Intense watercolour by Natalie Ballard

 

One of my favourite samples from October is this bookmark card featuring Numerology and Beauty is in the Eyes. You might think this card looks complicated, but its actually really simple and there is no masking involved.

The bookmark panel

Start by working onto a piece of watercolour or mixed media cardstock. Remember, the smoother the stock, the more crisp your outline will be. Stamp your main image from Beauty is in the eyes using a water resistant ink pad. Next, you are going to line up the vertical numbers stamp from Numerology over the bubbles; ink it up with a combination of Wild Honey and Crackling Campfire Distress inks and spritz the stamp with water, stamp the image.

You can then watercolour your background using a nice strong magenta colour around the figure bubbles and numbers. Then, using a slightly watered down version of the colour, fill your bubbles also going around the numbers.

You can then paint the figure adding shading to the face using watered down Crackling Campfire or your watercolours.

Mount this panel onto a piece of contrasting cardstock in warm yellow to pull out the colour in your numbers. This can then be adhered to your card base along the open edge. Use a dashed line blade/trimmer to cut in the edge for tearing off the bookmark. Punch a hole in the top of the bookmark using a Cropadile or similar strong hole punch.

Finally, stamp your sentiment and you have a quick and easy card.

Bubbles Everywhere (by Tracy Thompson)

 This is my second post this month showing creations I made for the October shows, using stamp sets Beauty Is In The Eyes and Numerology

I created this card in three layers, the bottom layer and second layer I did first, using a stencil I inked on some circles diagonally across,  then used a white gel pen to make them look like bubbles.  I stamped the image from the set Beauty Is In The Eyes on a third piece of card and coloured it using inks.  

My background on this one was created with inks and then splatters stamped on from the Numerology set.  I made another layer with ink and on to that I added a frame with the image stamped on and coloured.  I cut out some circles to add along the base of the frame.

There will be another post from me near the end of the month.

Happy crafting

Tracy x

pensive (by Veronica)

Today I have samples using the very different and rather striking  Beauty is in the eyes stamp set. 

The first one is very simple, stamped in black versafine onto white card and coloured using a bluegrey pencil, trimmed down, a silvery grey mat onto a white card blank, and the sentiment stamped in black 

The second version was stamped onto a square of card coloured with distress oxides and texture added using a stencil. The image was stamped and coloured  using the brush  pens from Koh-i-noor. Sentiment  stamped in black, and some very elderly jewels added along with a black mat.

 A second share for this offbeat version, previously a separate post on my blog.  This was the first idea I had , and it took a bit of fiddling to get it to work!  In hindsight i should have just gone with the one hand to save the several attempts with acetate before I got a  a good print of the second hand, and i should have used a black ink too. I really liked the misty stencilled distress oxide background though, and I still like the moth from the Sacred set by Fiona Randall.

autumn leaves (by Veronica)

For my first post this month I have used the gorgeous new stamps from nature which are perfect for this time of the year.

My first card also uses the frame and bubbles from beauty is in the eyes. I inked the frame and bubbles using a small dye ink pad in a  honey colour and wiped any ink off the rest of the image before stamping onto the edge of a square of card. Reinked the stamp, turned the card round and stamped on the opposite edge. I used a waterbrush to pull the colour out in the frame and on some of the bubbles.

The big leaf spray was inked in the same ink and stamped at an angle across the card, reinked with some orange and green ink added randomly overlapping the first image.  Inked up a third time with thew orange and green inks and stamped more vertically over the other images. Finally inked in black ink and stamped again - I used a stamping platform to match up the images. the sentiments were stamped on scraps of card coloured with the same inks

A  wreath card using a stamping platform and the small leaf stamp inked in green ink. The large leaves were stamped in green ink onto card cololured with brusho powders and fussy cut out before gluing in place and adding the sentiment stamped in black onto a spare piece of card

A simpler wreath just using the small leaf stamp again, stamped alternately in green and yellow inks 
 

Beautiful Autumn (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. We are really into the Autumnal weather now, the leaves are falling and the windy days are here. I love this time of year, we still get the odd sunny day, and it is not too cold for a good walk. I hope that you caught last month's TV shows, and saw the fabulous new stamp sets that Lesley brought to The Craft Store. The Design Team have had so much fun playing with these stamp sets, and you will be truly inspired by what they have to share with you this month.

I have three projects to share with you today. My first card was created on a left over background from another project. I had painted over a piece of scrapbook paper with a wash of white acrylic paint and added some stencilling with blue and orange Distress Oxide Ink. Some subtle stamping had been added with the same colour ink; butterflies, clocks, and splatters, etc. These colours dictacted the colours that I then chose for the rest of my project. 

I stamped Beauty is in the Eyes using Versafine Onyx Black and extended the bottom frame using a fineliner pen. I used the same pen and a circle stencil to draw extra bubbles on the right hand side. I coloured the image with pencils, and added white highlights with a gel pen. I had another scrap background for the larger background, created using acrylic sprays. Always keep your left over backgrounds, you never know when you might need them! I matted both backgrounds with black card for extra drama. The little word 'Focus' comes from the same stamp set.

My second project is a small chipboard panel. I used a piece of decorative paper and stamped one of the leaves from From Nature 1 across the background using green ink. I stamped and embossed the large leaf spray from the same stamp set onto kraft card using white embossing powder. I also stamped and embossed just the face from Beauty is in the Eyes, and the flower from Floral Grunge, also onto kraft card using white embossing powder.

I added a sentiment to the background paper, before attaching it to the chipboard panel with matte medium. Once the adhesive was dry, I sanded the edges to get a white edge. I coloured the face and flower with pencils, and inked the leaves with Distress Ink. I attached all of the images to the panel for a collaged effect.

My final project mixes and matches stamp sets, something that I really enjoy doing. I have used Distress Inks to create a blended background, and then taken a branch from the Sticks and Stones stamp set which I have stamped in first and second generation stamping, using a brown Versafine Clair ink. I have coloured in the first generation branches using brown pencil, and the second generation using a mixture of grey and brown pencils, to make them appear to be in the background. I have then used a mixture of Autumn colours to stamp the lovely leaf from From Nature 1 in first, second and third generation stamping across the branches. Finally I have added my absolute favourite Chocolate Baroque sentiment to the card. This comes from the Nature's Peace stamp set. As Design Team Leader, I should probably not have favourites, but I am still human, and I adore this stamp! I knew as soon as saw the stamp set From Nature 1 that I wanted to create this card, sometimes a card design just pops into your head.

Thanks so much for stopping by, take care,

Judith xx