Challenge Entry #1...

Hi! I am entering this card in the Mod Squad Challenge. 

My ingredients are Embossing, Faux Stitching and Die Cut.

Love,
Nandini

Some ink blending with distress inks...

Hi! I recently had an opportunity to try the Artistry distress inks introduced by our very own Shilpi Crafts. They are really great inks and very pocket friendly as well. I needed a quick card for a friend who is ill and decided to try the blending technique with these inks.

I cut a rectangular mask and used Old Parchment, Dry Weed, Elegant Emerald, Tenacious Teal and Ocean Reef by Artistry. I also used Blueprint Sketch and Faded Jeans by Ranger. The sentiment was heat embossed with Primary Ebony EP by WOW! and the moon with Silver EP by Ranger. The stamp is a local brand and stamped with black Versafine ink.

Here is a closeup of the blended portion.

Note how beautifully the Artistry and Ranger inks are blending.

Entering this card in the CAS(E) this Sketch #151

Also entering in the Peek-a-boo Designs Challenge #1: Mood Board

I was very inspired by the beautiful teal, blue and green of the Christmas ornaments on the mood board.

Love,
Nandini

New ink in town...

Hi! Few months ago I walked into my local craft shop and the owner, sounding excited, told me that there was a new distress ink in town! I was intrigued and picked up one pad as trial. Since I liked the quality and range of colors I bought some more. Few days ago I managed to attend a free workshop where I got the opportunity to try the entire range.

The brand is Artistry, brought to us by Shilpi Crafts who have long been supplying us with great crafting products. The owner, Shilpa Kenia, is very talented and sweet. I had a great time at the workshop and also picked up a set of 12 mini ink pads and blending foams. The quality of both is amazing. I have quite a few Ranger distress inks and Artistry is as good.

Since I wanted to try all the colors, I decided to use the plaid technique. I selected three colors at a time and made two cards. The stripe stamp is DIY. The stitched line stamp is from Itsy Bitsy and stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used Lawn Fawn's Stitched Journaling Card die set for the sentiment panels.

Colors used: Blaze & Golden Turmeric.

The sentiment panel was cut with an Itsy Bitsy die. I heat embossed the sentiment from Bold Wishes by CAS-ual Fridays in WOW!'s Primary Apple Red EP.

The sentiment is from Bo Bunny's Sentiments stamp set, heat embossed with WOW!'s Primary Ebony EP.

This card is another favourite, heat embossed using WOW!'s Primary Apple Red and Primary Lemon EPs.

Colors used: Ocean Reef, Camel Safari & Elegant Emerald.

I heat embossed Taylored Expressions' Graphic Greetings Birthday stamp with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Lapis Lazuli Blue Gold EP. The stars are heat embossed with WOW!'s Metallic Copper EP.

This card I am entering in the Craftyscrappers Challenge #2: Blue.

Did some partial die cutting. Used CAS-ual Fridays' Bold Wishes stamp set and heat embossed with a mix of Wow!'s Earthtone Olive and Primary Lagoon EPs.

Colors used: Tenacious Teal, Lush Lilac & Dry Weed.

Heat embossed the sentiment from the Bold Wishes set by CAS-ual Fridays with WOW!'s Pastel Purple EP.

Stamped a DIY sentiment with Lush Lilac and heat embossed it with Ranger's Clear EP. Added some sequins from my stash. Few splatters of ink with Dry Weed finished the card.

Colors used: Cinnamon Tea, Blushing Rose & Camel Safari

This is one of my favourites out of the lot. The sentiment is heat embossed with WOW!'s Metallic Copper EP on watercolor paper.

The sentiment was heat embossed on white cardstock with Ranger's Gold EP. 

I added layers of colors, ending with Black Soot till I got a nice distressed look. Some water splatters and a layer of translucent paper completed the look.

Colors used: Fine Wine, Ocean Reef, Dry Weed.

Sentiment heat embossed with WOW!'s Metallic Copper, Earthtone Olive and Primary Lagoon EPs.

I stamped the sentiment with Fine Wine ink and heat embossed with Ranger's Clear EP. Some glittery diecuts in green finished the look.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with these beautiful inks. I hope you will give these a try as well.

Love,

Nandini

Share Handmade Kindness Challenge Week 1...

Hi! Jennifer Mcguire, one of the most amazing crafters I have ever come across, has recently launched her Share Handmade Kindness Challenge. I am entering the bunch of cards that I made for Diwali.

 

Since I had several cards to make and little time, I kept the design very simple. 



The beautiful stamp sets released by Varshitha Nagarajan really helped. I absolutely love the sentiment stamp! I mixed a few embossing powders to get a color similar to the pattern paper. After that making the cards was a breeze.



So here are my Diwali cards, all ready to be posted and bring a smile on the faces of my family and friends.

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous Diwali & New Year as well.

Love,
Nandini

The Indian Craft Room is back!

Hi! The Indian Craft Room is back! ICR was the one of the first challenge blogs that I started following and holds a very special place in my heart! The ICR challenges are back and I HAD to participate!

The first challenge is interesting with a great story board for inspiration.

I decided to take my love for quilting & sewing and adapt it to paper. I started with a bunch of rectangles sized 1" x 2". I folded them and started layering them to form the Somerset Star, a traditional folded star quilting pattern from the UK. I used this great tutorial by Janet Kan who blogs at Stitch n Sing. 

The challenge says use more than three triangles. I ended up using a lot more. Well, 40 triangles to be precise!

Rest of the card was easy. I used some dark brown cardstock. The sentiment is from the Deck The Halls Tobie set by Some Odd Girl Stamps which I won as part of blog candy by Simon Says Stamp. I heat embossed it and add two scored lines for some definition.

Here is a close up of the beautiful Somerset Star.

I am entering this in the Indian Craft Room's ICRCAUT01 challenge.

Also entering it in Beyond Grey Challenges BGC #72 - Anything Goes.

Love,
Nandini

Multi-step stamping...

Hi! Multi-step stamp sets are very trendy right now. I love looking at the gorgeous cards and marvel at how easy people make it seem. But I was not sure that I could do it! Part of the problem was that I felt I did not have the right inks to start with. I finally gathered my courage and existing supplies to make my first card with multi-step stamping.

The stamp set is Pretty Little Peonies by Wplus9. I stamped the blooms and leaves several times on white cardstock with different colors of distress inks. Then I die cut the best ones with the matching dies.

I used a top folding kraft card base and stamped a band of dots with distress ink Rusty Hinge and a stamp by Itsy Bitsy. I cut out a rectangle and layered it for added dimension. I arranged the flowers and leaves and adhered them with glue. The purple flower is mounted on foam tape. The sentiment is stamped with Amazon Trail, part of the new Artistry range of distress inks by Shilpi. Few sequins in gold and copper finished the card.

I was honestly surprised by how easy it was to use this stamp set! And the beautiful results are really easy to achieve.

Love,
Nandini

August Challenges - Week #3

Hi! Week #3 of the August challenges at Create Something Catchy was hosted and sponsored by the super talented Gayatri Murali. You can check out her awesome blog here. The theme was watercolor and here is the inspiration board.

I decided to go completely CAS for this challenge.

I tried watercolor stamping demonstrated by the queen of techniques, Jennifer Mcguire. You can check out her original post and video tutorial here. Instead of the Aqua markers that she uses, I tried distress inks in three colors - Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Fired Brick. The stamp is from the Petals from Scratch set by Fiskars. The sentiment is heat embossed with white EP. I added a few dots with metallic gold 3D outliner by Hobby Ideas as a finishing touch.

Hope you liked my take on watercoloring. Also don't forget to check out the gorgeous entries for this week's challenge here!

Love,
Nandini