Fifteen Minute Cards

Hello everyone, it is time for our monthly collection of projects that have taken no longer than fifteen minutes to create. These projects from the Design Team offer a fabulous selection of techniques and tips for you in one place, and we hope that you will enjoy the bumper selection that we have created for you this month. You can click on the individual Design Team members' names and head over to their blogs where you can see more details about their projects, plus see more of their artwork.

I have created two cards for you this month, both using Distress Inks to create a background for the focal images. For my first card, I chose Fossilized Amber Distress ink, to create a wrinkle free distress background. I added some stencilling using the same ink, plus Tea Dye Distress Ink for more definition. I stamped the bees from the Honey Bee stamp set and coloured them with pencils, before adding the sentiment from the Words of Wisdom stamp set.

For my second card, I used a left over piece of background from another project, that had been created with green and blue inks. I added the Silhouette Palaces Masks, joining them together, as I wanted a longer line of the silhouette to fill the card. I used two different colours of green ink to ink through the srencil, and then stamped the Large Crackle Background through the stencil as well, using Versafine Onyx Black Ink, I added foliage from the Floral Edges stamp set along the bottom and a sentiment from the Words to Dazzle and Sparkle stamp set. You can see more details of these cards on my blog.

Anne has created a series of cards for us using the beautiful large butterfly from the Patchwork Butterfly stamp set. For her first card, she wet the card, and sprinkled Brushos onto the butterfly, spritzing again to encourage a burst of colour. You can leave the card to dry naturally for an intense effect, or use a heat gun to reduce the intensity of the colour slightly. She added some Glossy Accents onto some areas for added interest. She has used 8" x 8" cards to create a large frame for her projects.

The second and third cards were created by colouring the stamp with watercolour pens and overstamping onto the black image. TIP: Colour the stamp directly with the pens, then lightly mist with water to activate before stamping. You can stamp several times with one colouring of the stamp, misting again before each re-stamping. This is a great technique for batch making . To encourage more bleed, she also spritzed the card after stamping the coloured image to give a nice watercolour effect.

Anne has also created a pair of very pretty cards using mica inks to create the background. She stamped a tree image from the Design a Tree Orchard stamp set using Versamark, and extended the image using an embossing pen, to ground the image. She then used a sparkly black glitter embossing powder. She cut out the mat, edged it with a pen to frame the shape, and mounted each one onto an A6 card. She stamped a sentiment from the Words of Inspiration stamp set.

We have three fabulous cards from Brenda up next; her first was created using a pre-made shaving foam background. She stamped both of the images from the  Silhouette Palaces stamp set, butting them together for a continuous appearance, and added a sentiment from the Words of Inspiration stamp set.

Her second card was created by stamping both images from the Silhouette Palaces stamp set, and then using Distress Inks, a sun mask and some ripped paper, she created a background of misty hills. She added some hand drawn birds, a sentiment from the Words of Love stamp set, and some skyline stamping using an image from the Decorative Edges stamp set.

For her final card, she created a background using Brushos, and stamped Katya in black. She added some colouring and gold pen to her headdress. She stamped sections of the border from the Harlequin Rose stamp set across the corners.

Claire has created two delightful floral cards for us. The first uses a lovely image from the Flora and Fauna stamp set. She has used delicate colours to enhance the image:

 Her second card uses an image from the Wild Meadow stamp set. She has repeatedly stamped the image in the corner of the card, adding shading with green ink for added depth. The monochrome palette is simple, but so effective:

Her final card uses the fabulous Russian Spires stencil. She has created a vibrant background, and the brightly coloured palace is really evocative of Russian churches and palaces. The white embossing is really striking against her background.

 Gerrina has created some pretty notebooks for us this month, using stamps from the Floral Notes stamp set. These pretty notepads would make lovely gifts, or you could make a few and keep some for yourself. They would make fabulous projects to sell at craft fairs. To create her projects, she has stamped the images onto a piece of watercolour paper, coloured the images using Distress Ink and a waterbrush, and then added a piece of decorative ribbon around the spine of the notepad. She has attached the finished image to the front of the notepad.

Magda has created three very different projects for us this month. Firstly, an ATC, using a little peacock image. This is such a cheery offering, and would really brighten someone's day.

The second project, is a colourful Easter card, created with rainbow layers of colour, before she added her main stamping. 

Finally, a collage style card, with stencilling and stamping, plus a glittery butterfly to complete the card:

Marga has created a very elegant Easter card using the Russian Exquisite Egg, and the Large Crackle Background. The monochrome palette would be great for a masculine card.

Vronnie has created a Brusho background in soft colours for her card, and used texture paste through the Russian Spires stencil to create a very quick but beautiful card.

Last but not least, we have a collection of cards from Zoe to share with you. She has been really busy creating some beautiful cards with the new Russian inspired stamps, and these first cards show what beautiful results you can get in just a few minutes. The colours, whether vibrant, or muted, are fabulous behind the Silhouette Palaces. Zoe's moons with the white outlines are beautiful, she has used Pan Pastels on linen card to create that effect.:

 On this third card, she has used a wax crayon to highlight the Silhouette Palaces.

She has created a splattered background for her next design, stamping the image using a multicoloured ink pad.

Finally, monochrome stamping can be very effective when creating a card, and her final two cards showcase this technique perfectly. She has created two collaged cards, layering images from the same stamp sets together.

Well, that brings us to the end of the projects this month. We hope that you have enjoyed what we have shared with you. Keep visiting the Design Team Blog for a daily dose of inspiration from the Design Team each day. We will be back with another Fifteen Minute blog post next month. Thanks for stopping by,