Simple Sponged Card

Here's a simple card that was created by tearing an aperture in a piece of scrap paper to create a mask. 
Secure the  mask on to a piece of water colour paper. 
Apply inks over the entire area the area starting on the scrap paper and working towards the centre.
Once the entire area is covered with ink, remove the mask and over stamp with black ink and a stamps of your choice.
I saw this  card somewhere on the internet and rather liked it so thought I would have a go at reproducing it. 

By the Tide

This card  turned out a little darker than I wanted . I think I was expecting the inks to lighten up a little when it dried, but it didn't, So I am a little disappointed with the final result.

To create this card  I cut a 3 1/2 inch  square of whisper white car stock.
 I took two wide post it notes and stuck them  across the top and bottom of the card, leaving a gap of  about 2 inches between the post it notes.








I use the lines on my cutting mat when adhering the the post it notes to ensure they are straight, thus ensuring my art work will be straight.



See the photo below for the three colours I chose for this card.

 I started by applying Marina Mist ink with a sponge dauber.  I always start  sponging on the post it note to remove the excess ink before I start working on the card stock. It doesn't need to be even coverage, In fact patchy is better.           Repeat with the Coastal Cabana  leaving some patches of  the M.M showing through.




Finally I sponged some Night of Navy around the edges and overlapping the other colours slightly.

 I began stamping over the sponged background using Night of Navy ink.
The stamp set I used is called  "By the Tide," It's a retired set now.



Once I had filled the area with stamped images,  I removed  the Post it notes.

I stamped the sentiment and rounded off the corners with a corner punch. After adding some twine round the top layer, I mounted the piece on to  a piece of  Night of Navy card stock.










For the second layer I stamped around the edged of the card stock then sponged over the edges i the same colours.  Obviously  I didn't need to stamp and sponge the middle of the card stock  as it will be covered by the top layer.
Then mounted onto a white  5x5 base card.

I added a metal fish charm
before sticking all the layers together and mounting onto the base card.














To go with this card I made an envelope with the Envelope punch board. I  decorated the back flap of the envelope to co ordinate the two.

Another version of this card is the Father's day card below.  This time I have not used a second layer of background paper  and I only used Night of Navy ink.

Moving house card for a little girl.

My fourth  post this evening is this little card I made for my Granddaughter who has recently moved house.

I used another retired set from S.U If I recall this was a sale a bration set a few years ago. I can't remember what it's called at the moment though.

It have only used it once before  so I enjoyed getting it out and  playing with this set. 

I have to say  this is not an easy set to use and you definitely need a stamp positioning tool  to get the roofs on the houses right.

The foreground was created by sponging old olive ink below  and between the houses and then dotting on  a little white ink using a gel pen to give the impression of daisies growing in the grass. I then  dotted in some tiny  blades of grass  and some bushes between the houses with  the fine end of an old olive  marker.

The sky was sponged  on  using bashful blue ink .

Sponge Dauber Maintenance

I have to say the Stampin' up sponge dauber  are the best I have ever used  and I would recommend them to anyone without hesitation, but there comes a time when when they get start to show signs of wear and stop giving you the results you expect.

As you can see  from these two pictures some of my daubers have bobbles  and straggly  bits coming of them rather than being smooth.
It's all those bobbles and straggly bits that cause all the scratchy looking streaks on your work.

Definitely not a look I like or want.




Now  some people would now throw these daubers away when they get to this stage.


But me being a skin flint who wants to get as much use out of these  things as I can,  before binning them has a  little tip to share with you today to help you get a little more life out of them. 



My tip is when your daubers get tired and bobbly,  revitalize them by taking an ultra sharp pair of scissors and lay them flat on the surface of the dauber and just snip those bobbles away,  keep snipping until the top of the sponge looks smooth again. 
This will probably take you longer than you think to get it smooth and you will end end up a small pile of shavings.


Take your time to get a nice finish and 
be careful not to cut into the main body of the sponge you only want to  get rid of the straggly bits and bobbles.

Don't try to do this with dull scissors, they snag the sponge and create more straggly bits.

 After it's manicure your dauber will then start  to perform as it did when it was almost new.

as you can see here they perform much better now scratchy marks at all.

You can also rinse these out with a little washing up liquid and some warm water and dry them off  well with kitchen paper.
 I don't recommend you  leave them to soak  as  it's likely the adhesive with come  unstuck.
They  will still look stained after washing but if you have rinsed them well, they will be perfectly safe to use with your pastel coloured inks.

Christmas Mice Card.

I had a little sort of my stamp drawers and found  this set of stamps.
I bought these gorgeous  mouse stamps many years ago and have never got round to using them. I think they are from craft companions but I can't remember what the set was called.
There was also a CD or DVD that you could purchase to go with them. If I recall the CD had scenes on that you could print off to use as backgrounds for these mice. Yep!  I bought that too.

Here are two tunnel cards I have created over the last couple of nights that I have been unable to sleep.


The tunnel  is created by scoring and folding  every 1/2 inch on the side panels  (3 of navy top and sides and one white the base)  to form a concertina and then interlocked the sides with the ends.

Once the concertina frame was formed I sponged some whisper white card stock ( the same size as the overall frame)  with daffodil delight ink  in the area I thought the lantern would hang.  (This will be the background.)

Then I sponged the surrounding area  with night of navy ink,  slightly overlapping the yellow. But not too much as I didn't want to turn the yellow green.
Once happy with the effect I stamped the large group of trees from the " Lovely as a tree" (stamp set from Stampin Up) in black ink and then again in white ink, almost directly over the black image to give the trees a frosted look. I then cut a frame and stamped it with white snow flakes from the serene snowflake stamp set again from S.U but  it is now retired.



For the larger card I took a different tack and cut a piece of navy card ( the same size as the overall frame)  and stamped snowflakes with white craft  ink then mounted the frame onto the background.

I cut some snow drifts in differing depths and slotted them in  between the ridges of the concertinaed base.

The Mouse family were stamped, then coloured in with markers and then cut out.
 I left a white tab about 1 cm square at the foot of each mouse for glue. I placed a small amount of glue on the front of the tabs and positioned the the characters tabs behind the snow drifts making sure the feet were in line with the top of the snow drift    they were standing on. Without this tab you would have to glue the the back of the shoes and stick them to the front of the drift. As the shoes are so tiny they may not support the characters as well as the larger gluing area of the tab.                                    

The lamp post also came with the mice and I made use of it in the larger card. But it was too tall for the smaller square card.

I made a navy frame and stamped it with snowflakes  in white ink. While the white ink was drying I cut a sheet of sheet of acetate the same size as the overall frame and stamped white snowflakes over the top half of the acetate using white Stazon ink. (As it will not rub off or smudge once it is dry.)
The acetate was then stuck over the aperture of the card and the snowflake frame stuck on top.
I guess with this one I could have added some glitter and turned it into a shaker card. But I thought it may have been a little too much.
When complete I made a book style cover for the framed scene to go in . No photo Because I haven't decorated it yet.