SENZ 2023 - mixed media cards with Beata and Create day 1

SENZ is the longest running local crafting show and I have attended every year since I discovered my love of stamping, in the early days I was part of my SU! team's stand but lately I have just been an attendee and I love to take classes with Create as they normally push me outside my comfort zone and have dabbled in all sorts of fun inky techniques over the years with Fiona Caldwell and her team.

I am rapt with how my TWO mixed media classes with Beata Higham turned out. I'll just blog about the first class on Friday I took as that is wordy enough but all 4 cards are collaged below.

The first class we ink blended a background and then using stencils we added or removed colour.

I used my own inks so my colourings maybe different but similar to how Beate demonstrated her cards.

This was the first project taught and I was very pleased we were using one of the AALL and Create stamp sets I picked up last year Friendship Florals #648. The Script stamp (Indigo Blue) is an old one from my stash, other stamps are Wild Summer Flowers (Lavinia) and Wreath Flourish Left or Right (Lavinia). I have blended the background with 2 of my Catherine Pooler inks Catching Rays and Do-Si-Do. We have sprayed a Divine stencil (Lavinia) with a shimmer spray - I think I used Golden Temple Mysticals (Lavinia) and then turned the stencil over "stamped" the lower RHS corner. The other 2 places the stencil is used I have ink blended through more pink ink on the pink background and the yellow ink on the pink background. Otherwise various texture stamps have been randomly stamped at the top with Morning Mist Versafine ink. The large sunflower has been cut out twice and ink-blended. White details have been added with a white Posca gel pen 0.7mm or white embossed. This card is very bright and cheery IRL.

The second project we ink blended a background using Distress Oxides (Bundled Sage and Shaded Lilac), this time I have used Leaf Trails stencil (Lavinia) and spritzed with water, turned over and stamped the background to remove the colour. We have then stamped the Violet #574 (AALL) directly to the background and to another piece of card. The leaves and violets have been fussy cut out and coloured with Distress Water Color pencils (Peeled Paint and Shaded Lilac). The background stamping was with Versafine Morning Mist again using Miniatures #756 (AALL), the butterfly comes from Spread Your Wings #729 (AALL). I'm not sure where the sentiments come from but the AALL and Create stamps are full of sentiments, we were given the strips as part of our kit . I have added dots with my white Nuvo at home I should have just made them on my silica mat as the ones I did on it were perfect, I have also splattered with Copic White ink.

I'll be back to share more of the fab cards I made at SENZ shortly.

✿ Karen ✿

Craft Roulette #172

I am sad I missed doing Craft Roulette last weekend as I came down with a terrible head cold whilst away. I was actually looking forward to doing it with the limited supplies I had with me, I thought that would be rather fun. This week I was also away Friday and Saturday but found time to have a wee play yesterday afternoon and the card came together so easily once I worked out what I was doing for the parameters.

This week's parameters were:

The "old" element was what made me think hard, I was looking for an old truck and thought about using my On To Retirement set again which I love with the "older" people images when I had a brainwave, well I thought it was a brainwave, Santa is very, very old. So the Z was under control, any colors was under control and my desk was a MESK after returning from SENZ and finishing of the card projects I started at classes or as make and takes there.

Once I had the general concept in my mind what I was doing I started looking through my Christmas DSP and I have to be honest I don't actually have a lot but I found a folder with the Christmas DSP from the first SU! catalogue in NZ and was going to use that, I could see Cranberry Crisp and some kind of "Thyme" calling me but in the same folder was a few sheets of beautiful DSP that I bought about that time with bright pink glitter, it was called Entwine (Bella!  Kraftastic Papers), I've used a shiny bright blue one before in cards but this was my first cut of this sheet and isn't it adorable and also very old, bought approximately in 2008. It made it easy to chose what was coming from the MESK then, I had bought a bottle of Frost shimmer Spray at SENZ, I use my Sparkle shimmer spray a lot but it was the first time I had seen a Frost version, and its an opaque shimmery white, perfect for snow.

To match the Kraft in the DSP paper my Crumb Cake card from SU! would work but I really like working with American measurements for my card making now, so I was very relieved my mixed pack of cardstock from Concord and 9th Wheat was a great match and Dragonfruit in that pack is also my brightest pink cardstock. I actually sponged the sky onto the Wheat cardstock which made it slightly darker. I've used Tumbled Glass and a tad of Salvaged Patina oxides. I then cut a few stitched hillside borders (LF) from white cardstock and used what was left on my blending brush to add a hint of blue and then added Prisma Glitter to make sparkly with my Sakura glue pen. I have used my old retired Layering Circle framelits from SU! too, so another another old thing and this is my 4th Christmas Card made for 2023.

My wee images I have Copic coloured on Xpress IT blending card stock and they come from Ho-Ho-Holidays (Lawn Fawn). 

An easy Z-card is just the front panel folded in half and you can add any shape to normally add your stamped image etc.

Up close and sparkly! Copics used (darkest >> lightest):
Bag and Santa suit: RV19/17/55

Skin: E13/11

Blues: B34/32

Greys: T8/6 and T4/2/0

Yellow: Y17

Well this turned out to be so funn, I may have to make a few more cards for my stash.

✿ Karen ✿

Kai is very cool

In New Zealand kai is the Maori word for food but it's also the name of this really cool fox surfer dude by Purple Onion Designs. AAA Card challenges has a fun challenge for the dogs/puppies but they also say wolves are dogs and so are foxes, coyotes and hyenas.

My "Kai" had just landed in my letterbox so I thought yah I can ink him up for this challenge. I also tried something different to colour him up. I normally use my yellow red Copics to colour up foxes but watched a video by Kara where she used the E17/13/11 and then layered on R05/02/00 and back to the E's - OMG her colouring is magical. I'm pretty happy with my attempt (this is actually my 2nd go the first one I had too much bleed) and think it's more realistic than a YR marker.

Purple Onion Designs are red rubber and unmounted so they are actually quite cheap to buy, the downside is you have to stamp and build a scene directly which can be tricky when it's not a clear stamp or you have to fussy cut them out by hand which in all honesty isn't that hard. I have also run a Memento black marker around the edges after cutting the image out. I have made the "sand" with Antique Linen distress oxide and some splatters of Vintage Photo. I have stamped a sentiment from On the Beach (LF) with my new Pinecone Versafine ink pad and clear embossed it. I've just been up to Auckland and thought I love my Nocturne ink pad I should buy myself a brown and a navy ink too for my sentiments.
I popped Kai up on 1mm square foam from Spellbinders; I love them they give you just a wee pop up.

At least another week to join in with the fun at AAA and so do pop over to see the other really cute dog cards, they even make this cat lover smile :)

✿ Karen ✿