HLS July Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of the July Sketch Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  Not only is there a fun and easy sketch to play with this month, but we also have our new Design Team starting today.  Check out the challenge HERE to see the amazing cards from our talented group of card makers! :)  Kylie and I are excited to be joined by Asa, Birgit, Gloria, Joyce, Kim, Melissa, Sue and Tanja.  Welcome ladies!!

Here's the sketch ...

So easy, right??!!  I know I'll be using this sketch A LOT! :)

I started my card by spraying with yellow watercolour spray for the background.  It's a very bright yellow, so I randomly sprayed and then blotted up right away with a paper towel to tone down the colour just a bit.  To me it looks like sunshine behind the flowers. :)

Then I stamped my image in waterproof black ink ... several times using my Misti. This is the best stamping tool EVER!  It's really difficult to get a clean, dark impression on watercolour paper, and this allowed me re-ink and stamp several times.

I put a few drops of my watercolour liquid concentrate (orange and magenta) into a paint palette and added a little water.  I happily sloshed over top of my flowers, giving them a two-tone colouring.  I took the same two colours and splattered the background to add interest.  To finish off, I added gold liquid pearls to the centers of the flowers, and stamped the sentiment onto a small, white banner.

Our sketch challenge is open all month, so there's lots of time to play along.  Come join in the fun! :)

Stamps:  Blossom Bunch (Stampendous)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Archival Black (Ranger); Watercolour Liquid Concentrate in orange and magenta (Dick Blick)
Accessories & Tools:  Yellow w/c spray (Dick Blick), paintbrush, gold liquid pearls

Challenges:

HLS July Sketch Challenge

Happy Early Birthday, Kylie

Hi everyone.  I made this for my dear friend, Kylie's birthday (Kylie is Addicted to Stamps), which is in early July.   I mailed this a couple of weeks ago so that it would be to her on time.  Snail mail from Canada to Australia can take forever.  For some mysterious reason, it arrived to her in about a week ... crazy fast this time!  Now that she has it, I can share with you. :)  Hugs to you Kylie!!

Very simple design, I used a honeycomb stencil (made with my Cameo) and randomly sponged two shades of orange distress inks down the one side.  I cut out the black butterfly (again with my Cameo), shaped it a little with my bone folder and added it on top of the sponging, with rolled glue dots under the wings to keep it's shape.  A simple stamped sentiment, and it was done. :)

I'm heading over to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, where Anything Goes.  And also linking up to AAA Cards #42 - Pastes and/or Stencils.

____________________

I am also sharing a picture taken last weekend when we were all together to celebrate Father's Day.  As Evan was heading out the door at the end of our time together, he mentioned we hadn't taken any pictures.  I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped this picture of the three generations of Thompson men. :)  LOVE this picture and wanted to share with you.

Stamps: Chit Chat (Paper Smooches)

Paper:  White (Neenah); Black (SU!)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Distress inks:  Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Honeycomb stencil cut with my Silhouette Cameo, sponges, butterfly cut file

Challenges:

SSS Wednesday - Anything Goes
AAA Cards #42 - Pastes and/or Stencils

Summer Colours

This is my final reminder for the Happy Little Stampers June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists.  We've had a lot of wonderful entries, so if you have a chance, check out the gallery --- you will be inspired!! :)

Today I made another card using the Ghosting Technique.  This time I used my favourite colour combo that is just perfect for summer time. :)  I used small, white die-cuts to embellish so that I didn't cover up very much of the pretty background.

The background was made with three watercolour sprays (yellow, orange and magenta).  Once dry, I place this beautiful flower stencil (from STAMPlorations), over top.  I did use masking tape to hold my watercoloured background flat, but the stencil is simply placed on top (I find this easiest for removing the stencil quickly).  I spritzed with lots of clear water and removed the stencil right away (this is important, otherwise the water will seep underneath the stencil and blur the design). I waited about 10-15 seconds for the water to work into the watercolour paper and then blotted with a paper towel, which removes some of the colour where the water was.  LOVE this technique!

There seems to be a lot of challenges right now looking for stencils :)  ... so I'm entering this into Less Is More - Week #229 - Stenciling, and also AAA Cards #42 - Paste and/or Stencils.  Also entering into Simon Says Wednesday where they are looking for your favourite technique (right now mine is Stenciling), and I used a few snippets for my flourish and flowers, so I'm heading over to join the fun at the Snippets Playground. :)

ETA:  Used STAMPlorations stencil for this card, so I'm linking up to their blog for the Anything Goes challenge. :)

Stamps:  Be Happy Sentiments (Amy R)

Paper:  White card base and die-cuts (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Watercolour sprays (yellow, orange and magenta), made with concentrate from Dick Blick, water mister, Bold Florals stencil (STAMPlorations), Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann), Five Point Flower die (C.C. Designs), stylus and mat for shaping

Challenges:

HLS June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists
Less is More Week #229 - Stenciling
AAA Cards #42 - Paste and/or Stencils
Simon Says Wednesday - Favourite Technique
Snippets Playground Week #181 & 182
STAMPlorations Anything Goes

Splashy Birthday

Hi everyone.  Time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS.  This challenge is being hosted by the talented Rebecca (Melly Moo).  Hope you'll play along ...

This challenge is sponsored by

This is such a fun word.  I was shopping the other day and found a perfect stamp set for this challenge and knew that I HAD to buy it. :)

After must deliberation, I came up with adding a few other small sentiments to my new large sentiment to come up with a fun birthday card.  I heat embossed in white onto watercolour paper and then randomly sprinkled brushos crystal and sprayed with water.  Lots of fun! :)

We are happy to have Flo (Flos Habseligkeiten) as our Guest Designer again for this challenge. Please check out Flo's "Splash" card, along with all the other Design Teams cards by clicking HERE.

This is also for the Happy Little Stampers June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists.  :)

Stamps:  Sunny with Showers (Forever in Time); A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted); Celebrate Sentiment builders (STAMPlorations)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Versamark:  Brushos:  Turquoise, Ultra-Marine
Accessories & Tools:  White embossing powder, heat tool, water mister

Challenges:

ATCAS #66 - Splash
HLS June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists

Happy Poppies

Hi everyone.  This week is the 3rd birthday at ATS&M and they are celebrating in style with a CAS challenge (my favourite!). :)  I just HAD to play along! :)

I bought this sweet die yesterday (along with a few other goodies) from my local scrapbooking store.  I die-cut with watercolour paper and then used a water brush and some distress inks to colour.

I finished off by adding a simple stamped banner at the bottom.  Easy, peasy card!

Father's Day is just a few days away, and the family will be celebrating by getting together for a pot luck lunch on Sunday.  I know hubby will be smiling the whole day.  I hope you all have a wonderful and fun weekend. :)

Stamps:  Happy (Simon Says)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Mowed Lawn, Ripe Persimmon, Fired Brick (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Row of Poppies die (Memory Box), water brush

Challenges:

ATS&M #149 - CAS

My First Canvas!

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing my very first canvas. :)

Of course, I went with my favourite colour combo of yellow, orange and pink. :) Used my watercolour sprays and once they were dry, I stamped my sentiment in black ink and heat embossed in clear.  I wanted to make sure the sentiment was protected and any ink I put on top afterwards would just wipe away. LOVE the words on this sentiment and HAD to have it when I saw it on-line at Joann's.

I stenciled over top with chicken wire and mini tile texture stencils (both from Crafter's Workshop).  I placed a tulip stencil over top, sponged with distress inks, and then coated it with clear heavy matte gel.   I then decided to add a little gold shimmer, so watered down some inka gold wax and painted around the sentiment. It did add a little shine, but not much, and I could have left that off.  I sprayed shimmer mist over everything to set the colours.  That gave it a bit of a splattered look that I wasn't expecting, but I like! :)  I'm happy with my first attempt and plan on hanging this in my studio.

I'm obsessed with this now and have spent the past few days trying out more canvases.  I have to say that I had beginner's luck, because everything just worked with my first canvas.  I have tried working on two others since (both better quality canvases than my cheapo first one), and watercolour doesn't stick to them.  It just sits on top and wipes away.  So if I want to make more, I'm going to have to buy the cheap canvases, or get "watercolour canvases" that are meant to be used with watercolour paints. :)

I have now painted white acrylic paint over the two canvases that didn't work, and will start again ... this time using acrylic paints or maybe I'll try ink.  Anyways, experimenting has been fun and I've learned what NOT to do. :)

Lots of Sprays

Jut a quick reminder of our fun CAS Challenge at HLS for June!

This time it's just, plain spraying. :)  ... no fancy techniques, no stencils, no resists, etc. I simply sprayed the background of my card with two shades of blue, cut out the three ferns with my Silhouette Cameo and sprayed them with two shades of green, and heat embossed the sentiment onto a strip of leftover sprayed card.  Easy, peasy card!

I made this birthday card for my friend, Vicki.  It was her birthday last month, and I wanted to make her something in her favourite colours. :)  Hope you had a wonderful day, Vicki!!

Come join in the fun at HLS and enter your CAS Sprayed card.  Use any type of spray (ink, glimmer, water), and join in.  We'd love to see you in the gallery.  The challenge is open until the end of June so there's still lots of time to play along.

Stamps:  A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Mixed Media Paper (Strathmore)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Three Ferns cut with my Silhouette Cameo, Watercolour sprays in Turquoise, Blue, Lime Green and Green (made from liquid watercolour concentrate - Dick Blick), white embossing powder, heat tool

Challenge:

HLS June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists

Thankful for You

Hi everyone.  Having a bit of fun experimenting today in the studio.  I tried a "new-to-me" technique after watching this amazing video by Understand Blue.  I hope you'll check it out --- it's really worth watching! :)  If you enjoy the video, please give it a thumbs up to show your appreciation!  Thank you!

I didn't use the brushos Lydia did on her video, instead I used a sprayed background piece from my stash, embossing it and then adding the inka gold wax on top.  LOVE how it turned out.  I stamped the sentiment with Delicata Gold ... it's so pretty and works perfectly with the inka gold in my background.

I die-cut the bird out of white (twice), coating one with the inka gold and buffing it up to a beautiful shine (same at the raised inka gold on the embossing).  The buffing really makes a difference.  I layered the gold bird on top of the white bird, offsetting just slightly so that the bird stands out a bit more on the background.

I'm playing along with several challenges today.  First up, Simon Says Wednesday, where they are looking for a "friend" card.  Next, Time Out #33 is looking for a play on these words "Happy is the bride the sun shines on" ... I used sunset colours for my background (yellow, orange and magenta), I hope that qualifies. :)  Also linking up to SCS CAS #329 challenge where they are looking for thank you cards ... and linking up to the Snippets playground.  I used a snippet for my sentiment and for the two birds. :)  One more ... Just Us Girls (#297) are looking for stacked dies ... I think this works. :)  Whew! :)  ... that's a lot of challenges. :)

And last, but not least, a reminder of the Happy Little Stampers June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists.

Stamps:  Lots of Thanks (Simon Says)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Delicata Gold (Tsukineko)
Accessories & Tools:  Sprays made with liquid watercolour concentrate (yellow, orange, magenta) - Dick Blick, Bird and Swirls embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Nested bird die (Poppy Stamps), Inka Gold (Viva Decor)

Challenges:

Happy Little Stampers June CAS - Sprays / Mists
Simon Says Wednesday - Friend
Time Out #33 - Sun
SCS CAS #329 - Thank you
Snippets Playground Week #181 & #182
Just Us Girls #297 - Stacked Dies

Merry Stocking Tag

Hi everyone.  Last night my son popped by with a surprise.  I had ordered some items from Joann's and he had gone down to the US mailbox and picked them up for me.  Isn't he sweet??!! :)

So I HAD to make a card today using one of my new "toys".  I saw that the challenge this week at Merry Monday was to make a card with a tag.

And I thought this stocking would fit perfectly on a tag ... and it did. :)  I stamped it, coloured it with Copics and fussy-cut.  It's popped up on a "falling snow" embossed, stitched tag.  I stamped the sentiment onto a small scrap of card stock and added it at the bottom.  Since I used a scrap, I'm going to head over to the Snippets Playground and join the fun! :)

I kept this CAS by just having the tag and image.  I did add a little wink of stella to the ribbon and holly, which doesn't show in the photo above.  I'll include a close up below so you can see a bit of the sparkle.

We've been having the BEST weather the past few days.  Sunny, warm, breezy ... just perfect.  I actually went out and watered the front yard today. :)  I need to get moving more.  As some of you know, I had knee surgery back in January, after taking a spill and tearing my quadracept tendon.  Rehab is going well, but I'm still a little a bit scared about walking around outside where there is uneven ground.  I need to get over that. :)

Stamps:  Stocking (Kaiser Craft); Christmas Sampler (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Gumball Green (SU!); Copics
Accessories & Tools:  Stitched tag die (Lil' Inkers), green ribbon (SU!), clear wink of stella, embossing folder was borrowed from a friend (unknown)

Challenges:

Merry Monday #162 - Tag, You're it!
Snippets Playground Week #180

Stencil Monoprint

Hi everyone.  Just a reminder of the current Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists.

Today I'm sharing the birthday card I made for my youngest son, Jeremy.  We share a love of art and I knew he'd love this artsy background ... and he did! :)

For my card today, I used the Stencil Monoprint technique. I used distress inks for the background, tapping them onto the back of my stencil, misting with water and then placing it over my mixed media card front.  The excess moisture was then blotted up with a paper towel.  Once dry, I simply stamped the branches in Pine Needles distress ink.

I really love this technique!  It works well with spray inks as well.  :)

We have lots of fantastic entries in the HLS June CAS Challenge so far.  I hope you'll join us.  Remember, you don't have to have ink sprays to play along ... just pull out a water mister and join in the fun!! :)

The challenge is open until the end of the month, so there's still lots of time left to enter.  Hope to see you in the gallery!! :)

Stamps:  Prickly Branches (Stampscapes); A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted)

Paper:  White card base (Neehan); Mixed Media Paper (Strathmore)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Peacock Feathers, Pine Needles (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Mini Tile Texture Stencil (Crafter's Workshop), water mister

Challenges:

HLS June CAS Challenge - Sprays

New Design Teams Announced at HLS

I'm so excited today!!  Happy Little Stampers is HAPPY to announce our new Design Teams!  Yay!! :)  Click on the link to head over and check it out.  Welcome to all my new teammies!!

I wanted to make a card to celebrate this exciting day.

and I wanted to use the techniques for June's CAS Challenge - Sprays - Mists.

I was inspired by my friend Bonnie's card HERE.  Isn't it gorgeous.  Just love the colours she's used with the white accents.  I also wanted to experiment with my Brushos as well.  I wanted to keep the colours as separate as possible (when spraying with water, control is difficult), but it worked out pretty well.  The blue and yellow did not mix to green, although the blue and red did mix a little so there's some purple ... but I like it! :)

This is a little different for me.  I'm basically letting go to a point, as I'm ALL about control, :)  I love the artsy feel of this card.  Thanks for the inspiration Bonnie!!

Here's how I did it.  I heat embossed my tree image in white onto watercolour paper. Then I sprinkled a little of the turquoise brushos in a couple of places and spritzed with just a little water.  Let it soak in a few seconds, and then lightly blotted with a paper towel,  I repeated that with the red and then the yellow.  Then went back a second time and did it again.  By blotting, the paper is still damp, but not wet, so I didn't have too much water running all over the place.  I'm usually pretty heavy-handed with the water mister :) ... but took my time and kept my spraying to a minimum.

I hope you'll check out the challenge and come play along.  Ink sprays, glimmer sprays, water mister ... anything that comes out of a spray bottle will work for this challenge.  Just remember to keep your cards CAS. :)

And again, I'm thrilled about our new teams at HLS and can't wait to get started working with them in July!! :)

Stamps:  Birch Tree Paintings (Innovative Stamp Creations); Field Flowers - sentiment (SU!)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour Paper (Tim Holtz)
Ink:  Versamark; Brushos (Turquoise, Yellow, Scarlet)
Accessories & Tools:  White embossing powder (Hero Arts), heat tool, water mister

Challenges:

HLS June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists

Embossing Folder Technique

While I was playing around with new techniques recent, I finally tried the Embossing Folder Stamping technique that I have seen done expertly for a long time by my good friend, Karen (Snippets).  She is the master at this technique.  Not only was I trying something new, but I used coloured card stock ... something I rarely use for card fronts. :)  LOVE the results.  For those that have not tried this, you ink up the raised design side on the inside of  an embossing folder.  Spritz with a little water, place your card stock inside and close it.  Press down with your hands a little, then remove card stock and let it dry. Easy, peasy and oh-so beautiful!!  Can't wait to try it again with different coloured inks on white card stock.

The background looks like watercolouring to me.  I love the randomness and flow of it. :)

This is not CAS so I won't be adding it to the HLS June CAS Challenge (Sprays / Mists), but wanted to share with you this water misting technique. :)  I also included a daisy (shaped a little differently than yesterday's card). :)

I'm heading to the Snippets Playground with this card.  Used lots of snippets for the flower. :)

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Stamps:  A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie (SU!)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Water mister, Musical Flourish emobssing folder (Cuttlebug), Snow drifts die (My Favorite Things), medium daisy punch (punch bunch), small sun punch (punch bunch), Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann), sponges

Challenges:
Snippets Playground Week #180

Butterfly and Bloom

Hi everyone.  Time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS.

This challenge is being hosted by the wonderfully talented Bonnie (Stamping with Klass) and she has chosen this sweet code word ...

This challenge is sponsored by

I started by making my bloom.  I punched a white daisy and sponged with three colours of distress inks (ripe persimmon, worn lipstick, picked raspberry).  I cut out one of the petals, folded the flower in half, pulling together the petals on either side of the one I cut out, so that it formed a rounded shape.  Sounds a bit confusing, but easy to do. :)

I then punched four white small suns and sponged the tips of the rays with yellow.  I cut a slit into the center of each sun, and then used my tweezers to roll it up (similar to the rolled flower dies you can buy) into a cone shape.  Four of them were glued to the top of the bloom to create the spiky center.

Here's a link to a written tutorial I did quite a while ago on how to make 3-D daisies, including the spiky center.  I made some changes to make the flower above, but the centers are done just like in the tutorial.  

The butterfly has a sprayed yellow frost background which I cut to fit in behind the black outline layer (cut with my Silhouette Cameo).

We're excited to have Flo (Flos Habseligkeiten) as our Guest Designer this month at ATCAS.  Please click HERE to see her wonderful butterfly card, along with the cards from the rest of the design team.

As always, there's two weeks to join in this fun challenge.  Hope to see you in the gallery! :)

Stamps:  Be Happy Sentiments (Amy R)

Paper:  White (Neenah); Black, Pear Pizzazz (SU!)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Distress Inks:  Ripe Persimmon, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Yellow spray, cut files and silhouette cameo for cutting butterfly, Fancy Flourish die (Cheery Lynn), Large Daisy punch and Small Sun punch (Punch Bunch), sponges

Challenges:

ATCAS #65 - Butterfly

HLS June CAS Challenge - Sprays

Hi everyone.  This month at Happy Little Stampers, the CAS challenge is Sprays / Mists.  I am in love with my new sprays ... I think I might have mentioned that before a few times. :)

Sprays are fun to use and I hope you'll come play along.  Don't worry if you don't have any spray inks.  Just pull out a water mister and join in the fun!! :)

Today I used both watercolour sprays and water mister for a new-to-me technique called Ghosting.  Click HERE to see a video tutorial by Dyan Reaveley on this fun technique.

I sprayed my watercolour panel with three different colours of sprays (lime green, green, and turquoise).  Once dry, I placed a leafy stencil over top and misted with lots of clear water.  I pulled the stencil off right away and then left the panel for about 10 seconds to let the water work itself into the watercolours. I blotted up with a paper towel, which removes the excess water, and some of the colour, leaving this dreamy looking, soft leafy design in the background.  LOVE IT!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, and it's probably very obvious to most of you, but by using small panels of these technique pieces, I maintain the CAS feel to my card, even though the main focal panel has a lot going on.  It gives me the opportunity to play with all these fabulous techniques and products that I love ... while maintaining the CAS style that is me. :)

I made this birthday card for my good friend, Mary.  She loves birds, and she loves to make sprayed backgrounds on her cards, so I thought she'd like this. :)  She's received it now.  I made sure it would be there before the end of May, in time for her birthday.  Then I found out I was a month early. :)  Happy early birthday, Mary!! xx

This month we are thrilled to welcome Chrissie (Simply One of  a Kind) as our Guest Designer.  Welcome Chrissie!  Click HERE to check out the challenge and see the amazing cards done by both Chrissie and Kylie.

I hope you'll join us for this fun challenge.  Make sure to use a spray(s) or water mister on your CAS card, and then add your link to the challenge.   I'll be back soon with another way to use sprays. :)

Because I used a few little snippets for this card, I'm joining in the fun at the Snippets Playground for a second time. :)

Stamps:  A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories & Tools:  Sprays made with Liquid Watercolour Concentrate (Dick Blick) in Turquoise, Green, and Lime Green (green and yellow mixed together).  Leaf Stencil cut with my Silhouette Cameo, water mister, paper towels, Nested Bird (Poppy Stamps), Twigs and Berries die (Memory Box), Tender Leaves dies (Memory Box), white embossing powder, heat tool, stylus and mat for shaping leaves

Challenges:

HLS CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists
Snippets Playground - Week #178 & #179

Collage Stamping

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of the June Mixed Media Card Challenge ... you're going to have fun with this one!!

Before we get to it, I just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed being on this team for the past year.  I have learned a lot from my fellow team mates and hope to continue on my journey of learning new things, playing with new products ... and getting messy! :)  I'll be stepping down after this challenge.  Thanks to Shery and all the Design Team girls ... I've really had fun! :)

Here's the challenge for this month ...

I experimented with a few things making the card above.  It all started with the background ...

My friend Lee-Anne (Creatively LA) recently made a video tutorial on the Stencil Monoprint technique.  It's such a great technique!  Thanks for your wonderful step-by-step video tutorial Lee-Anne ... you made it so easy! :)  Click HERE to see the video --- worth watching!! :)  And as with every video tutorial you watch, if you find it helpful, please give it a thumbs up.  It's a way of showing appreciation to those that take the time to share their knowledge with us. :)

I LOVE this technique and my first try will be posted on my blog in about a week. :) Today I'm sharing my second go at it ... and I switched it up a bit and used sprays instead of ink pads and water mister.  Worked great!! :)

I hope you'll give this a try.  By the way, I tried this technique on a few different papers.  I used watercolour paper (works great) and with the above, I used mixed media paper ... love the results on that card too!

I inked up my script background is soft gray, removed some of the ink in random places and stamped over top.  I then stamped my flowers and bees in black archival. For some reason the flowers didn't turn out very dark, so I went over them with a permanent black marker.  I then poured a few drops of my sprays onto a palette and painted the flowers.  Wink of stella was added to the bees for a little bit of sparkle, and I added the frame as a finishing touch.

I hope you'll join in our challenge of collage stamping at Mixed Media Card Challenge. The challenge is open for the whole month, so there's lots of time to play along. Hope to see you there!

Stamps:  En Francais (SU!); Efflorescence (Penny Black)

Paper:  White frame (Neenah); Mixed Media (Strathmore)
Ink:  Smoky Slate (SU!); Archival Black (Ranger)
Accessories & Tools:  Watercolour sprays (yellow, orange, magenta), Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), black marker, clear wink of stella

Challenges;

Mixed Media Card Challenge - June - Collage

Guest Designer at Merry Monday

Hi everyone.  I'm so excited to be a Guest Designer at Merry Monday this week.  I was given this wonderful honour after Debbie chose this card as the winning entry of the non-evergreen tree challenge.  :)  Thanks so much!

Today, Kathy's hosting and she has a wonderful challenge that is perfect for holiday cards. I do love to add lots of sparkle and bling to my Christmas cards.

I made a very sparkly, shimmery, and bling-y wreath. :)  Unfortunately, it's really hard to capture that with my camera.  After many tries, I am posting the best shot I got of the card, along with a close-up below that does show a little more detail.

I started by cutting a circle aperture on my card front.  Then I die-cut several pine sprigs ... some in silver foil paper, and some in white glimmer paper.  I placed them around the aperture, alternating the two different papers and overlapping as I went until I ended up with lots of texture and depth.  I then added some silver and clear sequins and bits of bling.  To finish, I die-cut the sentiment with my Silhouette Cameo from more silver foil paper.  The white glimmer paper has an iridescent look to it, but it doesn't show at all in the photos.  This is so much prettier in real life.

I hope you'll join in this fun challenge at Merry Monday.

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Silver Foil Paper and White Glimmer Paper (SU!)

Accessories & Tools:  Circle Nestie Spellbinders); Wreath Strip die (Cheery Lynn), Silver and clear sequins and crystals, merry Christmas cut file cut with my Silhouette Cameo

Challenges:

Merry Monday #161 - Sparkle, Shimmer, Bling