The call of the Sea (by Lesley)

Hi there, hope you have been inspired by all the fabulous creations that the Design Team girls have been posting here. For my post I thought I would be a small independent island amongst the sea of Christmas, so today's card uses the Seaside Dreams set.

1. Make the background using the acrylic block technique with Chipped Sapphire, Mustard Seed and Shabby Shutters Distress inks on a piece of thick white card from the Essential A6 card pack. When completely dry take a spare piece of fairly stiff A6 card and tap one of the long edges in white acrylic paint then create a random pattern over the background. Repeat until you are happy with the effect. Don't worry if the lines of paint aren't complete, it adds to the effect if some of these lines are broken.
    
2. Next stamp the shells onto a self adhesive label using Onyx Black Versafine. Allow to dry thoroughly and then 'paint' the shells using Sunshine Yellow and Butterscotch Adirondack dye ink. Tap each of the colours onto an acyrlic block and spritz lightly with water to create your paint palette. Build up the colour gradually with the Sunshine Yellow and add shading with the Butterscotch.
    
3. When dry cut out, peel off the backing and stick into place on the background. Add some shading under the shells with Butterscotch. Finally stamp the sentiment with Onyx Black.

You've probably guessed that I use self adhesive labels alot, but they are a quick way of adding an image to your background without having to do any masking. This way you can concentrate on the background and the image and then marry them together to get the finished picture.

Please keep tuning in to get your daily 'fix' of stunning artwork from our wonderful Design Team.

Honeysuckle Bouquet (by Lesley)

Today's technique makes a great border or can be used as the main feature of your card and is ideal for batch card making. I have given full instructions on how to make this so be prepared for a slightly longer read.

1. Start with a piece of bright white stamping card and lay down on to your craft mat in the portrait position.  Tear a piece of 2" wide low tack masking tape longer than the width of the card and then tear a ragged edge lengthways down one side. Fix across bottom edge of the card. Repeat the process with another peiece of masking tape and position across the card approximately 2" above the first piece, with the torn edge facing the torn edge of the first piece.
2. Use either a soft brush or Cut 'n Dry foam and Adirondack Sunshine Yellow ink to colour between the two masking strips. Start from the left hand edge and work towards the middle. Repeat again, this time using Adirondack Sunset Orange and work from the right towards the middle. Keep adding either or both colours until you are happy with the result, but don't go too dark.
3. Ink up the main image from the Honeysuckle Butterfly stamp set with Archival Orange Blossom ink and stamp repeatedly across the middle panel, reinking each time, to create a pleasing pattern. Remember to stamp at different angles to make the pattern more random. Allow to dry.
4. Next use a piece of Cut 'n Dry foam and pick up a small amout of Distress Rusty Hinge ink. Work from the masking tape to where it meets the card and gently apply colour to give a shaded effect. Repeat on the other masked edge.
5. Carefully remove each strip of tape, remembering that any ink on the masking tape will remain wet so be careful not to transfer this to your card.
6. Take a fine paint brush, dip into water, tap off excess onto a piece of ktichen roll and start to 'paint' over several of the flower petals and leaves, blotting with the kitchen roll as you go. Introducing the water to the dye based ink will 'loosen' it and allow you to remove colour from various areas of the image to form highlights. You can do as much or as little of this process as you wish. Don't add too much water or you will spoil the top surface of the card. Working a little at a time is best.
7. When the card is completely dry add accents to the images use toning coloured pencils, again how much you do is down to personal preference.
8. Next use a darker pencil to shade along each edge of the panel until it starts to 'pop' off the card. This type of shading will give a dimensional effect to your panel. Stamp the sentiment from Mackintosh Sentiments with Orange Blossom ink.
9. Finally score across the card, fold and trim off excess - I scored this card at approx 4.5".

This kind of panel can be used down the side of your card, as well as across and it looks fabulous as a background strip on which you could add a topper. Alternatively you could create several panels out of one piece of A4 card, cut them out and keep them to use in future projects.

Thanks for dropping in and don't forget there is a different piece of artwork every day from our talented Design Team.  Why not make it a regular in your diary so that you don't miss out on their creative ideas.