News and New Stamps!

As a very proud member of the Be Creative Design Team, I'm delighted to announce that we now have our own Be Creative DT Blog, where we will be featuring our Be Creative projects and cards, along with hints and tips and product news. We'd love you to take a look at the new blog and become a follower. Justin has promised that when we reach 100 followers we can have a blog candy draw, so what's not to like?!

It's a close run thing, but I think my favourite Be Creative product is probably the alcohol markers, as they are such good quality and there is so much you can do with them. I've used them on the card I want to show you today.

Ever since I saw on Pinterest some stunning cards using Altenew stamps, just about all their floral sets have been on my wishlist! I managed to resist their lure for quite a while, but eventually gave in and ordered the Vintage Flowers and Painted Poppy. Couldn't wait to try them out, so here's my first card, using the Vintage Flowers.

As you will see, I need more practice in lining up the stamp layers, which I found quite tricky, but I think it's not too bad for a first attempt.

The roses and leaves were stamped with Versamagic inks in Sea Breeze, Turquoise Gem and Ocean Depth, and the small flowers with Versacolor Heliotrope, Violet and Grape. All other colouring on the card (except for the ribbon) was done with Be Creative alcohol markers.

Having completed all the stamping, I masked all the flowers and leaves. To make the speckled background, I scribbled the markers on to my glass mat and mixed the ink with Spray M Boss (Once Upon A Stamp), which has, amongst its many other uses, the effect of turning the alcohol ink into paint. I picked it up on an old toothbrush and flicked the paint on to the card, then removed the masks. I wanted the edges of the picture to be a bit darker, so I dabbed some ink directly from a marker on to a felt pad and stippled it around the edges.

The matting layers were cut from white card and coloured with the markers, as were the butterflies (Cheery Lynn dies). A little bit of sparkle was added to the small flower centres and butterflies with some Be Creative glitter glue. The border was cut with a Martha Stewart punch.

I love the versatility of the Be Creative markers, in that they can be used to co-ordinate all parts of a project. I don't know whether by accident or by design, but the two colours I used here, Pale Blue (which is actually purple!) and Peacock Green, perfectly match the ink colours Violet and Turquoise Gem! Probably coincidence, but a lucky one!

Anyway, I'm off to get some more practice lining up the layers. Think a MISTI would be very useful. Did I mention that's on my wishlist too...........?!

Less is More Week 15

This week's challenge at Less is More is for a one-layer card with embossing. I decided to use the embossing as a resist, which is one of my favourite techniques.

This is the first version of my card.

I stamped the grasses (Chocolate Baroque) with Versamark ink, embossed them with clear powder, and then sponged over them with Versacolor inks. The sentiment is by Prickly Pear, and it's one of my newest stamps. It really appeals to me. However, when I'd finished the card, I thought the sponging looked a bit messy. So I made another version, this time using a Nesties Label 10 as a stencil.

Now I can't decide which I prefer! The stencilled version is much tidier and more defined, but somehow it doesn't seem to fit quite so well with the sentiment, which suggests a free spirit! If I had to choose now, I'd probably stick with the first one. What do you think?

All Creatures Great and Small

That's the title of the Sir Stampalot February'11 Challenge. Of course, for me that had to mean butterflies. I have very few other animal stamps. Here I've used the huge Elusive Images butterfly, on an 8" x 8" card. The background is sprayed with Glimmer Mists (after masking a circle for the sun) and then stamped with Hero Arts grasses and some tiny butterflies from Crafty Individuals. The text stamp is by Katzelcraft.

To colour the big butterfly, I laid the uninked, unmounted stamp on the paper and drew a faint pencil line around its outline, and filled it in by sponging with various pigment inks. Then I stamped the butterfly on top with Versafine Onyx Black ink. Had I stamped first and then coloured, the black would have been subdued. I could have stamped first and embossed with clear powder to protect the black before colouring, but I think it would have been more difficult then to get a smooth blending of colours. I was pleased with the result, anyway. Hope you like it too!

Sunday again!

How did it get to be Sunday again so quickly? I'm sure time goes faster the older one gets. Even so, I managed to make a scrappy card for Jules's Sunday Scrap challenge.

I've mostly used up scraps of plain paper and card, except for the embossed bit at the bottom, which is by Papermania. It has a very pale pink and white pattern on it (hard to see in the photo).  Stamps are all by Waltzing Mouse, except for the writing in the background which is by Hero Arts. I used VersaMagic and Versacolor inks to stamp the background, and the same inks to colour the roses.

And that's two posts in two days! Must have too much time on my hands! (Or maybe I should go and tackle the ironing instead!)