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!

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!

Link in the chain — May

It’s time for this month's reveal at Card Chain Challenge. There were 32 players and my card went to Joanne in California this time.

From the options on offer I chose the theme of hats, the colours and (sort of) the sketch. Owen’s hat was originally going to be on a wobble but I couldn’t make it look right so in the end it just got some cardstock scraps underneath so it’s a little bit raised. Heat embossing for the gold of the colour scheme made it perfect for adding some watercolour as the raised lines make little “cells” to contain the colour. 

Stamps:
Owen the Owl (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Versamark by Tsukineko
Hero Arts Shadow ink (Soft Granite)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Watercolour paints (Winsor & Newton)
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Gold detail embossing powder

There are still a few days to sign up for June’s chain if you fancy spreading some crafty joy around the planet. 

White out

It's time for a new challenge at Daring Cardmakers and we have another in the series of one word prompts in the run up to Christmas. This week’s word is WHITE. 

I’m combining again with Let’s Squash It (any embossing folder on a Christmas card) and Die Cut Divas (where this month anything goes with a die and/or embossing folder). 

My mostly white card features embossed snowflakes and Snowy Sophie who has just a touch of colour. I had some white on black computer-generated sentiments left on my desk from last week’s card so I used another one here. 

I've lent most of my Christmassy embossing folders to my dad but forgot about this one as it was in my pile of "not yet used stuff" rather than in the Christmas box - sorry Dad!

I ran a line of pearl paint pen round the outside of the die cut embossed rectangle and poured glitter on it. Sophie is cut out (I redrew her arms onto the card with a fineliner so I didn’t have to cut out the fiddly bits) and given a sparkly snowdrift to nestle into using the same paint and glitter. 

Stamps:
Snowy Sophie (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Snowflakes embossing folder (Darice)
Glamour Dust by DecoArt (Crystal)
Pearl Pen by DecoArt (Ice White)
Black fineliner 

Into the woods

Miri is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — she’d like to see woods and forests represented in some way. I decided to combine with the current challenge at Lost Coast where the team would like to see at least three stamps being used on our cards. 

I stamped the trees background directly onto the card base and brushed on a little ink in blue shades, stamped and cut out the owl and tucked him behind a die cut frame (black card dusted with Perfect Pearls in autumn shades). I coloured the card outside the frame with a black marker and added oak leaves cut from a larger stamped image. I was aiming for foreground with leaves then owl, background with bare trees but I can’t quite convince myself the oak leaves look right — maybe it will grow on me!

Sorry the photo looks a bit washed out, it was the best I could manage on a particularly dreary morning here in Northumberand. Hopefully any owls around here have good shelter - apparently they're not waterproof!

Stamps:
Trees backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Oak branch (Beeswax Stamps)
Twit Twoo (Indigo Blu)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate, Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers)

Other:
Stitched square frame die (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Heirloom Gold, Bronze, Copper)
Black Fineliner

Cake and candles

I’m combining challenges again today! Shabneez has chosen our theme at Daring Cardmakers and as she has lots of family birthdays to celebrate in August, she’d like to see birthday card ideas featuring candles and/or cake.

Let’s Squash It’s challenge of a shaped card combined with any embossing folder is ongoing so I decided to play again there — the cabinet card shape I made last week was looking very lonely in the challenge gallery until the lovely Robyn joined me on Wednesday but I'm sure Jo and Gail would love to see a few more shaped cards!

I kept the shape really simple this time, using the largest die from a really old Spellbinder set, but it still looks a bit different than your regular straight edges. Wafer thin dies tend not to want to go through two layers of base weight cardstock — I ran the folded base through the machine once which cut the top layer and made a good indentation in the bottom one. You can then flatten it out and use the indentation to reseat the die and place your top plate so it lines up along the fold of the card to make sure you don’t cut more than you intended. I then die cut a full front out of black cardstock, embossed it, dry brushed with metallic acrylic paint and stuck to the card base. 

The cake is stamped, coloured with Copics and fussy cut then stuck on with gel glue with a glittery gold frame to spotlight it. The sentiment is cut with a small rectangle, modified make it longer.

I realised when dry brushing the card front that there is even a cake with candles (top left) in the embossing so it’s double cake all round!

Stamps:
The Cafe (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Sentiment from Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black
Gold glitter

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Birthday embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Copic markers
Labels 8 dies (Spellbinder)
Fine frames die, circle (Altenew)
Stitched rectangles A6 size (Paper Rose)
Espresso metallic paint (DecoArt)

August's elements

Nat has chosen the mood board for our "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — as ever, just chose at least three elements to feature on your card.

I chose the woodgrain, yellow flower and striped ring. I cut an extra flower head and layered it behind the main die cut, slightly offset, and curved the petals on the front one for a bit more dimension. 

Retro Rubber has an “anything goes” theme for the current challenge so I’m linking up there too. My woodgrain stamp has been well loved since being added to my stash around 2008!

Stamps:
Woodgrain backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Buff

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo)
Momento Luxe by Tsukineko (Espresso Truffle)

Other:
Wildflower Stems dies (Time Holtz/Sizzix)
Stitched rectangle dies (Paper Rose)
Circles Nestabilities
Gold paint pen
Copic markers

Here’s the inspiration picture for August

Clean and simple in the snow!

Enfys is setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and she’d like to see clean and simple designs, lots of unpatterned, untextured white space. 

When I saw that the challenge this month at Let’s Squash It is “keep it CAS” I couldn’t resist combining. As I decided to cool off a little by imagining snow, I’m entering Jo’s Christmas Kickstart challenge too where snowfolk are the order of the day. 

I did start off with a (homemade) embossing diffuser to emboss the snowflakes directly onto the card base but things didn’t quite work out as intended so I ended up with a die cut circle that I embossed and stuck on. The little dancing snowman is stuck on with gel glue and his banner has the tiniest sliver of cardstock for an upright. I drew a silver gel pen circle round the embossed area, rounded a corner and called it done.

Stamps:
Dancing snowman (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Sentiment from a magazine freebie set

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Ice Crystals embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Corner Chomper
Circle Nestabilites

May elements

It’s the first Friday of the month so that means an “elemental” challenge at Daring Cardmakers. My turn to set it and I put together something for inspiration that I hope has a late spring vibe about it. 

For my card, I chose a flower (it’s slightly tulippy!), smooshed Oxide ink for a background that I hoped might be a bit reminiscent of the wrinkles of the fabric, musical score, glassy domes and some of the colours. I stamped the flower directly on the card base and then again on a scrap, coloured and cut out the head to stick over the base, raising the top just very slightly with some scraps of card.

I decided I’d like my glossy dots to be green, as the glass pebbles are in the photo. Not having any clear green dimensional gunk, I drew dots with a green Copic then added Glossy Accents over the top.

Stamps:
Aged Sheet Music scrapblock (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Creative Chaos (Visible Image)
Happy Stamp n Cut and Essential Messages (both Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Memento by Tsukineko (Bamboo Leaves)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Copic markers
Glossy Accents
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely weekend!

Link in the chain — April

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge — mine went over the Pond to Linda G this time. 

From the options on offer I chose the sketch (mirror image because my stamp faces right) and the theme of “wild” as it gave me the chance to use this lovely leopard stamp that hasn’t had an outing for quite a while. He’s from the Saturday Evening Post line that Cornish Heritage Farms had and is based on a cover from 1931. 

The sentiment in the sketch really is there, I chose to do an eclipse one and the leopard’s spots do an excellent camouflage job on it!

Stamps:
Leopard Profile (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo)

Other:
Rays stencil (Visible Image)
Copic markers
Hello die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

There are still a few days to sign up for the May chain if you fancy it - you just need to make and send one card, get a lovely handmade card from the next person in the chain! Sign up is here.

Link in the chain — March

Ooops, I missed reveal day at Card Chain Challenge - meant to post this yesterday! From the options for March I chose the theme of farm and the colour palette and made a one layer card that went to Marga in Spain. 

Bossy the Cow was one of the very first stamps I owned. I just checked back and she’ll have been in my collection 15 years come September! I’m not sure she’s ever been a brown and white cow before though. I stamped her with Coffee Bean ink and then coloured her eyes and hooves with a black fine liner.  She has a bit of grass to stand on, a touch of Copic colouring, a sentiment and my usual rounded corner and that’s about it. 

Stamps:
Bossy the Cow (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Totally Toadstools (Visible Image)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Coffee Bean, Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress inj by Ranger (Mowed Lawn)

Other:
Copic markers
Black fine liner
Corner Chomper 

Keep moving...

I managed to get some work done a bit faster than expected today so that meant I was able to get this idea out of my head and onto paper just before the end of the current challenge at Lost Coast Designs where the theme is Steampunk/Vintage.

I thought I was going to have to sit this one out but while trying to get to sleep last night I remembered this emobssing folder and thought it would probably do a lot of the work for me - I made this in about 40 minutes which is incredibly fast for me! Remembering I had an Einstein quote in my stash of stamps meant I didn't faff around trying to make a quote with die cuts or alphabet stamps etc, too!

Einstein was stamped on Kraft card and I thought it would be fun to give him his famous shock of white hair with fairly rough and ready strokes of a white paint pen. He's cut out and stuck on with a bit of gel glue for some lift. The background is the same Kraft card, embossed and then inked with brushes and some gold ink swiped directly from the pad over the high spots.

Stamps:
Einstein (Carmen's Veranda)
Bicycle Life (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Recycled Kraft board envelope (well known online retailer!)
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo) and Oxide (Evergreen Bough)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Delicata by Tsukineko (Golden Glitz)

Other:
Uber embossing folder (Couture Creations)
White paint pen by Posca
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Pinflair gel glue

Link in the chain - January

It's reveal day over at Card Chain Challenge for the first chain of 2022.

Mine went to Pia in Norway this time. From the options on offer I chose the theme of "new" by making a card to toast the new year and used the sketch too. I stuck to my preference of one layer cards for CCC, using masking and adding a bit of drop shadow with markers.

Stamps:
Champagne Celebration (Crafter’s Companion)
Time To Stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

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

Other:
Gansai Tambi watercolours (Starry colours pallette)
Copic markers
Cressida stencil (Memory Box)
Typewriter font alphabet dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)

Thanks for stopping by! Sign up for the February chain is open for a few more days if you fancy joining in: here

Very superstitious

Hello, my turn to set the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and as it’s Friday the 13th I thought we’d take inspiration from superstitions this time. No need to try to represent the superstition itself (although you could if that's the way the muse takes you!), just pick an element to use on your card (see the blog for more details!).

Spoiled for choice I considered shoes (don't put new shoes on the table), a monkey with a banana (don't take bananas on board a boat) and various others before settling on a very old superstition - apparently women in Ancient Britain often carried an acorn in a pocket in the belief it would keep them looking young. A lot cheaper than all the anti-aging products around these days! 

I chose to make a clean and simple scrapling and to throw the acorns into the spotlight a bit more, I stamped a second image on a scrap of cardstock, cut out just the acorns and used a bit of gel glue for some lift.  

As I chose an older stamp I’m playing along at Retro Rubber too as there’s an anything goes theme for the current challenge. 

My teamies have been knocking on wood, encountering black cats, umbrellas and horseshoes - check out the blog for more superstitious inspiration!

Stamps:
Fall Harvest (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us - set dated 2009)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Vintage Sepia)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers 
Coloured pencils
Pinflair glue gel
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by, I hope life is being kind to you.

 

 

 

Sunglasses weather

Miri's chosen the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and it’s a perfect one for the weather we’re having at the moment - feature (sun) glasses on your card!

I’m still revisiting old stamps - this little fella made his debut in 2010! He’s Copic coloured, cut out and popped up over the stencilled background. I gave him a grounding shadow, coated the die cut sentiment in some Enamel Accents for a glossy, dimensional look, rounded one corner and called it done (other than dropping it face down and having to fix the Enamel Accents, that is!). 

Stamps:
Cool Dudes I (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Jenni Bowlin by Ranger (Lemon Drops)

Other:
Copic markers
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Phrases dies (Spellbinder)
White enamel accents (Ranger)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Gnome for Christmas

There are plenty of Christmas in July challenges around at the moment - as I was lucky enough to win some stamps from Lost Coast in a recent challenge I thought I should try to play along with theirs using part of my prize! Although I haven’t played at Less is More in several years, I still check out the challenge every time so I’m going to link up there too!

I chose Pointy Hat Gnome as one of my prize stamps so I thought I should ink him up sooner rather than later and dress him in festive colours so he could play along. He's decided to go into the lucrative business of Christmas tree sales this year and is looking forward to the smell of fresh pine resin as people saw through the skinny trunk of thier chosen tree!

This is just simple stamping and masking, colouring with a few Copics and some little wiggles of dimensional pearl paint around the base of the sign and below his feet to suggest some snow - light and flat for easy postage!

ETA: just realised I left a strip of tape over the lower portion of the post after inking so if you’re seeing a slightly weird line down his mitten, imagine it gone now! I hand drew that bit of the sign as the original didn’t have a long enough stem so I couldn’t cut a mask from the stamped image for that bit. Funny how a it takes a photo to show up an imperfection sometimes!

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Bear Hugs and Vintage Winter Signage (both Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukinko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

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

 

Tropical paradise

Rizwana is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she’d like to see tropical birds, animals and plants. 

I confess I struggled a bit, I’m sure I have a flamingo stamp but he seems to have gone AWOL. Then I remembered this turtle and thought he’d be a good option. I’m sure turtles aren’t always tropical but they certainly can be! It also allowed me to combine with the current Lost Coast challenge where the theme is “under the sea”.

I'm a bit alarmed that I managed to use five different stamps/sets for what is apparently a very simple card!

Stamps:
Emerging Turtle (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Bubbles border (Lost Coast Designs)
Layering Goldfish, Layering Octopus and Essential Messages (all Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Pool)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Copic markers 
Glossy Accents
Glamour Dust (Crystal)
Corner Chomper 

April elements and a link in the chain!

It’s the first Friday of a new month so it’s an elemental challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. Jenny is providing our inspiration picture this month - as ever, just choose at least three elements from it to kickstart your project. 

I chose a typewriter, script writing, hearts and the word “love” to make a clean and simple card. I added a touch of Glossy Accents to the tiny wee die cut hearts and used glue gel under the typewriter so it has just a bit of lift. The GA proved very reflective when I did the photo this morning!With hindsight I think I’d have been happier without the grey inking along the base of the card but you live and learn!

Stamps:
On the Desk (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Sarah’s Choice (Indigo Blu)

Say It Loud (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Red

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

Other:
Confetti die (Mama Elephant)
Pinflair gel glue
Corner Chomper
Glossy Accents by Ranger

It's also reveal day over at Card Chain Challenge - my card went to Renate in The Netherlands this time. 

From the options on offer for March I chose the colour scheme of flamingo pink, sea green and sunshine yellow (I don't think I'd have ever put these together without prompting), women and friendship. Simple stamping and colouring, then a bit of masking over the show girls to create the sunburst background with a stencil. I used a fineline pen to create some grounding.

Stamps:
Show Girls (Lost Coast Designs)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Sunshine Yellow)

Other:
Copic markers
Strobes Stencil (Visible Image)
Black fineliner

There's still time to sign up for the April chain if you'd like to make and send a card and receive one in return, it's a friendly challenge with a lovely bunch of crafters.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring is in the air

Kathy is feeling the joys of spring over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she'd like to see us saying hello to the new season.

I'm still in clean and simple mode and still enjoying targeted raids on older supplies. The stamp set that contains this cute duckling is from 2010! So, as Retro Rubber have an "anything goes" theme at the moment I'm hooking up there too.

This would have been a one layer card except that I messed up stamping the sentiment so I cut a little banner to stick over the top. Probably a happy accident as I like the detail of the pierced edges, fishtail and pearl dots that prompted me to add.

Stamps:
Spring Chicks and More (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol Board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Corner Chomper
Tracing wheel
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)

Thanks for stopping by!

Link in the chain - February

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge. Mine went to the lovely Gail in Norway this time. Once I saw that one of the themes was polar bears and my mind went to this stamp (which probably hasn’t seen ink for the best part of a decade) I couldn’t seem to work in any of the other options. Never mind, one is all it takes to play!

The bears are stamped on grey paper and coloured with pencils - I think I succeeded in making the edges of the image disappear somewhat (the lines of the water stop rather abruptly). There’s a touch of sparkle on the water courtesy of Wink of Stella and an eclipse sentiment and that’s about it. 

I’ve just (re)listened to the Philip Pullman Northern Lights trilogy on Audible so of course I was imagining these bears donning their armour as I made the card! Would have been totally appropriate for its destination since they’re Svalbard bears but I’m not sure I’m up to drawing armour made of sky iron so they remained unclad (apologies if that whole paragraph meant nothing to you!).

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pair (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Strathmore Toned Grey

Ink:
Hero Arts shadow ink by Ranger (Soft Granite)

Other:
Spellbinder Phrases 1 dies
Coloured pencils
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Clear Wink of Stella pen

There are still a few days to sign up for the next chain if you fancy it - make and send one card, get a card from the next person in the chain. Details here.

Thanks for stopping by!