Leafy Happy Birthday

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours: (White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Brown) Techniques (stamping, die cutting), Elements (autumn leaves, white space, die cut sentiment, frame, 3 die cut leaves)

INCLUDE: white, yellow, orange, green, die cut sentiment, leaves, white space

MODIFY: added pink and gold, changed from fall to spring, stenciled background, 3 die cut flowers instead of leaves, 

EXCLUDE: mat/frame

SPIN: square card

Somehow, I can make Christmas cards all year long, but I'm not ready for autumn cards until September! lol!  Still, I love the warmth of these leaves and the addition of the little die-cut leaves so I used these ideas to make a more spring-y card.

I created my leafy background by extending a circular leaf frame stencil. I blended green ink through the circle of leaves, then masked that circle, moved the stencil to each of the 4 corners and blended some more leaves to get a more continuous look.

I blended ink onto 3 flower die cuts and then added depth with darker shades of Copic Markers.

My die cut sentiment was stacked up with some Inca gold cardstock for the top layer. I finished with Enchanted Forest gems for the flower centres and the dot on the i.

Abstract Blossom

There's a new release at Penguin Palace Stamps this week, and I've been lucky enough to be able to play with some of the new round stencils for the Stencils 360 tool!

Today I used the new Abstract Blossom stencil and I turned it just once, to get this beautiful rainbow burst!

LIMES: Bursting Happy Birthday

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper, Ruby!

LIST: Colours (brown, orange, yellow, white, aqua) Techniques (die cutting, stamping and colouring) Elements (dark background with colourful leaves, chevron pattern, fox/critter, die cut sentiment, buttons and die cut embellishments)

INCLUDE: dark background with colourful shapes, die cut sentiment

MODIFY: colours, layout

EXCLUDE: chevrons, critter, colouring, buttons

SPIN: iridescent gold cardstock for die cut sentiment

I really focused on the randomly placed, colourful leaves on Ruby's background patterned paper, and created my own. I blended blue inks onto a panel, leaving it lighter in the centre for a bit of a glow. For my shapes, I used some off-cuts from the Fab Floral coverplate. I finished the card with a simple layered happy birthday die cut and some Enchanted Forest gems.

I sent this card to my Insta-friend's daughter, Elysha, who is turning 30 later this month, and loves to receive mail! Happy Birthday, Elysha!

Chevron Happy Birthday

Congratulations to this week's Featured Stamper, Lisa!

I chose this card as my inspiration:

LIST: Colours (white, black, red, yellow, blue) Techniques (inkblending, die cutting, stamping) Elements (birthday, balloons, chevrons,slimline, stamped sentiment, twine, black mat/frame)

INCLUDE: rainbow created with red, yellow, blue, ink blending, die cutting, birthday theme, chevrons, circle

MODIFY: 1 white circle sentiment mat instead of 3 coloured balloons, die cut sentiment instead of stamped, black frame around sentiment, A2 format, technique for building chevrons

EXCLUDE: balloons, twine, stamping

SPIN: added gold gems

TIPS FOR INKBLENDING:

If you struggle with inkblending, the best thing to do is to keep practicing. 

• start with smooth paper and juicy inks
• whichever tool you choose (I prefer brushes, but others prefer foam!), start with a light hand
• take your time, build up layers of colour - the paper will actually feel wet
• go back and forth between the colours to allow for blending
• use colours that are close together on the colour wheel - if you're blending yellow and red, don't be afraid to use an orange in the middle to help smooth the blend
• add splatter (water or white/gold/coloured) to distract from your less-than-perfect areas
• if all else fails, cut it down and just use the 'good' parts! lol!

For this card, I ink blended a panel with blue, yellow and red ink (and put a big blue fingerprint in the yellow area!) and then spritzed it with water and gold watercolour and let it dry. Then I cut it with a strips die before building a herringbone pattern with the coloured strips and white strips cut with the same die.

I finished it with one white circle, instead of 3 colourful balloons, and a die cut birthday sentiment, instead of a stamped sentiment.

Colour Wheel Card

Today I have another card using one of the 3 Circlet Layered Dies from Paper Rose Studios.

This time I used Copic markers and inlaid all the pieces back into the die to create a kind of colour wheel.

I started by cutting out the die, and keeping all the inside pieces.

I trimmed the die with scissors to create a blossom kind of shape. I used liquid glue to adhere it to a white A2 card base (but I changed my mind on the shape later on....)

I sorted the pieced and then I started my Copic colouring with the first 6 colours, trying to choose the 'purest' shades of each one. 

Next, I filled in the 'in-between' colours around the edges. 

Then I worked my way to the next level, again choosing colours that transitioned between the two in the outer row. I used my Copic Hex Chart by Sandy Allnock for this - it definitely made choosing the colours much easier! 

When I had it all filled in, I found an Essentials by Ellen sentiment and stamped it on white cardstock before trimming it with a circle die. I popped it up in the centre of the wheel and then trimmed the card to 4.25x4.25. I added some Sparkling Clear Confetti sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to finish it off.

Rainbow Thank You

Here's another card I made with one of the Circlet Layering Dies from Paper Rose Studio, available at Ellen Hutson LLC.

This time I used the top layer die only, and centred it on my card.

The background was blended with a rainbow of Catherine Pooler inks, using Life Changing blender Brushes.

For the sentiment, I inlaid white Essentials by Ellen Classic Block Alpha letters into a strip of Ebony cardstock and I used only the You portion of the EBE Big Scripty Thank You die.

I added some clear droplets with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive for some sparkle.

Rainbow Hello

Today, I've got a layered up die cut from Paper Rose, which is an Australian company that is carried in the Ellen Hutson Shop.

There are 3 dies that layer together to form this geometric circle pattern and I simply cut all 3 from white cardstock.

I adhered the first one directly to a white card base and then I masked and inkblended a rainbow of Catherine Pooler inks onto the middle one (Flirty Fuschia, Something Borrowed, Aquatini, Lime Rickey, Limoncello, Tiki Torch, Coral Cabana and Party Dress).

I left the top one white and glued it to the top. The bottom two layers have stitching on them (not visible here) to help guide placement of the next layer.

For my sentiment I cut and stacked 3 Essentials by Ellen Big Scripty Hello die cuts and then I added some Pretty Pink Posh jewels for a bit of sparkle.

I've made a few others with different colours and combinations of the 3 layering dies, and will show them over the next couple of weeks.