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.

Stippled blossoms Blue.

Firstly I think I ought to apologise  for the very bright background on these. I decided I needed something to protect my table . As I have spoilt several table clothes with ink or by cutting through them with scissors. So Ang and I  dashed into town  to see what was available in plastic coated fabric.     

I love polka dots  and decided to go with this yellow as the other colours were too dark. My only regret is that isn't pale pink or willow green with would go in the room much better than this  yellow but unfortunately they didn't have those colours.  Anyway on to the card I  have used this gorgeous  stippled blossom two step stamping set New from SU.  As soon as I saw this I knew I just had to have it.  I haven't had a huge amount of time to play with it yet but here are two quickies I did this afternoon despite feeling quite a lot under the weather. For the background on the navy base I used the detail stamp with night of navy ink to stamp randomly over the navy card  then set about decorating the center panel. using bashful blue and night of navy ink with a hint of crumb cake. A few weeks ago I was going through the su catalogue and spotted the perfectly penned stamp set for the first time. I really don't know why this set didn't jump out me before, but it did that day  so I just had to order it. I am so glad I did.  I love it to bit. I think this set is going to get a lot of use and is my second favourite stamp set this year. I still can't believe  I didn't notice it sooner.

Embossing resist

A nice little Thank you card,

I used the En Francais background stamp , Bella toile background stamp and the elegant Thank you stamp. Cake crumb and soft suede ink pads white taffeta ribbon all from SU and a black Vanilla card stock, clear embossing powder and a brayer, distressing tool and daubers.

I stamped and embossed the background images and went over them with cake crumb ink using the brayer. I then went over the lighter areas with a dauber and some soft suede ink. I distressed and inked all the edges.

I stamped the Thank You in Chocolate chip ink. Then it was just a case of matting all the layers and adding the ribbon.