Hi everyone.
Sorry I haven't been updating the blog much lately, I tend to post projects more regularly to my instagram.
I try to participate in MFT's Camp Create every summer. I got the challenges all completed this past weekend. I have been trying to be better about using pre-done backgrounds and stamped/cut out images that I've coloured in my spare time, so for many of these, they were more about finding and assembling the pre-done elements. Although some I still modified to better suit my card ideas.
Alright, first up Wonderful Watercolour!
I ended up doing a bit of resist here too. I started by embossing my greetings from Handwritten Holiday on some watercolour paper. I used gold for the one and platinum for the other.
I was in the mood for jewel tones, so I looked through my mini distress inks and pulled out a few that fit the bill- I used Pine Needles with the gold and Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, and Aged Mahogany with the platinum
For the watercolouring, I just was careful and freehanded an approximately proportional rectangle over and around the greeting. Once the paint was dry, I dabbed at the embossing to get any remaining wet paint off.
For each card, I added a very subtle metallic mat to coordinate with the embossing powder. These are really quick to complete once you get going and would be a great mass produced holiday card with minimal effort!
Next Up: Remarkable Resist.
For this one, I started out with the Balloon Strings background stamp. I stamped that onto some white cardstock and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I pulled out some more distress ink minis, but blended with them this time. I used Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron, Squeeze Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, and Wilted Violet.
Once that was done, I thought it would be fun to put this cute dragon from Magical Dragons that I found from my stash (honestly I think I coloured this at least a year ago!) on a frame, but then I was thinking about shaker cards being the next challenge, and decided to take it up a notch and make it s shaker too. I filled it with lots of glitter and sequins. The speech bubble was a die from my stash- either a retired MFT or maybe Mama Elephant- I cannot recall and really, any larger speech bubble die would work for this or you could even free hand it!
Onwards to another shaker card!
Spectacular Shakers
This card was a bit of a labour of love. I tried a lot of things before getting this version to work. I don't have the MFT soda pop dies, but I do have a Stampin' Up set and the MFT Soda Pop stamps. Initially, I was trying to turn every bottle into a mini shaker, but the logistics were WAY too fussy. I had to hand cut the opening on the bottle, and the frame left was WAY too small to allow for the dimension required to fill it. So... change of plans. I got out my Stitched Rectangle Scalloped Frames and die-cut 5 to stack (yay for no foam tape required here!). I made the whole card front a giant shaker card. I stamped my greeting on this base panel and also sponged various brown inks to give that root beer look. I filled the shaker with brown and copper glitter and sequins. The bottles were die cut out of vellum and I used the fun little star image from the Soda Pop set to jazz up the bottles.
They were looking too plain empty, so I coloured them with a copic marker and added a few little highlights with a white gel pen. The recipient got a huge kick out of it, which really was what it's all about. There's something really magical about shaker cards!
Alright, more than half way complete and now it's time for Sensational Sliders!
I don't have the MFT slider dies, but I do have a Lawn Fawn one, and I'm all about maximizing my supplies and combining brands. I thought the Bitty Bears would make the perfect little surprise pop up scene.
I started with a stenciled cloud background from my stash- this was made using the Cloud Stencil.
I got my bears all coloured in and arranged them, leaving the balloon bear to be the one to pop up. Here's the "as it arrives" picture.
And here it is when you pull the slider mechanism. Super fun right?
And another shot of those bears, because come on, total cuteness!!!
Alright, time for the last card for Glitzy Glitter!
I went into my background stash again and found this fun underwater scene that I had made during a recent class I taught. I used the Ray of Light stencil with Distress Oxide inks. I used Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch. In class, we used the ray stencil to add white pigment ink to have lightened rays. However, I wanted to glitter-fy this, so I lined up the stencil with the previous pattern and stamped the Versamark pad directly to the paper. I found some old clear/glitter embossing powder and added that. It's so sparkly and fun! I love it!
I looked through my coloured images stash and found a few of the fish from Gill Friends. I wanted a few more, so I added the green gradient one and the all yellow one. To add a bit more glitter, I brushed over all of the fish with a shimmer pen. The stamped greeting is from that same set. The last touch was adding little clear Nuvo drop bubbles. It's subtle, but adds another fun little pop!
Anyway, that's all for now. I always love playing along with Camp Create. It's fun to challenge yourself to try techniques that are new or that you don't do that much. I seriously cannot recall the last time I made shaker cards and I ended up making two!! Also, I have had the slider/pull tab die set and maybe used it 3 or 4 times, so it was nice to pull it out and remember just how easy it comes together!
