Lotus Field

What a beautiful press plate this is from Hero Arts!  This is the Lotus Field plate and coordinating stencils.

It is an all-over background plate, so you need a lot of ink coverage.  I used Distress Oxide inks to do both a solid Peacock Feathers background, as well as a three colour ombre ink blend.

The coordinating stencils allow you to ink blend the petals as well, but there is also a detail layer.  Quick and easy to complete an entire panel.

For the ombre background, I used Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers.

I did minimal colouring of the flowers on this one - just a little soft yellow behind the centers.

The sentiments were all done with gold foiling on Spellbinders black cardstock.  You can find the set at The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Spotlight Golden Bloom

I am sharing a couple of projects featuring the spotlight technique, used with the January Betterpress Society plate, Golden Bloom.

I started by ink blending my card bases, by masking the areas with some low tack tape, using a three-colour blend.  The first was done as a vertical stripe:

And then I did two with a masked rectangle:

The stripe panel was pressed with Betterpress Black ink, along with one of the sentiments in the set.

And the two rectangles, were pressed with Betterpress Tawny Brown ink.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop!

Bright Autumn Cheer

 My second version of the cascading leaves card featured some pretty vibrant colours!  This is the September Betterpress Society plate set, Autumn Cheer:

I ink blended several colours of Distress Oxide ink after masking about a 2" strip over my Cotton Card panel.  The leaves were then pressed with Betterpress Black ink.

I pressed one of the sentiments from the set, and added it with 3D foam adhesive.  A few black jewels finished it off.

You can get a Betterpess Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Best Ever Birthday

Rarely (if ever?) do I make a one layer card.  There's always a mat, a layer or two of patterned paper etc.  So this one surprised me, but I really wanted to keep it simple, and be all about the colour.

I've used three different stamp sets from Pigment Craft Co., who are no longer around, but remain one of my favourite companies.  Sets are Best Ever, Sweet Sentiments and Sending Love.

I used several colours of Distress Oxide inks, doing two white versions and two on kraft cardstock.  *The pale one looks better in person, as it has a sort of subtle glimmer to it.

I am entering these into the Simon Says Stamp Instagram challenge for September, which is to use a stamp, in celebration of Stamptember.

Spring Mix

I'm revisiting a stencil & stamp set that I've had for a few years, that I'd been itching to play with again.  This is the Print Shop Spring Mix from The Greetery.

When I play with a multi-layered stencil, I usually like to make multiples, so I put four of these together, doing two of each die-cut version.

I picked out a palette of Distress Oxide inks for the ink blending, and then used them for the stamps that add on all the details to the flowers.

There are several sentiments in the set, and they work really well simply stamped on top in Versafine Onyx Black.  I added a few white paint spatters to each panel.

I used the Hemstitched Rectangles dies from Spellbinders and the Crimped Frame Die from The Greetery to cut my panels, and mounted them on some blue cardstock.

Sea Friends

The June Betterpress Society plates, are a set of underwater images, called "Sea Friends".  I decided to create a beachy background to showcase the shells in the set.

I used five Distress Oxide inks blended to create my shoreline, leaving a bit of a white area between sand & sea.  I went over that section, by pouncing some white paint with a blunt blending brush to make it look like seafoam.  Water was sprinkled to give some colour variations, and a little brown ink was spattered onto the sand.

I trimmed down the panel to be 4"x 5 1/4", and mounted it onto a white card base.  I pressed the two shells in several different inks, and cut them out with their coordinating dies, along with one of the sentiments from the set.

To go with the 'sparkle' part of the sentiment, I die cut each of the shell shapes, and the sentiment shape out of gold glitter cardstock, layering it behind the sentiment, and tucked in behind a couple of the shells.

It created a nice beachy card!  You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Daisy Trio

I have waited a while to get my hands on the Daisy Trio bundle by Yana Smakula for Spellbinders.  It sold out quickly!  Thanks to Sheri at the Papercrafter's Workshop - who was able to special order it in for me.

This was my first press of the plate, using Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink (it presses the entire background and daisy outline, leaving the daisies white), and it was hard to get complete coverage - although it's getting better the more times that I use it.  I ran it through my machine twice, and there was a slight movement of the plate, so the image is a little off - but after putting it aside for a bit, I decided to try out the stencils anyway, and am thrilled with the results!

I used Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick on the petals, Antique Linen with a little Vintage Photo on the centres, and Bundled Sage on the stems.  At this point, I was starting to really love the slightly distressed look of the background, and the soft-focus of the image.

I added some splatters of white paint, and added the Beautiful die from Pinkfresh Studio in metallic gold, with a few gold pearls as accents.  Stay tuned... there are many more of these to come!

Inkspired Graphic card

My second project with the April Betterpress Society plate set, Inkspired Wishes, is a little more graphic in nature.

I used two of the images, along with the swoosh from the Dec set, and pressed them in various Distress Oxide ink colours.

I trimmed down the panel, wrapped silver metallic thread around the bottom, and added a silver & blue wax seal.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

CAS Betterpress

This was the third project with the February Betterpress Society plate set, 'Bloom with Happiness'.  

I decided to try for a CAS type of card - quick and easy.  I went to my trusty Distress Ink board on Pinterest, and picked a moody sky combo that I blended on a Pebble (grey) Cotton Card panel.  Spun Sugar on the bottom, Speckled Egg in the middle, and Faded Jeans across the top, and faintly on the bottom.

The frame was inked in Betterpress Black ink, and I chose a sentiment from the August Society set, as I'll likely use this as a birthday card, and wanted a simple greeting.

I may add a little bling in the form of some black jewels, depending on who this is sent to.  You can get a subscription to the Betterpress Society from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Rainbow Cupcake Kisses

My third card with the December Betterpress Society press plate, 'Cupcake Kisses', is a rainbow one!

I chose four colours of Distress Oxide inks, and blended them right on the plates, then pressed onto a Bisque Cotton Card panel.

I cropped my background to be 4 3/8" square, stitched it down to a black mat, and adhered the cupcake and sentiment with 3D foam adhesive.  The finished card is 5" square.

I also took some photos with it on a plain teal base before I assembled it, but I'm going with the busier rainbow striped background.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription through the Papercrafter's Workshop!