Inspired by Street Art....

Hey,

Happy Monday!

A couple of weeks ago Hubby and I were on the way to brunch and this happened -

I was so inspired by this gorgeous piece of street art that I decided to create something similar for a friend. She had seen the photo above and said, I bet you could make that for me!

I started by creating the background, using watercolour paper smooshed in distress ink, dried and then punched using a hexagon punch.

I took a piece of heavyweight card and added rows and rows of double sided tape. I find when I am doing these kinds of projects this is a good way to work, as you can add more tape as you need it, so you can pause and not worry about the glue drying out.

I wanted it to be a bit more grungy, so I added some stenciling, some paste, edged some of the hexagons in silver and tiny splatters of gold and silver paint.

Final touch before adding my Mermaid was to stamp the words (Tim Holtz Foam Alpha Stamps), they looked a bit flat, so I added a shadow to them using a gold pen, very happy with the outcome here.

The mermaid is a digital stamp by TiddlyInks. They come in a set and are called 'Cat Shark Mermaids'. The one I used is a 'Leopard Shark'.

I think my project will be a great entry for the Mixed Media challenge over at Happy Little Stampers. It's for a friend and I the sentiment reminds me of all the encouraging things this friend has said to me over the years..

I am wiggling with excitement today, as tomorrow I leave for Boston, where I will be meeting JT (who is flying in from London), we are spending 3 days in Boston (JT's Alma Mata) and then heading to Crop on The Cape - where we hook up with x2 of the craftgang Jamey and Cheiron - EEEEE!!!! SO EXCITED!

Cx

HLS anything goes with dies...

Hey,

So today I am playing along with one of the June Happy Little Stampers challenges - Anything Goes with Dies -

I recently needed to make a quick batch of cards for male friends / family. I decided that I was going to use my Technique Tuesday Hipster Birthday stamp for all of them - to make it easier...

All I had to do was figure out the background.

JT gave me the awesome Chevron plate die by Sizzix as part of our annual $20 challenge. I love it, but it is a BEASTICLE to cut out!!

I bought a metal shim and it has made it easier, but there are still some pieces that won't come out - so that is accidental and not me being arty!!

Because the background is so bold, I decided that I would just affix the stamped sentiment to the card using coordinating staples (I LOVE coloured staples..).

Super simple, but very impactful and I made a whole bunch of these in various 'male' colours.

Cx

HLS and a Red Lady...

Hey,

I can't believe it is May already!! So much has happened this year and I guess being out of action for 6-8 weeks explains why this year is whipping by!

I made a card at the weekend, that totally fits this month's Happy Little Stampers watercolour challenge -

The April Hero Arts Card Kit arrived whilst I was in London, so last weekend was my first chance to break it out and have a play.

I really wanted to stamp one of the ladies over a watercoloured background..so I mixed up some distress inks, applied water and smooshed my background and added a few extra streaks and splodges with a brush.

I was careful to only add colour to part of the card, as I didn't want her head to be in the background and I die-cut my panel (MFT Stitched Wonky die) before I started applying the colour - makes it easier to understand the space I am working with.

I stamped the skirt, legs, body and head before I stamped and die-cut the skirt in RED!! How lucky was that ;)

As the body was stamped over the watercolour background, I used Zigs and a white gel pen to colour in the top, so that the background wasn't peeking through.

I left her legs alone, as I like the idea of the colour swirling around her legs and feet?!

Super simple card and I had a lot of fun playing with the various elements from the card kit.

The card is actually for a work colleague that is leaving, I am so sad to see her go and she is most certainly one of a kind!

Cx

Happy Little Stampers - Watercolour with a twist..

Hey,

I am back in NYC now. It was great to go home after a 6 month absence and see my family, my friends and my work colleagues. Hubby also managed to come home for the last leg of the trip, so we spent part of Easter weekend with his family including our Niece and Nephew.

I have been dying to play along with at least one of the Happy Little Stamper challenges, but haven't been able to for a variety of reasons.

So I was excited when I saw the April Watercolour challenge, because I do love a rainbow -

It also seemed like a perfect excuse to break out a couple of fun dies and also enter the HLS April die challenge -

JT gave me a great set of dies by Simon Says Stamp as part of our $20 challenge. The set comprises of a circle die and the circle hexagon overlay. I die-cut the circle first and then using distress inks and an aquabrush I watercoloured the stripes onto the circle. I added the hexagon overlay using my Quickie glue pen..don't know how I would live without this glue pen!

It took me about 30 minutes to decide what colour the card blank should be.. I like the pop of colour on the flat neutral grey. I die-cut the celebrate die by Winnie & Walter in a slightly shiny grey/silver card.

Final touch was to add 2 of the Pretty Pink Posh clear droplets.

I am really happy with my card, it was nice to play with a couple of things that haven't seen the light in a while!

Cx