Joyeux Noël

Means soemthing like Joyous Christmas, which I thought would go well with the One layer Challenge over at Less is More with something French.

I used a Cas-ual Fridays stampset  (lovely snowflake) for both sentiment and image.

I sued Versamark to stamp them and then Wow! embossing powders. For the snowflake I chose Atlantic seaspray and for the sentiment I chose Mistletoe magic.

Atlanic seaspray has an opague base of a lightblue/greaan powder mixed with lovely gold glitter, which  gives it a kind of anitgue look, you knwo when copper goes green? that's what it reminds me of, I think the effect is better on bigger solid images though.

The mistle toe magic has a transparant sage green base with all kinds of colourfulglitter  mixed in like black but also

silver and more I can't make out ;-).

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

Distress inks recipes for blended backgrounds

Well, not just backgrounds ofcourse.
I chose some of my favorite colors and tried others to see how they work together.
I made thin strips of the cardstock I usually use , blended them with my mini blending tools and then stuck them back on a full sheet, so I can insert them in my binder.

I scanned them instead of photograping them, as it's close to midnight, I thought that would give the best color representation. But I'm not so sure it worked that way.

So if you like the sound of some of my recipes, why not recreate them on your own cardstock or watercolor paper if you prefer and see how they work for you.

I hope you can read my handwriting ;-)

I made a Word document but you can't download it anymore, it shows you all the recipes I made, you can even print it and then use the otherside for the blending, that way you'll always know they colors you've used, just cut along the lines, I've  made it to fit a European sized A4 (about 8"x11") but it's Word, so you can adapt it.

If you want one I can send it to you if you message me on facebook/cardsbymaaike....I don't know how to make it downloadable as I  don't have a website anymore. 

Updated on October 15th: more recipes added in this post: http://cardsbymaaike.blogspot.nl/2016/10/more-distress-inks-recipes.html
update on January 19th 2018: three more added at : https://cardsbymaaike.blogspot.nl/2018/01/distress-inks-recipes-3.html

relax...

The colours of the CAS Colours and Sketches this week reminded me of the ocean, the beach say and how I go there sometimes to winddown and relax.
I thought my card represents the sea, you might need some imagination but it's the sea ;-).
I used Distress inks ( blueprint sketch, faded jeans and mermaid lagoon) on an acryllic block , spritzed it with Perfect pearls mist. not sure the photo shows it, staped it on watercolour paper.
Then I used the droplets left to fill in around the block, mostly cos I made a stain..ssst..
I used the Simon Says Stamp relax die and white cardstock for the sentiment and a few sequins as bubbles or foam.

For more inforamtion on the Cas Colours and Sketches, see this

a broken shakercard

That must be the nightmare of any cardmaker ;-)
I made mine to look like the frame is broken and all it's contents are spilling out, such fun :-D

I made the card for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: celebrate!  showcasing SSS brand as it's the 6th anniversary of the challenge blog, so congrats Simon Says Stamp. love you.

And for the AAA cards challenge #70 sticthing.

So for the card I made a shaker with the Simon Says Stamp birthday wishes frame die. Cut it from white card and purple craft foam. stacked it all together like you do and filled it with silver and purple sequins and star confetti.
To close the shaker I added a secon layer of acetate.
Swiped Distress ink Wilted violet on the cardbase to color the background of the shaker, so the words would pop. 
I used Spectrum Noir markers to mae the "tear" and also swiped ink  for the "waterfall". adhered the sequins and confetti on the ouside with gluedots.

singing cat

 The challenge over at Addicted to CAS is: music.

So I made a cat singing happy birthday.

The cat is from Katzelkraft and I stamped it with My Favorite things hybrid black ink and used Distress inks to watercolor him on Schut water color paper 300grams.

The Happy birthday is from Impression Obsession and I stamped that on the cardbase with Versafine.
the music notes are black card I punched out with a mini handheld punch, no brand.

Mounted the panel with foamtape on the cardbase.

For more information on the Addicted to CAS challenge, see this

a baby

The Less is More Challenge, this week is to use blue and brown.
Birgit's entry gave me the idea to make a darker skin baby. I usually do caucasian, mostly because the stamps dictate that, but I thought I'd give it a try.

I used this Nellie Snellen stamp (dada002)  for the baby and a partial stamp from Eline's sweet sentiment for the "een"
"The  word baby is a Simon Says Stamp die. I used double sided adhesive on the back prior to diecutting to make it a sticker.

Colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers (Tn5-7-9, tb9-5, ib1-2, tb1)

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

Swatching/making swatches for Wow! embossingpowders, with video

This is a result from doing the Ecoline last week ;-).
When I get a pot or a few I do make little heartshaped swatches for the lids, so it's easy to see them in their little drawer.

But now I also made a swatch list for my swatchbook, so when I order new ones or go to a shop I can immediately see if I have it or not, which will prevent duplicates I hope.


I adapted the list a little since the video.
It now is in better alphabetical order and I added a black column. 
As a lot of Wow! embossing powders are transparent or translucent, you can see the effect on a dark (black) card.

Download the list for free here
It's a Word document, and I have added the latest colors I found on the website.

As you cans ee I seem to have quite a lot of them, but as sson as your start filling in the pages (6 of them), you realise you haven't even made a dent in the colors ;-).

I think I might need a few more lol.

I hope you find this helpful and will give it a try.