Playing with colour :)

Hello bloggers!! :)

Well, it certainly didn’t get any warmer after my little rant about the weather the other day so I won’t even bother mentioning the appalling cold I was greeted with when I stuck my head out from under my duvet today... :[ lol

As my title suggests, I’ve been having a play with my inks this week and trying a new technique which I’ve been seeing around blogland this past few weeks...and I really enjoyed myself!! :) Again!! :) I’ll probably jinx it by saying this but I’m really having fun with my crafting again at the mo’ after a patch of struggling to get anything made and not much liking the results, which was preceded by another patch of really enjoying myself...so I guess it’s all cyclical and it’ll be back to struggling again soon but, until then, I’ll enjoy it all!! :) Does this happen to anybody else or am I on my own in strangeness again!?! :D

Anyway, on to the cards: They’re very simple really and I can only tell you what I did as I can’t really remember where I got the idea from or even how it was really explained...just that it involved masking with Post-It notes!! :) Think it may have originated in a magazine, though?

So I masked the shape I wanted with the Post-Its on the front of the smooth white card blanks (I made a few botched attempts before I gave in and measured so I stuck them on straight- measure twice, cut [Ink] once and all that!! ;) ) and used Cut ‘n’ Dry Foam to apply Distress Inks. Once that was dry I used a variety of stamps from Kanban’s Autumn Silhouettes and Spring Silhouettes with Onyx Black Versafine over the top :) And it was that simple- no cutting, no DS Tape/Foam pad backings to faff with- I love it, three cards I needed to make, plus a spare and I had fun making them (unlike usual with rushed ones!!) :)

I’ve made several using the same technique but different ink combinations- though one had to go in the post before I'd finished the others so it's not in this pic!! :)

This first one was Broken China and Dusty Concord- my two fav colours of DI...and just generally my two fav colours!! :)

The second had Broken China, Dusty concord and Spun Sugar with a very pretty tree stamp that's one of my favourites in the sets :)

The third had Broken China, Dusty Concord and Milled Lavender :)

And for this one I used Antique Linen and Vintage Photo with Vintage Sepia Versafine on a cream card blank just to try something different :) It’s one of my new Craftwork Cards blanks which I’ve not tried with DIs before and it wasn’t blending as well as I’d expected so I decided to play that up and make it a bit rougher looking, which I thought kind of worked with the more natural look of the colours and trees anyway. The border around the edges was made by turning the Post-Its around and inking outwards...not the original intention at all but desperate fix after I discovered I’d got inky finger prints on the edges of the card!! I like the effect though, so I’m quite happy it happened :) Not so happy about the smudges on the back that I can’t do anything about, though, and it always seems to happen when I ink base cards no matter how careful I am or what I put underneath to try to absorb the excess- any ideas on how to stop it would be much appreciated as I really don’t like giving, let alone selling, cards with smudges all over them!! :{

Oh, and nearly forgot- the sentiment on the brown card is Woodware Clear Magic Jane’s Script and on the others I used an old Whispers mini :)

I’d like to enter some of these cards in the following challenges: The first three (as one entry) with the Butterflies in: An Oldie But A Goodie – Add A Butterfly :) I’ve loved the concept of this challenge from the start as I have so many stamps and too many of them sit sadly neglected, but this is the first time I’ve been able to enter- all the stamps I used are at least a year old :) ; and Flutter By Wednesday – Open Challenge :) Again, a first time entry :) And I’d like to enter the last card, the natural colours one, in: The Stampman – Cards For Men :) ; and Cards For Men – Happy Birthday :)

I’m off to link these up and then have a cuppa :) Thanks for all the lovely comments on my card and jewellery for my Gran, they’ve really made me smile and helped me feel more confident in them as I get so nervous sometimes especially with giving my jewellery!! :) My dad gave her the jewellery yesterday and she called me straight away to say thanks- she was very happy- which meant so was I :) Hope you’ve all had a good weekend despite that horrible weather...that I’m still not bothering to mention, ofc!! ;)

hugs,