Card-io Topiary Heart

Hi everyone, Julie here, I hope you're well and enjoying the lovely weather. 

For my card today I had fun using the new Card-io stamp sets; Posh Pots, Freesia and Violet and Bullfinches and Blooms.

I started with a 7x7 card blank and cut a circle aperture out the front of the card.

I then cut a square of super smooth card slightly bigger than the circle I'd just cut out and drew round the circle to aid with centering my design.

I stamped the pot, stem and topiary heart using my Press to Impress stamping platform, (back in stock this week), to line up the stamps and inked the pot with Sky Blue and Polar Blue Versa Colors and the topiary tree with Brown and Cocoa Versa Color inks. I chose the smallest flower head from the Freesia and Violet set and stamped it in Camellia Versa Color...............

Next I filled in with Petal Pink Versa Color and one of the small flower heads from the 

Bullfinches and Blooms set. I added the foliage with Fresh Green Versa Color and added a Bullfinch sitting on the plant pot with Black Versa Color...............

I stamped my 'With Love' greeting from the Woodware Just to Say stamp set in the Rose Red Versa Color in the corner of the card blank and heat set with clear embossing powder.

I die cut 2 sets of the Crealies' Decorette no.14 Interlocking Hearts in pink Mirri card to embellish the card with.

I returned to the main picture and drew in some grass to ground the plant pot and colour washed the white background with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I also highlighted around the plant pot and the leaf centres with an Archival Black Pen to add some depth.

I stuck my design in place with sticky foam pads, finishing off with the Interlocking Hearts embellishments and some Stickles in the centre of the flower heads.

 That completes my card for today, I hope you liked it.

                      

                    

                     

Lisa's next workshop at Grove Green will be on Sunday, August 20. Places are still available and all the information is HERE.

See you next week.

Love, Julie x

Card-io Stamps: Bugs and a Field of Wild Flowers!

Good morning crafters! Martina here, this month looking at some designs using some beautiful Card-io stamps. We used some different sets of these in Lisa's last class and all had fun creating our own take on the designs. One of the best things about Card-io stamps is that they all work together, whatever the sets you choose, and the more you have the more quirky little additions you can make!

Today I am looking at how you can use a stamp press to enhance your designs, making full use of the silhouette images in some of the sets and making your life easy along the way! It really doesn't matter which stamp press you use, mine is an older MISTI, but some of the newer designs (such as the one Lisa is stocking called 'Press to Impress') make this a little easier to do and are much cheaper than mine was!

To begin with I chose a 6x6 card blank and masked off a border to the left and a section along the bottom (I did this before putting in the press). I then used a Distress Tool and some Bundled Sage Distress Ink to add some green to the left-hand corner that I had created. I worked from my mask outwards, allowing the ink to fade as I got further out. Once I was happy with the effect, I moved my card into the stamp press and held with magnets.

Now to start building a picture...I started with one of my favourite stamps from the Backyard Blooms Set - the foxglove. Now there are a couple of ways you can do this next bit, depending on how precise you like to be. Me, I like the colours to be exactly on the right 'bit' of the flower, if you're not bothered about that, you can apply ink directly to the stamp for quickness and then simply stamp down into position. My preferred option is to pick up the stamp with the press in the position you want it on your card and then use whichever pens you have to colour one section. I used Distress Markers and coloured the stem green at first, stamped it and then coloured just the petals with purple before stamping again. The press makes this possible as the stamp and card do not move, so you can add colours, details, shading etc. as you like! Pukka! LOVE IT! It also makes you look good, with minimal effort... 

Now to repeat the same wherever you want the flowers, building a picture. It is also a good idea to use  a 2nd generation of ink to create foliage in the background (you can still put your stamp in position on the press and then either use a lighter pen, or press down onto some scrap paper first and then remove to stamp properly.

I kept building till I was happy with my 'field', before removing the card from the press and the masks.

 I edged my stamped section with some dots and dashes using a Micron Pen, before adding a sentiment to the bottom of the card from a Hobby Art Set.

Now to add some quirky bits! I love the bugs from Card-io and there are some different ones in different sets to choose from. The ones I have used here are from the Backyard Blooms and Pleasant Pastures Sets ( I need to add the Bugs and Snails Collection to my stash in the very near future!) Once I was fully 'bugged', my card was finished. And for a change - all in just one layer! Finally, I can send a card with a normal stamp and not a large letter one! This is a VERY rare thing...

That's all from me this week, I will see you next week for some more Card-io fun...

Lisa's next workshop at Grove Green will be on Sunday, August 20. Places are still available and all the information is HERE.

Love,

Martina

xxx

    

Card-io Stamps Class Cards.......

Good morning all,

Now I have to apologise as it has been quite a while since I last blogged but with my holiday, my niece's wedding in late July and Kirsten and I really busy planning and making samples for new classes and workshops things have kept me a little bit busy to say the least!!!

But hopefully things have settled down a little now and I can get back to it.......

So today I thought that I would show you the actual class samples that the Card-io Stamps Class was based on last Friday.

For the first one, I kept it simple as there were new ladies that had never used Card-io Stamps before and then we got more involved with the second card.

So the items that I used on this card were as follows:

Card-io Stamps:

  Posh Pots

Bugs and Snails

Summer Meadow

Say it with Flowers

Versacolor Inks:

Topaz

Brown

Sage

Violet

Polar Blue

Micron Fineliners

Archival Black Ink

These stamps are an absolute delight to work with Versacolor inks and enable you to get a lovely scene created very quickly. An added bit of scribbling and detail with the Micron fineliners adds ao much to the scene.....

A little closer look.....

This was the other choice for the first card.

The items that I used on this card were as follows:

Card-io Stamps:

 Backyard Blooms

Bugs and Snails

Summer Meadow

Versacolor Inks:

Imperial Blue

Lime

Pink

Fresh Green

Micron Fineliners

Archival Black Ink

A little closer look at those lovely wellies!

So by now after making their first card they were really into the stamps and enjoying them and it was time to add more detail and create a bigger scene......

The items that I used on this card were as follows:

Card-io Stamps:

 Pleasant Pastures

Bugs and Snails

Summer Meadow

Say it with Flowers

Versacolor Inks:

Topaz

Brown

Sage

Violet

Pink

Polar Blue

Micron Fineliners

Archival Black Ink

He really is a lovely scarecrow but not very good at his job!

Then the other choice for the second card was this one below, I love the mushrooms.......

The items that I used on this card were as follows:

Card-io Stamps:

 Pleasant Pastures

Perfect Patch

 Backyard Blooms

Basket Blooms

Versacolor Inks:

Charcoal

Cement

Camellia

Sage

Seashell

Polar Blue

Micron Fineliners

Archival Black Ink

I added a few little dots of Starlights to the centre of the flowers.....

Well I do hope that you have enjoyed having a peruse at the class cards and I will be back next week with some more samples that I made for the class using Card-io Stamps.

Lisa's next workshop at Grove Green will be on Sunday, August 20. Places are still available and all the information is HERE.

Have a great week, love and hugs

Lisa B xxx