Watercolour Wednesday Planted Paradise

 Sometimes a simple watercolour wash is all you need. It's  a great beginner technique as you can't do it wrong! The Planted Paradise stamps aren't just about the leaves. The pot's included in the set are equally as useful. 

The card starts with the creation of the watercolour wash on a panel of watercolour paper. Using low tack tape all four edges of the panel were masked off. This means that at the end you have a white border around your work. Using 3 colours mixed with plenty of water they were simply swipped across the more textured side of the paper in bands and left to dry.

Whilst the panel was drying I stamped and fussy cut out 3 of the same pot in different shades of grey. The leaves are heat embossed with white embossing powder on to vellum. This gives them a very light feel.

The colour palette of this card is a rather muted one but the addition of a few gold sequins certainly adds a little something something. 

Tips tricks and techniques Tuesday Planted Paradise

 Today's tequnique is a great way to explore your stash of colour. Called a monochromatic palette this is often presumed to be a black and white colour palette.  When in fact it means just using one colour. So why does it mean black? Well it doesn't!  And I can highly recommend using other colours such as todays Planted Paradise inspiration. 

As the Planted Paradise stamps are plants it made sense to go with a green 💚 monochromatic palette. Now this card doesn't just use 1 shade of green it uses 3 a dark, mid and light tone. This give the piece depth and interest. 

The other way to give a piece interest is white space. White space makes the colour parts pop and draws the eye to the colour.  White space also gives the eye a place to rest from all the busy bits 😅

The other tequnique used on the card is a simple masking one. The center panel where the sentiment goes is covered with masking paper or sticky notes or some such thing. This means that you can stamp over the area without actually getting ink onto the area beneath your mask.

For the sentiment I used a die cut happy birthday phrase from the Wanted to say dies in white cardstock then used alcohol markers in the same shades of green to colour it.

A mat of green and a white card base an voila a monochromatic card.

Make it simple Monday Planted Paradise

 Hello and welcome to the first of my inspiration using the Planted Paradise stamp set. Chosing what stamp set to feature for these posts is most often down to what I've just purchased or one that I'm really interested to use. But the stamps I'm using this week are ones that I wouldn't have chosen to purchase and aren't really my thing. So how did I end up with them in my stash? Well one of the perks of being a Stampin' Up!  demo is that you get to attend fantastic events. One such event is called OnStage. The next event is in Rotterdam in March which we're both getting excited about! But back to the stamps... this Planted Paradise set was a perk for attending the event! 

The stamps are reversible.  This means that you stamp the detailed image from oneside and the block image by switching it around on the block. If this is a new concept take a look at my video 

So I finally got round to playing with it and guess what? It's  a great set full of possibilities! Does that happen to you ? You have a stamp in your stash and it is not quite your thing so it doesn't get a lot of attention.  Bilut when you do get it out and play with it..wow why did you wait so long !

So here's today's make it simple Monday inspiration using the Planted Paradise stamps....

Sometimes simple really is the way to go!

A basic white cardbase 3 colours of ink and one stamp set is all you need to create an elegant card.

Pop back this week for more inspiration using the elegant stamp set.

Thoughtful Expressions - Fun Fold Friday

 Hello for this fun fold Friday card. This is the last one from me for this week and I have been inspired by a Christmas card I had from a lady in my team. Her name is Lynn Beatty and she makes the most beautiful cards as well as gorgeous wreaths, table decorations, gift packaging, bags, boxes, the list goes on. A very clever and lovely lady. Using the Thoughtful Expressions, I stamped several of the large flowers and the small flower too. I started by cutting 2, A6 card bases and then trimmed one of them, in this case a white one down by 0.5cm on the top and the side. The Real Red card is the C6 card and the smaller white one, was adhered to the inside of the card base on the right hand side of the base card. I have just received a pack of the Most Adored DSP which is another SABand has just been added in to the free items. We have another lot of Saleabration items bought in including current stamp sets, Stampin' Write Marker pens, the colour core collection too. Remember for every £45 order from the catalogues you get to chose a free item from the Saleabration catalogue too! What a great deal it is!

 

 

Above is the card from Lynn I had at Christmas and below is a picture of the gorgeous coordination dies that go with the matching stamp set of the same name as the stamp set.

 

 

Below is the Most Adored DSP that I used. 

I used 2 different mats of the DSP which is pink, red or white patterned on one side and gold patterned on the other side.I folded the right hand side of the White card base in half straight down and it was there that I adhered the red die cut mat to.

I used the dies to cut the centre panel out once I had stuck the 2 pieces of DSP on.  I didn't add Tombow to the centre of the DSP's. As you can see, I used the red mat of the card base for the inner fold.

 

 

Once the central mat was on, I started to decorate the rest of the card. I added a few fussy cut flowers from another piece of the DSP to the inside too. I love it!

 

That is it from me again this week, I will return the week after next as Cary will be sharing some of her fabulous creations with you next week. 

As always take care, stay safe and keep well but as always,

😍😍xxx KEEP ON CRAFTING xxx  😍😍

 Gill xx

This or That Thursday - Thoughtful Expressions

Well hello again for this lovely Thursday. I say lovely as we have been forecasted to get some very cold weather and snow in the coming weeks so today is lovely! Today's 2 cards using the beautiful Thoughtful Expressions are very similar, obviously but with the slight differences of papers and embellishments. The papers are from the Perennial Lavender suite, another set that is equally beautiful as the stamp set. 

The 2 cards were cut as A6 cards and half of the front of the card base was removed from both. I cut 2 pieces of DSP from the lavender papers and cut an A6 piece of paper 10cm by 14.4cm then cut it in half at 5cm. One of each halves was placed on the left and the other half obviously on the right. I was intending to leave it white but thought better of it.

 

 THIS

For this one, I used the beautiful hummingbird. My colouring isn't the best but I think it's my interpretation of it. Whether it is or not, I have no idea but that's one of mine! I die cut the circular patterned shape from the Thoughtful Espressions dies, added the sentiment, flowers and bird.

 

THAT

My that card I have obviously made in the different paper but no bird of this one. Just flowers and leaves.

 

 

 Now it's your turn to say which is your preferred card, if there is one. 

Watercolour Wednesday - Thoughtful Expressions

 Hello on a very wet Wednesday! Today's watercolour card was great fun to make. I started by cutting a strip of watercolour paper 14.85cm long by approximately 7cm wide. I thoroughly soaked it with water from the spritzer and then using my re-inker bottles, lightly I scribbled the ink across the card. I repeated it a few times with different colours and once I was happy with the them, I put it aside to dry. Prior to me stamping using the Thoughtful Expressions stamp set, I cut a tent fold card base which is 29.7cm long, scored at 14.85cm and 10.5cm wide. I then cut a white mat with the dies from the Around The Bend. It gave a really lovely curve across the card which was what I wanted. 

I cut the coloured mat to 14.4cm as I left it slightly longer than I wanted and just trimmed the ends down. Once I had positioned it onto the front of the card, I could mark the mat where I needed to trim it. I positioned the now 2 pieces onto the card base and adhered more or less centrally to the card. I adhered the die cuts to the top and bottom of the card base and then played with the scraps of inked watercolour card. I stamped some of the flowers and die cut using some of flowers and swirls from the Thoughtful Expressions dies.

The rest as you can see is easy. I just placed them onto the mat and then adhered them into place.

Here you can see the finished mats before they were die cut and stamped on. I really had fun today. Not a messy one like like Cary had on her LIVE on Monday but fun nonetheless. :)) 

Technique Tuesday - Thoughtful Expressions

 Hello and I hope that you are all busy creating in one way or another. It doesn't matter what and how you create but everyone ... and I believe this, everyone creates something every day! Whether it's just putting on coordinated clothing, decorating your home, creating a meal, we all create something every day! Today I am working with the gorgeous Thoughtful Expressions stamp set. I have added some of the beautiful double sided papers called Countryside Inn. I used 2 pieces for this one by trimming it down on the front by a small amount and added paper to the right-hand side of the card where the back of the card is showing. Another bird, once again drinking from the flowers.  

I used a die from the matching set of dies for the 2 white die-cuts and added some Misty Moonlight card behind the DSP and on the inside of the card.