Ink it! Stamp it! International Design Team Blog Hop - Birthday: Free As A Bird On Golden Honey

Welcome to the Ink It! Stamp It! Design Team Blog Hop - we hop every month so be sure to pop back and visit us again!  

Today our theme is: Birthday.

You are currently at my page - Stephanie Fischer, The Crafty Thinker.  At the end of my post there is a full line up of team members, please click on the name after mine in the list to continue the hop.

A versatile card featuring the Free As A Bird stamp set, Painted Labels Dies and the gorgeous Golden Honey Specialty Designer Series Paper that's FREE during Sale-A-Bration with a qualifying purchase

Well, I'll admit it - I cheated a bit for this card and CASEd one of my own cards!  But I'm very happy with result as I think it's quite versatile - I think it would make a good birthday card for either a male or a female recipient.

I stamped and watercoloured the bird and then cut it out using a Layering Circle die and the Out Of The Box technique (to free his tail).

The gold swirl is cut with one of the Painted Labels Dies (part of the Painted Poppies Bundle).

I sponged the Golden Honey Specialty Designer Series Paper (FREE with a qualifying order during Sale-A-Bration) with Bermuda Bay ink.

Thank you so much for joining us today and we hope you'll join us again next month when our theme will be "Thank You".

I'm Stephanie Fischer and to keep hopping around, click on the next person in the list below to see another great project.

Thanks for visiting
'Til next time!
Stephanie


Product List - All available for purchase from my online store

Golden Honey Specialty Designer Series Paper

$0.00

Free As A Bird Bundle

$89.00

Painted Labels Dies

$61.00

Layering Circles Dies

$58.00

Gold Foil Sheets

$8.75

Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock

$15.25

Saddle Brown Stazon Ink Pad

$17.50

Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad

$13.00

Power Of Hope & Free As A Bird

A peaceful scene created with the Power Of Hope and Free As A Bird stamp sets

This rather peaceful card is a variation of another card I made recently with the Power of Hope stamp set - Free during Sale-A-Bration (bundled with a 3D embossing folder) with a purchase of $180.

The little birds resting on the Cherry Blossom Tree are from the Free As A Bird stamp set and the greeting is from Good Morning Magnolia.

I stamped the images and greeting with Saddle Brown Stazon ink and then watercoloured with the following inks:
Blueberry Bushel, Petal Pink, Seaside Spray, Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz, Real Red, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso.

TIPS:

• I like to work out my composition on a scrap piece of paper before committing to my good cardstock.  I draw an outline the same size as my finished piece .
  
• Use watercolour paper - it's designed to handle the fluid and is, therefore, easier to work on and will give a better result.  I have a cupboard full of a variety of watercolour papers but, for cardmaking, my favourite is definitely the Fluid 100 (see product list below) as it a good quality weight, has a smooth enough finish to support clean stamped images and is sufficiently bright.
  
• Decide on colouring medium before commencing so that you can use an appropriate ink for stamping.  IE if you decide to watercolour, use a waterproof, solvent based ink such as the Stazon I have used.  If you're going to use alcohol inks for colouring, make sure you use a water-based ink for stamping - such as Memento Tuxedo Black or any of the Stampin' Up coloured inks.
  
• I painted the "grass" area with water and then painted with quite diluted green ink - starting with Soft Sea Foam and then gradually adding some Pear Pizzazz towards the bottom.  I added more pigment towards the bottom of the piece (the foreground) and for shadows since these areas are usually darker.
  
• To maintain a cohesive colour palette - if I used a colour in one place, I also used it somewhere else.  For example: the Early Espresso used for the lady's hair is also used for the deepest shade on the underside of the tree branch.  Petal Pink appears for skin and cherry blossoms; Real Red is used for the roof, belt, parasol and in the cherry blossoms.
  
• Unless you want them to bleed/blend one into the other, make sure adjoining areas are dry before painting.

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - All available for purchase from my online store

Free As A Bird Cling Stamp Set

$38.00

Good Morning Magnolia Cling Stamp Set

$63.00

Power Of Hope Bundle

$0.00

Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper

$15.75

Real Red A4 Card Stock

$15.25

Saddle Brown Stazon Ink Pad

$17.50

Free As A Bird with Delicate Lace - A Masculine Card

I set myself the task of making a masculine card using the Free As A Bird stamp set and came up with this card.  It's also inspired by "my little buddy" - see below for the explanation.

A masculine card featuring the Free As a Bird stamp set

Using the Delicate Lace Die, I cut a section from the Basic Black card front.  I then used the same die to cut some Whisper White card and an offcut of Garden Lane Designer Series Paper and glued the pieces into position.

The bird is coloured with Crumb Cake and Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends alcohol markers and then fussy cut before adhering to the card front.

The greeting (from Good Morning Magnolia) is white heat embossed.

The base card is Gray Granite.

Just recently I rescued a Noisy Miner that was being bullied by a group of others and (having crashed into the windows a few times) ended up floating  face down in the pool, wings spread.  I waited for my husband to come home to help me take it to WIRES and tried placing it in a box (as they suggested) but, as it turned out, it would only settle while sitting on my hand.  It had a sleep, preened and chirped occasionally,  It was really very sweet.  My little buddy for the afternoon!

My little buddy for the afternoon

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie