Visible Image - The Right Direction

Hi peeps!  I've been playing with The Right Direction stamp set, which has a couple of fabulous Ford Capri images.  So retro, and perfect for masculine cards.

I wanted to make it in a modern, graphic style to include the skyscape so I went with Warholesque primary colours and repetition.  

Then decided on the placement.

I didn't want the skyline to be central behind each car so I alternated the position as I stamped.

But it didn't look balanced, so I stamped in the gaps to make a continuous skyline behind each car.

Much better!  Here's a close up.

Loving the private plates!

Pop on over to the Visible Image store where you can find loads of fabulous stamps, coordinating dies  stencils, with loads of inspiration for each set.  There are some brilliant offers on too!

Seize The Birthday - Hot Pink and Lime

Hello peeps!  Today we've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday, and it's my pick!  I've gone for hot pink and lime.  Why?, you ask.  Well, I had a background piece sitting on my desk, staring at me and I'm thinking, 'how on earth could I use this piece in a card?'  Well, this is how!

I used Twisted Lime and Crushed Olive on the base, with a bit of Walnut Stain round the edges, and Picked Raspberry Oxide for the numbers.  All the stamps and stencils are Tim Holtz.

Pop on over to the Seize the Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and from our surprise party guests, and join in the fun.  If hot pink and lime don't float your boat, you can still play along with any birthday-themed project.

When you're reading this I'll be in sunny Sicily.  See you in the gallery when I get back!

Visible Image - Snowflake Grunge

Hey peeps, happy Sunday!  I've been making Christmas cards with the Snowflake Grunge set, and I've got one to show you here.

I stamped the snowflake across the centre of an A5 card, then cut the card down the centre so that I had two panels each with half a snowflake.  I stamped the Snow word, added some Lost Shadow on the snowflake for dimension, then stamped the snowflake cluster stamp with Lost Shadow.

As you can see, the Distress Ink didn't stamp the outline snowflake very clearly.  I'd stamped these freehand, so I couldn't line them up again, and anyway Distress Ink isn't the best ink to use with fine outline stamps.

So I inked up the stamp with Versafine Onyx Black and stamped it so that it overlapped the patchy stamping.

Then to jazz it up, I splattered some Gansai Tambi white gold paint over it.

I mounted the panel onto mirri card, then onto a 5x7 card base.

It's got a fabulous shimmer to it when the light catches it (which is difficult to capture with a camera!).

Snowflake Grunge

Click on the image for more details about this stamp set, and more card inspiration.  I'm off to use the other half of the snowflake!

Seize The Birthday - Repetitive Die Cut

 

Hi peeps, we've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday - Repetitive Die Cut, chosen by Nancy.

I've got to admit, this one took an awful long time for an idea to formulate - I couldn't get my head into repeat zone using just one die.  As it is, I used a layering die set (which I'm counting as one) and repeated it.

All dies and stamps are Tim Holtz.  I die cut the base butterflies then dipped them in spritzed Distress Inks, and cut the top layers out of black card.  The base panel is a mop up of some of the colours used.

I only adhered the layers down the body of the butterflies so that I could bend them up slightly.  I'm really happy with how it all turned out.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday challenge blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and our surprise party guests, and play along with us.  If repeat die cutting isn't your thing, you can play along with any birthday-themed project.  

See you in the gallery!

Visible Image - Rivers of Wine

 

Hello!  It's my turn on the Visible Image blog today, and I wanted to use one of the stencils from the fabulous September release, called Multiverse.  It's great for space/aliens etc, but it also reminded me of flowing water, or in this case, wine ;)

I stamped and die cut the bottle and wine glass from 99% Chance of Wine, and sloshed some Distress Inks over them.

I taped my card and stencil to my Wendy Vecchi Make Art Stay-Tion and sponged Distress Inks through.

When I placed my bottle and glass onto the stencilled card, it looked much better with the green at the top.  I positioned everything on the MISTI to work out placement of my sentiment.

Then it was just a case of assembling the card.  Here's the finished product again.

A close-up of the sentiment - never a truer word!

The glass is placed overlapping and slightly lower than the bottle to add perspective.

Let the wine flow :)

Here's a look at the full September Release, which you can get here at Visible Image.

There are fabulous samples for each of the items in the release, go take a look!

Seize The Birthday - Use Fall Colours

 

Hello!  We've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday today, chosen by Linda, and she's gone for fall colours.

As I'm writing this, it's the beginning of September and we're having the summer that we never got in west and cold July and August, a mini heatwave.  Don't laugh, it's only 27C (80F) with full sunshine, but for us in the UK, that's really really warm.  I feel for those of you who have extreme temps (we don't do extreme.  In anything, actually.)

Anyway, back to the challenge.

I stamped my image onto watercolour paper and sloshed on some Distress Inks.  Can't remember the make of the stamp, it's either Hero Arts or Penny Black, and I've put it somewhere really safe(!) so I can't check.  The sentiment is MFT.

While I had the stamp out, I made a traditional red poppy card.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some fabulous inspiration from the Design Team and our Surprise Party Guests, and join in the fun!  If autumn colours aren't your thing, you can still play along with our Anything Goes category as long as it's a birthday card.

Visible Image Poinsettia Dies

Hello!  Here's another Christmas card made with the new co-ordinating dies that Visible Image have brought out for their existing stamp sets.  You get two dies for the Poinsettia set to match the two images.

Poinsettia Grunge Dies

I stamped the larger of the two poinsettia images with Versafine Onyx Black then die cut it.

I like to use Distress Inks as watercolours and slosh them loosely onto my images, letting the colours mingle and overlap.

I cut the Framed Fibres Layering from white card and layered it onto my base card for a white-on-white background.

For the sentiment, I stamped the words onto white card, dragged colour across then cut them at a rakish angle, then scraped the edges of the card across the black ink pad.

While I was making this card I stamped and coloured another poinsettia at the same time using the same colour scheme, and made a quick and easy background by dragging Zig Clean Colour brush pens across the card panel.

If you swipe the brush pens quickly enough they don't have time to soak into the card and you end up with a dry brush effect.

I stamped the sentiment onto the stripes.

The dies are currently 20% off with code DIES20.  And if you haven't already got the coordinating stamp set, you can get the stamp and die bundle for 20% off.  What's not to like?

Poinsettia Grunge Stamp and Die Bundle

Framed Fibres Layering Die