Concord and 9th - Grateful for You with Nuvo Pens

Hello everyone! Welcome back.

It's been a while but I'm back with a banger of a post, showing you some of the cards I've made using Concord and 9th's Grateful For You large bouquet stamp. I really enjoy this image and it's worth the time it takes to colour!

I also have a small surprise (unless you've come here from Instagram - not so much of a surprise then) so keep reading for something I was holding onto for a while!

This set from Concord and 9th is a pleasure to colour and I really took my time with both of these cards. I find that earthy and rich fall (Autumn) tones really suit the types of plants in this drawing so I tend to go for those.

For this first card I stamped the image straight onto copic-safe paper and then took out my alcohol makers. I use combinations of markers from three brands - Tonic Studios Nuvo, Spectrum Noir and Sizzix. It's always good to play around and find out what colours work well and compliment eachother, as a different brand may sometimes have shades inbetween what you usually use.

Once the stamp was coloured I also added some light grey on the outside of the bunch. I find that sometimes the grey makes the stamp and colours just pop! 

I added a sentiment from Altenew's Sentiment Strip set - it seemed a good time to make some Get Well Soon cards. This card was very simple to make (the colouring just takes a while) and I'll be sending it off to a friend who has had some rough news recently, I hope she enjoys.

So surprise! I have a new background for my photos! I've been wanting to change for a while and honestly - see how much brighter everything looks! I'm still sorting out the lighting and editing and stuff and sometimes the sun just doesn't want to come out and help me, but we'll get there.
A new background doesn't have to be expensive. Although it's really helpful to have a constant set up, lights and items etc not everyone has the money, space and time to sort it out. This set-up didn't cost me anything at all - I found a large board that's [mostly] white, took some fake flowers that were in my room and just make sure that if I edited things it'll look nice and bright!

This card was made fairly much the same way as the one above. I stamped the image on my X-press It Alcohol paper and coloured it with the above-mentioned markers, and then die-cut the image out.

I then grabbed some ink pads, smooshed them on a piece of plastic and added some water. I use a paint brush to pick up this mixture and add dots and flecks to the card background by flicking and tapping the brush. This is a super fun technique and you just get to splash things around. Make sure you layer a lot of paper on your workspace so it doesn't go everywhere!

I added a birthday sentiment from Technique Tuesday as I needed a really nice card to give to one of the mother-figures in my life. 

I spend hours colouring and creating these cards but I wouldn't change a thing about it. I love getting down to work with some music playing in my ears and just forgetting about the outside world for a bit, and then putting it all together and loving the various tones in the colouring.

I hope you are all safe and well and I will see you all again soon for another post! 

Until next time, 

Shana xx