Celestial Gold

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day filled with love and laughter :)

 

I have one last Christmas card to share. :)

I made the background by brayering distress inks onto my gel plate and splashing on a little water and ink.  These Christmas cards have been my first time experimenting with a gel press and I'll admit, I threw a lot of attempts in the bin :(  But this is one of the backgrounds that really worked :)

I used Lavinia Stamps small Reindeer, Pipin and Celestial Tree to create a very clean and simple card.

I darkened the ground with a little charcoal, used a white gel pen for highlights and a gold glitter pen on the tree.  It is very sparkly in real life :)

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Ink Art Designs - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - sparkle and shine

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas filled with love and laughter.

Thanks for your support :)

Kathy

It's almost time

 I have a Christmas card using a stamp from Dreamerland Crafts to share today.

This one is called It's Time to Dress Up the Christmas Tree and it's so sweet :)

I usually colour with Copics but this time I decided to try watercolouring instead.

It helped to create a nice soft "old-fashioned Christmas" type feel that I was wanting.

The sentiment stamp comes with this set and it's lovely.  The "Christmas" is a thicker font and I decided to use a white gel pen in the middle of each letter.  I really like how that turned out :)

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Word Art Wednesday - anything goes

Simon Says Monday - Celebrate

Simon Says Wednesday - sparkle and shine

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Peace

I used a few animals from Lavinia stamps for this Christmas card and I think they give a real Peace on Earth feel :)

I used the small Reindeer, Pipin and one of the Whimsical Hares.

 

The background was created using a star stencil, distress ink and a gel press.  I added the grass over the top of this with distress inks.

I die-cut the word using Whimsy Stamp's Bold ABC Die, darkened the edges and did some highlighting with a white gel pen.

I stamped the animals in black, added some highlights and used charcoal to ground them and frame the panel.

I especially love the way the hare looks jumping over the word :)

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Ink Art Designs - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Monday - celebrate

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Christmas Critters

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Joyful Reindeer

 

I have another Christmas card to share today using Lavinia Stamps small Reindeer and Berry Wreath with Mini Berries.  They are both such beautiful stamps aren't they?! And I decided that I wanted to try a purple and silver colour combo which is beautiful too :)

This time I decided to try making a full wreath and I added the mini berries to it.

I stamped the wreath with Archival Peeled Paint and the berries with Dusty Concord.

I coloured the open berries on the wreath with a silver glitter pen so it is nice and sparkly and shiny and added a few highlights with a white gel pen.

I used Whimsy Stamps Bold ABC die to cut the word Joy from silver card.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Ink Art Designs - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp -Christmas critters

Chocolate Baroque - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp  Monday - Celebrate

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Snow Deer

 I have another Christmas card to share using Lavinia Stamps today.

I used the small Reindeer, Pipin and the Celestial Tree again but this time I tried stamping straight onto kraft cardstock with black.

I then used white ink to create a bokeh, snowy effect using circles of different sizes.

I also added some white ink to create the snowy ground they're standing on.

I used white gel pen to highlight the animals but the dots on the tree are done with a silver glitter pen. This was just a fairly inexpensive pen I bought from Typo and I was unsure how well it would work but it looks fantastic in real life, bright and sparkly :)

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges :

Lavinia Stamps - Snowfalls

Ink Art Designs - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp - Christmas critters

Simon Says Monday - Ice Cold

Time Out Challenges - photo challenge

Thanks for dropping by to take a look :)

Kathy

Reindeer Wreath

It's day 2 of my Christmas card showcase and I have used Lavinia Stamps gorgeous Reindeer again :)

 

I used Distress Ink pads again but used the "smooshing method"  this time. The colours turned out so pretty together that I decided to showcase them and kept the card clean and simple.

I stamped another Lavinia stamp called Berry Wreath with Mini Berries on top of the background with a Brilliance pad called pearlescent orchid.  It turned out very pretty and a little shimmery too :)  Some of the berries on the stamp are clear and I went over these with a white gel pen.  I didn't use the Mini Berries that come with this set but just stamped the wreath a couple of times and left a section open.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

SimonSaysStamp - Christmas critters

Chocolate Baroque - anything goes

Ink Art Designs - anything goes

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Reindeer and Hare Christmas

I have been busy creating Christmas cards over the last few weeks and I have finally got around to putting them on my blog :)

This one is one of my favourites :)

 

I used Ranger Distress Inks brayered onto a gel plate to create the background scene.

Then I used a Christmas word stencil over the top of it and splashed on a little water.

The stamps are from Lavinia Stamps.  I used Celestial Tree, Pipin and small Reindeer.

I also added a little white gel pen the the animals and tree to highlight them.

I love these Lavinia stamps so much!!!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Lavinia World Challenge - anything goes

Ink Art Designs - anything goes

Simonsaysstamp - christmas critters

Chocolate Baroque - anything goes

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Astronauts

I have a card to share today that uses a new to me stamp set and a new to me technique :)

I have been on Design Teams for many years and I therefore have a huge stamp collection.  I shouldn't need more stamps right? :) But I have never been given a "Space" stamp and I really wanted one because they're so fun and you can do so many different background techniques with them.  So I searched a little and actually bought myself this one from Avery Elle called Astronaut.  I loved it because of the cute images but also because I really loved the sentiments that came with it :)

I coloured these images from the set with copics and white embossed this perfect sentiment.

I used Distress Inks to create a Galaxy Background and then splattered it with white paint.

It was my first time making on of these backgrounds.  I made a few which were a bit ordinary but I was pretty happy with how this one turned out :)  

I also die cut a couple of stars and covered them with glitter but you can't really see the sparkly in the photo unfortunately.

I'd like to enter my cards in the following challenges :

Tuesday Throwdown -anything goes

Simon Says Stamp - stamp it

Allsorts - hand coloured image

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

The Greeting Farm Girl

 I needed to make a birthday card and decided to use this gorgeous girl from The Greeting Farm.

She's an older stamp and I'm not sure they sell her anymore but I'm so glad I've got her!

The Happy die is from Whimsy Stamps and I use this one a lot because I love the look of it so much :)

I could have had her standing on it but I decided to cover her legs a bit instead and I was happy with how it turned out.

The Birthday is from an Avery Elle set called Astronauts.

The only other thing I added were some Ranger black enamel dots.

I am enjoying making slimline cards at the moment and this stamp was just perfect for it.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

TCP Tuesday - slimline cards

The Greeting Farm - Birthday challenge

SimonSaysStamp - anything goes

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Whimsical lemon and orange

I've been having fun with my Lavinia Stamps again :)

I always get lost in my own little world while creating with these beauties :)

I did something on this card that I don't think I've ever done before.

I stamped directly onto some patterned paper, rather than building up the background with inks myself.

It kind of felt like a bit of a "cheat"?  But really I don't think it was.

I still did all the stamping and designing and added some extra ink blending to the card.  

But yes, having the background card did make it quicker and I'm a very slow cardmaker so this was a big bonus :)

The patterned paper is by 7 Dots Studio and is called Paint Chips.  It is a really smooth and thick paper, more like smooth cardstock and it worked beautifully for this.

I only used versafine black to stamp the images and some black distress ink to go around the edges and to create the ground the hare and mushrooms are on.

I also used some white paint to splash on some dots and added a few highlights with a white gel pen.

I used Whimsical Hares, Fairy Buttercups, Meadow Mushroom, Willow and Fairy Foragers by Lavinia Stamps.

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Lavinia Stamps - orange and lemon

Ink Art Designs - anything goes

TCP Tuesday - slimline card

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Meadow Mushroom Hare

I have a new card to share today using gorgeous Lavinia Stamps and some stencilling.

The wonderful Meadow Mushroom stamp is the newest addition to my Lavinia collection and I couldn't wait to use it :)  It's gorgeous!

To create the background I used a piece of card that I had started previously which had the sun rays already on it. It was a second "print"  from another piece I'd been working on.
I had used distress inks to sponge on a colourful sky and then placed a sun rays stencil on top and sprayed it with water.  It created a gorgeous effect but I also noticed there was a lot of wet ink left on the stencil after doing this so I pressed it down on another piece of card and so ended up with two lovely backgrounds for the price of one :) Yay!

The rays were created using mustard seed, marmalade, raspberry and dusty concord Distress Inks.

I sponged some tumbled glass and broken china Distress Inks on top of the rays and splashed the card with some water and watered down Dusty Concord Distress Ink.

I also decided to add some stars.  I used Ranger Texture Paste for some and Versamark for others.
I then used a blue mica powder on top of them so they are actually shimmery.
I also added some "Disney stars"  to the sky with a white gel pen.

I stamped Whimsical Hares, Fairy Buttercups and Meadow Mushroom stamps by Lavinia Stamps using dusty concord, peeled paint and black Archival Inks.

I also used some Echo Park paper for the sentiment and strip behind the main panel.


I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Lavinia Stamps challenge - my favourite stamp (whimsical hares)
Lavinia World challenges - anything goes
Modsquad Challenge - silhouette time
Southern Girls Challenge - anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown -  anything goes
Ink Art Designs - anything goes


I had so much fun creating this card.
Thanks for dropping by for a look :)

Kathy

Celestial Tree

I wanted to try to make a Clean and Simple, but Grungy at the same time, card for a guy :)

I also wanted to use my new Lavinia stamps again so it was a bit of a tricky challenge I set myself but I was happy with how this turned out :)

I decided to mask a panel down the middle of white card.
I blended Tumbled Glass,  Broken China and Salty Ocean Distress Inks for the sky and              Mowed Lawn and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks for the grass.
Then I used Faded Jeans Distress Ink with a Tim Holtz stencil called Bubble from Set #5.

I used Archival Black ink to stamp the gorgeous Celestial Tree by Lavinia Stamps.
I splashed some water onto the card and some watered down Mowed Lawn Distress Ink also.

I wanted the dots on the tree to be white and used a white paint pen but I wasn't real happy with the look and ended up going over it again with white gel ink.

I cut some words from some paper by Bella Blvd and drew around them a little. 

I also added some Ranger black enamel accents and mounted the piece onto a black card.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Lavinia Stamps challenge - flora and fauna
Lavinia World Challenge - anything goes
Casology - Plant
Time Out Challenge - Free
Penny Black and More challenge - Boys and men
Ink Art Designs - anything goes


Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Lilac Whimsical Hares

I had lots of messy fun playing around with Lavinia Stamps yesterday :)

I decided to use two of the Whimsical Hares this time along with Willow and Fairy Buttercups.

I used Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Dusty Concord, Mowed Lawn, Evergreen Bough and Black Soot Distress Inks to create the background and then spritzed it with some water.

Then I used Dusty Concord Archival Ink to stamp the Willow and Fairy Buttercups.

The Whimsical Hares were stamped with Black Archival Ink and I flicked some white acrylic paint on top of it all.

I really enjoyed creating a scene on a circle rather than a rectangle and I was really happy with how this one turned out :)


I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Ink Art Designs - hashtag animal challenge

Lavinia World Challenge - anything goes

Lavinia Stamps creative challenge - flora and fauna

Southern Girls Challenge - anything goes


Thanks for dropping by for a look today :)

Kathy

Happy Fairy Forager and Hare

I have another card to share using Lavinia Stamps today :)

I've used a couple of different stamps this time and created the sky in a different way too.

Instead of sponging on blue Distress Inks I used the wet smooshing together method. I'm not too sure about the correct name haha :)

I was very happy with how this one turned out as well.  Yay :)

I used Broken China, Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans Distress Inks with water and smooshed a background. I added a moon and flicked water and white acrylic paint and faded jeans distress ink onto the background.

I used Faded Jeans distress ink to create the ground and stamped the Willow using Faded Jeans and Mermaid Lagoon Archival Inks. I stamped the Whimsical Hare and one of the Fairy Foragers with Black Archival Ink.

I went over the outline of the fairy's wings with a white gel pen and used super fine silver glitter for the centre of them to give her some sparkle.  I added a few highlights to the hare, fairy, moon and willow with the white gel pen too.

I layered this panel onto silver card and I also added a little saying from some Cocoa Vanilla paper I found in my stash.

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Lavinia Stamps Creative Challenge : Blue and Silver

Ink Art Designs Challenge : anything goes

Simon Says Monday Challenge : Create a scene

Southern Girls Challenge : anything goes


I have really loved playing around with these Lavinia Stamps :)

Thanks for dropping by for a look today.

Kathy

Celestial and Whimsical

I recently treated myself to some new stamps and being on a very tight budget that happens rarely.

I have loved Lavinia Stamps for a long time now because the designs are just so beautiful.
They are very different to what I usually use because there is no colouring involved!
And while I still love my colouring it was great to create something different.

This was my first attempt and I was pretty happy with how it turned out :)

I used Lavinia Stamps Celestial Tree, Whimsical Hares and Fairy Buttercups to create this little scene.

I used Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac and Black Soot Distress Inks for the background. I splashed a little water on top also.

I stamped the tree with versamark and embossed with silver and stamped the Buttercups in Faded Jeans Archival Ink.
The hare was stamped with Black Archival Ink.

I sponged on some white craft ink for the moon and also added some highlights with a white gel pen and Wink of Stella.

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Lavinia Stamps Creative Challenge : blue and silver

Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground : anything goes


I had lots of fun getting inky and playing with these stamps :)
Thanks for dropping by today.

Kathy

You Are A Blessing

I have another card for Dreamerland Crafts today :)

I've used a gorgeous stamp called You Are A Blessing and a sentiment from the Birthday 06 set.

I thought this stamp had such a peacefully sweet vibe and I wanted to continue that feel with the background.  So I used a leaf stencil and some distress inks to create a soft and pretty garden effect.

I used Evergreen Bough, Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans Distress Inks with a Kraftin Kimmie stencil called Leaves and Vines.

I coloured the stamp with these Copics :

W 00, 1, 3, 5, 7

B 00, 37

BG 05

E 00, 00, 13, 21, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 42, 43, 44, 47

R 00, 20, 22

RV  55, 63, 66

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Time Out Challenges -  "Inspired by Words" 

"If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need"

Word Art Wednesday - Anything with a sentiment

Through the Craftroom Door - anything goes

Southern Girls Challenge - anything goes





Sitting on a swing with your cat and a book in a garden = Perfection

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

When I Look Into Your Eyes

I have a card to share using one of the gorgeous stamps from Dreamerland Crafts today :)

This one is called When I Look Into Your Eyes and it's so very sweet.

I coloured the image with Copics and then used a die to cut a pretty border at the bottom.
I silver embossed the 'Special' onto the piece and then stamped the rest of the sentiment on a separate piece of paper and cut the words out.

The pretty papers are both from a beautiful Vintage Girl collection by Photoplay.

Copics used :

E 000, 00, 13, 21, 42, 43, 47, 55

BG 11, 72

G 21

R 20, 30, 81, 83, 85

RV 69

W 00, 1, 3, 7

I have a few Dreamerland Crafts stamps with girls and cats now because they're all so gorgeous I just can't resist them :)


I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Aud Sentiments Challenge - anything goes with a sentiment
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - happy birthday
Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper challenge - patterned paper



Thanks for dropping by today :)
Kathy

Enjoy today

I have a card to share today using one of the gorgeous new stamps from Dreamerland Crafts.

This one is called Thank you for and I think these two are SO sweet :)

To be honest, otters are my favourite animals but hedgehogs run a close second so I knew I just had to have this set :)

On the stamp the hedgehog is actually sitting on top of a tree stump but I decided not to add that part and it was very easy to cut him out.

There is also a lovely sentiment that comes with the set but I decided to go with this one from an older set called Birthday 05.

Copics used :

R 20, 24, 27, 29, 30, 59

W 00, 1, 3, 5

E 000, 00, 13, 21,31, 33, 35, 41, 53 

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Crafty Calendar Challenge - Add a tag
Wednesday's Creative Inspiration Challenge - Something New or something old
Southern Girls Challenge - Anything goes

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy