Three squares

The Less is More challenge this week is asking us to use three squares on our cards - details here.

I found this one really difficult! I had differently sized die cut squares scattered round the desk, tried turning them to make diamonds, overlapping to create "movement", I pressed a Distress ink pad onto cardstock three times - nothing looked right!

I'm still not quite convinced by this but I've decided it's probably the best that's going to happen after that much experimentation - lol! I stamped the little square frame three times in black and then added the flower head in magenta, turning the stamp so the flower is at a different angle in each frame. Lots of white space and a little bit of black for "pop".

Stamps:
Inchie Style (Cornish Heritage Farms, retired)
Sentiment from a HOTP set

Paper:
smooth white
black

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Chalk ink by Clearsnap (Dark Peony)

Thanks for stopping by!

Pound Shop Pretties

It's Daring Cardmakers day again and today's dare is asking us to use Pound Shop (or dollar store) finds. I hope I'll be forgiven for using Pound Shop stuff that was already in the house rather than making a trip for the dare!

I needed a thank you card and this is what happened - several Pound Shop elements going on here and hardly any stamping - unusual for me!

The card base itself is Pound Shop - my local one has packs of rigid "envelopes" that are perfect as sturdy card bases if you chop them up and nobody would ever know it wasn't sold as kraft cardstock.

The pearls came from The Works and if I remember rightly were a pound per sheet - there were the two sizes of round pearls, pointed ovals and a couple of shapes made out of tiny pearls (hearts and stars - I'm unlikley to use those but the sheet was cheap enough not to worry about it)

Quite a while ago I bought a black scrapbook (again, my local Pound Shop) thinking that black paper is always useful. However, I then discovered that the paper quality is absolutely rubbish so I tucked it away as something to find a use for later!

To make the leathery panel with it here, I scrunched it up and generally abused it until it had a nice surface texture and the fibres had broken down well. Then I spritzed it with a couple of Glimmer Mists and some walnut ink and let it dry. I used a piece of tape sheet (another Pound Shop buy!) to stick it to some cardstock for stability and then whip stitched the panel to the card base.

Stamps: My Type alpha stamps (Ma Vinci's Reliquary)

Paper:
Kraft (rigid envelope, chopped up)
Black (kind of sugar paper texture)

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo)

Other:
Pearls (The Works)
Paper flowers
Tim Holtz Alterations die (Elegant Flourishes)
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers
Glimmer mist by Tatered Angels (Copper and Antique Brass)
Walnut ink
White embossing powder
Sequin waste
Rub n Buff by amaco (Gold Leaf)

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely weekend!

Red and green Christmas

I'm just sneaking in for this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge. Susan is hosting this week and she's sprung a Christmas card on us this time. The challenge is to use red and green stamping on a white or cream base.

I used Cryogen White cardstock which is a milky white with a subtle shimmer, two shades of green Distress ink and a red. The square is simply the Distress pad pressed directly on to the card base - I love the slightly shabby, weathered feel you get from doing this.

I had a terrible time getting a photo of this - everything looks yellower than it really is but none of the corrections I tried in Photoshop looked right either so I decided to call it a day in the end!

The card is 4.25" square.

Stamps:
The Pines (Cornish Heritage Farms, retired)
Sentiment from Season's Greetings (Technique Tuesday)

Paper:
Cryogen white

Ink:
Distress ink by Ranger (Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick)

Other:
Paper piercer
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers

Thanks for stopping by!

Hello spring

Sadly, it's trying to snow here today but spring is the theme for this week's Less is More challenge (details here) so I'm continuing to hope that the weather will turn soon!

Spring flowers often have a particularly delicate and fragile quality about them, don't they? Crocuses, snowdrops and the lovely bulb flowers (with the exception of the somewhat sturdy-looking tulip!).

I made a scrapling today (a card made with the bit you trim off a standard sized sheet when you want to make a square card). This paper white narcissus is from an old Stampin' Up set called Long Stemmed and I think it's really pretty. I've used kraft on kraft layering and popped up the panel on some foam tape to avoid the ribbon bulging through the card. I punched a hole either side of the stem to thread the ribbon through.

Stamps:
Long Stemmed (Stampin Up!)
Setiment from Mini Memories set (Crafty Secrets)

Paper: Kraft

Ink: Memento by Tsukineko (Bamboo Leaves)

Other:
Inkssentials gel pen by Ranger
Prismacolour pencils (green and yellow)
Green gingham ribbon
Foam tape
Tags Trio dies by Spellbinder

Thanks for stopping by!

Steampunk

I haven't played a Daringcardmakers challenge in ages - it's steampunk this week and as that's something I've never attempted, don't have the stamps for and is a million miles from the clean and simple style I've gravitated towards recently then obviously I had to have a go! I threw in an extra challenge for good measure as well - Pammyjo has challenged us in the Crafty Secrets member forum at Splitcoast this week to add something "glassy" to our projects.

I had lots of fun doing this but I'm not sure it's really me - it took forever and I'm still not convinced that the outcome isn't just a bit jumbled rather than really being steampunk eclectic! Constructive criticism from steampunk afficionados more than welcome!

I did two "glassy" things...

The bird is stampe on acetate with Stazon and then the wing portion coloured on the back and gessoed to make it opaque. I cut out the body and then overlaid it onto some card stamped with a stamp that shows the workings of a watch. So I have a transparent bird belly with clockwork innards. The bird legs are stamped directly onto the base card.

I added Glossy Accents to the goggles of the man (who is printed from a public domain graphic from Karen's Whimsy)

I used a hundred and one things here but I'll do my best to list most of them for anyone interested!

Stamps:
Crafty Secrets sets (Bird Notes, Artsy Banners, Journey, Hardware)
Retired Cornish Heritage Farms sets from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line and Vintage Ledger Scrapblock
A&P Numbers stamps (Ma Vinci's Reliquary)
Vintage pointy finger stamp (from a flea market box of stamps)
Radiating dots stamp (unknown maker)

Paper: Smooth white

Ink:
Versafine Onyx black
Stazon Jet Black
Distress ink Weathered Wood and Fired Brick

Other:
Fiskars squeeze punch large circle
Gears die by Ellison Thin Cuts
Silver UTEE
Black acrylic paint
Vintage image from Karen's Whimsy
Glossy Accents
Acetate sheet
Gesso
Silver gel pen
Copic markers
Timeworks mask (Tm Holtz Ideology)

Thanks for stopping by!

Simple Blossom

Who's ready for spring?!

The challenge at Less is More for the second week each month is to make a one layer card. The theme this week is to use a flower or a tree. I guess I could argue either way on this since it's blossom on a tree branch!

This is one of the first stamps I ever got. I bought it unmounted on eBay and all the seller could tell me was that it came from an American supplier called Susan Cotes who had a "spare time" business making stamps. I lost track of it for a while but remembered it when thinking what to do for this challenge and hunted it down! It's a nice size for this kind of clean and simple design - this is a 5" square card so you can see it's a substantial stamp.

I found some other oldie but goodie stamps in the process of locating this one so I'm sure they'll be inky soon, too!

One last detail - this card is a great example of why I'm very happy I decided to get a Scor It tool rather than something like the Score Pal. Because you score over a ridge rather than into a groove it means your card is face up on the surface when you make this kind of decorative score line. That means you can score up to the image and stop because you can see exactly what you're doing :o)

Stamps:
Cherry blossom (Susan Cotes)
Bon jour sentiment (Alluring Impressions)

Paper:
smooth white

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Inkssentials white pen by Ranger
Scor It
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers

Thanks for stopping by, let's hope the blossom on the card is a forerunner of the real thing appearing on our trees soon!

Reindeer games

Hazel's challenge this week over on Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge is to feature a creature on your card.

I chose this elegant reindeer and gave him a snowy landscape (torn cardstock) to leap across on this teeny weeny card (it's a 3 inch square). The stamp set has one snowflake stamp and the dot but I used a separate sentiment set and that also has a snowflake so you can mix them up to create a bit more variety.

The antlers are beautifully delicate but would be a nightmare to cut out so I stamped the reindeer first on the card base and then stamped again on a scrap of cardstock and cut him out, chopping off the antlers. The head and body are raised with a scrap of cardstock underneath for a tiny bit of dimension with the hooves stuck directly to the card base.

Stamps:
Holly Jolly Christmas and Season’s Greetings (Technique Tuesday)

Paper:
Kraft (actaully a file folder chopped up)
Cryogen white

Ink
Adirondack in by Ranger (Espresso and Latte)
Colorbox Pigment ink by clearsnap (Frost White)

Other:
E35 marker by Copic
White pencil by Prismacolor
Detail white embossing powder by Stampendous
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers
Nail art gems

Hazel is celebrating lots of visitors to her personal blog with some blog candy - she'd love it if you stopped by to say hello. You can find the details here.

Thanks for stopping by, hope your week is off to a great start!

Something fishy...

Jennifer is hosting this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge and she's asked us to use two image stamps and nothing else - no sentiment, no embellishments. Full details here if you'd like to play along!

I struggled a bit to decide on what images to use and eventually settled on this beautifully detailed fish and the bubbles stamp from the same set.

I swooshed ink onto the card base directly from the pads and then added just a few tiny streaks with a watercolour crayon. Rather than colouring the fish with a marker (allowed under the challenge rules) I removed colour with bleach - I'm sure that's in the same spirit! Versafine ink is unaffected by bleach once it's been left to dry fully (maybe because it's an oil-based ink?) so the detail of the fish remains clear. I used an opaque white pen on the eye, just to make it stand out a bit more.

Stamps:
Under the Sea (Darkroom Door)

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass and Broken China)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Bleach
Neocolour II water soluble crayon by Caran d'Ache
Inkssentials white pen by RangerCorner Chomper by We R memory Keepers

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely weekend!

Less is more

There's a new challenge blog on the block for those of us with a bit of a thing for the Clean and Simple style. Less is More has just launched and the first week of each month is a colour challenge. The very first combo is black, white and pink.

I'm combining challenges today - the member company forum challenge for Crafty Secrets over at Splitcoast this week is to use punches. I punched small circles from cardstock stamped with the script stamp and various images from the Artsy Banners set. I alternated the ink colour for foreground/background. The little hello is from Mini Memories and served as the perfect sentiment in terms of size and style!

I didn't want to mat the circles but I did want to define the edges so I ran a Copic Multiliner round each circle once it was stuck down.

Stamps:
Artsy Banners (plus sentiment from Mini Memories) - Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Versacraft by Tsukineko (Cherry Pink)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Copic Multiliner
Squeeze punch by Fiskars (small circle)
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers

Thanks for stopping by, do check out Less is More if you fancy a clean and simple challenge!

Inchie Tiles

My hubby and his sons share an interest in wine so when we needed a birthday card for son #1 recently I thought some "trattoria tiles" might do the trick. The inchies are cut from scrap mountboard with a Cuttlebug die and stamped while pushed up close together and then inked around the edges and slightly separated when sticking them down. Inking the edges just gives them a bit more depth, I think.

Try asking at your local framing shop for offcuts of mountboard - they'll often give it to you free or very cheaply. Most mountboard is white on the back so it doesn't matter what colour the front is if you want a white surface to work with, just flip it over.

Two step stamping is fun and it makes for a very quick card - no colouring or shading to do! I stamp a positioning sheet on vellum and keep it in the case with the set so I don't even need to do that step each time I use the stamps.

Stamps:
Gorgeous Grapevine (Stampin Up!)

Paper:
Kraft
Smooth white
Dark red
Mountboard

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Raisin, Currant, Lettuce and Pesto)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Cuttlebug die - square
Cuttlebug embossing folder (Victoria)
Scor It

Thanks for stopping by!

One layer Santa

I've combined two challenges for today's project - this week's One Layer Wednesday is a recipe and I'm dipping in to Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge for the first time - week 5 is to include Santa on your card. The idea of the challenge is to spread out your card making over the whole year, hence the Christmas card in February!

One Layer Wednesday calls for a border stamp (or stamped border), an image and some bling. I wanted to team this Santa up with some gingham so I used a background stamp for the border as that's what I had - I just used a piece of paper to mask off the top of the card while I stamped it. I'd already stamped and masked Santa. I struggle with bling so as Susan said glitter would count I opted to glitter the furry bits of Santa's hat with chunky glass gitter.

I'm glad I opted for a brighter green than is usual for a Christmas card - I think it gives this a fun retro feel that goes well with the style of the Santa stamp.

Stamps:
Holly Jolly Christmas and sentiment from Season's Greetings (both Technique Tuesday)
Fine Gingham backgrounder (CHF - retired)

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Versacraft by Tsukineko (Spring Green)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Copic multiliner
Deko Ice glitter by Efco (Crystal)

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely weekend!

Perfect Together

Paper Crafts magazines produces several special issues each year. Currently available is Stamp It! Techniques. Designers were asked to submit projects featuring one of several popular stamping techniques (paper piecing, heat embossing etc). This card was accepted for the masking section and features on p.56 of the magazine.

Masking was probably the first technique I encountered that made me squeal with excitement. I still get a childish thrill every time I peel away the mask and see the way objects are built up into little scenes! So here, I have a single shaker pot stamp - it was stamped first on the right, masked and stamped again on the left. Once the mask is peeled away, the object you stamped second appears to be behind the first one. The S and P are separate stamps so you can do those as finishing touches.

The instructions printed in the magazine are not quite what I wrote with my submission since they say to "mask with cardstock". Cardstock is not the best choice of material if you're making a mask - you want something thin (Post It notes are ideal) so that your stamp makes proper contact at the edge of the mask and you don't end up with a halo of white space around the image you stamped first. Of course there might be occasions where you want that slight blank space but if you want the effect shown here, choose something thin to make your mask.

I also stamped the lace edging directly onto the card base and just coloured underneath with a black marker - saves the fiddly cutting out!

Stamps:
Kitchen Classics (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)

Paper:
Cryogen White
Radiant paper pad (Heartwarming Vintage by Crafty Secrets)

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Time Holtz Distress Ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)

Other:
Memento markers by Tsukineko
Labels Eight Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Scor It!
Sewing machine and thread

Thanks for stopping by!