LIM #299 - Acetate or Vellum

It's been a while since I've played along with the Less is More Challenge.  This week the challenge is to use acetate or vellum on a card.

Here's my take on this week's challenge...

I guess it's been a while since I made a card...this card took me ALL day long to finish!  I have no idea why it was so slow!  

This is a new die from Hero Arts...cut twice (once in red and another in white) and layered slightly off center.  I cut an aperture from the center of a card panel with a stitched circle die (also cut the edges with a stitched-edged rectangle die).  The holly leaves were cut with a very OLD die that I'm not even sure where I got it! I backed the circle with a piece of vellum, then stamped part of the sentiment with Stazon ink and added the layered "joy".  The leaves were colored with Copics and I added some Wink of Stella for a little shine. For berries, I used red pearls.  Popped the panel with craft foam....and done!

I really loved the end result...just took me a while to get there! LOL!

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #32 and The Flower Challenge #1

This is my second post for today....I have a two cards to share with you...one for the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #32 and the other for a new challenge at The Flower Challenge #1.....So let's get started!

     

This was a fun card to create.  I haven't done much ink blending lately (mostly because I've been playing with my water colors!).  I masked off the rectangle in the center with some post-it tape and blended some distress inks (candy apple red, carved pumpkin, and squeezed lemonade).  I removed the post-it tape and stamped the silhouette image from Paper Smooches in versafine black.  After making sure the distress ink was completely dry, I stamped the sentiment from SSS and heat embossed it in white. I added the faux stitched border with a dark orange memento marker.  Super simple card...but I love how it turned out.

And now...here's the card for the Flower Challenge....

I absolute LOVE this flower from Penny Black!  I stamped it on Bristol paper and colored it with Zig Clean Color Markers.  Then....I fussy cut this flower!  Those tiny stems are VERY fragile!  I also used a black marker to color all of the edges of the image after I cut it out.  I cut a panel of white card stock about 4 x 5.5 inches and used an embossing folder (Tim Holtz, I think) to emboss the bricks.  I cut the center of the panel out using an oval die from Spellbinders BEFORE putting it in the embossing folder.  I used a little distress ink on the card base for the background and some splatters from the ink as well as some water splatters.  The sentiment is from Winnie and Walter...stamped in black.  I fussy cut the word hello and then cut a small rectangle for the word friend. Both words are adhered directly to the brick panel. I slipped the flower behind the oval and popped ups the blooms with some foam tape. I added a dark pink border down each sided of the card (it actually matches the blooms IRL!).

I know I'm going to ♥love♥ this flower challenge!  It seems that most of my cards feature a flower of some kind! ♥

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

CAS Watercolour Challenge #1 and One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #32

There's a new challenge this month - the CAS Watercolour Card Challenge.  I've been working on my water coloring skills.  I'm beginning to see some improvement.  I also love the colors of Autumn! The second card also meets the requirements for the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge this month.

    

Here's my first card for the challenge....

I LOVE this card.  The colors are so rich and vibrant!  For the water color on this card, I used a panel of Bristol paper and stamped the image multiple times (using a mask for some of the leaves) in Versafine black ink (which is a great ink for water colors).  I colored the leaves with a red, orange, yellow, and green Zig Clean Color markers, then used my Silver #4 brush and water to blend the colors together a bit.  You might notice that there is one leaf popped up over the other leaves...that one was stamped on another piece of Bristol paper and hand cut.  The stamp is from SU...one I've had forever in my stash...but I use it often. After coloring all the leaves, I used a stitched rectangle for SSS to trim it down a bit.  I backed it with a piece of dark brown and adhered it to a white card base.The sentiment is also from SSS. It's a little difficult to see on here, but I added some Wink of Stella to each of the leaves.  

And...here's my second card for the CAS Watercolour Card Challenge...which also works for the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge this month.

Same leaf stamp...different water coloring technique.  I colored the leaf with water color crayons in red, orange, and yellow.  I haven't really tried using the water color crayons before and wasn't sure what I would get.  I practiced on some scrap card stock first...and trust me...it makes a LOT of difference how much water you spritz on the stamp after you color it with the crayons.  You really need to let the water sit on the stamp for a little bit before you try to stamp with it.  You can also get second and third generation images with this technique.  After I had stamped each of these leaves, the card just seem to need something else, so I added some splatters with "ink" I created with the same crayons used for coloring the stamp. This is also a one layer card.

I'm really going to love this challenge because it keeps me using my water colors!

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!