Spooky Release

 Good afternoon! I am loving the weather currently - sunshine and warm temperatures means we can have the doors and windows open and fresh air blowing through the house!

Today is new release for a company that is new to me - Sunshine and Bee Designs have some gorgeous new digital images. To celebrate we are having an Instagram Hop - If you want to join us and be in with a chance of winning the whole new release then head to my Instagram page for details.

I just had to use the Frankie Fox images: Mummy and Skeleton and I printed them out larger than usual so I could make shaped cards with them:

For both images I colored them in Copic markers and used my scan n cut to fussy cut them. I used the off set to make the images slightly larger and cut 2 of each in an orange cardstock. I scored the top of the head on one of the orange pieces, added glue to this and adhered the second orange image to this. Finally I just glued my Foxes to their respective outlines.

Mummy Frankie Fox left their hands, feet and tips of tail and ears unbandaged so their fur peeked through. 

 

Skeleton Frankie Fox has his glow in the dark outfit on and can't wait to go Trick or Treating

For both images I added Nuvo Crystal glaze to their eyes and Skeleton Frankie's nose to make them shine more.

The Instagram hop is live until October 5th and winners will be announced on the Sunshine and Bee Designs Instagram page

 

The Spooky Autumn new release has some super cute Halloween images but also has some gorgeous floral and sentiment verses. I will be back next week with more inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by, Leave me a comment if you love what you see and then go hop over to Instagram for a chance to win the full new release

Come and Hop along with Crescent Creations.

 Good afternoon! It's hump day already, where is the time going?

My post today is inspiration and a link for a blog hop for a company new to me. Crescent Creations is an online craft store that sells lots of crafting goodies including their own digital stamp collections. It's a new release day today and we are having a blog hop to celebrate.

If you comment on each stop and we would love you to subscribe to our platforms you are in with a chance of winning a $25 gift certificate to spend in the store.

The digital images are PNG files, but are white on the inside so you can layer them up. I have chosen to use their brand new Happy Diwali set. This comes with 2 mandalas a candle and 5 sentiments in different fonts.

I have made 2 cards to showcase both the mandalas which are stunning colored in bright colors.

The first mandala reminded my so much of a marigold flower which is synonymous with Diwali -used for garlands and offerings to the Hindu gods.

I printed it onto stamping cardstock and colored it with shades of orange marker.

The second is stunning, I used markers to color the mandala I also added silver paint pen for extra shine.

For both cards I used a paisley digital design paper on which I printed my sentiment.

I matted an A2 black card base with orange and black cardstock to make the colors pop even more. My design paper was added and the mandala was adhered with foam squares for dimension. Finally I added some iridescent bubbles which pick up the colors of the mandalas.

The winner of the hop will be announced on 23rd September on Crescent Creations social media. You should have hopped here from Tammi and you are heading to our next design team member Theary. If you have somehow gotten lost you can head back to Crescent Creations to find your way! You should have commented on all of the design team's inspiration posts or videos.

I will be back later in the month with more inspiration for the new release.

Thank you for stopping by.

Altenew Educators Certification Program. Level 2 Final Challenge part 2

 Good morning from a rainy Michigan, we had storms last night and lots of rain so it's a bit cooler this morning - I just hope it stays that way.

I'm back today with part 2 of my AECP level 2 challenge. For this I needed to make an altered /upcycled project. I decided to do something that all us crafters use. Whether gifting cards or sending them envelopes are usually required. We put lots of effort and love into making the card but often send it with a plain white or colored envelope.

 As I did for part one I have chosen 3 techniques on this project too. Monochrome for the inside of the envelope from the Polychromatic class, layering from the All  About Layering Class and masking from Masking Unleashed. I love the layered stamp look, I don't do many monochrome designs and masking has opened a whole new designing world for me so that's why I chose these.

I have used Build a Flower Wild Rose (which is the latest build a flower set) with the Envelope Liner die set to upcycle some plain white envelopes.

I decorated 6 envelopes which turned into a mammoth stamping session each envelope has 52 individual stamping components!

I started with the liner, I die cut this from yellow cardstock for all 6 envelopes.

I then chose an ink collection that was same tone as the card stock so I could achieve a monochrome look. using my MISTI, I stamped the roses on to this.

I did initially start with all 4 inks from the Golden Sunset collection. I didn't use the solid stamp layer as the cardstock was the correct color for this, which meant I didn't need the lightest ink. I continued stamping all layers until I has 6 flowers and their layers on each liner.

Setting these to one side I made my masks for the outside of the envelope. I wanted to keep a white section for where the address would be written so I cut a piece of masking paper 3x2in and placed this on the envelope. I then stamped the flower and leaf outline a number of times on to the same masking paper and fussy cut these ready to use.

Now to decorate my envelopes - I started by stamping an outline flower in the darkest ink and placed one of my masks over this. I wanted this to be my top image so masking helps me achieve this - other stamped images will appear to be behind this. I continued stamping the outlines, leaves, small bunch of flowers and a little sprig that is also included with the set. masking elements as I went.

Then the magic of layering started to come to life when I removed the mask off the leaves and stamped their layers followed by the gorgeous roses.

After stamping the first envelope I did change my mind about the color of the small bunch of flowers and stamped these in black.

Next I turned the envelope over and repeated the masking and stamping process on the back. I also colored the small bunches and little sprigs, both back and front with fine line markers.

The Envelope Liner die set comes with word dies too so I chose 'for you' from these and die cut this into the flap of the envelope.

The address section mask was removed on all the envelopes. This masking technique is known as reverse masking - Where a section of the base color (white in this case) doesn't get any ink on it.

Because I had stamped all around and on to the mask it is quite impactful when it's removed.

The last part of my project was to add the liner. I folded the flap section on the embossed line which the die scores and slipped the liner in to the envelope. 

I decided to use an inverted corner punch on the liner flap for 2 reasons, 1 so the corners didn't show when envelope was closed and 2 because I felt it looked more professional.

Making sure I added glue to all the small parts of the die cut letters I adhered the 2 flap sections together. 

I love the way the words allow the yellow liner to show through.

I wanted to demonstrate with this project that you don't need a ton of craft products to make something pretty. I used a six pack of envelopes, some cardstock, one stamp set, a die set and inks for this.

I am going to make matching cards for these and gift them to a friend so I wrapped them up with a nice big bow!

Oh also waste from the envelope masks is so pretty too - I have kept these and may use them on another project - recycle never throw away!

 I said at the start this is part 2 of my challenge if you missed part one you can find it here.

Thank you for taking time to read my post, if this has inspired you to decorate your own envelopes please tag me on Instagram as I would love to see your creations!

Altenew products I used:

Envelope Liner Die Set Purchase From: SSS | ALW	Golden Sunset Crisp Dye Inks Mini Cube Set Purchase From: ALW	Build a Flower Wild Rose Stamp and Die set Purchase From: ALW	Green Fields Crisp Dye Ink Mini Cube Set Purchase From: ALW
All About Layering 1 Purchase From: ALW	Polychromatic Purchase From: ALW	Masking Unleashed Purchase From: ALW	MISTI Original Purchase From: ALW

Altenew Educators Certification Program - Level 2 Final Challenge Part 1

 Good afternoon. we have been busy this week, I have my usual 4 dogs and am dog sitting another 4 so chaos in our home!

My post today is the first part of my AECP level 2 challenge. 

The challenge is to make 4 masculine cards with themes of birthday, Love/Thinking of you, Anniversary and encouragement. This alone would have been a challenge before the course - male cards are a struggle for most card makers I think.

The challenge is also to use three techniques I have learned so far, for 2 of these I chose to use to techniques that are out of my comfort zone and know would challenge me - ink blending and scene building. My 3rd technique is die cutting, I own lots of Altenew stamps but not many dies so again this was a challenge to use what I have.

My first card was my birthday card and I chose to do a safari scene using Geometric Menagerie dies and a Happy Birthday stamp from the Floral Sprig stamp set.

I started with a piece of white Bristol smooth cardstock and using 5 inks I blended a backdrop for my scene.

Next was die cutting my images from black cardstock. As there is only a left facing giraffe die, I cut 2 and smoothed the edges of the second with a bone folder which gave me a mirror image. Wit the remainder of the black card I hand cut my landscape

Once I checked placement I decided to go with the waste from my landscape as I had cut this with a smaller 'hill'

Using white embossing powder I heat embossed 'Happy Birthday" on to the hill.

I trimmed the excess black card and adhered my scene to a black A2 card base.

My next card is my love/ thinking of you card. I made a galaxy scene using the Big World stamp and die set with little added stars from Starry Night die set.

I started this by die cutting and stamping my world layers 

 

 

Next I ink blending a galaxy background on to Bristol smooth cardstock using 6 different ink colors. I splattered white paint to add stars.

Once this was dry I worked out where I want my scene to sit and die cut into my scene. The rest of my sentiment was heat embossed in white around the word. I matted this onto silver mirror card stock so the world word and stars would shine through.

    

Finally my word was added and the scene was adhered to a black A2 card base.

I hope you are still with me - I did warn this is a loooong post 😁

Ok next is Anniversary. For this card I used the Modern Fox stamp set, I also used Moroccan Mosaic stamp.

I started with the top layer of my card and ink blended a piece of Bristol Smooth with 4 blue inks. Once this was dry I used a pigment ink to stamp the Mosaic pattern over the whole card I then heat embossed this with clear powder to give it a shine. Finally I cut an aperture with one of the Soda Top nesting dies.

I then moved on to my scene, I inked blended a second piece of Bristol Smooth with lighter blue inks to give me a back drop.

I then laid the die cut piece over this and using a pencil marked out where my aperture would lay.

You can see the marks on the second photo, These were erased once I had stamped my scene. I love the way the layers of these stamps build that little fox.

I placed the 2 pieces together to work out where I wanted my sentiment and then stamped this with black pigment ink and heat embossed with clear ink to tie in with the pattern on the outer layer

I trimmed both these layers to 4x5.5in and adhered them together.

This panel was then added to my card base with foam tape to give dimension. A few clear gems where added to the blue panel.

After I had made the card I decided to add a couple of hearts around my sentiment - It is an Anniversary card after all.

My final card is my favorite and the one with the most detail. I just love the spectacular Adventures Stamp and die set and had planned to use them for a shaker card so this challenge was the perfect opportunity to do this. They also fit with my final theme - Encouragement.

I started this card by die cutting the glasses from a piece of Bristol smooth cardstock. I then used this as a stencil to draw the glasses onto a piece of Neenah Solar white so I knew where to stamp the beach image. This was then colored with alcohol markers.

         

     

I then went back to the die cut piece, lining it up with the colors on my stamped image I ink blended  beachy colors. I then glued a piece of acetate to the reverse of this, covering the die cut negative.

I then laid the glasses stamp into the die cut area and stamped on to the acetate with solvent black ink. 

(There is a piece of white card behind the panel in the second photo so glasses showed up on photo)

I then placed foam tape on the back of this making sure to leave no gaps around the glasses as my shaker elements would fall out!

I used prills for my shaker particles these are small enough to represent sand.

I placed the prills over the stamped and colored image to make it easier to line up the glasses and then adhered the top panel over this.

I added my sentiment just below the glasses.

 I wanted black gems and didn't have any so a tip I picked up from the classes was to color my own with a marker so the ones on the card started out as grey ones!

Finally my panel was added to an A2 card base.

Here's a little video so you can see the shaker element

If you've made it to the end congratulations! 

Please tag me on Instagram if you've been inspired to give these techniques a go as I would love to see your creations!

Part 2 of this challenge can be found here I would love for you to read that also 

Altenew products I used:

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb Coverstock Purchase From: SSS | AZN | ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Blush Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Jet Black Purchase From: SSS | ALW	Crystal Clear Embossing Powder Purchase From: ALW
Crisp Dye Ink - Chamomile Purchase From: ALW	Soda Top Nesting Dies Purchase From: ALW	Pure White Crisp Embossing Powder Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Warm Sunshine Purchase From: SSS | ALW
Geometric Menagerie Stamp & Die Set Purchase From: ALW	Moroccan Mosiac Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW	Crisp Dye Ink - Evergreen Purchase From: ALW	Embossing Ink Purchase From: ALW
Ocean Waves Crisp Diye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Buttercream Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Rouge Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Ruby Red Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW
Grapevine Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Paper Bag Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Arctic Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW	Caribbean Sky Crisp Dye Ink Purchase From: ALW
Modern Fox Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW	Floral Sprig Stamp Set Purchase From: ALW	Spectacular Adventures Stamp and Die Set Purchase From: ALW