Vacation! with Chou & Flowers

Happy Monday, friends!  It's Walter on the blog with you today and this week's theme is the outdoors.  We're now in the last weeks of summer and I thought it was fitting to use this theme to offer the last of the beach scenes for the year.  I used some beautiful stamp sets from Chou & Flowers to create the scene.  It's an overall simple card created with just stamping, a little fussy cutting, and a lot of coloring.

I began by stamping my A2 background panel using the Summer Souvenirs - Beach Huts stamp set and Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.  The row of beach huts fits perfectly onto the panel to provide a perfect beach background.  I then took the sand detail stamp from the View of Paradise stamp set and repeat stamped it around the sand area of the scene using a medium brown ink.

I colored my panel starting with the sand.  I use Ohuhu alcohol markers as I find they blend nicely and are cost-effective alternative vs. other brands.  I used a darker tan color called Khaki to go around the edges and then used a lighter tan color called Sand to fill in and blend it all together.  I then used several shades warm gray, neutral gray, blue, and red to finish the scene.  I went over the areas that I left white with a white gel pen to add some texture and make them pop.

I then stamped my beach umbrella, beach chair, and beach accessories using stamps from the View of Paradise stamp set using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.

I colored the images and then fussy cut them.  I adhered the beach accessories directly to the sand area with glue and the umbrella & chair with some double-sided foam tape.  Voila . . . a finished card to celebrate vacation!  As I previously said, it's a very simple card.  Sometimes it's fun to stick to the basics on just focus on scene rather than trying to incorporate lots of different techniques.  I love the vibrancy of the colors and all of the little details that tie it all together.

I hope that you enjoy this card!  Are you sad to see summer coming to an end or are you happy that fall is right around the corner?  Let me know in the comments below!  I'll see you again next week for some more creative fun.  Until then . . . be well!

Topflight Products Used:

 Chou & Flowers Summer Souvenirs - Beach Huts

Chou & Flowers View of Paradise

Versafine Clair Nocturne

Dreams Come True with L'Encre et l Image

Happy Monday, friends!  It’s Walter on the blog with you today and the theme this week is Anything Goes.  My mind immediately turned to another my favorite brands, L’ENCRE at l image, and one of their recent releases, Arsene my Sweetheart.  This character is adorable and so versatile – he can be royalty, a clown, a magician, or just a simple boy like I portrayed him this week.  I paired him with elements from another L’ENCRE product, Imminent Departure, to create a wonderful, inspirational card.

 

I began by deciding on the placement of my paper airplane, boy, and paper boat.  I then stamped those images onto an A2 sized piece of watercolor paper and then stamped them again onto masking paper.  I created masks to protect my images and make it easier to watercolor the background.  Once the masks were fussy cut, I covered my images and got ready to color the panel.

 

I used colors from Lindy’s Magicals Nantucket Pearls (Whale Watch Blue & Salt Water Taffy) to watercolor a blended evening sky.  The Lindy’s Magicals blend so easily, and the bits of mica give such an amazing shimmer.  I started by misting my panel and then sprinkling a little bit of Whale Watch Blue at the top of it.  I used a paint brush to move the color around while spraying with additional mists of water as needed to move & lighten the color.  I continued adding blue and then started to mix in a little Salt Water Taffy about 2/3 of the way down the panel before switching to just the pink to finish it off.

Once dry, I stamped the compass image behind the paper airplane and my sentiment with clear embossing ink.  I sprinkled silver embossing powder over the compass and removed the mask.  I then sprinkled white embossing powder over the sentiment and heat set both images.

 

I was now ready to add color to my stamped images.  I removed the remaining masks and started coloring them with alcohol markers.  I used two light shades of cool gray color the paper airplane and boat.  I chose colors for the rest of the boy image that would allow me to use just a few to not overwhelm the scene.  I have a tip for you for coloring hair – especially curly hair – that a friend passed along to me.  I began by uniformly coloring his hair with a darker shade of brown.  I then used the fine tip end of a lighter brown to add little dots to lighten up portions of the darker brown.  The final step was to use a darker shade of orange and add more dots.  Coloring hair this way gives it the illusion of texture and highlights that make it more interesting than just one color.

I finished off the scene using a silver metallic marker to add varying sizes of dots in the sky to represent stars and then adding three Hunky Dory Diamond Sparkles Silver Pearls.  This scene is so charming and cute!  The sentiment, which translates to “I want my dreams to come true,” is so fitting and is certain to inspire and encourage someone.

I hope that you enjoyed this creation and post.  I’ll see you here again next week.  Until then . . . be well!

Topflight Products Used:

Arsene My Sweetheart

Imminent Departure

Lindy's Magicals - Nantucket Pearls

htHunky Dory Diamond Sparkles Precious Pearls Silver & Gold

Playful Scenery with AALL & Create

 

Hi friends! I found some gorgeous ephemera in the Topflight store by AALL & Create, called Play Pops, and decided to create a scene card using them and a playful mixed media background! 

I've always struggled with scene cards, so I have found a "way around" the typical ones! Who says it has to look like a typical outdoor scene! As long as it looks cohesive, that's what matters! Hopefully I can spark your creativity with this unique scene card!

I started with the pretty blue background you see in the photo below! I created it using Paper Artsy Fresco paint in Turqouise, a gelli plate, and Carabell Studios Ronds texture plate! You can see the details up close in the photo below! What I like about this background is that it's interesting but won't compete with my focal point! 

Once my background was finished, I trimmed it with my deckle paper trimmer, along with a larger piece of black cardstock (I like how it frames the background). I adhered both layers to a white 5.5x4.25 card base. Next up, building my scene! 

I pulled several pieces from the colorful Play Pops ephemera pack by AALL & Create and placed them where I wanted them before adhering everything down. I grounded the flowers, bird, and cats by placing them on top of the banner. This helped them find a home rather than floating in the air on the card panel. Then I worked on the sun and clouds above them. I made sure to keep enough space behind the scenery so that the pretty blue background peeked through! You don't want your scenery to be too busy because the eyes won't know where to look. When everything was exactly where I wanted it, I adhered it all down with liquid glue. Then I added glossy accents over the eyes and sequins over the flowers for a bit of shine. That was it for this scene card! 

I have learned to truly enjoy scenery cards now that I allow myself to be creative with what it looks like. Let the imagination of your recipient go wild with your create scenes! Thanks for stopping by! 

SUPPLIES USED: 

Ronds Texture Plate by Carabelle Studios

Play Pops Ephemera by AALL & Create

Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics in Turquoise

Rabbit in the Garden Scene with Lavinia Elements Ink

 

Hello friends!  It's Autumn Clark from SewPaperPaint with you today to share a fun gardenscape card with you featuring one of my favorite Lavinia stamps, Lola the Rabbit.  I'm fascinated by the ink splattering technique Lavinia came up with using the Gel Press printing plate, and the reason they invented the Lavinia Elements Premium Dye Ink Pads.  I've clipped a Lavinia video that explains the process, which is how I created my background initially.  Starting with a "textured" background like this adds so much dimension to your scenes. 

With my dried background, I began to create a garden scene for my sweet little bunny.  First I spritzed a lot of water in the center of the panel and blotted to lift some of the ink to create a highlight.  Then I used the Lavinia Crackle (or cobblestone, if you will) stencil and sponged with Sahara Elements ink to create a pathway.  I used PaperArtsy Stencil PS067 by Kay Carley and sponged with Merlot at the top of the panel, then added more sponged shading along the edges.  I added lots of splashes of water for extra texture. 

At the pinnacle of my stone path, I partially stamped the doorway from PaperArtsy Stamp Set EEG26 by Emma Godfrey and added more sponged detail with brown ink.  Then I stamped Lola the Rabit, waiting at the doorway.  I adhered tiny Prima flowers and centered them with Nuvo Vintage Drops in Chocolate, then highlighted the stones and branches with copper Stickles.  I adhered a sticker sentiment onto a portion of inky paper leftover from my initial background making.  Now, this isn't my normal style of cardmaking, but I must say it was great fun to play and fluff along the way.  I hope you're inspired to see what scenes you can create with your stamps and stencils today.  xx, Autumn

Thanksgiving Double Slider Card ft. Katzelkraft Dogs

Hi Topflight fans! Kristina CraftyPaws here today sharing how to make a double slider card (with no special dies) for double the fun with Katzelkraft Dogs dressed in a Pilgrim bonnet and top hat from the Katzelkraft Pilgrim stamp set. 

I first Copic colored the Husky and the Basset Hound as well as the Pilgrim bonnet and top hat. Then I fussy cut them and set them aside. Then I prepped the various panels to create the double slider card structure as follows:

• Front Panel, Slider Mechanism Panel and Back Panel: 4.25" x 5.25"
• Slider Mechanism Panel (positioned horizontally) is then cut with top to bottom slits 0.25" away from either side, and 0.75" away from the top and bottom
• Left Slider Panel is cut 3.25" x 4 5/8"
• Right Slider Panel is cut 3.25" x 5 1/8"
• Then a strip of heavy duty plastic is cut to 2.5" x 11", this is looped through the slits of the Slider Mechanism Panel and secured with strong double sided tape like Scor-Tape

Before everything is assembled together, I had fun decorating. The front panel was cut from black cardstock and layered with kraft corrugated cardstock and then a lemon yellow cardstock and then embellished with Autumn-themed Jolee's Boutique stickers. The corners of the plain yellow cardstock were further decorated with Pixie Press metal flourish corners (I love mixing the ornate with the simple like this).

The left and right slider panels were decorated to create simple scenes by blending on a light, cloudy sky using a handmade scallop-edge mask and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass. The ground was made with more blending using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn. Then I put the right facing Basset Hound with the bonnet on the left panel and the left facing Husky with the top hat on the right panel. To complete the scenes and add a sentiment, I printed from my computer two speech bubbles. The Basset Hound says, "HAPPY," and the Husky says, "THANKSGIVING."

The assembly at this point is easy. The right panel is adhered to the plastic loop on the left most side of the loop before it goes through the slit. The left panel, facing forward, is adhered on the back of the slider mechanism panel on the plastic loop on the right most side of the loop. Then for some clearance I added double sided foam adhesive to the top and bottom of the slider mechanism panel before adding the decorated front panel over top. I repeated this on the back of the slider mechanism panel before adding the plain back panel (where I'll write my message to the card recipient).

It was so much fun to craft this doggy bountiful double slider card. Thanks for joining me today! If you're interested in more product details or in watching a process tutorial video of creating this card, please check out my blog post HERE.

Popping Up to Say Hello Spring!

Hello Topflight fans! It's spring here in Atlanta, GA and I've got spring fever! I've been taking full advantage of the fantastic weather, going for long walks with my sweet pup, Bandito (a Havanese), so I thought I'd make a card to illustrate how excited he gets when we set out for our daily excursions.

To create this interactive scene card, I used the beautiful IndigoBlu Country House Stamp and colored it up with Arteza fineliner pens. I softened the loose sketchy coloring with a water brush. For the interactive feature, I used an X-Acto blade to cut open the right door from the double doors in the image. I inked the edges with a Momento tuxedo black marker so that the white edge of the paper disappeared. I also colored the inside of the door to match the outside of the door.

To represent my Bandito, I colored up one of the pups from the Jessica Lynn Original Shih Tzu stamp set. I fussy cut it out and, again, inked the edges to hide the white edge of the paper. Then I positioned this pup so that it looked like it was coming out of the house, securing the bottom and right sides behind the right door and popping up the head with foam dots on top of the left door. 

To add a springy look, I glued some fun nail art flowers onto the topiaries. For a bit of shine, I also added Ranger glossy accents to the glass in the transom above the doors, the glass in the side lamps, and the eyes and nose of the pup. Lastly the whole card front was popped up on fun foam before being attached to a black card base. The doorway was backed by a bit of vellum to soften the interior of the house.

Thanks for joining me today! If you'd like more details about the products I used or to watch the process of making this card, please visit me at my blog HERE.

How to Make a Scene Card with Joy Crafts

Welcome to the Topflight blog! It's CraftyPaws here, and I'm sharing a custom scene card that I created for a friend who loves her two Pugs and Chihuahua. I used the Joy Crafts Love Dogs and Home Sweet Home (retired) stamp sets.

To create this single layer scene card, I first stamped the adorable pug couple from the Joy Crafts Love Dogs and then created masks for them with post-it note paper to stamp out the sofa and the arm chair behind them. Then I created masks for the sofa and arm chair so I could stamp out the fireplace, sofa table (it's actually a bistro table but I only used the top and placed it behind the sofa) and the floor lamps. Lastly, I created a mask for the lamp and stamped out the bookshelf behind it. Because the bookshelf was narrower than the width that I needed, I doodled in some extensions to the shelves, a plant, some books, and a frame around the whole unit. I also added a napping dog from an Art Impressions stamp set to represent my friend's 3rd dog. :) 

To color up the whole scene, I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers with a water brush and then added in finer coloring details with some Prismacolor color pencils.

If you'd like more details on the products I used or a video tutorial on creating a scene card, please check out my blog HERE. Thanks for stopping by and joining me today! 

And Hippos Might Fly...

Hi Everyone and welcome to the Topflight Stamps blog!  It's Jenny here and today I have a card that uses three different stamp sets to create a scene. 

I used some cold press watercolor paper and stamped the Hippo from the Katzelkraft Jungle Animals set in Versafine Sepia.  Katzelkraft have some amazing stamps, I think they're all my favorite!   I then stamped the floral bouquet from Carabelle Studio's The Exotiks in the same ink along the bottom. 

I colored the image using Derwent Inktense pencils.  These are fantastic because you can colour directly onto the paper and then use an aqua brush to pull the colour out.  Once it dries it is set, and you can't move it again.  As a result I was able to overlay a wash of Distress Ink in Mermaid Lagoon over the top for the sky without any colour bleeding. 

The stamp sets I used are below.  The sentiment was from the Indigo Blu set heat embossed in white embossing powder. I added it in after all the colouring was completed. 

To create the splatters, I used the same colours of inktense I'd used to colour in the images, and used a water brush to flick the pencil 'lead' resulting in the spatters. 

For a finishing touch I added some clear wink of stella on to the hippo's wings and flowers, and glossy accents to his eyes, teeth and the sun, as well as a few drops on the petals and leaves to look like dew drops. 

And that's it !  Hop you enjoyed, let me know if you have any questions - you can see a detailed list of supplies over on my blog here.
Have a great week!
Jenny