Those Frogs Again!

Ingredients:

Card: Really Rust, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip - all Stampin' Up. Fine grain watercolour paper.
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Whispers markers, Stampin' Pastels
Stamp: Toadily Yours Penny Black
Font: Crazy Girlz Blond BTN
Other: Cuttlebug embossing folder Tiny Bubbles

Method:

Stamped frogs on to watercolour paper - I masked off the flowers so that I could substitute the signs - and coloured with markers and blender pen. Background coloured with pastels, and hand doodling around the edge with fine nib of marker. Matted onto Chocolate Chip. Embossed Old Olive with Tiny Bubbles. Words and numbers computer generated onto watercolour paper. Coloured with pastels, matted onto Chocolate Chip, punched corners of everything with Woodware Squared Corner Cutter. Added thin strips of Chocolate Chip for the sign post handles. All mounted onto Really Rust background. Finished with hand doodling to match image border, and three little rough cut squares of Chocolate Chip.


I have pinched this idea for posting from others that I have seen - hoping to make it quicker for those who just want to see what I used, but still leaving an explanation for those who like to read! Also quicker for me to type up - so more time to make cards!! Hope you like this format - let me know if you don't.

Butterfly Trio

This is a card I made for a butterfly themed swap. I used a stamp by Penny Black called Polka Wings. Stamped onto plain white card with Versafine, and coloured in with Whispers watercolour markers. Then cut out the butterflies and pressed the wings onto a Versamark pad, and embossed with clear powder. Initially I left the wings attatched to the body and rough cut around to give me something to hold onto with the tweezers whilst embossing. Once that was done I cut out the wings only.
I used a square of lilac coloured Bazzill Basics, and coloured it with shimmery chalks using a sponge to streak on three different colours. Then stamped the flowers with Versamark using a Hero Arts stamp called Two Flourish Flowers, and embossed with white powder. Finally used tape to mask off the butterfly wings to ink up only the body with Color Box black pigment ink to stamp three bodies directly onto the card, then embossed with clear powder. Fixed the wings on with silicone to raise them up off the page.
Matted onto black Bazzill, and then Emerald Bazzill Bling. The card base is white card measuring 13.5cm square. (Approx. 5.25".)

5th Birthday Card

When I made this card for my brother-in-law last month, my daughter really liked the frogs, and asked if she could have them on her card. So, for her birthday this week, I have combined them with an alphabet stamp to make her name - conveniently three letters long!
The stamp is by Penny Black -Toadily Yours. I masked off the flowers they should be holding with sellotape whilst inking the stamp, then removed it to stamp the image. The letters and the butterfly are also by Penny Black, from the Zoophabet set. I stamped the letters in postion, then drew in the two strings with the fine nib of my black marker. I used Colour Box black pigment ink and then embossed with clear powder. Painted with water colour markers by transferring colour onto a plate, and then using a very fine brush. Hand doodling with a pink marker around the edge. Matted onto pink Bazzill and then on to Imaginesce patterned paper called For Peep's Sake/Pretty New Dress.
The wording is a Pebbles Inc white rub-on onto blue Bazzill. I used Ariel Rounded font to create the 5. Sized it and mirror imaged it in my drawing program, and then printed out onto white paper. I rough cut around the 5 and temporarily stuck it to the back of a small square of Bazzill, then cut around the outline and removed the paper template. The left half of the five is stuck flat on the image edge, and the right half has thin foam pads to raise it up enough to account for the thickness of the image layer plus the mat. The card measures approx. 6" (15.5cm) square.

Weekend Sketch Challenge #50

This is my card for Beate's WSC50. I made a couple of changes, but hopefully still enough of the sketch there to count. I didn't have much time for putting a card together today, so used an image that was already coloured in, hence the use of an oval instead of a rectangle. The image didn't look as good on the right side of the card, so switched it to the left. The colours do look better together in the flesh than in this picture. Anyway . . . enough excuses!
The image is a Penny Black - Bees and Bunny. Coloured with Twinkling H2Os and watercolour pencils. Oval cut with a Nestability Classic Oval. Hand drawn lines with the fine end of a pink watercolour marker. The daisies are a Woodware daisy punch - two layers of white petals with the tips coloured with H2Os. The centres are a 1/4" circle punch also coloured with H2Os
Pink gingham ribbon, on a strip of white card punched with a Woodware Cross Star Ribbon border punch along both edges. The two backing papers are both sides of a double sided design by Imaginisce called For Peep's Sake/Pretty New Dress. The outer blue layer has lines drawn with the same pink marker as around the oval.
I may put a greeting in the space above the ribbon strip, but am not sure if I want to cover up any more of the lovely yellow paper! Each of the little white daisies in the grid have a blue twinkly glitter centre that doesn't show in the picture. The card measures about 12cm x 16cm.

Frogs with Balloons

I made this card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #47, and then realised that it fits the bill for the Stamp Something Challenge - First Somethings, so it's entered in that one too! It qualifies as the first time I have used something - my new Penny Black Toadily Yours stamp.
The patterned papers are double sided by Pebbles Inc - the spotty one is Easter Time Sprinkles/Green, and the other is Zoo Fun Animal/Wave. The orange and green card is Bazzill. Ran the green through my Cuttlebug in the Happy Birthday folder.
The Toads were stamped on plain white card in black ink, and coloured in using markers and an aqua brush. I masked off the flowers that they should be holding with tape whilst inking up, and then removed it before stamping. (Actually, I didn't remove it before stamping - said a rude word - then inked it up again and stamped a second image having remembered to remove the tape!) Lightly chalked and distressed the edge of the oval, and hand doodled a frame. I cut the slit for the tape using a small round hole punch to punch two holes and cut between them with a craft knife. I am so pleased to finally have bought myself some woven tape - even if I don't know what it's properly called! Really like it for when I don't want pretty. I made myself a little balloon template, and cut out three orange Bazzill balloons. Shaded the edges with a little chalk, and tied on three strands of embroidery cotton. Used an embossing ball tool from the back to give them a little dimension. Then I poked holes in the card on each side of the toads' hands and used a needle to thread the strands through. The threads are held in place on the back of the card with a little tape to stop them slipping out. Foam pads in the middle of the balloons to stick them to the card.

Butterflies

This is a folder to hold stamped images for a swap. The backing paper is another one designed by Carol and is a beautiful butterfly design, with a lovely soft green background which my camera has not done justice to at all. (Although it does look a bit better in the enlarged picture.)
The teddy stamp is by Penny Black and is called Butterfly Bear. I gave him some grass to stand on using a couple of my Art Impressions stamps, and washing around with my waterbrush. The trail of butterflies is also a Penny Black stamp called Butterfly Edge. I embossed the bottom edge of the pink Bazzill with the Stylized Flowers Cuttlebug folder. Finished off with some stick on ribbon and Stickles, and hand drawn edge to the image layer.

Cute Card Thursday #8 In the Garden

I first saw the Cute Card Thursday blog a couple of weeks ago, but this week is the first time I have managed to make a card for it. This card went together quite quickly for one of my cards! I took advice that I have seen recently and chose the papers etc first and then coloured the image. Good advice! I started out with a sketch I was going to follow, and then part way through, something completely different came to me and ended up doing that instead. Some cards just make themselves!
The stamp is by Penny Black - Lazy Days. Coloured with water colour pencils and aqua brush. Used my Nestabilities to cut the scalloped square and the green Bazzill behind it. The sentiment is a Papermania rub-on. I think that the flowery paper is Doodlebug. Finished off with flower brads, and two Nestability Flowers. The pearl brad in the centre of the flowers is coloured with a green permanent marker to match in with the card colours.

Weekend Sketch Challenge #45

This is my card for Beate's WSC #45. The flower on the card is from an idea I saw at the Glitter Pot - my local craft shop.


The stamp is by Penny Black and is called Dotted Petals. I stamped it in Versamark, onto Scrapbook Walls Fawn Vine patterned paper, and embossed with gold powder. I then stamped it four more times onto a green patterned paper (sorry, can't remember the name of this one) also with Versamark and gold embossing powder. I cut out each of the flower images from the green paper, and one set of leaves. I curved the petals with my embossing tools, and used silicone glue to 3d the petals onto the main image. Two layers were put directly on top of the original petal postions, and two layers were twisted around a little before sticking down. Dotted Gold Stickles glitter glue on the petals and stamens, and finished with a flat backed pearl in the centre. The flower image is matted onto a scrap of gold card, and finished off with green satin and sheer cream ribbon.
The backing card is Green Bazzill Basics - I really must learn to note the colour names of them! I scored two lines with my scoreboard, and embossed just three lines of dots with the Swiss Dots folder above and below the score lines. I embossed a scrap of gold card with the Script folder and slightly distressed the long edges. Ran a thin line of Stickles Gold along the edge of the score lines.

Party Animals

A first birthday card for a nephew, using a Penny Black stamp called Party Animals. Coloured in with Whisper markers. Matted onto a scrap of blue card with faux stitching, and distressed edges. The striped backing paper is by Doodlebug. The happy birthday and the 1 are computer generated using Crazy Girls Blonde font. The circles for the 1 and the white card square are cut with Nestabilities. Finished off with DMC embroidery thread and brads.

Some Bees, a Bunny and a Mouse

This first card uses a Penny Black stamp called Bees and Bunny. Coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The spotty paper is by Doodlebug, and the green is Bazzill embossed with the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder. The ovals are cut with Nestability dies. I used a pair of compasses to transfer and enlarge the curve of the plain oval onto the backing paper and card, which I then cut out with scissors. Finished with brads and ribbon.

On the second card I used the Spring Mousey stamp from Great Impressions. Also coloured with Twinkling H2Os, the tulip is 3d'd, but doesn't show well at the angle I took the photo. The circles are nestabilities, and the coloured card is Bazzill. The striped paper was a scrap which I think may be Doodlebug. Finished with knotted ribbon.

Hedgehog in the Meadow

Why is it that I've known all year that I needed this card for tomorrow, but I only made it today? Typical of me - wish I could get out of that habit!

I don't have any Prima type flowers - I know shocking! - so having decided that I wanted some on this card, I made my own. I used the smallest size of my classic scallop circle Nestability dies and cut the shapes out of a very textured, soft, handmade style paper. I marked the centre, and then cut in between every other scallop towards the centre, stopping about 1/4 of an inch away. Then I used a smallish ball embossing tool to shape the petals, and finally added a flat backed pearl to finish.


The stamp is by Penny Black - Buzz in the Air! I coloured it with a mixture of Twinkling H2Os and watercolour pencils and markers. I have to combine at the moment, as I don't have many colours of any one type. I gave the hedgehog some grass to sit on using some Art Impressions grass and tiny flowers stamps inked up with watercolour markers. Then washed around them with a waterbrush to blend and fill in the gaps. The happy birthday is a rub-on by Pebbles.

A Couple of Stamped Cards

Thought I would put up a couple of stamped cards that show some of my first stamping efforts. Am very much a beginner with stamping and have a long way to go with colouring techniques - but having fun with it. I learned a lot when I attended a class (quite a while ago) by Stamping Caz at the Glitter Pot. It was a lot of fun - we had free range of a collection of new spring Penny Blacks, and Caz had picked out a lovely set of bright papers and cards to play with also. I had never done any painting of images before, and spent most of my class trying to absorb and practice that. So much so, that I had to assemble my cards at home. Anyway - here they are-

I have to credit Caz with the design of the cards, as they are ones that she had for us to use at the class.

The stamps are both Penny Black - Lazy Days, and Rainin' Daisies. Both coloured with a combination of Twinkling H2Os and water colour pencils. Any helpful suggestions you may have for me to improve my colouring technique would be appreciated.