Wheely good fun

I'm setting today's challenge at Daring Cardmakers— we’re having wheely good fun this week, featuring anything with wheels on our projects.

I’m still separated from my craft supplies so this is something I made earlier in the year. I hadn’t used my Copics in ages so I pulled out some shades of red and grey and went bright on this old CHF stamp (had to be car-themed to tie in with the gift of a driving experience!). Personalised registration plate is lettered with a fineliner and I did a little bit of masking so the car is coming out of the frame. 

Stamps:
Chevy Camaro Front View (CHF, no longer with us)
A&P Numbers (Ma Vinci’s Reliquary, no longer with us)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (various blues)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Time Tunnel Stencil (Visible Image)
Copic markers
Fineliner

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers!

It's my turn to set our challenge at Daring Cardmakers and we’re raising our glasses to our shared hobby this week. Cocktail, mocktail, beer or orange juice — show us what you’re drinking!

My hubby is somewhat of a wine buff so this is the card I made for his birthday.   It’s one layer, no frills which is pretty much how all the men I make cards for like their cards!

Stamps:
Wine Corks (Spellbinder)
Ink Splats (Visible Image)
Celebrate (Letter It range by Ranger)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso, Cranberry)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Charcoal pencil
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Chain Callenge - May

It's reveal day at Card Chain Challenge where this month 30 participants sent and received hand made cards. Mine went to Karolina this time.

From the options on offer I chose the theme of men in hats and the product and technique options of stencil and scoring, sticking to my usual CCC aesthetic of one layer.

I masked the gent on the stamped image but not the background so the stencilling goes over that bit of the image and the rays come directly out of his head. There's a charcoal pencil drop shadow going on and some silver gel pen on the corner swirls in the image.

Stamps:
Dashing Gents (Darkroom Door)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch)

Other:
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Silver gel pen
Corner Chomper
Scor It

Thanks for stopping by!

Showers and flowers

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week. As it seems to have been raining for weeks here in the UK and the garden is really getting going for summer I thought we’d focus on showers and/or flowers — bonus brownie points if your card features both!

I made a loose watercolour swoosh in blue and then splattered paint for my shower. The die cut flowers (liberated from their bottle by snipping with scissors) are watercoloured too, I did the little pieces separately and then inlaid them once they were dry. It’s a bit fiddly but quite a nice effect, I think. 

A simple stamped sentiment and my usual rounded corner and call it good to go.

Supplies:
Bouquet die (Concord and 9th)
Watercolours (Winsor & Newton)
Sentiment from Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

M is for...

Rizwana is setting today's challenge at Daring Cardmakers and we’re focusing on the letter M.

I have Meerkats coloured with Markers on a Masculine card. I picked up these Katzelkraft stamps on eBay a while back (most of them unused), who can resist a cheeky meerkat?!

The recipient plays for a football team who have a red and black strip so I made appropriate “scarf stripes” with markers along the base of the card. The dancing meerkat has a chalk halo because it was a quick and easy way to add some colour there.

Stamps:
Surikats (Katzelkraft)
Celebrate (Letter It line by Ranger)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by!

Let's hear it for the boys!

Shabneez is setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and she'd like to see some ideas for masculine cards.

I’ve gone for a teen boy card. He’s a guitar player (got his Grade 7 a few months back) and likes a bit of classic rock. It’s a one layer card, achieved with masking and reverse masking so the guitar could be stamped as a design on the shirt with ink blending and stencilling for the background. 

Stamps:
Nothing to Wear and Rock Out (Visible Image)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (various blues)
Hero Arts Shadow ink (Charcoal)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Corner Chomper
Play Guitar Stencil (Visible Image)

Thanks for stopping by!

Elements for May

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers and as it’s the first Friday of the month it is, as always, an “elemental” challenge — just chose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to kick start your project.

I chose teal tones (although it looks more blue toned on the photo), the daisy from the packaging, knitted stitch pattern and circles (inspired by the buttons and the circle on the box).

I started by smooshing ink onto the card with a piece of acetate then when it was dry I added circles using a couple of lids as stamps. I have an embossing folder with a nice knit pattern but I didn’t want to emboss the card so I embossed a piece of fun foam and used it as a texture stamp. The die cut daisy has a bit of watercolour added and the head is raised with some scraps of card.

Supplies:
Wildflower Stems 1 dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Stream)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Sentiment from Putting in the Ritz (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Watercolours by Winsor & Newton
Knitted 3D embossing folder (Sizzix)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Card chain challenge — May

It’s reveal day once again at Card Chain Challenge where 32 players made and sent cards for the April challenge. Mine travelled all the way to the southern hemisphere to the lovely Robyn. 

From the options on offer I chose the colour palette and the theme of food and drink. It’s the usual one layer aesthetic for CCC, particularly when I’m airmailing something it seems a good idea to keep it light and flat. The sentiment has doodled edges and drop shadows done with a charcoal pencil to give the illusion of dimension. 

The cups are embossed with silver which gave me some trouble with photography but I hope it’s good enough for you to get the idea. 

Stamps:
Tea Time (Crafters Companion)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Detail silver embossing powder
Copic markers
Charcoal pencil
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Card maker's recipe

Kathy is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers today and she’s sending us to the card maker’s kitchen with a recipe.

Our classic ingredients are flour (flowers), butter (yellow), eggs (oval shape, nest, bird) and sugar (glitter). I think I might have the wrong lid on an ink pad as one of my flowers came out more orange than yellow but I decided my cake was a St Clements and rolled with it!

I gave the stamped flowers a few flicks of Copic marker for just a bit of depth and then cut them out and arranged them on the stitched rectangle die cut, I often like to have an edge of some sort that things can break out of! A scattering of pearl pen dots with some glitter and an oval sentiment panel to fulfil my recipe requirements and call it done.

Stamps:
Funky Flowers (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
DCWV textured

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Jenni Bowlin ink by Ranger (Lemon Drop)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Twisted Citron)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Sunshine Yellow — or possibly Sunset Orange!)
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Dandelion, Pistachio)

Other:
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Pearl Pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Glamour dust by DecoArt (Crystal)

Thanks for stopping by!

Round and round

It's my turn to set the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week — our theme is "circles". Feature circles or something that is made up of or contains circles on your project.

My froggy has circular puddles and a circular eye. There are even little circle elements on the stencilled strobe lines. 

I got this stamp set because I really liked the frog, I didn’t expect to use the Spanish language sentiment. A friend who has recently retired is making a concerted effort to improve his Spanish and went to Spain just before his birthday so I made this for his return — never write off a stamp is the lesson here!

Stamps:
Cosmos Frog (Stamperia)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Card chain challenge — March

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge — 35 cardmakers signed up to make a card and send it off to the next link in the chain this time! Mine went to Viv so it didn’t have too far to travel.

From the options on offer I chose the sketch and the technique option of block and string stamping. I wanted to stick with the circular elements of the sketch so I actually used a cotton reel as my block and wrapped string through the hole to make a sort of sunburst pattern. A bit of extra inking through a circular aperture in my trusty piece of acetate accentuated the pattern. Gnomie is stamped and masked before adding the background elements. 

I thought green and orange would be good colours for spring and it was only afterwards it made me think of carrots (for the Easter bunny?).

Stamps:
Pointy hat gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Say It Loud (Waltingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:

Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Copic markers
String wrapped round a cotton reel
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

So square

The lovely Shabneez is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers today. She’d like to see squares — square cards, lots of little squares as design elements, however you feel like incorporating squares!

I couldn’t really get going with anything this week so decided to add a Christmas card to the stash. Jo’s Christmas Kickstart has a green theme this month so I chose to play along there too. 

Santa’s dachshund has put on his best green sweater to deliver his Christmas greetings. He has lovely green trees in the background, too (dog masked before stamping trees). He’s on a square card with an inner square that looks surprisingly dimensional! I drew round a square die with a fineline marker then added some smudged charcoal pencil in the corners. His sweater has some squares in its pattern, too. 

This cute stamp was one of the Katzelkraft bargains I got ages ago but I’ve only just got round to using him — he made my hubby smile when he saw the card waiting to be photographed. There’s a lady in our village who has a dachshund that loves a fuss, Betty (the dog, not her owner!) has the softest ears you’ve ever felt, they’re like very expensive silk velvet!

Stamps:
Chien du Pere de Noel (Katzelkraft)
Lovely As a Tree  (Stampin’ Up)
Sentiment from an ancient set (MSE)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Charcoal pencil
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring is in the air!

Nat is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers today and she’d like to see signs of spring! Anything goes that makes you think of spring as we head into a new season with longer days and everything coming to life. 

I’ve gone floral with a lovely magnolia. I’ve never had one but always admire them when I see them in other people’s gardens, they're a very showy sign of spring! I haven’t managed to play at Retro Rubber for a while and this seemed the perfect opportunity as the current theme is spring flowers. 

I stamped with very light ink and did “no line” colouring with pencils on the lovely neutral-toned Strathmore paper. Die cut with a stitched rectangle die and mounted simply with a wide border on a white card with a fineliner run around the edge of the image panel.

Stamps:
Magnolia by Stampendous (I’ve had mine since 2018)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Strathmore Tomed Grey

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Fade Out by Ink On 3

Other:
Coloured pencils 
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Brown fineliner

Card Chain Challenge — February

I’ve  been absent from the Card Chain for a few months but I’m trying to get back in to the swing of some paper crafting so I signed up for February to give myself a nudge. My card went to the lovely Hilary so it didn’t have too far to travel.

From the options on offer I chose the colours and the theme of flowers and revisited an old Hero Arts stamp, sticking to my usual CCC aesthetic of single layer. 

I stamped and masked then coloured one bloom with pencils and the background ones with grey Copics, added some charcoal pencil drop shadow and a fine border with a marker (drawing round the outside of a die makes it easy). Then of course couldn’t decide on a sentiment, took me ages to find one I liked in the space I had!

This took a lot longer to make than it should have done, I’m definitely out of practise, but it got there in the end. The colouring is richer in real life I think, the shading on the flower really didn’t want to photograph well but time was tight and it needed to go in the post  

Stamps:
Large Striped Flower (Hero Arts)
Sentiment from an old Cornish Heritage Farms set (no long with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Copic Markers
Charcoal pencil
Black fineliner
White paint pen by Posca

Thanks for stopping by. The sign up for the March chain is open until the 6th if you fancy making and sending one card, getting a lovely hand made card in return. 

Elements for March

First Friday of the month is always an "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers — choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to kickstart your project.

This month's picture has a very serene quality. I decided that leant itself to sympathy cards and since they're rarely in my stash and you inevitably don't really feel like making one when you need it, I went that way.

From the inspiration picture I chose some of the colours, the feathers from the dream catchers, the macrame made me think of this embossing folder and I used twine to tie the feathers together. The feathers are gently edged with Vintage Photo ink. 

Stamps:
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Kraft

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Feathers
Linked circles
Nail art pearls
Crochet thread
Cropadile

Here's our inspiration this week:

Thanks for stoppig by!

Whatever the weather

Kirsty is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she'd like to see all things weather-related.

I'm hoping I’ve gone for something unseasonal as I’ve chosen snow! I know it’s been unseasonably mild just recently and I hope we’re not going to pay for it with the sort of weather we had with the “beast from the east” a few years back. That was late February…

My stash of Christmas cards was almost nonexistent for 2023 so I’m determined to try to make a few more throughout the year this year. With that in mind I’m also joining Jo’s Christmas Kickstart where Gail is this month’s elf and the theme is “out on a limb” — things you’d find on a tree. My little birdie is literally out on a limb. She has a coating of Spica glitter pen for subtle sparkle too. 

Stamps:
Merriest Christmas Wishes (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Bahama Blue, Love Letter)

Other:
Copic marker
Spic glitter pen (red)
Snowflake die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Thanks for stopping by!

Face the music and dance

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week.  I’ve chosen a music and/or dance theme — any type of music, any style of dance!

I’ve gone for the music bit of the theme. I wish I could claim my sketching skills were up to this standard but I actually did something different with a stamp! I used very light ink to stamp the image and then 2B and 4B pencils to turn it into a sketch. I think it’s worked to give a different sort of look. 

The fine frames circles die has always made me think of a vinyl record —clicking through for a bigger image might give a clearer impression why! I decided maybe she’s gone retro and raided her parents’ old record collection and placed die cuts to give her some background interest. With that thoughtful look I’m imagining she’s listening to some Joni Mitchell or maybe Carole King’s Tapestry.

Stamps:
Lost in Music (Visible Image)
Nothing to Wear (Visible Image, sentiment only)

Paper:
Bristol
Black

Ink:
Fade-out by Ink on 3
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Hero Arts Shadow ink (Charcoal, Soft Granite)

Other:
Fine Frames Circles die (Altenew)
Stitched Rectangles A6 size dies (Paper Rose)

Thanks for stopping by!

Time for Cake

Isn't it always time for cake? I’ve been missing in action for a while and the invitation to a slice of cake for Rizwana’s challenge at Daring Cardmakers seems like the perfect opportunity to return.

My stash of birthday cards is now non-existent and I know I need several in the next few weeks so the cake clearly had to be a birthday one. It’s decorated with some little beads of pearly icing and that looks like a dark chocolate ganache filling to me! 

Splattery ink and a scatter of pearl dots make for a festive feel and a nice scripty sentiment finishes it off. 

Stamps:
The Cafe (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Copic markers
Pearl Pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by, I’ll try not to leave it so long until the next post!