Beady fish!

Miri has set the challenge for us over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she'd like to see us using a bead or beads on our cards.

I found some tiny seed beads in my stash and this background was lying on my desk and the colours seemed to go. To me it said "seascape" so that's what happened. The beads are providing a bit of texture and sparkle - they're just sprinkled onto some Glossy Accents.

The fish have glittery scales if you get the light right - courtesy of clear Wink of Stella pen. I've left it with no sentiment so it can be an all-purpose card!

The background is one I made for a mixed media challenge at Splitcoast a few weeks back that's a slight twist on the old shaving foam marbling technique. Details here if you fancy a go!

Stamps:
Under the Sea (Darkroom Door)

Paper:
Smooth white
Oxidised shaving foam background (on premium weight copy paper)

Ink:
Brilliance (Graphite black, Pearlescent Ivy)
Distress Oxide (Cracked Pistachio)
Distress reinkers (Broken China, Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch - for the background technique)

Other:
Seed beads
Glossy Accents
Wink of Stella (Clear)
Fineline marker

Thanks for stopping by!

Emboss it

Ruth has set the challnge for us over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she'd like us to use any sort of embossing on our projects.

I decided to heat emboss rather than use a folder, using white powder on a kraft base.

The clear Wink of Stella has made the petals look a bit murky on the photo but it's a pretty effect in real life - a bit of shimmer over very simple shading.

A very simple card, even the embellishing dots are stamped/embossed (there are three sizes of circle stamp in the Hero Arts set) and the tiny ones added with a white pen - light, flat and easy to post!

Stamps
Rose Bloom by Stampendous
Happy Stamp & Cut by Hero Arts

Paper:
Kraft
White

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukninko
Brillance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Detail white embossing powder
Copic markers
Clear Wink of Stella pen
White  paint pen by Posca
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Link in the chain

Visiting the lovely Jo's blog a while back I noticed a post about the Card Chain Challenge. It struck me as a such a lovely idea I signed up for the August chain.

From the options for the month I chose fruit and stencilling. I've recently got hold of an old Stampin' Up! set called Sun Ripened, primarily for this lovely rapsberry image. Raspberries have always been a family favourite and my folks have always grown them so when I saw a card made with this stamp, I just had to have it!

My card has gone to Janet in Mauritius - I have no idea whether raspberries seem very ordinary and pedestrian there, I'm thinking fruit might be quite different!

I’m not sure you can tell from the photo but the berries and leaves are slightly raised - I put the card on a piece of craft foam and used a fine tipped stylus to draw round the image then flipped it over and used the line to show me where to push the image out with a bigger stylus.

Stamps:
Sun Ripened (Stampin' Up! - long retired)

Paper:
Ribbed kraft

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Adirondack pigment by Ranger (Snowcap)

Other:
Copic markers
Prismacolor pencils
White paint pen by Posca
Cressida stencil (Memory Box)
Phrases 2 dies (Spellbinder)
Corner Chomper
Charcoal pencil

Thanks for stopping by! The sign-up for the September chain is open for a few more days - details here if you fancy taking part!