Clean and.... third time lucky!

There's a new weekly challenge at Splitcoast for "clean and simple" cards. Well, this one has the clean and simple look and really should have been easy but I managed to mess up twice so you're looking at the third time lucky!

This week's challenge is a sketch - I've turned it through 90 degrees and where the sketch has a cluster of three stars, I've used the out-of-the-box technique to make my trees both the stamped image and the corner treatment.

Minimal colouring and only two stamps should have made this fast - the first one was all finished, I turned it over to put adhesive on the back and turned it back to find I'd plonked it into a blob of ink on my work top. Try again! Second time, I jittered as I put the final sentiment in place and got a slow-motion blurred effect as if "Hello" was rising out of the black lagoon. Hmmm. Third time, I stamped the trees, stamped the sentiment, cut it out, coloured it in and then put a clean sheet of paper underneath while I added adhesive to the back - phew!

I've used stamps from two Kim Hughes sets here. The Be Creative blog has a challenge at the moment - mix stamps from more than one Kim Hughes set (or singles from different releases) for a chance to win some Kim Hughes goodies. Check out the details in this post, challenge closes 1st March.

Stamps (all Cornish Heritage Farms):
Spring Trees (Kim Hughes Collection)
Sentiment from Silhouette Blooms I (Kim Hughes Collection)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers (Yellow Green and Brick Beige)
Foam tape

Thanks for dropping by, hope your day is clean and simple!

Kinkade Blitz

There's a new Thomas Kinkade stamp coming tomorrow at CHF and there's a Kinkade Blitz happening by way of celebration. If you've Blitzed before, you know they're a lot of fun! More of that in a moment...

Here's the new stamp. It's called Sunrise and immediately reminded me of the "Gipfel Kreutz" you find in Austria. If you do a serious hill climb there, you'll almost always find a cross at the top, overlooking the valley and mountain tops beyond. There's usually a little wooden box there too that contains a book for you to sign and record any thoughts about the journey you just made. Of course, this stamp could represent a spiritual journey for many people, too.

I had fun airbrushing the sky on this one. I found that you can use the colourless blender pen to remove colour and put those radiating white lines in, too.

Stamps (all Cornish Heritage Farms):
Sunrise (Thomas Kinkade line)
Everyday Petites (Mona Lisa Moment line)
Leaves #3 backgrounder

Paper:
Simply smooth and Stormy light (Prism papers)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Weathered Wood)

Other:
Copic markers
Copic airbrush system
Antique copper mini brads
Foam tape

So, about this Blitz - kick off is tonight at 7pm EST (so a little late for us Brits) but Julia has pre-announced the challenges for anyone who would like to join in. There will be prizes throughout the Blitz, drawn randomly from gallery submissions. So if you have Kinkade stamps and would like the chance to win more, why not check out the details on the CHF forum {here}.

Thanks for stopping by, your visits are much appreciated!

New banner

OK, I finally made time for the new banner - any feedback very welcome! I've fiddled with the fonts so many times that I can't see the wood for the trees! I like the & and Iron but I'm not quite convinced about the Ambrosia. I think it's growing on me, though! Lots of people said they'd be disappointed if the Angel (of the North) disappeared so he's been worked in collage-style over a stampy, inky background.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Beautiful (Rummage Bin line)
Cracked Montana Earth backgrounder

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Stonewashed and Denim)

Tools:
Brayer
Sponge

Other:
Photo from freefoto.com
Computer generated text

Thanks for stopping by!

Dreaming of summer!

There are new Shady Tree Studio stamps being released today and when I got this one, I was immediately reminded of the beautiful, delicate single layer yellow poppies that fill our garden every summer. I know them as California Poppies although I don't know if that's their real name.

I cut multiple masks so I could airbrush a little blue around them as well as overlapping the stamping and although that made the process a little time-consuming, the masks are stored in the CD case along with the stamp for next time so I only have to invest the time once!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Perfect Poppies (Shady Tree Studio - releasing today)
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Copic Airbrush system
Inkssentials white pen by Ranger

Thanks for stopping by to take a look, I hope you enjoyed the card!

Oh - just in case anyone is wondering about that temporary blog banner! I changed over to a three column blog style as I like the wider central column and the opportunity to make use of both sides of the screen. Sadly, I didn't anticipate the fact that my existing blog banner would look very small and sad with the new layout! I have a new one planned when time permits but something seemed necessary in the meantime!

Fourth folder, fourth pic

I've been tagged by Tracey with the "fourth folder, fourth picture" tag. Well, this proved tricky as if they were ordered by name, my fourth folder only had one picture in it (what's that all about then?!) so I reordered by date and got this...

Sorry it's not anything funny or embarrassing but it does tell you that most of the photos I take are of crafty projects rather than people/scenery/flowers etc etc! I made these during my Guest Designer slot for Crafty Secrets back in May and I don't think I blogged them at the time so maybe you're getting to see something new in any case!

The stamp set is Little Chef but I'm afraid I don't remember any of the detail of inks etc and I'm too lazy to go away and look it up in a gallery or anything - sorry! They're jumbo sized paperclips though so they'd make good markers if you're planning a dinner party menu any time!

I think most people I know in blogland have already been tagged with this one so I'll just say that if you fancy doing this for a laugh, then consider yourself tagged and let us know where to come for a look at your fourth folder/fourth pic reveal!

TFL!