Happy, happy, happy, happy

 

I've had the idea for this card for a pretty long time, but I do admit, the complicated and time consuming masking witheld me. But now it was the perfect opportunity to make this card. Lilies are on the mood board of Stamping Sensations, and when I read about the 15th anniversary of the Allsorts Challenge, I decided to finally make this card. And believe me, it was quite a challenge ....

I started with stamping both the cat and flowers on masking tape. I puzzled with my stamping platform and the masks before even thinking about stamping on the card itself, and I decided I would start with stamping the bigger part of the tail, and the body of the cat. So I masked the part in between, and stamped the cat. I then masked the parts I had just stamped, and positioned the lilies, and stamped them with black Versafine. 

Now it was time to put a mask on the lilies, and to stamp the last part of the cat. Although it was possible to stamp the entire cat, I did decide to mask the body of the cat again just in case the position of the cat would slightly differ from the first print. My precautions turned out to have been unnecessary. Lucky me, because this was enough measuring and masking for one evening!

I stamped 'happy' several times with versamagic and brilliance ink, and ended with stamping 'Happy Birthday' with black Versamagic. I colourized cat and lilies with Polychromos.

Stamps:
- Katzelkraft KTZ177 - Hibiscus
- Katzelkraft KTZ294 - Cats on wall
- Katzelkraft KTZ276 - Whatchamacallit ('happy')
- Stampin'Up - Sky is the Limit ('Happy Birthday')

Challenges:
- Allsorts Challenge - #781 - 15th Birthday celebrations, AG
- Stamping Sensations - May challenge - Mood board or AG

Thank you for watching!

Lovely cat couple

Another card, this time with one of my new stencils (although this may sound like I bought hunderds of stencils, I actually bought 2 stencils. Yeah, really, just 2). I had set my mind on making a 'happy' card, because of the 15th birthday of the Allsorts challenge.  well, a lovely cat couple on a romantic city trip sounds very happy to me! I also picked orange as one of the main colours of the card because of the mood board on Stamping Sensations. I have also combined 2 vintage elements: the old bridge, and the style of the cat couple which reminds me of Toulouse Lautrec, or better said, his artwork.

I love to experiment with stencils, and this time I made two backgrounds at the same time. I started with a piece of mixed media paper (I use PaintOn) and sprayed some water on it. I put my stencil on it. Now I brush Inktense over stencil + underlying paper. I do this by picking up some Inktense directly from my pencil with the waterbrush, but if you have Inktense blocks, even better! 

Make sure the entire stencil (and paper) is covered with the Inktense. Put another piece of paper on top of it, leave it there for half a minute or so, and pull it off.. With the other piece of paper, you do more or less the opposite.  Allow it to absorb the Inktense. If you feel the colours are not intense enough, add more Inktense and allow the paper to absorb this as well. You can take a quick peek by lifting up a corner of the stencil to see if you are happy with the result. Now you can pull the stencil off. Make sure to clean it very thoroughly. Inktense does stain. I use handwarm water with olive soap.

Feel free to replace the Inktense by distress ink or watercolours!

I stamped the cat couple on both the first background and masking tape. I used a stamping platform and black Versafine to make sure the couple was totally black with no white of greyish spots. Added the mask and stamped the 'Budapest' stamp with purple Versamagic (eggplant). I colourized the bridge with pencils. I used a white gelly roll for the eyes. I also stamped the cat couple on the inside, and on the envelope with the bridge on the other side. 

Stamps:

- Katzelkraft KTZ SOLO106 Budapest 
- Katzelkraft KTZ MINI 028 (cat)

Stencil:
- Stamperia KSTDQ-76

Challenges:

- Allsorts Challenge - #781 - 15th birthday celebrations

- We Love Stamping - Vintage or AG
- Stamping Sensations - Mood board or AG

**** So proud to be one of the top picks from the 15th Birthday challenge ****

Please don't forget to celebrate the 15th birthday party of We Love Stamping! Please visit the challenge, you can use the link above (I tried to make the image a link but it's not working).

Thank you for watching!

 

Balancing cupcakes

 

With a lot of birthdays coming up, and the 15th anniversary of the Allsorts Challenge blog, it's time for a party! This lovely party dog couldn't agree more, he is showing how well he can balance cupcakes on the tip of his nose.

I stamped the Katzelkraft dog (KTZ161) and cupcake (KTZ199) on white PaintOn mixed media paper. I colourized the dog and cupcakes with coloursoft pencils and added some splashes (Inktense). So nothing complicated this time, just some stamps and pencils.

I also decorated the inside of the card. There is a cupcake on the left corner, in the same colours as the other ones. I also stamped a garland on the top right to make the party complete. 

Stamps:
- Katzelkraft KTZ161 (dog) and KTZ199 (cupcake)

Challenges:
- Allsorts Challenge - #781 Allsorts 15th Birthday celebrations - AG!

Thank you for watching!

Spots, Stripes, Clocks and a Cat

 Another card, and hopefully just in time for the Allsorts Challenge!

I am in a rush, only one hour left to join the challenge, so I start with 'the making of' right away. I used a Post-It note to cover the lower part of the cardstock. I used my Inktense pencils to make spots of different sizes and a waterbrush. I started with brushing over the spots and filled in the empty parts between the dots immediately after. I stamped 'Lines and Circles' of Technique Junkies with green versamagic.

I stamped the clocks with Versamark ink, and colourized the rest of the card with blue Inktense (and water of course). I stamped the cat with black Versafine, I did it 3 times to make sure the cat is very, very black. Added the sentiment and made  the eyes of the cat white with a gelly roll. 

Stamps:
- Technique  Junkies - Lines and Circles 
- Art Journey - Lady Clock (the clocks)
- Katzelkraft - Katz03 mini 003 (the cat)
- sentiment was a gift

Materials:
- white PaintOn paper
- Versamagic Turqouise gem
- Versafine onyx black
- Inktense pencils
- Sakura gelly roll (white)

Challenges: 
- Allsorts Challenge - #780 spots and stripes

Sorry for the bad pic, the card looks so much better irl! Thank you for watching!

The kiss with dreamy dots

This time I made a card with a very special stamp .... it's the couple depicted in the famous painting 'The Kiss' by Gustav Klimt. 

On the one hand it's very easy to make a very beautiful card with this stamp, I mean, it's one of the most decorative paintings in the world. On the other hand, what on earth can I do to do it better than the master himself? I decided to stay close to the original but to add elements that are really me. 

I stamped the couple bottom left with black Versafine on a double white card, and masked it. I sponged the background with Versamagic ink and made sure it was not too 'perfect'. The lines are added on purpose, it's a reference to the background of the painting. I used a stencil and -again- Versamagic ink to fill in the entire background with dots: big dots, medium dots, small dots, tiny dots .....  It creates a dreamy effect.I added even more dots with stamps

I stamped a kind of big circle of lace with Brilliance Galaxy Gold on the top right. It gives a wonderful effect but capturing thjs with the camera is not easy. 

I colourized the couple with a combination of Coloursoft and Metallic pencils. I used a little trick. I start with adding colour, eg pale orange, and add a layer of gold to it (with the Metallic pencil). This way I can create different shades of gold. I used more or less the same colours as in the painting.

I added an extra picture to show you how the couple really pops out.

Materials:
- stamp 'the Kiss': Cherry Pie (De Stempelwinkel)
- stamp circle of lace: Stampinback sheet 135
- stamp small dots: Hero Arts, Lots of Dots 
- stencil: ?

Challenges:
- Allsorts Challenge - #780 spots and stripes (or AG)
- We Love Stamping - Vintage or AG

****The Allsorts Challenge is celebrating their 15th Birthday next week, please help them celebrate!****

Thank you for watching!

Birthday Lilies

 A lot of birthdays are coming up in May and June, and Mother's Day of course, well, a lovely excuse for someone addicted to stamping .....

This card is for a good friend who is going through a rough time. She loves ships, sea and flowers, so I wanted to combine these things in one card. And what a happy coincidence, I had already more or less figured out what stamps and colours I wanted to use for her birthday card, when I saw the themes of favourite challenges ...... a perfect match!

I stamped the lilies with Brilliance pearlescent Rust on PainOn Lisse paper. This paper is a bit smoother than PaintOn paper which makes it sponging ink easier. I masked the Lilies and put a stencil on the paper. I sponged with Versamagic ink, I used 3 different colours. 

My stencil was too small to cover the entire area, so later on I stamped some dots on the upper part of the paper. I also stamped the sentiment a couple of times (with the stencil still on the paper!). I removed the stencil, and sponged the entire card with Versamagic Aloe Vera.  This softens the edges of the parts I sponged before. 

I stamped the boat with black Versafine and colourized it with pencils. I also extended the lines of the water with a black Faber-Castell Pitt pen. I added the sentiment. Now it was time to colourize the lilies! I used Inktense and a water brush.

The lilies really pop out of the card irl, sorry I wasn't able to catch the wonderful effect of the brilliance ink on my photo.
The inside of the card and the envelope are also decorated with the lilies.

Stamps:
- Lilies: KiCoStamps (plate 5)
- Ship: Katzelkraft KTZ079 - Bateau en Mer
- sentiment and dots: StampinBack sheet 135

Other Materials:
- stencil: unknown (there was no brand name of other info on it)
- pencils: Derwent coloursoft and Inktense

Challenges:
- Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything Goes Flowers/Florals and an optional Mood Board 
- Stamping Sensations - May challenge: mood board or AG

Thank you for watching!