I appreciate you

 I am back again with my card for my third class for the Altenew AECP level 2. This card is from the Color your day class. This class has made me buy a colour wheel, which I think is going to be a great addition to my creative process. I have known about the colour wheel but never thought about having one by my side to be able to just quickly refer to. I absolutely LOVE colour and am a big visual person swatching all my stash so I can see how it is going to look together before I start making. This class was so much fun and I feel like I learnt a lot.

For my card I wanted to use a stamp set which is quite new to me the Altenew Garden Delights stamp set. I have to say that this set is beautiful. It was a dream to line up and I really like the little sentiments that come with it.

I wanted to use the complimentary colours for this creation while adding in the black to make them pop. I used the 70,20,10 theory where I had red for the 70, green for the 20 and black for the 10.

For the flowers I used the following Altenew Crisp dye inks:

Pastel Sunrise, Canyon Clay and Burnt Red. They are all in the Martian Terrain ink set.

The leaves are Frayed Leaf and forest Glades which are both in the Green Fields ink set.

I used the coordinating dies to cut all my leaves and flowers out.

I hand drew the black frame in and added the black centres for the flowers with Nuvo Black Board vintage drops. For a bit more red I used the splatters in the Inky Bouquet stamp set. 

To finish this card off I cut a strip of black card and embossed the sentiment from the Garden Delights set in white super fine Wow! embossing powder.

Thank you for taking the time to visit this blog.

Huge hugs

Amy xx

Bleaching with water and it is beautiful!

  

I am back with my next card for the Altenew AECP level 2. 

For this card I took my inspiration from the Beyond Basic Backgrounds class. I have to say I have been crafting for many years now but I absolutely loved this class! There were so many tips and techniques that I could learn from and I had so much fun making and playing with the different techniques.

But my favourite was the idea of bleaching with water. Why oh why have I not done this before?? 

I just LOVE the way it stretches your stamps as well as giving this subtle but beautiful result. I am also so impressed with how well it has kept the fine detail that is in the Altenew Quaint Blooms stamp set. I was so sure it was going to bleed over the edges and give a sort of fuzzy look. For the record you can get that look if you add more water to your stamp. It gives a different but equally beautiful look.

For this card I first blended Blueprint sketch, mermaid lagoon and salvaged patina distress oxide inks all over my piece of watercolour card stock. Then using my stamping platform I lined up the Quaint blooms stamp where I wanted it and then used a sponge to apply water to the stamp. I stamped with the water about 4 times to get these images to appear this clearly. Once I had that beautiful background I did not want to cover it up too much so added the Painted Encouragement stamp set which I embossed with Gold super fine Wow! embossing powder. Before finishing it off with a few sparkly gems.

I hope you can try this technique out for yourself and I can really recommend taking the class to find out all of the other hints and techniques :D

Thank you so much for visiting this blog

Huge hugs

Amy xx

 

Beautiful Details

 

I am so happy to be able to say that I have made it through Level 1 of the Altenew AECP and so now am moving onto level 2. There are so many amazing classes to work through for this level 2 certificate I wasn't sure where I wanted to start so I have gone in alphabetical order :D 

So my first creation for you is from all my learning in the brilliant Beautiful Details class. If you have not seen Altenew have a whole range of great online craft classes where you can learn so many tips and techniques to use in your crafting. You can find them all HERE and there are some free ones if you want to see what the classes are like so what have you got to lose??

I had so much fun making this card. I was so inspired by the idea of mixing up the media I use to colour that I went all in and for this card I have used Copics, Faber-Castell pencils and Altenew watercolours. I am not sure why I haven't combined the mediums I use before now.

I am so happy with the depth and detail that this had added to this beautiful Altenew Tulip stamp set.

I stamped my images on watercolour paper as I new I wanted to use the Altenew watercolour essentials set. I wanted to try and keep some of that watercolour lose look so I did some second generation stamping with Versafine Smokey gray ink to give a really light outline for a no line colouring look.

I started by using water colours to give a base and some depth. I followed that with using some pencils to add some more texture and detail. To finish the colouring and add even more depth I also added some copics into the mix. Lastly I added the splatters with the watercolours and then the sentiment that is in the Tulip stamp set.

I hope this helps inspire you to mix up your colouring and add in details to make your stamped images your own and give that truly handmade touch to your projects. I have no doubt that I will be using the many techniques I learnt in this class over and over again. I am totally inspired.

Thank you for taking the time to visit this blog

Huge hugs to you all 

Amy xx

How to heat emboss with water

 

If you haven't tried heat embossing on your crafty projects yet then you are missing out on a lot of fun. Plus it really can add a great touch of texture and that bit of a luxury look to your creations. It really is very simple to do but the right equipment can help to get a great result. 

Personally I first brought a lot of cheap embossing powders and got very frustrated as I could not get the look that I was seeing on other peoples creations. Someone told me I should try Wow! Embossing powders and I have never looked back. I get great results so easily with their powders and there is a HUGE range of colours available. 

In this video I am showing how you can get a great result without even needing to use the specific embossing ink or glue by just using water.

You can find Crafty Purple Frog's range of Wow! Embossing powders HERE.

A stamp set for more than just Easter creations

This is a big stamp set and you can do so much with it. I created this whole little scene with a selection of the stamps. It is another one of the new Sweet November Stamps Spring release that is now available HERE in the Crafty Purple Frog Store or in the Sweet November Stamps store HERE. 

This can be used for so much more than just Easter cards in spite of it being called Sweet Easter. 

Just look at how many cute images you get with this set and 3 sentiments!

 

I believe in you - Sweet November Stamps Spring release

 

This stunning unicorn is from the brand new Spring release by Sweet November Stamps. I had so much fun colouring this multicolour mane and tail and so I left the unicorn white to make the colours pop! In the I believe in you stamp set you get 2 stunning Unicorns plus 2 star/sparkle clusters and a sentiment that says "I believe in you". I teamed this up with the broad strokes and starfall stencils from Heffy Doodle and inked through the broad strokes stencil first with Salvaged Patina, salty ocean and Blueprint sketch distress oxides. Then I laid the starfall stencil over the top of the broad strokes stencil so when I inked through it with squeezed Lemonade distress oxide it only put stars where the gaps are in the brush strokes stencil. To finish it all off I added a scatter of sparkly Yellow bird nuvo drops.

If you would like the chance to win some of these awesome stamps then here are the details of the Instagram hop....

Spring is a magical time of the year, especially in Sweet November land! Which is cause for a magical clear stamp release and a celebration, wouldn't you say? Join us as we once again team up with our UK distributor, the Crafty Purple Frog, to bring you an enchanting Insta Hop full of inspiration and a chance to win the entire release! All you have to do is visit each designer’s account provided below, follow them, and leave a comment on their SN post. You have Saturday and Sunday, March 5th and 6th to participate in the hop. Monday morning, we will announce the random winner on the Sweet November Instagram page.

Amy Gould @craftypurplefrog

Amy Young @amyyoungforever

Andrea Shell @westie1702

Caitlin Anthony @caitlinannaleecards

Chiara Diana Chikanon @chikanon83

Claire Harrison @mrs_h_crafty_corner

Elin Venge @elinheve

Faye Wynn-Jones @fayewynnjones

Jasmin Oliver @jasmincraftymakes

Lisa Jannaway @craftytrain1

Sweet November Stamps @sweetnovemberstamps

This giveaway is sponsored by Sweet November Stamps. It has no affiliation with Instagram, nor are the designers responsible for the outcome. Any questions should be addressed to @sweetnovemberstamps. The contest is open internationally, and we will ship for free; however, we are not liable for any custom fees, dues, or taxes that may be incurred from customs. Once the prize is shipped, we are not held accountable for any lost or damaged goods and is not eligible for a cash reimbursement.

To a friend like gnome other

These adorable gnomes were released as part of the Sweet November Stamps Spring release last year. Aren't they just adorable?? I had so much fun colouring them in. The top gnomes are from the Gneal and Gnorah set. I stamped the first gnome in the middle then did some masking to stamp the others around him. They are all coloured them with copics. 

 This second card I did the same masking and when I went to colour them up one of my dark brown copics exploded all over the gnomes that now have red and orange hair 😖 So I changed up the colours that I was going to do this lot and gave them all black clothes. I think I saved it though. This gnome can be found in the Gned and Gnina set.

The next spring clear stamps will be released this Saturday (5th of March) and I am so excited for you to see it :D