Challenge chicks get chatty!

It's Challenge Chicks day over at Cornish Heritage Farms and today's challenge is "wordy" - use words as a feature of your design.

I seem to have come over a bit floaty and romantic just recently so I thought it was probably time to knock that on the head and go for something a bit different!

I've used words from the Big Inspiration set to create my wordy background - I went for repeat stampings of IMAGINE, CREATE and INSPIRE and a single (obviously!) UNIQUE stamped in acrylic paint. The grungy look of the typeface seemed a perfect pairing with a Grungeboard skull and crossbones. I thought this might be a fun card to remind a teen girl that she's special!

Stamps:
Big Inspiration

Paper:
Razzleberry medium (Prism Papers)

Ink:
Fluid chalk ink by Clearsnap (Dark Peony)
Adirondack paint dabber by Ranger (Snowcap)

Other:
Sewing machine and thread
Grungeboard
Stamp positioner

Want to Word Up? Lots of other DT members playing along today if you want to check out some more wordy ideas, why not pay them a visit?
Carole ~ Dawn ~ Kim ~ Lesley ~ Michele

Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate you taking the time to visit!

Coffee and chocolate

Today's Daring Cardmakers challenge is set by Vanessa and is coffee themed. Over on Splitcoaststampers it's Limited Supplies challenge day and the limitation is "chocolate" so I thought the two would go well together! Do coffee and chocolate make the perfect romantic pairing, I wonder? Hmmm... anyway, today's card has a definite romantic feel! Where's the coffee? Well my ink colours are called Espresso and Latte so I think that qualifies! And the rich browns are definitely chocolatey! The flowers and lace backgrounder is a new release from Cornish Heritage Farms - I've highlighted the lace by sketching in with a white gel pen and immediately smudging off for a softer effect and then (although you can't really see on the photo) I washed over with a thin glaze of Perfect Pearls in Pearl to give it a shimmer and sheen. I think this sentiment is lovely and it would make a great anniversary card or just "I love you" card as well as being suitable for a wedding. It's double points at Club CHF Friday and Saturday this week so if you're planning to buy gifts for anyone (including yourself!), you might want to earn yourself some extra points. Thanks for dropping by today, I appreciate you taking the time out! Stamps: Flowers and Lace backgrounder Spanish Script backgrounder (for the Prima) Wedding Centers Paper: Suede Brown medium and light (Prism Papers) Ink: Adirondack Dye ink by Ranger (Espresso and Latte) Other: Hydrangea petals by Prima Marketing Decorative brad in antique copper by Making Memories Sewing machine and thread Nail art gems Labels One Nestabilities by Spellbiner Krylon Leafing Pen (copper) Inkssentials White pen by Ranger Perfect Pearls Metallics kit by Ranger (Pearl used)

Ornamental Christmas and some thank yous!

Wednesdays are sketch challenge days over at Splitcoaststampers. I don't always manage to play the challenges but I did today. I love using a stamp that doesn't obviously scream "Christmas" and turning it into a holiday card. This new Ornamental Vines backgrounder is a lovely rich pattern and I thought it would be fun to use in rich, traditional holiday colours! The pattern really reminds me of a sumptuous brocade fabric so I added just a little metallic gel pen to the open areas of the flowers and leaves to enhance that feeling. Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms): Ornamental Vines backgrounder (releasing 21 November 2008) Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line) Paper: Olive dark and Blush Red dark (Prism Papers) Ink: Versamark Versafine (Olympia Green) Other: Mirror Gold detail embossing powder Copper and green metallic gel pens Krylon leafing pen (pale gold) Labels One Nestabilities by Spellbinder Paper piercer I'm usually rubbish at remembering when somebody passes on a blogger award to me but I've remembered this time so a big thank you to both Darlene and Dru who gave me this Kreativ Blogger award last week. Here's how it works: 1. The winner may put the logo on their blog. 2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award. 3. Nominate 5 blogs. 4. Put links to their blogs. 5. Leave a message for your nominees. The bit I always struggle with is picking five blogs to pass it on to - I hate anyone to feel left out! So this is a random "first into my head" kind of list:

• Kaz - for the tales of monkee derring do at Slightly Wonky Crafts
• Janice - cardmaker, cook, digi scrapper, smiler... Serial Crafter
• Lisa - classy cards, creative paper projects and lovely team mate Silverstamping
• Gez - fairly new to blogging and taking to it like a duck to water GezzyB's Crafty Bits
• The DCM team - tricky one since it's a group effort but it's a very creative blog that keeps us all on our toes with cardmaking dares at Daring Cardmakers

Thanks for visiting today!

Patience, Grasshopper... your soul will soar!

Couldn't we all do with a little more patience sometimes? Well, here's a card that gives us another reason to strive for patience - who wouldn't like a little more wisdom, too?! I had fun with my Scor-It on this one. I scored diagonally across the card and then moved the point across half an inch at a time, just eyeballing to keep the lines parallel - don't think I did too badly! I discovered that brushing chalk onto your die cut while it's still in the Nestie gives you an almost airbrushed look (which is good as I really don't want to shell out for a Copic airbrush system but I like the look from time to time!). And in the same set of stamps is a quote it's hard for an English Literature graduate to resist so I made this one too. The quote sounds very poetic when it's taken out of context like this! It's actually from Bottom's speech during the play-within-a-play in Midsummer Night's Dream which is usually played for laughs -hard to do anything else really, it's funny!- and the word "sky" rhymes with the final "And so I die, die, die". Thanks for looking today, your visits are appreciated! Supplies for each card are below if you'd like to know what's what. Patience card Stamps: Vintage Butterflies (Saturday Evening Post line at Cornish Heritage Farms, releasing Friday 14th November) Ink: Adirondack Dye ink (Espresso), Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo) Paper: Sunflower dark and Simply Smooth (Prism Paper) Other: Copic markers, Chalk, Scor-It, Sponge, Labels One Nestabilities by Spellbinder Shakespeare card: Vintage Butterflies (Saturday Evening Post line at Cornish Heritage Farms, releasing Friday 14th November), Cracked Montana Earth backgrounder and Beautiful) Paper: Simply Smooth (Prism Papers) Ink: Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso), Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain) Other: Copic marker (E31 Brick Beige), Clear nail art gems (Glossy Accents as adhesive)

Angel Blessings

Well, now we're into November and the days are noticeably shorter, I don't feel quite so apologetic about getting stuck in to Christmas projects! Wednesday is sketch challenge day over at Splitcoaststampers and I thought today's sketch was perfect for an image I coloured in yesterday and had left lying on my desk waiting for further action!

I love the fact you can see the ribbons this little Christmas Angel has used to tie on her wings! Who doesn't know a little girl who likes to dress up with wings every now and again?! She's from the Sandra Kuck line at Cornish Heritage Farms and will be released this Friday (7th November).

I've curved the wings slightly by rolling over a paint brush handle to give them a little dimension and I used a fairly light ink to stamp her (Latte from the Adirondack dye ink range) to keep a delicate effect and let the pencil colouring really take over.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you enjoyed the card!

Stamps (all Cornish Heritage Farms):
Christmas Angel (Sandra Kuck line, released 7th November 2008)
Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Nautical Blue light, Blush Red dark (Prism Papers), smooth white

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Latte)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Fired Brick, Antique Linen)

Other:
Lyra Skintone and Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump
Detail scissors
Paper piercer
Cuttlebug embossing folder (Textile Texture)
Krylon leafing pen (Pale Gold)

Simple Brilliance

No, I haven't come over all ego-inflated - today's challenge over at Cornish Heritage Farms focuses on Brilliance inks and I decided to go simple with the card so it's Simple Brilliance!

Brilliance is pigment ink made by Tsukineko and has a lovely sheen to it. One of the things I like best about it is that it stamps well on vellum and unlike some other inks, it dries perfectly and quickly on there.


I was aiming for 'handsome' with this one! The image is stamped with Coffee Bean Brilliance ink on vellum and simply backed with ivory cardstock. This gives a slightly softer look and more depth than just stamping straight on to a layer of card. I used the same ink to stamp the sentiment and then brushed Copper Perfect Pearls over there. An aperture cut with a Nestability die and a line of machine stitching and you're done - a fast card!

Thanks for stopping by today, lots of other Design Team girls are playing along today, why not take a peek for more "Brilliance" ideas?

Carole ~ Dawn ~ Julia ~ Julie ~ Kim ~ Sherrie ~ Val

Stamps:
Clocktower Cottage (Thomas Kinkade line at Cornish Heritage Farms)
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line at Cornish Heritage Farms)

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Coffee Bean)

Paper:
Vellum
Epic Black Laid (Prism Papers)

Other:
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Copper from the Metallics kit)
Sewing machine and thread