Sunday 7 November 2021

DOODLED DIE CUTS PART 2

Hi There,
Here follows part 2 of my obsession of creating Doodled Die Cuts projects
after learning this technique from Wendy Vecchi's online class.


Accordion sleeves with insert cards were so easy & fun to create.


Various tones achieved when working with kraft or white paper base.


Perfect decoration for a little handmade box below.


These images are of the backgrounds I created for these projects using Wendy's Archival ink reinker & rubbing alcohol technique.  Followed by a ghosting technique with stamps or stencils & alcohol to give more depth & interest.




I only have a limited range of Archival reinker colours but was amazed at the variety of blends that could be achieved.  Orange Blossom reinker was used in nearly all of these. I only combined two or three colours at a time. Orange Blossom, Aquamarine, Leaf or Fern Green. The darker moodier backgrounds were created with the addition of Ground Espresso & Hickory Smoke reinker.


This brighter, more opaque background was created with Aquamarine archival reinker in combination with Picked Raspberry & Fossilized Amber Distress oxide reinkers & Alcohol. I then applied the ghosting technique with rubbing alcohol & blending foam through a floral stencil over the top.


So many new varieties of flowers can be created. All depends on your imagination!


Wendy Vecchi's 'Lets Shop' bag dies make cute little pockets for gift cards or insert cards like I created below.


Kraft paper gives a much more subdued colour palette.


Details about Wendy Vecchi's fantastic techniques can be followed through the Facebook group 

Ink, Stamp & Make Art with Wendy Vecchi

https://www.facebook.com/groups/678355436147288

I highly recommend it. A very friendly & supportive group. Wendy's products & tutorials are fabulous.

Hope to see you there,

Deb Adams xx
 

Saturday 6 November 2021

Doodled Die Cuts. Part 1.

 Hi There,

My creative mojo has been reinvigorated by attending 

Wendy Vecchi's 'Doodled die cuts' Facebook Live class last week.

I created so many projects I want to share with you that I have divided my photos into two blog posts.

Above is just some of the variety of doodled die cuts ready to use as ephemera on cards, tags or any other project you can think of.


These were all coloured by blending Archival inks through various stencils in preparation for the class. 
Such an easy & addictive technique. Before you know it there is a huge variety created.


These ones were made using die cuts from Wendy's Ranger die cut, stamp & stencil sets.


Others designs were stencilled onto cardstock then fussy cut.


The other part of the class involved creating gift card holders.
A great way to use up random papers from your stash.


Background papers were also created by following Wendy's tutorials 
on Archival reinkers with rubbing alcohol techniques.


Then ghosting with rubbing alcohol through a stencil or stamping to give further depth to the background.


These papers were then die cut using the Tim Holtz Sizzix 'Pocket envelope' die. 
 I cut the top flap off the envelope to form the pockets.
Some were cut across the top with the deckle cutter.  Others trimmed with a small circle punch.
More papers were cut to form the insert cards.


With all the preparation done I was able to really enjoy the class, in which Wendy explained her doodling techniques.
Especially as the time zone difference meant I was watching at 330 am here in Australia.
I went back to bed after.  Later that day I was able to bring all the techniques together.


Here is one of the card holders with four insert tags.


This card holder is made using the Lets Shop die from Wendy Vecchi with the bag handles cut off.


These are fridge magnets I made by repurposing some Advertising magnets, but could also have been slimline cards.  I didn't want to waste any of the yummy inked papers, so I used them up in a patchwork background here.


This moody background became one of my favourites.  Love how this card turned out.


Another bright layered card using all those lovely flowers.
I added washi tape & either stencilling or stamping to give further depth to the backgrounds.


Love this soft layered effect.
Enamel dots used as the final embellishment. 


A couple of tags....so cool!


The front & back of another concertina tag book.



These are the four insert tags.
Amazing how you can fit on so many techniques on a small project.


Here are my leftovers that I will complete with more ephemera in my next blog post.


Thanks so much for reading through this far.
This facebook class is still available.
Wendy hosts a fabulous friendly facebook group where you can find all the information about this class and more of her tutorials.


Hope to see you there.

Cheers Deb xx


Friday 17 September 2021

Hello! Prize Ribbon!

 Hi There,

Today I want to share two cards I recently created featuring the newest Distress Collection colour from Tim Holtz & Ranger ie. Prize Ribbon!


                 I closely followed techniques described by one of my favourite designers:-

             Stacy Zimmerman Hutchinson (Tattered Nest Designs)

I was totally in love with her card design featuring this colour & the gorgeous Floral Outlines Stamp from Stamper's Anonymous. 

 She has a fabulous blog post explaining these beautiful watercolour techniques that you can find here.


To make these 6 x 6" cards I cut sheets of white mixed media heavy stock paper down to 5 1/2"for my background.  Keep the off cuts from the 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock sheets to create all the other embellishment layers including the moth & sentiment.  


I firstly randomly stamped with Prize Ribbon Distress Ink & a fine dotted background stamp.
I then stamped the floral designs randomly in 3 places on each with the design flowing off the edges.
I applied Prize Ribbon embossing glaze sparingly & randomly to areas of the stamping before heat embossing.  The images were then blurred & softened by applying water with a soft brush.  I love this water colour effect.


On the left over cardstock I stamped a whole range of small ticket, labels & shapes to layer as embellishments including the moth focal point.
I grouped these on the background & took a photo to refer back to when assembling the card later.


The contrasting colours of Distress Inks were applied with a fine tip water brush. The colours I used were Fossilized Amber & Crackling Campfire as well as more layers of Prize Ribbon & water to give extra depth to the flowers & the moth.


I also applied some extra random stamping with the Fig. stamp above & a small honeycomb & text stamp below.


Simple fussy cutting was done with the labels as all the shapes were quite simple. I left all the edges uncoloured which adds to the contrast between the blue & white. I brushed these labels with a little water to give a softened effect as well.


Simple sewing with white thread frames the card & a circular bunch of thread was layered under the moth.


I love how the application of water softens & washes out the dotted background.  I applied more dots & repeated the water colour effect where it faded out too much.  Became more of a speckled effect.


I also applied tiny dots of white distress paint to the centres of the flowers to give the effect of stamens.  I did this after taking the photos, but you can see this effect on Stacy's blog post.


The moths were stamped with Hickory Smoke distress ink on a paper scrap (in a stamp positioner), water coloured & dried.  Stamped again with Prize Ribbon Distress Oxide & heat embossed with Frosted Crystal & Prize Ribbon Distress Glaze before die cutting. 

Hope you enjoy all the lovely water coloured layers on this card.  Will definitely have to try some other colour combinations soon.

Cheers for now,

Deb Adams














Thursday 15 July 2021

Monoprinted Layering Stencil Cards

Hi There Readers,

I was recently inspired by some cards shared by Stacy Zimmerman Hutchinson 

from Tattered Nest Designs who (if you don't already know!)

is part of the Tim Holtz Creative Team.

She shared a technique that is really cool! Mono printing with Layering Stencils.

This technique produced so many backgrounds I was able to create lots of cards.

Check them out below:-

Here is the link to her original tutorial. 


The spray ink colours I used were the same: Fossilized Amber, Salvaged Patina & Seedless Preserves.
This is a colour combo I would not have thought of, but it works so well.
I used an AaLL & create stencil that is half butterfly & half floral 
as I don't own the Doodle stencil used by Stacey.  Any detailed stencil will do.


After making lots of backgrounds, I added white heat embossed text in random areas & machine stitching.


Extra background pages were used to die cut insects & florals from the funky sets by Tim Holtz & Sizzix.  Funky Florals Large & Funky Insects Thinlits dies. 



These colours pair so well with kraft & white cardstocks. 


I played around with backgrounds & foregrounds die cut from the Sizzix Mixed Media die sets, 


the Paper Cut Bird die & the Funky Wreath die.


Various sentiment & word dies were then chosen & cut from any cardstock scraps.
Layering the sentiments makes them stand out from the backgrounds.
Dies from Sizzix, Paper Rose Studio, Concord & 9th.
Each card is all about the layers. Vintage buttons are the only other embellishments.


Hope this gives you some ideas for card creations too.
Just make some backgrounds & see where it takes you.

Thanks for reading,

Cheers,
Deb Adams