White on White

For my Sweet Pea Stamps creation this week I decided to keep things simple with a technique I love - white on white. I used Karen Middleton's Free Love digi stamp:

 

 

I love doing white on white cards, they are so striking and effective. :) I coloured the digi stamp in pale colours, using my Promarkers, and giving her some pretty pink hair:

 

 

To add texture and interest to the card, I embossed a square of cardstock using a pretty Anna Griffin embossing folder:

 

I die-cut my coloured image using a decorative frame and attached it using foam tape and to finish I added some layered flowers cut with my Cameo, with a white pearlised centre:

 

 

This lovely stamp is available in red rubber or digi format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store.

Nectar of Life

For my Sweet Pea Stamps creation this week I have chosen to work with this stunning digi stamp by Charmaine Flannery called Nectar of Life:

I coloured this striking image using my Promarkers:

And teamed it with patterned papers in neutral, earthy tones. I added a piece of twill ribbon and some pretty blossoms...

...and attached my coloured image using foam tape.

To finish I added a die-cut filigree butterfly and some dots of Stickles.

This stamp is available in both red rubber and digi format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store. And don't forget that until tomorrow, all digi stamps are on sale at 25% off.

Don't forget...

For December we have an ongoing challenge at One Stitch at a Time. You have until 11 January to enter our Anything Goes challenge. You can enter as many times as you like using a Stitchy Bear product, and a maximum of 3 times using non-Stitchy Bear products. :)

 

There are thousands of fabulous digi stamps to choose from at the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet (including some designed by me! :))

Cherry Blossom Dreams

This week for Sweet Pea Stamps I'm sharing a quick and simple card I made using Helena Reis' Cherry Blossom Dreams:

 

 

I coloured the image using my Promarkers in pretty pastel colours:

 

 

And used similar coloured paper, ribbon and flowers, along with a couple of decorative brads and some gemstones, to complete my card:

 

 

 

This pretty image is available in red rubber or digi format from the Sweet Pea Stamps store.

 

Anything Goes

Time for another challenge at One Stitch at a Time and it's a firm favourite - Anything Goes. And as the festive season is upon us, we're going to give you an early Christmas present... you've got a whole 5 weeks in which to enter this challenge. :)

 

The Design Team are taking a bit of a well-earned break over the Christmas period so this challenge is going to run until 11 January 2014. Don't forget that if you use Stitchy Bear products on your creations you can enter the challenge as many times as you like during that period and each entry will give you a chance to win our main prize. You can still enter without using Stitchy Bear products but you are limited to 3 entries and those entries will go into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear digi outlet.

 

For my creation for this challenge I used this Rose digi stamp by Crafty Girl:

 

 

The style of this digi really put me in mind of tattoo art so I went for a kind of funky, alternative style for my card. I coloured the image using my Prismacolor pencils and cut it out using a decorate oval die:

 

 

I used a card blank in a tentfold format and cut a card panel slightly smaller than my card front and covered it with washi tape in a contempory chevron pattern.

 

 

I attached my die-cut image using foam tape, overlapping the top edge of the card a little.

 

 

To finish, I stamped a greeting and trimmed it into a banner shape, matting it onto a larger banner cut from black card.

 

 

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Catz - Anything Goes

Creative Corner - Color It

Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

Polkadoodles - Anything Goes

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes

Stampin' for the Weekend - Use Some Red

Stempelsonnen Challenge - Anything Goes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seahorse Illusion

I've been experimenting with my Prismacolor pencils recently... getting a bit more adventurous in how I mix and blend colours. I did my experimenting on this gorgeous digi stamp by Ching Chou Kuik from Sweet Pea Stamps. It's called Seahorse Illusion:

 

 

I tried using contrasting instead of toning colours on some of the shading and I rather like the effect it gives:

 

 

I didn't want to overpower the lovely colours on the image with too much colour in the background so I kept my card fairly simple. I tried out my new Inktense blocks to make a soft colour wash on a panel of watercolour paper and layered a piece of cheesecloth over it.

 

 

I finished things off with a fragment of punchinella, some pretty flowers and some dots of .

 

 

You can find this image in digi and red rubber format in the Sweet Pea Stamps store.

 

Clean and Simple

The new challenge theme at One Stitch at a Time today is Something Red.

 

For my DT creation I chose to work with this adorable Owl Landing digi stamp by Sentimental Susan:

 

 

I coloured the image with my Promarkers and carefully cut around it:

 

 

I'm still on a bit of a Clean and Simple kick and for this card I liked the idea of having my "something red" be red patterned paper showing through punched-out shapes on the card front. I used a 5x7" card blank and rounded the outside corners, for a clean, modern look. I used a Stampin' Up! punch to punch start shapes out of the card front and layered red patterned paper inside the card. I attached my owl image on foam pads, slightly overhanging the edge of the card.

 

 

To finish I stamped a sentiment using a Stampin' Up! stamp and added some little wooden star shapes which I coloured red with my Promarkers.

 

 

The challenge runs for a week and you don't have to use a Stitchy Bear product to enter but if you do you'll be in with a chance of winning our main prize. Entries not using a Stitchy Bear product will be entered into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher for the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet.

 

Playing with paint pens...

Recently my DD1's reception class at school have been working on a collaborative project with an awesome local artist known as Fabric Lenny. They've produced some amazing work including drawings, paintings, wire sculptures, an animated film and a documentary film and parents were also invited to attend workshop sessions with their child and Fabric Lenny, working together on making some artwork for the animated film.

 

The workshop was fantastic and I loved creating art with my daughter and I really enjoyed the techniques we used - drawing on stiff cardboard using black felt tips, using a wet paintbrush over the drawn lines to create a colour wash effect and then adding further detail with white Posca paint pens.

 

My DD1 was very taken with the paint pens so I decided to invest in some and they arrived this week so of course I had to try them out. :)

 

I'd also had a few deliveries recently so had a few cardboard boxes lying around so I decided to try Fabric Lenny's technique for myself. And this is what I made:

 

 

I really like this technique and it makes for really striking artwork. Definitely going to play with this some more.

 

Craft Stamper magazine

The new issue of Craft Stamper magazine should be in the shops today... and take a look at what's on pages 46-47: :)

 

 

 

A fabulous 2-page spread of one of my cards! :) How exciting is that?! :D

 

Craft Stamper has long been my favourite craft magazine and the one that I find the most inspiring - every issue makes me want to try out new ideas and techniques (and often buy new stash! :lol:). And I am beyond excited to have one of my cards published in my favourite magazine. :)

 

Milly's Walk

This week for Sweet Pea Stamps I have been creating with one of Elisabeth Bell's gorgeous rubber stamps... this one is called Milly's Walk:

 

 

I love Elisabeth's cute little images and this one is no exception. I coloured the image with my Promarkers in pastel colours:

 

 

I used some pretty vintagey papers in pastel colours and added detail with some faux-stitching and a punched border.  I finished things off with a chipboard sentiment and some flowers...

 

 

....and some pretty chipboard pennants:

 

 

This and Elisabeth's other lovely stamps are available in red rubber format only from the Sweet Pea Stamps store.

 

Use a Digi

The new challenge goes live today at One Stitch at a Time and the theme is Use a Digi.

 

This week I worked with Hope Jacare Doodles' Christmas Snowman digi stamp:

 

 

I coloured the image with my Promarkers and cut it out:

 

 

I used some pretty Christmas-themed papers and a doily for a fairly quick and simple Christmas card, attaching the image with foam tape for a little dimension.

 

 

You don't need to use a Stitchy Bear product to enter the challenge but if you do you'll be in with a chance of winning our main prize. Entries without a Stitchy Bear product will be entered into the draw to win a $3 gift voucher to the Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet - and don't forget there is currently a sale on at Stitchy Bear Digi Outlet with 50% of all products! :)