Grey Is The New Black

it is always sad when we have to send a message of sympathy and finding something tasteful and with love and meaning.  That is why when I needed a card this weekend I immediately reached for the Eloquence transparent set  30-162 by Penny Black.  This set has so many beautiful words to help in times of need.



I wanted to have a softness to the design and so chose to stamp Breezy 40-111 with Versafine Smokey Grey ink and then cut the leaves part way down with a craft knife to allow them to stand proud on the card.  I then added some 4ply green wool and stamped the sentiment using Versafine Onyx Black ink.

The inside of the card was also stamped using the same sets, but I used Memento New Sprout for a soft background effect on the leaves.



Don't forget to hop on over to the Penny Black blog here to see if you are one of our Spotted designers!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and that the weather is kind to you!
hugs Cathy
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It's A Magnificent Moxie Day

Woo Hoo, Penny Black is featured on Moxie Fab's "Stamp of Approval" today, so to celebrate some of the Design Team have been working with the stamps featured on the blog here.

I thought I would do a few cards to show how versatile these sets can be.  My first card is just a burst of  colour using Sweet Home 30-170, Roman Surround 40-201 and Clear Skies 10-001 Mix and Match Card



Other materials used include:- Spellbinders A2 Curved Borders One  (I embossed the die to get the shape and used the dots as a guide for the road) S5-180, 5 x7 Matting Basics A S6-001 (I have used the bigger die to get the height and just trimmed to make the width of the card smaller),  Tim Holtz Mowed Lawn Distress Ink, Copic Markers YG03, YG17, Y02, Y06, Y17, YR15, W05, RV34, RV55, B00, B02 and B04.  Versafine Onyx Black ink, Clear Embossing powder, Copic White and Glossy Accents.

My next card was inspired by a design in Paper Craft May/June 2013 Magazine p.42 by Donna Bowman.  I wanted to show how you can adapt stamps to make similar cards to those seen in magazines.



For this card I used Embellishments 30-161 for the flag and by crossing the LL's in the Pull here tab stamp I changed it to Putt. The putting green was created by making a mask using an oval die. The Birthday sentiment is from Tweet Tweet 30-156.  The white ball is made by taking a pearl and painting over with Copic White.

My final card is made using Tree-mendous 30-165 and scraps of card.



The trunk was stamped using Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and then coloured over with a light brown Copic marker. The leaves were stamped with Versafine Spanish Moss and again coloured with Green Copics. Copics were also used for the bird and a little heart gem added to the home. The grass mound and leaf background was chalked and the sentiment stamped.

The border for this card was created using Spellbinders On The Edge S5-168 and a scrap of read card put behind to highlight the  cut outs.

Wow are you still with me, sorry for such a long post but I wanted to show you how amazing these stamp sets are, thank you for staying with me until the end!

Hugs Cathy
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Hot and Wild Safari

Need a card in a hurry?  Then this is for you.........



It is a one layer scrapling, and was so quick to make- ten minutes tops!

Cut two circle masks (using the smallest and second largest circles) with Spellbinders Standard Circles Small S4-116 use the waste from both to mask off the areas on the card, sponge the sun using Memento Cantaloupe ink, remove the smaller mask and cover with the small circle and then brayer over the large circle area with Kaladacolor Desert Heat ink.  This will form your background.

Then ink the Giraffe from Penny Black's Let's Go Wild cling set 40-194 with Versafine Onyx Black ink and stamp into the circle just letting the head hang over the edge.  Then Repeat the process with with the Grass from the transparent set Enjoy Life 30-032, use a black marker pen to ground the images and then stamp the sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  Add some twine and then inside stamp lets go wild! And voila your card is finished.

Here's hoping the weather improves and we get to see some wonderful sunsets like this in real life, have a great week, hugs
Cathy
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You Have Been Spotted........

The Penny Circle group on flickr has so much inspiration from so many talented people and Penny Black has asked us to pick a stamper and feature them on our blogs.  Wow such a hard task, there are so many people that create master pieces each day and post them in Penny Circle, how on earth am I supposed to choose?

I decided to go with someone that may not have been noticed in the group before and so a drum roll please for the AMAZING.............

Elke Vershooten, you can check out her blog here.

Elke is in Antwerp Belgium and loves working with Colours, Stamps and Papers.

This card she posted  in particular caught my eye.

I just adore the clean lines and do you see that wonderful black and white colouring set off with that raspberry pink ribbon!

I was so inspired by the black and white colouring on Elke's card, that I decided to challenge myself and have a go at colouring Venetian Summer 40-217 using Copic Warm Greys (I used W00, W01, W03, W05 and W08) to create this card.



I mounted my coloured in image onto white card that was cut using Spellbinders A2 Distressed Edges S5-174 and a Pink matt using A2 Matting Basics A S6-001, then set onto the main dark grey card at a jaunty angle.

The sentiment from Penny Black's Edge to Edge 30-164, was stamped onto light grey card using Versafine Onyx Black ink and mounted onto a pink bracket cut using Spellbinders A2 Bracket Borders One S5-181 Tip:- by cutting the stamp in half lengthways you can ink just the part you want easier.

Here is a closer look at the colouring


I hope Elke has inspired you to create something too, All this week Penny Black will be sharing creative artists that have been spotted on the blog here, so do hop on over and check them out!

Hugs Cathy
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One For The Dads!

Continuing with the Family Theme over on the Penny Black Blog, I have a father's day card to share with you today.

When I first saw the Hand in Hand Stamp 40-211 I just had to go ahhh..... it is such a sweet caring image and it begged me to water colour it!



I stamped Penny Black's Hand in Hand 40-211 with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto white card and then coloured with Design Memory Craft Faber Castell Aquarelle Watercolour Pencils. Colours used:- Blue 143, 144,147; Beige 270; Pink 119, Gold 250; Yellow 183, Green 168; Orange 111, 115 and Brown 176.

I then cut the top of the image using Spellbinders Labels Eighteen S4-310, and mounted onto Fall Festival Mix and Match Cardstock 16-003. Separate Circles were cut with White and Fall Festival card using Spellbinders Standard Circles LG and SM S4-114, S4-116.  The sentiment from the transparent set Bear of all Trades 30-108 was stamped and the edge distressed with Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass distress ink the circles were then mounted onto the main image with foam pads and faux stitching added to the edges.

An easel card was then made using Fall Festival card 16-001 and edged with Faux stitching, A tag was cut with Spellbinders Ribbon Trio S4-323 and Fall Festival 16-003 and a rectangle cut using Spellbinders A2 Matting Basics B S5-132.  I then cut up the individual words from the sentiment in Penny Black's Edge to Edge Set 30-164 so that I could arrange into the rectangle shape.  The ribbon tag was then attached to the card using foam pads and twine.

This how the card looks when it is closed.



There is still time to enter the 'For The Family' challenge over on the Penny Black blog, details of the challenge can be found here.



Thank you for visiting me today,
Hugs Cathy
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