Creature comforts

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week. As we’re approaching winter, I thought we could dress up some of our furry or feathery friends to help them stay warm and cosy.

I’ve seen this set of polar bears around and admired cards made with them for some time now so when I saw somebody having a crafty clear out on a well known auction site, I put in a bid and got them!

The little bear was stamped and masked, then the bigger one stamped behind him. I used grey ink for a softer outline and watercoloured them, then used a fineline marker to fill in eyes and noses. I gave the scarves fringes too, just because I could. A little flurry of enamel accent dots gives them a snow shower to enjoy.

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Paper:
Watercolour

Ink:
Hero Arts Shadow ink (Soft Granite)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Watercolour paints (Winsor and Newton)
Enamel Accents by Ranger
Fineline marker
Stitched Rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)

Thanks for dropping by!

Super scary season

As we’re approaching Hallowe’en, Rizwana would like to see some scary ghosts, witches, bats, spiders etc for this week’s challenge at Daring Cardmakers. Traditional green and purple welcome but branch out if the mood takes you that way!

I always say I don’t have any Hallowe’en stamps, so when I won a prize from Lost Coast Designs a while ago, I chose a stamp that might fit the bill! I think this raven would have done Edgar Alan Poe proud so could have gone for “Nevermore” but decided to leave it with no sentiment. I did play around with a sentiment strip but I liked it better without. LCD have their usual October 31 Days of Hallowe’en challenge running so I’m linking up there too. 

Stamping, masking, ink blending over a torn paper edge and a touch of Copic colouring is as complicated as things get here. I did doodle a border and splatter some white gold watercolour as finishing touches.

Stamps:
Goth Raven  (Lost Coast Designs)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink  by Ranger (Dusty Concord) and Oxide (Wilted Violet) 

Other:
Copic markers
Gansai Tambi Starry Colours paints
Fineline marker

Big on backgrounds

It’s Nat’s turn to set our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she’d like us to bring backgrounds into focus — stamp it, stencil it, blend it, whatever takes your fancy. 

I remembered that the current challenge at Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero is “merry everything” and decided to play there too. I used a background stamp for a light and flat, easily mailed festive card. I stamped the stripes, added a double layered die cut “merry” and stamped again to get a sort of eclipse sentiment without cutting into the base layer. The stamp is square which gives the opportunity for a quick composition with interest on a standard rectangle card base. I did doodled lines to close off the top and bottom of the square. 

The completion of the sentiment is heat embossed in white then swiped with the red ink to match the stripes. A few of the stars from the set are heat embossed in gold for embellishments and I added some Glossy Accents on the die cut word and that’s about it.

Stamps:
Canvas stripes  (Hero Arts)
Merry Stamp n Cut (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)
Versamark by Tsukineko 

Other:
Gold detail embossing powder
Glossy Accents
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Fineline marker
Copic markers
Gel glue

Autumn leaves

Time for a new challenge at Let's Squash It  and I’m delighted to be joining Jo and Gail as Guest Designer again this month. 

The theme this time is trees and/or leaves. I did a bit of both with trees on the embossing folder and die cut leaves for good measure. This little chap had a wintery adventure at this woodland spot last year, padding through snow between the trees — I thought it might be fun to give him some crunchy autumn foliage to kick up this year! I inked a piece of card with a few Distress inks then die cut the leaves to put under his feet.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Sentiment from Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade)

Other:
Woodland embossing folder (Stampin’ Up!)
Leaves dies (Impression Obsession)
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Fineline marker
Copic markers
Gel glue

Why not break out an embossing folder and something with trees or leaves and come join the fun, there’s always a little prize on offer for a randomly chosen winner at Let’s Squash It and it’s always a lovely bunch of crafters taking part!

Oh, and with his drift of autumn leaves and backdrop of tree trunks, Gnomie thought he should enter the Four Seasons October challenge, too!

October elements

Shabneez has chosen our mood board for October's "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week. As ever, just choose at least three elements to kickstart your card.

I chose the brick wall, a skinny circle (inspired by the rims of the things bottom right — I think they’re aerosol cans but I’m not 100% sure!) and some leaves. 

I decided to combine with a couple of other challenges too. The current Die Cut Divas theme is watercolour — I did the bricks by colouring an embossing folder with a couple of Momento markers and pressing a piece of watercolour paper onto it. I got a better impression on the test piece I did — typical! It still gave me a starting point, with a brush and a mixture of Distress inks and watercolour paints I ended up with a reasonable wall. I also watercoloured the die cut leaves.

An old friend from the days of Crafty Secrets being a sponsor company at Splitcoast is co-running a challenge based on the Four Seasons — I thought this fit the bill for autumn so I’m linking up for the October challenge there too.

Supplies:
Watercolor paper
Brickwork embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Momento markers
Winsor & Newton watercolour paints
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Leaves dies (Impression Obsession)
Fine Frames dies (Altenew)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Rusty Hinge)

Link in the chain - September

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge — mine has gone to Tina in Slovenia this time. 

From the options on offer I followed the sketch and used the theme of something beginning with or containing the letter Z. Pizza seemed like a good fit all round!

It’s my usual one layer card for CCC — I stamped and masked the pizza then masked the edges with low tack tape, cut some very narrow strips of the same tape to divide the area in to four and another strip for the sentiment. I inked the central area then inked more heavily over a stencil to give the pizza some pizzazz! Remove all the masking, add a touch of Copic colouring, stamp a sentiment and call it done. 

Stamps:
Discover Italy: Food/Menu (Scrapberry)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired) 

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger  (Peacock Feathers)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Strobe stencil (Visible Image)