Bunches of...

I'm setting this week’s challenge at Daring Cardmakers and I’d like to see something that comes in bunches featuring on your cards this week — flowers, grapes, bananas…

This wasn’t what I set out to do but that ended up in the circular file, I’m afraid. So I decided I should finally get round to playing with a set I got on sale some time ago (ahem, think years rather than months!) and that has been reproaching me each time I look for something else in a particular box. 

Monkey is having quite the feast! All the animals in this set have separate heads and bodies so you can align them different. His head is actually on a wobble here so you can get him to do a cute head shake. 

I stamped the body directly onto the card base so I just cut a little slit to poke the banana into. If you use the coordinating dies, the tail actually gets cut in the little spiral so you can thread his treats through. 

I ended up being in a rush so the colouring is a bit rudimentary but it’s quite cute, I think. 

Stamps:
Jungle Friends (Stampendous)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Wibbly wobbly die (Jane Davenport)
Phrases set I (Spellbinder)

Birds of a feather

Nat is setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week — she’d like to see feathers or something feathered.

Birds are probably second only to florals in my stamp collection so that seemed to be the way to go. I decided to play along at A Blog Named Hero as well and use the HA colour layering stamp for my bird, making her a restful combination of blues. As April is their blog birthday month, HA want to see birthday cards this time.

Going white on white for the sentiment seemed right for a light and airy feel. The lovely die was gifted to me — thanks Margot! — and gives a beautifully crisp cut. 

Stamps:
Bird and branch colour layering (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Twisted Citron)
Momento by Tsukineko (Bamboo Leaves)

Other:
Happy Birthday Poe Script die (Poppystamps)
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Corner Chomper

Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero — They Say It’s Your Birthday

Bloom and grow

Dawn is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — she’d like to see what we have planned for the garden as we move in to spring and then summer. 

We have a glorious poppy patch just at the front of our house, I look forward to them bursting forth each year (usually early to mid May so not too long to wait now, the leaves are up already). That made me chose this lovely Indigo Blu stamp to make a card for my aunt who has a round number birthday coming up. I stamped once, masked and stamped again for extra abundant poppies!

A base layer of Copic colour got topped up with pencil shading and a few pearl dots to finish it off.

Stamps:
Poppycock (Indigo Blu)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Copic markers 
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Corner Chomper 

Elements for April

 Dawn is setting our first challenge of the month over at Daring Cardmakers — as ever with our “elemental” challenges, just choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to include in your project. 

I chose a hedgehog, spotty toadstools, colours, woodgrain and leaves. I haven’t used pencils on kraft for ages, it was nice to revisit that and I’ve always thought the combination of balloons and hedgehogs has a delightful optimism about it! I got this set ages ago from someone who was clearing out and haven’t got round to using it until now. I don’t think this stamp has ever been off the backing sheet, I had a real struggle to peel it off without damaging it. Got there in the end and hopefully it will be a bit easier next time.

Here in the UK hedgehogs will be coming out of hibernation around now, if you have local ones you could make sure they have access to drinking water (put out a shallow dish) even if you don’t want to risk attracting other critters by putting food out. If you do want to put food out, apparently the best choice is a meaty (as opposed to fishy) cat food or kitten biscuits — no matter what we were told as kids don’t be tempted to put out bread and milk as hedgehogs are lactose intolerant!

Stamps:
Critter Party (Penny Black Transparent)
Spring Trees (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Kraft

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Phrases I dies (Spellbinder)
Festive Rose dies (Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions)
Pinewood Planks embossing folder (Stampin’ Up)

Link in the chain — March

It’s reveal day once again at Card Chain Challenge. My card has gone to Brenda this time so it didn’t have too far to travel. 

From the options on offer I chose the theme of birds and the colour palette. Of course the product option of stamps was pretty much a given for me! I intended to use proper watercolours but somehow got sidetracked into using Distress inks instead. 

This beautiful bird stamp is one of Maria Kitano’s designs for Crafty Individuals, I don’t use him nearly enough. He makes a lovely robin with some orangey red for breast feathers. I added some leaf shapes to the twiggy bit of the stump — it seems in springtime anything with even a bit of life in it will push out optimistic leaves!

The sentiment is from a very old set but it fell in to my hands while I was looking for something else and this sentiment seemed right — we often associate robins with winter and Christmas time but they’re around and singing loud and clear to herald spring, too!

Stamps:
Perching Bird (Crafty Individuals)
Scene It Sentiments (Hobby Art)

Paper:
Watercolour

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Rustic Wilderness, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door)

Other:
Corner Chomper 

There are still a few days to sign up for the next chain, why not come and join us — it’s a lovely way to spread crafty happiness around the world!

Think of a number

Shabneez is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she’d like to see some numbers — they could take a starring role or sit in the background as long as they’re there!

The young lady this is for is very maths and science oriented so it seemed appropriate to add a numbers background and DNA code as well as her age. 

The inky flower is coloured with a single ink — the colour breaks down a bit with water to produce some interesting variations. I gave the big numbers some drop shadow with a grey marker and doodled a border.

Stamps:
Creative Chaos (Visible Image)
Numbers border (Kaisercraft)
A&P Numbers (Ma Vinci's Reliquary, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Mint Julep)

Other:
Black fine liner
Grey Copic marker

Little ones

Miri is setting our challenge today at Daring Cardmakers with the theme of “little ones” — make a card for the little ones in your life or think small in other ways!

I’m also playing along with Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero — this month’s theme is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I really got the Beach Please set for the umbrella image so of course the first thing I use is the cocktail glass! I don’t often get matching dies for stamps but I’m glad I had them here — these little glasses would have been a horror to fussy cut and the option to cut them out and pop them up is great. 

I’ve gone for the slightly lateral interpretation at DCM as I don’t have any babies or small children to make for. I lined up some little cocktails in rainbow colours, courtesy of Distress inks, for a clean and simple card. The glasses are stuck on with gel glue for a bit of lift and there’s Wink of Stella on the ice cubes, only obvious if you catch the light just right!

Stamps:
Beach Please Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Blueprint Sketch, Mowed Lawn, Wilted Violet, Weathered Wood, Black Soot)

Other:
Clear Wink of Stella pen
Pinflair gel glue
Corner Chomper

Hero Arts — Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Stripy scarves!

Kathy has set our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — she wants to see spots and/or stripes. Mr Mojo has taken a holiday and I was feeling distinctly uninspired so went searching for extra inspiration (I often find that figuring out a way to combine a couple of challenges helps get things moving). 

I haven’t played in Jo’s Christmas Kickstarter for ages but I always look to see what the month’s challenge is. This time around it’s all wrapped up with scarves. That combined with the stripes theme in my head to steer me to use these adorable bears with their striped scarves. 

The bears are stamped and masked, edges of the card covered with low tack tape before blending in some blue Distress inks. A little Copic colouring and just a few dimensional paint dots along with a sentiment finish off a simple one layer creation.

The rest of the team have created a lovely spring vibe with their creations, it’s just me reflecting the weather outside the window at the moment! Do check out the DCM blog for a breath of something warmer (link from the graphic below) and why not get the stash of Christmas cards under way with a visit to Christmas Kickstart too?

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pals (MFT)
Sparkle All the Way (Crafter's Companion)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch)

Other:
Copic Markers
Pearl pen by Viva Decor ((Ice White)
Corner Chomper 

Elements for March

Miri has chosen our inspiration picture for the "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — as ever, just choose at least three elements from the picture to kickstart your project.

The spiral shape of the caterpillar made me think of this lovely shell stamp and I ended up going down a sort of naturalist’s sketch book route (after quite a lot of playing with ideas that didn’t work out). Other elements are flower, butterfly and some of the colours. 

The butterfly is stamped directly on the panel, the other images are cut out and stuck on with gel glue for some differences in height. I had intended more muted colouring, not quite sure what happened there!

Stamps:
Antique Engravings (Hero Arts, retired)
Magnolia (Stampendous)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Copic markers
Square dies (Presscut)
Fineliner
Pinflair gel glue

Link in the chain - February

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge. There were 33 players for February and my card has gone to Mia in Greece this time.

From the options on offer I chose the theme (hearts) and product (gauze) ones. I wanted to do something a bit different with my gauze so I used black acrylic paint to stick it to some card, let it dry and then highlighted with some gilding wax. 

I think my Delicata ink pad has started to separate out, or maybe it was the painted surface, either way I couldn’t get the little hearts to show up clearly so I used a gel pen to draw round the inside of the stamped shape.

The butterfly is stamped, coloured and cut out and glued on along with some die cut rings and a sentiment strip.

Stamps:
Antique Engravings and Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Delicata by Tsukineko (Golden Glitz)

Other:
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Fine frames circle die (Altenew)
Acrylic paint
Gauze
Rub n Buff (Gold Leaf)

There’s still time to sign up for the March chain if you fancy it — just make one card and receive one from the next link in the chain, it’s a lovely way to spread a little hand crafted love around the world.