I'm really not managing much crafty time at the moment so a postcard was perfect for me to squeeze into a half hour of inkiness.
Glimmer Mist spritzed and then deliberatley splattered onto black card for the background, image stamped and coloured with Copics. There's subtle stamping on both the large rectangular panel and the green strip. I've substituted a row of gems where there's a title on the sketch - I did try a sentiment there but it didn't look quite right.
dozen freshly baked muffins, a night of babysitting etc).
Welcome to Week Three of CHF's summer fling! Full details of the fling are here if you're not sure what I'm talking about!
We're focusing on the All Things Considered line of stamps this week. Now, as their name might suggest, they're perfect for ATC projects but they're versatile enough for all kinds of other stuff too!
If you stopped by on the Be Creative blog earlier, you'll have seen one card I made with the Key Elements set already. I thought it would be fun to do a second card using the same set in a totally contrasting style!
(Note for my regular visitors - you know how much I struggle with patterned paper: if you want proof that I'm tackling the phobia, the card on the Be Creative blog is probably as good as it's going to get!)
This is a scrapling (a card made from the bit you trim off a standard size sheet when you make a square card) and I've kept it clean and simple. I think this would make a great new home card, perhaps for somebody getting his first bachelor pad!
I stamped the key onto a 1" strip and then cut it up to make three inchies. I sponged around the edges and then stuck them to some black card stock to make a narrow border. I stamped the text stamp over the key and then stamped it again on the base card, using a stamp positioner so that everything would line up when I stuck the key panel in place.
Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Key Elements (All Things Considered line)
Paper:
Smooth white
Simply Linen black
Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
I've been away on my holidays so I'm only just managing to sneak in on the very last day of the current Ready Steady Stamp challenge. Nefertiti has set the ingredients and they're quite tricky!
The embellie made out of punched shapes was my biggest challenge as I don't own very many punches so my options were limited.
For the fabric, I stamped the ladies on a piece of silk, coloured the dresses and then stuck the piece to some double sided tape sheet before cutting out just the dresses. I stuck that piece over the same image stamped on plain card and coloured with Copics. I hope you can see the texture and sheen of the silk on this detail shot.
When I think of Paris, I think of all sorts of things, one of them being fashion! I pulled out the "Haute Couture" set and went for a sort of vintage, sepia kind of look and a collage stamped approach with some masking and some stamping off to vary the colour intensity.
So, back to mica shifting. Metallic or pearl polymer clays contain mica particles. Some bright clayer worked out that if you condition the clay so that all the particles line up and then disturb them by pressing into the clay you can get a pattern that looks 3D even though it's completely smooth to the touch. I thought woodgrain would be the perfect pattern for experimenting with!
I was trying for a rich and opulent look here - mums deserve a little luxury every now and again, don't you think? I used gold acrylic paint on the inchies and dry brushed a tiny bit of black on there to give a sort of aged, speckled appearance to the background. The poppies are coloured with Copics - it's a single stamp that was masked and repeated to give me two blooms on the design. I picked up a tiny bit of gold paint on my fingertip and rubbed over the Cuttlebug embossing as well. The base layer has a couple of the stamps from the set stamped in black on the chocolate brown for some subtle pattern.
I've gone shabby chic with this latest release, Vintage Chintz. I decided to play up the fabric connection by using the faux linen technique. This is an easy way to add texture and variation to a stamped piece - just stamp on glossy cardstock and then use sandpaper first vertically and then horizontally to create the linen "weave". Sponge on a lighter ink colour to provide extra variation and interest.
Of course the fashionista ladies seemed like a perfect choice for a fabric-inspired piece! I love this sophisticated pair.
Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Vintage Chintz Backgrounder (releasing Friday 29th January)
Haute Couture (All Things Considered line)
Paper:
Glossy cardstock by Ranger
Simply Smooth Vanilla (CHF)
Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso, Latte)
Other:
Copic markers
Nestabilities by Spellbinder (Labels Four)
Paper flowers
Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels (Coffee Shop)
Glitter and velvet brads (Making Memories)
Vintage lace
Hope you're having a great weekend, thanks for taking the time to stop by!
that come in their own sachets are best for this and they're bulky and light enough that the belly band holds it all together tightly enough that they won't slip out, even though they're pointing downwards.
blog for making us so welcome as guest designers this month!
but I decided to push it a bit further and found some birch twigs for a more dimensional effect (we have lots of birch trees and the wind we had at the weekend meant finding twigs on the ground was not difficult!). I've hung the tags directly on the twigs using linen thread.
as I did last week (this post) I've used it to make a background paper by stamping off onto scrap and then randomly stamping the fainter impression onto Cryogen White cardstock (which has a lovely soft shimmer to it that's impossible to catch on camera - so pretty for Christmas cards!).
Thanks for the kind comments on the Kinkade gift card holder. I fed all the eligible names into Random.org (sorry teamie Jean, you have the papers already!) and asked it to shake up the list. The name it gave me on top was maiahs_momma - congrats Catherine! I'll get your papers off to you ASAP.
I thought I'd go for a "winter" card rather than necessarily a Christmas one this time and the Evergreen Holiday set (designed by Becky Olsen for the All Things Considered line at CHF) seemed perfect.
Here's a Post-It Note cover which is very quick to make and would make a handy little pad for reminders around the kitchen. It uses two stamps from the Can It set.
Speaking of "no reason" kind of cards and quick projects - here's a clean and simple project that showcases an image and a sentiment from the Fall Harvest set.
I thought it would be fun to use the new School Primer set to make something that wasn't school related. A little visual word play makes for a fun design to let someone know you think the world of them.
This is me! As soon as I saw this stamp I knew it would end up as a self portrait of some sort ;o)
These are regular common or garden microscope slides (1" x 3") turned into ornaments for the tree with the help of some stamps, some copper foil tape and some wire. I'm a total novice when it comes to wire work so I was pretty happy with the way this turned out (although I did end up with blood blisters on the tip of my left index finger - I think I must have nipped it with the pliers without noticing!).
What I didn't want to do was get into the whole soldering thing that usually goes along with microscope slide art. It looks lovely but I'm really not sure about the fumes that come off that stuff - I well remember the smell of soldering from my dad and brother doing electronics projects when I was a kid! So I just wrapped the edges of my slide "sandwich" with copper tape (this narrow stuff is often sold for doll house enthusiasts to do the circuits round their tiny houses) and used Superglue to attach jump rings to the backs of the pieces. I even made the jump rings so they'd be the same copper as the rest of the wire work - I'm feeling quite proud of that little achievement :o)
If you didn't want to do the wire work, these would be just as pretty with a chain loop or a ribbon hanger - the sort of narrow silk ribbon sold for ribbon embroidery would give them that touch of vintage opulence!
This last one is my favourite, I think! I love the elegant shape of the cone and the teeny tiny conelets at the tip of the branch!
