Hot Summer Ombre

Happy Tuesday! Are you playing over at Country View Crafts this month? The theme is Hot Summer Days and I have created an ombre effect for this card using Distress Inks - lots of blending and avoiding finger prints!

Having created my background I heat dryed and stamped Emma Godfrey's flowers in archival and removed some of the ink with a water brush.

I then added ink back using the same three colours.

I added some highlights with my white pen, a little dragonfly from my stash and mounted my card.

Nikki

xxx

Happy Cat!

I spent the day recently with Brenda Brown (Bumblebees and Butterflies) doing some art journaling. One of her techniques is to use an acrylic block to create a sort of controlled watercolour background. I have used this today on three cards.

You can see the process and other two cards over at Country View Crafts. The mdf cat is from Calico Craft Parts. This version will be heading off to my niece who recently qualified as a vet and has just secured her first job and is looking for a new home too. Not sure whether it is from me or Frankie (my cat) who is also very happy to have a vet in the family!

Nikki

xxx

Bird Silhouette Journal Page

We start a new challenge at A Vintage Journey today - our host is the lovely Amanda and the theme is Stencil It. Shouldn't be too difficult should it? I use stencils all the time right. But when the ideas don't come, the ideas don't come! Time to do something different... so I reached for my journal - the one I say I am going to fill but never do and just started playing with paints.... and then stencils... and then I had an idea.

Paint with a credit card - no plan!

Paint through various stencils

Add a little stamping with archival inks

Die cut bird silhouette and use the negative space as a stencil

Add versamark and clear embossing powder through the bird 'stencil'

Add watery wash of prussian blue deco art fluid acrylic and wipe from embossed areas

Outline the birds

I then added a little more paint through stencils, some more stamping and some doodling with my white pen.

I would like to join in at
Craft Stamper - Take It Make It - Stencils and Masks
Stamps and Stencils - Take Flight

Nikki

xxx

CC103 Day 1

Just stopping by quickly to share my 2 creations from Creative Chemistry 101 - Day 1! So far only managed to watch the Day 1 videos - what a rubbish student I am. Both of these used the microglaze resist technique.

The lovely ladies at Stamps and Stencils have a new challenge - Take Flight - which I would like to play along with.

Nikki

xxx

Of course......

Just a little sneak peek today - do head on over to the Country View Crafts project blog for more details.

xxx

Crazy Cats .... on the beach

 

I have been meaning to do this since the cats came out! Some of you might remember my Crazy Birds on Vacation from last year - so it only seemed fair to let the cats have some summer fun too! The challenge today at Country View Crafts is Hot Summer Days - so my cats seemed to fit the bill!

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This time I decided to let them celebrate summer and dress them a little and having done the boys in their trunks I had to do the girls too! 

The backgrounds were done with marbled distress paints - I added a little stencilling to the boys but it is hardly visible. I stamped the cats - sketched the 'costumes' and sunglasses and then used my waterbrush, distress inks and black and white marker pens.

I hope they have put a smile on your face!

The cats would like to play along at:

Anything but Cute - Summertime (just litte too cute maybe!)

Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp - Weds - Anything Goes - 29

Crafty Cardmakers - Summer

Frilly and Funkie - By the Sea

Simon Says Stamp - Mon - Celebrate  (The cats are celebrating summer!)

Nikki 

xxx