In the Spotlight

My turn to set the challenge at CBC and for once I'm remembering to blog it too! The challenge is to use a spotlight technique to make a feature of one area of your design. I have two samples, one for the stampers, one not!

I was inspired by the lovely iris card on Lisa Silver's blog (thanks Lise!) to have a go at the spotlight technique with a new stamp I just got:



The stamp came from an eBay seller called zim-babe who tells me that it was made by an American lady called Susan Cotes who makes her stamps in her 'spare time', wow!

Supplies: unmounted cherry blossom stamp, sentiment stamp from HOTP set, Ranger archival jet black ink, Clearsnap creamy brown, dark brown and chestnut roan chalk inks, Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor, mini brads (Dovecraft muted colours), Fiskars circle cutter.

Then I thought it would be fun to try adapting the technique for non-stampers by using colour in a different way on a card based around die-cuts. I did two QK santas in white, just adding a tint of colour to their faces so they didn't look too much like the ghost of St Nicholas! The third santa got the full color treatment and a frame to really throw him into the spotlight. I couldn't resist just a bit of stamping though so the central band is stamped and coloured with a brush marker.



Supplies: QK santa die, Large Paisley Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment stamp from MSE set, Fiskars circle cutter, Whispers cherry red ink, red brush marker, Clearsnp chalk ink in ice blue and chestnut roan, Prismacolor pencils.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!

In the Spotlight

My turn to set the challenge at CBC and for once I'm remembering to blog it too! The challenge is to use a spotlight technique to make a feature of one area of your design. I have two samples, one for the stampers, one not!

I was inspired by the lovely iris card on Lisa Silver's blog (thanks Lise!) to have a go at the spotlight technique with a new stamp I just got:



The stamp came from an eBay seller called zim-babe who tells me that it was made by an American lady called Susan Cotes who makes her stamps in her 'spare time'.

Supplies: unmounted cherry blossom stamp, sentiment stamp from HOTP set, Ranger archival jet black ink, Clearsnap creamy brown, dark brown and chestnut roan chalk inks, Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor, mini brads (Dovecraft muted colours), Fiskars circle cutter.

Then I thought it would be fun to try adapting the technique for non-stampers by using colour in a different way on a card based around die-cuts. I did two QK santas in white, just adding a tint of colour to their faces so they didn't look too much like the ghost of St Nicholas! The third santa got the full color treatment and a frame to really throw him into the spotlight. I couldn't resist just a bit of stamping though so the central band is stamped and coloured with a brush marker.



Supplies: QK santa die, Large Paisley Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment stamp from MSE set, Fiskars circle cutter, Whispers cherry red ink, red brush marker, Clearsnp chalk ink in ice blue and chestnut roan, Prismacolor pencils.

Wrapped in Ribbon

The girls at DCM have been playing with ribbon from Ribbon Oasis this week so their challenge is for us to make a Christmas card featuring ribbons galore. Here's mine:



I cut a triangle from thick card to make the tree base and then wrapped lengths of various different ribbons aroud it. I've machine stitched a length of wide velour ribbon to the card base and cut a pot from the same ribbon as well. I added a few brads for baubles and a star brad to top the tree off. A stamped sentiment, a bit of piercing and a trio of brads on the right hand side finish it off. I didn't have gold brads so I covered some (and the star) with gold sparkle embossing powder so they all matched.

My original idea was to do some ribbon weaving but I decided I liked the stripes before I started putting ribbons through in the other direction!

Supplies: ribbons from stash, sentiment stamp from MSE set, mini brads, star brad, gold sparkle EP.

Thanks for visiting!

ETA: Blogger's image hosting seems to be playing up. If you can't see the image and you'd like to, it's here on my Photobucket.

Falling Leaves Bagalope

Lori posted a tutorial for a bagalope -a lovely gift sack made from an envelope- on Split Coast Stampers.

I decided to have a go with a brown envelope and combine it with Clare's Falling Leaves challenge on CBC and made this:



I had a vague recollection that paisley is based on leaf shapes so I used the large paisley backgrounder by CHF and inked it up in various shades of brown then added a little strip of Bazzill with small leaves punched out. I made the tag with a chunky foam stamp and pigment ink stamped on a coffee filter coloured with various food colourings and dusted with some gold lustre powder. I've tied the bag shut with some jute garden twine that I twisted to make a slightly chunkier cord.

Supplies: Large Paisley Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), chunky foam leaf stamp, chalk inks in burnt sienna, chestnut roan and dark brown, Pretty Colour dark brown pigment ink, small leaf punch, corner rounder, coffee filter, food colourings, gold lustre powder, jute garden twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Silly cow!

This is one of those daft cards that arises from the fact that your craft table is a total mess: you see two unexpected things next to each other (a stamped cow and a die cut santa hat in this case) and the cogs start whirring in your brain. Throw into the mix Nicola's latest Play on Words challenge on CBC and what do you get?



The die cut hat was too big for Bossy so I had to tailor-make one in her size but I think she looks kind of cute in it!

Supplies: Bossy the Cow stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms), Ranger Archival jet black ink, Clearsnap Ice Blue chalk ink, Prismacolor pencils, Gelly Roll glaze pen, gel pen, red linen cardstock, green tape ribbon from stash, paper piercer (AKA map pin!).

I'm frustrated - there are new stamps in the house but I can't have them yet! I got a friend to bring back more CHF stamps when he visited the States so that I didn't pay for international shipping and didn't have to worry about import duties (more to spend on the stamps!) but DH has bought them for my birthday so I have to wait - gah! My blog visitors will probably breathe a sigh of relief too since I seem to be forming an obsession with this cow and the jar of daisies ;o)

TFL!

Circle of Friends

Happy Birthday Daring Cardmakers!

DCM is celebrating its first birthday by revisiting the very first dare which took the theme of friends. To reflect the way DCM has grown, this week's dare expands on that first dare and we've been asked to make a 'circle of friends' card by including at least one circle in the card design. Here's mine:



The circle is vellum with the words if friends were flowers... written in white gel pen. I've stamped the daisy jar and cut it out then tied a little tag around the neck with raffia. I inked a little shadow underneath and did a bit of piercing at the corners to finish off.

Thanks girls, the dares are great fun and we all appreciate the time you take in setting it up every week!

Supplies: Daisy Jar stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms), vellum, gel pen, Prismascolour pencils and Sansodor, raffia

Oooh, I forgot! Both Nicola (dollydimple) and Debbie (bubblegum) have nominated me for the smile award thing. Thanks girls! There are so many of you out there who make me smile that I'm not going to do the nomination of 10 thing - I do hope you'll forgive me. I'd just feel rotten drawing up a shortlist! So if you're reading this, consider yourself someone who makes me smile :o)

Look - no ink!

Carolyn has set the most recent Crew Challenge over on CBC. It's one for the rubber stampers and she's asked us to make something with our stamps but no ink pad. Here's mine:



I've cheated just a tiny bit as I used Versamark for the sentiment and brushed it over with gold lustre but that's barely cheating really, is it?

I made the pear by rolling out a very thin sheet of paperclay and stamping into it. I found brushing a bit of talcum powder over the clay before stamping helped me get a nice clean 'lift' as I took the stamp off. Once the paperclay dried, I cut round the outline and then coloured it with metallic wax rubons.

Supplies: Delight Paperclay, pear stamp (unmounted, unknown maker - eBay purchase), sentiment stamp from MSE set, Cuttlebug D'vine swirls folder, metallic wax rubons, Versamark and gold lustre powder.

Wild cows?

It's Kathy's turn to set the dare over at DCM this week. The dare is titled Where the Wild Things Are and Kathy wanted our cards to feature animals.

This may not be quite what she had in mind but I have to say that after a nasty incident in her teens, my mum still refuses to walk across a field that has more than two cows in it - she'd certainly put them in the wild beast category!



I made this little notecard by stamping Bossy the Cow directly onto a slightly textured card blank. She's coloured with Prismacolor pencils blended with Sansodor and I've added a few little daisies, including one for her to chew on; I used a Souffle pen to make the stem nice and opaque. MOO! is stamped separately and cut out so that it stands out just a tiny bit from the card. Knotted gingham finishes it off.

Supplies: Bossy the Cow by Cornish Heritage Farms, See-D Typewriter alphabet, daisy from Woodware Tiny Phrases set, Clearsnap Azurite chalk ink, Ranger archival jet black, various Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor, Sakura Souffle pen, gingham ribbon from stash.

In the frame

This week's DCM dare is set by Lynne who wants to see frames featured on our cards. Here's mine:



I hand cut a wonky frame from chipboard type card and covered in three layers of embossing powder. I used the tail feathers of the swirly bird stamp to emboss the molten powder. I wanted a 'not too shiny' gold finish but I don't have Pearlex. I do have edible lustre (intended for cake decorating!) so I used a little of that and it worked just fine :o) I used the tail again to stamp the swirly pattern on a strip of purple card to put behind the frame and stamped image. The sentiment was stamped with Versamrk and dusted with more of the lustre.

Thanks for the dare Lynne - I had fun with this one!

Supplies: Singing Swirly Bird stamp (CHF), sentiment from a HOTP set, clear embossing powder, RAnger Archival jet black, Versamark and Brilliance Galaxy Gold inks, edible lustre in Royal Gold, Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor.

In the frame

This week's DCM dare is set by Lynne who wants to see frames featured on our cards. Here's mine:



I hand cut a wonky frame from chipboard type card and covered in three layers of embossing powder. I used the tail feathers of the swirly bird stamp to emboss the molten powder. I wanted a 'not too shiny' gold finish but I don't have Pearlex. I do have edible lustre (intended for cake decorating!) so I used a little of that and it worked just fine :o) I used the tail again to stamp the swirly pattern on a strip of purple card to put behind the frame and stamped image. The sentiment was stamped with Versamrk and dusted with more of the lustre.

Thanks for the dare Lynne - I had fun with this one!

Supplies: Singing Swirly Bird stamp (CHF), clear embossing powder, Versamark and Brilliance Galaxy Gold inks, edible lustre in Royal Gold, Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor.