For Ukraine

At Daring Cardmakers this week we’re aiming to fill our little crafting corner with the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag and sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine. The Internet has made the world much smaller, many of us know of crafters or others directly affected by the conflict — there isn't much any of us can do but make a small gesture to show support for the people of Ukraine.

This flower was as close to a sunflower as my stash could offer. I stamped it in a light coloured ink and then coloured with a base layer of Copics with some coloured pencil over the top.

Stamps:
Lin Brown 16 — Flowers (Paper Artsy)
Truly appreciated (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Sandal)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Corner Chomper

Please do join us if you can

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!

January’s Elements

Happy New Year everyone, let’s hope that 2021 is a bit kinder to us all than 2020 turned out to be. 

Daring Cardmakers are back from a little festive break with the first elemental challenge of the year. As ever, just choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture (chosen by Dawn this time) to kick start your project. 

I chose a bird, bokeh background and colours. I could probably count squares too since I started with the intention of making this a standard A6 card but maybe looking at the inspiration pic cast a square spell since that’s what wanted to happen once the image was painted! Hubby got me some watercolours as a birthday gift and this is my first play with them. They do behave differently than the inks I’ve been using when I’ve done watercolour style projects and I need practise but it was fun to have a little try out with them. 

The bird was stamped with a light brown ink and used in much the way an artist might use a pencil sketch as a guide. The bokeh circles might be a bit subtle, I think I’d let the paint dry too much to have much success in lifting the colour with water so I used some white watercolour to add circles over the top of the base layer. I used Gansai Tambi White Gold (another birthday gift) for a few of them so they have a slight sheen.

The current Lost Coast Designs challenge is things that begin with B - I have a Brown Bird on a Bokeh background so I’m hooking up there. If you stamp a project featuring something that begins with B why not join in too, there are always prizes on offer!

Oh, Gundi (who often takes part in the Card Chain Challnge) just alerted me to a new-to-me challenge - thank you Gundi! The current theme at Day of the Month is National Bird Day so I’m entering this card there, too. I love bird images, I suspect they’re the second most common thing in my stamping stash (after florals). Our garden attracts a great variety of birds too - DH always jokes that the pheasants know they’re safe here as we’re vegetarian!

Here's this month's inspiration picture at DCM:

Stamps:
Perching Bird (Crafty Individuals)

Paper:
Watercolour
Kraft

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)

Other:
Winsor and Newton watercolours
Stitched Square frames dies (Paper Rose)
Gansai Tambi Starry Colours set

  

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe!

Blooming!

Ruth is setting today's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers and she'd like to see a riot of flowers on the blog this week!

Irises are one of my mum’s favourite flowers so when I saw this stamp at a bargain price I couldn’t resist getting it even though I keep telling myself I have enough floral stamps! It’s a lovely big stamp, almost 6 inches tall if you use the full length of the stem.

I stamped in a very light green ink so I could do a spot of “no line” colouring, using simple masking to add two flowers, and then coloured using a combination of Copics and coloured pencils.

The little dots were stamped with gold ink and then I used a gel pen and a glitter pen to add a few extras and deepen the gold.

Stamps:
Iris (Bee Crafty)
Dots from Believe in Unicorns (Visible Image)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Willow)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate, Galaxy Gold)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Gold gel pen
Gold Spica glitter pen

Thanks for stopping by!

If you go down to the woods...

It's Enfys's turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers and she's sending us down to the woods - make a card featuring anything that makes you think of the great outdoors: camping trips, woodland walks, picnics....

I went a bit "Victorian naturalist" on this one with a little watercolour study on a clean and simple card.

I stamped with Antique Linen and used the faint lines to do some borderless colouring. It's always useful to have the index image or to stamp the image in a dark ink on scrap paper to refer to when you do this, it lets your eye see the faint imprint better somehow.

Once the mushrooms were painted, I masked them and stamped in some grass and then added a weeny sentiment.

Stamps:
Mushrooms by Deep Red
Grasses by Inkylicious
Sentiment from Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse Stamps (no longer with us)

Paper: cold press watercolour

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen and Peeled Paint to stamp, plus Vintage Photo and Tumbled Glass for the watercolouring)
Pearlescent Chocolate Brilliance by Tsukineko

Other: Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by! Do have a look at the variety of ideas from the Daring Cardmakers - lots of fab takes on this theme!

Glorious gardens

I've just managed to sneak in under the wire for this month's postcard swap on UKStampers where Jilly set the theme flowers/gardens.

We have a couple of patches of glorious poppies in our front garden which inspired my choice of stamp. They're just past their best now but we've had a couple of days where the sun has shone through the petals and really set them ablaze.

Things got a bit out of hand with my first attempt but I'd spent time colouring the poppy and liked the way it came out so I cut it out and used it, even though my original intention was to do my usual one layer job.

I found a masterboard sheet of A4 (using resist techniques) while looking for something else so I decided to use that as a base and go mixed media style. I added the stamped poppy, some rub ons, a bit of stencilling and some charcoal pencil.

I made the masterboard long enough ago that my list of supplies might involve a bit of guesswork this time but here it is in case anyone's interested in any of the elements.

Stamps:
Poppycock by Indigo Blu
Numbers border by Kaisercraft

Paper: Smooth white 

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door, Mowed Lawn)
Versamark
Brilliance By Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
White Posca pen 
Fineline marker
Charcoal pencil
Sequin Waste stencil by Tando Creative
White embossing powder
Gesso
Microglaze by Judikins
Dylusions (Fresh Lime, Vibrant Turquoise)
Rubons by Tim Holtz (Apothecary and Words) 
Brick stencil by Dutch Doobadoo


Thanks for stopping by - if you're in the UK, please remember to be especially kind to each other (actually, that applies wherever you are - kindness costs nothing - but it seems particularly important that the UK should remember it at the moment).

Anniversary olives

It was our wedding anniversary at the weekend. I chose to focus on something hubby loves (olives) rather than a lovely-dovey theme when I sat down to make a card. I hunted for an anniversary sentiment that would look right and in the end I opted for this quote - not an obviously anniversary-related one but I think it's a nice thought to celebrate a marriage.

The Mixed Media Challenge at Splitcoast this week is MariLynn's "smash" technique. I used Memento
markers in three shades of green and although I think the Pear Tart has come out as the dominant one, the fact there's a mix lends some subtlety and depth to the background. I was aiming for a sort of abstract foliage feel!

I stamped the image with grey ink and coloured with a mixture of Copics and coloured pencils. I gave each olive a tiny highlight with a Posca pen.

Stamps:
Olive Branch by Serendipity Stamps
Sentiment by CHF (retired)

Ink:
Soft Granite by Hero Arts
Brilliance Graphite Black by Tsukineko

Other:
Memento markers - New Sprout, Pear Tart, Bamboo Leaves
Copic markers
Prismacolor and Colour Soft pencils
Fineline black marker
White Posca paint pen

Thanks for stopping by!

Pastel blooms

Back in slightly more comfortable territory today after my foray into tags! I like to go back to basics with a one layer card sometimes so when I saw the current Hero Arts challenge (open through August 10th if you want to play!), I decided to play along. It's a  super-simple card with no embellishments or fancy techniques, just because the mood took me that way!

I've used the lovely Hero Arts Etched Flowers stamp and as these look like wild roses to me, I'm linking to the current Pan Pastels challenge, too (Roses are a girl's best friend).

I was lucky enough to be first out of the hat in a recent Pan Pastels challenge and part of my prize was a pan of Magenta Tint - a super-pretty shade that inspired the colour scheme for this soft, feminine card. I stamped in a really light green ink and then coloured the whole flower shape with a layer of the PanPastel to give me a base. One of the beauties of PanPastels is that it's really easy to erase if you get colour where you don't want it! I used Derwent pastel pencils (which rarely see the light of day, I'm ashamed to say) to add shading and colour the leaves and centres. It's a good idea to have an "index" image of the stamp to hand when you do this kind of colouring - it helps you focus in on the pale lines of the stamped image. I added some extra definition and "direction" to the petals with light strokes of a white Posca pen.

A quick spritz of fixative stopped me smudging or over-working the image and once that was dry I added a hint of background colour with Phthalo Green Tint and accentuated the flowers with a "halo" of blue pastel pencil. As I did a "lazy" background (ie just swiped colour right over the leaves) they ended up a wee bit too muted so I added a bit more pastel pencil. A couple of scored lines and rounded corners are my only concessions to "tools" here!

I thought the elegant lines of the Waltzingmouse sentiment went well with the delicate feel of the flowers.

Stamps:
Etched Flowers (Hero Arts)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

Paper: Hahnemuhle Bamboo Mixed Media 

Ink:
Adirondack Willow
Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate

Other:
PanPastels (Magenta Tint, Phthalo Green Tint)
Derwent Pastel pencils
White Posca pen
Spectrafix Degas fixative
Corner Chomper
Scor-It

Thanks for stopping by!

Mists and mellow fruitfulness

...and not much blogging! I don't seem to have managed very much crafting to share just lately.

We've just had one of our occasional postcard swaps on Bubbly Funk though (the forum has moved!). We took inspiration from autumn this time and I made a card for Nicky.

I used a Sheena Douglass Paint Fusion stamp set but used them just like regular stamps rather than using them as a guide for the sort of folk painting they were designed for. I had a go at "borderless" colouring - I was pleased with the leaves but not quite convinved about the berries!

I added a bit of "texture" with a crackle stamp and that was it - completely flat for "naked" posting.

Nicky says the PO franked both sides - sigh. We've had very few mishaps with our postcards so I guess we should expect the odd one every now and again!

Stamps
Sheena Douglass Paint Fusion - Berries
Indigo Blu  - Crackle Glaze

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger - Antique Linen and Tumbled Glass
Versaine by Tsukineko - Onyx Black

Paper: smooth white

Other:
Copic Markers
Uni Posca white pen

I got Dina Kowal's Borderless Watercolouring tutorial a while back and that inspired me to have a go (although obviously I didn't watercolour). It's a nicely presented, photo-rich tutorial if you're looking for a good guide from somebody who knows her colouring onions!