Stampin' Up! watercolour crayons

Further to Marj's request for 'something with inks, markers or distressing' I also tried out my watercolour crayons.  The first card you'll either love it or hate it, although the more you look at it it seems to grow on folk.  I've had mixed reactions to it, but it has definitely grown on me and my daughter thinks it's fab!  At least one fan then!  I played around with aqua painters, water spritzing, the crayons and ink pads. A little bit of texturing with my Big Shot and I'm pleased that my strips of dsp attached down the side appeared on a card in Crafts Beautiful after I had made it so I'm on trend.  The distressing is obviously my hand torn edges or in my Dad's words 'The ripped bits'  and I've also used daubers to add ink in various places. A bit of 'smudging' does you good!  The text is from Fresh Cuts stamp set stamped in old olive and of course the hearts are from the fab set I {heart} hearts.  This set has gone down well with my friend Helen who has recently opened a shop with her fiance and friends called Kerfuffle. They sell all sorts of home decor items and restored furniture and their theme is hearts so she has lots of price tag hearts adorning her goods. If you visit Horncastle, Lincolnshire you must visit Kerfuffle on North Street; it's a treasure trove and you're sure to find something you just can't resist! ( For the eagle eyed she also has a Stampin' Up! copyright stamp!!!)
Below is a more refined version of similar techniques and this uses the age old favourite stamp set Greenhouse Garden.  It's such a lovely set and I'm really hoping it remains in our Idea Book and Catalogue for 2011-2012.  Whichever colour way you use, and mine is elegant eggplant and so saffron, it works wonderfully and you just can't go wrong with it.  These two colours team up well with always artichoke and a little pear pizzazz seam binding just sets off my retired artichoke grosgrain ribbon and pearls.

If you don't like the first tell me why and suggest a different approach for my next experiment!  If you do like it I'd love to hear from you too!

Have a great weekend.

Hugs Zx

More Legs!!

x

Wow what a busy day. I've been making calls and chatting with friends, but have also been liaising with Stampin' Up! about my upcoming trip to Frankfurt to collect my prize for becoming Miss Big Shot. I'm really excited at the prospect of seeing Chris and Eileen our wonderful demo support team and the other staff members in the office. Also meeting the winners from France and Germany and I will get to see the inside of the European warehouse and choose my new stash! I will take photos and share them with you in due course, but in the meantime I'm trying to keep my mojo and do some crafting.  I've had yet another try at the Less is More one layer challenge and hopefully Chrissie and Mandi will whole heartedly approve of this one.  It has one layer, lots of 'white' space and although you can't actually see Mr Bee's legs you know he has them!!

This simple card involved a little bit of stencilling and sponging with a touch of spritzing and to maintain the white of the wings I used a Watercolour Wonder crayon in white to prevent any sponging or spritzing getting where I didn't want it.  Mr Bee himself is from Nature Walk that beautiful set from the mini and the sentiment is from a set now retired. 

Have a great evening.

Hugs Zx