Fairy card

Oh, how could I forget to include this one in my previous post. I love the way those bleach splatters seem to glow. Fireflies maybe?
 

sponging/ brushing technique with silhouette scenes stamp set

This morning I created a card that seemed to be quite popular on the Demonstrator website. 

 I was asked to do a tutorial on how I created it. But I am still having issues with uploading videos so I have decided to do a photo tutorial instead. The stamps I am using in this tutorial are different to the card I made this morning  but the process is  the same.

Before starting  I'd like to share some tips to help you get better results first time.

Brush and card tips.

 I would normally use sponge brayers or daubers to do sponging, But my daubers are starting to disintegrate  and  leave streaks, the brayers hold so much ink it seem wasteful  to use them.  So I chose to use  microfibre make up brushes  that I bought from Amazon that retail at around £10 per set.

  I have been trying these brushes out on various  types of card stock with varying results and... not all good. But the same  could be said for the brayers and daubers.  I think it's just a case of getting the combination right.

 For an air brushed look,  Stampin Up's  Whisper white card stock is a good choice  when working with these and so is the A3 300gsm card stock from the Range. It has a bit more tooth than the  usual stamping card, but it's great with these brushes. Some other cards give you a grainy look which is not a look I like.

  

 Another tip is not to over load the brushes  just a gentle tap or two on the ink pad is more than enough, then dab off most of the ink in the lid of the ink pad before applying it to your card.

You need next to no ink on your brush to start with, If you need more, use the ink you deposited in the lid.  You don't waste  ink by doing this.

 I watched a video review of craft and make up brushes,  including the sets I had bought. The lady said "you don't have to  start working off the card."  But I have to disagree with her.  You get a far better almost air brushed look if you  remove most of the ink and start working off the card and work towards the centre, as you would with sponges.

 The brushes seem to  release the ink quickly and basically clean themselves as you're working. This means you don't have to have one for every  shade of every colour.   ( I have one for all yellows, one for  all reds , one  for all light  blues, and so on.)

All you have to do to clean them,  is just brush it on scrap paper until no ink comes out.  

My verdict on these brushes is they are great for creating a lighter, air brushed look.  I think we all know just how strong the Melon Mambo colour is,  but with these brushes and almost no ink on the brush you can achieve a very pretty pastel look.

 Of course if you want strong vivid colour ignore everything I have said. 

Another thing that is worth mentioning is  the fact you don't get that awful round dauber mark that you just can't get rid of when you have just loaded it with ink and applied it without thinking directly to your card... Yes,  we've all done it.

 Here we go......

I am giving instructions for using the brushes but the technique stays the same if you use sponges or daubers just don't load the sponge with loads of ink if you want a lighter airbrushed look or you'll  waste a lot of ink dabbing it off.

On whisper white card from S.U. I loaded the brush with daffodil delight ink and then dabbed the brush in the lid of the ink pad several times to remove a lot of the ink, by dabbing it in the lid of the ink pad I can come back and reload the brush from the lid. Starting on scrap paper  work in a circular motion and work your way into the centre of the card.  Keep applying the ink in this way until you have the density of ink you like.   I rather like the soft pastel look.
 You can achieve  this look by having the minimum amount of ink on the brush/sponge.

 Work in the same way as you apply the other colours around the edges. I used  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo , Balmy Blue, Highland Heather and Lucky Limeade.

To add a hill in the background tear a piece of paper into a hill shape and  and using the negative hill shaped paper, place it where you want your hill to be  and using a light lilac  or pale grey,  brush over the the edge of the scrap paper onto you card stock. You just want a light impression of a hill or mountain in the distance so don't apply too much ink.

Once I had completely covered the card with ink I filled a cheap and nasty aqua painter style brush with bleach and gently splattered the bleach over the card to form the white spots.

Unfortunately... I forgot that step  when making this tutorial sample so I splattered the bleach after I had stamped the girl. 

Luckily for me the bleach didn't have much effect on the black Versamark.  You could just about see where the bleach had landed,  so I took a small stiff paint brush and brushed over the areas with the same Versamark ink.

 For this sample, I chose the girl on a swing, from the Silhouette scenes stamp set from S.U.

 I haven't used this stamp before, so I am curious to know how this will turn out.

Stampin' up don't have a branch stamp big enough to hang this swing from, so I resorted to using a branch stamp from Lavinia stamps. The other alternative was to draw it in myself .

This looks like a summer scene to me, so using a tiny leaf stamp, again from Lavinia stamps,  I put a few leaves on the tree. I sponged some black ink at the bottom  to create the foreground.

Then I began to stamp in some plants using the  pocket silhouettes stamp set (a long since retired set that I wouldn't be with out)  and a grass stamp. There are a couple of S.U sets that have grass stamps in, but I can't remember the names. If you don't have a grass stamp it's easy to draw in grass. With a fine black pen you just start at the bottom of the blade of grass and flick the pen  upwards in multiple directions many times. Clumps of grass tend to look best. (You can see grass clumps I have drawn in on the cats card in a post below this one.)

I blended the ink from the tall plants that over laps the foreground into the foreground.

Just for cuteness I added  Pippin the rabbit from Lavinia stamps. That's where it all went wrong.  My card moved  when I lifted the  stamping platform plate,  so when I stamped over him again, he had four ears.  I decided  to stamp a second rabbit very close to the first to cover the excess ears. 

I applied glitter to this sample. I don't like lots of glitter on small images. I think it overwhelms and distracts from the image. So I like to use the fine glue pen, but I always have problems with these pens. I use them once or twice then they cease to work. No matter what I do I just cannot get them working again. so I have a glut of non working fine tip glue pens.

I hate wasting products, so as not to waste the glue, I take the pen apart tap the end of the  tube on a rubber mat to get a little the glue out, then I apply the glue to my image with a cocktail stick. 

Sometimes I need  to start the flow off by inserting a pin in the tube and give it a wiggle to loosen it up. When I 've got enough glue out I replace the nib until the next time I need it.

And here is the finished card. I am afraid you can't see the glitter. Glitter is hard to photograph at the best of times and when it's subtle it's even harder.

A nice anniversary card..... I think

This is a fairly quick and easy one to make.  It would have been quicker if I hadn't over inked my "craft" ink pad   (which Is a Slow drying ink) I had to wait for ages for the ink to dry, but it took so long I resorted to using the heat gun to finish it off.

This is a 6x4 inch card. I started by brushing ink in a  semi random way over the card stock. I brushed in a couple hills in the distance then  splattered some water over the card and waited for a about 30 seconds before blotting  off the excess water and the ink it lifted.

 I wanted the splatter marks to be a little brighter, so with an aqua painter  filled with bleach I added  tiny drops of bleach to each splatter and let it sit until the splatters where almost white then blotted off the excess.

  I stamped the silhouettes,  sponged  in the foreground and left it to dry.

  It was essential the ink was completely dry before I did the gold heating embossing.

 The  couple  are from the retired  stamps set Silhouette Scenes . The floral silhouette wild flowers  and willow are from Lavinia stamps.

 This is a long skinny card  at  3x7  inches.

 The stamps used on this are Pocket silhouettes, 

Silhouette scenes.

 and the over hanging willow stamp is from Lavinia stamps.

Cat cards

 I created this  card in red and orange yesterday so today I thought I'd try different colours today.  I rather like the purple one best.
For this effect I cut a large circle in a post it not and placed the negative where I wanted my Moon to be.  Using the splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and versamark ink I stamped over the aperture several times and allowed the ink to dry.
Once dry I lightly sponged over the moon area with my lightest purple ink. Almost Amethyst.  Then I removed the negative mask and placed the positive mask over the sponged moon to prevent it getting  any darker or mucky.

Using  sponge brayers  and  Almost Amethyst ink I sponged over the top two thirds of my card stock until the white card was  evenly covered.  Using a sponge dauber and  Concorde Crush ink pad,  I  worked the darker purple all around the edges of the card and bringing it in towards the moon, but not all the way, You still want some of the lighter purple showing around the moon and along the horizon.
With a sponge dauber and Memento black ink I filled in the bottom third of the card to create an  uneven  horizon. I kept adding ink until the card was saturated with black ink. I didn't want it to dry patchy.
 I  then stamped some foliage along the horizon  and in the top corner using the same black ink.
It's important to allow the card to dry out at this stage. Once dry I stuck on the punched out cat and added a sentiment that overlapped  the base of the cat to prevent the cat from looking like it had just been plonked on.

With a white gel pen I started adding highlights to the edges of the leaves and adding stars to the sky. If the sky is not completely dry the gel pen will not work very well.
The blue car was done in exactly the same way, but I used Marina Mist and Night of Navy ink pads.

Beautiful You 2

Regular readers of my blog will know, I enjoy creating silhouette cards.
 I am not really sure about this one. It started out as an experiment to see how the dancing female looked as a silhouette.

I used;
Marina Mist ink pad.
Midnight Muse ink pad, 
Night of Navy ink pad, 
Black pigment ink such as S.U 's black craft ink or black Versacolor,
White Gel pen, 
Black marker pen.
Beautiful you Stamp set,
Pocket silhouettes  stamp set, 
Sponge daubers. Post it notes.
 1  1/2  inch  Circle punch or die to create a positive and negative mask for moon.





 First I punched out a large circle from a post it note and used the negative to mask off the sky around the moon.


 With  a sponge dauber and light strokes, I applied a little ink through the aperture to add a little colour to the moon.


I  removed the negative mask and covered the moon with the positive mask to protect it.


With  Marina Mist ink and  the same sponge dauber,  start sponging the sky,  starting ON  the moon mask working outwards towards the edges.


 You'll need to take your time this part  and you will need to keep applying the lighter ink until you have the good coverage over the majority of the card.



Using Night of Navy ink and a sponge dauber, apply ink to the edges of the card working inwards, about 3/4 s of an  inch. Start inking from the bottom of one side working uo the side , along the top and down the other side in a rough arch shape. Leave the bottom edge un inked.



The Midnight Muse ink was used in between the  Night of Navy and Marina Mist to soft and blend  where the colours meet. This does not have to be perfectly blended, just so long as there are no  hard, straight lines of  colour.

Place a post it note over the bottom third of the card and apply Night of Nay ink with a dauber over the edge of the post it to create the horizon. 
You may notice a dark patch on the left of the photo below. This because I picked up  my black dauber instead of the navy one. Rather than scrap my sample piece, I decided to carry on and see how it turned out.

Remove the moon mask and with a black Memento  ink  stamped the  lady in the centre. I used Memento ink as I will be using alcohol marker to colour the image in and I don't want the ink to smudge.

 On this sample I stamped her a little higher than I wanted her, which meant I had to raise my horizon line  a little.
Which just goes to proves,  most errors can be rectified.

Using silhouette foliage stamps and black pigment ink, ( such as S.U's  black craft ink or Versacolour ) stamp some foliage in the bottom corners. 

Allow the ink to dry thoroughly this may take some time as pigment inks are much slower drying, but this can be speeded up with a heat gun.

I  previously said, I used a black marker to colour in the stamped image on my first card.  On this sample I used Copic Marker BV29  (Slate) , It is not as strong or  as intense as black so it almost looks like the moonlight is shining  through her skirt.


A little black ink was added to the bottom corners to give the impression of solid land.

Final touches were added using a white gel pen was used to add highlights on the edges of leaves, the lady  and  to create the stars and ripples on the water. These are just random dots and dashes,   but they really lift the scene.

Photo's now added to help you make sense of my ramblings.

Thanks for dropping in.   I hope you like this project and give it a try.



Don't forget to....Credit the creator.

Another Moonlit Scene

I gave  this  card to lady who wants to try a different style of card making. I  made this card as a sample to show her one of the inking and stamping  techniques she will be learning.  I am really looking forward to having a crafty day and sharing lots of techniques and tips with her.

 Unfortunately we can't have that crafty day for a few weeks yet, due  to work commitments. But that gives me lots of time to plan the day and select techniques that won't require huge amounts of equipment and materials, so she will be able to start her card making journey without having to spend a  huge fortune on materials before she can begin.

Moonlight Card

My third post of the day is this Moonlight card.
Recipe. Whisper white card stock.
The ink pads used were;
Marina mist,
Midnight muse,
Black craft ink all from SU 
sponges
White gel pen
Black marker pen.
Serene silhouettes stamp set and the pocket silhouettes  stamp set.
The detailed instructions are the same as on the sunset card I posted last week. So I 'll try to condense the instructions on this card.

Using Marina mist ink pad and a sponge lightly sponge the centre of the sky  leave it  quite patchy and uneven.

Position the mask for the moon over the patchy sponging here you want your moon to go.
Mask off the bottom half of your card and sponge the  the sky using  a gentle circular motion starting from the centre of the moon mask and working outwards towards the edges of the paper.
When you feel you have applied enough of the lighter ink. Change over to Midnight Muse ink pad  and sponge the edges of the card working in towards the centre of the card. make sure the corner of the card are the darkest part and try and aim for an arch shape going over the moon with the darker ink.

With the sky  inked up you can now turn your attention to the lower half of you card.
remove the  horizon mask turn it round and cover the the sky with it. make sure  the edge  of the horizon mask is dead in line with the base of the moon /sun.
Sponge  the middle area of the card with the lighter ink leave some lighter areas in streaks going across the card stock.
Change to darker ink  and sponge in  the horizon line, be sure not to go over your lighter areas too much.
Then sponge the edges and corners of the card working in towards the lighter area , overlap the lighter area slightly.

Now here,  you can tear a ragged V shape into some scrap paper and place it over the edge of your card and sponge black in over it to form the rocks,  or  you could use a  black marker pen and scribble the rocks in.     ( Here I sponged in the rocks,)
Stamp your silhouette images over the rocks, over the edges of the card , over the bottom  edge of the card to make a scene you like .......Allow this ink to dry thoroughly before using the white gel pen.
Top Tip... when using the gel pen  to try NOT to be precise. it looks a lot better if you apply the white highlights  in a slap dash, hap hazard way.

I applied some white lines  at the base of the rocks and  gently smudged them and then re applied the white lines and smudged them again to get the misty,  sea spray/ water lapping against the rocks  look.  
A few lightly smudged  dashes going across the water to give the impression of ripples in the water.   Add dot and dashed to  the edges of the plant life, rocks and  anywhere where the moonlight may hit .
Add some tiny stars to the sky.
The shooting star was a happy accident,..... I smudged a star so I just added another white dot at the point of the smudge...... Hey Presto!! I had a shooting star.
Had the shooting star been more prominent I would have  added  the greeting make a wish.

Ummm,  Just re read  this post...... guess I am not too good at condensing things down..   :-)