No Line Watercolouring . . . Another Failure

Hi my dear friends!  Today, despite what I said the other day about giving up water-colouring, I thought I'd have a go at 'no line water-colouring' as it is very popular at present.  So, I stamped the main image from my Stampin' Up ' Birthday Blooms' set in a pale ink and had a go.

I should have kept to my vow to stick to what I can control - pencils - and give up on water-colouring as a colouring medium and  just use it for backgrounds and such, because I just can't control it!  I can't get the same depth and beauty that everyone else seems able to do, but never mind, I still made it into a card anyway.

I fussy cut around the top portion of the image, stamped a sentiment in black and added a black strip on the bottom for balance and mounted it with foam on to a cream card base that I'd flicked with red paint splats.  To finish it off I added a few black dots with a Glaze gel pen for the flower centre and some drops of Glossy Accents to look like water droplets and called it a day.

It isn't horrendous I know - it's passable - but it is miles away from the fabulous creations I have seen other  people manage . . .  but hey ho, at least I know my limitations!  Have a very lovely day my friends.  Thanks for popping by to say hi, you all make my day!  Hazel xx

Butterfly Trio

As you are reading this I will be in sunny (hopefully) Spain, with the peace and quiet of the campo (countryside) all around. 

Of course, as you, (my regular readers) will know, I am without internet, but with the problems and frustrations I have had recently with the internet - that can only be a good thing - the downside is, I will miss you all and my visits around blogland!

Just before I left the UK.  I had made a Bokeh background piece and wanted to do something with it, so I made three cards.

** WARNING **  This post will be picture heavy!

When I cut the butterfly die out of the background, I couldn't bring myself to throw away the negative pieces, so I cut another butterfly out of black card and used the negative pieces with the black one and mounted it to a plain, white card base, added a sentiment strip, WOS and glossy accents.

This is that card.

The butterfly I cut out of the Bokeh piece, I just made into a shaker card on plain, white card-stock and added a sentiment die-cut.

This is that card.

Finally, with the Bokeh background, I cut another butterfly out of white card and foam, adhered them together, backed the cut-out with gold foil card-stock and adhered the layered butterfly in to the cut-out for dimension.  I then added a sentiment, die-cut from the same gold foil card-stock, added some gold  'sequins' and some gold Stickles and called it done!

This is that card.

 

I hope that you enjoyed your visit today and if you leave any comments, I thank you and apologise that I will be unable to return the favour until I am back in the UK!  Have a lovely day!  Hazel xx

Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone!

Hi all my lovely friends!  I will have to keep this post fairly short, as the internet is still playing up (not as much as it has been, but still enough to make it quite tedious).

However, you know what they say, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” . . . well, I did just that!  When my computer was playing up and the internet was hardly usable, I made cards!!

I have been trying techniques and styles that I have never had the nerve to try before and this is one of them.

Some of the 'experiments' I have tried have been more successful than others, but the failure is in the 'not trying', not the failure itself . . . right?

Anywho, today I stepped out of my comfort zone and thought I would have a go at the kind of 'artsy' style I admire in other's work, but have never had the nerve, or the talent to try.  The result is  not wonderful, but who's is 100% of the time?  Plus, I had fun trying!

Here it is, exposed in all it's nakedness and feeling vulnerable . . . well, that's how it feels! 

I used a NBUS stamp set from Simon Says Stamp and stamped and masked one of the trees on to a sponged background, coloured them sketchily - for texture - and added the white dots that are so popular now and stamped the sentiments from the same stamp set.

If I did it again, I would definitely stamp the sentiments in the same brown I used for the trees, rather than the harsh black.

Constructive criticism would be welcome from artists out there more versed in this style!  Thank you for taking the time to visit today and for all your comments, they are always very welcome!  Have a lovely day . . .  it's pouring with rain here!  Hazel xx

A Rare Post Indeed . . . . Hopefully!

Well folks, my internet is still playing up and my headache is lingering, but I was determined to try and get something made and posted before I go away next Friday!

I have been experimenting with some things I have wanted to try, techniques, products and so on.

So, if the internet will allow, I will show you what I have been up to.

First up is one that I have been meaning to try for a while and that is, just draw some lines in black marker in a random, geographical design (not thought out in any way) and colour the sections in with felt markers - I wanted to see what kind of results I can get with these cheap markers - they are certainly vibrant.  One thing that I did notice was, that you see every stroke, but I think that that gave the sections a bit of added interest, a bit of 'texture' so-to-speak.  This is the result.

My second card is one that I have made with a panel that has been lying around since I realised that I had cut the wrong corner off of the embossed panel for the project I was making at the time!

I also wanted to try to work with thread and try the technique that has been popular with everyone else for a long while (I am always late to the party)  and I used it behind the sentiment die cuts.  This is that one.

Up next is a very simple one that I made from a practice piece that I tried out.  My clever DH made me a home made stamp press with a hinged lid and I wanted to try double stamping (deliberately not inking the stamp completely and then inking it again to make sure it stamped in the same place . . . it did!)  Of course, I couldn't just then throw it away, so I mounted it on to a base card that I had stuck patterned paper on and this is the result.

This last one is one that I had been experimenting with water-colouring backgrounds in various ways and I decided to make this one into a card.  I got out a cover plate die that I hadn't got around to trying yet and cut it out of my water-coloured panel and mounted it on to a dark grey panel.  I then added a flower that I had already stamped and coloured, some vellum leaves and a couple of butterflies and this is the result of that session.

Right, my lovelies . . . here goes . . . let's hope this post doesn't 'time out' . . . it has been a little better today, so fingers crossed!

If you have had the patience to get this far in the post, thank you so very much for your visit.  I appreciate you all.  Have a wonderful evening.  Hazel xx

Scraps & Leftovers

Hi, my lovely blogging friends.  I'm afraid today's post is a bit lengthy as I have two cards for you and an explanation of how they came about, so if you have somewhere to be, I suggest you skip to the pictures or you might be late!   It all started because I thought I should have a 'tidy up' of all my bits and pieces laying around on my worktop.

You know, the die cuts that you cut with that brand new die and were too excited to see what it looked like that you couldn't wait to have a real plan in mind on how to use it.

The background pieces that you made trying out a new technique - or in my case - trying a very old technique that you had forgotten about, for those who missed it, you will find the post HERE.

Those scraps of card and paper that was left from when you finished a project and just couldn't bring yourself to throw them in the bin - the 'keep it, it may come in handy' bits and bobs - we all have them don't we?

Anywho, the first card uses some die cuts that I had cut out, a tag from a SU die set, an umbrella die and stamp set from WPlus9 and some scraps of patterned paper and card-stock.

First, I used a Dylusions stencil and some Cosmic Shimmer texture paste and did a little stencilling here and there and left that to dry.  Whilst it was drying, I adhered the umbrella and 'Love' die-cuts to the tag and stamped the sentiment and little hearts on the tag.  By then the card had dried and I was able to assemble it.

The whole thing was finished off with some scraps of patterned paper and card scraps and here is the result.

I was told by MaryH of Carolina Cards about a challenge that these cards would fit, Pixie's Snippets Playground so I would like to enter them there

In my second card today I used a piece of the 'marbled background', that I made and showed here on my blog a while ago now and some leaves and layered flowers die-cuts that I had cut out  extras from another project.  Here is that card.

I want to thank you for visiting today and for any comments and if you are still with me this far, I also want to thank you for tenacity!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend my friends!  Hazel xx