Top Tip Tuesday #20

Ink Swatches

If you have a lot of colours of ink and struggle to choose between colours then this could work for you. 

I find it helpful to have samples of the different colours of ink that I have on hand so that I can quickly grab them and figure out what colours I want to use, without the hassle of getting all of my inks out. Because I dont have much space in my flat, all of my supplies are constantly packed away, so everytime I want to use something I have to get it out. This is a great way to avoid getting all of my inks out everytime, this way I can decide which colours I want and just go get them. 

Jennifer McGuire has some excellent free Ink Swatch printable files that go great into 2x2 slots and this is what I use for mine.

Hope you found this useful!

Top Tip Tuesday #17

Correcting colouring mistakes

Something I do more often than I should is colour outside of my stamped image. An easy way to correct this so you don't have to start again is to simply colour over the mistake with a white gel pen. No body will be able to see any difference.

Clearly Besotted | Owl Be There For You

Hello there! Today I wanted to share a couple of cards I made with the Still a Hoot stamp set by Clearly Besotted. 

I simply stamped out a few of the different owls in memento tuxedo black ink, coloured them in using Spectrum Noir pens and cut them out using the coordinating die. 

I used my Stitched Circles Dies by Lawn Fawn and cut out two white circles and stamped the sentiments onto them with the same black ink. "Owl be there for you" comes from the Still a Hoot set and "Happy Birthday" comes from the Many Mini Messages stamp set also by Clearly Besotted. 

I then adhered the owls onto the circles using my glue glue to give them a bit of dimension whilst still having a bit of wiggle room to shape them, and adhered the circles to a sheet of patterned paper slightly smaller than the card base. 

Finally I attached the whole panel to the card base using double sided tape, being careful to leave that thin white border around the edge of the card. I tried to make the birthday one in masculine colours as I was in need of a birthday card for a friend and I think it turned out really well. That paper matches wonderfully with the pens I used for the owls scarf. 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you like these cards!

Hayley :) x

Valentines | You Make Me Hoppy

Hello there! Today I wanted to share with you the Valentine's card I made for my boyfriend. To make this card  used the new Clearly Besotted set called Jump for Joy. 

I stamped out the frogs holding hands image and a lily pad and coloured them in using Spectrum Noir markers. I adhered them to a white tag cut out using my Pretty Pink Posh dies using foam pads and them stamped on the sentiment using memento tuxedo black ink.

I cut out a rectangle of paper from the 6"x6" Crate Paper Party Day paper pad and adhered this to the card base with a piece of funky foam. I stamped a little heart above the frogs that also came in the set and coloured it in with a red pen.

I finished this card off by rounding the two left hand side corners which is a look I really like. 

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to see your valentines cards, link me in the comments!

Hayley Q :) 

My 2015 Favourites: Inks & Pens

Welcome to Day 3 of My 2015 Favourites series. Today I will be talking you through my favourite inks and pens of the year! Let's get started.

Inks

• Memento Tuxedo Black
• This is by far my favourite black ink of all time. I have tried a few over the years and have finally found one that sticks. It doesn't bleed with alcohol markers, it doesn't stain stamps, it cleans off really easily and it dries quickly.

• Versamark Ink
• I use this ink solely for embossing. It is a great sticky ink that takes a while to dry so is perfect for attracting embossing powder. 

• Distress Inks - Gathered Twigs, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade
• Distress inks are great for blending and water colouring. I usually use the ink pads for creating an ink blended background and spritzing with a bit of water to help it blend even better. I have picked out a few of my favourites. Gathered Twigs is great for edging to help distinguish between layers or creating an aged look. The other three are some of favourite colours. 

• Avery Elle Pigment Inks
• These inks are great for solid image stamping or adding a pop of colour to your sentiment. They stamp nice and evenly and you can also use these inks for embossing as they take longer to dry too. They are great for stamping a sentiment and then embossing with clear embossing powder for an added shine.

Pens

• Distress Markers
• These are the pen version of the Distress Ink pads and I mainly use these for a quick and easy water colouring. I tend to colour my image in with these and then add a touch of water to give a nice water coloured effect. 

• Spectrum Noir Alcohol markers
• These are the marker pens that I do all of my colouring with. I found them a really great option for my budget. There is a great range of colours and they also blend really nicely. 

• Wink of Stella Clear Brush Pen
• I've classed this as a pen because it looks like one. Its basically really fine glitter in a brush pen. I use this when I want to add a little touch of shine to my coloured images. Its brilliant! The best thing is, when its run out, you can open it up and refill with water to get a second life out of it!

Thanks again for tuning in for my third installment of My 2015 Favourites. Pop back again tomorrow to see the next chapter, My 2015 Favourites: Tools! 

Let me know in the comments what your favourite inks and pens are.

Thanks for reading, 

Hayley :)

Dreamees | One Layer Cards

Happy New Year's Eve!

Today I wanted to share some quick and easy one layer cards that I made using some lovely floral Dreamees stamps. 

The flower stamp collection I used is called Tacked and Treasured A5 stamp set with a collection of sentiments from the Gift Sentiment stamp set (both pictured below). 

To create these cards I masked off the left edge of the card with washi tape so that the design remained on only the front of the card. To create the flowers I stamped each flower twice, the second time slightly rotated. I used a variety of the different sizes of flowers and then filled in the gaps with leaves. All of the stamping was done with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. 

I only stamped the flower s and leaves around the edges of the card (heavier at the bottom) and then stamped the sentiment in the centre. All of the colouring was done with Spectrum Noir pens. 

I really like the look of this colouring on kraft card so wanted to give it a go. I managed to make this batch of cards quite quickly which makes them perfect for when you need an emergency card for any occasion. 

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have ever tried colouring on Kraft card and what you have used :)

Lawn Fawn: Wheelie Like You

Another cute stamp set from Lawn Fawn that I absolutely adore!

 I started these cards out by stamping out the little images in tuxedo black and colouring them in with Spectrum Noir markers. The card panels are cut out using a selection of Pretty Pink Posh dies (more info below) onto which I stamped the greetings, again using tuxedo black ink. 

I used some American Crafts twine to create little bows. I stuck these down using Multi Medium Matte from Ranger. 

Products I used:

• Lawn Fawn - Wheelie Like You stamp set
• Pretty Pink Posh - Stitched Duo 1 die
• Pretty Pink Posh - Stitched Duo 2 die
• Pretty Pink Posh - Stitched Duo 3 die
• American Crafts Twine
• Spectrum Noir Marker Pens
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
• Foam Tape
• Lawn Fawn - Small Stitched Rectangles Dies
• Assorted patterned papers
• Papermania Kraft A6 cards and envelopes

Lawn Fawn: Sending Hedgehugs

I couldn't resist making a couple more cards using this stamp set, they are just so adorable! I started these cards out by stamping out the little hedgehogs in tuxedo black and colouring them in with Spectrum Noir markers. 

The card panels are cut out using a selection of Pretty Pink Posh dies (more info below) onto which I stamped the greetings, again using tuxedo black ink. I also stamped the little heart from the set between the two hedgehogs and coloured that in with a red marker.

I chose some matching twines to add little bows to the cards using multi medium matte as it is a really strong adhesive. 

Products I used:

• Lawn Fawn - Hedgehugs stamp set
• Pretty Pink Posh - Stitched Duo 1 die
• Pretty Pink Posh - Stitched Duo 3 die
• American Crafts Twine
• Spectrum Noir Marker Pens
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
• Foam Tape
• Lawn Fawn - Small Stitched Rectangles Dies
• Assorted patterned papers
• Papermania Kraft A6 cards and envelopes

Have an Otterly Great Birthday

I've got a couple more cards for you today that I made following the same theme as the monster mash card collection in my previous post. 

I coloured the little otters from the Lawn Fawn Year Five stamp set with my Spectrum Noir pens, and stamped the greeting in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. 

The tag shapes were cut from white card stock using some Pretty Pink Posh dies. 

I found some blue papers from my stash and cut them out using the Lawn Fawn small stitched rectangles and the chopped the card base down to match. The little bows were made from American Crafts twine and adhered with multi medium matte from Ranger. 

Thankyou so much for spending some time in my little corner of the Internet. I appreciate every single page view and comment that is left here, it really brings a smile to my face :) 

Lawn Fawn: Monster Mash

I've been making lots of new cards lately using some new stamp sets I've bought from lawn fawn, and I'll slowly be posting about them all. So if you see a lot of posts of cards that look similar, its because they were all made with a certain look in mind :)

First up its a really cute set from Lawn Fawn called Monster Mash. 

I made a few cards using this set and some of the dies from Pretty Pink Posh. I'm finding them so useful lately. They're so useful to create toppers for a nice quick and simple card, or you can use them to layer up on a more complicated card. I also like the fact that the little windows are an optional feature. 

The little bow on this card was made from some twine from American Crafts. I believe it is called Premium Ribbon Brights, 10lb hemp spools. You get 12 colours and a total of 100yd (91.4m). 

I simply tied a little bow out of the twine and attached it using some multi medium matte from Ranger. 

I used Spectrum Noir marker pens to colour in all of my little monsters, this was actually my first time colouring with them, I think I did okay :P

My card bases are Papermania Kraft A6 cards and envelopes, they were a little bit larger than I wanted so I chopped a little bit off them when I had everything assembled. 

The base matt for each of these cards is a die cut from lawn fawn from the small stitched rectangles set.

Products I used:

• Lawn Fawn Monster Mash stamp set
• Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Rectangles dies
• Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Duo 1 die
• Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Duo 2 die
• Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Duo 3 die
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
• White card stock
• American Crafts Premium Ribbon Brights, 10lb hemp spools
• Assorted paper pads
• Multi Medium Matte
• Foam Tape/squares
• Spectrum Noir marker pens
• Papermania Kraft A6 Cards and Envelopes

Lawnscaping Challenge No. 103 - Dimension

I started this card by stamping out the little hedgehogs in memento tuxedo black ink and colouring them in with a selection of brown Spectrum Noir markers. 

The card panels is cut out using the Pretty Pink Posh stitched duo 2 die, onto which I stamped the greeting, again using tuxedo black ink. I also stamped the little heart from the set between the two hedgehogs and coloured that in with a red marker.

Before adhering the panel, I chose some matching twines to wrap around the background piece to lift the white panel and give a little more visible dimension other than foam tape.

I then layered everything together with foam tape and squares to create a really dimensional card. 

Products I used: 

• Lawn Fawn - Hedgehugs stamp set
• Pretty Pink Posh - Stitched Duo 2 die
• American Crafts Twine
• Spectrum Noir Marker Pens
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
• Foam Tape
• Lawn Fawn - Small Stitched Rectangles Dies
• Assorted patterned papers
• Papermania Kraft A6 cards and envelopes

I have entered this card in the Lawnscaping Challenge No.103 as it is all about dimension! How Perfect!