really need an excuse. In my paper scrap draw (yes I have one of them too, for plain cardstock and patterned) I found the perfect size piece of paper to use.

Using the option of adding foil to my card I used a new product from IndigoBlu called Mega-Flake and changed my black butterfly into a gorgeous metallic one.

 

While searching in my scrap draw for the strips of paper I also came across some aqua colour hexagons and some aqua coloured thread. I pulled them out and decided that that is what I would used to embellish my background. I knew this wouldn't be enough for the card so I went into my chipboard stash and found my diamond UmWowStudio chipboard. I love how the diamonds are all different sizes. The last thing I wanted to add was some sort of material. I found some natural fibre tulle cut a small piece which I then proceed to distress, so it didn't look so new.

The background needed something more so I used my Stampin' Up Off The Grid Stamp and when that was dry with my white pen I drew down the right hand side of my vertical strips of paper. It's all about layering and creating texture.

The order that everything went down is hexagons first, then the tulle and then the tread. This is where I hit a snag, I had to seek advice from a friend as I had no idea how to put the thread down without it looking messy. Her response was "It's meant to be messy". I struggled with this but I think I managed to get it right although the more I look at my card I am thinking it maybe could have done with a little more. Next came the placement of the diamonds. Over all of this I splattered white ink. The last layer of my card is my butterfly.

Happy Creating

Watercolour Background

Have you ever created a background that you loved so much that you had no idea what to embellish it with. Well that is what happened with this card that I designed for the new challenge at Off The Rails Scrapbooking pop on over to the blog to see what the rest of the talented design team created.

The challenge was to use the colours from a mood palette. I found this extremely challenging as it was a mix of colours that I would not normally put together. But it works.

For this card I used all Stampin' Up products :

Inks - So Saffron, Blackberry Bliss, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi and Hello Honey

Stamps - Itty Bitty Banners, Four Feathers and Off The Grid
Punch - Bitty Butterfly.

Thank you for coming past and Happy Creating.

Song of the Heart

You never know where your creativity will lead you, so stop thinking and let it happen.

Do you want to see how I got from here

To my finished art journal page, well head on over to 

Off The Rails Scrapping Blog and you will out

I have used a heart stencil from Stampin' Up, Gorgeous Grunge stamp and Blackberry Bliss Ink also from Stampin' Up. Other products I have used are acrylic ink, gesso, water and Faber-Castell pen.

I hope this inspires you to create.

Happy Creating

The Simple Joy of Card Making

When I first started creating items I turned my hand to card making and I loved it. I would stay up late most nights and then struggle to get to work on time the next morning, but I enjoyed it too much to not do it.

I have come a long way since my first card but I still enjoy the art of card making. I haven't created much at all this year there as been no joy or passion to do it, but last month I created 3 cards that I would like to share with you.

On all three I have used the new Stampin' Up 2014 - 2016 In Colour Collection. I have been using Stampin' Up products for a few years. Late last year I signed up and became a demonstrator so if you would like more info please leave me a comment.

Happy Creating

Stencils and Masks

I love playing with anything that is messy, in fact my hands are still purple and blue from creating the layout for this fortnights Off The Rails Scrapbooking challenge. We had to use stencils and mask, you can do so many things with them. 

The first stencil I sprayed Heidi Swapp Colour Shine through. It is there in the back ground (tiny rectangles) you might have to look closely. The other one i used my Stampin' Up ink and moved the stencil around the layout for my butterflies.

The sponsor of this challenge is 

http://www.darkroomdoor.com/Blog

And this is the prize that you could take home

Happy Creating

Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator

 Just before Christmas last year I made the descision to become an Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator. I have been using the products for a few years now and just love using them.

I created a couple of cards that I would like to share with you. All the products used to make these cards are Stampin' Up products. If you would like to know more please leave me a comment.

Feathers,keys and hearts

I don't participate in many swaps but just recently I took part in an ATC (Artist Trading Card) Swap. The theme was open, we could do anything that we liked.

Ages ago I brought a packed of ATC size Sticky back canvas and I finally decided to use it. It is wonderful stuff you can do anything to it and it still sticks.

I coloured and stamped the sticky back canvas with distress inks, the piece of material was coloured with dylusion spray inks, the heart was coloured with distress stain, and gelatos and the piece of paper with the quote was also coloured with distress ink. Lots of messy goodness in this ATC.

Happy Creating