Seeds of Friendship

I've been playing with some delightful Chocolate Baroque florals - you can see my guest post on the CB Design Team blog here.

I used a computer generated seed packet "framework" along with the stamp. Glenda has made a pdf of the packet available to download, you'll find the link in the blog post if you'd like a quick starting point to make something similar - it's free and includes some instructions for putting the project together.

Here's the inside of the project, an insert with a fold at the bottom that slips into the stamped sleeve. You can stamp a sentiment or handwrite a message to the recipient (or both!) on this. The ribbon through the top keeps it closed as well as looking pretty.

Mine has an actual packet of flower seeds inside as a little gift but you could use it for any small, flat gift item (jewellery, for example, or it would make a good way to dress up a garden centre gift voucher).

Stamps: The Rose Tree (Chocolate Baroque)

Paper: Smooth white

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
Jenni Bowlin by Ranger (Soap Powder)

Other:
Copic markers
Prismacolor pencils
Computer and printer
Silk ribbon
Circle punch

Thanks for stopping by - do take a look at the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog if you get chance, there's lots of inspiration there!

Weathered copper poppies!

I spotted the latest Gingersnap Creations challenge - use a faux technique - through Jean's blog and it gave me the kick I needed to do something a bit special for a background on a birthday card. I actually used the same faux technique as Jean had chosen for her card - faux verdigris copper - as textural stuff always looks good and in this case the colour contrast was perfect with the bright poppies. I didn't have any copper paint in my stash but I did have a copper Krylon leafing pen so I used that to colour my embossed cardstock before giving it the treatment with acrylic paint (I used little tubes, not dabbers and used two greens plus a blue) and gesso. A tiny bit of metallic rub-on wax on the high spots brought out the pattern a bit more. I coloured my poppies with Copics and trimmed for an "out of the box" panel and to keep with the background I used copper embossing powder to add the sentiment on top of the image. I used a bit of wide cotton crochet lace and some simple matting with dark chocolate cardstock to finish. This is for a neighbour/friend's 70th birthday - I just handed it over and she was very pleased with it. Always nice to see a reaction to your cards and it doesn't happen very often since most are posted! Stamps:
Poppies (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)
Say it Loud (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

Paper: Smooth white and bitter chocolate

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso) Tim Holz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Versamark by Tsukineko

Other:
Copic markers
Detail embossing powder (copper)
Couture Creations embossing folder (Tied Together)
Cotton lace
Acrylic paints
Gesso
Metallic rub-ons
Krylon Leafing Pen (copper) Thanks for stopping by!

Warm stripes!

It's been ages since I played at Less is More so I decided to put that right today. This week's theme is "stripes" on a one layer card.

I chose a striped animal as the focus of my card - I love these beautiful zebras! I wanted to make something to send to a friend who slipped on the ice last Thursday, broke his elbow and subsequently had to have surgery on it. Warm colours and African animals was about as far away from ice as I could get!

I stamped the zebras, cut a mask for them from ordinary copy paper with a little Zig two-way adhesive on the back and then used plain paper to mask the strip and sponged with ink.

Just a tiny touch of shading on the zebras with grey Copic, a stamped sentiment and I called it done.

Stamps:
Zebra Pair and sentiment from Common Cold (both CHF, retired)

Paper: Smooth White

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick)

Other: Copic markers (C1 and C3)

Thanks for stopping by!

In orbit

The theme for this month's postcard swap on UK Stampers is "circles". I started thinking about orbits and planets and came up with this. As ever, our swap postcards need to be posted without an envelope so ink and stamps with no stuck on embellishments is the way I chose to go...

It's something that actaully needs some movement to show it off to best advantage - I used an interference ink to stamp a map of the stars as a background and of course that's nigh on impossible to capture with a photo - it's a green ink so it looks a bit like the image on an old computer screen. If you tilt the card so that you can see the star map, the sentiment pretty much disappears!

The planets were inked with both positive and negative masks in place to give them the appearance of overlapping. I used a tiny bit of watered down gesso to give a "glow" underneath.

The Waltzingmouse stamp set was great for this as there are three different sizes of flower so I could add a bit of patterning to each planet using a stamp that was the right scale.

Stamps:
Reach for the Stars and Astrology Scrapblock (both CHF, retired)
Big Blooms Chrysanthemums (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Black Soot, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick)
Opalite by Tsukineko (Cypress Frost)
Colorbox pigment ink by Clearsnap (Frost White)

Other:
Punches and Nesties to make circle masks
Corner Chomper
Gesso

Thanks for stopping by!

Off the page

It's a new month so it's time for a new challenge at Tando Creative Challenges! Our theme this month is "leap off the page". There's a photo board if you'd like extra inspiration but I just went for interpreting the title and making a project that didn't start with a piece of paper.

I keep my collection of random die cuts in an old chocolate box. For years it's just been exactly as it was when I finished the choccies! I decided to give it a makeover and set to work with chipboard shapes, die cut lettering etc.

I used the clock and hands plus a partial cog. The bit I trimmed off the side of the clock face was used at the bottom of the lid. Some rubber washers and microbeads added a bit extra texture and lettering cut from cereal packet cardboard was used for the quote.

I glued everything down and then covered with a scrumpled sheet of tissue paper, giving everything a good soaking with slightly watered-down PVA glue. Once it was dry, I spray painted it black and then added some metallic blue, metallic turquoise and silver acrylic paints. Finally, I used silver Rub n Buff to bring out the edges and textures even further.

I think the effect of the tissue paper "rounding out" the edges combined with the sheen of the acrylics gives the appearance of something rising up out of a pool of oil or something!

I like the way the quote suggests that feeling when you're "in the zone" that you lose all track of time and just enjoy what you're doing. I thought an exploded clock went well with that idea, too!

Check out the Tando Creative Challenge Blog for details of the challenge if you'd like to play along and be in with a chance of picking out a prize of lovely Tando chippie or masks to play with - it's a random draw of all players so your chance is as good as any other entrant!

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter's butterflies

It's challenge time at Tando Creative - our theme this month is "Ice White" and there's a photo for inspiration. You can check it out here if you'd like to play along and be in with a chance of a lovely prize in a random draw of all players.

I used an ATC base - the chipboard is perfect for this as you need a thick layer of gesso and a lighter weight base tends to buckle with the moisture and weight of it. Once I had a thick layer of gesso, I spritzed my stamps with water to help them release and stamped to leave textured impressions. I left if overnight to dry and then added a couple of extra snowflakes heat embossed with white powder so that there are both debossed and raised snowflake impressions.

I took inspiration from the silver pot in the picture and used silver for the sentiment. I didn't have an appropriate stamp so to get the words I wanted, I printed on an inkjet printer and quickly covered with detail embossing powder.

Glass glitter around the edges and a white rose finish it off.

Stamps:
Grunge Flakes (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)

Paper:
Chipboard ATC (Tando Creative)
Cryogen White (for sentiment strip)

Other:
Gesso
Versamark ink
Detail white embossing powder
Detail silver embossing powder
Inkjet printer
Deko Ice Glitter by Efco (Crystal)
Rose (Wild Orchid Crafts)

Thanks for stopping by!

In the abstract...

I tend to be a fairly neat and tidy crafter (finished product-wise, not process-wise!) with a leaning towards the figurative when I choose stamps for a project. Throughout 2012, we're having a monthly challenge on UK Stampers and for the first one, I decided to go a bit more abstract!

Salamanda is hosting and for January she has asked us to create a wall hanging using material from old clothes, metal, tissue paper and stamps. No new purchases allowed, only stash you already own.

I used a piece from an old pair of jeans for my base (about 20cm x 16cm) and stamped randomly with some numbers and circles. I glued scrunched up tissue paper down one side and when dry I painted with acrylic paint and then rubbed a tiny bit of Rub n Buff over to highlight the texture.

The bubble border was stamped and then coloured with acrylic paints (all of which have been in my stash for at least a decade!).

I embossed metal from a drinks can and stuck it to mountboard scraps for stability and weight. I used gesso and acrylics to colour it and then rubbed most of the colour off for a shabby look. I cut up the piece and then stitched the three separate chunks to the base with florist's wire. The metal washer and stud were ones prised off something in the past - so long ago I forget what! - and stored in my "useful bits" box.

I stuck a strip of mountboard across the top at the back for stability and then added a coiled wire hanger to finish.

Stamps:
A&P Numbers (Ma Vinci's Reliquary)
Bubble Border (Lost Coast Designs)

Ink:
Versacraft by Tsukineo (Midnight)

Paper:
Mountboard
White tissue

Other:
Denim from old jeans
Metallic turquoise, metallic blue and silver acrylic paints
Rub n Buff by amaco (Silver Leaf)
Drinks can metal
Metal washer and stud
Drink Me embossing folder (Couture Creations)
Florist's wire
Crop a Dile
Rubber washers (used as circle stamps)

Thanks for stopping by!

New Year Numbers

Happy New Year everyone!

A new year means a new monthly theme for the postcard swap on UK Stampers. I missed the last couple of 2011 so I was pleased to get time to make something for the first swap of this year where our theme is numbers.

I chose to make the numbers a focal point and focus on the year since it's just starting. I'm a bit of a font geek and I absolutely adore the style of these - the maker actually found a box of old stamps at a flea market labelled "Grocery Sign Marking Kit" and used the impressions, including imperfections, to make new stamps.

Extra numbers feature on the tape measure and Roman numerals of the clock face.

I heat emboss the numbers and then coloured the card with Distress Stain and overstamped the tape measure with dye ink so the embossing resisted it. I sponged over the clock mask and then added the lady using Versafine so that I could bleach the face area. Happy accident was that the bleached stain took on a pinkish tone. A slightly less hapy accident was a streak of stray bleach. Keeping the "embellishment opportunity" philosophy in mind, I stamped some crackle texture to camouflage it! Finally, I used metallic pencils to add a bit of silver and purple to the image.

Stamps:
A&P Numbers (Ma Vinci's Reliquary)
Tape measure from Hardware set (Crafty Secrets)
Retro Women Set 2 (Tanda Stamps)
Crackleglaze background (Indigo Blu)

Paper:
Ivory mountboard

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukineko
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Weathered Wood, Black Soot)
Tim Holtz Distress Stain by Ranger (Weathered Wood)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Detail white embossing powder
Timeworks mask (Tim Holtz Alterations)
Bleach
Ferby Metallic pencils by Lyra

Thanks for stopping by - hope your numbers are all lucky this year!

Christmas Joy

The December challenge over at Tando Creative is "Winter Festivals" - whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Yule etc or just the beauty of your surroundings at this time of year.

I combined a wavy twinchie and a medium sized wonky tree to make a little festive brooch. The twinchie has been painted black, beaten up with an embossing stylus and coated with Rub n Buff. I painted the tree with pearlescent acrylic paint and then added a garland of hot pink microbeads with Glossy Accents. Silver microbeads add more texture at the base.

I made the sentiment piece by melting a little UTEE on a non-stick sheet and pressing a stamp into it and "antiquing" with some black paint. I glued it in place to finish the piece off.

Supplies:
Wavy Twinchie and Wonky Trees grab bag (Tando Creative)
Black acrylic paint
Rub n Buff by Amaco (Silver Leaf)
Siver UTEE
Sentiment from Season's Greetings stamp set (Technique Tuesday)
Microbeads (hot pink and silver - acrylic nail art supplies)

If you're doing last minute crafting, why not enter the December challenge and be in with a chance of winning a prize?

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Hippo Birthday

I needed a birthday card for a wee boy so I took Kathy's December sketch from the Sketch File as my starting point. It's a fairly loose interpretation - I treated the embossed word blocks as four of the five strips in the sketch and added the recipient's name as the fifth.

I did try putting a circle behind the hippo but it looked better without.

Stamps: Heloise Hippo (High Hopes)

Paper: Red, white, navy

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Typeset decorative strip die (Tim Holtz Alterations/Sizzix)
Copic markers
Tracing Wheel
Corner Chomper (We R emory Keepers)
Birthday embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Thanks for stopping by - hope your Christmas preprations are all under control!