Saturday, 29 June 2019

Free as a bird coloured with blends


The new Free as a bird stamp set has some beautiful images which are perfect for colouring with Stampin’ Blends. My collection of blends is growing steadily and I have to admit I don’t reach for my other alcohol markers much any more.

To be fair, they are quite an investment at £4.25 each but if you are thinking of getting some good quality colouring pens, I would definitely recommend them. They blend beautifully and I’m finding I use both tips whereas I never used the chisel tip of my old markers.


I have made two cards in the same style, just changing the colours slightly to suit the dsp I have used behind the image.

I always use both the light and dark of each colour and the colour lifter is invaluable. The colours used in the striped card are soft suede, ivory, pool party, daffodil delight, old olive and petal pink. For the other card I used soft suede, ivory, balmy blue, old olive and daffodil delight.


To create each card I stamped the largest image onto whisper white cardstock and die cut using a stitched rectangle die, the edge of the rectangle has been softened with ink applied using a dauber, balmy blue for one and pool party for the other. The dsp background is cut to fit onto an A6 sized landscape card. The sentiments are stamped using the same colour ink as the card they are stamped on, balmy blue on one card and pool party on the other, they have been die cut using the 'raffle ticket' shape die from stitched labels.


My tips for colouring the images are -

Use a very light hand - helps to avoid colour bleed, you can always add more colour.
Apply the dark colour first then blend using the light colour or the colour lifter.
Don't be afraid of white space - The chest of the birds is uncoloured, the colour lifter will soften the white with the colour you're blending.
Use the smaller (bullet) tip to colour very small areas and to add extra colour after blending.

I hope you like these cards and are inspired to do some colouring, the products used are shown below.

Thanks for looking,
Katie x


Product List

Sunday, 2 June 2019

Pretty blues...

One of the first things I look at when the annual catalogue is revealed are the new in colours. Last year’s colours were bright and vibrant, this year’s are the complete opposite. The colours are subtle and pretty and they go so well together.

So far I only have the Pretty Peacock and Seaside Spray ink pads but having seen all the colours in the cardstock and dsp, the other three ink pads are on my shopping list!

Today I made a couple of cards using a single colour on each, I can’t wait to make the same card with the other three colours.


It is interesting to see how the same image can have a totally different feel depending on the colour used. Seaside Spray is soft and gentle so I think suits a bereavement card perfectly, Pretty Peacock is a much stronger colour and quite masculine.

I have used Winter Woods for the trees, Sailing Home for the birds and Well Said for the sentiments. The white layer has been cut using a stitched rectangle die, the coloured panel behind is trimmed just a little larger. A 1 inch wide strip of corresponding dsp was cut using the same rectangle to have the stitch effect top and bottom. I used the classic label punch for the words, snipping off the right hand side to create a straight edge.

Some of the products used on these cards are existing but all will be available from 4th June, the product links below will take you to my shop.

Thanks for looking,
Katie x

Product List