Walnuts? No thanks!

I actually like walnuts but since this is a post about walnut resist I thought I should refuse! A while ago I saw a card done with walnut ink resist on Deb Neerman's blog (she did a tutorial too - here) and thought it looked a fun thing to do. Could I find walnut ink anywhere in the UK? No I could not. Did I end up ordering ink crystals from the US? Would I do such a thing?

I like inky and I like random. I'm not so good at patience so I thought this technique would be good for my soul since you have to walk away and leave it overnight! For this card, I stamped the branch in Versamark and embossed with clear detail embossing powder then gave it a liberal spraying with my walnut ink so that it pooled and puddled a bit on the surface of the cardstock then I left it in its spray box and went to bed! This morning, my branch looked like this and just needed trimming, matting and I added a random wrap of waxed linen thread for some textural interest.

I love this effect, it's almost like leather and would make great masculine cards with the right stamp. Good job I like it really, it looks like the tiny jar of walnut ink crystals is going to go a looooong way as it is!

Supplies: Silhouette Blooms I (Cornish Heritage Farms), Versamark, clear detail embossing powder, walnut ink crystals, spray bottle, waxed linen thread

Thanks for stopping by, hope you're having a great day!

Think Pink!

I don't usually do pink. It's just one of those colours that's never really done it for me. But it's not really the colour in question here, it's breast cancer care. Over on the Bubbly Funk forum we're currently having weekly challenges leading up to a Cyber crop and a big Think Pink sale to raise funds for Breast Cancer Care - there's a Think Pink blog too, all the challenges will be there along with a gallery of completed projects.

Think Pink Blog

So although it's not geared to this week's challenge, I thought I'd add some pink in honour of the campaign when I made a card this morning (although all colours are welcome!). This card combines a Crafty Secrets Member company challenge (to use black in a vintage card) and a sketch challenge from Splitcoaststampers.

Supplies: Sew Special and Mini Memories (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets, Cheesecloth backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), Versafine Onyx Black, Clearsnap Fluid Chalk ink (Dark Peony, Rouge, Pink pastel, Creamy Brown), Cuttlebug Textile Texture folder, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, pinking shears, sewing machine and thread.

Why not check out the Think Pink blog to find out more about what it's all about?

Thanks for dropping by today, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Whoa, I'm going to Barbados...

I'm not really but I kept singing it whilst making this card!

I was lucky enough to win a set of Kim Hughes designed stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms during their last blitz event and have just made my first card with Paradise Found.

We could use a little sunshine at the moment so I thought I'd go for a tropical sunset and some bright hibiscus flowers to frame it. The layout kind of reminds me of that '70s kind of postcard, if you know what I mean! The flower garland was done with a simple mask and the stamp just turned at different angles. The sunset is brayered and the flowers are coloured with alcohol markers. I didn't have any suitable foliage stamps so I just drew some green shapes in there with markers. I sponged black ink up against torn copier paper to make the land bar for the distant palms.

Supplies: Paradise Found (Cornish Heritage Farms), Ranger Archival jet black, Adirondack ink (sunshine yellow, sunset orange), Tim Holtz Distress ink (Scattered Straw, Fired Brick), Clearsnap chalk ink (azurite), oval Nesability (used as a guide with a scalpel), alcohol markers (some Copic, some Tria), brayer

Three blog friends have been kind enough to give me an award too - thank you! Dan, Shaz and Hazel all have blogs of their own - why not pay a visit?.

I'm supposed to pick seven blogs and nominate them now but I'm rubbish at this because I love visiting so many blogs. Here's a handful: Lisa at Silver Stamping, Keri at Pink Lemonade, Kathy, in her own world, Tracy at Craftyme, Kaz at Slightly Wonky Crafts and Janice, the Serial Crafter. Please don't be offended if you're not here - my brain aches just remembering that many!

Thanks for stopping by today!