Welcome to our World Card Making Day Blog Hop for 2017. To celebrate, we have a fantastic line up of talented paper artists from around the world sharing card making projects. I am feeling very honoured to be included in the hop. You are currently on the page of Cheryll Miller and you may have started here or you may have come from the blog of the fabulous Rochelle Blok.

There is no theme to our hop today, other than the celebration of card making around the world.
Grab a cup of your favourite beverage, make yourself comfortable and prepare to be amazed as you visit each of the blogs in the hop.

When is a bike not a bike?

Quite often, when I want to sit down and create for no reason other than pure relaxation and an escape from the daily grind of making decisions, I “case” cards from the Stampin’ Up! catalogue. It is a stress free way of creating, and the end result is often quite different from the original cards, as you will see here.

Here are the two cards I cased, both on page 20 of the Annual Catalogue.

I was intrigued by the layout of the bike card, but I liked the colour combo used on the second card.

Here is what I ended up with …

This card is very “painterly” … not sure that is even a word, but you know what I mean?  Not confined to the lines, very freeform, no two cards would be exactly alike!

I used the Eclectic Layers Thinlits dies and the greeting is from Colourful Seasons stamp set.

Eclectic Layers Thinlits Dies

The Eclectic Layers Thinlits have an interesting mix of dies in the set.  Some of the dies cut an image into card without actually cutting it totally out of the card.  There is also the option to then use a second outline die in conjunction with the first to totally cut out a detailed flower.

Two of the images emboss only, so they just leave an impression on the card, they don’t actually cut the card. Can you see the embossed leaves?

The flower petals are die cut out of a panel of Watercolour Paper and then the embossed leaves die is used to create some foliage.  Using an Aqua Painter, the flower has been coloured with Pool Party and Daffodil Delight inks, and the leaves are coloured with Pear Pizzazz ink, using the embossed leaves as a guide.  It is a loose, freeform sort of colouring to achieve a “watercolour” effect.  The background has been colourwashed in Pear Pizzazz ink, and then “flicked” with Fresh Fig ink using the Aqua Painter.

The “Thinking of You” greeting from Colourful Seasons stamp set is stamped in Archival Black ink.

The card layout is exactly as per the “bike” card, but using different stamps and colours gives a totally different look.

I have used Emerald Envy, Pool Party and Fresh Fig cardstock with some Whisper White Baker’s Twine to finish off.

I hope you have enjoyed this project and have been inspired to celebrate World Card Making Day by being a little creative today. The next blog in the line up is the amazing Jenny Hall in the USA.

Here is a full list of participants in our blog hop today.

If you are in Australia and would like to purchase any of the items used to create this card, visit my Stampin’ Up! shop here.  Don’t forget to check out the World Card Making Day Specials, available until 10th October, and the Designer Series Paper Sale, available for the whole month of October.

Use my October Rewards code to receive a gift from me at the end of the month and to go in the draw for the Season Like Christmas Stamp Set, drawn on 27th October.

Product List