Twinkling H20 Bluebell Tutorial

Evening folks. I have been dragged inside by DH as it's too dark now to see anything in the garden, although I love the cool evenings, so I thought I'd do the tutorial for my bluebell card that I've been promising for so long.

I used the Basic Rainbow set of H20's. Initially when I first got these I thought they were very boring compared to all the lush colours in the other fancy sets but now they are my favourites. The colours are so vibrant and I use them for almost everything I do. You need to mist them to activate them and then leave them for a few minutes.

Next spray your background card liberally with water. A good thickness of card works best due to the fact that it will become very wet.

Then comes the technical part....not. Randomly splodge your chosen colours all over the wet card with a good sized paint brush. I limit myself to three colours so as not to muddy them.

Once you are happy spray the card again to make the colours run into each other. Bend the edges of the card up a bit to stop the paint running off the edge and blot anywhere that has run too much.

Either leave to dry, in the scorching weather it won't take long, or use a heat gun.

You then need to ink up your chosen stamp by painting it with one of the H20's. Make sure it is the consistence of cream to get a good stamped impression but don't be too fussy with how they stamp out. I like a variation with some being a bit more watery. You need several flowers.

With the paint that's still on the stamp once you've finished, lightly mist holding your stamp upright and then stamp onto your background. You'll be surprised how many impressions you can get from one inking and then remisting.

Dry the outline of your individual flowers thoroughly, paint them and once dry cut them out.

Arrange them on your background and jobs a good un.

I used the same technique for all four cards I made for Sheena using each set of flowers and it's still one of my favourites and one I shall go back to too again I'm sure. H20's are so diverse, to think all we ever used to was paint with them. Stamping with them is such fun and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I hope this has been helpful and if you try it please pop over and let me know so that I can come and admire your results.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Alfresco Crafting

Morning folks. Sorry I've been so quiet lately. Summer arrived and I've just been enjoying it so no crafting for over a week. You have to make the most of the sunshine don't you? It'd be rude not too.

Last night was Craft Club and it was such a beautiful evening we crafted in the garden of the cafe were we hold it. I taught the ladies how to make this card I created for a recent Sheena Douglass show.

It's a good messy and very easy technique using lots of water and H20's and the gorgeous flower stamps. I've been asked on several occasions how it is done and have sorted out a photo tutorial which I'll post in the next few days.
Everyone did their own version last night, we had poppies, daffodils and forget me nots in all sorts of colours. Ever card was unique and equally gorgeous and the ladies really enjoyed themselves.

The best thing of all was that we were outside on this beautiful evening in an idyllic setting. Aren't we lucky to live in such a beautiful place?

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend whatever you are up too.

Happy Crafting

WOYWW 214 or should that be 213???

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. Here we are in the middle of yet another week and over half way through the year as well. They say times goes faster as you get older but I wish some one would invent a brake to slow it down a bit. We'd have more crafty time then. I have so many things I want to do and just never seem to get round to.

Anyway, here's my desk as of last night. It hasn't changed this morning and won't as I'm off to work in a minute.

I've been asked to do a Ruby Wedding card and have been playing with these rolled flowers, which I love. It's the first time this Spellbinders die has had an outing but I decided to cut a few and make them up for later projects. You can never have enough flowers can you?

As you can see I'm back up in my craft room. I tend to go there when I have things I have to do and use the dining table for things I want to do. The scrapbook layout is still on that but has progressed. I took it all apart after last week and started again and things flowed much better. I still have bits to stick down and finish hence the wonky angles but am much happier with it now.

I have also been recycling an old beige plastic mirror and pine shelf for my DD's new bedroom. She's really pleased with the finished results and they match her new wallpaper really well.

So that's me for another week. If you want to share your desk with a few hundred very friendly crafters, then pop over to see the lovely Julia, Queen of WOYWW, HERE.

I shall look forward to catching up with all your desks later in the day but, in the meantime thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.