Town home in marker and black pen

Hi there and welcome.

This is my second blog for 2017 which is going to be short and sweet. I just started back after a long hiatus and I thought I would start with this card.

Its done in Tim Holtz ranger markers - festive berries, squeezed lemonade, mowed lawn,shabby shutters, frayed burlap , also micron 005 and pigma graphic 1 archival ink pen.
The image is a digital one by tiddlyinks. They have such cute designs sometimes I wish I can own them all but obviously its not possible. Also I find that not alot of my customers like the cutesy cards. But the designs always make me smile.

'TOWN HOME'

The card is very simple as you can see here

I used the digital stamp 'town home'from their collection on buildings/backgrounds and I was just reminded of my art class many moons ago when I used to enjoy using the pen and ink technique and I just started... a little hesitant at first...still not yet fully confident but I enjoyed doing it and I thought I would share the result with you. Hope you like it and I hope it made you smile as you had a good memory while looking at it.

See you next time!


©2017rendesigns.blogspot.com

A long break

Hi there

I know you've all been wondering what's been happening with me. It's been almost a year that I haven't written a blog post. Doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about you all but I had family issues to deal with that required my attention and to me and I'm sure to everyone else.....family is very important!
What I have found is when you take an extended time off you not only lose your visitors to your blog but you kinda lose your way abit and its challenging to get back into the habit of posting again. I was toying with the ideas of starting a new blog or just not blogging at all but I thought about all the nonsense happening in our world and I said you know what.... we need more things out there that make people happy, make people smile, make people believe that happiness and peace of mind are still worth finding....and that's why I do what I do...I like to make people smile....
So here goes....I'm back! I may still take a break if it warrants it but I will try to make it shorter next time.
I want to thank those who have supported me in the past and to thank those who are now supporting me.

A Happy Father's Day Card wth a twist!

Hi there , welcome back to my blog.

Today I am working on a Father's Day card with a twist. A friend has asked me to design a father's day card for him to send to some guys he wants to have conversations with. Apparently he wants to start a sort of men's club where they would come together share tips, techniques on parenting, fatherhood, being better role models, entrepeneurship, becoming more employable etc etc. So this card is supposed to be an icebreaker.

Now he is also in MLM but he does not want to push the business unless they want to. Thus in not wanting to give them the wrong idea he has asked me to design a Father's day Card and craft a message for him. Now I am not a great writer but I did drum up something in 10 mins, which he says 'dont change it, sounds like me'. So below are pics of the inside and outside. There is one change to happen though.... while I was waiting for him to okay the message I began to craft a slightly different message, thats why the sample card reads "OUR" .... so the inside should read "My father's day wish............cherish YOUR FAMILY......continuously seek to improve YOUR FATHERHOOD ROLES."

Hope you like this Father's Day Card with a twist and let me know if you think this would work with you!



Materials used
My Favorite Things Die-namics stitched ovals inside and out
My Favourite Things Make Yourself at home stamps
Kuretake watercolor paints
White and Gold Cardstock
Sizzix Big Shot

Looking forward to seeing you on Monday for more adventures....

©2016rendesigns.blogspot.com

Party like a Celebrity

Hi there, welcome back.

Thank you guys for continuously supporting my artistic explorations.

Today I'm showcasing an invitation designed both by hand and on the computer using adobe illustrator. First I had an interview with the young man whose birthday will be celebrated by the event, to have an idea what sort of design he wanted.
He indicated glitz and glamour like a celebrity style party event with a nautical theme. ...I said ....oookay then, I will see what I can come up with.

So he wanted silver stars, action camera, musical notes (he's a pianist), red and blue and yellow colours and I said 'all of that I should place on a one-sided invitation which will also include the name of the invitee, the event,the date, the time the address"... Oh and he wanted the invite to be slim and landscape design. I said no problem but will you allow me to use judgement if needs be in the design and he said go for it

After he left I was freaking out as to what kind of crazy ...!? theme is this but nevertheless I soon calmed down and said ...you can do it ...just think...! So I got out my computer and designed this in illustrator. I assured him there would be stars but all the details he wanted was too much.



Sent this he said he liked and I advised him that when I add the red, blue and yellow cardstock with embossed words, it may change somewhat, he said he trusts me because his mom trusts me so go ahead.I tried for a long while embossing silver stars on the invite it looked ...blah....so I said why not try gold and die cut big gold stars. This was the eventual design



His text was like "WOW, WOW, WOW!" He was so excited that he gave out some of the invites before his mom could put the stamp of her restaurant logo and RSVP on the back of it for authenticity.

Wow that was a close call!
Oh the cardstock used was Red Hots, Blueberry sour and Marshmallow chick bought at Ellen Hutson.They actually gave me the colour advice re cardstock for the nautical theme.
The star die was from SSS bundle of stitched shapes.

Thanks everyone for dropping by see you on on Friday for my next adventure!
Feel free to leave a comment!

Saying it with words in a roundabout way!

Hi there . Hope your weekend was great!

Today my card is a little different to what I've been doing. I have never been really great at using just stamped words to make a design. I had up on my easel, the pic of MFT Stamps last sketch challenge no 283 and I had just received from my shippers MFT stamps 'Make yourself at Home' and I was so excited to play with these stamps.

One of the things I have started doing is just stamping the image on a piece of scrap paper to see how the image or words resonate with me and then go from there. So I'm looking at the sketch, and looking at the stamp and at the same time I was listening to www.creativelive.com and somehow that bulb clicked on in my head and I said what if I do a few words in a circle how would it look. My next engaging thought was "what colour(s) should I use", and the childhood rainbow song came into my head, and I said okay great -'red and yellow and pink and green'

By now you're wondering what is going on here but that was just me processing the light bulb event whilst being inspired by the interviews playing on www.creativelive.com.

Now I had to do it a few times but finally got it to how I wanted it to be and drum roll....here it is



The tools used were
Lawn Fawn Large stitched circles
MFT Stamp 'Make Yourself at Home
White Card stock
Kuretake paints
Dye Inks- Memento Lady Bug, SSS, Doll Pink,Color box graphic 45 Antique Moss and Lawn fawn fundamentals sunflower

I also wrote a message I would put in this card based on the stamps I used and this is what I wrote

With YOU the colours of my world
turn into a rainbow.
You make every thing brighter
and more beautiful…..

Hope you like what I've done and I say just let yourself go, immerse yourself in your art and listen to something inspirational while you are creating and believe you have the talent to do so and of course have fun!!!!
Hope to see you back here on Wednesday! Dont forget to leave a comment! Oh if you wish to use my message, I would appreciate it if you link it to my blog. Thanks!

©2016 rendesigns.blogspot.com

Black and White in splendour

Hi there...welcome back


As promised, here is another example of neutral tones in black and white. I must say I am really enjoying this colour combination and I am surprised at what I see.



You should try playing with this and just letting go...and see what happens. I started by stamping the coconut trees with black ink three times on the paper - one sort of to one side and two off either side of the paper to look like a cluster of trees.

Mixing a bit of Kuretake black paint with water, I began painting the sea into the paper. I just added paint to the brush and then painted until the ink went dry. I then added what I hope looks like sand on the beach and some shadows of the trees. Clouds were added to complete the look. The stamp I used is from 'daily bread designs'. I had to look that up as a friend of mine gave it to me for doing some work for her.



The complete list of materials
White cardstock
Recollections coconut trees stamp
Daily bread designs 'Thanks be to God'stamp
Kuretake Watercolor paints
India ink black
No 4 black velvet brush

Hope you like the card! Check back on Monday to see what I am playing with....Dont forget to leave a comment!




©2016rendesigns.blogspot.com

Simple Neutral Tones (Black and White)

Hi there folks

Welcome back to my blog.

Today I decided to try my hand at doing cards in just the neutral tones of black and white. Now my style of card is very simplistic and I love to use a white background as my negative space on a card.

So I was sitting down listening to interviews on www.creativelive.com and this idea just came to me. I know its probably not new but I decided to do a little dabbling with Kuretake black paint to watercolor a simple background for these cards... I can tell you I had a lot of fun. Firstly I began by stamping an image then just swishing the brush a bit I was able to build interest into the design.

I used

White cardstock
Kuretake Black paint
Black Velvet no 4 brush
Penny Black Sunny Days Stamp
Other Stamps
Black ink
Other Paper



These three cards were done very simply and with little to no effort. I really enjoyed just letting go and let my creative side just take over...You should try it....Its freeing....

Here's another look at all 3



If you like these cards check back on Friday for another blast of these simple monochrome watercolour cards




© 2016 rendesigns.blogspot.com

More distressed inks - Red Gold and Green

Hi there everyone, so happy to see you back at my blog.

Today I received a request from a good friend of mine for a birthday card in the colours red, gold and green.

At first I was like hmmmmmmm.....what should I do? My eyes then fell upon a stencil I bought last year at Hobby Lobby that looks like a leopard print and I thought why not do the background using that stencil (as red , gold and green are considered ethiopian colours and the leopard is one of the animals found there) and I would add a laid back, casual, party girl on it (which is the character/personality of the intended recipient).

I used .........
Julie Nutting Mixed media doll Stamp
Stencil
Distressed inks- scattered straw, peeled paint and festive berries
Simon says stamps green cardstock
Green glittered washi tape (cant remember where I bought it)
Dienamics stitched ovals
Rhinestones in gold, red and green.
Kuretake paints
Julie Nutting watercolor pencils -hair and skin tones
Black velvet No 4 round brush
Gold embossing powder
Heat tool
Versamark embossing ink



On the inside I added the words

"Wishing you an abundance of love
and treasured moments
with family and friends on this your Special day…
Happy Birthday"

I am not a trained writer so I go with gut feelings. In my research of the colours
Red represents 'blood of the people' hence I used 'family'
Gold represents 'treasure' hence I said 'treasured moments'
Green is the 'earth' so I used abundance of love'

(We've got one earth so we should love it abundantly.)

Hope you enjoyed this and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Two distressed birds

A warm welcome to everyone. Thank you for visiting my blog.

On today's cards, the images of the birds and the branches they sat on, were coloured with distressed inks on Tim Holtz's Specialty Stamping Paper.

I found using the daubers to apply the distressed inks much easier and with light movements, got the texture I wanted.

The materials used were
Tim Holtz Specialty Stamping Paper
Distress Inks- Mermaid Lagoon, pickled raspberry,mustard seed, peeled paint
Daubers
Simon Says Stamps wavy scalloped stitches
Ribbon
Simon Says Stamp Green Card stock
Yellow ribbon




Hope you like the card. Dont forget to leave me a comment. Thanks!

Distressed hibiscus flowers

Hi there welcome back to my blog.

One of my favourite card making resource is definitely distressed inks. Today's card was made using the MFT Sketch Challenge 282.

Other resources used were
Hibiscus Stencil
Distressed inks- mermaid lagoon,blueprint sketch, mustard seed, spiced marmalade,peeled paint
Green cardstock from Simon Says Stamp
Daubers
'Be' Stamp and Die Set from Simon Says Stamp
Black Ink
Rhinestones/jewels

One of the things I love doing is using two distress colors, sometimes 3 to color hibiscus flowers as I think it really brings out the tropical vibe of these flowers. The green strip of card stock was placed on the inside of the card and I shortened the outside of the card so the green cardstock would be revealed and contrast with the design and add interest.
Here is my distressed hibiscus, hope you like......

Cards for Mother's Day

Hello there. Welcome back to my blog.

On 8th May, we will be celebrating Mother's Day. Its a day to give 'thanks' to our mothers (whether biological or not),for all they have done and all they continue to do for us.

Today's 2 cards are dedicated to these wonderful women. The cards were both done for friends of mine. I had a lot of fun doing them. Of course my theme was flowers.

A puzzle of a Scene- The first Card

The first card I used a stamp from Impression Obsession and colored it with Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints. These paints are so creamy . It was the first time using them. Then using My Favorite Things Die-namics Inside Out Oval stitched Dies I made 3 overlapping cuts. Then placed double sided tape under the pieces and put the puzzle of a scene together....
I then cut a piece of yellow striped cardstock with Stitched Landscape dies and adhered it to the bottom of the card to complete the design.






I so loved the way this card came out....


The second card- A scene of continuous flowers

I quite enjoyed this card as well. I used flowers from the Penny Black Blooming Garden stamp collection. Lovely , lovely collection of stamps. Again I pulled out the Kuretake paints to give these flowers a lovely feel.






Hope you liked my two designs and please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!

Bonne sante- Let's wine

Hi there.Welcome back.

Today's card is called Bonne sante- Lets wine. It was designed based on the MFT (My Favourite Things) Design challenge.



I thoroughly enjoy the challenges as they help to expand my design ability in card making and it stretches my imagination.

The card was simply made using stencils, nicholas peerless watercolors,black velvet round brushes sizes 2 and 4 and some papers I had in my stash.

The stamp is from Sheena Douglass- a little bit scenic collection.


Hope you liked today's design and I look forward to designing for you. Dont forget to leave a comment.

Three little Butterflies

Hi there. Welcome back.

Today's card is a very colourful one. Its design is really in celebration of spring with its lovely butterflies and bright colours.



The colours used for the background were abandoned coral, spiced marmalade and pickled raspberry distress inks. The butterfly was stencilled on scrap paper, painted with peerless watercolour paints and then cut out with scissors.
It was then adhered to the card using double sided tape.

Hope you liked today's card and I look forward to having you back again...

Dont forget to leave me a comment!

Happy Birthday Birdie

Hi there, welcome back...

Its been a while since I have posted. Today I decided to try the MFT (My favourite things) challenge. Never did it before but it was interesting and a lot of fun actually much more than I thought. They give you these beautiful colours from which you make a card.

The colours were Daffodil, Sour Apple,Gumdrop Green and Biscotti. I did not have these exact colours but I used colours as close as I could find or make. So I improvised using paints from the peerless water colour collection and cardstock pieces I found in my stash.

The main image used was from the Penny Black collection called 'critter fun'...a cute collection of dogs, cats, butterflies, birds. The flowers were from Alte New collection called 'Mini Blossoms.'
Hope you like my card.

Simple floral techniques

Thanks very much folks for coming back to see what I have been up to in class. This is Day 6 florals and one of the easier ones I related to. I haven't done art in many many years and trying to do the expressive florals were a bit challenging.

Here is the last two of the floral exercises...

Hope you like!

Floral Number 2

Its me again..

Here is another floral composition using different brush strokes to simulate petals, flowers etc.
I am stil struggling to get the leaves to form but I didnt do too bad a job here as well. I used Loew Connell Water Color Cakes...

Take a look!


Don't forget to leave me a comment!

Florals again on day 6 Watercolor class

Well folks its been fun, challenging, nailbiting, some frustration but all in all a wonderful class.

Welcome back..

Today I am posting the last bit of work I did from Day 6. Florals are not my strong suit but I did the best that I could and its not too bad. I learnt so much from Watercolor Intermediate class...I learnt things like negative painting, expressive florals, how to add things to a stamped scene. Also about glazing using the paint brush to make shapes...
The first one is a composition



Hope you like...

Simple anniversary card

Hi there

I have been doing watercolor all week and let me tell you its been awesome and informative. I have seen such beautiful work from my classmates and teachers.

Today I did something different. This is a simple card I did for my niece (to give to a friend) just using printed cardstock, diecut shapes and embossing ink. Its an anniversary card and I was not told which anniversary it was but I decided to use lots of gold (you can't go wrong with gold and silver for wedding or anniversary) and seeing that the cardstock had flecks of gold in it , I decided that the sentiment would also be in gold...

Check out my simple card....Hope you like....

Expressive florals Day 5 Watercolour class

Hello there everyone. Thank you for continuing to stop by.

Today I have some collections from the expressive floral class. I am not very good with florals but I intend to keep practicing them until I feel more comfortable doing them.

Here are some of my pieces from class.

Bonus floral in watercolor class

Hello all,

Its been really exciting yet challenging at watercolor classes and at times I questioned whether I bit off more than I could chew but I have tried to do the best I can.

This is my sample bonus floral. Hope you like!