Die Inlays

The challenge at AAA cards this time if for Inlaid Dies. This is a technique that I really like, albeit somewhat fiddly at times.

Here I used a die from Paper Smooches, so elegant in its simplicity. I cut it from the card and then  heat embossed the outer piece in gold before reinserting it into the base. The sentiment is from  Clearly Besotted. The top layer is die cut with a stitched die from Simon Says Stamp, lengthened slightly to fit British card dimensions.

At Sea!

At "Less is More" it's time for  One Layer with the theme At Sea!

I love these sea birds from The Rubber Stamp Gallery. I began by stamping them and then covering them with some Elmers Rubber Cement, before Inking with various Distress Inks over a torn mask. I then over-stamped with a few Stamplorations grunge type stamps using some of the same Distress Inks.

The sentiment is from Happy Little Stampers!

Here I used an image from a kids downloadable colouring page, re-sized one and coloured them with watercolour pencils, blending the colours with a water brush and adding Glossy Accents when dry. The sentiment is computer generated.

This is another stamp from the Rubber Stamp Gallery. I embossed the circles, then masked them before stamping the image and again colouring with watercolour pencils.

The sentiment is from Imagine That.

Another sea picture similar to the first one, This time I stamped and clear embossed the waves using  a grunge stamp from Stamplorations, then inked with various shades of Distress Ink using sponge daubers.

I then stamped the sea bird from The Rubber Stamp Gallery and clear embossed that,  then cut a mask for his body before inking the sky, also using sponge daubers.

I wondered about a sentiment but thought I might leave that until it's needed!

Pretty Pastels

The challenge at Less is More this week is  to use Pastel colours!

It's also our teamie Anita's birthday and so this week is dedicated to her!

DO pop over to her blog to leave her some love!

This is a super Artemio stamp which I bought on sale at Ally Pally a few weeks ago. I inked the petals with Distress ink and then used a Stampin' Up marker to colour the leaves of the tulips . Once stamped, I added a little more Spun Sugar ink to the petals with a water brush! I wondered about adding a sentiment but found that the image looked best alone!

This is a piece of DP which has been sculling around for a while, popped behind the Concord and 9th die-cut heart. The Butterfly is from Poppy Stamps. The Congratulations is from  Tattered Lace die.

This is also for the challenge at Just US Girls this time with the theme butterfly!

This is another stamp from the Artemio set, again inked with Distress Inks and a marker. The sentiment is from Penny Black.

This last one doesn't look terribly pastelly..., I think it may have a little to do with the fact that I inadvertently re-inked my Memento London Fog ink pad with black ink! Hey ho you win some you lose some!

The sentiment is from paper Smooches.

Happy Birthday Anita!

I did say I would add a pic of us at my nephew's wedding last week. The evening theme was Cluedo,.. so here is a geriatric Miss Scarlet with her swain Rev Green!

It was fun!

Inlaid Die cuts

Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge this month is to use Inlaid Dies

Here I used a newish acquisition from Simon Says Stamp and used the multiple heart die to cut three pieces of card.
Having removed the shape from the black piece I put some double sided tape over the back of the aperture and then stuck in the white outline piece and then the individual red hearts. Fortunately they are all exactly the same and so don't have to fit into a specific space.
The 'love' word from Simon Says Stamp was triple layered and popped onto trimmed down dimensional pads. The 'you' from Craft Essentials Creative dies was also triple layered.
The finished piece of black card was adhered to the card front to cover it completely.

This challenge is sponsored by

Winner receives one stamp set from HLS

Tutorials:
Inlaid Die-cutting and Alcohol inks by Catherine Pooler (4:47)

Floating Inlaid Die-cutting by Catherine Pooler (7:30)
Dimensional Inlaid Die-cutting by Joanna Harty (4:53)

Here's another, again inlaid into black, but this time I used a butterfly die which I really love from Concord and 9th. Cut three times once more I embossed the outline piece in glittery Gold Embossing Glitter from WOW. The infill pieces are cut  from a piece of card which I had squished some flowers between, it's a subtle beige colour but I gave it a spritz of Diamond Pearl spray from Crafters Companion.  The sentiment is from Avery Elle, embossed in the same gold glitter.