OCC Colour Theory Day 1 - Bright Lights

I've been doing the OCC Colour Theory Class with Debby Hughes, and I'm really enjoying pushing outside my colour boundaries.  You know how it is, you grab the same few colours every time because they 'go' and you like them.  But what about all those other poor neglected colours?  It's about time they took their rightful place alongside the faves, and this is the course that will make me do it.

Well, I'm pushing outside my colour boundaries, but I can't get beyond using Distress Inks.  I got my pan watercolours out, I got my tube watercolours out, looked at them and put them back in favour of my Distress Inks.  Can't break the habit.

We started off by making a colour wheel using the three primary colours, then making secondary and tertiary colours.  I used the nearest colours to primary: Candied Apple, Squeezed Lemonade and Blueprint Sketch, then made my secondaries and tertiaries.

Some of those new colours looked familiar, so I matched them with the nearest colours of existing Distress Inks so that I wouldn't have to mix them.

Which then prompted me to do something I've been meaning to do for ages - a full colour swatch chart of Distress Inks.  Easy peasy with the minis, just stamp them and add water.

Haven't done my homework for secondary and tertiary colours yet, but I'm entering my primary one into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 4

It's the final day of the STAMPlorations Christmas Release, and today we're focusing on the CUTplorations Doodled Christmas Candles Coverplate, Christmas Blessings and Making Spirits Bright dies.

For my first card I cut the phrase out of mirri card and used bright colours for my Layered Lights

A fussy-cut poinsettia and a black frame for the Christmas Blessings die.

My original idea with this next card was to score the lines then sponge the colours, but I wasn't happy with the effect, so I cut another plate from white paper, knocked all the bits out then overlaid it.  Much better!

This next one looks clean and simple, but it actually took quite a while to trim all the pieces away!

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog for some gorgeous creations from the rest of the team.  We hope you've enjoyed this release and blog hop and that it's given you some inspiration for your Christmas cards.  Don't forget to leave a comment on the designer's blogs and the STAMPlorations blog every day for maximum changes of winning a $25 gift certificate to the store.

If you can't wait, stamps and dies (including new release) in the CHRISTMAS CUTplorations Dies section are 10% off automatically until 8 October - use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off!

Seize The Birthday - Travel

Hellooo!  Welcome to another Seize The Birthday Challenge, with an optional topping of Travel.  Ive used this fab image from Tim Holtz, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black onto a smooshed background. The sentiment is from Swedish House and the chevrons are from STAMPlorations.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team, and from our surprise party guest, Marianne, and play along.

I'm entering this into Shopping Our Stash - Use The Smooshing Technique.

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 3

Helloooo!  We're back with Day 3 of the Christmas Release mini hop, and today we're looking at my final set, Layered Poinsettias.

So we've got a full bloom, a side bloom and two leaves, all in solid and line images and a couple of dot clusters to use as the centres, along with a few words.  Don't forget, the images won't align properly, because they're not meant to.  We're being artsy here ;)

I think poinsettias are stunning in the coral and cream colours, as well as the vibrant reds, so I've started with coral.  I cut out the stamped images and mounted them onto a sloshed background.

After I'd stamped the images on this card I painted in the background colour, adding depth near the flowers, then I masked the flowers and stamped the words in Old Paper for a subtle background.

How about a clean and graphic style?

On this one I stamped the outline images in complementary colours rather than black, and stamped the stamens in yellow.  Added a bit of torn Washi tape to finish.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see what the other designers have created, and don't forget to leave a comment on each designer's blog and the STAMPlorations blog every day for maximum chances of winning a $25 gift certificate to the store.

If you can't wait, stamps and dies (including new release) in the CHRISTMAS CUTplorations Dies section are 10% off automatically until 8 October - use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off!

See you tomorrow when we're playing with Shery's CUTplorations dies!

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 2

Helloooo!  Welcome to the second day of our mini blog hop featuring my newest stamps, along with some fab dies from Shery.  Today we're focusing on Layered Mistletoe.

There's a solid image and line image for the bunch of mistletoe, a couple of berries in different sizes, a twine bow and some words to make your own sentiments.  Don't forget, the two images for the bunch won't align properly, because they're not meant to.

For my first card, I've used a piece of mixed media paper ripped from a comb-bound pad.  I stamped and spritzed the solid image stamp repeatedly until I got the desired effect, then once it was dry I overstamped with the line image.  The twine bow was stamped on spare and trimmed.  I used Nuvo drops for the berries.

How about a little monochrome for an understated card?

Or stamp the outline image then slosh a little Distress Ink on.  I'm a messy worker, and I ended up with some red Distress Ink on the side of my hand, which transferred onto the card so I turned it into a big slosh across the bottom :)

For this last card I stamped in Bundled Sage for a bit of no-line watercolouring.

Pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see what the other designers have created, and don't forget to leave a comment on each designer's blog and the STAMPlorations blog every day for maximum chances of winning a $25 gift certificate to the store.

If you can't wait, stamps and dies (including new release) in the CHRISTMAS CUTplorations Dies section are 10% off automatically until 8 October - use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off!

See you tomorrow with my final set.

STAMPlorations Christmas Release - Day 1

Christmas is starting early at STAMPlorations!  I've got three new stamp sets out this week so we're having a mini blog hop, and today we're focusing on Layered Lights.

There are three shapes with coordinating solid and line images, but remember, they won't align perfectly because they're not meant to.  Here's what I've been doing with them.

For this first card, I stamped the line images and string.  If the string doesn't join where you want it to, just use a fineliner pen to draw some extra loops - I also drew some extra lines on the hanging loops because I had a gap.  Go on, you've got my permission to add extra scribbles where you need to!  I dry-brushed the wet distress inks to give a hazy look.

I had a piece of spattered Distress Ink background so I stamped the images where they took best advantage of the colours, and added a bit of grey shadow under each light.  This is actually half of the panel, the other half will appear in due course on another card.

This one is on mixed media paper, playing around with Distress Inks again and spritzing.

You don't have to join up the strings, just stamp them wherever you want for an implied tangle.

It wouldn't be a hop without prizes, would it?  Leave a comment on each designer's blog and the STAMPlorations blog every day for maximum chances of winning a $25 gift certificate to the store.

If you can't wait, stamps and dies (including new release) in the CHRISTMAS CUTplorations Dies section are 10% off automatically until 8 October - use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY for an extra 20% off!

See you tomorrow with my next set :)

Tis The Season

Found time to play along in another challenge - Muse Christmas Visions, where Chriss provided this inspiration:

Chriss

Snowy background - check.
Scribbly sentiment - check.
Die cuts - check.
Cute animal face - check.
Holly - ch... erm, antlers, anyone?

The antlers and nose are from The Cat's Pajamas, the sentiment from Tim Holtz, and the eyes from my pen :)

See you tomorrow with my new stamp release.