Thursday 21 September 2017

Sow Much Kindness - It starts with us all... If you love animals, then take them off your plate.

 

Hello and welcome. I'm excited to share these three new cards that I have entered in My Favorite Things 2017 Card Design Superstar contest. What a fun and awesome challenge it is too!
There are three categories: Clean and Simple, Coloring Virtuoso and Innovation Master. I have entered one for each.




I couldn't wait to play with these new and fun sets that I recently purchased from My Favorite Things, featuring the cute critters and a wonderful Kind Words sentiments set. I have a special closeness for these sets and imagery, as I wanted to make a card to send a message of love and compassion that all animals should be treated equally and be completely free. The same love should be shown for all animals - if you truly love animals, then take them off your plate. Why love one and not the other? We can live and thrive on a plant based diet without any animals products at all, which in turn helping us, the environment and most of all the animals. Going Vegan is the best thing you can do, it's a compassionate way to live and no animal had to suffer and die senselessly. Take pity and show compassion for the innocents, we're in the 21st century and no need to live in the dark ages. The sentiment in these cards "Kindness - It starts with us all", is in the hope that people will change for the greater good and stand up for love.


1. Clean and Simple category.

"Kindness - I see Kindness in you". Clean and simple layout with raised and in laid die cut sentiment over the image to give a seamless design.

Masking of the cute piggies and hill to create the one layered scene using ink blending with Ranger distress inks. Prismacolor pencils with gamsol to help blend out the colors smoothly.

Supplies:
Sow Much Cuteness stamp and dies, Kind Words stamps and die, large and mini clouds stencil and Rolling Hills die.





2. Coloring Virtuoso catergory.

White heat embossed sentiment with embossed resist ink blending for a bold and fun design.

Cute piggies coloured in Copics die cut and mounted with foam adhesive to give them a raise. 

White heat embossed Sentiment on vellum and wrapped around card panel to tuck in flaps and conceal the adhesive. Such a beautiful quote and sentiment. :)  





3. Innovation Master category.

Card in a box pop up is my specialty card fold and the cute farm animals from 'The Whole Herd' was perfect to have them on display and fits so well. The Rolling Hills and Grassy fields dies help to create the scene as well as the flowers from So Much Cuteness. I have also used the Mesh background stamp for the background that has been stamped in SU Crumb Cake on Crumb Cake cardstock. 

This card was lots of fun to create and have used Prismacolor pencils with gamsol blending. The grass/fields have been ink blended with Ranger distress inks, Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn.

Kindness sentiment has been die cut and mounted onto black fun foam to give an even raise and truly pops! The great thing with the card in a box is it folds flat for easy mailing and a great surprise inside for the recipient. Love this sentiment and hope the message will be heard and embraced.






Thank you so much for stopping by and hope you have enjoyed and have been inspired. These sets are so much fun to play with and the creativity is endless. I also hope that you'll take the message to change to a Vegan diet if you haven't already to help save the animals and our planet as well as yourself for a truly compassionate and cruelty free living. 'Til next time Happy Crafting! :)

Thursday 14 September 2017

SUO Demos/Designers Showcase Blog Hop - 2017 Holiday Catalogue


Hello and welcome to the SUO Demos/Designers Showcase Blog Hop using the 2017 Holiday Catalogue. I am using the fun 'Beachy Little Christmas' set as it's an appropriate imagery here for a summertime Christmas in the Southern hemisphere. I had so much fun with this set and created three A2 cards in a colour delight with all the images in the set.


1. Beachy Little Christmas


The fun beach house and palm trees combination makes a great scene and went to town with it using both masking and white heat embossing techniques. I have also incorporated the Pocketful of Sunshine bundle stamp and dies to give a fun tropical Hawaiian themed shirt and truly compliments and dresses up this set.  


This card scene sets the tone for the rest of the projects in the fun and happy sunny colours. I created a mask by stamping onto a low tack paper similar to a post it note of the beach house and palm tress. Some fussy cutting required but so worth it, to help create the scene and do an ink blended background. The sun has also been created with a mask using the 1 3/4" circle punch. 

Ranger distress inks were used on Bristol smooth cardstock as this paper just makes the blending effortless and seamless with a round mini ink blending tool. Love the distress qualities of both the ink and paper and the random water droplets/splatters just adds so much interest to the overall design.

The images have all been coloured with Copic markers for a quick simple colouring and achieving some gradient to add depth and interest. 


The white heat embossed wavy stitched image is from the Pocketful of Sunshine set and makes a great stlylised wave pattern to the scene. Real Read cardstock used for the banner with a white heat embossed sentiment. This has been raised up on foam dimensionals. The seashells and crab have all been fussy cut with glossy accents added over the top. 


2. Tropical Hawaiian shirt 


The pocketful of Sunshine set has been used to create the fun pocket on this tropical Hawaiian shirt.

The palm trees is a great image to create a custom background and love the white heat embossed and ink resist look using the Ranger distress inks, just can't get enough of the water droplets effect of this medium.  A second piece was created for the pocket and ink blended accordingly to blend in with the background panel.

The beach house has been coloured in with Zig clean color real brush markers with an aqua painter for a simple watercolor look. White heat embossing the images makes it alot easier to watercolor. 

The sunglasses has been coloured in with Copics and clear heat embossed to give it a shiny glossy especially on the black specs. 

The sentiment has been white heat embossed on vellum and wrapped over the pocket to neatly adhere it in place. The sun is a left over from the first card ink blend and have been die cut using the Pocket framelits. I just love this pocket frame and allows you to add any accessory you like or a gift card to the recipient.    



3. Seashells Christmas Tree


Lastly, the seashells Christmas tree card, just love the sentiment. This card has been watercoloured using Kuretaki Gansi Tambi watercolours on Bristol smooth cardstock. I have used Versafine Onyx black pigment ink and clear heat embossed to heat set before watercolouring. Gold, Bronze and Silver tones from the Gansai Tambi set has been used to colour the seashells and tree decor and just adds a subtle shine and warmth. I have also flicked some of the same colours with a paint brush to give some extra texture and interest. 

The sentiment has been tucked underneath the bucket of  the Christmas tree by cutting a slit on the side for a seamless look without covering up the seashells and would have looked out of place if mounted over the top. 


The front panel has been mounted on fun foam to give an even raise and makes it pop from the card base. The dotted edge has been created using the Swirly Snowflakes die and came in handy for this added detailing. The clear sequins and glossy accents on the seashells adds extra shine and sparkle.



Inside the card, the same images are used and stamped in Crumb Cake ink to coordinate with the cardstock.



I hope you have enjoyed and found inspiration. The Beachy Little Christmas set is so versatile and is great fun to colour in. It can also be used for any beach themed card with a personalised sentiment to suit. The creativity is endless! Be sure to continue to hop around and see all the amazing creations from the Holiday catalogue for more inspirations.

Thank you so much for stopping by 'til next time - Happy Crafting! :)

Thursday 7 September 2017

September Creative Circle Design Team Blog Hop - “Upright Piano”


Hello and welcome to the September Creative Circle blog hop. Today we are showcasing an amazing 3D Upright Piano, that Liz Holloway our group leader has designed and created for us. Not only does it make a stunning 3D project but also a gorgeous centrepiece to place your handmade cards as well. 

Liz has provided the template to create it and is designed to be used with an electronic cutter or manually cutting it which I have done. She also has wonderful video tutorial on how to assemble it which makes it a lot easier.

Here is my project combining the lovely Nature Sings set with the Swirly Snowflakes thinlits dies. The snowflake thinlits just steps up the design and makes an elegant set of cards and compliments the joyous sentiment "...And heaven and nature sings". 


The project includes 4 handmade cards with matching envelopes.


Here is a closer look of the Upright Piano Nature Sings... in every angle.




Back of Upright Piano...




Individual Card


Ingredients:

• Pool Party base cardstock for the whole project with Strathmore Bristol Smooth Watercolor Paper.

• Basic Black cardstock for the white heat embossed sentiment

• Watercoloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and Aqua Painter.

• Ink blended background in Pool Party Ink and added water droplets distress texture by dabbing it off to represent snowflakes. 

• Strathmore Bristol smooth cardstock or watercolor paper is perfect for this technique.

• Mini round foam ink blending applicator tool for ink blending

• Versafine Onyx black ink for the watercolor images

• Molotow masking fluid pen

• Silver Foil Sheet for the snowflakes/border

• Pinewood Planks Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

• Basic Rhinestone for the snowflake embellishments

• The Big Shot machine for die cutting and embossing - just can't live without hehe. :) 


The individual pieces or layers to create the card...



Inside the card...



Having the Misti tool or a precision stamping tool is so beneficial to create multiple cards at once.



I hope you enjoyed and found inspiration. The 3D Upright Piano is a labour of love and all worth as it makes a stunning display decor that you can decorate with any theme that you desire. Make sure you continue to follow the blog hop list below for more amazing creations that you don't want to miss! Enjoy!  Thank you so much for stopping by, 'til next time - Happy Crafting! :)