The mood board at Double D is all about stitches and I had fun figuring out what I wanted to create. The first thing I did was to create the background piece so using Distress Oxide inks I sponged on a whole lot of colour. Taking a scrap piece of real lace I soaked it with water and laid it flat pressing it down with a cloth. It left an impression of the lace pattern on the inked piece. I did this several times to get the whole piece with some lace texture. Let it dry overnight before cutting it to size for the card front. Using the last rescued hexagon piece and a glitter pen I inked the edges of the hexagon. Stamped the splash from a GKD set called Tiny Textures and then stamped the knitting from another GKD set called Art from the Heart on top. Adhered this to background. Sentiment is from the same set and I stamped it and then cut it into 2 pieces as shown. I also added the pink glitter pen around the edges of these. Using a ribbon die set I cut two pieces out of white cs and coloured the bottom one with the same glitter pen. Glued this piece across the card and then added the white bit on top so it too looks stitched. I’m really happy with how this one turned out.

Even with the style explanations I still have some trouble defining a style. That said, this card has a lot of layers so to me it is more Clean and layered and the photo is nautical so a perfect theme for me. I found a nautical chart on line and sized it in my graphic program so I could make the background piece. Layered this onto some dark blue. Did the tiled background and layered this onto the same blue. Did the same thing with the sentiment which is from a GKD set. The image is actually repurposed from a store bought birthday card. I fussy cut it and popped it up onto the tiled layer. Then I added a sponged piece to give the illusion of ocean waves.

This card started out because I had some scraps I wanted to use up. The oval die cut being one of them and the sun behind it. In wondering what to do with it I decided that adding the birds would work so I stamped them from the Hero Arts jungle kit I bought last year. I cut out several layers to glue together for dimension and coloured them with Inktense pencils. On another scrap piece I added some clouds and the sun and then glued it to the oval with flamingo tucked in as shown. Before this step I used a pencil to colour the frame and then added opal blaze polish in gilded avocado. This gives so much shine it is amazing and it intensified the green too. Then it was a question of what to do next and I decided to try my new turnabout rainbow stamp from Concord & 9th. As you can see I didn’t get my placement right so the background isn’t rainbows at all but I liked it so used it anyway. Sweet Stampin challenge is to make your own background and I achieved it even with poor placement. To balance it I used a Paper Rose stitched die frame and matched that to the oval before adding it on top. I stamped the sentiment on a left over cloud and added that underneath the oval. When it was finished I wasn’t sure if I had done the right thing but my hubby called it very festive and fun hence the title. Looking at it today I decided I like it. Yes it is very strong and bright but it works.

After my striped card on a previous post I had the cut out circle left over as well as a few small pieces. I decided to create another ocean style card and this is the result. The mermaid is an unbranded die I purchased a long time ago and I paper pieced her tail using all the small pieces. In retrospect another time I do something similar will be too add the strips to a separate piece and then die cut the tail as doing it the way I did proved to be quite tedious and fiddly. I coloured her hair and body using pencils and added some gems to her hair, waist and tail for added dimension and interest. Using a couple of Sakura gelly roll pens I added a gold necklace, bracelet and some sparkle. Using a shell border stamp from a GKD set I added a row of shells and coloured them lightly. I backed the striped circle with another piece of scrap so it would fit nicely behind the die cut center. This was another pre-cut scrap from a failed project that I didn’t want to waste. Circle die cut with a set from GKD. I popped up the mermaid on dimensionals and added a few gold dots onto the striped piece. The sentiment is called Seaside Sentiments by Inspired by Stamping. I cut this one into two pieces so I could place them where they fit best.

The challenge at Double D this week is all about weddings so I made this card. I used a confetti die from MFT and die cut the word panel. I used Versamark all over it and then heat embossed the rose gold on top. Did this twice to get good coverage. I then die cut a second piece in black paper and paper pieced all the black into the spaces. I could have just placed a black piece behind the entire panel but while tedious to do I think the paper piecing gives a better look. I then took a scrap of sparkle paper, die cut the loops, from same die set, and added them to the bottom of the card front. Used a few gems to give some added punch and considered it finished.

The above slim line card was made using scraps, but in my opinion it wasn’t good enough to enter into a challenge so I set it aside and created the rose gold one. I found the gray cs was a bit dull so I tried to add some shimmer with perfect pearls and dislike the result. It looks better in reality than on the photo because the camera has picked up all the smudges and smears which are not so apparent in R.L. Birds are done with sparkle cs and really sparkle in R.L.

This is my initial attempt at using Perfect Pearls and Versamark ink on a card. I had hoped that when I stamped the next images they would lift off the powder and leave a ghost impression but it didn’t quite work. Nevertheless I like how it turned out for the most part. I used the blossom stamp from GKD’s set Birds and Blossoms and the same butterfly as on my previous post. I also used glossy paper for this card which made stamping a bit more challenging. Hopefully it will dry properly and not smear. I’ve never tried doing this before so it is good first effort in my mind.

This card was harder to do than I thought it would be but I got there in the end. First I stamped the butterfly using Versamark ink and added green perfect pearls powder over it. I then masked it and using a circle stencil and more Versamark I made the circle and added bronze perfect pearl powder to that. I added some glitter to the wings using a Sakura pen but the photo doesn’t quite pick that up well although the shine of the perfect pearls comes through nicely. I also added a bit more green and some silver to the butterfly with different Sakura pens. Stamp for the sentiment is from a GKD set called Birds and Blossoms and the butterfly is from an old set for which I don’t have the name.

The colour challenge/photo at Sunday Stamps made me nostalgic for boating. The hope is that as rules are relaxed a bit more the marine parks will reopen so we can go here and there through the summer. In the meantime making a card using these colours has to suffice. The challenge at The Card Concept is similar in theme and I was inspired by the lake image behind the camping gear. It is hard for me to define exactly the style I used but I lean more to the Clean and Layered style although it might fit the Freestyle collage style better.

The idea for the striped background came from this weeks Splitcoast Stampers tutorial by Becky Roberts. She did 2 cards from 1 panel so I have another circle I can use later. The stamps used are from a GKD set called My Anchor, tiny birds from an Inspired by stamping set and another Inspired by Stamping set called Seaside Sentiments. Die cutting was done with GKD dies. How I did the actual stamping was due to a Stamping buddy Lisa B who recommended a video found HERE. Eventually I will use this tutorial to make a watercolour card, but for this one I just used my Tombow markers to colour the stamp and huffed on it prior to stamping. Before actually stamping anything I did the clouds and sea background using a stencil and brushes. Added a few gems to the sentiment panel and a hint of sparkle in other places. My hubby loves this card and I have to say I’m pretty pleased with it myself.

A week or so ago, I pulled out some of my really old foils just to see what was there. Because they are so old these particular sheets don’t work on transferring anymore and I was going to throw them away when I had an idea. I took some card stock and ran it through my zyron so it was sticky and then placed the foil on top. Some of it worked really well but a silver piece ended up looking very distressed. I was going to toss it but didn’t figuring that sometimes distressed can work for certain things. I’ve used some of it here on the silver hearts.

To make this card I used a left over panel that was on my desk and I added some additional cs to the back to pop it up a bit from the kraft card front. (Thanks Gayle for the idea of using kraft). I wrapped some elastic twine around it and tied a small bow. Then I took another small piece of kraft cs and stamped, using versamark, the sentiment (from GKD – Up and Away set), heat embossed this in gold and added the piece to some gold metallic sticky back paper gifted to me. After adding it to the card front I took a Memory Box homespun heart die and die cut several pieces in both silver and gold. I attached them as shown and added a few of the tiny ones as well. The background piece has silver in the pattern but it looks a bit different in the photo. I’m pleased with the results and think this card can be used for other occasions besides a wedding.