Making a Splash on an inky sea.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm making a sweet birthday splash...

...using My Favourite Thing's adorable, 'Soak up the fun'.

I started by stamping out and colouring these cheeky little monkeys in their cute little banana boat using Zig Clean Colour Pens then fussy-cut, using a scalpel to get to the inner parts.  The 'Soak The Fun' set these fun guys are from is so brilliant, absolutely jam packed with adorable critters and creatures!  I then moved on to creating my background.  I knew I wanted them bobbing about on the sea, but I don't have any wave stamps or dies in my stash, so instead, I cut the cloud border from Mama Elephant's Landscape Trio Creative Cuts from some thick card, turned it upside down to use as a mask, and softly blended a few different blues to create a nice wavey background, adding a few flicks and splashes of ink for extra interest.

I loved how my background turned out but wanted my boat to be behind a wave as oppose to just sitting on top, I also, however, wanted to keep as few layers as possible, so instead of adding extra bulk, I simply cut around one of the waves with a scalpel, and slotted my little monkey filled fun boat behind :)

My sentiment is stamped directly onto my card front in black ink and clear embossed.  I then added a couple of cute balloons to give a little extra oomph and an added pop of colour.  My balloons are from My Favourite Thing's Somebunny set, stamped out, coloured using Zig's, and fussy-cut.  I then added string from the monkeys to the balloons just for a little added cute.

I'm really happy with how this card came out, and think these little monkeys are cute enough to put a smile on anyone's face and fun enough to make a splash on anyone's birthday!

As always, everything I used is linked below so be sure to have a peek.

See you next week.

Jillx

Sticking with simple.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm still in the vibe of keeping it simple...

...with some more simple pencil colouring on kraft using the delightfully sweet, My Favourite Things Somebunny.

The Somebunny set is jam packed with cute, sweet images and sentiments, and I decided to make a simple scene using these adorable little chicks.

I stamped out my scene in black and coloured using my colour pencils.  I love the look of pencil on kraft, and really want to practise my 'lighthand' when using them instead of reaching for the blending solution.  I mean, I don't know why, the blending solution works a treat, looks great, and is so easy to use...but of course us crafters like to torture ourselves over getting a technique right, yes?

I wanted my card to be really clean and simple, basic, and naive looking, so kept my scene elements to a minimum, adding a little grassy mound, a couple of balloons from the same Somebunny set, and added a sentiment form Mama Elephant's Woodland gifts set as I just think the font fit so well with the look I was going for.

I cut a couple of layers from cream and kraft card, using Mama Elephant's Index Creative Cuts, added a wrap and bow of natural twine, and matted onto a card base.

Like I say, I was going for a very simple look, so, after adding a slick of Glossy Accents to my little chicks' balloons, left it there.

I really hope you like it.  Everything I used is linked below so be sure to go have a peek.

See you next week.

Jillx