Altered cover ( by Magda)

Have you ever thought of giving someone a pack of envelopes with cards as a little gift?  Well, I bought a pack at the stationery shop and decided immediately to alter the cover because the white colour seemed too obvious and boring.

Step by Step :

1. Cut a piece of white cardstock just a little smaller than the cover of your pack of envelopes
2. Apply randomly Dina Wakley Media White Gesso and let dry
3. Blend all over the surface Distress Inkpad Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover, Fossilized Amber and
    Evergreen Bough
4. Stamp a grass from Silhouette Grasses with Distress Paint - Tarnished Brass and apply the paint
    also on the edges
5. "Just for you" from Words to Dazzle & Sparkle set, is stamped  as sentiment with Versafine Inkpad 
     Onyx Black  on a white cardstock  and blended with Distress Inkpad  Old Paper and stuck on the
     mat
6.  Blend all the outside and the inside the the same green colors of point 3.
7.  Glue the mat on the front of the pack .... et voilà...  the little gift changes its appearance.

I hope you liked this idea of alteration. 

Magda

Kingfisher Compilation (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you managed to catch Lesley's fabulous One Day Special Shows on Hochanda on 31st January/1st February.  She shared some wonderful techniques with the new stamps, and this month, the Design Team girls will be sharing their fabulous artwork with you on the Design Team blog, as well as on their own blogs and on social media, like the Chocolate Baroque Facebook Group.

I have a couple of cards to show you today that were featured on the TV shows, which utilise several of the new stamp sets. I love to mix and match stamp sets, and so having lots of new stamp sets to work with all at once was just perfect for me.

For my first card, I created a gelli plate background, using blue and green Distress Ink, and used the bubbles stamp to stamp directly onto the gelli plate before I took a print from the plate. I then stamped a couple of the kingfishers onto the card, and masked them. I added branches and foliage, using coloured ink, and then used the bubbles stamp once again to create foliage for the branches. I coloured the birds with watercolour pens and a water brush. I edged the panel with teal coloured ink.

I stamped a greeting onto some sage green seam binding ribbon, using Archival Ink, and then adhered the ribbon across the bottom of the scene, before attaching the panel to my card.

To create my second card, I stamped the large Kingfisher onto a piece of smooth watercolour paper, and masked the image, before stamping the large branch a couple of times. I added several colours of Brusho powder, and spritzed them with water, blotting off the excess liquid with a spare piece of card. (I saved this piece of card for another project). Once the background was completely dry, I stamped the small leafy sprig using three different colour greens, and I used first and second generation stamping to give a feeling of depth to the foliage.

I removed the mask from the Kingfisher, and coloured the image with watercolour pencils. I added a sentiment, and edged the panel with teal coloured ink, before matting the panel onto a deep green card.

Please do keep visiting the blog each day for more beautiful designs from my team mates. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx