Bubbly Funk postcard swap

My long-time favourite crafty forum is Bubbly Funk - great bunch of crafters and a lovely community feeling. We're having a postcard swap and I set the theme. I used the forum's header for inspiration and gave people the choice between:

1. Use any combination of butterflies, lace, bubbles and music
2. Use at least three from light green, pink, grey, black and ivory

I combined the two using all except ivory in the colour scheme and everything except lace for the images. I floated bubbles up out of the stamped border by using the cap off one of my Copics and a tiny rubber washer pressed into the Bundled Sage ink pad. I added some shading to a few bubbles with Copics and some Stickles to a few for sparkle.

The focal butterfly is coloured with three shades of pink Copic and the rest are grey. Aged sheet music stamped tone-on-tone adds some background interest (I masked the big butterfly but not the others and aimed for a hit-and-miss coverage with the stamp for a slightly shabby look).

Stamps:
Wings set (Darkroom Door)
Bubble Border (Lost Coast Designs)
Aged Sheet Music Scrapblock (Cornish Heritage Farms, retired)

Paper:
Cryogen white
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Bundled Sage)

Other:
Copic markers
Stickles (Frosted Lace)

I'm sending to Wendy, hope she likes it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuneful postcard?

It's nearly the end of the month and that means we're approaching the deadline for the August postcard swap on UKStampers. Sam wanted us to take inspiration from a favourite song this time.

I struggled with this as I don't really have a favourite song. The thing that kept coming back to me while I tried to decide though was Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez.

I picked up on a few lyrics (brown leaves swirling all around, eyes bluer than robins' eggs and the opening line for the printed text) and the title. Full lyrics are here if anyone is intrigued enough to want them.

I embedded the gems in loads of Glossy Accents and spread some Stickles around as well so I'm hoping they'll make it through the post intact! I was tempted to cheat and just go with the diamond shape of the embossing folder but decided that bottom corner really did need something. I'm still  not really happy with the balance overall but I'm not going to have time for another attempt so decided to live with it - hope the recipient doesn't regret my decision!

Stamps:
Falling Leaves (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
Nest (CHF, retired)

Paper: 
Cryogen white,
Tim Holtz kraft core

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by  Ranger (Wild Honey, Tea Dye, vintage Photo)
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Tim Holtz Texture Fade embossing folder
Gems
Glossy Accents
Frosted Lace Stickles

Tidbit of the day - the ex to whom she's singing the song is Bob Dylan (he also wrote a song about their relationship - Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands if I remember correctly)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sun, sea and sand

The Design Team at Tando Creative is going seasonal this week and being inspired by "sun, sea and sand".

I've made a simple ATC using one of the white board shapes as a base. I love the fact they're really sturdy so they're easy to handle and you don't need to stick anything on the back of your work to make it feel stable.

Small stamps are perfect to create "holiday snapshots" in the film strip cells and I've added a paperclay starfish that has been in my stash for years - I made it in a polymer clay mould that was created from a real starfish that was in a bowl of decorative shells I picked up in a charity shop.

Supplies:
Chipboard ATC (Tando Creative)
Seaside stamp set (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)
Black card
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)
Versafine ink by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Adirondack ink by Ranger (Espresso)
 Filmstrip die (Tim Holtz Alterations/Sizzix)
Copic markers
Paperclay starfish

Thanks for stopping by!

Inchies necklace

We're using metallics as our design inspiration at Tando Creative this week.

I seem to be on a bit of a jewellery kick at the moment! I've used three inchies and gently round the corners (I do love that tiny ⅛" on the newer Corner Chomper!) as well as punching holes with a Crop-o-Dile.

Each inchie is done with a different metallic finish. I used three coats of silver UTEE on each square and a layer of Perfect Pearls on two of them (both from the Metallics kit - one Gold, one Bronze). I pressed a stamp into the warm UTEE for texture. I've then glazed them with Decoart Triple Thick - the last time I tried this I used Glossy Accents and it really didn't work (it didn't dry evenly and it split apart in several places so the piece ended up in the bin). I was impressed with the Triple Thick in this regard, it dried evenly and with no problems.

I added jump rings to each piece, filled with more Triple Thick and then finished with a contrasting metallic colour once dry.

The inchies are joined together with jump rings and attached to a necklace chain through a little piece of aluminium tubing superglued to the top one.

The surfaces are shiny enough that it made photographing it a bit of a nightmare but I hope you get the idea!

Supplies:
Chipboard inchies (Tando Creative)
Silver UTEE 
Silver acrylic paint
Crackleglaze background stamp (Indigo Blu)
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Gold and Bronze)
Jump rings
Aluminium tubing
Triple Thick glaze by Decoart

Thanks for stopping by!