Sunday 31 July 2016

Welcome baby

Welcome is the challenge over at Addicted to CAS, so I chose welcome baby, not very original, I know ;-)

For the card I used three stampsets.
Welcome is from Uniko (home weet home)
Baby is from Lawn Fawn (hello baby)
and the Baby image is from Nellie Snellen (dada001)

I stamped everything with Memento Tuxedo black ink onto Neenah solar white 110lbs paper, colored it with my Spetrum Noir markers.
I adhered the colored panel onto a cardbase iwth tape glider. just so you don't see the colors seeping through the paper.

I chose lilac and purples, not the easiest to blend, even with the palette blending technique, but I thought lilac could be for any gender, altough the baby has eyelashes, that might make it a girl ;-)

For more information on the Addicted to CAC Challenge, see this.

You're unbelievable!

This card is for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge : add some texture and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: anything goes with Lawn Fawn.

For my card I use the Lawn Fawn set called loveable legends. To make the sentiment I cut off the "you're" from "you're a legend", I felt it would be easier than masking as the words were so close together.

For the ocean I smooshed Distress inks onto watercolor paper (mermaid lagoon, salty
ocean, blueprint sketch, faded jeans. let it dry.

Once the background was dry I used the Simon Says Stamp stencil (waves) and Ranger texture paste (transparent glossy) to which I added some glitter. I thought this would add some nice sparkling texture. Let it dry.

Meanwhile I made Nessie also on watercolor paper and I used Distress re-inkers (wilted violet and peacock feathers) for the vibrant feel. I feel wilted violet changes really quickly when you add just a little water. And I wanted the deep purple. Cut her out and then went around the edges with  Memento black marker. Once dry I covered Nessie with Versamark ink and Wow!  embossingpowder (clear holographic embossing glitter) for more texture and sparkle.

To make the slit I punched two holes and connected
them with a craftknife, I don't have the slider dies (yet).

I adhered two small buttons, that fit inside the slit/channel I just made, to the back of Nessie, placed it over the slot and backed it with a papercircle.
I used two buttons as I didn't want it to rotate, just "swim" across the card.
Two layer of foamtape to raise the panel and make sure Nessie can roam free lol

And as my watercolorpaper panels are always smaller than a cardbase I swiped some Salty Ocean on the cardbase, behind the slot and on the side. The slot looks a bit strange white ;-)




Saturday 30 July 2016

Another Christmas Shaker card.

The challenge over at the Work it Wednesdays from Simon Says Stamp is to use the color peridot.
Peridot is a precious stone, the birthstone of August and one of my favorites.

I used the peridot color as the backing to my shaker windows. I used Talens Ecoline #657 Bronze green, I think a good match.

To make the windows I diecut three star dies, backed it with acetate and built it up with foam tape, double layer.
Filled the shaker portion with gold sequins and a blue/green beadseed.

The Sentiment is from Siom Says Stamp (merry trees) and I stamped it with Hybrid black ink.

I applied the ecoline with as dry a brush as I could, as I
applied directly to the cardbase, cardstock not watercolor paper, but as it's 140lbs or 300grams it took it like a trooper ;-)

For more information on the Work it Wednesday Challenge, see this


Thursday 28 July 2016

Ornament shaker card

The Sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches  for challenge #184 inspired me to make this shaker card.

I believe shakers can be CAS too.
For the card I used a panel slightly more narrow than the cardbase as in the sketch's two grey bars on either side.
I used a Memory Box die called Swirl ornament. But I onl used the outline shape. I did at first cut out the ornament from black as well, but decied against it, whilst making the card.
I kind of like how the window is  open and you can see the sequins and confetti shaking about, much better than if I have put the swirls back.

I swiped Distress inks Candied apple onto the cardbase, in the spot behind the ornament. This way the focus is all on the cut out shape I think.

I made a "classic"shaker with a double layer of foam and two layers of acetate, so you can see the colored cardbase.
I cut some small strips of gold glitter paper and attached them on eith side of the panel, to reinforce the sketch.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts (classic Christmas borders) and I stamped it with Versafine prior to building up the foam for the shaker and I heat set it to avoid boo boos ;-)

For more information on the CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge, see this









I made a similar card last year, and there's a video for it. The building of it didn;t quite go as smoothly as now ;-)

Swatching out watercolor with Talens ecoline, with video



I've made downloadable lists,
two filled in and one empty, your can print twice for 48 colors in the Talens Ecoline range.

I have 39 of the colors, but included them all for future buys, I might get them all in the end.
In the lists there are three columns (i call the rows in the video) for different kinds of papers you might have. I made one for cold pressed, hotpressed and "cheap" paper).
As it's a Word document, you can change everything, or start with an empty one, per instance if you want to swatch out your Distress inks, Zig markes, or Spectrum Noir aqua markers or any other brand of watercolors you  might have.

If you only have one kind of paper, you might also just use the grid and draw it on the actual paper.
But this way you use less expensive paper and you get three swatched on one sheet.

Make sure to rinse your brush very  well when switching from color to color, you don't want to contaminate the pots.

I use a big brush that fills in the itte squares in one pass, but you can use a waterbrush too, if you want to see how the colored fade out. i think these swatches are a bit too small for that.

For me it's more to see how the colors dry on hot pressed and or cold pressed paper and to get the ture color.
The color on the pot matches quite well, but not my printed list, you can also download for free on the Talens website.

I put the swatches in numerical order, on the Talens list they're sorted differently, I found this easier, but again, you can change everything if you want. Only change I made was to add the number 800 for gold after the 400 series, as there was one spot left, and I wanted all the 500series together on one sheet.

When done, please fixate the colors with a spray as they will reactivate if you splatter water on them whilst working on something. I put them in protective sheets in my ringbinder that hold all my swatches, from paper, to inks, to Copic and Spectrum markers, everything all in one place ;-)

So to download, please message me via facebook www.facebook.com/cardsbymaaike then I can send them via an attachement through messenger. I cannot make Dropbox work anymore.




Wednesday 27 July 2016

Coloring and inkblending on the same layer, with video

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge the theme is : things with wings.

I thought long and hard about it, almost all week as the challenge is about to end, then I thought I would combine the Monday Challenge too, add some texture, but it didn't turn out like that ;-).
I added dimension instead of texture, so some of my other ideas will be recycled into a new idea ;-)

This week we're supposed to showcase Doodlebug design, and I might have some of their sequins, but I'm not sure as I never labeled my sequins, and also some of their bakerstwine, again not sure.
So I omitted them all, and used  fake enamel dots to capture the wonderful enamel dots Doodlebug designs make and I'm sure I do not have lol.



Anyway, for my card I used one stampset: friendship blooms from Simon Says Stamp.

In the video you can see the long version of the process and all the boo boo's I made, I won't bore you with them again. I left them in to show how to fix them and or work with them.

I placed circle dies onto a cardpanel and made three windows.
Traced the windows onto the cardbase and stamped the images.
I used Versafine as I first thought to use pencils, then opted for Spectrum Noir markers, and it works ok, but I should have used another ink. 
I like Versafine for it's rich, dark and crisp stamping, I didn't think things through. Happens...lol
I made masks of the butterflies with Inkadinkadoo maskingpaper, and covered the stamps.
When I cut out the masks I like to cut on the outline line of the image, so the mask is a tiny bit smaller, When you blend ink on top it won't show on the black, but it your mask is a teeny bit bigger it will leave a white border and I do not like those.
Then I used mini blending tools and Distress inks to fill in the circles, starting on the maskingpaper/butterfly.

I used Squeezed lemonade, spiced marmalade and picked raspberry. 
I  matched my markers to the Distress inks as best as possible and as the images are so small I did not bother with any shading except a light grey on the outside to lift the butterlfies off the background. If you have the coordinating dies, you could just plonk them on top ;-)

Stamped the sentiment on the cardpanel, also Versafine and heat set it.
Added loads of foam squares to raise the panel and placed it on top of the cardbase.

You could keep it as a one layer card if you made a mask/stencil from my top panel and used that to apply the Distress inks, so it stays neat.

My enamel dots are homemade, I colored one orange with my markers as I don't seem to have orange ones, weirdly enough, and I placed them on the card with homemade gluedots.

I found another use for my baking sheet lol...before I used release paper from double sided tape, but the gluedots would be exposed and get dusty or cat hair on them, now they're protected.

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp challenge, see this

Sunday 24 July 2016

Fun in the sun

The Simon Stays Stamp Monday Challenge theme is : nautical/by the sea.

For my card I used three Simon Says Stamp sets (happy days for the kites,my sun shine for the sentiment, baby party animals for the animals).

I used My favorite things hybrid black ink to stamp everything on 300grams watercolor paper from Schut and I used Distress inks to watercolor the card.
I kept the "sea" as plain as possible, but with some  shades so it's not all flat, but still just the background.
And I wanted the critters to by playing with their kites on the sand, hey they could be having a kite battle ;-)

As my panel of watercolor is cut from a bigger sheet it's always a little smaller than the card, so I filled up the gap with washitape that has the same kind of colors as the panel.
Mounted it with foamtape onto the cardbase.


For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, see this

Saturday 23 July 2016

Tactile butterflies with felt

I've combined two challenges this week, for the colours the CAS Coour and Sketches challenge #183 and for the  Less is More challenge for the tactile aspect.

I used felt for my tactile element and I diecut the three butterflies from the same name die set from Simon Says stamp.

The sentiment is from Sizzix (happy birthday by Stephanie Barnard) and I stamped it with Versafine black onyx ink.

At first I wanted to use the Paper smooches Dainty flowers die, but the taupe was hard to incorporate, so flicking through my dies I came acroos these and some from Joy craft, that were too detailed to diecut I found out ;-)

Adhered the felt onto the crdbase with Aleene's fast
grab tacky glue and some foamtape for the yellow one.

For more information on the Less is More Challenge, see this
For more information on the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge, see this





I like using felt with dies, I made this card for an old challenge and the tactile caterpillar just melts my heart, but as I've already used it, I can't enter it , so just for you to look at ;-)

Tuesday 19 July 2016

Rainbow monsters, with video

The Lawnscaping challenge #134: is all about rainbow colors.

I looked at using  the new sets mermaid for you and or the fairy one, but I couldn;t see a rainbow in there.
So I grabbed and old one but favorite stampset. Monstermash from Lawn Fawn ofcourse.
I believe monsters can be any color!

I stamped the images with My Favorite things hybrid black ink onto Schut 300grams watercolorpaper.
I used Distress inks for my watercoloring (from left to right: wilted Violet, candied apple, carved pumpkin, mustard seed, mowed lawn and mermaid lagoon)
When finished I mixed all the left over ink to make dirt, so I could ground the monsters.

Mounted the panel with foamtape and stamped the sentiment with Versafine black onyx ink on the cardbase.

I added lashes to the green monster to make her girlie (red lipstick) and on the green and orange I added Wink of Stella and on others googly eyes.
I thought about adding some sequins, but I didn't ;-) I like the focus to remain on the panel.

For more information on the Lawnscaping challenge, see this



Sunday 17 July 2016

AAA cards Challenge

AAA cards Challenge: one favorite.

So I think my new favorite item from my stash is the Penny Black stampset I got this week ( Buddy and Duck).

The images are sooooooo cute and although i'm more a cat person at heart these dogs still melt my heart.


It was so hard to choose the image to use for the challenge, but in the end I settled on Buddy flying away.

I stamped the image and the sentiment from the same set with My Favorite things hybrid black ink on Schut 300 grams watercolor paper.
I used the MISTI as I had to stamp the images a few times to get a good inpression on the knobbly paper.

I used Distress inks to color the image and for the splatter and then some Ranger enamel accents for the spots on the balloon, I found it impossible to avoid those ;-).
As the panel is slightly smaller than the cardbase I sued a strip of washi tape on the cardbase to fill the gap. and I thought it would match the balloon quite nicely with the white dots.

For more information on the AAA cards Challenge, see this

Saturday 16 July 2016

Rainbow birthday card

The theme this week for the Less is More challenge is: repetition.

So for my card I took inspiration from Chrissie's card and adapted it to my style and supplies.

I used the Happy from Happy 3x4 by Simon Says Stamp and the Happy birthday from Sizzix (birthday by Stephanie Barnard). I stamped the black with Versafine on top of the rainbow made with Ranger Dye inks.
I used the MISTI and just moved the cardstock over a little and started in the middle with yellow as it's the lightest color.

I made a similar card a few weeks ago, without the MISTI and my stamping was a bit skewed and I used a smaller happy from the same set.

I  made a mistake as I used the Misti vertically and had to rotate towards the end and reposition the stamp....Not sure it's better now lol...
few homemade enamel dots.
I adhered the cardpanel with foamtape.


For more information on the Less is More Challenge, see this

Friday 15 July 2016

Sorry I'm late

The less is more challenge #284 is all about time.

I decided to make a card where I might have forgotten time ;-), happens you know...
I used the Lawn Fawn Gleeful garden set and I stamped it al with Memento Tuxedo black ink.
I masked off a square on the cardpanel and masked off the grass. Then sponged in mowed lawn and Broken china Distress inks.

Colored the images with Spectrum Noir and Copic markers and diecut them.
raised some with foam and mounted then onto the cardpanel.

Adhered the cardpanel onto the cardbase. I used a panel so the markers won't show on the inside.

For more information on the Less is More Challenge, see this

Thursday 14 July 2016

CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #182


CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #182

Woot I made it another week!
For this week's sketch Challenge I used a new stampset I got today!
It's from Penny Black and it's called Buddy and Duck and I obviously used Duck(ie) ;-)


I stamped him on watercolor paper (Schut 300grams) with My Favorite things hybrid black ink and coloured him with Ecoline watercolor makers, Spectrum Aqua markers and Distress inks for the splatter.

Raied the watercolor panel with foamtape and as it's narrower than the cardbase a strip of Washitape to fill the gap and pick up the blue in the balloon.

Enamel accents from Ranger for the dots on the balloon.


For more information on the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge #182, see this

Warm winterwishes!

what? already? ....yep it's not liek were having any kind of summer here in the netherlands ;-) lol..

Actually it's the Monday and Wednesday challenge over at Simon Says Stamp that prompted this card.
Monday's challenge is about flora and or fauna and Wednesday is to create a scene (with Newton Nook, but I sadly have none).

I used watercolorpaper for my panel and a Memorybox stencil (garden birch trees) and a Dutch stamp company (marianne design Eline''s xmas ec0148)

I made a mask with Inkadinkado maskingpaper and Aleene's tack it over and over as it wasn;t sticking to this paper, at ll :-(.
I then placed the stencil and used the mini blending tools and Distress inks for the background (Chipped Sapphire, seedles preserves and mustard seed.
I made a snow bank  as well from masking paper and used tumbled glass and mermaid lagoon on those.

I don't remember exactly which colors for the imagaes and tree shading, but Walnut stain for the tree stump and vintage photo for the bunny, the scarf and apple are Ecoline brushmarkers.
The shading on the trees are a few colors combined.
Stamped the sentiment and image with MFT hybrid black ink.


I thought the image, although not Newton's Nook, looked similar to their work.

As the panel is smaller than the cardbase I added gold glitter washi tape to the side and I mounted the panel with foamtape.

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, see this
For more information on the simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, see this



Sunday 10 July 2016

Happiest Birthday wishes for you

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge had a moodboard, similar to the Lawnscaping one.
I don´t really have beachy themed stampsets.
I do have the mermaids for you and the happy days from SSS, I´ve been thinking about how to use the colors with the images I have.
In the end I chose to use the Simon Says Stamp 3x4 birthday celebration set and ditch the Lawn Fawn ones, but I used a strip of Lawn Fawn paper ;-)
There´s a grey in one of the mood boards and blues and yellows, not my favorite colors so that could be why I found it hard to be inspired.
The grey is perfect for an elephant and a yellow balloon and blue tinted hat seemed logical.

I stamped everything with Memento tuxedo black ink on Neenah solar white ultra smooth card and colored with Spectrum Noir and Copic markers.
I masked off the elephant´s trunk to stamp the
balloon.
Usually I use greys to ground images, but now I used the blue tones from the mood boards.

I cut the panel naroower than the cardbase. Attached the grey stiped Lawn Fawn paper (let's polka 12x12) to the cardbase with tape runner and added a strip of yellow paper too, to repeat the color of the balloon, covered the strip in Wink of Stella clear and the balloon with glossy accents.

Mounted the panel with foamtape on the cardbase.


For more info on the ALwnscaping challenge #133, see this
For more info on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, see this








Saturday 9 July 2016

Red white and or blue with video


Use one, two or all three colors for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

I've use white and blue ;-).
Well, a few blues from the Distress ink line to brush on the background ( if I remember correctly, faded jeans, chipped sapphire, salty ocean and maybe mermaid lagoon).

I started by partially diecutting the stitched circle die to get the window.
I then transferred the position of the window onto the cardbase and masked an area off, slighlty bigger, but as the panel is slightly smaller I had to make sure none of my ink blending would peak out from underneath.

I then used the Simon Says Stamp Falling snow stencil and embossing paste for the snow, the stencil shifted a little making the perfect round shapes look more like drops, which is OK!

I used a die from Leane creatief for the trees and house scene, I bought it second hand so I'm not sure if it's old,  new or discontinued etc.
I used my newly discovered method for embossign the die, see video, home made embossing or tan mat ;-)

Mounted everything with one or two layers of foam tape to adhered it to the cardbase.
I didn't stamp a sentiment before I mounted all the foam dots, forgot and I didn't want to risk it.
So my sentiment is on the inside.
Also rather like the serene look of the front now. 
I love big bold black sentiments, but somehow I don't see it fitting this card.

See the card I made a few weeks ago, I used different blue Distress ink and glittery dots from Papermania and a sentiment!

I think it's because the challenge is blue and white ;-)

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, see this


Stripes and Birthdays with video

Today my card is for two challenges: Addicted to CAS with the code word Stripes 
and 
Cas Colour and Sketches  for the color combo


I've Used Distress inks Dusty Concord, mowed lawn and frayed burlap to match the SU colors.
Because of the colors I immediately thought purple flowers, green stem and brown dirt/earth, but then I thought everyone might have that idea ;-) So I came up with fading stripes.

For the card I cut a panel the same size as the cardbase, masked off the base to get three stripes and applied the Distress inks with my brushes. Dark on the left and fading into white on the right.
I use normal paintstore brushes, I made a video about it earlier this week trying a few of them out, see below.

I then applied Ken Oliver's Stick it to the back of the panel and diecut the Simon Says Stamp from the panel (birthday wishes frame).

Applied Stick it to both front and back to another panel and diecut the frame again. I wanted it to be raised by just a hair, and I contemplated craft foam, but that usually gets squished and distorted, not good with intricate dies like this. And I also only wanted one layer to keep the card flat for mailing, but this might just have been too flat ;-). You can feel the dimension but barely see it..lol.

Attached it all back and pieced all the little bits and bobs back in the die and then added a few how made dew drops/enamel dots.