Is it time to get outdoors??

Being Winter down under I think the answer is no, unless you like to ski but it's summer time in the Northern Hemisphere and I am delighted to announce I am the guest designer for AAA Cards current challenge to share a Clean And Simple (CAS) card showing outdoor activity.

So many possibilities and I worked out pretty quickly what I wanted to do but I wasn't that happy with my first go and ended up repeating the card. I really didn't like seeing the Copic bleed behind my front panel trying to make it a single layer card and it wasn't intense enough as I only did one layer trying to have minimal bleed through.

So once I had decided that it had to be a separate panel I then could use my Xpress IT blending card stock which made me happy.

I made a mask of the wee balloon from Lawn Fawn's Fly High set which I put on top of my coloured balloon so I could stamp the wee clouds "behind" the balloon. I have chosen my colours of orange, blue and green as I really like the 3 tents in the inspiration photo. I am trying to add more definition to my Copic colouring by using a white gel pen. The wee pennants I have added some Prisma glitter to them.

Copics used (darkest >> lightest):

Orange:  YR07/04/02 and Y38/35/32

Brown: E37/33/31

Blue: B05/02

Green: YG23/21

Here's the card up close:

And with my first attempted card:

Do check out all the other fab cards at AAA Cards and you have TWO weeks to submit a card, so we'd all love to see what you can come up with too.

Thanks for popping in.

✿ Karen ✿

Take one stencil

and add some Jenn Shurkus creativity and you get 3 amazing backgrounds. I'm continuing on with my Virtual Creative Art Retreat Journey with Jenn.

Newton's Nook kindly donated for our box of goodies a very cute stamp set called Newton's Hanging Basket and a Quatrefoil stencil. Jenn created 3 different backgrounds using the stencil which added an amazing background for a small-medium image by itself. One of the things I'm really enjoying about this event is that Jenn is mixing and matching all the products for each card, just like we do at home.

The first card I blogged about all it's details HERE, the other 2 cards I'll blog and share more about them in the coming days but today's post is about the stencil and the stenciling.

All the blending has been done with Distress Inks onto Distress White Heavystock apart from the fox card which has been blended directly onto a card base (I use Neenah Solar white #110 for my bases) and it's not as smooth a blend but still really effective background and there is nothing to stop you from blending again onto a blending cardstock (I normally use Lavinia Smooth and Multifarious or Bristol Stathmore).

The original rainbow card has had a rainbow blended starting with the yellow in the middle on a slight diagonal, then we laid the stencil over the top and added a darker layer. The fox's rainbow is just  stripes with a light hand in stripes and again we started with the yellow in the middle.

For the middle card we used one ink and blended an upside down C, then blended another ink through the stencil to give a new colour. As this is a paid class I won't share the colours used but play with what you know and love or you can sign up to just buy the resources now (online 30 page handbook and approximately 12 hours of videos).

Jenn demonstrated and used Picket Fence's Paper Pouncers which she says she loves for fine stencils as you're not blending in circles to move the fine stencil lines as you're actually pouncing down and it looked real easy IMO. I had purchased recently from Krafters Cart some Altenew small blending tools which I used and I think they did a great job, they come in a box of 4. I can tell I'm getting arthritis in my wrists and these seemed like they might be easier to blend with was the main reason I thought I would try them and I think they worked out really great.

✿ Karen ✿

Time to start glittering all the things

Continuing on sharing my Creative Journey Art Retreat with Jenn Shurkus. I think Jenn's most used phrase is "glitter all the things" and this wee card looks amazing without glitter but even better with glitter.

I snapped this yesterday as I had Copic coloured her on "day 1" and I thought all I had to do was sponge/blend around the edges, pop the panel up on foam tape and done. The other thing about Jenn is she loves, loves TEAL so I probably need to go refill my BG markers after "day 1 colouring" finished.

But no we weren't finished we added Prisma glitter (LF) using a Sakura pen to the white centres of the flower in her hair and the highlights on the bubbles and then using Distress Collage Medium Matte (in a bottle) we added a small amount to the narwhal's spots, horns and the shadows on the mermaids' tail. Then poured on top with a spoon Distress Rock Candy glitter (it's a really fine glitter but no Prisma bits and I like it a lot). Both these products are from Ranger. So yesterday we did the same technique for the first card I shared HERE but we used Ranger's Glossy Accents in a small bottle and Prisma glitter from Lawn Fawn. Both techniques give a really raised edge.

Now for the fun/hard part actually taking a picture that shows how amazing it looks in real life.

This stamp is a newly released stamp set from Trinity Stamps Sea You Soon. Jenn loves the sea and mermaids and lives at Cape Cod in the US and there are more mermaids to come, beachy things, pools, kitty cats; all the things Jenn loves but she said she had no say on what the sponsors donated but they know her well and they donated things she loves.

✿ Karen ✿