I've come over all elegant!

I seem to have been going through a bit of a bright colour, funky image kind of phase just recently but I think I've been struck by a touch of elegantitis in the last day or so. Not like me at all, is it?!

A while ago, I saw a set by Stampin' Up! called Long Stemmed on eBay and thought it looked gorgeous. I've been on the lookout for one since then and finally managed to get one for only $6.50! That's four wood mounted stamps for just over three quid (OK, the shipping pushed it up some but still bargainous, I reckon).

I've been playing with the iris image first and there's something about the long curved stem that cried out for the elegant treatment so...



I'm really pleased with how this turned out. The stamped panel is made with the faux linen technique using glossy photo paper (from Aldi!). The iris is coloured with Copic Sketch markers with a little bit of white gel pen smudged over a few places for more 'painterly' highlights. I thought the Cuttlebug Textile Texture folder and ribbon would make nice textural elements here and I tried something a bit different by punching a hole near the edge of the stamped panel and threading the ribbon through so that the knot and loose ends overlap the panel a bit. I'm afraid I can't remember where I've seen this done - if it was you and you're reading this, let me know and I'll credit you properly, thank you!

See those tiny gems? They're the sort that are designed for sticking on your fingernails *lol*. My nails are plain and unadorned but I thought these would be perfect when you want to add just a little bit of subtle sparkle to a project and they're much cheaper than stuff packaged and sold to crafters! Asela on the Cornish Heritage Farms forum and gallery should take the credit for this one - thanks Asela!

Supplies: Iris from SU! Long Stemmed set, glossy photo paper, Tim Holtz Distress ink Weathered Wood, Nick Bantock inkpad Charcoal Grey, sandpaper, Copic Sketch markers (mallow, blue violet, cadmium yellow, pale yellow, lettuce green), white gel pen, Cuttlebug Textile Texture folder, acrylic nailart gems, ribbon from stash.

Thanks for looking!

New toys!

Wheeee! Postie brought me new toys this morning :o)

Out in blogland, I keep seeing people doing lovely colouring with Copic markers and I really fancied having a go. Here in the UK, they're ferociously expensive though so I hunted around and found some single markers at a reasonable price on eBay so I could get some 'close' colours to have a play and see if I liked using them. Here's my first attempt:



(Sorry Janice - it's the daisies again but I do love 'em and I get to keep this one!).

I tied this in with one of the challenges going on in the Big Weekend Challenge over at CBC and made a storage box for Primas etc by covering the top of an empty chocolate box with some DCWV card and adding some grosgrain around the sides.

If you fancy a play with Copics, Lisa Silver's tutorial here is a really great place to pick up some pointers to get you started.

Here's a close-up of those colour transitions. I'm quite happy with this for a first attempt but if any of you experts are looking then any hints and tips are always gratefully received :o)



Supplies: Daisy Jar stamp (CHF), Brilliance Coffee Bean ink, Clearnsnap Chalk Ice Blue ink, Copic Sketch markers: Y11S Pale Yellow, Y15S Cadmium Yellow, Y26S Mustard, YG09S Lettuce Green, G07S Nile Green. DCWV textured white core card, sandpaper, copper brads, copper gel pen, chocolate brown grosgrain.

As ever, photos are clickable for bigger versions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hand cut Christmas

The DCM challenge is set by Tracie this week and she's asked us to include some hand cutting on our cards. I had a total nightmare day yesterday where my mojo definitely left home but I managed this today. Not quite sure about it but I guess it's OK.



Tree was hand drawn and cut from a piece of thick card (back of a notebook) then covered with white core card and distressed. The big M and C were hand drawn and cut and the rest of the greeting stamped with alpha stamps and snipped into random shapes. I added a bit of inking and gel pen detail, a snippet of cuttlebug textured card, a star brad and a piece of ribbon to finish. Oh, and some piercing, of course ;o)

Adapt-a-stamp!

After putting a santa hat on Bossy the Cow a few posts ago, my mind started wandering around the possibility of adapting other non-Christmassy stamps to make Christmas cards. Here's what happened:



I coloured the Singing Swirly Bird stamp in festive colours and used a gold gel pen to add detail to the beak, wings and tail feathers. The holly garland is made of leaves cut on the CraftRobo with veins added freehand with a green metallic gel pen. I seem to have the urge to add a bit of piercing to everything at the moment - not quite sure why but things don't seem to look quite finished without it!

Supplies: Singing Swirly Bird stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment from MSE set, CraftRobo, Ranger Archival Jet Black and Brilliance Moonlight White inks, Prismacolor pencils, Sansodor and blending stump, green and gold gel pens, red linen texture cardstock, stitched grosgrain, corner rounder punch.

TFL!