Tuesday, 30 January 2018

Mixing Mediums | Happy Birthday ft. Clearly Besotted "Sunshine & Smiles"


Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

By now, it should be no surprise that I love to colour. I have a bunch of different mediums over on my Product Review page and I would encourage you to try as many as possible. Having options means you can do whatever you're in the mood for; and that's a wonderful feeling.


To begin, I stamped this flower (I'm not sure what it is) from Clearly Besotted's "Sunshine & Smiles" set with Antique Linen Distress Ink on Strathmore 140lb cold press watercolour paper. I chose to use this Distress ink because I absolutely love the look of no-line watercolouring, and the Antique Linen is perfect for that.

I then used a mix of Distress inks and my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to colour the image in. With both mediums I used a small #2 round watercolour paint brush with clean water to get the colours moving. You can certainly use a water brush, but I prefer the control I get with a regular paint brush.

Once the panel was completely dry, I stamped the greeting from CTMH "Cursive Birthday" set with Goldenrod Pigment ink by CTMH. Because of the texture of the paper and the finicky nature of pigment ink, I stamped this with the MISTI.

I then adhered a panel to a piece of coordinating cardstock that I had in my stash and mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

To finish off the card, I adhered a scattering of yellow sequins across the panel. Typically, I would have used my glitter pens over the petals, but I didn't want the ink to reactivate with the moisture.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Monday, 29 January 2018

Happy Heart Day Series | It Means I Love You ft Lawn Fawn's "Rawr"


Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

The spring release from Lawn Fawn was amazing this year. By far my favourite set is the "Rawr" with this super cute little dinosaur; and what's even better is that it can be swapped out for use with  any season. "Rawr means I love you", "Rawr means Happy Birthday", "Rawr means Merry Christmas" the list just goes on and on. Good job Lawn Fawn!


To begin, I stamped the dinosaur, hearts and the speech bubble from Lawn Fawn's "Rawr" set with CTMH archival ink on 110lb white cardstock.

I then trimmed that down and coloured all the images in with Derwent Inktense pencils, using clean water to move the colour around. I'm still learning the ins and outs of these pencils so when I have had more time to use them, there will definitely be a review.

Once the panel was dry, I wrapped a length of bakers twine around the bottom and tied a bow. I popped the panel up on some foam tape and adhered it to a piece of patterned paper from Lawn Fawn, then mounted the entire piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Friday, 26 January 2018

Monster Hugs | ft Lawn Fawn "Monster Mash" and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers


Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

We've all needed a get well card for someone we care about. Whether they're just feeling down and we want to help cheer them up, or there's an illness and our only expression is the written word. It's always nice to know that someone, somewhere is thinking about us when we need that support the most.

I've done many get well cards, usually floral thinking of you type things that are pretty or simple cute designs to make someone smile; but what about those kids that are under the weather? With social media recording our every day lives, we see more and more these really sick kids that are missing out on family gatherings, birthday parties and school.

Today I have a get well card, specifically for those kids. They may be going through things that most adults could never dream of, but deep down, they're still kids - and finding the right expression, something they will understand is very important.


To begin, I stamped the monsters from Lawn Fawn's "Monster Mash" with CTMH archival ink on Strathmore 140lb cold press watercolour paper. I created my own greeting using part of the sentiment from the same set and the large letters from CTMH "Framework Alphabet".

To colour each area, I added a line of colour with the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers where I wanted the deepest colour and then used clean water to pull the colour out. If you haven't used these markers, I highly recommend you check out my review (linked above) and give them a try. These were definitely one of the best purchases I have ever made.

For the grass and the sky, I wet the paper with clean water then dropped in the colour from the pen, I wanted it to be rather vibrant, so this took a couple layers - there is a ton of pigment in these pens and they blend incredibly well.

Once the panel was completely dry, I used super sticky two-way tape to adhere it to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.