Explore your birthday!

I made this card for my Dad's birthday. I always find it a bit difficult as he doesn't have any of the hobbies that many 'guy' cards tend to get themed around. I thought this vintage feel made a good all-rounder! The old map pages from the Crafty Secrets Earthy Paper Pad combine perfectly with the Journey set to make a more masculine-looking card.

I cut a hole with a Nestability Classic oval die and put the stamped and coloured image behind it once I'd given it the faux burnt edges treatment. I also stamped the globe from the set in Antique Linen on the card base to give it a slightly more finished feel but I don't think that really shows well on the photo. Lisa Zappa's idea of stamping words onto the little ticket image works well even to express sentiments like Happy Birthday!

Supplies: Journey stamp set, Earthy paper pad, sentiment words from a HOTP set, Tim Holtz Distress inks (Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain), Versafine Vintage Sepia, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, Nestability classic oval die, sponge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fade away

The second challenge in Cornish Heritage Farms' Background Blitz was to use partial stamping of a BG on a project. I did a couple of things for this. The first one I combined with a competition on Crafts by Carolyn for a spring or summer themed card.



Polka dot backgrounder was partially inked and stamped at the top left. I used Michelle Zindorf's highlight/lowlight technique on the stamped swirls and the lovely flower came from Karen who slipped little packs of extras into the envelope when she coordinated a rubber stamped image swap on Bubbly Funk - thank you Karen!

Supplies: Polka dot BG,, Wishing You Sunny Days, Beautiful (all Cornish Heritage Farms), Clearsnap Fluid Chalk ink Tangerine, DCWV white core cardstock, sandpaper, white and metallic orange gel pens, embroidery thread, circle punch, fabric flower from Karen

The second one used a completely different approach - I inked the whole Woodgrain background and then used a baby wipe to remove a rough circle of ink where I wanted to stamp the bird. I used the faux burned edges technique to add depth to the edges.



Supplies: Woodgrain backgrounder and Time to Stamp(Cornish Heritage Farms), Bird Notes (Crafty Secrets), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen, Tea dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain), Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump

Thanks for stopping by, we'll be stamping on something other than paper tomorrow!

Hot n Spicy!

The DCM team have issued a group dare this week - hot 'n spicy. We can interpret that any way we like so here's mine - you can click through for a closer view...



The chilli pepper was hand drawn and coloured with Prismacolor pencils blended with Sansodor. I messed up what I wanted to do a couple of times which resulted in it being cut out and used in a different way than I originally planned! Still, I quite like the extra little bit of dimension!

I used the faux burnt edges technique (tutorial here at Cornish Heritage Farms) and I thought a stamp to say the chilli had passed the censors in Bombay would be a fun finishing touch:o)

Supplies: Weathered Wood backgrounder (CHF), Passed Censor stamp (Alluring Impressions), Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, Tim Holtz distress inks (Fired Brick, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain), Tria marker, Copic blender pen

Hope your weekend has been a good one, may the spice be with you ;o)