MTCC #61

Good morning

Today I am sharing the card I made for challenge #61 at Make the Card Challenge.

You will find the challenge here.

The challenge this month is a colour challenge.

I have used pastel shades of these colours on my card.

I used a background stamp with Versamark ink and white embossing powder

before blending Dried Marigold Distress Ink and 

Salt Water Taffy Distress Oxide Ink over the top.

My card base is 5 1/4" square

A 5" square piece of green cardstock is the base layer 

for the decorative panel that is 4 3/4" square.

A 1 1/4" x 5" piece of the green cardstock hold the sentiment, which is cut from white cardstock.

I have cut the sentiment 4 times and layered them on top of each other to create

a sentiment with some dimension.

I used Honey Bee - Lovely Layers: Heart Vine die to cut a green leaf spray, 

a paper chrysanthemum from PortaCraft and a couple of small white flowers 

from Uniquely Creative to create a cluster on the left hand section of the green panel.

You can watch my process video here

I hope you enjoy it.

As always, thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

MTCC #60

Hello

Today I am sharing the three cards I created for Challenge #60 at Make the Cards Challenge.

The challenge is to have a black background for your card.

I made three cards.

All of my cards have a white 5 1/4" square base made from white cardstock.

I cut three 5" square panels of black cardstock to use as my card front panel.

Each of my cards has had a layer of Deco Foil's Transfer Gel Duo applied through a stencil.

The mandala and flower stencil do not have any 

brand name on them but the other one is TCW - Mini Labyrinth.

Card No. 1

I applied a pearl powder over the design on this card using a soft brush.

The colour I used is #673 Interference Violet and as you can see it is quite bright.

Once the design was covered with the powder I wiped over the whole panel 

with a dry tissue and all of the excess powder came off

I attached my black panel to a piece of purple cardstock that is 5 1/4" square 

and attached that to my card front.

To embellish the card I cut a floral emblem from an all over piece of lace

and attached that using Art Glitter glue.

The sentiment is from a kit by Uniquely Creative.

Card No. 3

I have burnished Rose Gold gold leaf into the design on this card.

Add some of the loose gold leaf to your card front and then rub it into the design using your finger.

You need to be relatively firm in your application.

Once the design is covered brush the excess flakes off.

I have cut a piece of co-ordinating metallic paper to cover the front of the card base and then added my black panel to that.

A transparent sticker from Kaisercraft's Happy Birthday sticker pack, 

was added to a piece of the same paper I used for the background.

I cut a fishtail in each end of the title piece before attaching it to the card front 

with a piece of scrap chipboard behind it.

A fine piece of lace was added to the bottom of the black panel 

before the panel was attached to the card front. 

Card No. 3

To enhance the design on this panel I used Deco Foil -Summer Rainbow foil.

A piece of foil was laid over the design and then I rolled over it with my brayer.

You can use your fingers or a bone folder if you do not have a brayer

The sentiment is from Paper Rose's Big Sentiments 1.0 pack.

I have run that through my laminator with the same foil.

Here is my process video

I hope you enjoy watching my video

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Denise Boddey DT Four page album

Hi there

Today's post is about a mini album I created using Denise Boddey's

Day Dream Story Book paper range.

I have a video that I will add at the bottom of this post.

To create this album you need 4 sheets of 12" x 12" patterned paper.

The paper I have used is double sided.

If you make this album you could add as many pages as you wish

The papers I used are Dreams, Day Dream, Our Story and Princess for a Day.

For each page:-

score at 6" with the paper right way up,

flip to the left and score at 9" (this will be at the bottom of the page)

Select the paper you want for the front cover,

use glue to attach the back outside panel of this paper to the front outside of the next panel.

Continue doing this until all pages are attached.

If you prefer you could only glue around the edges of each page and create pockets between each page.

I cut a piece of patterned paper 1" x 9" to create the spine cover.

Next I used my corner rounder on the top and bottom outside edges of each page.

Run a small bead of glue along the outside edges of the pocket on each page.

You could run glue along the centre fold too if you prefer.

I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink and my distressing tool to ink around the edges 

of each page and pocket edges

I created eight tags to go into the pockets.

I used 300gsm white cardstock to create the tags, they measure 4 1/2" x 8 1/2".

The patterned paper has been cut to 4 1/4" x 8 1/4".

I inked the edges and attached the patterned paper to the front of the tag.

I added an eyelet to the top of each tag using my Crop O Dial and

added some white seam binding through the eyelet.

Using my Big Shot I die cut flowers using patterned paper and pale pink velum 

and Couture Creations CO724161 die.

I cut some leaves using Honey Bee's Lovely Layers Heart Vine and Uniquely Creative Little Leaves dies

Using Uniquely Creative Island Texture die and the same papers/velum I cut some background fillers

Other embellishments I used were lace and gauze/cheese cloth and Ali Lattice chipboard panel

You will see the embellishing in the video.

I hope you try making this little album. 

It is easy to make, a good size and can be changed and embellished in so many ways.

Have a great day

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Mystical Scrapbooks June Inspiration

Good morning

I have got two masculine cards to share with you today

I have taken a couple of requirements from Week 2 and Week 4 of the Retro TV Programs competition at Mystical Scrapbooks to create these cards.

As I have had Covid and done some casual full time work for the AEC I have not had the opportunity to create a project for these weeks and thought I would do it this way.

Here are my cards

Lets start with the first card

I created this card using a couple of requirements from Week 2

Use shades of blue and a grid design.

I have used a pale blue cardstock for my 5 1/4" card base

A piece of white cardstock was trimmed to 5" square and embossed with a 3D embossing folder

I die cut four squares from Uniquely Creative's Country Roads - The Back Paddock 

paper that are approx 2" in size.

All of the papers/cardstock were distressed with my distressing tool and my Versa Color black ink cube

Scrap cardboard was attached to the back of the squares of patterned paper before they were attached to the white embossed cardstock

This panel was then attached to the card front.

The sentiment was attached to a piece of burlap and then attached to a piece of the same cardstock that I used to create the card base.

A piece of scrap cardboard was attached between the sentient and the card front.

To embellish this card I used a few cogs from Uniquely Creative's Silver Metal Cogs.

For the second card I used some of the requirements from week 4

Vintage and Washi Tape

I have created the 5 1/4" card base using a light kraft colours cardstock

The rust coloured cardstock is from the optional competition kit and measures 5" square

The patterned paper is a 4 1/2" square piece from Uniquely Creative's Drive and Fly - Train

All of the edges were distressed in the same way the previous card was.

I added some torn pieces of Washi Tape from the optional kit 

to the bottom left and top right of the patterned paper panel

To embellish this card I used the chipboard stars from the optional kit and an arrow from 

Dusty Attic's Perfect Moment chipboard pack.

I painted them with two coats of white acrylic paint, 

one coat of Rust acrylic paint and a coat of 

Copper metallic acrylic paint

The papers/cardboard were attached to the front of the card with a piece of scrap cardboard behind the plain cardstock.

The chipboard was then attached using liquid glue and the sentiment, which is from Paper Roses - All Occasions Sentiment pack was the last thing to be added

So there we have my two cards for today

I hope you find some inspiration and check out the competition over at Mystical Scrapbooks.

Here is my process video

I hope you enjoy it

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Three inking techniques

Good morning.

Before I start my post today I would like to ask you to do something for me.

I spend a lot of time writing these posts and I wonder if anyone reads them. 

If you have visited my blog today could you please leave me a comment, even if it is just "Hi Julie"

Depending on the number of comments I receive to this post 

I will decide whether I will continue posting on my blog.

So please, if you visit my blog and enjoy reading what I post please leave me a short comment.

Now on to today's post.

I recently bought some new Distress Inks and realised I didn't use my inks often enough,

so today I am sharing three techniques using Distress/Oxide Inks.

I have mainly Distress Inks with a few Distress Oxides thrown in.

I made three cards

Each of the cards are a different size.

Card No. 1

This is a slimline card measuring 8" x 4" and fits into a standard DL envelope

I have cut 300gsm white cardstock to 8" x 8" and folded it in half. 

I used Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide and Mowed Lawn Distress ink, 

 with a Hero Arts Blending brush, to apply colour through A Little Birdie leaf stencil.

I trimmed a piece of textured yellow cardstock to 3 3/4" x 7 3/4" and attached that to my card front.

Next I trimmed my inked panel to 3 1/2" x 7 1/2" and added that on top of the yellow cardstock.

To decorate the card I used some of the flowers I created in this video

I die cut the sentiment from white cardstock and the shadow from the yellow cardstock,

inked the edges and attached it to the front of the card about 2/3rds of the way up.

I printed the rest of the greeting, trimmed it to size, layered it onto a piece of the yellow cardstock and attached it so it was slanted and slightly over lapping the b of "birthday"

I also used the same stencil and some Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink 

on the inside of the card.

Card No. 2

This card is 5 1/4" square

I started with a piece of smooth white cardstock 5" square and blended Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon Distress inks, starting with the lightest colour and 

working my way down to the darkest. I used a domed foam blending tool for this.

Next I used my Tim Holtz stamping platform and Woodware Mini Scented Bloom stamp

 to stamp all over the background using Versafine Onyx Black ink.

I added clear embossing powder and as the Distress Inks were still wet 

the embossing powder clung to the whole background. 

I had not planned on doing this but I have to say I am pretty happy with the results.

I gave it 3 or 4 coats of the clear embossing powder to get a nice high gloss.

I trimmed a piece of black cardstock to 5" square and 

the stamped panel to 4 3/4" square and layered them onto the card front.

I did not want to completely cover the pretty background so I stamped a 

couple of the same flowers and three leaves from a Paper Artsy stamp

onto some Hero Arts velum. I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black Ink

and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I fussy cut the flowers out and used Art Glitter glue to attach the velum, 

applying the glue behind the embossing.

The sentiment came from a little pot of sentiments I keep on my desk. 

They are leftovers from kits, paper packs or excess stamping/heat embossing.

I matted the sentiment onto some black cardstock and added it to the bottom right of the card.

Card No. 3

Our final card for today is 4 1/4" x 6"

I am going to use my inks as watercolours for this card.

I stamped Woodware - Scented Blooms with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto a white cardstock panel and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

I used my water brush to apply the colour but you could use a normal brush if you don't have one.

I used two colours on each area.

For the leaves I used Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink

For the yellow flower I used Squeezed Lemonade and Mustard Seed

The orange flower is Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon

And the red flower is Candied Apple and Festive Berries.

You can see how I applied the ink and shading in the video below

I cut some Gold Mirri Card to 4' x 5 3/4" and trimmed my flower panel to 3 3/4" x 5 1/2" 

and layered them onto the front of the card base

The sentiment is from the same place as the previous one and is gold heat embossed.

I matted it onto a piece of the gold mirri card and attached it to the card front 

with a piece of scrap cardboard behind it.

A final touch to this card was to add some gold fine glitter to the centres of the flowers.

So there we have my three cards for today.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about them and I hope you will leave me a comment.

Here is the process vide.

Have fun watching it

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Mystical Scrapbooks February Challenge

Good morning

Today I am sharing the layout I created for the February challenge at Mystical Scrapbooks

There is a sketch challenge this month and this is the sketch I created for the challenge.

There are two challenges and two sketches for you to use.

The added requirement for this challenge is to use some altered chipboard on your page.

This is my layout

You can see it closely follows the sketch.

The paper I have used for this layout is Mechanism from Kaisercraft's Time Machine range.

The background is white cardstock

I tore two strips approximately 2" wide and 2 approximately 1/2" wide 

and layered the 1/2" strip behind the 2" strips.

These were then attached to the sides of my layout.

My photos are 4" x 3", I filed around the edge of each one 

with an emery board to give a thin white border.

I then matted them onto the dark side of the Mechanism patterned paper

I have added scraps of chipboard to the back of my photos 

to give them a little lift when I attach them to my layout

I have used two packets of chipboard on my layout.

Dusty Attic Cog Border #3 and

Memory Maze Live Every Adventure

I coated the chipboard with white Gesso and then

Silver metallic acrylic paint

I wanted the Dusty Attic Cog Border #3 to look a bit rusty and old 

so I added some textured brown paint, 

that I have had in my stash for about 20 years,

just randomly around the edges.

I also had some Uniquely Creative Silver Metal Cogs.

I painted these with the same silver metallic paint so they had the same look as my chipboard.

I tucked the border chipboard edge under the side strips, 

using liquid glue to hold it in place.

I attached the photos to the layout, then added the single cogs, both chipboard and metal,

so some of them overlapped the photos.

I wanted some of the chipboard elements on the side panels. 

I painted them with black acrylic paint so they would stand out better on the green paper

 and attached them using Art Glitter glue.

I find that this glue works extremely well for attaching chipboard and metal objects.

To create the title I used my Kaisercraft Alphabet Upper Case dies

 to cut "Toys" from the same patterned paper.

I attached these to a piece of acetate, added thin strips of chipboard 

behind the first two letters, before attaching it at the bottom of my page 

so it overlapped the vacant area of the bottom photo.

I gave the title a coat of Glossy Accents for a nice shine.

Here is my process video. I hope you enjoy watching it.

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie

Live your best Life Art Journal page

Hello, hello

Welcome to my blog today where I want to show you an art journal page I have just completed.

I used Gelatos to colour the background. The colours I used are

Lemon, Red Cherry, Tangerine, Gold Champagne and Butter Cream

Once the colours were dry I gave my page a coat of Boyle Matt Spray

to seal it so the colours would not move when I added any other mediums.

I cut the circles from both white and black cardstock using Kaisercraft DD942 Stitched Circle Die.

I used pearl acrylic paints to colour the circles.

I gave each circle a couple of coats of a light colour 

then shaded around the edges with a darker tone of the same colour.

The colours I used are Duncan brand pearl acrylics

Lemon Drop, Powder Blue, Sparkling Sapphire, Bright Turquoise, Golden Aqua, Golden Lime, Golden Turquoise, and Green

I also used Folk Art Metallic Pure Gold

I stencilled onto the background using a 13@rts broken circles stencil.

Firstly I used Duncan Natural Texture (gritty paste) in Pumpkin

then Duncan Pearl White acrylic paint.

The stamping on the background is done with Archival Jet Black Ink 

and an assortment of circle stamps.

One of the stamps is Kaisercraft's Stains stamp set 

and the other two are unknown brands.

I used my black Stabilo All pencil and a wet brush to shade around each of the circles 

before giving them a scribbly border using slightly watered down

 black acrylic paint in a Fineliner bottle.

The same bottle of paint was used to draw a scribbly border around the page.

I gave each of the circles a highlight using a flat brush and some watered down white acrylic paint.

The same watered down paint was used with my fan brush to add a good amount of splatters to my page.

The quote has been stamped using Tim Holtz Cling foam stamps from the block lower alphas set.

The centre part of the quote was printed using my Brother PTouch label maker.

There is a lot of texture and shine on this page.

Here is my process video for you to check out

As always, thanks for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe,

Hugs

Julie

Ink Blended Cards

Good morning.

I have been wanting to do some ink blending for some time so today is the day. 

I am by no means an expert at this technique, 

as a matter of fact I have probably only done it once or twice at the most.

The theme for the month over at Mystical Scrapbooking is Techniques

so I thought I would do a blog post on ink blending.

I also created a video and I will put that at the end of this post if you would like to check it out.

I made three cards

The first card I created has a heat embossed image as the focal point

I stamped Woodware - Bold Blooms - Ginny with Versamark Embossing Ink onto the front of my card panel after I had wiped it over with my Embossing Buddy

I then used White embossing powder and set it with my heat gun.

This creates a resist for the Distress Inks I will blend on top.

I attached a strip of Mint Tape (Removable Masking type tape) to the areas of the card so the blended ink did not go onto the back of the card base.

I have used my domed blending tool to apply Mustard Seed, Ripe Persimmon and Festive Berries

 to the front of the card covering about 1/3 of the card front with each colour

 and using the lighter colour to blend over the area where the colours meet.

Once the card front was covered I used a tissue to wipe over the image

to remove any ink that may have been on the embossing.

The sentiment is from 13@rts His & Hers Remastered Sticker Collection.

Card No. 2 is similar in appearance

For this card I blended the Distress Ink onto a White Cardstock panel that measures 3 3/4" x 5 1/2"

The colours I used are Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint and Broken China.

I used a die and my Big Shot to cut the floral bouquet from white cardstock and attached it to the 

inked panel using liquid glue.

Because the Inks are reactivated by liquid I was careful to not get any glue on the inked panel.

I added a piece of scrap chipboard to the back of the panel before attaching it to my card base.

The sentiment came from the same 13 @rts sticker sheet.

The ink blending on the third card is a little different.

I stamped and heat embossed Woodware - Whimsical Flower - Daisy May 

onto a white cardstock panel that measures 3 5/8" x 5 3/8"

I used black embossing powder for this stamp.

I then used my finger daubers to colour the image with Distress Inks.

The colours I used are Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed and Ripe Persimmon

I did manage to go over the lines a couple of times 

but I used my Mono Sand Eraser to rub the ink away where it bothered me.

To give the black sections in the centre of the flower a little sparkle I added 

dots of Viva Black Pearl Pen

I cut a panel of black cardstock 3 7/8" x 5 5/8",

matted my image panel onto that

and then attached the black panel to the front of the card base.

The sentiment, once again, came from the 13 @rts sticker sheet.

So three very simple cards today but I have to say I really enjoyed making them.

They are quick and easy but quite striking I think.

Have you tried ink blending? Let me know how you found it.

Here is my video

 Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today

Till next time

Stay safe

Hugs

Julie