Author Archives: narellefarrugia

Just Add Ink #638

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We have a new challenge for you to play along with over at Just Add Ink. This week our challenge for you is to:

When I went looking For a stamp set with candles, I realised I don’t have many… Or maybe I do, but I have too many stamp sets to look through. They’re shoved in so many different places that I gave up after about 1/2 hr.

So I decided to make my own candles. I took some DSP from the Dandy Design DSP pack and rolled them up to create my own candles. To create the flames, I took my blends and drew shapes that I hope resemble flame tips.

I embossed a piece of Basic White Cardstock with the Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder and cut it in to three pieces. I layered then on another piece of patterned DSP from the Dandy Designs pack.

Once I adhered my layers together, I wanted a little bit of something else, so I stamped a leaf from the Splendid Thoughts Stamp Set and coloured it with my Fresh Freesia Blends. A added a “Celebrate” sentiment and a bow to finish off my card.

The team at Just Add Ink have created awesome cards. Make sure you head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #571

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The newest sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches has been designed by the wonderfully talented Jen Mitchell. Make sure you head over to Jen’s blog and see her gorgeous creations.

The card I created features leaves from the Soft Seedling Stamp Set. I know, I’ve used this stamp set again, but I am loving it!

I stamped the leaves twice – once in Garden Green Ink and once in Pear Pizzazz Ink. I took my Water Painter and moved the ink around to the edges to create more light and shade. Once the leaves were dry, I fussy cut them and scrunched them in my hand for a more realistic look.

The background Basic White Cardstock was shaded with Crumb Cake Ink and a Blending Brush. As I always do, I took a Soft Suede Blend and flicked ink on to the shading.

I had a torn piece of Garden Green Cardstock on my desk so I layered this under a piece of Kraft Cardstock I had also discarded from another project. The ribbon I added was an off-cut that I stapled on one end and ruched on the other end. A sentiment was added and three Basic Pearl Rhinestones.

The Clean Team have created awesome cards that will no doubt inspire you. Head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Global Design Project #378

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The challenge at Global Design Project is a sketch challenge. I love the simplicity of this clean sketch.

To fill up the space on the background, I stamped leaves from the Soft Seedlings Stamp Set. The leaves were stamped with Garden Green, Cajun Craze and Mango Melody Inks. Once I stamped them in the three colours, I took a Water Painter and moved the ink around on the leaf. I took a bit of Mango Melody Ink and added it to the centre of the Garden Green leaf. I then did the same with the Cajun Craze leaf. Once I had some Cajun Craze Ink on the Water Painter, I then added it to the centre of the Mango Melody leaf. All images were then fussy cut out.

I had a strip of Crumb Cake Cardstock that the edge had been diecut with the spiral book type edge. I added this to a strip of Pool Party Cardstock. The background Basic was shaded with Balmy Blue Ink and a Blending Brush. I then flicked the nib of the Light Black Blend on the lid of the blend on to the cardstock to add splatters. The ledger type stamp from the Ranunculus Romance Stamp Set was then stamped in Crumb Cake Ink over the top.

I layered all the images together and added a sentiment from the Ranunculus Romance Stamp Set and added a strip of torn ribbon that I had sitting on my desk.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #570

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The newest sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches has been designed by the wonderfully talented Jennifer Timko. Jen’s cards are always just divine so make sure you head over to her blog and see her creations.

As soon as I saw her sketch I knew I wanted to use a flower as the flower point for my card. The flowers and leaves I’ve coloured up are from the Cottage Rose Stamp Set.

The flowers were stamped in Black Memento Ink and coloured with the Blackberry Bliss Blends and Highland Heather Blends. The leaves were given colour with my Granny Apple Green Blends. All images were fussy cut out and raised up with Dimensionals.

The strip of DSP I’ve added to my card is from the Abigail Rose Designer Series Paper Pack. I had a torn strip of cardstock sitting on my desk that I can’t remember the name of, so I tucked it under the DSP.

The background cardstock was shaded with Balmy Blue Ink and a Blending Brush. I then stamped the sentiment from the Cottage Rose Stamp Set. I love the size and fonts of this sentiment.

One Adhesive Backed Milky Dot was added as I feel my cards are a little naked without a bit of bling!

The girls at Freshly Made Sketches have created awesome cards that will inspire you to create one for yourself. Make sure you head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Global Design Project #377

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There’s a new colour challenge over at Global Design Project. Take a look at their fab colour combo:

This combo is one I’ve never tried before. Some of the papers from the Dandy Designs DSP work perfectly for this challenge as they have both Balmy Blue and Granny Apple Green in them. I’ve layered two together at angles to the base of my card.

I then kinda threw lots of bits and pieces to the centre in a combination of the colours from the challenge.

I have added diecut shapes made with the Stylish Shapes Dies and added a leafy diecut cut with the Forever Flourishing Dies.

For my images, I had a owl from the Adorably Owls Stamp Set sitting on my desk, so I quickly coloured it in with my yellow watercolour pencil, Water Painter and fussy cut it out. I also had some stamped flowery images that I had discarded from another project just sitting there. I coloured them up with So Saffron and Granny Apple Green Blends and fussy cut them out.

I then set about layering and added a sentiment from a retired set called Sweet As A Peach. After scrunching up the corners of my cardstock, I decided the card was finished.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Just Add Ink #636

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Welcome to the first challenge for Just Add Ink for 2023. We are starting off the year with a blog hop. We have given ourselves the challenge of creating a project using our “favourite”. A favourite can be a technique, stamp set, colour combination or products.

Of course adding flowers to my card is my favourite thing to do. You’ve probably seen that flowers are my go-to for my projects. I love all types of blooms and enjoy colouring them and layering them with leaves.

The card I created features a new-to-me stamp set called Two-Toned Flora Stamp Set. This set has a two-step stamping for the flowers. So no actual colouring of the flowers for me for once. The flowers were first stamped with Blushing Bride and Melon Mambo Inks. The second part of the stamping gives the flower definition. These were stamped in Flirty Flamingo and Real Red Inks. Once the flowers were stamped, I fussy cut each of them out.

The leaves were stamped in Granny Apple Green Ink. They were then also fussy cut out.

To create the diecut square and banners beneath the flowers, I used my new favourite technique of Watercolor Pencil to Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper and a Water Painter to move the ink around. The pencils I used were Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo. I used quite a lot of water to dilute the colours. Once the cardstock dried, I diecut them out with my Stylish Shapes Dies.

To create the embossed background, I took Basic White Cardstock and the Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder. The sentiment I used is one full sentiment. Once I stamped the sentiment, I trimmed it in half and layered it over both flower arrangements. Three Champagne Basic Rhinestones finished my card off with the bling that I love.

The next hop along the way is the wonderfull talented Jo Stubbings. Click here to take you to her blog or on the next button below.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #569

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Our newest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches has been designed by the fabulous Jacquie Southas. Make sure you head over to her blog and see the gorgeous creations she designs.

I decided to create another scenic background using the pencil to watercolour technique. After applying colour, I took an Aqua Painter and moved around the ink. I then tore strips and adhered them in layers on my card.

I’ve combined images from two different stamp sets. The lighthouse images is from the Lighthouse Point Stamp Set. The little birds are from the Seaside Bay Stamp Set. To create the shells, I watercoloured some Crumb Cake Ink on to the watercolour paper and waited for it to dry. I then took the small shell die from the Seaside Dies and cut out two shells. To add definition to the shell, I took my brown watercolour pencil and drew lines in the crease lines left by the die.

The grassy stems were also created by applying a green watercolour pencil on watercolour paper and used my Aqua Painter to move the colour around. After the paper was dry, I took the grassy die from the Seaside Dies and cut out three stems.

All of my images were then layered together and a sentiment was added.

The team have created awesome creations. Make sure you head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Global Design Project #376

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I managed to play along with a challenge this weekend. I couldn’t get in my craft room on Saturday as it was super hot in my room. It got to 40 degrees and my room was stinking hot! This weeks challenge at Global Design Project is a CASE The Designer Challenge. This gorgeous card of Connie’s was the card we got to CASE.

The card I created features the Celebrate Sunflowers Stamp Set and Sunflower Dies. I was watching a FB live from my super crafty friend Angela on Friday when I saw her using the Gilded Leafing. I decided to challenge myself to using this messy stuff for the first time. For my first time using it, I decided to use is sparingly on the diecut sunflower in the background. It’s a wee bit messy especially when you have a desk fan going….might re-think the fan on my next try.

The flowers have been coloured with all my yellow blends. The centre of the flowers were coloured with the Smoky Slate Blends.

The leaves were coloured with my Granny Apple Green Blends and fussy cut out. Green Apple Green Cardstock was used for the leafy diecuts.

To add a little interest beneath the sentiment, I used a label punch and raised it up with Dimensionals.

The background was shaded with Balmy Blue Ink and a Blending Brush. I then took the Dark Smoky Slate Blend and flicked ink on to the shaded background.

Finally I added a bow and three Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #568

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Welcome to another Wednesday and another sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. This week our sketch has been designed by the wonderfully talented Judy Rozema.

I do have 3 squares under my layers, but you can’t quite see them with how I’ve arranged all my leaves and flowers!

The flowers and leafy images are from the Sending Smiles Stamp Set. The flower petals have been stamped in Crushed Curry and Gorgeous Grape Inks. The centre of the flowers have been inked up with So Saffron Ink. The stems and leaf images were stamped with Granny Apple Green and cut out with the matching die from the Sending Dies.

The Basic White Cardstock behind the flowers was shaded with Balmy Blue Ink and a Blending Brush. On this piece of cardstock, I added the 3 diecut DSP squares cut with the Stylish Shapes Dies. The DSP pack I’ve cut the squares from is my fav atm – it called Dandy Design Designer Series Paper pack.

The diecut sentiment has also been cut with the Sending Dies and I’ve paired this with an inked sentiment from the Sending Smiles Stamp Set. One Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dot adorns my card.

The team at Freshly Made Sketches have created awesome cards using Judy’s sketch. Make sure you pop over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #567

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We’re back! We have a new sketch for you to play along with at Freshly Made Sketches. This week our sketch hostess is the uber talented Amy O’Neill. Amy has designed this wonderful sketch for us. If only I had had the sketch in front of me rather than try it remember it off by heart, I may’ve created my card a 100% likeness to it….oops!

The card I created features the Soft Seedlings Stamp Set. I stamped up the leave image twice – once in Cajun Craze and the second time in Calypso Coral. The images were then watercoloured to change the colours to give them light and shade. I then added Cajun Craze Ink to the Calypso Coral one around the edges to create a two toned leaf. Once the images were dried, I fussy cut them out and scrunched them up in my hand. I took Dimensionals and adhered them to the circle punch with those scrunches on them. With this amount of height, I may not send this card in the post.

I added a strip of Cajun Craze Cardstock to the back and a piece of DSP from the Dandy Designs DSP pack (my new favourite DSP pack). The sentiment was stamped and trimmed around the font. I added strips of Linen Thread across the card and tied a bow. Over all of these layers, I added the sentiment and a couple of banners.

The team at Freshly Made Sketches have created awesome cards that will probs more resemble Amy’s sketch than mine…make sure you head over to the challenge and check them out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle