Small card, big rose

 This time I've made a card with a stamp that was put back unused in its storage folder way too many times. Almost all my favourite challenges having a rose on their mood board was just the push I needed!

I stamped the rose with Memento Rhubarb Stalk, and masked it. I made the background by stamping the small rose with Versamagic Pixie Dust (pale pink) and colourizing all these little roses with a white pencil. 

I then brushed Inktense over the entire background. I did this by picking it up directly from the pencil, but you can also colourize the background with an Inktense pencil and use a water brush afterwards. You can actually see the resist happening when you start brushing, this is so much fun to do!

Now the background is ready and all there is left to do is to colourize the big rose. I used pencils and a stump.

A little fun fact: The little rose stamp is one of my oldest stamps, it's at least 15 years old, probably almost 20 years!!

Another fun fact: I ruined the first card. The glue stained the cardstock and I am still not sure what went wrong. So I had to do it all over again. 

Stamps:

- Katzelkraft KTZ176 Les Roses (the big rose)
- PSX A-249 (small rose)

Other materials:

- white PaintOn paper
- Memento Rhubarb Stalk
- Versamagic Pixie Dust
- Inktense: crimson

Challenges:

- We Love Stamping - 15 year blog celebration!!! Fabulous Florals or AG
- Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything florals goes with optional mood board #17
- Stamping Sensations - June challenge with mood board or AG
- Allsorts Challenge - Lots of Layers or AG 

Thank you for watching and have a nice day!

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!

Sea

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the ArtSpecially Event in Nijkerk (The Netherlands) and as could be expected, I went home with an empty wallet and a lot of new stamps and craft supplies. 

For this card, I used one of my new stamps, Katzelkraft KTZ079 - Bateau en Mer. I started with stamping the boat on both white PaintOn paper and masking tape. I masked the boat and stamped the light house.  I then put my stencil on the paper and sponged Versamagic ink. I started with Sea Breeze and moved on with Ocean Depth. 

I added Inktense (Dark Aquamarine). I was not sure how this would turn out but I was very  happy with the result. I colourized the lighthouse with pencils. I also made the reflection of the boat a little more white, and added some 'shadows' around it. I added some highlights with a white Sakura Gelly Roll. I stamped the bird with black Versafine and the sentiment with Versamagic (Ocean Depth). 

Materials:
- Stamps Boat and lighthouse: Katzelkraft KTZ079 - Bateau en Mer
- Stamps Seagull and sentiment: Crafty Individuals CI-272
- stencil: unknown. I store the original packages in between the stencils, but they must have fallen out. I think it's a Dutch Doobadoo stencil like most of the others.

Challenges:
- Allsorts Challenge - Week 778 Use a stencil

Thank you for watching!

Update May 3rd 2024:

My card was one of the Top 5 picks! Thank you so much, Dena!

Peach poppies

 I recently visited the Beautiful Blossoms challenge blog and was immediately inspired by the mood board. Lovely flowers and lovely colours. 

I decided to pick the colours (peach and petrol) from the mood board, and a little searching through my stamp collection turned out to be very successful .... my eyes fell on a beautiful stamp with poppies, the Hero Arts Poppy Background CG140. 

What a coincidence, because we always have peach poppies in our backyard. I've never seen a red poppy which is pretty remarkable, because wild poppies (red ones) can be found on short distance. 

I stamped the poppies with Versamagic Ocean Depth on white PaintOn paper, and colourized the poppies with my Inktense pencils. I used several layers, because I was very careful not to overdo the colours. I also used some Inktense on the white spots in the background. I absolutely adore the 'not so perfect' stamp print but the white was a little too much. 

Challenges:
- Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything florals goes with optional mood board #16

Thank you for watching!

Crazy daisy

 The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy, and I also visited the Dutch ArtSpecially Event. More about this event later, when I have more time to write. First I want to show my newly made cards!

I started with visiting my favourite challenges for some inspirations and ideas. It wasn't long before some ideas popped up in my mind! 

I started with some Inktense on my craft sheet. I don't have sticks so I used my little trick: just scrape some from the pencil. Added water with the mini mister and dissolved the pigment. 

I put my new stencil (bought on the event) on the craft sheet and picked up most of the Inktense. I then put the stencil with the wet side on a piece of white mixed media paper (PaintOn Lisse) and left it for a couple of minutes to settle before pulling it off. I left it on my desk to air dry. 

I was gifted WOW embossing powder on the Event and my first thought was to use this beautiful green with copper powder. Fortunately, I did a little experiment on a leftover piece of paper. The embossing turned out to be very transparent, I expected it to be more or less opaque! So I ended up using green versamagic ink instead. 

I used a pencil (dark green) to add shadows, and a white gelly roll to add some highlights to the petals and leaves.

Materials:
- PaintOn Lisse
- Studio Light MASK SL40
- stamp unknown (it was a gift from a friend a long, long time ago, it's a rubber stamp)

Challenges:
- Stamping Sensations - April Challenge AG & mood board
- We Love Stamping - Spring or AG
- Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - AG (they love to see Impression Obsession)

Thank you for watching!

The girls and the flowers

This time I picked kraft cardstock for my card, I really love the vintage look and feel. Perfect match with this beautiful Stampinback stamp (sheet 029) of girls with flower crowns and little bouquets. 

I added a butterfly and a swirl on the left part of the card. Both stamps are from Chocolate Baroque - Butterfly Flourish Swirls.

Colourizing the dresses was very relaxing. I used Derwent coloursoft pencils and added layer after layer until I was happy with the result. I used a white Gelly Roll to add highlights. 

Challenges:
- We Love Stamping - March Challenge - Feminine (just in time to join this challenge, yessss!)

Thank you for watching!

Spring is in the air

 Finally, the weather is improving over here, which hasn't gone by unnoticed. The snowdrops have disappeared, my small daffodils (narcissus tête-à-tête) have turned my backyard into a big yellow blanket, and hyacinths are adding  bright blues, pinks and whites. The hyacinths are extremely beautiful this year!

Time to capture this happy feeling in a card. 

The cardstock looks like kraft but it is actually more yellowish, I would describe it as 'sand'. I stamped lots and lots of flowers on it with versamagic in 5 different colours, this was so much fun to do! 

I added the lady and the grass, both stamped with black versafine. But how to proceed? I felt most of my sentiments were a little too much, and to be honest, I preferred the text to be on the inside of the card. And a lot of other stamps that would have fitted another card nicely, were not a great match with the 'spring' theme. 

Suddenly, I came up with and idea ..... why not use a small part of my stamp of a bird's nest? Exactly the branches with blossom I was looking for. Added some white dots with my sakura gelly roll for the finishing touch.

I glued the card on a piece of paper, and on pink cardstock. On the inside, I stamped 'It's the Art of living to make every day special'.

Stamps:
- lady, flowers and sentiment (inside): ArtSpecially Pink Ribbon (2009)
- branches with blossom: Chocolate Baroque, Spring bird - Tulip
- grass: Art Journey - Bird Boy

Materials:
- Cardstock (sand and pink)
- Versafine black
- Versamagic
- polychromos pencils
- sakura gelly roll 08 white

Challenges:

- Stamping Sensations - March challenge - Spring

- We Love Stamping - March challenge - feminine

Thank you for watching!

A little kiss

 Sometimes you want to add a bit of romance to a card without the usual red or pink. And sometimes you like to use your cute House Mouse stamp that has been waiting far too long in the drawer. All the ingredients for a lovely card with a bit of romance, some cuteness and a lot of fun!

I stamped the House Mouse on white PaintOn cardstock and colourized it with Derwent Coloursoft pencils. I used an old heart-shaped piece of cardstock to draw a heart on it. The House Mouse stamp is a golden oldie: Stampa Rosa, Santa Rosa, House Mouse 241 Best Friends. 

I stamped the hearts (PSX 9-2229) with pink Versamagic ink on kraft cardstock, also PaintOn, and added some white and black with the same pencils. The last step is to glue the heart on the card. 

Challenges:

- We Love Stamping - February Challenge - Romance or AG

- Stamping Sensations - February Challenge - Animals, Birds and Creatures or AG

Thank you for watching!

Flowers to celebrate

I like to have some birthday cards in stock, just in case I (or someone else) need one and don't have enough time to make it. In the last quarter of the year, I have a lot of birthdays (and other activities) but very little time. So I end up making nothing else but Christmas cards. By the end of the year, my supply of cards is usually close to zero. This is my first birthday card of 2024, and there is a lot more coming!

I have recently bought some gorgeous stamps, now it was time to put them to good use. First, I stamped the little flower heads in the corner (PaperArtsy Jofy 63) and masked them. I then stamped and masked the swirl (Chocolate Baroque - Butterfly flourish swirls) several times with versamagic. I stamped the flowers (PaperArtsy) in the foreground and masked them. The next step is to stamp the bold flowers (PaperArtsy). and the sentiment (Stampin'Up, blooming with kindness) with black Versafine. I colourized the flowers with Derwent coloursoft pencils. I also splashed little drops of Inktense on the card to make it more playful.

Challenges:

- Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything floral goes with optional mood board #13

- Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Happy 1st Birthday Beautiful Blossoms Challenge, theme Birthday and/or Anniversary.

Thank you for watching!

I wonder what she is thinking about

 This stamp of a girl dipping her toes in the water always triggers my imagination. She is a bit mysterious, don't you think? When I spotted the challenge 'a penny for your thoughts' on Let's Craft and Create my thoughts immediately went to this girl. I always wonder what she is thinking about.

First, I stamped the girl (Stampin'Up!) on both PaintOn paper and masking tape. I masked the girl and made a heart shaped background with Inktense pencils. My next step was to add another layer to give the card more depth. I used a stencil and sponged versamagic ink, white in the center and blue towards the edges. After heatsetting the ink, I decided to stamp a heart (Art Journey, Follow your heart)  right in the middle of the card. I added the watches (De Stempelwinkel, Watch lg and Watch sm) on both sides of it. 

I removed the masks and colourized the girl with polychromos pencils. 

Challenges:

- Let's Craft and Create - Challenge #203 AG + Penny for your thoughts

Thank you for watching!

 

A gift

Another card, yes, I spend all my evenings upstairs. Time for some creativity! I picked carnation, red and pink from the mood board on Stamping Sensations, and a sentiment I recently bought for the challenge on We Love Stamping: Something New.

First, I stamped the carnation (Stampinback MS91-03) with Stampin'Up Blushing Bride (soft pink) on the card and on masking tape, and masked the print. My next step was to ink the Large Flourish of Lost Coast Designs with versamagic pixie dust, ink a Chocolate Baroque swirl with Pink Petunia and to put the swirl on the Large Flourish a couple of times. Indeed, the kissing technique! 

I stamped the sentiment with black Versafine. The sentiment was part of a grabbag with sentiments I recently bought, a very pleasant surprise because this grabbag contained a lot of sentiments I really love. Lucky me. 

After adding the sentiment I removed the mask and put some colour on the beautiful flower! Of course the colours had to be red and pink.

Challenges:

- Stamping Sensations - January Challenge

- We Love Stamping - January Challenge Something New

- Lost Coast Portal to Creativity - challenge #181 Anything Goes

Please note I enter the Lost Coast challenge through my other blog on Wordpress, to avoid my cards disappearing from challenges (a technical problem I've not been able to solve). I stick to the rules of every challenge I am entering, cards are posted more or less simultaneously on both blogs. 

Bird in Chinese colours

 The mood board on Stamping Sensations inspired me enough to make more than just one card. A great opportunity to use an old stamp and a new one, well, I'll be honest with you. It's a new stamp for me, because I have recently bought it from a friend but the company doesn't exist anymore.

Enough small talk, about the card. I have been collecting pictures of Chinese paintings and drawings, and a lot of them depict birds and blossoms. And geisha's of course, but there is a geisha on my other card so now I wanted to make something entirely different. A lot of Chinese works of art have more or less similar colours: whites and soft pink for the blossoms or birds, and sometimes one bright colour like red. The background colour is often a soft grayish green, a very light grey or sand. 

So I deciced to pick the bird from the mood board and use a bird on my card, it is one of the birds of Stampinback sheet 141. After stamping the bird, I masked it and stamped the blossom. It is also a Stampinback stamp, from the next sheet, sheet 142. I also masked the blossom. Next step was to apply versamagic niagara mist with a sponge, to make a real Chinese background. I should mention I used PaintOn Lisse as cardstock, which is more smooth than the PaintOn I use most of the time. The smooth surface makes it easier to sponge the ink, and I think it looks more 'Chinese'. I coloured the bird and blossom with Derwent coloursoft pencils, and tried to make it look like a Chinese picture. Of course the blossom had to be pink, because it's one the colours of the mood board.

Challenges:

- Stamping Sensations - January Challenge

Thank you for watching!

Reaching for the stars

 This Penny Black stamp has been waiting for me a long, long time. I just wanted to make a beautiful card, nothing over the top.

I used PaintOn paper to make double cards. I stamped the Penny Black ballerina with black Archival ink, and masked her. Used my home made star stencil and sponged versamagic ink (Aloe Vera), and stamped  'Jingle Bells', 'snow' and 'happy' (KicoStamps) with each another colour of Versamagic ink (Aloe Vera, Oasis Green and Turquoise gem). I removed the mask, reattached the stencil and colourized the girl with Derwent Coloursoft pencils. The little stars are colourized with Twinkling H2O's.

Inside the card, I started with stamping a champagne glass (not sure about the brand), and little stars. I masked the glass and tried to mask the stars (this didn't work out very well). This time, I used the part of the clear sheet I had cut out, everything else is the same. I colourized the glass with both Derwent coloursoft and a Derwent metallic pencil. 

I have decided to show only the outside of the card over here. I have been experiencing great issues with entering my cards for challenges and I have no idea what is going wrong! If you'd like to see the inside, please google 'helenstempelt' and 'wordpress'. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Challenge(s):

Christmas Kickstart Challenge

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity - challenge 181 (Linked on my other blog due to the issues mentioned above).