Peaceful

The current challenge on Time Out is Peaceful.

This theme immediately made me think of yoga so here is the card I made. I stamped the lotus flower and then clear embossed this before painting it with water colours. To make the card more interesting I die cut the panel which I then mounted onto linen card.

Materials used:-

Lotus flower stamp - Casual Fridays 'mon ami' set

Sentiment - Penny Black 'love and yoga' set

Watercolours - Gansai Tambi Pearl Pink

Die - stitched indented rectangles by Elizabeth Craft Designs

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments. Margaret

Muse flowers

Tracey McNeely has created a lovely card using watercolours for this week's Muse challenge.

I liked the stitched border and the watercoloured effect of her card and tried to recreate this in my card.  I'm not sure about whether I should add some splatters - I like the clean and simple look. 

Materials used:-
Stamps -  Jofy 14
Stitched border - Lil'inker designs
Distress inks
Adler Rowney Aquafine smooth watercolour card

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Sailing

This week's challenge on Less is More is to make a one layer card on the theme of "At Sea".  As I live on an island, I love anything to do with the sea and have lots of nautical stamps.  I particularly like the Hobby Art ones which you can use to create scenes.  I used smooth watercolour card and distress inks and markers to create my card. I stamped the rope border first which I masked with Frisket film before stamping and colouring the scene.

 

 

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:-

 

Shopping our Stash #252 - Sounds of the Sea

Just Add Ink#311 - masking



 

Materials used:-

Rope border - Clarity Stamps

Hobby Art "Coastal Wildlife" set

Inkylicious grass stamp from "Essential Grasses"

Sentiment - Stampin Up "Sheltering Tree" set

Inks - distress inks and markers; Archival Wendy Vecchi potting soil

Watercolour card - Daler Rowney (smooth)

Frisket film for masking the rope border

 

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to Less is More and see how the other participants interpreted this theme.  Margaret

 



More deer!

I have been using this lovely die quite a lot recently as I'm trying to get ahead with my Christmas cards. As Happy Little Stampers now have a die challenge I thought I'd enter this card.  I watercoloured the background which I think sets off the glittery deer quite well.

Materials used :-

Reindeer die - deer set from Cottage Cutz
Sentiment die - Sizzix Tim Holtz Holiday Words Script
White glitter card
Watercolour paints - Kuretake Gansai Tambi

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.

Reindeer noel

Kimberly Wiener is this week's muse on Muse Christmas Visions and she has created a lovely CAS card.  I have a reindeer die but unfortunately no silver glitter card so I had to create a coloured background as my reindeer didn't show up against white card.  I tried to recreate the simplicity of Kimberly's design with one reindeer and a sentiment.  I also mounted the panel on darker card.

 Materials used:-

Reindeer die - deer set from Cottage Cutz
Sentiment die - Sizzix Tim Holtz Holiday Words Script
White glitter card
Watercolour paints - Kuretake Gansai Tambi

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.

What's outside your window?

There is a very interesting challenge on Less is More this week.  Mandi and her team want us to think about what's outside our windows.  Although I live on an island I don't have a view of the sea so my view is an imaginary one! This theme needed a watercolour effect so I coloured the scene with distress markers. I made my own card to get it the size I wanted.

I'm also going to enter this card into Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #186 - Anything goes

Materials used:-
Stamp - Sheena Douglass "Peaceful Lakeside" (partly stamped)
Sentiment - Stampin Up "Sheltering Tree"
Distress markers - various
Archival ink - Wendy Vecci Potting Soil
Watercolour card - Westminster Bockingford

Thanks for visiting my blog - now hop over to LIM and see what the other participants could see from their windows.

Muse feathers

When I saw Carol Mayne's lovely card on Muse this week I just had to take part! I liked the CAS look of her card and the different colours used for the feathers. I wanted to create an ombré effect on my card so used a Kaleidacolor set in blue breeze. I inked up the stamp, then spritzed it with water and stamped it 3 times without re-inking. I liked the effect this created on the watercolour card.

I am also going to enter this card into the current challenge at CASology which is "WRITE".

Materials used:-
Stamp - Hot of the Press Feathers
Sentiment - Dawn Bibby
Inks - Kaleidacolor blue breeze; Versafine Onyx black; DI broken china

Thanks for visiting - I really appreciate your comments. Margaret

Another beach scene!

Here is another beach scene I created recently using distress inks on watercolour card.  I'm going to enter this into the MFP Speedy Fox and Friends "Beach Scene" challenge.

Materials used:-
Watercolour card and various distress inks
Inklylicious stamps - windswept, essential grasses and seascape memories
Versafine onyx black and vintage sepia
Archival sepia
Kraft card

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Life's a beach!

The theme on Less is More this week is "Life's a beach" to make us think of long summer days and holiday time.  Although we have lots of beaches in Shetland, summer seems to be passing us by this year.

I wanted to create a watercolour card as I love using distress inks for watercolouring and got some inspiration from Birgit's blog - she produces the most amazing watercoloured cards!  My card is certainly not in the same league as Birgit's creations but I was pleased with the final result (that was after I cut off the smudged bit!)

I am also entering this card into challenge #143 on Crafty Cardmakers which is water.

Materials used:-
Plant stamp from Chocolate Baroque wild meadow set
Birds from Inklylicious windswept set
Various distress inks; versafine black onyx ink
Watercolour card

Thanks for visiting - now have a look at the Less is More blog for more great interpretations of the theme. Margaret

New home

This week's theme at Less is More is Home and it's the dreaded one layer challenge. When I see "one layer" I think of watercolouring and that's what I've done here.  I used watercolour card to make a 6x4 inch card.  I stamped the image and sentiment with Versafine ink and then used distress ink to colour this.

Materials used:-
Stamps - Creative Stamping magazine and Stampin Up Gorgeous Grunge
Distress inks - mustard seed, gathered twigs and broken China
Distress markers - barn door and pumice stone
Versafine black onyx ink

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to LIM to see how the other participants have interpreted this challenge.

Sunset

The colour challenge on Less is More this week is Sunset - we are being asked to "use the colours which this word brings to your mind."

I haven't been able to take part in LIM recently as I've been away on holiday so I'm delighted to be back. I created the background with Brushos - this was the first time I've used them and need to do more experimenting. However I do like the vibrant colours.  I cut a circle out of the panel and attached this with foam to give some dimension to the card.

Materials used:-

Brushos - various

Watercolour card

Versa fine ink - onyx black

Inkylicious boating stamps and essential grasses

Nestabilities circle die

Thanks for visiting - now pop over to LIM to see the great designs created by the designers and participants. Margaret

Muse flowers

This is my take on Michele's card on Muse #113 - I really liked the contrast of the clean stamping with the fluidity of the watercolour. I also drew a line under the flowers to ground them and mounted my sentiment to match the background of my card.

Materials used:-
Stamp - Little Claire Designs - Cherish, Hope, Dreams
Sentiment - Tim Holtz simple sayings
Distress inks - salty ocean and mermaid lagoon
Versa fine black onyx ink
Coredinations card

Thanks for popping by - now have a look at the Muse blog to see what the other participants have created.

Splatters!

The Less is More challenge this week is to make a one layer card incorporating splatters. I found this quite difficult to do while keeping a clean and simple design.

I decided to make a watercolour card using the Tim Holtz distress marker spritzer to make the splatters.  I spritzed the blue splatters with water to create a more muted effect.

Materials used:-
Stamps - PaperArtsy JOFY 14
Versa fine onyx black ink
Distress inks - mustard seed, spiced marmalade and vintage photo for the flower
Distress markers - shabby shutters, tea dye and broken china
Watercolour card
Tim Holtz distress marker spritzer

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to Less is More and see what the other participants have created. Margaret

Tim's April Tag

When I saw the April tag on the Tim Holtz blog I was delighted as he had used two of my favourite techniques - watercolouring and sewing. Here are Tim's tags and you can find out how he made them here.  I kept to Tim's basic design using some alternative materials.

Materials used:-
Stamps - JOFY collection 14
Various distress inks and markers
Archival black ink
Watercolour card and Stampin Up crumb cake card
Dies - Sizzix handwritten celebrate and Memorybox alphabet set

Thanks for visiting - I really appreciate your comments! Margaret

Watercolour tulips

It's a colour challenge at Less is More this week and the colours are

 YELLOW and GREEN

This tulip stamp is ideal for the challenge - I watercoloured the tulips with Pebeo paints. The tulip stamp is from Chocolate Baroque who are releasing a new stamp every month in their Year of Stamping - in addition to the stamp you also get lots of ideas for using the stamp.

Materials:-
Tulip stamp - Chocolate Baroque
Sentiment - Chocolate Baroque Mackintosh Sentiments
Pebeo watercolour paints
Black onyx versa fine ink
Sheena Douglass card

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Owl family

First of all I would like to wish all my friends and followers a very Happy New Year.

This is the card I made for this week's Less is More challenge where the theme is Family. I am on holiday at the moment so had to borrow the owl stamps from my sister. I used distress inks to watercolour the images - the tree and branch were hand drawn.

Materials used:-
Owls and leaf stamps - Kanban Autumn Silhouettes
Sentiment - Uniko Studio Fontiments Birthday
Various distress inks

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really enjoy reading your comments. Margaret

Twinkling baubles

I think dies can make lovely clean and simple cards so here is a Christmas card I made recently using dies. I die cut the ornaments and word from silver mirri card. The panel is made from watercolour card coloured with distress inks and then spritzed with perfect pearls - I like the subtle sheen this produces. The panel was mounted on foam to provide some dimension.

I am going to submit this card into the following challenges:-

Merry Monday #134 - ornaments using silver/grey and blue

Inkspirational #69 - prompt word SHINE

CASology week 121 - FESTIVE 

Materials used:-

Memory box die - hanging ornaments 

Sentiment - Sizzix holiday words script

Distress inks - tumbled glass, broken china, salty ocean and chipped sapphire

Perfect pearls mister

Silver mirri card and gems from stash

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments. Margaret

Birds of a Feather

I really like this stamp from the Stampin Up set "Wetlands" and thought it very appropriate for the current challenge at Time Out which is entitled "Birds of a Feather". I'm also going to enter it in challenge 27 at AAA cards which is Play with Watercolours. I stamped the image with archival ink and then used distress inks to watercolour it. The reeds were stamped and then clear embossed.

Materials used:-

Stamps - SU Wetlands set

Archival black ink and various distress inks

Card - SU crumb cake

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments. Margaret

Harbour tag

This is a tag I made recently using Hobby Art stamps to create a scene. I stamped the images on to watercolour card and then used distress inks to watercolour the scene. The background is from an old chart - I often use this in projects with a nautical theme. I am going to enter this tag in this month's Country View Crafts Blog Challenge which is to create a project with a nautical theme.

Materials used:-
Hobby Art stamps - Harbour Set and Coastal Wildlife Set
Distress inks and markers - various
Dies - Memory Box dies Parker Lower Alphabet

Thank you for visiting my blog and for leaving comments - I really appreciate the feedback.

Chocolate and mint!

Week 188 on Less is More is a colour challenge using chocolate and mint. The hardest part of the challenge was finding a mint coloured ink. I finally settled on a metallic watercolour marker. I clear embossed the image before colouring it. Then I mounted the image on some dimensional foam and added some tiny brown pearls to the centre of the flowers to finish it off.

Materials used:-
Stamp -  Hero Arts Asian Frames
Sentiment - Chocolate Baroque Mackintosh Sentiments
Archival ink - Potting Soil
Letraset Metallic Marker - green
Die - Lawn Fawn Stitched Party Banners


Thank you for visiting my blog - now pop over to LIM to see what the other participants created.