Feeling Like Spring (by Pat)

Hello everyone, this month our Guest Design Team member Pat is joining us to inspire you with some creative projects. For her first appearance, she has made a lovely Spring themed card.

Pat writes:

Hi everyone, I'm so pleased to be back with my first of three guest posts for this month. I decided to make us feel as though Spring has arrived, even though it will be a couple of months or so before we feel that Spring is in the air. I am using the Spring Bird Crocus set, Texture Fragments, a small dot stamp from Freedom Flower, the graph stamp from Small Graph Paper and the sentiment from Spring Bird Tulip set. Also Distress Inks- three greens, a lilac, purple and two yellows, clear gloss embossing powder, a waterbrush, a blending tool, and permanent purple and white pearlescent ink.

I stamped the smaller crocus image and the little flower border four times onto a 4" square piece of white card using the purple permanent ink and heat embossed with clear gloss embossing powder. I coloured the flowers using a waterbrush and the Distress Inks mentioned above, and applied the dots around the edge using the purple and some white pearlescent ink. 

I then made the background using the same Distress Inks and stamped one of the Texture Fragment stamps, then the little dots, and finally the graph paper stamp. I also blended more of the purple around the edges. I finished with a sentiment stamped with the permanent ink and heat embossed again with the clear gloss embossing powder. I used a stitched tag die and the sentiment from the Spring Bird Tulip set, and then blended more of the lilac and purple Distress Inks around the edges.

That's all from me for now but I'll be back again next week.

Best Wishes,

Pat.

Springtime Tulips (by Corine)

Hello everyone, Corine is back with her second post for this month, a beautiful Spring themed card.

Corine writes:

Hello!

Here I am again. This is my second post in March. I will show you today a Spring card with tulips.

I used stamps from the sheets:
Spring Bird-Tulip
Texture Fragments

Stamp the tulips on watercolour paper with black water resistant ink. Mask the first print and then place the second print. Colour the image. I used watercolour paint for this.
Use Distress Oxide to create a background on watercolour paper with the colours Worn Lipstick and Seedless Preserves. Stamp the fragment with Wilted Violet.
With a white gel pen I put dots in the background.
Stamp the text with Archival Dusty Concord on a separate piece of paper.
Sponge the edges with Distress Oxide Wilted Violet.

Stick the background on a white card. Then stick the 'tulips' with foam tape on the background and attach the text to the right of your card.

Kind regards,
Corine van Kuilenburg

Pastel Tulips (by Pat)

Hello everyone, today sees our final blog post from Guest Design Team member Pat, for this month. She has created a pretty pastel card, using lovely delicate shades for your inspiration.

Pat writes:

Hi everybody,

This is my last card for now, and unlike my other two cards which were quite inky, I have opted for a much more clean and simple style this time. I have used my pencils to colour and grey pearlescent cardfor the background, together with the Spring Bird Tulip set of stamps and a couple of dies. I used one of the other Spring Bird sets for my last card. There are some very pretty tulips around at the moment which prompted me to use these lovely stamps this time.

I started by die cutting the pieced rectangle using the grey card, and then cut the ornate oval mat from that.

I stamped the flowers onto a piece of white stamping card using grey permanent ink, and coloured them using three pinks and a purple for the flowers, then two greens and some yellow and brown for the leaves and stems. I then fussy cut and shaped them a little before adhering them using glue gel to give some dimension.

I stamped the sentiment, again using the grey permanent ink, and then heat embossed it with clear gloss embossing powder which gives it a darker finish.

After placing the rectangle onto the white card I inset the oval back within it.

I have really enjoyed sharing my three cards with you throughout the month, and I look forward to returning later in the year.

Best Wishes,

Pat.

Springtime Notebook (by Marga)

Hello all, today I would like to show you a notebook I made with the Spring Bird Tulip stamp sheet. I love to make notebooks and give them away instead of a card. This notebook I have made with Distress Ink, and I have also coloured the tulips with Distress Ink. For the background, I have used a lot of different stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

The colours I used are:

Peeled Paint, Wild Honey, Tumbled Glass, Forest Moss.

Hugs, Marga.

Spring Birds (by Julie)

Hello and thanks for stopping by. The two cards I have today are both using the lovely Spring Bird stamp sets. 

I started my first card by stamping the Bold Leafy Background onto my base card and coloured with brush markers. I added some stencil detail and Old Paper Distress ink to the edges. The bird design is taken from Spring Bird Tulip, which I stamped onto water colour card, coloured with brush markers and blended with a brush dipped into water. The image was cut out with a circle die and mounted onto a larger circle die cut that I had coloured with the brush markers to match with the little bird.

My second card is stamped with Spring Bird Crocus. I die cut a circle from some copier paper to act as a mask. I placed the copier paper over the base card so that the bird design could be stamped through the hole left from the die cut. Once you have coloured the bird (I used Polychromos pencils), place the circle, that was cut earlier, over the bird so that you can stamp the Bold Leafy Background over the top and blend your Distress inks. I used the tiny little stick design from Sticks and Stones to create a border and then added spodges of white paint pen for interest.

Thank you for reading, please call back soon to catch some more Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

spring flowers (by Veronica)

First a very simple card using the spring bird tulip  stamps .
.

The tulips were stamped in black versafine ink and coloured with watercolour pencils. Background sqaure card was colopured with peeled paint distress ink using a brush, then the small tulip stamp stamped randomly in the same ink. The mat is gold mirri card, which doesn't show up as gold on the scanner.

This one was a bit more complicated, but still quite a quick card.
I die cut a circle of white card and stamped the tulips again in versafine, then masked them off with masking fluid; stamped the daffodils from spring bird daffodil to each side of the tulips, then rubbed off the masking fluid.
Coloured the tulips first using plenty of colour, then the daffodils using less colour.
A die cut green scalloped circle matt, and the corner swirls from breath of spring stamped onto the corners of the card blank using peeled paint distress ink to finish it off.

Both card blanks are 6" square, so easy to post

spring coasters

 These were some coasters I made for Lesley's recent tv show on Hochanda on February 16th featuring some lovely springtime stamps.

I found a set of mdf coasters that I had bought ages ago and never got round to using - it was past time they got used! I was inspired at the time to get them by a post on Eileen Godwin's blog (sorry, can't find the exact link!) , and duly gave them a coat of white gesso and then one of a very pale blue emulsion paint before stamping the daffodils and tulips using black memento ink.
There were 6 originally, and a holder, but I managed to lose one small vital piece of the holder, so had to make a box instead, and 4 due to running out of time.





The flowers were coloured with promarkers before being given a coat of modge podge as a sealant. I had always thought that promarkers were water resistant, but one of the daffodils did lose a bit of colour when I added the modge podge,. so I spread it around a bit more to try to make it look as if it was meant!
Fortunately the cameras didn't home in on that one......
For the box lid I stamped the daffodils first and covered them with masking fluid, then stamped the tulips twice at angles behind them.
Coloured with markers again - I did the flowers first, then the leaves. It was a bit difficult knowing which leaves belonged to which flowes, so i tried to do the daffodils first, then just added more green to what was left!
Smudged wild honey distress ink round the flowers, then added silver krylon pen round the edges before glueing to the box lid.
Now if only I could remember where I got the coasters from................hopefully Zoe will remember, as she used coasters too (definitely a case of great minds!)

Hope you enjoyed the shows, there will be lots more beautiful samples coming up over the next few weeks.
Thanks for looking, we appreciate you taking the time to visit
Veronica

Tulip Dream (by Corine)

All too soon it is the final week of Corine's guest designer spot and this week she has designed another beautiful project using her Gelli plate and several of our stamp sets.

Hello!

Today it is my 3rd and last time this time to post a card as guest designer. I hope you enjoyed my samples. On this card I used tulips of the sheet Spring Bird Tulip stamp set. 

I used stamps from the sheets:

Spring Bird Tulip

Texture Fragments

Words of Inspiration

• On a Gelli Plate Background I started with embossing the window with gold embossing powder. 
• Then I masked the window and used stencils, stamps and ink to create the background over the Gellie plate print.
• Next I embossed the tulips with gold embossing powder and coloured with markers and a waterbrush.
• Finally the sentiment was stamped with black ink.

Till next time,

Corine

I just love the depth that Corine has given to this background with her layering of stencils and stamps, really should try this myself at some point. Anyway a huge thank to Corine for the fabulous inspiration she has given to us these last three weeks and we look forward to seeing her again later in the year.

Meanwhile our regular girls still have tons of wonderful creations to share so please pop back again soon.

Songbird Mixed Media Card (by Shilpa)

Hello everyone, I am back with another mixed media creation using the Chocolate Baroque Spring Bird Tulip stamp set.

I love this cute birdie from the Spring Bird Tulip stamp set, so I decided to add only him to my card.

I created the background with texture paste and a stencil. When it had dried, I used purple, pink and brown inks, and spread them on the card until I was satisfied.

The bird is stamped with black archival ink and coloured with purple and pink inks. I created a few layers of embellishments behind him for more interest.

I love how it turned out, hope you like it too.
Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Shilpa.

Tulip Journal Page (by Shilpa)

Today sees the first post from Shilpa as a regular member of our Design Team, she is making the move from the Guest Design Team to become one of our regular contibutors. We would like to welcome Shilpa to her new role.

Shilpa writes:

Hello everyone, I am sharing my mixed media journal page today for which I've used the Chocolate Baroque Spring bird Tulip stamp set.

To create the background, first I adhered different washi tapes onto the page.

Next I spritzed blue and green inks randomlly on the surface, I used more water to spread the colour on the surface. Dried it with a heat tool.

For extra texture I applied coloured Gel medium through a stencil.

My focal point are these wonderful tulips, which I stamped in black Archival Ink. I've also stamped cute dragonflies from the Just Butterflies stamp set.

I hope you liked my journal page. Thanks so much for stopping by, Shilpa.

Spot the Birdie Journal page (by Shilpa)

It is the second week of Shilpa's guest designing and this week she is treating us to the most luscious art journal page, so sit back and relax for a little while to enjoy this.

Hello Everyone, Shilpa here, 

I would like to share with you a mixed media journal page today for which I've used Abstract Fragments and Spring Bird Tulip stamp sets.

To create the background I have used crackle texture paste, acrylic colors and stencils. To bring on the color on the full surface I've used Heidi Swapp color shine sprays in greens.

This beautiful bird stamp image is stamped with jet black archival ink and colored with watercolors.

Here are few more close up views

Thanks so much for stopping by, I'll come back here next with another mixed media project.

Shilpa

Love the freshness of this colour and the textured background is fabulous. Another big thank you to Shilpa for her contribution this week, looking forward to seeing her next design.

Hope you are enjoying the diversity of our blog and that you will join us again soon for more inspirational projects.