This Waratah design is from Stampin’Up’s discontinued “Bloom Away” set.
Sometimes I feel uncomfortable with empty spaces looking at me and get the urge to fill them. That’s what happened with this card, I just kept adding things to it, hard to know when to stop.
__________________________________________________
The Waratah stamp used on the 2 cards below is from KaiserCraft set ‘Road Trip’.
The butterfly stamp is from Magenta and the wording from Stamp-it.
This next one has turned out to be one of my favourites I think.
I inked up an acrylic block with pink down the middle and yellow around the outside. Spritz with water then stamp out. The colours will bleed together a bit creating an orange/red tone. Dry.
Colour in waratah with colour pencils, adding smears of Buttercup Liquid Pearls to flower head. When dry, cut out flower head as one, and all leaves individually. Magic Mount flower head to corner of inked rectangle, gluing leaves into place separately.
I found the background in my infamous ‘box’ of pre-done ones. The colours matched (would have been Distress Stain Sprays) so just stamped Penny Black ‘Classic Border’ 2005J down side and attached layers to complete card. Friendship stamp is from Hero Arts set ‘Hand Drawn Captions’ LL020.
This is the Banksia design from Stampin’Up’s ‘Bloom Away’ set. I experimented a bit more with the colours and presentation of this one. Hope you like them:)
For the card above, I first stamped the Banksia image onto white card with clear pigment pad and embossed with clear powder, before running ‘Picked Raspberry’ and ‘Fired Brick’ Distress Stains over the top.
After stamping the image onto ivory card with a black Versamark pad and colouring with watercolour pencils, I added smears of ‘Rouge’ and ‘Pumpkin’ Liquid Pearls to flower head.
I stamped the Banksia image multiple times with gold Delicata pad onto black card. I then stamped and embossed it in gold on a separate piece of black card. This one I coloured in with Forever Red and Forever Green Perfect Pearl Powders, which I mixed with water to make a metallic paint. Cut it out and Magic Mounted over image on main card.
I coloured this Banksia pink with watercolour pencils, then added ‘Buttercup’ Liquid Pearl smears over the top of the flower head. That’s the great thing about flowers – they come in a variety of colours.
Moving onto florals now, but haven’t strayed far from the Australiana theme with my new acquisition of an old Stampin’ Up set “Bloom Away”. There are 3 designs in the set, Gum Blossoms, Banksia and Waratah. I couldn’t decide which background to use with my Gum Blossom image, so just stamped out some more. I coloured them all the same, using watercolour pencils, then adding Glossy Accents to the nut areas and dots of Buttercup Liquid Pearls to the flower skirts.
To recreate this card, first colour a piece of watercolour paper with Antique Linen and Weathered Wood Distress Stain Sprays.
Next, tear the corner section from a piece of speckled Unryushi paper that is slightly larger than the watercolour card and glue to left hand side, wrinkling up as you go to make it fit and creating dimension and interest to your background. I used a clear matt glue to glue my paper and also to seal it.
I cut out ‘Fillipa Corner’ #99146 by Memory Box in ivory card and coloured it roughly with Weathered Wood ink. I then decorated it with ‘Disco Ball’ Beadazzles before attaching it to top corner of card.
The dragonfly is a stamp from unknown origins. I stamped it onto vellum in white ink and cut it out. I stamped out the body only in dark brown ink onto grey card, cut it out and laid over vellum image. I bent the dragonfly wings up and glued down the body area only onto card.
VARIATIONS:
I have been doing Australian themed cards for the last few weeks, and frankly am a bit over it and ready to move on. This is my last gasp…
stamps: Blackboy 11H by Stamp-it; Thank You by Stamp’in Up
Stamped in black ink onto kraft card, coloured in with Distress re-inkers using a waterbrush. Gold Liquid Pearls added to flower stalk and Wild Honey Distress Stickles smeared over rocks at base.
Big is beautiful, but sometimes smaller is cuter.
Using the same gumnut baby stamp set as previously, only the smaller version. I used Distress re-inkers as watercolours to colour in images, adding dots of Buttercup Liquid Pearls to decorate.
stamps: Snugglepot & Cuddlepie 17310 by Paper Rose Studio; Eucalypt Cluster 4H by Stamp-it
After so much focus on the masculine, I had to break out and add some feminine touches to this next card:)
stamps: Ruin TH724P by Thinking Stamps Australia, Empowered Words DD-960A by Unity Stamp Co
inks: Milled Lavender, Weathered Wood and Pumice Stone Distress Stain Sprays
I sliced around the edge of the building at right and slipped a tea sponged doily behind it. The tree has been garnished with Flower Soft for texture and dimension. I did colour this one softly with watercolour pencils. Laid some sticky backed pearl swirls on, added a bird to the sky, stamped wording in black and attached card layers.
stamps: Ruin TH724P by Thinking Stamps Australia, Memories 4777E by Stamp-it
inks: Tumbled Glass, Old Paper and Brushed Corduroy Distress Stain Sprays
I stamped the image in black Archival ink, then sprayed Distress inks over the top. Heat set with Heatgun. Stamped wording and attached embellishments and card layers. Lastly I added dots of glue in shape of Southern Cross to sky. When dry I lay over silver Fab Foil to highlight.
Rain Ahead
This is an old Stamp-it stamp I have had for many years. Stamped onto kraft card and coloured in with watercolour pencils with the aid of a waterbrush. The grass I have gone over with a green texter. Dark Chocolate Liquid Pearls and Black Accents used on drovers whip. Blue chalk and white paint used on sky. Clear Crackle accent applied over center of wording circle.
Dust Storm
Same stamp obviously, stamped onto white card this time and sprayed over with Distress Stain Sprays – Tumbled Glass, Rusty Hinge and Forest Moss. The only thing I coloured in was the cows using a watercolour pencil.
No colouring required.
stamps: Old Cart 1320G and Tiny Birthday 4092C by Stamp-it, Be Happy…Make Art LCS035 by Stampers Anonymous
inks: Old Paper and Brushed Corduroy Distress Stain Sprays
I stamped cart and partial background numbers onto white card in black Archival ink before spraying Distress sprays over. It doesn’t show so well in the photo but the ‘Old Paper’ ink is quite green in tone. Lay down strips of washi tape and attach film strip sections. This was for a 72nd birthday, so I added the appropriate wording and numbers. Only thing was, I got the age wrong, so had to go to plan B. Oops! At least I erred on the side of youth and made him younger than he was instead of older, haha. So this card is also up for grabs with all the others (see ‘Sales’ page).
So many different effects you can get with alcohol inks, depending on how you apply them. This card has been done on Yupo paper, which I find gives the most vibrant colour finish.
dies: Men Siting on Fence 17283 by Paper Rose Studio; Birds from Scarecrow set 662382 by Tim Holtz
stamps: Gum Tree 632F by Stamp-it; Moments C2768 by Hero Arts
alcohol inks: Rust, Caramel, Oregano, Lettuce, Sunshine Yellow, Bottle & Espresso
For this card, I squirted some alcohol inks onto my Teflon mat in lines, then swiped my paper through it horizontally so the colours mixed minimally. The paper kind of sucks onto the matt though so the colours do mix as you peel it off.
This will dry almost immediately. Then I stamped the gum tree and sun in black Archival ink. (Don’t use a StazOn pad as this also being a solvent ink, will cause bleeding).
I put a small puddle of Bottle and Espresso ink onto my acrylic block, picked it up with paint brush to colour in tree trunk and canopy. The Sunshine Yellow ink I placed a drop directly from the bottle over my stamped sun image and allowed it to spread out.
Cut out dies in black card, then glue into position over alcohol background. Matt onto black card, then folded orange/brown backing card.
Stamp out wording on scrap of matching card and cut to size. Sponge all edges with sepia ink and glue into position.