Paper Piecing Hugs

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week I’ve got some sweet & simple paper piecing...

...using Mama Elephant’s adorable In My Heart.

The In My Heart set is one of my all time favourite’s.  I think the artwork is so darling and delectable and there are some really kind and caring sentiments in there.  Oddly enough the little sprig of grass that comes in the set is one of those tiny stamps I reach for time and time again to help me build up scenes and has become invaluable to me!

 I stamped out one of the sweet little girls from the set three times onto watercolour card, and three times onto different patterned papers.  I coloured three of my wee lassies using my Zigs and cut leaving a slight white edge to imitate the look of die-cutting.  I then fussy cut the three little dresses from the patterned paper stamp outs, added a little detail with a white pen, and paper pieced over the top of my adorable girlies.

         

My backdrop is a rainbow made up of my trusty Zigs with a lot of water to help the colours blend.  My sentiment is from the same In My Heart set and is stamped and clear heat embossed to add definition and clarity.

I loved the clean and simple look of the design so decided to leave it there.

I really hope you like it, as always everything I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx

      

Hello Birthday Girl

Hey stampers, Anni here!

It's VERY cold right now over here in Germany! I can't wait to spring to begin but the weather forecast isn't very promising: -10 centigrade amd snow coming.
So I had to include some spring feeling into my card. For this Mama Elephant's Botanic Hello is perfect. Love all these flowers and the sentiment comes along!

I stamped the image with an embossing ink onto a piece of watercolour cardstock and heat embossed it in white because I knew I wanted to use my ZIG Clean Colour Real Brush Pens. You know I have this thing with flowers and watercolours. And the ZIGs are so easy to use.

I always colour one petal at a time, leave it to dry working on another petal and coming back to the former petal to add another layer. I start at the area I want to be the darkest and then work my way up to the lighter areas. The letters I lfet white. When the whole piece was dry I added some shadows with a coloured pencils.

After I finished the colouring I started the fussy cutting. And I really fussy cut everything, not only the outer edge but also the tiny spaces in between the flowers, leaves and letters. I wasn't that bad because I find that the embossing makes the fussy cutting easier.

Then I adhered the image to a matching cardbase with dimensional adhesive and added some gems.

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty weekend.

   

Year of the Dog

I’m ready to celebrate the Chinese New Year with my card today. 2018 is the Year of the Dog, so I got out the cute dog from the Mama Elephant Lunar Animals set, ready for some colouring.

I seem to be reaching for my Zig clean colour real brush pens more lately, as I’m enjoying watercolouring. I stamped the Dog with MFT Extreme Black ink, which is fine for watercolour. I can also recommend their black hybrid ink for using with your zig pens too.

I chose just three colours of markers - beige 72, dark brown 62, and light pink 26. I added a little of the beige colour first, blending out with water. I then dried the image with a heat tool and repeated this step 3 or 4 times to get a nice buildup and blend of colour. I then added a thin line of the dark brown around the edge, blending out with water again. Finally, I added some light pink to the cheeks and blended out with water to soften.

Once the image was dry, I added some black gel pen to the eyes, and some white gel pens dots to the cheeks.

For the background, I die cut a rounded rectangle from red cardstock. I used the MFT chevron stencil with versamark ink, then embossed the chevrons with clear embossing powder. I love the texture and shine this gives to the background. I added this to a white card base.

I stamped, in versamark ink, three of the lanterns from the Avery Elle Bunting stamp set. I embossed these with gold embossing powder. I used coordinating dies to die cut the strings and bows from gold metallic card. Unfortunately, the dies are out of stock currently, but the stamp set does come with string and bow stamps. By stamping and embossing these in gold on the background, it would give a similar look. Alternatively, some gold twine would look lovely too.

The year is die cut from gold metallic card, using the C&9th Double Cut Numbers. 

I added everything to the card, using either foam tape or liquid glue. To help ground the dog on the card, I added a grey oval shadow beneath him.

Thanks for joining me today,

Gemma

Avery Elle Bunting

Mama Elephant Lunar Animals

C&9th Double Cut Numbers

Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens

MFT Oval Shadows Dienamics

MFT Chevron Grid Stencil

Hip Hip Hooray!

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week I'm giving it some Hip Hip Hooray to celebrate a happy couple...

...using the awesome & 'out there' Hooray from Waffle Flower.

I'm going crazy for all things Waffle Flower at the minute.  They just bring such a breath of fresh air to my collection.  They're weird and wonderful with a good measure of wacky, (there's actually a stamp of a duck in a wig in this set :) a duck. in a wig. don't believe me - check it out here), which is all the kinds of crazy I LOVE.  Amazing.

I teamed the Hooray set up with Sunday Sentiments from Mama Elephant to create a slightly less conventional 'Happy Engagement' card.

I started by stamping out the 'Congratulations' line form Sunday Sentiments.  This sentiment set is still one of my all time favourites.  I just love that my sentiment can give me the grounding for any scene I want to set up!  I then stamped all my cool and kooky characters and flowers all around.  I wanted the sweet happy couple to look like they were giddy with delight at their own happy news and dancing around their 'Congratulations' message.  I added a scattering of hearts and coloured everything using my Zigs.

I didn't spend too much time perfecting my colouring as I don't think that's what a set like this is about.  It's about fun and freedom and just letting yourself go with the flow!  

I stamped out my remaining sentiments to complete my message from Sunday Sentiments and Hooray, onto black card & white heat embossed and added them to my card using foam tape for some added dimension.  I also added another layer to my fun flower again just to add some dimension. 

I really hope you like it, and these new cool designs are floating your boat as much as they are mine!

As always, everything I used is linked below so give yourself a giggle and head straight over to check out a duck in a wig!

See you next week.

Jillx

    

Carousel of Colour

At the beginning of September, we have the local fair in my town. It visits each year and I always love walking through the fair during my lunch break, taking photos, sampling food, and watching all the fun. 

It inspired my card today. I wanted to show the fun and excitement of the fair by adding an explosion of colour from the carousel. Watercolour is a great way to do this, and you don't need many supplies to achieve a great effect.

On a piece of watercolour paper, I heat embossed the carousel image. I stamped it in black ink and embossed with some sparkle embossing powder.

Next, I chose a rainbow of zig pens, scribbling the colour in the centre of the carousel, extending it out a little way.

The next step is my favourite! It's a bit messy but lots of fun. Spritzing the colour with a water sprayer creates the explosive effect radiating out from the carousel. I dried it with my heat tool, then repeated the steps until I was happy with the look. 

To make this into a card, I added a strip of patterned paper then adhered to a card base. 

I hope you like this riot of colour and feel inspired to get out those zig pens and have fun.

Thanks for joining me today,

Gemma

Altenew Carousel

Hero Arts Sparkle Embossing Powder

Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens

MFT Dots & Stripes Neutral Paper Pack

Woodland Animals Thinking of You Card

Hi everyone, Taheerah here wishing you a happy Thursday!

Despite my protestations and desperate clinging on to Summer, I have to concede that the air has taken on a decidedly Autumnal feel. That isn't all bad I suppose - I love the different colours of the leaves, the excuse to cosy up with a hot chocolate, and bringing out my favourite chunky jumpers!

The impending arrival of Autumn also gave me a reason to pull out another Flora And Fauna set and give it some love - the Flora And Fauna Woodland stamp set was just begging for some inky time...

Fun, right?! I love those adorable animals and the whimsical feel of this set! Perfect for building a fun scene!

I stamped all my images with brown ink, for a more Autumnal feel. After that I pulled out my Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers to add some quick watercolouring!

I loved mixing in shades of red, orange, brown, green and yellow to really ring in the season!

I'd love to hear what you think of this card. Is there someone you know who'd love to receive it? Thanks for stopping by!

Hello Lovely

Hey stampers, Anni here!

As you may already know I LOVE to colour with my ZIG Clean Colour Real Brush pens. Most of the time I use them to colour flower images. Oddly enough I never choose them for critters or something else and I don't know why...

Today's card is another example! For this one I decided to go with no line coloring. I chose a very light ink and stamped the flower from Concord & 9th's Hello Lovely set on watercolour paper.
Then I coloured the images by adding a little bit of colour with the ZIG pens and fading it out with some water and a brush.
After I finished only the big flower was in a red shade and it seemed a little bit off to me. So I added some red dots here and there to balance out the colours.

For a little more interest I added some black details to the flowers to go with the sentiment on a stripe of black cardstock. I even added more dots - this time with a white gel pen to the biggest flower.
I always love how you can take your coloured images one step further by adding just a little bit of white and black gel pen.

So what about you? Do you have a favourite colouring medium for special images just like me? Or do you need every medium on any image? Let me know - I'm curious!

Thanks for stoping by and have a crafty weekend!

   

Floral hugs card

Hi everyone, it's Esther here and I've got some sad news... I'm stepping down from regular slots with the Seven Hills DT due to work commitments. I'll still be hanging around and guest designing occasionally, though!

Today I've got a simple floral hugs card using Altenew Extra Special, a stitched square panel from Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Square Stackables and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens.

Thanks for all your lovely comments while I've been here, and I hope to see you again soon.