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!

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

Retro orchids

I’m delighted to be Guest Designer with Retro Rubber for the current challenge. It’s an “anything goes” theme this time around so as long as you use a stamp that’s older than a year, you’re good to go!

I needed a birthday card with a touch of elegance and figured orchids might fit the bill. It’s a good while since the orchid stamps came out to play! 

I stamped with pink ink, wiping most of it off the stem so I still got an impression but it was easier to cover with green pencil. The petals are coloured with white pencil which is opaque enough to lighten the base colour of the paper but still allows the pink “veins” to show through. I’d originally thought I would overstamp after colouring with the white but I liked the soft effect so left it alone.

Stamps:
Orchids (Darkroom Door, I’ve had mine since 2013)
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us, had mine since 2014)

Paper:
Strathmore Toned Grey 
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Rosebud) 
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)

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

If you need an excuse to break out the older stamps - come and join us!

Two hearts

As we’re fast approaching Valentine’s Day, Dawn couldn’t resist giving us a Valentine theme at Daring Cardmakers this week. 

I’ve combined with the current challenge at Lost Coast Designs who are in the pink. I’m not usually good with pink so I’ve tried to keep things clean and simple to help me get over the “prettiness” problem that’s the root of my issues!

Retro Rubber has the theme of love for the current challenge and as I’ve had the Hero Arts heart stamp set since 2014 I’m linking up there, too.

I smooshed a bit of Kitsch Flamingo onto the card base using a piece of acetate then stamped the first heart with Picked Raspberry, masked it and stamped the second heart with the Flamingo ink. As the smooshed ink is diluted with a spritz of water, the stamping has enough extra intensity to show up (I did use the MISTI so I could stamp a couple of times to make sure though).

Stamps:
Untitled Hearts (Hero Arts, retired — I’ve had mine since 2014)
Key Expressions (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukinkeo (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Kitsch Flamingo, Picked Raspberry)

Other:
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by!

    

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.

 

 

 

June’s elements

It’s the first Friday of another month so our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week is an elemental one - choose at least three elements from Rizwana’s lovely summery mood board to inspire your project. 

I chose ice cream in a waffle cone, blue background inspired by the clear summer skies and script style sentiment. As my ice cream cone is a set dated 2016 I’m also playing at Retro Rubber where there’s an “anything goes” theme at the moment. 

I smooshed blue ink onto the card base with a piece of acetate, stamped a double cone and cut it out, then decided it really should be a triple and stamped the yellow blob and tucked that in behind. Then for good measure I did the green blob again, cut it out and used glue gel to stick it on so the whole shebang has some dimension. A few stamped dots extend the background out a bit. The layering stamps do a great job but I did add a tiny bit extra shading with a couple of Copics.

Stamps:
Color Layering Ice Cream (Hero Arts, 2016)
Birthday (Lettering Range by Ranger)
Dots from Believe in Unicorns (Visible Image, 2017)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Latte, Espresso)
Jenni Bowlin ink by Ranger (Lemon Drops)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Salty Ocean, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Pinflair glue gel
Wink of Stella pen (clear)
Copic markers 
White paint pen by Posca
Corner Chomper 

Here's our insipration pic this month - click through to see what my teamies were inspired to make!

 

Tic tac toe on the ocean

I’m delighted to be guest designing for the current challenge at Retro Rubber. It’s one of their tic tac toe challenges this time, I always enjoy playing these. I picked the middle row: neutrals-the ocean-colouring with inks, markers or pencils. 

The shells are from a Hero Arts set that is one of my all time favourites. Sadly, I believe it’s retired now. I stamped and masked the two larger shells on toned grey paper and stamped the smaller shell separately so that I could pop it up slightly with some gel glue. I used several shades of grey and a white pencil to colour the images, masked them and sponged ink over a die cut for the net effect. The sentiment is from another favourite old set by Crafty Secrets. 

The "light through water" effect at the top is a stencil -  just ink lightly over it once and then shift it slightly and do it again.

Stamps:
Antique Engravings (Hero Arts, I’ve had mine since about 2013)
Sentiment from Seaside (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us, I’ve had mine since 2008)

Paper:
Bristol board
Strathmore Toned Grey

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Hero Arts shadow ink by Ranger (Soft Granite)

Other:
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Coloured pencils
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Netting  die cut (Marianne Designs)
Fibres stencil (Visible Image)

Dictionary day

It's my turn to set the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and as today is World Dictionary Day and I need very little excuse to celebrate words I thought we could focus on them today - a dictionary definition, book or dictionary page, or make words the focal point of your project.

After a couple of false starts (why your own challenges are always hardest is one of life's mysteries up there with single sock syndrome) I came up with the idea of combining with another challenge to help kickstart and made this.

Retro Rubber has a tic tac toe challenge and I used that to give me the extra push. I chose a diagonal of rhinestones/pearls/dots, die cut/punch and metallics. The whole card front is die cut with a stitched rectangle, the sentiment is cut with another (modified to make it a shade longer to suit the stamp).

This background is designed as a texture plate for use with a gel plate, polymer clay etc but I could see no reason it couldn't be used as a regular stamp and indeed it worked just fine! I stamped on black cardstock and used metallic Perfect Pearls in a couple of autumnal shades before doodling some details with copper and gold gel pens and adding dots of gold dimensional paint to finish.

Stamps:
Sarah's Choice (Indigo Blu - had mine since 2011)
Texture Plate 3 (Art by Marlene line at Studio Light - around April 2019 I think)

Paper:
Black
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Perfect Gold, Copper)
Gel pens (gold and copper)
Dimensional paint by Dylon (gold)
Stitched Rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose Studio)

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are keeping safe and well.

Classic (retro) Christmas

The lovely folk at Retro Rubber invited me back as guest designer this week. The challenge is red, green and white on a Christmas card and, as ever, stamps that are at least a year old.

I revisited an old Crafty Secrets set that I’ve had since 2011. I stamped the light bulb in red and green Distress inks, hand drew the string to link them then used the same inks to colour them and add a very dilute wash of colour around each bulb for the “glow” of the lights. I used a silver gel pen to add metallic detail at the top of each bulb.  The pine  branches add an extra shade of green.

The sentiment is retro too - even though this set is now available from Gina K, mine is the original Waltzingmouse Stamps set from 2014.

Stamps:
Christmas Joy (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)
Noel sentiment set (Waltzingmouse Stamps, now available from Gina K)

Paper:
Watercolour

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress inks by Ranger (Mowed Lawn, Barn Door, Pine Needles)

Other:
Fineline marker
Silver gel pen 
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by!

On Safari

Shabneez is setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and as it's World Tourism Day she'd like to see something from another country or culture featuring on our cards. Hop over to see where the DT members have travelled to this week!

I decided to go on safari - camera only, no guns! I've never understood the complusion to chase wild animals and kill them, tracking them down and taking pictures is much easier to understand!

As my zebra pair dates from 2009 and Retro Rubber has an "anything goes" challenge at the moment I'm linking up there as well.

I die cut a circle in scrap paper and placed it on the card (I find alignment easiest if I place the solid circle exactly where I want it and then pop the "frame" back round it). Stamped the image, masked it and inked the background before taking the masks away and adding just a touch of shading with a couple of grey Copics and stamping the stentiment.

Stamps:
Zebra Pair (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukinko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door)

Other:
Copic markers (Cool Grey 1 and 3)
Nestabilies circle dies to cut an aperture for masking.

Here's this week's cover sheet to share if you'd like it!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

September elements

It's the first Friday of the month so of course that means an "elemental" challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. Ruth has chosen our inspiration this month - as ever, just choose at least three elements (colour scheme counts as one element) to kick start your project.


From the inspiration picture I chose a bird in a party hat, a balloon, circles and pastel colours.

I'm playing at Retro Rubber as well where the current challenge is a sketch. I've rotated it 180 degrees. It was not until I uploaded the picture that I realised I'd stuck the square in the wrong place really - it should have been low down for the rotated sketch! I hope the challenge police will go lightly on me, sketches are out of my confort zone!

I used my trusty piece of acetate with various sized circles die cut in it and brushed on inks for a pastel dotty background.

Stamps:
Owen the Owl (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us -  Owen is at least 10 years old!)
Balloon from Happy Today (Hero Arts, I've had the set at least five years, I think it's retired)
Sentimenet from Mini Memories (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us - set is copyright 2007)

Paper:
Bristol board
Scrap of smooth black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versamark by Tsukineko 
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar)

Other:
Copic markers
Stitched frames dies (Paper Rose)
Detail white embossing powder
Crochet thread
Pinflair glue gel
Corner Chomper

Here's our inspiration if you would like to play along, we'd love to see you over at Daring Cardmakers!

Thanks for stopping by!

Splish, splash, splosh

My turn to set the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and I'd like to see everyone gettting loose and unstructured with inks, watercolours or paints - sploosh, spray and splatter to your heart's content for a focal point, background or accents on your project.

I smooshed my DOX pad onto a piece of acetate, sprayed with water and used it to add drippy ink to my card base. The mistletoe is coloured with Copics, cut out and popped up with a bit of gel glue. The berries have some Glossy Accents for dimension.

And look - I used washi tape! Not sure I've ever used washi tape with anything like success but my local Poundland recently had tubs with six different rolls in each and I couldn't resist a couple of tubs - I think this striped one from the silver/grey/white selection goes well with the stripes in the mistletoe leaves.

I'm playing at Retro Rubber as well where the theme is "anything goes" as long as it features stamps more than a year old. Festive Foliage has been around since 2010.

Stamps:
Festive Foliage (mine is the original Waltzingmouse Stamps set with 2010 copyright, the same design is now available from Gina K with a few minor differences)
Sentiment from an ancient Skipping Stones set 

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Washi tape
Corner Chomper
Glossy Accents
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

Tic tac toe at Retro Rubber

I'm Guest Designing for Retro Rubber for the challenge that has just gone live as this dragonfly card was chosen as a Top Pick - thanks Retro Rubber! It's one of their fun tic tac toe boards this time:

I chose a diagonal line and used gems, texture paste and heat embossing to make a little scrapling. I'm trying to get going on some Christmas cards since I've not been building up a stock over the year so far!

I started with a scrapling base of kraft cardstock and added some pearlescent texture paste through a stencil that's cut with a Spellbinder die. While that was drying, I stamped the ornament with a light ink and used Copics to colour it, then overstamped with Versamark and heat embossed with gold. With this image I find the little dots are small enough that if I try to Copic colour after embossing, the detail gets lost as the alcohol ink colours the embossing too. A Misti makes it easy to do it the other way though!

Stamps:
Holiday Ornaments (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us - set is dated 2011)

Paper:
Kraft
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo)
Versamark
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Detail gold embossing powder
Silver thread
Iridescent Paste by Maimeri
Stencil cut with Fancy Lattice die (Spellbinder)
Nail art gems
Corner Chomper
Misti

Thanks for stopping by!

May's elements

It's the first Friday of the month so that means an "elemental" challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. Shabneez has chosen the inpsiration picture for May - as ever, just chose at least three elements to kickstart your project.

I chose dragonfly wings, irridescent blue/green and splashy metallic gold (from the hands bottom left).

All my stamps are older than a year so I'm playing along at Retro Rubber as well where it's currently "anything goes"!

Stamps:
Poppies (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us. Set is dated 2010)
Splat That and sentiment from Big Day Today (both Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us. Sets dated 2013)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Copic Spic glitter pen (turquoise)
Flitter Glu by Indigo Blu
Mega Flake by Indigo Blu (Chariot of Fire)
Corner Chomper
Scor It

Here's the picture if you didn't come via DCM and would like to play along:

Thanks for stopping by!

Oak leaves

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a favourite at the Retro Rubber Challenge a while back and so I'm joining them as a guest designer on the current challenge which has just gone live here.

The idea at RR is to show some love to stamps that are at least a year old so it's a great chance to look back over your stash for toys you might have ignored for a while!

It's a tic-tac-toe challenge this time, see the end of this post or visit the Retro Rubber blog for the grid if you'd like to play along! I chose the middle column of the grid: sparkle-leaves-heat embossing.

I embossed the sentiment with a detail white powder and then smooshed on some ink using a piece of acetate. The oak branch stamp has acorns on it which means it always seems to be an autumnal kind of image but I thought that if I coloured the leaves green and only used part of the image it would be more suited to spring and summer. The sparkle comes courtesy of my "go to" embellishment when I want just a touch of glitz: nail art gems.

Stamps:
Oak Branch (Beeswax Stamps - I've had mine since 2012)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

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

Other:
Detail white embossing powder
Copic markers
White paint pen by Posca
Fine frames die by Altenew
Nail art gems
Pinflair glue gel
Corner Chomper

Here's the tic-tac-toe grid, why not head over and play?!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stars up above

Daring Cardmakers is seeing stars for this week’s challenge - whether it’s a single star guiding the three wise men or a whole sky full of them, let's see some stars!

Retro Rubber is celebrating its 100th Challenge with a tic-tac-toe board and I’m playing along there too. I chose the middle row: ink smooshing, confetti, die cut or punched shape. I hope die cut confetti fits the bill, I don’t have any other sort in my stash. The larger star is punched.

The dancing snowman has been in my collection since 2009 and I thought the sentiment suited him!

Stamps:
Dancing snowman (Cornish Heritage Farms, sadly no longer with us)
Sentiment from Festive Foliage (mine is the original Waltzingmouse Stamps set, the same design is now available from Gina K)

Paper:
Bristol board
Silver glitter card

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

Other:
Copic markers
Confetti die by Mama Elephant
Star squeeze punch by Fiskars
Black fineline marker

Thanks for stopping by!

Festive foliage

We have another of our challenges in the run up to Christmas over at Daring Cardmakers this week - we’d like to see winter flowers and foliage on your cards this time.

Of course the prompt made me think of my Festive Foliage stamp set so I’ve used that for a CAS design with an eclipse sentiment. I used markers to ink up the stamp and the MISTI to stamp multiple times to build up depth of colour. I used two shades of green and two of brown.

The sentiment has been given subtle sparkle with Wink of Stella and a few tiny gems add a bit extra festive glimmer.

As Retro Rubber has an “anything goes” theme for #rrcb99 and I’ve had this stamp set for at least six years I'm hooking up there and my card also fits this month’s Fan Club Christmas Challenge at Splitcoast - join us to find out how if you’re a Fan Club member!

Stamps:
Festive Foliage (mine is the original Waltzingmouse Stamps set with 2010 copyright, the same design is now available from Gina K)
Peace Stamp n Cut (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Memento markers (Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy, Rich Cocoa)
Zig Clean Colour marker (Dark Brown)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Die from Peace Stamp n Cut (Hero Arts)
Copic marker
MISTI
Nail art gems
Clear Wink of Stella pen
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas cat

Shabneez is setting this week’s challenge over at Daring Cardmakers and she'd like to see pets featuring on our cards - cats, dogs, goldfish, guinea pigs... any domestic pet will do!

I’m playing for the first time at Retro Rubber too - the idea is to use stamps that are at least a year old. Challenge #rrcb97 is a tic tac toe; I’ve used the bottom row of the grid - animal, window, circles. The cat was one of my early stamp purchases (about 11 years ago) and the sentiment is even older!

I wanted the stone wall texture in the corners of the card but the folder wasn't wide enough to send it through the Big Shot and have it cover the whole width of the card front and use "diffusers" so I used a rubber mallet and did one corner at a time.

Stamps:
Festive Cat (Tanda Stamps, long since closed its doors - stamp is 11 or 12 years old)
MSE sentiment set

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Memento markers (Lady Bug and Rich Cocoa)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Christmas Window die (Die’sire)
Dry stone wall embossing folder (Crafter’s Companion)
Confetti die (Mama Elephant)
Clear Wink of Stella pen
Gold gel pen
Corner Chomper
Misti (a great help in getting the cat in the right place!)
Pinflair glue gel
Rubber mallet!

Thanks for stopping by, we'd love to see you at Daring Cardmakers with your pet-themed cards!