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 - 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!

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!

Warm stripes!

It's been ages since I played at Less is More so I decided to put that right today. This week's theme is "stripes" on a one layer card.

I chose a striped animal as the focus of my card - I love these beautiful zebras! I wanted to make something to send to a friend who slipped on the ice last Thursday, broke his elbow and subsequently had to have surgery on it. Warm colours and African animals was about as far away from ice as I could get!

I stamped the zebras, cut a mask for them from ordinary copy paper with a little Zig two-way adhesive on the back and then used plain paper to mask the strip and sponged with ink.

Just a tiny touch of shading on the zebras with grey Copic, a stamped sentiment and I called it done.

Stamps:
Zebra Pair and sentiment from Common Cold (both CHF, retired)

Paper: Smooth White

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick)

Other: Copic markers (C1 and C3)

Thanks for stopping by!

Go wild with Tando Creative!

The challenge for August on the Tando Creative Challenge blog is to Go Wild! With a prize up for grabs, why not let your own creative juices run wild and play along with us? The theme is totally open to your interpretation and you don't have to use Tando products on your entry (although if you do you'll get a double chance in the prize draw).

Kaz, Karen and Angela have already shared some fab samples with us and this week Carol and I are going wild too. You can see Carol's project as well as this one of mine here.

I haven't quite decided what this is destined to be! I might make it into a mini book cover and then again I might just give it a little stand and have it on a shelf.

I started with a sheet of the Tando greyboard which is really sturdy. I gave it a spritz with water to help the embossing along a bit and ran it through my die cutter in a Texture Fade folder. I used acrylic paints to give it the appearance of baked earth - the plains of the Serengeti, perhaps! Dark brown was rubbed all over the sheet, making sure to get well down into the embossing and once that was dry I used a sand colour over the top, keeping it just on the higher spots.

The leopard and map of Africa are stamped onto plain white cardstock, cut out and stuck over the base. The leopard's head is raised along the top edge on foam pads for some dimension.

Stamps:
Leopard profile (CHF, retired)
Map from Safari Set 1 (Tanda Stamps)

Paper:
Tando Creative greyboard sheet
White cardstock

Ink:
Adirdonack by Ranger (Espresso)
Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo and Black Soot)

Other:
Copic Markers
Tim Holtz Texture Fade - Cracked
Acrylic paints

Thanks for stopping by! You can check out all the details of how to play along in this month's challenge here - we'd love to have you play along!

Bird watching birthday

I made this card for my uncle's birthday (happy birthday Uncle John!). Dogs and water seemed about right for his interests so I pulled out this lovely stamp from the Saturday Evening Post range. I heat embossed with fine detail black for a silhouette that would resist the ink I brayered over the top for the sunset. I used a punched circle to mask the sun before brayering and then lightly sponged with the same inks I'd used for the sky. A few white gel pen highlights give the impression of the grasses and the dog's nose catching the last rays of the sun.

I kept the layout very simple and resisted adding any embellishments to leave the focus on the image and the rich colours.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Bird Watching (Saturday Evening Post line - if you are in the UK, Bubbly Funk has this stamp in stock {here})
Cursive Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Simply smooth
Black
Kraft

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Sky brayered with Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick)

Other:
Detail black embossing powder
Memento marker by Tsukineko (Tuxedo black)
Inkssentials white gel pen by Ranger

Tools:
Brayer
Squeeze punch by Fiskars (large circle)
Sponge

Thanks for stopping by!

Colour crazed

Carol and I have nearly reached the end of our white board line with Tando - just one more project to share after this. We decided to find ways to add colour direct to the board today, just to take full advantage of the fact that it's white so there's no priming or covering required.

I tried out my Copics and a detailed stamp - the board took the stamped impression nicely and the Copic ink blended fine and didn't bleed out of the stamped lines.

I know the arch is really supposed to have the point at the top but looking at it upside down reminded me of a tulip so I made a little hanging thing-a-ma-jig to say hello to spring (we finally have frog spawn here so maybe spring really has sprung). I pushed the ends of the wire into little metal beads so there was a big enough surface area just to glue them to the top of the piece.

Here's a detail shot of her face and hair so you can see how the Copics blended on the board.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Tulip Girl (Saturday Evening Post line)
Sentiment from Silhouette Blooms I (Kim Hughes Collection)

Paper:
Wavy Gothic Arch (Tando Creative - you can find Tando stockists by looking here - I know Bubbly Funk already has this shape in stock, not sure about other places)

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers and airbrush system
Florists wire
Beads
Silk ribbon
Silver acrylic paint

Carol's project is up on the Tando blog as well if you fancy seeing her colour crazed chippie too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tera firma

Carol and I decided to subject Di's chippie to some more gunkiness today - Tera paint by Viva Decor. This is a super-thick paint, more like a paste really and it takes a texture stamp nicely.

I coated my piece in Tera and stamped it then left it to dry overnight. I did find that with a piece this big, the board had warped very slightly when I came back to it (it's approximately 100mm tall by 70mm wide). I heated it gently from the back and found it flattened out again, no problem. There's a lot of moisture in the Tera and I guess the board absorbed it slightly unevenly and wasn't thoroughly dry even after that length of time.

A coat of black acrylic and some sponged Precious Metal paint finished off the base piece and then I added a butterfly stamped on metal, painted with more Precious Metal paint and shaped from the back with a paper stump. She has beads for her body and is free to wobble on her copper wire! The Flights of fancy is on a separate piece of chipboard painted black and roughly coated with the copper paint then stamped and attached with a couple of brads.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Cracked Montana Earth backgrounder
Vintage Butterflies (Saturday Evening Post line)

Paper:
Jigsaw tag (Tando Creative)
Scrap of chipboard

Ink:
Stazon by Tsukineko (Jet Black)

Other:
Tera Paint by Viva Decor
Precious Metal Paint by Viva Decor (Copper and Blue Azure)
Copper wire
Antique copper brads (Making Memories)
Aluminium sheet (Amaco)
Black acrylic paint
Beads

Pop over to Tando Creative to see what Carol's been up to as well! Thanks for stopping by!

Oriental influence

Have you noticed how Oriental influences seem to be ever-present? While many trends come and go, it seems that Asian-inspired art is never very far away. Continuing that long tradition, the Saturady Evening Post release at CHF today is Asian Portraits. Pulling together cover art from the 1920s and 30s, the set has plenty of variety.

I thought this lovely woman had a dreamy look about her so I found a web site with Japanese (kanji) characters here and printed off "dream" to make the charm here - it's hanging from a fishing swivel to give it some movement.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Asian Portraits (Saturday Evening Post line)

Paper:
Simply Smooth
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Cuttlebug corner embossing folder
Silver metallic thread and sewing machine
Nestabilities by Spellbinder (Labels 9)
Medium circle squeeze punch by Fiskars
Fishing swivel
Glossy Accents by Ranger

I blogged another couple of projects over on the CHF Be Creative blog if you'd like to see what happens when a ginger jar is not a ginger jar!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Soak away the ills!

It's the season of coughs and sniffles, isn't it? I've been having fun with some new images from the Saturday Evening Post line to make some pick-me up projects.

Masculine get well cards are even more difficult that average, I reckon - flowers are an easy fall back for feminine ones but the blokes are a bit more tricky. I think this would work though!

I was so pleased to find the sentiment fits perfectly on the end of the bath tub and I stamped the "Sorry you are ill" phrase to make a pattern on the paper at the top. A small scale Basic Grey pattern that's slightly reminiscent of old-fashioned tiling and a little Glossy Accents on the tub's feet and rim and you're done!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms): Common Cold (Saturday Evening Post line - releasing Friday 4th December)

Paper:
Prism Island Mist Medium
Simply Smooth
Offbeat patterned paper by Basic Grey

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Weathered Wood)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Glossy Accents
Paper frill (Doodlebug)
Corner Chomper
Labels Four Nestabilities by spellbinder

Then I thought it would be fun to try using the same image for something other than a get-well project. This would make a great way to present a spa treatment token or dress up a little bottle of bath bubbles or massage oil.

I used an empty ribbon spool to make the base of the tube and stuck a strip of corrugated card (found at my local pound shop - any sturdy card would do) around it. Just tuck tissue in to finish off the top.

The bubbles are doodled and have dots of Glossy Accents over them to make them shiny.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms): Common Cold (Saturday Evening Post line - releasing Friday 4th December)

Paper:
Simply Smooth
Corrugated blue

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Fluid Chalk ink by Clearsnap (Ice Blue)

Other:
Copic markers and Multiliner
Glossy Accents
Silk ribbon
Dymo label maker
Labels Four Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Empty ribbon spool

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are not in need of a get-well wish yourself but take plenty if you are!

No snowflakes or mittens!

The challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week has been set by Kathy who wants us to pull out a few of our favourite things to make a card! I've avoided the Julie Andrews route though!

So... you may have noticed I like to stamp :) I also love vintage images and my favourite colours are at the blue-green end of the spectrum.

I like lace, especially if it's vintage or "rescued" from clothing etc and I often sew on my cards as I love the textural interest it brings.

Teeny tiny gems intended for acrylic nail art tend to find their way onto my project when I want a bit of bling that's not too in your face.

Add in colouring with Copics and adding subtle pattern to the card base (in this case with Perfect Pearls over a black base, just at the bottom of the card - you'll probably have to click through to the larger view to be able to see it) and I think I'm over Kathy's quota of at least five things.

Just for good measure, I added something I don't often do but is a fave when I see it on other people's work (Kaz was the first person I was conscious of noticing it on) and that's the little tea rose threaded through the Prima.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Leopard and Beauty (Saturday Evening Post line - releasing 27th October)
Ornamental Beauty (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Simply Smooth
Teal Medium (Prism Papers)
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versamark by Tsukineko

Other:
Copic markers
Vintage lace
Prima flower
Tea rose
Perfect Pearls (Blue Patina)
Acrylic nail art gems
Sewing machine and metallic thread

Thanks for visiting, hope I managed to include some of your favourites, too!

Autumn Harvest

CHF have teamed up with Gingersnap Creations this month for an October full of challenges! For the full month we'll be throwing the spotlight on natural materials in our creations alongside the weekly themes.

The first challenge of the month is always the Chestnut Theme challenge and this month's theme is, appropriately, harvest.

I stamped the Saturday Evening Post Fall Harvest image and then coloured and cropped out just the lower portion of it (I dithered about this as I absolutely love the sweetcorn that's hanging at top right of the image but I had a landscape orientation fixed in my head for some reason so they had to go!).

I used burlap ribbon and raffia as my natural materials - the burlap came from a Christmas wreath a couple of years back. I entrusted the job of buying one to DH and he came back with a very upscale affair with dried seed heads and walnuts and stuff in amongst the evergreens - a big burlap bow finished it off so I "salvaged" that as soon as the Christmas decorations came down!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Fall Harvest (Saturday Evening Post line)
Sentiment from Fall Harvest set (All Things Considered line)

Paper: Simply Smooth
Textured watercolour for card base

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Copic markers
Burlap ribbon
Vintage button
Raffia
Sewing machine and thread

Gingersnap is a fun challenge blog with an emphasis on "no stress" and any kind of papercrafting goes so whether you're into cards, scrapbooking, altered art, inchies, ATCs, moos or whatever, why not play along and get into the harvest spirit?

Thanks for dropping by today, hope you enjoyed the card!

I believe in Santa Claus!

Happy World Card Making Day! I decided to go back to vintage for my final offering on the WCMD blog tour. If you're new to my blog, the last 12 days have all been holiday projects for the blog tour so feel free to stick around and browse for a while if you have a little time!

I think this Santa is quite possibly my favourite Christmas stamp ever! He originally appeared on the cover of the Christmas edition of the Saturday Evening Post in 1923 and is the creation of the artist J C Leyendecker. I used a cropped version of the stamp in the card I posted last Friday but I thought I'd go the whole hog and make him the centre of attention here.

I used two stamps from the Primitive Christmas set here too - the sentiment and then the snow dots which I used to make a subtle pattern on the card base by stamping off first and then stamping the fainter impression with Vintage Photo ink.

This is a larger format card (7" x 5") to really show off the image and I used Cryogen White for the subtle shimmer it gives. Copics work nicely on it too.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Santa's Lap (Saturday Evening Post line)
Primitive Christmas (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Cryogen White

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Copic markers
Labels Four Nestabilties by Spellbinder
Gingham ribbon
Sewing machine and thread

Don't forget the coupon code if you're going shopping at the PaperCrafts/CK store - it's valid until October 12th. The link and code are in the side bar on the left if you'd like them.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you get some creative time too!

Day five... still counting!

Thursday on Splitcoaststampers is Ways to Use It challenge day. I decided to play along yesterday and see if I could get in another Christmas card for the blog tour. Julia asked us to take our stamping to places we don't usually go. I found this one tough as I don't think I really have a single style to move away from but here's why I think this qualifies:

- Regulars to my blog will know I rarely work with patterned papers. I seem to have some kind of phobia and while I can spend ages admiring other people's work with them, I usually suffer brain freeze as soon as I pick one up, even if I'm only going to use it as a base layer.

- I do vintage quite often but I rarely do retro/kitsch so I tried for a bit more that feel, even though the image is vintage (it's a Saturday Evening Post cover from 1923).

- I almost never work from sketches. It's a bit like the DP problem - brain freeze! This is based on the CPS sketch this week.

- I stamp partials quite often but I rarely think of actually cropping an image to a partial. This Santa stamp is gorgeous in its entirety but I think it works this way too and it's a whole lot less colouring!

Stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Santa's Lap (Saturday Evening Post line)

Paper:
Daisy D's
Bazzill
Vellum
Simply Smooth (CHF)

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Silk ribbon
Vintage buttons
Sewing machine and thread
Classic Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinder

What do you think - did I succeed in doing something just a bit different from my "norm"?

If you're new to my blog and arrived by way of the WCMD blog tour please feel free to make yourself at home and look around - the last few posts have all been holiday cards to celebrate the count down to WCMD and if you'd like the PaperCrafts/CK 25% discount code, it's over in the side bar to the left of my blog.

Thanks for taking a look today!

Ready, steady - stamp!

Most of my UK readers will know the TV show Ready Steady Cook! There's a new fortnightly challenge blog with the same kind of format but we're not cooking, we're stamping! Each challenge features a "recipe" of five items and our stamping project must include all five items, just like the cooks must combine their five ingredients to make a meal in the cookery show. Here's the (bilingual!) list of ingredients for the first challenge. Cute is outlawed at RSS so my only domestic cat stamp was out (it's a cartoon one wearing a Santa hat) and my dogs were borderline so I decided to head for the savannah and find myself some big game! I didn't want to vandalise a book so I printed off some encyclopaedia information (from Wiki) about leopards to use for the faux batik background, making it a three column format so it would be more like the real deal. It's stamped and clear embossed with a harlequin background stamp, covered heavily with Brilliance Coffee Bean and then just lightly with Graphite Black before being ironed to remove the embossing. My third brad is a bit difficult to see as it's black on black but it is there - down at the bottom left. Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms): Cheetah (Leopard) Profile (Saturday Evening Post line) Textured Harlequin Backgrounder Everyday Petites (Mona Lisa Moments line) Paper: Premium weight copy paper Simply Smooth (CHF) Black Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Coffee Bean, Graphite Black) Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Pitch Black) Other: Tag Trio dies by Spellbinder Copic markers Brads Krylon leafing pen (Pale Gold) Gold thread Fun challege (although the brads gave me a hard time!) - thanks girls! Thanks for stopping by, hope you are enjoying your weekend! Je sais qu'il ya beaucoup de participantes françaises pour les challenge RSS - si vous voulez me laisser un commentaire, mais vous n'aimez pas le faire en Anglais, s'il vous plaît n'hésitez pas à le dire en Français! Je ne le parle pas bien, mais c'est OK pour la compréhension de commentaires court. Merci de votre visite!

Aye up, duck - are you the Summer Stamping Star?

There are new Saturday Evening Post releases today and I couldn't resist the pun in the blog post title even if it's one that might need explanation for most! I was brought up in the Midlands region of the UK where the phrase "Aye up, duck!" would translate to something very like "Hello, friend" so the flock of ducks just had to have that sentiment - lol!

I think this is a fun image with the three ducks in detail and the rest just outline sketches. I've watercoloured them and used a green metallic gel pen for their heads. If you scribble on to plastic with the pen, you can use it like watercolour to avoid indentations from the pen nib. It gives a nice sheen and is opaque enough to cover the ink colour of the stamping.

Stamps (all Cornish Heritage Farms):
Flock of Ducks (Saturday Evening Post line)
Trees backgrounder
Friend Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Smooth white
140lb hot press watercolour paper

Ink: Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (as watercolours - Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw, Walnut Stain)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (As watercolour - Stonewashed)

Other:
Green metallic gel pen
Sewing machine and thread

Now, about this contest...

Summer Stamping Star!
The hunt for a summer stamping star begins on June 29th with a fantastic prize up for grabs - all the CHF stamps released during the month of September and a one month Guest Designer slot on the team, too!

You'll need at least one CHF stamp to be able to participate but other than that you just need lots of imagination! There's a different challenge each week for five weeks with a $50 store credit up for grabs each week for the best project. At the end of the five weeks, anyone who has entered all five challenges will have their projects judged and an overall winner will be chosen on design merit and receive that grand prize - if you keep up with new releases at CHF you'll realise that a whole month's catalogue is a lot of stamps and the variety is second to none! And of course the Design Team are all lovely so a guest slot would be great too ;o)

You can check out all the details of how to participate etc in this post on the Be Creative blog. Hope to see some of you taking part!

Something Completely Different

There's a new kid on the challenge blog block - Something Completely Different (is it just me who has a Monty Python moment with that phrase?!). There'll be a different type of project as the focus each month and a new theme each week - so for example, May's project focus is twinchies and this week's theme is Wings.

I've never made a twinchie in my life but thought it might be fun to give it a go and support the blog in its first week. So, here's my very first 2x2" piece!

I've played with something else that's new, too - some Cosmic Shimmer Heat Fusible film. I cheated a little bit as I wasn't very happy with how black the outline came out so I went over it carefully with a Copic marker to make it a really dense black but the iridescent film is really pretty for butterfly wings (although a nightmare to photograph!).

I folded the wings along the sides of the body and also used a bead of Glossy Accents at the very edge of the twinchie, curved the lower wings and stuck them down to give the butterfly more dimension.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Vintage Butterflies (Saturday Evening Post line)
Nature Silhouettes (Kim Hughes Collection)

Paper: smooth white

Ink:
Stazon by Tsukineko (Jet Black)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint)
Memento by Tsukineko (Bamboo Leaves)

Other:
Cosmic Shimmer fusible film (Blue Lake)
Krylon leafing pen (pale gold)
Glossy Accents (as adhesive)
Copic marker

Thanks for dropping by and thanks for the challenge, girls!

Break out the brushes!

I've obviously had a bit of a watercolouring mood on over the last few days! I have a couple of things to share today that both use inks as watercolours and I just picked up a cute little stacked wheel palette of Koh-i-Noor watercolours when I popped out earlier today, too.

First up, a lovely new image from the Saturday Evening Post line - these images are all cover art from the magazine and I think this one is my favourite of the SEP releases so far! Aren't these lions just beautiful?

I used Adirondack Stonewashed ink for the sky - it's one of the very few Adirondacks I've found that breaks down in water and I chose it here for that reason. I thought the purplish tones coming out of the blues made for an interesting wash.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Lion and Lioness (Saturday Evening Post line)
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)
Finial under sentiment from For the Men (Rummage Bin line)

Paper: Smooth white (inked with Stazon around edge)
140lb hot press watercolor paper

Ink: Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Scattered Straw, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Spiced Marmalade)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Stonewashed)

Other: Sewing machine and thread

Then I'd been itching to pair up this sentiment and the olive branch since I got the Vegetable Harvest stamps last week and the SCS "clean and simple" challenge this week gave me the perfect opportunity. The challenge is to make a monochrome card.

I've used only shades of green - even the bit that looks fairly black on the pic is actually Versafine Olympia Green, I filled the open space of the stems by squidging a little Versafine onto an old CD and then applying it with a paintbrush. The other greens are all dye inks used as watercolours.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Vegetable Harvest (Shady Tree Studio line)
Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Watercolor paper

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Olympia Green)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Willow)

Other:
Paper piercer

Although they both use watercolour techniques, these two cards use different papers - hot press for the lion image because the smoother surface is perfect for these more detailed stamps and a very textured one for the olives as the texture gives interest to the white space of the design. For those of you in the UK, it was a bargain buy from The Papermill but it was a while back - might still be worth a look though!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed today's cards!

Celebrate spring!

Bek thought it would be fun to celebrate spring with a blog hop of some fresh and fun spring projects using our favourite spring-themed CHF stamps so welcome to my stop along the hoppity trail!

I love this little tulip girl from the Saturday Evening Post line, she's so sweet!

This is a super-fast project - a couple of score lines on a sealed envelope, selective colouring of the image, four eyelets to set and you're about done.

I followed the basic steps to make a bagalope (tutorial here if you want one) but left the top open and added eyelets and some twill tape handles to make a little gift tote. My envelope was a UK A5 size - I'm not sure how that translates for North America but it's the size you'd use if you folded a sheet of letter paper in half once. I just shredded some kraft wrap to make filling for the inside to protect a gift.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Tulip Girl (Saturday Evening Post line)
Birthday Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Paper:
Ivory laid envelope
Kraft wrap

Other:
Copic markers
Extra large eyelets by We R Memory Keepers (antique brass)
Twill tape
Crop-o-dile
Scor-It

Others hippety hopping a spring celebration are Julia, Kristine, Lisa, Sherrie and Bek, why not pay a visit for more spring fun? The Be Creative blog is on the trail too and the winners of the recent challenge will be announced there as well.

Thanks for dropping by!

Wish Big!

I had this image coloured in and had plans for it but today's Limited Supplies challenge over on Splitcoaststampers changed the direction a little. It's a "Go green" challenge to reuse/recycle.

I managed a couple of reuse/ recycle things here:

- The 'fly' is actually a single earring - its companion was lost many years ago! My aunt bought them from a guy at a craft fair who'd obviously decided that jewelry would be a more lucrative market for his fly tying!

- The card base is one I stamped and then dropped an ink pad in the middle so it went into the scraps box - it was fine for this design as I just covered it up with a big panel!

- The linen thread is not exactly reused but it was an awesome find! I got three cards on eBay for 99p that were printed with their original price - 3D! We went decimal in the UK in 1971 so this thread is most likely 40 years old and hasn't been touched so I'm counting that for the challenge too!

Stamps (all Cornish Heritage Farms):
Fly fishing (Saturday Evening Post line)
Spanish Script backgrounder
Script Essential Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Simply smooth (Prism)
Scrapblock layers (CHF)
Unknown ivory

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Copic markers
Linen thread
Fishing fly earring
Antique copper brads (Making Memories)
Oval template
Classic oval Nestabilities
Sponge

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your visits!