Midsummer!

As it’s the longest day today for those of us in the northern hemisphere, Nat’s challenge for us over at Daring Cardmakers this week is to celebrate summer, bonus brownie points for inspiration from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

As it was one of the very first Shakespeare plays I saw on stage (although strictly speaking it wasn’t on stage - it was a promenade performance in a park) I decided to go that way. Titania says this to Bottom after he has been transformed and she enchanted - Bottom really isn’t very bright and since he’s sporting a donkey’s head at this point he’s not terribly handsome either. If you ignore the original context though, it just sounds like a nice thing to say to somebody!

I had a go at some lettering to make a feature of the quote (Act 3, Scene 1 if you were wondering!). I looked at lots of fonts online, sketched the large words and filled in with a pen. It's a bit wibbly but it's OK for a first attempt! The smaller words I printed out, transferred onto the card with the trusty old "scribble on the back with a pencil" method and went over with a pen so they still have a handrawn quality. I could be happier with the line spacing too but you live and learn!

I’m also playing along at Retro Rubber who currently have an “anything goes” theme - just use stamps that are older than a year.

Stamps:
T’wit T’woo by Indigo Blu (approx 2015)
Flowers from Bird Paradise by Bloom Art Stamps (2016)
Shakespear's name from Wild Flower by Crafty Secrets (approx 2009)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Latte)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pnecils
Fineline marker
Gold gel pen

Thanks for stopping by! We'd love to have you play along at DCM!

Come fly with me

Svenja is setting today's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers and she’d like us all to take flight. Birds, superheroes, planes, hot air balloons, helicopters... feature anything that flies on your project.

We’re lucky enough to have owls around us - there’s a tawny that we sometimes hear in our back garden although we’ve never actually seen it! Hubby has seen a barn owl at the bottom of the hill and there’s a family of little owls just up the lane. So this lovely owl stamp from a recent release at Crafty Individuals was a no-brainer for hubby’s anniversary card this year!

The berries have a touch of glitter pen on them but it’s otherwise unadorned and just the way he tends to like his cards!

Stamps:
Owl Family (Crafty Individuals)
Sentiment from Putting on the Ritz (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Watercolour

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink (Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door - used as watercolours)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide (Evergreen Bough)

Other:
MISTI (invaluable for a detailed stamp on a textured paper!)
Spica glitter pen (red)

Thanks for stopping by!

June's Elements

It's the first Friday of the month and over at Daring Cardmakers that means it's an "elemental" challenge - just choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to kickstart your project.

I chose the soft greens from the colour palette, the fern type leaves, a skinny metallic circle (framing the flower in the inspiration) and overlapping squares.

The squares are simply the ink pads pressed directly onto the card base - I used a bit of tape to mask the lighter one at the front when I pressed the darker pad onto the card.

Supplies:
Back to Nature dies by Sizzix
Fine Frames die by Altenew
Tim Holtz Distress ink (Bundled Sage)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide (Evergreen Bough)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate) 
Versamark by Tsukineko
Perfect Pearls (Sour Apple, Green, Patina Green)
Sentiment from Say It All set by Hero Arts (retired)
Bristol Board
Silver mirror card
Dark brown card
Pinflair glue gel
Corner Chomper

Here's our inspiration picture this month, we'd love to see you play along!

Link in the chain: May

The reveal for May's Card Chain Challenge has just gone live. My card went to Jo this month and from the options on offer I used the theme of insects and the sketch.

I used an embossing folder to "stamp" the backkground - the positive side with a couple of shades of Distress ink and the negative to add the fine lines in dark brown - I didn't try precise line-up to get a slightly "off register" look.

After drawing in the charcoal pencil to fit the sketch I thought "bee line"!

Stamps:
Queen Bee (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 
Watercolour

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate) 
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Wild Honey)

Other:
Sizzix Texture Fade Folder (Honeycomb)
Copic markers
Charcoal pencil
Phrases I dies (Spellbinder)
Hexagon dies (X Cut)
Corner Chomper

There are still a couple of days to sign up for the June chain if you fancy it!