How to draw a flower with calligraphy pens

Well, I've finally done it. While at the NEC last week, I told lots of people that I would make a video of flower drawing and this is the result. It's my first effort so be kind. I will make more. By then I will probably have figured out better lighting too!

Distressing

Distressing is not something that I do very often. Possibly because I spend most of my life distresses or is that stressed in some way or another, but never one to flinch from a challenge as you may well know by now, I have made a distressed card for the Do you stack up challenge 2 Distress It. I loved it! You never know if you might like a thing until after you've tried it.

For the uninitiated the daisy that I used is just one small stamp which you can get here for just £2.50. A bargain.
To achieve this effect you will need to colour up and stamp the card several times using two shades of blue from the Kuretake range of pens which can be found here. Don't forget that is you vary the colours you will get a different effect.
The flowers that I used at the top of the page are from the range of £1.50 blooms and they were a little to large so I cut them down. Perfect. They can be bought here.
The sentiment is from I Brake for Stamps and can be bought here.
Be warned as I've only got one sheet of these wonderful sentiment left so get in quick if you want one.

Trying out a new technique

I'm in the middle of making cards from the Flower Power stamps from I Brake for Stamps which is a super versatile set of images. I've made quite a few lately and this one is the latest.

The new technique is to use just a part of the stamp for a different effect. I also rotated the stamp so that it faced in different directions to make the tulips look as if they were growing in differing ways. The stamps were coloured with Art and Graphic pens from Kuretake which are available here.
The sheet of stamps is available here.
The ribbon here.
Happy crafting,
Yvonne

Fancy Folds

I'll start off by admiting that this fancy fold card is not the easiest card on the planet to make. but it is one of the most satisfying. I'm on a mission, as many of you may well know, to make as many new samples as possible for the Craft 4 Crafters show in Exeter at the end of the month and the flowers are on the list so that is why I've chosen is beautiful iris stamp to showcase on this card.


The card is entered in the Allsorts Challenge Fancy Folds which is primarily why I made this card.
The flowers can be bought here.
The stamp which is from, Stampinback, here.
The butterfly here.

One of the Best Stamps Ever!

This stamp is one of the best ever. I don't say that lightly as I have lots of good stamps but this one is the one that attracts the best audience when I take it to the shows so here she is in all her glory and I love her to bits. This time I decided to soften the image a little by using pinks and flowers but the sentiment really sums her up. I haven't made a card with her in a long while, but I have now!

I made an easel card for her as I think that she should be seen at all times.
I'm entering her in the Cute Card Thursday's challenge 146 - Out With the Old

A Very Special Thank You

Post Christmas is the time for thank you cards so here's one to kick off the season.

If you want to make something similar with this fabulous stamp from I Brake for Stamps then you can get the stamp sheet here. It is only £11 for a sheet of 9 stamps of varying sizes.

The willow stitched ribbon is here.

The thank you stamp is here.

The image is stamped in Stazon and coloured with Art and Graphic pens from Kuretake available here.
This card is entered in the

Papertake Weekly challenge Be Thankful

Phindy's Place Challenge, Give Thanks

Calling all gardeners.

I bet that this awful weather has upset a lot of would be gardeners. The cold has frozen the earth and stopped them all from going outside to get on with the winter work. To compensate for that I’ve made this humorous card for the gardeners in your life. Go on, give them a laugh.

To make the card you will need:
Big Daddy stamp from I Brake for Stamps. This can be bought here at Craft Fairy.
Art and Graphic pens to colour up the stamp.
A selection of papers to layer up the card
Foam pads to stick on the layers
Glue
Grosgrain ribbon which is available form Craft Fairy
Eazi-score board for making the perfect crease on your card.

I'm entering this card in the Sketch Saturday challenge. So wish me luck.

A Birthday Card for my Grandaughter

It's almost birthday time for my youngest grand daughter and I decided to get in early with her birthday card. I chose the gardening fairy for her as my littlest granddaughter may be only three but she really loves gardening. She also loves the flowers that I drew with the Kuretake pens so I decided to make a card that combines the two things that she really loves the most. Except me that is!

What you will need:
1 base card, 140mm x 140mm
Gardening Fairy Unmounted rubber stamp
Zig Kuretake tut pens in colours: 207 (for skin) 50 for stems and a variety for the fairy,
a saying.
Baby pink and pure pink Kuretake calligraphy blending pens
6 mm green gingham ribbon

This card is easy peasy to make.
Draw the flowers (see the 'Quick and Easy guide to drawing flowers with pens)
Put a strip of double sided sticky tape across the base of the card and stick the ribbon on to the card. Add a bow to the ribbon.
Stamp and colour the fairy, cut it out and use some foam pads to stick it to the card.
Add your desired sentiment and doodle around the edge of the card.
Finished.

Calligraphy Daisy Card

Some of you may have already purchased my new Flower drawing book and seen that there is a daisy added to the flowers that you can draw with the wonderful Calligraphy pens from Kuretake.




What I have shown you here is how to use the drawings to create a card.

The daisies are drawn on a piece of card which was 7 cm x 9 cm approx.
I used Butter and Rose to draw the flowers and Olive Green 56 in Art and Graphic pens to draw the stems and the leaves.
The daisy in the middle was drawn first when the second colour was at its strongest and the two others were then drawn. The lighter colour on the two flowers either side give some appearance of recession.
The card was then edged in the gold metalic calligraphy pen to make it look as if it had a border.
Finally I added someof the new 16 mm satin ribbon in willow to give the card some texture and luxury and a saying to finish it off.

Read My Lips Lucille

I just had to make a card out of this fabulous stamp, Read my Lips Lucille. I've had her for a while, but I really wanted a good saying to go with her. I found the one that I've added here and neadless to say, I'm over the moon. The stamp is on sale at my Craft Fairy site and it is made by the wonderful Della from I Brake for Stamps. Her Humerous Senior range is the original and the best too.

What you will need:
1 base card, 140mm x 140mm
Contrasting card for layering
Read my Lips Lucille stamp
Zig Kuretake tut pens in colours: 207 (for skin), 56, 23, 49
A button for the corner
A saying.
Feel free to copy the one that I've used. I printed it out on the computer, cut it out and layered it up.
16mm scarlet satin ribbon for the centre of the card.

I really didn't think that this lady needed my usual pinks so I went for no nonsense colours, but because it is nearly Christmas I added some reds too.

Super fun Christmas

This is a card for the grumpy old ladies in us all.

Are you all getting ready for Christmas? If you are then here’s a rather different card for you to make this month. It’s a funny one for a change.




You will need: 1 base card 140mm x 140mm,
I used white linen card.
1 piece of white card 1 piece of red card
1 piece of doodlebugs jolly holly paper
1 length of 9mm red saddle stitch ribbon
1 sentiment and the package lady stamp from the 'Censorship' sheet of unmounted rubber stamps.
Stazon in Stone Gray
A selection of pens to colour the image.
H2O waterbrush from Kuretake.
paper glue 3d foam pads.

To make the card Stamp the image onto a piece of white linen card. Colour it in and trim the card to leave a fairly generous border around the image. Stick the image card to the red card and trim to leave a thin border. Stamp the sentiment onto another piece of white card and mount onto red card and trim to leave a similar size border. Cut a piece of jolly holly paper to cover about a 1/3rd of the card and stick to the base card. Tie a knot in the ribbon and use it to cover the join. Stick the images to the card with 3d foam pads.

A break from the norm

Cards for men are always so difficult to find so this should really help you all out. It's not the usual pretty card that I bring to you today, but a real bruiser of a card with a clear man sized message.






Don't you think that this will make a perfect card for the man in your life?

If you want to make it then you will need a 140mm x 140mm base card
Some man coloured paper
The Hypertension Harold Unmounted rubber stamp
Stazon in Stone Grey
Kuretake Art and Graphic pens Nos 260, 71, 8, 82.
Water pen.

The rest is up to you.

Back at Last

I must admit that I've not blogged for quite a while as the shows have taken me away from the computer. I do miss it though and so I am getting on with creating again. This is today's effort which uses the fantastic hydrangea stamp from Time To Stamp that is made by I Brake for Stamps.

To make it:

1. Colour the hydrangea stamp with the Art and Graphic Pens from Kuretake and stamp it twice, colouring up between stamping. Use the H2O water brush to move the paint a little and added some extra colour where the shadows should be.I cut the images out and then got on with the rest of the card.
2. Cut a base card 10.5cm x 28cm. Score this at the 14cm point to make a card 10.5cm x 14cm when folded.
3. Cut a piece of pink card and scored it and then cut it to fit over the join in the base card.
4. Stamp the message, which is from the Inspirational sayings plate, on a piece of card and cut it out to leavea a small border. Mounted this on to a piece of pink card. This was then stuck to the base card.
5. Stick the hydrangea images slightly overlapping on to the card with a mixture of adhesive and foam pade. The adhesive was for the bottom hydrangea and the foam pads for the upper image.
6. Decorated the lower part of the card with a broken line of green, use one of the greens that used on the stamp for colour continuity.

Watercolour flowers with Kuretake Calligraphy pens

When I was at a recent show many people loved the calligraphy pens but they didn't think that they would be clever enough to use them for writing. So here's another use for calligraphy pens that needn't frighten you.
First of all you'll need at least two calligraphy pens in toning colours. I've used a light and a dark one from the Heart pouch set.
What I then did was touch the side of the lightest pen with the dark pen.

This will allow you to write in two colours.

I kept the darker edge of the pen still and moved the light side in a rough quarter turn and got a petal. I then moved the paper a bit and repeated the above. I did this until I got about 5 petals. Just remember to move the paper round every time you want a new petal.

Colour Challenge

Roses on Paper & Belles 'n Whistles combined Challenge Blog! have a colour challenge for Cranberry, Hunter Green and/or Gold! so I just had to make this little book and use those three colours. I've just spotted a challenge for embossing on Inky impressions so I just had to enter that too. What a surprise.

The stamp is from the new stamps from 'I Brake for Stamps' that can be found in out new in section on the Craft Fairy site.

The image was embossed in old gold embossing powder that I had in my stash and it was then coloured in using the, Zig, Kuretake Art and Graphic pens.

I love this stamp as I think that it looks really rich and baroque. Just perfect for Christmas. Next, I plan to make it look very late spring, early summer which is when the poppies bloom.

Champagne Pearl

Today's challenge on Allsorts is for Pearls and Swirls so I thought that this card of the lovely stamp Champagne Pearl was perfect.

The card is made with a fab stamp from I Brake For Stamps and you can get her by clicking the image below:

Allsorts challenge week 28

Allsorts challenge week 28 is an inspirational one entitled

Christmas carol or a song title....!

What more could one ask at this Christmas time so I've entitled mine

Mistletoe and Wine

Readers, please note that she's holding the Mistletoe and she's already been on the wine.

I know that you are going to want to make this card so you will need the Mrs Santa stamp to get yourself going.

I also used the fabulous and now 'seen on tv' Art and Graphic pens from Kuretake. Colours used. 2, for the dress, 207 for the skin and 50 for the mistletoe.

The lace border was punched with a fiskars border punch.

The Merry Christmas is a stamp from I Brake foe Stamps.

The green and white paper is Jolly Holly dotted lines from Doodlebug.

Now get on and make the card by:

Cutting a base card 150cm x 150cm. I used white card for this.

Cut a strip of heavy red paper and adhere to the bottom third of the card.

Punch a lace border with the Fiskars border punch and layer over the red paper and adhere.

Layer on a strip of Jollyt Holly dotted lines paper and adhere.

Stamp the Mrs. Santa stamp onto white card and colour in with the Art and Graphic pens.

Mount on to Red card and adhere to the base card as shown.

Stamp the sentiment down the left hand side of the base card.

Punch out some circles of card and stick to the base card as shown.

Thread a red button with some green satin ribbon and tie in a knot. Adhere to the base card with foam pads.

Thank You Card for Pink Elephant Challenge

I hope that I'm not the last one to enter this challenge. Better late than never though for the 'Thanks' challenge on the Pink Elephant blog.

This card is made with a stamp from the Cartes Postal sheet that I love so much.

Love Larry for a birthday card

I've just made this card for the Allsorts challenge 17, which, this week, is for something for the boys card. I admit that is not your conventional card but I've never let that bother me. He's made using the Love Larry stamp from 'I Brake for Stamps' which can be seen here.

Isn't he a total hoot.

Blooms and hand drawn flowers

As I said earlier on today I've found my calligraphy pens again and I've been creating. This is the first of my creations. I made the card with the calligraphy and art and graphic pens from Kuretake and paired them up with some of the Craft Fairy blooms and these are the results.

I really enjoyed making these and if you come to my stand at Ally Pally, I'll show you how to do them.