August Essentials Challenge - Alcohol Ink

There's a new challenge on the Ellen Hutson Blog - it's the Essentials Challenge and this month, the challenge is to use Alcohol Ink. The challenge runs until September 18. At that time one randomly-chosen participant will get a $50 Gift Certificate to Ellen's shop!

A while ago, I made this card for a Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge and I had a lot (A LOT) of my alcohol ink backgrounds left over, so I used them here.

But I did something more to them.  Recently, I watched a video by my Design Team-mate Sandy Allnock, who used a Copic Colorless Blender marker on her background. That was a real a-ha moment for me! It seems obvious (I used the colorless blender solution to make the backgrounds, it was (or should have been!) a very small step to using the marker to add details). But my brain hadn't made that connection! LOL!

Anyway, I cut a bunch of trees and berries from the Modern Christmas die set out of my green and red backgrounds and arranged them on my card front. I cut HoHoHo from Concertina Tag and inlaid it into the panel.

Then I took my Colorless blender marker and put little dots on the tree. The marker did pick up the green ink, but I just scribbled it off until it was clear again.

Catherine Pooler Designs - Kind Layered Roses

Have you seen the new layering stamp sets at Catherine Pooler Designs yet? This rose set has classic flowers and leaves that make creating an elegant card so easy!

I started by stamping the first layer of the two roses around my panel, to ensure good spacing. I used It's a Girl ink. Then I went back and did the rest of the layers in Party Dress,  Rockin Red, and finally the last layer in Royal Treatment.

I added leaves around the flowers, using Mint to Be, Lime Rickey and Spruce. And then I chose a couple of Copic markers to fill it in the background a bit, leaving the centre white.

My sentiment was created using the Three of a Kind die cut in gold mirror card, with the second layer cut in black. I backed the panel with a white mat and put the whole thing on a black card base. I added some Gold Confetti sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Tip: Visit my friend Jen for a free downloadable set of Catherine Pooler ink-colour combination swatch charts!

FS602 - 1000 Flowers

Congratulations to this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper, Kelli (KAcopan). I chose this card as my inspiration:

I focused on Kelli's:
-row of dimensional containers with something coming out of the top (I love those little coffee cups!!)
-basic layout

I changed:
-number of containers
-'grounding' line
-more colours

I stamped, cut and coloured these flower pots. I gave them enough space to breathe and let them hang over the edge a bit to imply that they are part of an even bigger group.

I masked and blended some grey ink onto the background to provide a grounding for the pots.

I used:

Muse279 - Best Birthday

Here's my card for this week's Muse Card Club, where Tracey gave us this pretty inspiration:

I focused on Tracey's:

-cluster of flowers and leaves

-black sentiment

-layout

I used:

Kind of Batty Release Blog Hop - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 Blog Hop for the Kind of Batty Release from Catherine Pooler Designs.

Today I'm featuring some of the Hallowe'en products. My first card uses the new Who's There Cover Plate in an unusual way - I cut the whole thing, and then used circle dies to create little faces from the sets of eyes. I coloured them with CP inks (Melon Ice, Lime Rickey, Flirty Fuschia, Concord Crush, Orange Twist, Rockin' Red) and backed them smaller pieces of cardstock inked with Limoncello so that the eyes 'glow' and popped them up onto a panel that was blended with Black Jack ink (and not very neatly or smoothly - I wanted a foggy, atmospheric look). I stamped my bats and sentiment with Midnight ink.

My next two cards feature the Going Batty Background stamp - it's really easy to get a lot of different looks from this stamp - the Creative Team has a ton more inspiration, but here's a quick video (don't you love the spooky eyes? White gel pen!):

Catherine Pooler
Kelly Martin  
Tracie Pond  
Susan Powell
Laurel Beard
Ilina Crouse
Ingrid Blackburn
Ardyth <<You are here
Nanette Tracy

Kind of Batty Release Blog Hop - Day 2

Good morning! It's Day 2 of the Kind of Batty release from Catherine Pooler Designs - there are some new autumn and halloween goodies now available in the store!

My first card is probably my favourite - the bright rainbow of colour peeking out in all that black and white makes me happy, happy, happy!

I cut the 3 layers of the 3 of a Kind die from white cardstock and then used Copics to create my rainbow. I glued them together and popped them up over a black strip. I stamped one of the sentiments from the matching stamp set. Easy, but effective!

My second card uses Hello Autumn - one of the new layering stamp sets - I went for a 4-seasons kind of look with my colour choices.

I stamped and cut the leaf 4 times, blended matching ink on each corner of a white panel and then stamped my sentiment  (from Rose Garden) before popping up the leaves on top.

Be sure to hop and comment for a chance to win. 5 winners will be announced on Catherine's Blog on Monday, August 20.

Catherine Pooler
Chrissie Tobas
Susan Powell
Karen Baker  
 Jen Carter  
Jenny Colacicco  
Ashlea
Kelly Martin  
Ardyth   <<You are here>>
 Lydia

I used:

AJVD - Sunflower Smiles

I'm on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today with this card and a video with some tips for masking and colouring techniques!