Happy birthday, human

My newphew's sixth birthday has just been and gone. He's interested in space at the moment so he had a glow in the dark solar system and a book about the planets and stars for his pressies this year. I thought an alien and stars on a clean and simple card might be just the thing to go with those.

This stamp set has seen good service for all the little boys I seem to make cards for (I have only one little girl to make for to break the monotony!). Although it's no longer available,  the designer (Kim Hughes) has started her own stamp company and the images in the Little Fella set are almost the same.

A little Kaz-style doodling around the stars and orange panel helps lift the design a little without being too fussy.

Stamps: Little Guy and Birthday Centers (Cornish Heritage Farms, retired)

Paper: smooth white and orange

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Fiskars squeeze punch (small star)
Corner Chomper
Copic markers and Fineliner

Thanks for stopping by!

Ghostly and gothic

Time for a new monthly theme for the regular postcard swap at UKStampers. I didn't manage to play in September so I was determined to get to it this month even though the theme is a tough one for me! As ever, cards are to be posted "naked" and must include stamping.

The theme is "spooky" and for me it's a tough one because I don't have any Halloween stamps or anything vaguely scary! I managed last year with some digi elements combined with some "filler" stamps and this year decided to see if I could take it a step further and just use colour and composition to set a spooky mood with otherwise non-spooky stamps.

I got some new stamps at the weekend so I set about giving "Molly" a ghostly makeover.

She's stamped and masked so she kept a ghostly pallor while the rest of the card got sponged with purple and black inks. I concentrated black at bottom left so Molly's head is looming out of the dark. I added some scripty writing and bare branches (which actually made me think of capilliaries or nerves once I'd stamped them!) and then stamped selected bits of a drippy frame stamp along the top.

A tiny bit of Copic colouring finished it off (green for her eyes and some grey shadow down the side of her face).

Stamps:
Molly by Beeswax Stamps
Sarah's Choice and Nature by Indigo Blu

Paper: smooth white

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Dusty Concord, Black Soot)

Other:
Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by!

Cherish Today - Tando hop

Welcome to the Tando Creative hop - we're finishing up our week's celebration of Tando's third birthday with a blog hop that explores Tando's history! If you didn't start at Tando Creative you might want to do that so that you can follow along and be in with the chance of a prize if you leave comments as you go.

The wavy arch I've used as the base of my project was one of Tando's earlier releases - February 2010. It's a nice arch shape and the wavy base makes it just that bit different. Since I had the VerDay paints out for yesterday's jewellery project I decided to do the arch while I was at it. I painted the arch with Iron paint and then once it had been left to dry, I embossed in a folder that had more of the Iron paint brayered onto it so that I got paint in the recessed bits of the design. I gave it a spritz with the patina solution and then set it aside to rust!

I've also used some of the leaves from the Tando Minis that were added to the range this summer - the grey board gives Copic colouring a nice rustic finish! A stamped sentiment. shrink plastic pocket watch and some flowers finish it off.

Supplies:
Wavy Arch (Tando Creative chipboard)
Leaves (Tando Creative Minis)
Foliage M-Bossabilities folder by Spellbinder
VerDay paint (Iron) and Patina Solution by Ten Seconds Studio 
Sentiment from Wings stamp set (Darkroom Door)
Pocket watch from Clocks Plate 6 (PaperArtsy)
Vintage Sepia Versafine and Vintage Photo Distress inks
Copic markers
Shrink plastic
Roses (Wild Orchid Crafts)
Pearls

Next stop along the hop is the talented Carol - don't forget to leave a comment here if you'd like to be in with a chance of this fantastic birthday blog hop prize!

Thanks for stopping by!

Take three - "weathered metal" inchies

Tando Creative is celebrating this week - third birthday already!

To celebrate, the design team has offered up a variety of projects based around the number three and there are tutorials for each of them if you want to have a go - check out the Tando Online Classes blog.

I used three inchies for my project. The Tando chippie is a lovely weight to work with and makes a great base for jewellery as it's sturdy enough that the finished piece feels quite substantial.

I've used an embossing folder and some VerDay paint to create a weathered copper finish for a pendant base. The paint is fun but you could use any technique you like to add interest to your inchies before gluing them together.

Supplies:
Chipboard inchies by Tando Creative
Tim Holtz Texture Fade embossing folder (Stripes)
VerDay paint by Ten Seconds Studio (Copper)
Patina Solution by Ten Seconds Studio
Copper wire
E6000 and Superglue adhesives

I've done a short video tutorial for this project. The YouTube description area includes a step-by-step that you could print out if you would like to have a go and find printed reminders easier to work from - just click on the YouTube icon at the bottom right of the video preview to watch it over there rather than embedded here.

Thanks for stopping by!