This is definitely not the favourite card I’ve ever made – I had my head stuck on using the comic block stencil, as I couldn’t think of anything else. I was relatively happy with it until I added the white highlights at the very last minute after the card was assembled, and I think it spoilt it. I rarely use the highlights, so it was a good teaching moment for me I think – and that’s what I love about cardmaking, trying new things and learning from those moments when things don’t quite work out as I’d hoped. I’m happy I managed to use Gina K products for my card, though, as that was my main goal for the episode, as Gina was the guest crafter for the 200th episode of Craft Roulette.
Project: Kid’s card – I always struggle with this one, as I don’t have children in my life, so my usual fallback is to use a goat stamp from Lawn Fawn. In this case I did sneak in one of those in the to right corner, but I guess in the end the whole card is definitely one for kids in general.
Colours: Brrrr – I chose a cool colour palette for my card, with just the slightest touch of yellow/orange in the party hats to break up the colour.
Element: Comic or cartoon – I immediately thought of the cartoon block stencil sitting unused in my stash for this parameter.
Random: Button(s) – I used small flower shaped buttons in cool colours next to the deer.
I started by lightly ink blending the top edges of each stencil opening, then masked off one section at a time and stamped the animals in each block. I then created a mask of each animal and covered them up while I finished ink blending the backgrounds. The only additional layer was to stamp and fussy cut all the birthday accessories at the end. I then added a tiny pearl/bauble to the top of each birthday hat and added the wee flower buttons.
I managed to stand at my craft table for the first time this year since putting my back out at Christmas. It felt really good getting my hands busy with craft supplies, even if I kept my craft time short and my card simple (can’t get much more ‘clean and simple’ than this one!). This was for the sketch challenge 255 over at AAA Cards challenge blog, using cool colours. Cool colours are most definitely my happy place, so I went with a dark aqua cardstock as my colour choice.
Supplies used:
Warm Spring Wishes stamp set by Gina K Designs (bird cages)
I adore everything about this card – this is quite possibly my most favourite stencil of all time, and the Glitz glitter gel takes the simple ink blending to a whole other level.
Project: Drop down (snowflakes drop down)
Colours: Supper table (my crockery is all blues/aquas so that’s what I based my colours on)
Element: Season(s) (I chose the festive Christmas season)
Random: Shiny (you can’t get much more shiny than that Glitz glitter gel, but I also foiled my sentiment for an extra bit of shine)
A few people have asked for instructions on how to make the autumn leaf card in my last post using gilding flakes, so I’ve just quickly taken a series of photos before I put my products away. I hope it all makes sense – if not feel free to leave a question in the comments and I’ll try to answer the best I can, although in all fairness I’m no expert in this technique.
Supplies that I used:
Gilding flakes (I ended up using Red Blaze by Cosmic Shimmer, leftover Copper flakes from our Crafter’s Companion/Crop & Create Delivered class kit, and Radiant gold by Nuvo)
Mixed media liquid glue, inkpad and sponge from Crafter’s Companion (sponge isn’t in the photo oops)
Stamps of choice (I used Autumn Silhouettes by Gina K Designs)
Cardstock layers as desired (I chose to replicate my black layered card, so I have three layers of black cardstock to complete my card here – one for the base layer, one of the gilded edge layer, and one for the stamped top layer)
Container of water for the stamp once covered in glue
Step 1: Fill the ink pad with the liquid glue – note that it needs to be very juicy. I’ve also had the best results when I work it around the top of the pad to make it a bit foamy.
Note, this is a special ink pad designed for this technique, and is a foam pad – don’t use your dye ink pads for this technique, or you’ll ruin those.
Step 2: ‘Ink up’ your chosen stamp with the glue on the ink pad, then stamp onto the cardstock. Note, you must do this step really quickly or the glue will start to dry on the stamp and it can really easily tear your cardstock when lifting the stamp up (ask me how I know!). Continue to stamp as many images as you need, adding a bit more glue to the ink pad each time before stamping to keep it juicy.
Step 3: Once you’ve finished stamping, set your stamped panel to one side to dry. Don’t forget to throw your glue-covered stamps into the container of water once you’ve finished stamping with them!
Step 4: Once the glue has dried for a while, you can start adding the gilding flakes. In this example I chose to just use one leaf stamp and one tub of gilding flakes that has a pre-mix of rich autumn colours.
You seem to get the best results when you lay the flakes in a ‘flat’ position over the gluey areas so it retains it’s shine a bit better. Some flakes turn to dust more quickly when you rub over with your fingertips to work them into the glue, which is what you need to do to get a full coverage with the flakes. Just keep adding another little ‘pile’ on top of any gaps and smooth with your fingertips to get them to adhere to the glue – the dust and clumps are inevitable, but it’s good to keep it to a minimum if you can.
Step 5: Burnish with the wee sponge to get all the residual flakes off, and the beautiful shine comes through. It’s my favourite part of the process seeing those rough images start to transform.
Step 6 – mat layer: For my card I decided to use gilding flakes on the edges of my mat layer for a consistent look. This can be done either by swiping the gluey ink pad along the edges and then applying the gilding flakes as above, or by adding double-sided adhesive tap along the edges and applying the gilding flakes to that instead. Both options give pretty much the same result.
Glue option: This is how it will look if you swipe the edges with the gluey ink pad (and this is what I did on my first card):
Important: If you’re swiping the edges with the glue don’t do what I did – make sure you put some scrap paper down over our work surface before you start, or you’ll end up with a very pretty gilded table surface! Hand sanitizer and a bit of scrubbing should get it off, though (I was too lazy to mix up some soapy water) … at least that worked on my glass mat, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that on a wooden surface.
Adhesive tape option: For my second attempt I decided to use the adhesive tape (I didn’t get quite to the edge, so I had to do a quick trim after I completed the gilding – I recommend doing that before pulling the release paper off, though, as I ended up with a slight tackiness on the edges afterwards). In hindsight I needn’t have bothered trimming, though, because all my card layers are black and it shouldn’t have been obvious … doh!
Because I wanted to have mostly gold with just a hint of copper, I covered most of the edges with gold flakes first.
Then I filled in any gaps with copper flakes.
I then buffed off the extra bits with the sponge, the same way I did with the stamped leaf panel.
Step 7: All that’s left to do now is to glue the layers together on my cardfront.
Step 8: I added a few small ’24 karat’ sequins from Gina K Designs and a sentiment, and my card is finished.
If you have any questions, I’ll try to answer as best as I can. I’ve found the Crafter’s Companion glue difficult to find locally in Australia so I’ve bought some Prima Marketing gilding glue to try next, but not sure how it will go on stamps … time will tell …
I used the Autumn Silhouettes stamp set by Gina K Designs with some gilding flakes to create this CAS card. Mostly created around 1am after falling asleep yesterday at 4pm 😳 Feeling rubbish today but just had to glue the layers together to finish it while waiting for some water to boil yay. That’s my card for day 14 of my card a day challenge with Mel’s Card Corner who’s sadly more under the weather than me today 🙁 And on that note back to bed I go … but not before adding this to the following challenges:
I already had this card in mind to make this weekend so I was super excited that it fit this week’s Craft Roulette parameters – I just had to add postage stamp to the mix and tweak the colours yay!! I really loved making this card and super happy with it – it also doubles as my ‘card a day challenge’ with Mel’s Card Corner as well, along with the layer it up challenge over at the Cut It Up Challenge blog.
Project: A2 card (bless you Cathy Z for choosing this as guest’s choice!)
Colours: Forest (brown and green for trees, red for berries and toadstools)
Element: Starts with H (holly)
Random: Postage stamp or mark (postage stamp die layer)
Holly sprigs were initially ink blended with Christmas pine dye ink by Gina K Designs, then spritzed with Altenew Forest glades shimmer spray (probably went a bit overboard with that one!). Some splatters of blue gold Gansai Tambi watercolour paint.
Supplies used:
Sealed holly sprigs die by Spellbinders
Forest glades metallic shimmer spray by Altenew (used on the holly leaves)
Holiday flora embossing folder by Gina K Designs
Nesting postage stamp infinity dies by Hero Arts
Gansai Tambi Starry colours watercolour set by Kuretake
Sealed twine die by Spellbinders
Wax seal starter kit, red wax beads and Merry Christmas wax seal stamp by Spellbinders
This ornament makes my blue-loving heart sing! I created this one for a couple of challenges – each challenge inspired me in different ways, and this was the result. I’m entering it into these challenges this week:
As you like it challenge – Modern or Traditional Christmas colours and why … truthfully I struggled with the answer to this one, because I do love traditional colours of green and red on Christmas cards, but my heart is leaning more towards modern because if I can find an excuse to use blue on a Christmas card I’m going to take it. I do also love bright colours for Christmas too, so yep modern it is!
It’s also Day 7 of my personal ‘card-a-day challenge’ throughout November that I’m doing along with my friend Melissa at Mel’s Card Corner.
Supplies used:
Snowflakes cover plate die by Pinkfresh Studio
Ornament heat embossed using Holiday Tapestry stamp set by Gina K Designs
Ornament toppers die by Gina K Designs
Joyful Christmas sentiments Glimmer hot foil plate and die set by Simon Hurley and Spellbinders
Thanks to learning ink blending tips from Gina K at the start of my cardmaking journey, ink blending is one of the techniques that I get the greatest pleasure from, it’s such a relaxing thing to do. A recent video of Gina’s gave me the inspiration to create this card for the AAA Cards clean and simple challenge this week, to ink blend with at least three colours.
I used Gina K inks in blue denim, light and medium lilac, turquoise sea, wild dandelion and peach bellini, with stamps from Season’s Greetings also by Gina K Designs.
The first ‘full class’ for the event was with Gina K Designs. Gina is one of the first designers I came across two years ago at the start of my cardmaking journey, and she’ll always hold a special place in my heart. Her Christmas projects for this event were gorgeous, and I loved them so much I made a slightly different colourway at the same time for each of the projects.
Things I enjoyed:
I loved how all three cards had very different looks and themes, and are really versatile for future cards.
Gina, to me, is the queen of ink blending, so I always love a class where I get to play with her inks for a blended panel … it’s my happy place every single time! She’s also one of the best teachers I’ve come across during my cardmaking journey, and gives so many great tips that you can learn from.
I especially adore the snowflake mandala stencil – I’ve already used this to make additional cards since the class, including a stunning one using glitter gel, so it’s a regular in my cardmaking lineup.
I needed to do a quick and simple card this week due to personal reasons, but I was determined to submit a card. I chose one of my all-time favourite pastimes, creating an ink-blended background with a silhouette image, using all Gina K Designs products.
This week the parameters were:
Project: Window (I used a window die)
Colours: Bird(s) (mine is based on a kingfisher image I found online, with coppery orange and brilliant turquoise/aqua/blues)
Element: By the pond (I figured wildflowers often grow by ponds)
Random: Paper clip (I actually bought some special paper clips over 12 months ago just for the day that this parameter finally got chosen … then couldn’t find them! normal office paperclip to the rescue in a coordinating blue, and I used that to attach the sentiment strip)
