Candy Winner!

I used the very technical "ask my daughter to pick a number" method and she chose number 2 - so that means Natasha is the winner of the blog candy! Natasha, leave me a comment or call me so I can arrange to meet you and give you your prize.

I'm back!

I have batteries!

I held a Watercolour Techniques Class on Saturday afternoon. These are the 3 cards we made:

From top left:
1. This card was made using the Misting Markers technique. Stamp Sets are Season of Joy and A Little Birthday Cheer. Colours are Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi and Cameo Coral.
2. We used Watercolour Wonder Crayons and Blender Pens for this card. The images come from the True Friend stamp set. Colours are Elegant Eggplant, Lavendar Lace, Pretty in Pink, Pixie Pink and Old Olive.
3. Lastly, we used Markers and Aquapainter for this beautiful rose from Bloomin' with Beauty. Colours are Always Artichoke and Rose Red with Certainly Celery wide grosgrain ribbon.

The ladies and I had a great time! Maybe you'll like to join us next time for a Christmas Stamp-a-Stack (stay tuned for details).

BLOG CANDY

I know I promised you some blog candy when I reached 2000 hits. Well, we passed that over the weekend. So, leave a comment on this post before midnight Friday 29th August (Darwin time) and you'll be in the draw to win the above 3 cards! In your comment, tell me your favourite watercolouring technique.

I can't wait to read all your comments.

New Batteries - well almost!

I had new batteries for my camera - until my daughter needed batteries for a fibre optic she was given for her birthday! Guess I'll be shopping again tomorrow.

I have a Watercolour Techniques class on Sunday afternoon. I am teaching 3 different techniques for achieving a watercolour look - Brushless, Watercolour Wonder Crayons and Marvellous Markers. I hope the ladies who are attending have a great time and enjoy making the 3 cards. I'll post the 3 cards on Sunday night.

No Batteries!

I'm so sorry for my long absence. The batteries in my camera died and I haven't been able to get to a shop to buy some more. I shall be doing that tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to post all the cards I've made then. I have new rubber to play with tonight as I received my order from the first level of the Stampin' Start program on Monday - 3 new stamp sets! I can't wait to play but my daughter is bugging me to get her some ice cream so I guess duty calls.

See you tomorrow! Come back because I'm going to be announcing some blog candy for when I reach 2000 hits!

Altered Journal

Over the last 2 nights I made my first altered anything - an inspiration journal. I will use it to makes notes on colour combinations, layout ideas, techniques I want to try, anything that might inspire me.

I covered the journal with Rose Red DSP. The Colour Coach was my inspiration for the colour combination - Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Barely Banana and Certainly Celery. It's such a beautiful combination!

The Cameo Coral triangle is a scrap from another project. I layered it underneath a large sqaure of Barely Banana with Certainly Celery textured cardstock layered on top. I stamped the large butterfly from Garden Whimsy randomly over the Certainly Celery square with Rose Red ink.

Both butterfiles were stamped twice on Whisper White cardstock using the Rock n Roll technique with Cameo Coral and Rose Red. I cut out the wings from one of each and glued Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the spots on the wings. The wings were then layered on the whole butterfiles but only adhered along the bodies - to give them some dimension.

The tulips flowers were inked the same way as the butterflies with the stems and leaves inked using the Certainly Celery marker. The tulip flowers were stamped separately also, cut out, glittered and glued to the whole tulips just at the base of the flower.

The letters were stamped in Rose Red ink on Certainly Celery DSP using the Jumbo Outline set. They were cut out, adhered and then covered with Crystal Effects to give them the look of shiny chipboard.

I'm really pleased with the journal. I think my last step will be to make some dividers with tabs to separate the pages into the different categories of inspiration.

I hope you like my first journal. Please leave a comment before you leave so I know who has visited. My counter is clicking over but I haven't had a comment for ages. I love to see who has come to visit.

Mel's Colour Challenge

I made this card for a colour challenge set by my sister demo, Mel. The colours were Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Apricot Appeal. I have to admit, I was stumped for a while with this one - 2 Earth Elements and 2 Soft Subtles! So not Mel.

I decided to ink up a set from the Spring Mini, Always, for the first time. I black embossed the flower-filled heart on Whisper White cardstock and watercoloured it with Watercolour Wonder crayons - Pretty in Pink and Apricot Appeal of course. Then I hit a wall. How could I use the green and the chocolate?

I played around with matting the heart on different combinations of the colours but that just wasn't "doing it" for me. I decided that the card base had to be Garden Green and then had a brainwave - what about a circle aperture in the mat! After that it fell together fairly easily.

I stamped the berry branch from the Always set over the Chocolate Chip mat after I had used my CM circle templates to cut the aperture. Then I cut a circle frame from Pretty in Pink textured cardstock (I just love the textured cardstock, I so have to get more!). The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip on Apricot Appeal. The ribbon is Pretty in Pink taffeta. All the edges of the Chocolate Chip and Apricot Appeal cardstock have been distressed with the Cutting Kit.

There you have it! I'm quite pleased with the end result although I spent this much time on a card for ages. Why don't you give this colour combo a go yourself?

Marcia's Challenge

Marcia from The Stamp Spot set a colour challenge this week - Ballet Blue, Groovy Guava, Mellow Moss and Barely Banana. I knew exactly which stamp set I wanted to use straight away - Bloomin' with Beauty - but the layout took me longer to come up with.

I stamped the single flower image on watercolour paper and coloured using my Aquapainter and ink pads. I then mounted the image on a stip of Mellow Moss. The ribbon is Ballet Blue grosgrain. The sentiment is stamped on Groovy Guava matted with Barely Banana. Most of the layers have had their edges distressed.

When I put it all together it seemed unbalanced as everything was on the righthand side. I decided to add the little bee from the set to help balance everything.

Catch ya later!