Holly Jolly Christmas

 

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 (red, white, pink, silver), Techniques (embossing, die cutting), Elements (grid of hearts, oval sentiment panel, heat embossed stamped sentiment)

INCLUDE: red, white, grid of small shapes, , die cutting, 

MODIFY: colours, stenciled instead of die cut, small cirlce   and die cut for sentient

EXCLUDE: hearts, oval, heat embossing, scallops

You all know I love a grid layout, and I've had this idea ever since I got this half-circle stencil. I wanted to blend it then turn the stencil to create these 3/4 pie shapes. But the circles didn't match up when I turned the stencil. I was not going to be defeated by that! lol! I masked off one of the half-circle shapes and blended darker green ink through individaully.

Then I used a similar technique to mask around a circle on another stencil and I added some red berries

I have a couple of sentiment stamp sets that have these little 'type-written' greetings that fit perfectly in small circle die cuts. I added a red frame and added it to a die-cut Christmas word

STOP Ink blending with Brushes!

 

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 (yellow, orange, pink, white, black), Techniques (ink blending, die cutting), Elements (square cards, daisy die cut, greenery die cut, die cut sentiment, white border)

INCLUDE: yellow, orange, pink, white, black, square card, daisy, die cut sentiment, white border

MODIFY: gel plate background instead of ink blending, stenciled flower instead of die cut, sentiment location, white shadow around sentiment)

EXCLUDE: greenery

OK, I admit that I was inspired by these cards because they already contain so many of my favourite things - great summer colours, lots of die cuts, square card, pops of black and white borders. 

But I changed it up. I wanted to show that inkblending a background with a gel plate, brayer and inks you already have is WAY easier than using blending brushes.

Tips:

-ink up the gel plate light to dark to avoid contamination on your ink pads

-use an 'in between' colour to help 2 colours blend smoothly

-get a brayer that's as wide (or wider) than your gel plate

-move the brayer slightly up and down as you're rolling to help blend the inks

-don't always put the paper down in the exact same place

-use up all the ink on the brayer (2 or 3 pulls)

-put down more ink if you want more intense colours

I added a stenciled daisy, a die cut hello sentiment and some black sequins with pink dew drops on top.

3 Card Making Experiments

Today, I'm sharing the results of 3 cardmaking experiments:

1. how to double your colours with one ink pad
2. how to use a gel plate instead of a sticky mat
3. how to use your stamp positioner for repeat stamping in a completely NEW way!

Welcome Back, Mary!

 
After a short hiatus, Mary is returning to Craft Roulette this week and we're so happy - we missed her! If you want to join in the fun, share a card, using 4 wheel parameters of your choice and upload to the Facebook group!

I chose

Project #5: z-fold card

Colours #24: pink plus 2 (green and blue)

Element #12: bouquet (EH tulips)

Random #8: old product (EH tulips)

You Can't Do That!

One of the first lessons we learn in Colour Theory is that you can not mix complementary colours without creating mud. Let's see about that! 

Crafty Meraki Video Hop (& Glimmer Giveaway!)

 

I love the look of Clean and Simple cards. But I also love to try techniques, and some of them can get pretty messy. 

Today's video shows 4 ways to use watercolour powders and then how I used the panels I created with these messy techniques to make clean and simple cards.

This video is part of a video hop to celebrate the latest Crafty Meraki release, and they are giving away a Spellbinders Glimmer hot foil machine to ONE randomly chosen lucky winner! Head to my video here and then hop and comment for a chance to win!

Just Wanted to Say

 Today I'm sharing some cards I made with a couple of new dies from the new "Just Wanted to Say" release from Spellbinders. Sweet Birdie is very aptly named, and he comes with lots of little pieces that you can use in different ways to get different looks.

Leafy Sprig has a sprig, of course, but also includes 7 individual leaves that make cutting multiples quick and easy!

For the first one, I actually paired up the bird with one of the Color Block Balloon dies from yesterday's Birthday release. I cut the striped balloon from four pieces of cardstock coloured with my ink pads, then assembled them, mixing the colours. I cut the bird from the centre of the balloons, and then grounded them on black balloons cut with the same die.

For this bird, I used all the die cut bits in pretty, fresh colours. I like to cut all the pieces from white cardstock then colour them either with markers or ink pads. This means I don't have to try and store lots of coloured cardstock and scraps. I grounded this bird with a black scallop cut from Colorblock Slimline edges and a hello die cut from Paper Rose.

By changing the colours, I made the Sweet Birdie into a cardinal, perfect for a classic feeling Christmas card. I blended a circle as my background, and added the Leafy Sprig die cut and my cardinal, along with a Waffle Flower sentiment.

This time, I went for a more mid-century modern look, and left a lot of the details off the birds. I used some 'backwards' so that they could face each other, and I added a wing to the back of each bird to make them look like they are flying. 

Finally, I used the 7 individual leaves to cut a lot of leaves before colouring and arranging them onto my background. I splattered gold watercolour over top and added a white thanks die cut to brighten it up a bit.

Summer Fun Video Hop!

Today, I'm joining some of my crafty friends for a Summer Fun video hop!

You can start with my video here:

Hop list:

Robin: https://youtu.be/DTyvfr51MTQ Mirisha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNFQzyONIn4 Joy: https://youtu.be/gZWH0K0Y2eQ Rae: https://youtu.be/qMsbPCuknlU Ardyth: (you are here!) Channin: https://youtu.be/F-LoUaomqM0

Crafty Meraki IG Hop

 

I'm excited to be part of an Instagram hop to celebrate Crafty Meraki's 2nd birthday. Today, they are releasing some new stencils and stamps. 

I made this card with the new Butterfly Garden stencil. I love that I could use small blending tools to add multiple colours without any masking, and then to take it to the next level, I added a thin coat of Enchanted Gold Gilding Polish which not only softened the colours, but added subtle shimmer and texture!

I added a stacked up hello sentiment and lots of the newest colours of Meraki Sparkle gems!

Hello Tulips

Congratulations to this week's Featured Stamper, Kristine!

I chose this card as my inspiration:

LIST: Colours (blue, purples, green, yellow), Techniques (pop up card) Elements (tulips patterned paper, stamped lamb on oval die cut with yellow frame, die cut flowers on steps, purple mats)

INCLUDE: Colours, tulips, frames, 

MODIFY: focus on left panel of step-up card only, modify oval die cut to circle, white negative frame rather than purple layered mats, Easter to friend theme

EXCLUDE: lamb, step-up, die cut flowers

SPIN: square card

It's been a while since I did some Copic colouring! I started by stamping the tulip image from the new Spring Blooms set from Crafty Meraki, then masking and stamping it again on either side. 

I chose two combinations of purple markers for my tulips, added yellow to the centres and finished with a rich blue sky.

Trying Again....

 In yesterday's video, I made a birthday card with a rainbow wreath. And I admit that while I love some things about it, overall, it wasn't my favourite.

So I took another shot at it, added more stamping to the design and still didn't love it.

So I trimmed it down with some circle dies, added some black, lots of white and a big hello die cut sentiment. That's better! 

Revisitng Two Favourite techniques from 2021

 

I love to try new techniques, but sometimes I feel like I only try them once then move on without fully exploring them. 

So in today's video, I'm revisiting two of my favourite alcohol ink techniques from 2021 - alcohol inks with stencils and the salad spinner technique. 

I finished all the cards with Oversized Hi, Hey, Hello and Oversized Thank You dies from Waffle Flower for quick and easy cards that let the backgrounds really shine!

Dotty Hello

Congratulations to this week's Featured Stamper, mickeyinpsj.

I chose this card as my inspiration:

LIST: Colours (pink, purple, yellow, white, black) Techniques (stamping, die cutting), Elements (patterned paper, black dots, flowers, ribbon, bow, layered die cut sentiment)

INCLUDE Colours, 

MODIFY alcohol ink background instead of paper, coloured dots instead of flowers, flower created my scalloped frame, black pearls as dots

EXCLUDE ribbon, 

SPIN square card, 

I started by creating a background on Yupo paper with alcohol inks and bubble wrap. The purple, yellow and pink blended to create lots of different tones.

I cut a circle from the centre and doubled-up daisy die cuts to create a scalloped circle.

Bicycle Cards

 

So this card is one that didn't make it into my video about making 'masculine' cards - we often think that sporty cards work well for men, and they do! But my friend loves to cycle and I know she will love this card (and the one below). She just moved into a new home, so this Christmas sentiment from Ellen Hutson is perfect, even if it doesn't tie perfectly with the bike motif! 

I think Gerry summed it up best in her video - instead of making cards for men, let's just make cards for people - we're already very good at that!

For this card I cut the Penny Black bicycle die 15 times from black cardstock and 15 times from white. I glued the black outlines onto a white panel, then added in the coloured 'inner wheels' from the white die cuts.

For the second card, I took one of the leftover white die cuts, coloured it with a rainbow of Copic markers and stacked it up with a few of the other white die cuts.

This sentiment is a very old wooden stamp from Stampin' Up, but again, it's perfect for a cycling card.

Hello, Gorgeous!

September has always felt like a new year to me, more than January. It's the beginning of new school years, my favourite season and always fills me with new energy and hope. 

To kick off this new season, I am sharing this floral card, using products from Crafty Meraki. I have combined the brand new FrameWorthy Mini-Slim die set with the Hello, Love stamp set, coloured in muted, autumn colours.

I stamped the image onto white cardstock and coloured it with Copic markers. Then I cut the white cardstock with all 3 nested frames. I also cut the frames from black cardstock, to give me the 'in between' bits for inlaying onto my 3.5 x 6.25" card base. (click here to see a video showing my inlaying method and other tips for mini-slim cards).

Once it was all inlaid, I trimmed down the stamped gorgeous (also from Hello, Love), adhered it to the card, and added Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the letters, flower centres and berries,

Hello Abstract!

 

I've been on 'video-vacation' for about a week now, and have really enjoyed having a chance to just play with the new goodies that I've purchased over the summer.

EBE Organic Elements was one of the sets - the simple shapes and lines make it easy to create organic, geometric abstract designs! And these big solid stamps reminded me of one of the reasons I love Catherine Pooler's inks  so much - perfect first-time coverage (and vibrant fun summer colours are just another reason...)

I stamped a little off-centre grid, leaving one place empty for my sentiment, which came from Mondo Tulip.

I finished my simply-stamped card with 3 little silver pearls.

Brighten My Day with Tulips (and Discount Code!)

Tulips are my favourite flower and my favourite sign of spring! I love the simple shapes and the bright colours.

And getting more out of a stamp is one of my favourite crafty things to do. I used the Blooming Birthday set from Crafty Meraki, but I stamped it twice, off the edge, to get a different look than using the whole stamp.

I coloured it with Copics and added an inkblended sky, some stickles and Dew Drops.

And check out the gorgeous enamel pin that's available in the shop! 

AND, I have a discount code: ARDYTH10 for 10% off your order! 

Hello

Congratulations to this week's Featured Stamper, Elizabeth (beadsonthebrain).

I chose this project as my inspiration:

LIST: Colours (dark brown, pinks, green), circle, dry embossing, 'pie' shape, 

INCLUDE: colours, 

MODIFY: circle becomes wreath, 

EXCLUDE: pie pieces, embossing

SPIN: 3D project to card, added gold

I was attracted by the rich brown background and the pops of pinks and green. I immediately thought of making a wreath, and this new Studio Light wreath has lots of leaves for me to add colour.

I cut it from gold satin cardstock, and inlaid it into a brown panel. Then I cut it again from white cardstock, coloured the leaves with Copic markers and inlaid them into the wreath.

For my sentiment, I cut Hello from Ellen Hutson's Block Words die set from the inlaid panel, and also from white (and the E from gold). I coloured the white letters and inlaid them into the panel. 

I used Essential Squares dies to create my negative frame.