New Distress Colour Uncharted Mariner

Have you seen the gorgeous new Distress colour?? It is a rich dark blue colour and it is absolutely gorgeous. You can get it from the Crafty Purple Frog shop HERE in distress ink, oxide, spray, paint and embossing glaze forms.

Here is what it looks like compared to the other distress blues.

I have also come up with 9 different distress colour combinations with this new colour that you can use any way you like.

3 colour combos

Combo 1: Uncharted Mariner, Peacock Feathers, Salvages Patina

Combo 2: Uncharted Mariner, Peacock Feathers, Squeezed Lemonade

Combo 3: Uncharted Mariner, Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron

Combo 4: Uncharted Mariner, Salvages Patina, Saltwater Taffy

4 colour combos

Combo 1: Ground Espresso, Uncharted Mariner, Twisted Citron, Mustard Seed

Combo 2: Uncharted Mariner, Seedless Preserves, Fossilised Amber, Hickory Smoke

Combo 3: Black Soot, Uncharted Mariner, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry

Combo 4: Uncharted Mariner, Bundled Sage, Tattered Rose, Antique Linen

5 colour combo

Combo 1: Uncharted Mariner, Crackling Campfire, Shabby Shutters, Mustard Seed, Hickory Smoke

I hope you have fun with these colour combinations in your creations.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

Huge hugs

Amy xx

Colouring the Cheeky Divas Sia

 Have you seen the awesome latest Big stamp set from The Greeting Farm?? It is called Cheeky Divas and my gosh it is so cute and so much fun! There are 10 little cheekys styled to be like some of the biggest Divas in the music world. I am going to be colouring them all and this is the first one I have done for you. The colours I have used are not the Sia style but I wanted to change it up and I think she looks like a great party girl 😀 

In case the video is too quick her are the copic colours I used:

Skin - E04, E33, E11, E00

Dress and Bow - BV29, V09, V06 and white gelly roll pen

Hair - RV04, RV06, RV17, RV99

Thank you for stopping by the blog

Huge hugs

Amy xx

Runway inspiration

I know that I have said this about almost every class I have done for the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) but I really did LOVE this one. It has given me an idea as well to start an inspiration station so that I can share my inspiration with you all and maybe it can be something for you to be able to dip into as and when you want some inspiration so stay tuned for more on that if it sounds interesting to you :D

This class is called Runway inspired card making and is by the super talented Jennifer Rzasa. As the title suggests it is all about how to use fashion as inspiration for your cards. I have had so much fun looking through Pinterest for fashion looks to adapt into cards. I have sooooooo many ideas!

For the first one I used this stunning garment by Carolina Herrera from New York Fashion Week Spring 2020 click on the image to go to where I found this photo on livingly.com 

(Spring 2020 - Source: ImaxTree)

From this I took the inspiration of the way the flowers are scattered across it and there are more clustered that then thin out. I also wanted to try and stick to the colours used of the blue, green and white. 

I drew out a very rough sketch of what I wanted to do. Sorry my sketch and scribbles are very messy lol

As you can see I also added an idea for what stamp set I wanted to use. I like the way that the vintage roses stamps have a range of sizes of roses and leaves as I thought that would fit well with my inspiration.

So after deciding on my stamp set to use I picked some blue and green inks. I went for Limeade and lime for my greens and Caribbean Sky, Persian Blue and Sapphire.

Then I went about stamping a load of roses and leaves out. 

As you can see I tried stamping some white flowers too using some Morning frost and Evening Gray inks but I didn't think it would fit and I also decided against doing any layers for the leaves and decided to just use the Limeade ink for the leaves as that fits better with the inspiration I am using. I then die cut everything out and I will save those ones I am not going to use in the stamp packet so they are ready for another project later.

Then I started laying the roses and leaves onto the card blank until I was happy with the way they looked. 

Then I used some press and seal to pick them all up and keep them in that layout while I glued them all.

I wanted to add a sentiment without taking away from the feel of this card so I used the stitched strips of ease by Heffy Doodle to die cut a strip and then stamped a sentiment from the Inky Bouquet stamp set in Persian Blue ink so it matches the roses.

Finally for this card I wanted to add some more touches of white still so I used some Simply White nuvo drops scattered around the card which also added a nice touch of dimension.

I am so happy with the way this card turned out so I hope it has inspired you.

As you may have guessed I also have a second fashion inspired card for you today. For this next card I have combined two different pieces of clothing. The first thing that grabbed me was this fun dress from Pintelstore.com click on the image to go to the store.

I love that curve that runs down the dress and the fun colour pops so I am going to use the colours of pink, red, green, purple and yellow. Plus I will transfer that curve onto the card as well.

My second inspiration for this card comes from elle.com and these trousers that were from the Chloé Spring 2013 Ready-to-Wear show. Click the image to go to the original Pinterest pin where I found this image.

I like the way that there is texture on half of the trousers and keeping it all in the same colour. So I am going to use that on my card.

Again I did a little messy sketch of what I wanted to create.

Again I am going to be using the Vintage roses stamp and die set but this time I am picking just one of the roses and doing it in five different colour ways.

To start with I got the slimline scenery die from Heffy Doodle to create that curve on some white paper. Next I die cut a lot of the leaf clusters from the vintage rose dies out of the same white card so that I could create that tone of tone texture effect that the trousers have. I laid the die cut leaves all over the curved section and then stuck them all down and trimmed any that over hung the edges of it.

I stuck the curved section onto my 5x7 card blank then found the rose stamp that I wanted to use and I used the following inks for them:

For the sentiment I used another sentiment from the Inky Bouquet stamp set in jet black ink.

I spaced the roses down along the curve in the same way that the buttons run along the curve on the dress in my inspiration photo.

I think these two inspiration photos although they look very different from each other have really worked well together for this card.

These cards have been made to go towards my Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) level 3 I have a few more classes to go before my final assessment which will be a class. So if you would like to find out when I am am going to run my class and maybe join in with it please follow me so that you can see my future posts :)

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog.

Huge hugs

Amy xx

Transcending Tattoos

I have had a great time doing the amazing Transcending Tattoo Techniques class by Jaycee Gasper. I have loved tattoo art for a long time and finding out more about the various styles and looking at them with the view to transfer them to cards was very exciting for me :)

I was inspired by all of the lessons but the Trash Polka / mixed media one posed me a challenge as I am not really very good at just going with the flow so I wanted to give it a go. For this style I wanted to keep the colour pallet to just red black and white. I knew I needed a big bold image as the focal point so went for the Build-a-flower Camellia stamp set. 

I stamped out the outline layer in black and then I used just the second layer with Crimson crisp dye ink to add some red to it. I did not want to do the standard look and so changed it up by masking off half of the flower using Heffy Doodle memo tape before adding the crimson layer. I think this adds more interest and makes the red a real pop of colour.

Next I moved onto the back ground. I inked through the Broken Chevrons stencil with Jet black crisp dye ink keeping it kind of over to the left bottom two thirds of the card. 

To add more texture and interest I then used crackling campfire Distress spray stain to flick across the back ground and add in some more of the red. 

I stamped some of the leaves from the Camellia stamp set in black to mount behind the big flower to give it a bit more dimension. For the sentiment the one in the Camellia set looked perfect for me and I stamped it straight onto the card blank on top of the stencilling using my stamping platform so I could stamp it a few times and make sure it was really crisp and black to stand out from the stencilling.

I popped the flower up on some black foam pads before adding the final touch with some Black Board vintage nuvo drops.

I am really happy with how this turned out as it was quite a step outside of my comfort zone and I think it has worked well and it has inspired me to do more. This card has been made to go towards my Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) level 3 I have a few more classes to go before my final assessment which will be a class. So if you would like to find out when I am am going to run my class and maybe join in with it please follow me so that you can see my future posts :)

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog.

Huge hugs

Amy xx

Feeling Zen

 This is the first class that I am completing towards level 3 of the Altenew Educators Certification Programme (AECP)

I have been looking at zentangle from afar for ages so this Zentangle for card makers class seemed like the perfect chance to learn about it. 

I have had so much fun. I never knew there are set designs to use when zentangling known as tangles. I always thought that you just completely made them up. It was so nice to have some designs to learn and use which I could then make some of my own to go with once I felt more confident. These are some of my practice tangles based on the tangles that I learned during the course.

Some felt easier than others to me and I am sure I will get better at them all the more I do. It is fun learning 😀

For this card I used the trigonometry die set. I traced around the dies to create the shapes to tangle in. I was inspired by a card that the awesome teacher Amber Davis made in the class using the trendy circles stamp set. 

I wanted to keep the colours limited so that the tangles were the main focus. I used Altenew artist alcohol markers Frayed Leaf (G702), Forest Glade (G715),Ocean Waves (B201), Dusk (B313) and a pencil to add some shading and depth. You can get all of these Artist markers and more in the Artist Alcohol Markers set A.

 

For my tangling I used Fine liner pen set from Altenew in size 01 and for the thicker line on the main triangle I outlined the border and then used the Brush marker in the fine liner set to fill it in.

I originally traced the triangles in a formation flat on a panel and tangled on them intending to just add the whole panel to the front of the card base but changed my mind and cut them out so I could pop them up on foam pads to give extra dimension. 

I had so much fun making this card I also made a second card for this class that I wanted to show you.

For this card I again used the Altenew fine liner 01 size for my tangling but this time I left my tangles black and white. I added my shading with pencil and blended out with a blending stump. 

I started by creating the swirl on my card panel using the Illusion Twist stencil and then ink blending with Frosty Pink, Coral Berry and Ruby Red crisp dye inks. Again this card was inspired by another card created during the class and it made me look at all my stencils in a different way. 

To finish the card off I cut down the stencilled panel to just be a strip on the edge of my card and layered that on some black card. I cut a further piece of black card to heat emboss, with Wow white embossing powder, the "Thank You" sentiment from the Wonder Clusters stamp set.

Finally I added some Black board vintage nuvo drops to add a bit more texture to the card.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog.

Huge hugs

Amy xx

I did it! Level 2 complete :D

 

I am so over the moon to be able to say that I have passed the level 2 AECP final assessment so now am going to be working on my level 3 classes. I can not wait to get going. There are so many awesome online classes available the hardest part is going to be choosing which 5 to take for this stage :)

Thank you all so much for your support this far it means the world to me.

Playing with Nuvo Shimmer Powder

 

I had so much fun creating this card. Colouring up this stunning Digi stamp from Sweet November Stamps called Skipper Openwater. I coloured her with the following copic pens:

Tail: YR18, YR16, Y17

C7, C5, C3, C1, C0

Hair: C9, C7, C5, C3

Skin: E59, E57, E55, E53

Plus I made her tail sparkle with a Spectrum noir sparkle pen :)

This video shows how I made this amazing sparkly and fun background using Nuvo Blue Blitz and Atlantis Burst shimmer powders.

The sentiment is from another Sweet November Stamps set this time it is a clear set called Spring Fairies.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog.

Huge hugs

Amy xx

My first paper bag book

  This is the final part of my AECP (Altenew Educator's Certification Program)  level 2 challenge. If you have not seen the first part of the challenge it is all in my previous blog post HERE. 

For this part of the challenge I need to make an altered Item/upcycled Project. I thought about this for a while before coming up with this idea. I knew straight away that I wanted to use the same colour pallet as I used for the first half of the challenge which is blue and yellow. This time I changed the black for a grey though and went for a slightly darker yellow. This was mainly to fit with coloured card that I have. So the inks I have used are as follows:

Honey Drizzle and Aqualicious are Altenew Crisp dye inks and the Soft granite is from Hero Arts. The card was some I had in my stash and I used my swatches to match up the inks to the card.

TIP: Swatching your supplies to make comparing colours easier and saving you testing them each time which would use up more ink, paint etc.

I have not got them in this picture but I also used some copic markers to add details so did the same thing to match these colours as closely as possible. The copics I use are: C5, Y38 and BG49

While thinking about the various things I might be able to do I suddenly remembered that I had a few paper bags which I had been intending to make into a photo book and so this seemed like the perfect time to have a go at it 😀

I have taken inspiration from so many of Altenew's amazing online classes for this project but my main inspiration has come from the following classes:

Masking Unleashed - I used masking with the stencil to ensure I only inked the areas I wanted

In the mood for color - Blue for calm and yellow for happiness

Polychromatic - Tone on tone stamping

These are the paper bags that I am using for this project. They are just white paper bags which are about 22.5 cm x 17.5cm

I have used 3 of them to create my book.

As well as the 3 bags I used 3 A4 sheets of each colour card, 2 sheet of A4 white card and 1 piece of frosted shrink plastic.

I started by folding the bags in half to form the pages. I used an Altenew bone folder to make sure the crease nice and clean.

This is now the base of my book. The openings at the top of the bags allow for large pockets which I will add some cards into that could be used for journaling or putting photos on. Mementos such as entry tickets could also be slipped into these pockets. The bottom of the bags could be stuck flat but I am also going to use these as little tuck pockets so I did not glue them at this stage.

I arranged the pages the way that I liked so that it does not have all of the bottoms of the bags together. Then I tied some twine around the pages just to temporarily hold them together while I get the measurements I need and so I remember which way round I want them to be. You could also write page numbers in pencil on the middle of each page and this would probably be what I would do if I did this again as then later you can lay everything flat to add the card panels and do your stamping and stencilling. But I was learning as I went so you can learn from my mistakes 😂

Once your bags are folded you can then measure the size of each page to work out the size of the card panels you will need. I wanted to cover the bottoms of each bag as well so that needed a smaller rectangle for them.

Then I cut my panels out. For my book I needed :

9 x larger panels (10.8cm x 17.2cm)

3 x smaller panels (8cm x 17.2cm)

Having cut all of the panels I then used wet glue to stick them all onto the pages which strengthened the paper bags so they can support the photos which will be added. 

Looking through my Altenew stamps I was drawn to the beautiful Wallpaper Art stamp set. I knew that I wanted to do a lot of tone on tone for this book because I do not want the decoration to distract from the photos. 

I started with the front of the book and I added yellow card to the front and back as yellow is a colour that evokes happiness. So I lined my stamps up with a stamping platform and stamped them across the panel in Honey Drizzle.

I stamped the main flower outline and then masked the flower to add the leaves as if they are coming from behind the flowers. for the back of the book I stamped two of the flowers at the bottom of the yellow panel and then added leaves reaching up the panel from them. Again I used masking to make the flowers appear to be overlapping as they would be in nature.

Then I wanted some more flowers for both the outside and inside the book. If you are new to Altenew inks then one of the things that I love most about them is the way you can buy them in colour sets where you have 4 shades of a colour making stamping the layering stamps a very simple process. For my project as I am using the honey drizzle and Aqualicious colours as my main focus I used the Sweet Dreams and Pocketful of sunshine ink sets to create my flowers. This means they tie in perfectly with the rest of the colours in the book but still have the shadow and high lights that give the them a 3D look.

For the layered flowers I have used the Build-A-Flower Hawaiian Coral stamp and die set. 

I stamped the layers in the following colours:

Outline: Jet black

Base layer: Yellow flower - Citrus Burst

Blue flower - Dew Drops

Second layer: Yellow flower - Maple Yellow

Blue flower - Aqualicious

Third Layer: Yellow flower - Honey Drizzle

Blue flower - Teal Cave 

Stamens: Hero arts soft granite

Once stamped I used the coordinating dies to cut them out so they are ready to use and I can play around layering them onto my pages like embellishments.

Going back to the front of the book I used one of the blue flowers on the front to contrast against the yellow. The band across the cover is a 10.8cm x 3.7cm grey card strip with a 10.2cm x 3cm white strip layered onto it. The sentiment is from the Handmade tags stamp set.

I have kept the back page more simplified an used the same 10.8cm x 3.7cm grey strip and layered a 10.8cm x 2cm yellow strip then a 10.8cm x 1cm teal strip on top of that.

The internal tuck pocket pages (the ones that are the bottoms of the bags) I have made sure that I have one in each of the colours and I am going to do the same design on each one. I am again keeping the tone on tone feel for these panels. For the leaves that I have stamped all across the panel I have used the Build-A-Flower Hawaiian Coral stamp set. I felt like the panel needed some more interest than just the stamping so I used a copic marker to add some dots around the leaves.

I used the following ink colours and copic colours.

Grey panel- Soft granite Hero Arts ink, C5 copic marker

Yellow panel - Honey Drizzle Altenew ink, Y38 copic marker

Blue/teal panel - Aqualicious Altenew ink, BG49 copic marker

Next I used the Altenew Layered Dahlia stencil to add a bit of colour and more texture to the bag behind each pocket. For each one I have used a contrasting colour. Finally for these tuck pocket pages I have used double sided tape to stick down just the edges of each tuck pocket.

This will just make sure that the little extra inserts I am adding will not fall out of the pocket. 

I made small 7.5cm x 5.7cm rectangles (3 in each colour) and then rounded the corners before slipping them into the tuck pockets ready for the person I give the book to to use any way they want.

 The pages next to the tuck pocket pages I kept simple so a larger picture can be added later. I cut an 8cm x 14cm rectangle of white card and fixed that the the centre of the page before adding one of the flowers that I had previously stamped up. 

With these flowers I only stuck the bottom half of the flowers so photos can be slipped behind the flower.

I am intending to gift this photo book to someone special so I have left the photo areas blank and just written sizes in the places so they know what size to cut the pictures to.

For the larger pockets I have made larger inserts that are 17cm x 11cm two of each colour and rounded all the corners again.

For the last pages I have two double page spreads. One is blue and the other is grey. I did the same thing on both again keeping them tone on tone. I used the both the A and B layers of the Layered Dahlia stencil and They Aqualicious ink plus a little tumbled glass distress oxide on the teal pages and Soft granite on the grey ones. Before I started the inking though I made a mask to ensure that I was just inking one flower in the corner of each page.

To get my mask I drew around the area of the stencil that I wanted to keep with a pencil.

Cut just inside of my drawn line so it would overlap the stencil slightly and stay in place.

Fix the stencil and the mask where I want it and ink through it.

I then repeated the same steps with the second layer and because it doubles up the ink in that area it looks darker even though it is the same coloured ink.

The last things for these pages are some white card cut to the sizes shown to just create places for pictures or journaling. Plus some little strips of card, which like the flowers are just fixed at one end so pictures can still be slipped under them.

To finish my book off I used a pokey tool to pierce holes all along the spine of the book before using thread to stitch it together. To cover the stitching I would the twine around the spine. 

Before tying a bow it the twine I also made a little shrink plastic charm of the Hawaiian coral flower. To do this I stamped the black out line in Kraftin' Kimmie hybrid ink and then did the layers in the Altenew crisp dye ink as I had for the others in the book. 

Here is a little video showing the steps for the shrink plastic charm.

And that finished my little paper bag book off. 

This little video shows all of the pages 😀

I hope this has inspired you to have a go at making one of these little books and recycling any paper bags that you have.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog.

Huge hugs

Amy xx