Birthday brushos

I started out with a plan for this card but it has morphed several times.
Firstly I embossed circles on the card with dies. The added water and brushos hoping the colour would pool in the circles. 

What actually happened was that the wetness reduced the depth of the embossing and the ink ran everywhere. 

I gave it several more goes of wetting and re-inking, even brushing some colour into the grooves until I was happy with it. 

What I finished with was a mellow inky panel with some circle definition. 

I die cut the happy birthday. Cut it twice more from white scraps and glued them together with the coloured ones on top. I saved the tiny coloured cut outs and poked them back into the spaces but not raised up. It was touch and go but I did find them all. You can't believe how small they are. 

It's quite a vibrant turquoise colour. I think I used Emerald, ultra marine and turquoise brushos.

I'm linking this to Less is More where the new challenge is:

Thanks for visiting and Enjoy The Day. x

Therapy

I had not even the inkling of the beginning of an idea for the current Butterfly challenge. The all at once I had an idea, got to work and it was all made in one evening. This is heavily influenced by watching Jennifer McGuire on You Tube. I probably shouldn't take any credit at all. 
The challenge is:

#82 Butterflies + M is for Matching pairs and/or the colour of Orange peel

Mrs A is very good at thinking outside the box in her cards and her challenges. Orange is not usually my go to colour and this card is certainly going to stand out. 

Having said that, I like the brightness and I have tried a new (to me) technique which I've been meaning to have a go at.

I used my favourite stamp set (If it's possible to have just one, this is it). Caroline's Doodles by Inky Doodles. Sentiment by Hobby Art.

It's stamped in Terracotta on orange card. Then I got out a white gel pen and set to work. After a pretty stressful fortnight this was a brilliant way to unwind. I was sorry when Mr C wanted me to come away and watch a film. It was probably good to stop and step back though or the whole thing may have been covered in dots. 

The mount is a piece of a used shimmery orange envelope which I'd squirrelled away at least a year ago. Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same if one came into your possession. 

Apart from the large centre flower, everything else is stamped in pairs. 

I hope you like it. Thanks for visiting and Enjoy The Day. x

CCT - July colours

Hello lovely friends and followers. 
Even in the midst of wonderful summer we are trying to persuade you to make Christmas Cards. You have until the 5th August to join in with our rainbow colour challenge, as we have an extra Saturday in the month. 

I've used Inky Doodles stamps here for the stockings, stars and holly. I coloured the  stockings in the same obsessive manner using rainbow colours in order and adding detail to the next stocking with the same colour. I added coloured stars in order too and highlights with a silver gel pen. 

The borders and black lines are snippets so I'm hopping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground to have a swing and play hop scotch. 
Thanks for visiting and Enjoy The Day. x

Moonlight flower

I'm pleased to be able to enter the Less is More challenge which is to use a coloured card base. It will give my lovely readers a change from Christmas cards. I've been short of time for playing around and I've missed entering.
This time they have teamed up with AAA Cards and even though I've had two weeks, I'm still running in at the end. 

I knew what I wanted to do so it was a matter of finding the right stamp. This is a Joanna Sheen flower stamp with a Paper Smooches sentiment.

 I've used a Brilliance Moonlight White pigment ink with a water brush and a bit of water to colour in the flower. There is a bit of sheen and sparkle to the petals. I hope you can see it. 

I added a few lines to ground it. 
After a recent visit to Mr C's aunt and uncle, we came home with a boot full of plants for our garden so this is for them. I'll be enclosing some seeds from here as a thank you. 

I love the purple and white but still not sure if it needs something else. More lines?
Thanks for visiting and Enjoy The Day. x

Christmas Card Throwdown - July colours

We have lovely new challenge for you at Christmas Card Throwdown. Slightly unconventional, maybe for Christmas but lots of fun. The challenge is to use Rainbow colours. 

I stamped and embossed Noel in black (very brave, I know but I got away with it). Then used two little Leane Creatif fairy light stamps to create my string of lights. 
I bought this set fairly recently and forgot to check on the size before I bought them. It's a tiny set but aren't they pretty? The card is 13.5cm square. I did pencil the string first then went over it with a glittery gel pen which I also used for the bulb holders. 
Top Tip - don't try and rub out after you've used a gel pen, it won't end well.

You can see a little bit of the sparkle on this picture.

Just a clue here to my obsessive nature. I stamped all the bulbs and counted them then had to add a few more so the number divided by seven so I could colour in rainbow order! I laid out the pens and didn't make a mistake. Muttering 'red, orange, yellow, green...' as I went.
The green and yellow look quite similar in the picture and you can't really see the Wink of Stella I added to the bulbs.

I just need to tidy up the inside a bit. The Pro-markers go through the cardstock so I made an insert and added a few more lights. Strangely I stamped 7 here straight off. 

Thanks for visiting and Enjoy The Day. x

I'm linking the to ABC Christmas Card Challenge who are looking for old and/or new. I've used new stamps, as mentioned, and old pro-markers which I just had to have a few years ago but really have not made the most of. Must try harder. 

CCT - July Sketch

We currently have a sketch challenge running at Christmas Card Throwdown:

I tried out the 'credit card' technique here for the first time. It was mentioned in The Playground here and this is the link to some detailed instructions. 

Mine is certainly not a patch on these and looked quite rubbish to start with. It did look better as it dried. 

I decided to use the inky background anyway and have another go sometime soon. I need to be more  patient and build up the colour.  I'm pleased I tried it as I have long list of things I mean to try but mainly keep repeating similar things. 

I used dye ink pads (blue and eggplant) on a blending mat spritzed with water. Probably too much water to start with. Someone clever could probably make it look like mountains or perhaps trees. 

You have one more week to join in with our challenge and maybe try out a new technique.

Thanks for visiting and Enjoy The Day.

Christmas Card Throwdown - July Sketch

We have a new challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown. This time it's a sketch. 

It's nice and simple and very versatile, I think, so I hope you'll get creative and join in. 

I embossed the baubles with clear embossing powder and couldn't resist adding a few flourishes. The flooded the area with water and brusho powder. My spray bottle has stopped spraying so I used a brush to spread both around. Then I went off to work while it dried. It has to be done, I fit it in aroung cards and gardening as you see!

It's always fun to come back and see what has happened and what patterns have been created. 

I ironed off the embossing powder. You do this using quite a hot iron. I use the back of a large paper pad as a solid base and a few sheets of scrap paper to absorb the melted embossing powder. (I've never got any on the iron). It's one of my favourite techniques.

I embellished with gold thread, gems and also a gold gel pen for a few dots on the bauble. Oh, and gold embossing round the edge which adds a frame but no extra layers. 
I used washi tape and a die cut for the sentiment. Also coloured with a gold gel pen.

You have two weeks to join in the fun. The challenge ends on 14th July. 
Thanks for visiting and Enjoy The Day. x