Watercolour Background Engagement Cards

Are you into the watercolour craze? I used to watercolour over 20 years ago and I’m so glad it’s made a comeback! I even still have my old paints and they work perfectly.

I thought this platinum embossed verse (SSS) was perfect for an engagement card. The background is just a basic wash with various shades of blue, purple and bright pink professional paints. I used white paint and shimmer spray to make ‘stars’ on the background. The bird die cut is called ‘by your side’ birds by Concord & 9th. The ends of the die are open so you can leave it attached to the background if you wish. There are lots of cool ideas on the page where it’s sold in their store. A few clear heart sequins finish off the cards.

This card was made using a wash of  Gansai Tambi paints using navy at the top fading into purple and a light blue at the bottom. For both cards, I added black to the open space behind the wings and eyes. On one card, I added small pieces of black cardstock in behind but on the other, I marked the open areas, shifted the watercolour paper and covered the space with a marker which was much easier!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Pink and Gold Glitter Wedding Card

I am super in love with this Eliana die by Memory Box. It was the name I had picked out for my youngest child had he been a girl. Such a lovely name.

I placed a sheet of Scor Tape over the entire card base. Then I adhered my Eliana die cut to the tape and added the white glitter. I used the paper that covered the adhesive to burnish the glitter and help the die cut stick but because this die cut is also embossed, I was very gentle. The congratulations die cut (SSS) was cut from white paper and covered with liquid gold leaf but when I added it to the card, it looked kind of strange as the texture from the background made it look lumpy. So I cut some more layers from pink cardstock and made it a layered die cut.

The butterflies (Memory Box) were also cut from white cardstock and gilded. They don’t have a solid layer so I hand cut the pink layer; I glued it down first then cut it. To finish it off I added a few Swarovski crystals. If you buy the small flat ones in a gross (144) they aren’t that expensive! Try Artbeads.com or Fire Mountain Beads. I love the gold and soft pink together. The overall look seems like rose gold to me!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Winter Scene Card

Our challenge this week at Crazy 4 Challenges was to create a card for an upcoming holiday. Well, I don’t celebrate any holidays so I decided to just make a winter card.

I used some cute little stamps by Penny Black to create a little snowy scene. The background was inked with PTI’s aqua mist, ocean tides and enchanted evening inks on aqua mist paper then I stenciled over it with modeling paste. The hill was cut with a Memory Box die and coloured with Copic markers as if it was reflecting the colours in the sky.

As you can see, the images were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed. But the eyes look weird all white and blank. So after I watercoloured the image, I put the paper back in the MISTI, carefully inked the eyes, the seals nose and mouth then restamped. Last but not least I added the finishing touches, the sequins and ‘winter’ word. There are a few more Copic touches in there, I inked the word with two colours for an ombre effect and added some colour to the white embossed lips and hair as they seemed a bit too stark.

Take some time to play long with our challenge this week! Everyone needs to make some cards in advance right? It’s always good to plan ahead!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Elegant Wedding Card

My sister always seems to be invited to tons of weddings each year. She as a few coming up so I offered to make her some cards!

The background was created with stamps by SSS. I cut a circle from some scratch paper, the same size as the inner cut of the shaker. I placed the scrap circle in the middle of the card and stamped the dot pattern all around it. Then I reversed the process and stamped with Mr & Mrs image in the center through the negative scrap paper. The large decorative circle was cut using Spellbinders dies; I used them to create the shaker. The sequins are all by Lucy’s Little Things.

On the outside of the window, I added a Mr & Mrs die cut (Creative Expressions) covered in liquid leafing paint. The hearts that come with the set were cut out of ivory cardstock and sponged with a couple of inks to get a slightly deeper blush pink colour than the card base.

I used the sketch from Crazy 4 Challenges. I’m afraid a glitch made this post late so there’s no time to enter. I’m so sorry. I only realized it when I sat down to post this week’s card. But I do hope you play along with us this week!

Enjoy, Rebecca

It’s Back to School Time!

Where on earth has more than half of the summer gone? We haven’t found time to do most of the things we want to!

This week the theme for Crazy 4 Challenges is to make a school-themed card or project. I used some office themed paper from October Afternoon called 9to 5. Despite not being school-themed, I thought it worked out very well. Office supplies and school supplies do overlap in almost every way. I cut most of the paper by hand but the circle was cut with Spellbinder’s Triple Tear die set. The black circles in the top corner look like brads right? Nope! They are made with black glossy accents. I forget what the correct name of the product is but it’s really cool! I’m still not sure how I managed to get them evenly sized and spaced!
The image (Graphic 45) is stamped on kraft and coloured with coloured pencils. After colouring, I added the black lines back in with a pen. I used my MISTI to stamp the image and if I’d been smart, I’d have left the stamp in the MISTI and simply re-stamped it to darken the lines. I don’t use coloured pencils much though and I’d already removed my stamp and cleaned it by the time I had that idea. Boo.
Please join us this week for this awesomely fun challenge! You have until Friday night to play along! You could make a card for a teacher or an encouraging one for back to school for your kids! And don’t forget other teachers like coaches and tutors!
Enjoy, Rebecca

Shell Beach Card

While I haven’t fulfilled my summer goals outside the craft room, I have been able to make lots of fun summery and beachy cards! Honestly, I’d make them all year but people would think I’m weird when I post them to my blog!

I used now-closed Match-the-Sketch and Just Us Girls (water) challenges. I have been so wrapped up in the Olympics I haven’t been posting the cards I’ve made in time! Have you been watching? My hubby wanted to know why I watch sports I’d never watch otherwise and it’s because of the emotion shown by both winners and those who don’t quite make it. You can’t exactly call such amazing athletes losers though can you? I also love how they bounce back and forth between sports. It’s kind of like a buffet, a little of everything!

But back to the card! The papers are by Kaisercraft and the sticker is by K&Co. The paper is fairly new but the sticker is really old! The background was stamped with a stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms, remember them? I added some gold glitter spray (Ranger) which looks great IRL but it seems to shine so much in the photo that it makes the photo look blurry! If you click on it to enlarge it, you’ll see the sparkle! Some ribbon and sequins rounded out this card. If you are enlarging anyway, see if you can tell that three of the sequins are actually shell beads. They are thicker than sequins but otherwise the same shape and size!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Entered In: SSS Wild

Sisterhood of Crafters-Nature