An outstanding actress

What comes to mind if the theme of the challenge is 'feminine'? Audrey, swirls and vintage ....

I started with stamping and masking the Audrey stamp. I had set my mind on using the birdcage somewhere in the background. My first idea was to stamp it with black or blue ink, but I changed my mind. Too overwhelming. So I used versamark instead. I added the swirls  and colourized all the white parts with my Inktense pencils. 

My eyes fell on this Katzelkraft sentiment and I didn't need to think twice, it was a perfect match!

Stamps:
- Audrey: Stampinback B206
- swirl: Home Impressions - Grungy plate HI28
- birdcage: PaperArtsy - Hot Picks HP1004
- sentiment: Katzelkraft KTZ204 - Be Batman

Materials:
- PaintOn Lisse
- Versafine black
- Versamagic Sahara Sand and Ocean Depth
- Inktense pencils (baked earth, Dark Aquamarine)
- cardstock

Challenges:
- We Love Stamping - March Challenge - Feminine

Thank you for watching!

The spell

Every once in a while, I promise myself to make a quick and easy card. You know, like the ones you see in tutorials and youtube vids. Ready in 5 minutes. For some reason, I will always end up making the most time-consuming cards ever. Sounds familiair? 

I spend half of my weekend on this card. Idea after idea popped up, so what was meant to be a CAS card with a very stylish daffodil, turned into the not-CAS-at-all-card pictured in this post. 

I stamped the daffodils (so far so good), masked them and stamped my other daffodil stamp and masked them as well. I stamped the bird and masked it. I used a white pencil to add a border around the parts I had previously masked. I used Derwent coloursoft but other wax-based pencils of even crayons can be used as well. 

I stamped the blossoms with versamark and allowed them to air dry before colourizing the entire background with Inktense pencils. Adding the water was like magic, blossoms kept popping out! And now you can see why I added the white border .... there is a subtle highlight around the flowers and the bird. 

Last step was to colourize the flowers and bird and add the sentiment. 

Stamps:

- daffodils: Chocolat Baroque, spring bird - daffodil

- bird: Katzelkraft KTZ151 les piafs

- blossom: Stampinback sheet 142

- sentiment: PaperArtsy - Eclectica EDY11

Materials:

PaintOn (white), purple cardboard, Archival (black), Derwent coloursoft and Inktense, Versamark.

Challenges:

- Stamping Sensations - March Challenge - Spring

Thank you for watching!

Special stamp, special card

 A couple of months ago, I was the very lucky winner of the 31 Days of Halloween challenge on Lost Coast Portal to Creativity. I was allowed to spend $10 on stamps from Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda. Well, that wasn't easy. All these beautiful stamps and I had to pick just one or two of them ... I fell in love with a fabulous stamp of a tree with birds in it. I love trees and I love birds! 

A couple of weeks ago, my stamp finally arrived. By now, it must be the most admired stamp of The Netherlands because I have showed it to my family, my friends, even the teachers at my children's school. My mother asked me if I could make her a card with it. Of course! 

The tree with birds from Carmen's Veranda is a big stamp, it's full size if your card is standard size (A6). I decided to make a XL card with it. After all, it's a special request with the first stamp I have ever won with a challenge. 

I started with stamping the girl (an old stamp from Stampin'Up) with black versafine on both PaintOn paper and masking tape. I colourized the girl with my Polychromos pencils. The pencils are oil-based and resist watercolour and Inktense (to a certain degree). I added the mask and stamped the sentiments ((Darkroom Door - 132 Gum Trees) with Versamark. I colourized the background with Inktense pencils. I used a lot of water because I wanted the pigment to spread unevenly. It turned out very well this time, you can see the 'clouds' in the sky. I stamped the flowers in the background with Brilliance Moonlight white. It gives a wonderful special effect. The bold flower is also an Stampin'Up stamp, the other one is from KiCoStamps. 

Background finished, time for the tree with birds to make this picture complete! I stamped the tree with black Versafine and removed the mask. The rest can be seen on the picture. 

My mother hasn't seen the card .... yet. Please, don't worry about her seeing her card on this blog, she spends very little time on the internet. 

Challenges:

- We Love Stamping - January Challenge - Something new: I have used new stamps, ie the tree with birds and both of the sentiments. 

- Let's Craft and Create - Challenge #203 - AG & a penny for your thoughts.

- Lost Coast Portal to Creativity - Challenge #181 Anything Goes: Due to technical difficulties, I use my Dutch blog to play in the challenges of Lost Coast. Both of my blogs are updated more or less simultaneously. 

Please note I do stick to all the rules of every challenge. 

Thank you for watching!