Golden Santa

I've combined a couple of challenges today - Hazel's Christmas challenge this week is to "go for gold" and I used the sketch from Splitcoast Stampers' regular Wednesday challenge. I did a mirror image of the sketch provided as my Santa needed to face into the card to look right.

My background piece was made by sponging ink onto milky white cardstock and then dragging the edge of an old credit card over an ink pad and onto the panel. I used some variegated metal leaf to make a random frame round the Santa image and rubbed some Rub n Buff wax over it to blend the colours a little and make it a bit more subtly golden rather than very bright in-your-face metallic! As it is, the golden splodge combined with the glitter framing made it very difficult to get a decent photograph.

The sentiment is embossed with white powder onto a piece of metal from a tomato paste tube cut with a Spellbinder die and aged with a Copic marker and a little more Rub n Buff.

I was aiming for a bit random and worn with the glittered border but I'm not sure that it doesn't just look a bit slapdash- ah well!

Stamps:
Noel 2 (Paperartsy)
Sentiment from Season's Greetings (Technique Tuesday)

Paper:
Cryogen White

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Versamark by Tsukineko

Other:
Detail white embossing powder
Rub n Buff by Amaco (Gold Leaf)
Copic markers (Santa is slightly tinted with Eggshell, Pale Cherry Pink and Warm Grey 1)
Easy Metal by Eberhard Faber
Tomato paste tube
Fancy labels dies by Spellbinder
Sewing machine and thread
Spica glitter pen (red and green)
Fine gold glitter

Thanks for stopping by!

Say it with...

...goofy looking aliens? I'm not sure that's going to catch on as a marketing slogan.

Some of you know that I really struggle with cards for kids. I've decided the best approach is get a kick start of some sort so today I went to Kathy's Waffle Sketch file and her Say it with Flowers sketch. I wasn't sure that a little boy celebrating his fourth birthday would necessarily appreciate all things floral so I went for stars and an alien instead.

The little stars are punched, the big one and the arrow are cut freehand. The alien is stamped on the same DCWV as the top of the card with just a little shading added with a Copic and his eyes filled in with the Inkssentials white pen.

I'm still not quite sure about this - although I quite like the card, I think it came out a bit "old" for its recipient. Ah well, I guess it's as much about the parents at that age, eh?!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Little Guy (Kim Hughes Collection)
Birthday Centers (Mona Lisa Moments)

Paper:
Simply Heavy Chocolate (CHF)
DCWV

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)

Other:
Fiskars squeeze punch (medium star)
Sewing machine and thread
Fineline marker pen
Inkssentials white gel pen by Ranger
Copic markers (Putty and Tender Pink)
Sandpaper

Thanks for the sketch Kathy and thank you for stopping by, hope your weekend is star-studded!

Sketchy Ornamental Beauty

I don't play sketch challenges all that often but the mood struck me today and I decided to visit somewhere new so this card is based on Laura's Sketch 24 on the 2 Sketches 4 You blog - thanks Laura!

I've used a stamp set I got yesterday called Ornamental Beauty which is Julia Stainton's first design for CHF - I'm sure it won't be her last, it's lovely! You can click through for a bigger pic so you can see the intricate detailing on these designs - love it!

So many elements to play with too - everything here is from the set: roundel, corner scroll, border, journalling block and sentiment.

I used the roundel to make my focal point, stamping twice and cutting just the centre element from one and the full shape from the other. I've curved the edges up to give it some dimension and joined the layers with a touchy-feely velvet brad.

I wiped most of the ink away from the lines in the journalling block before stamping to give a faded out feel and make the sentiment more prominent.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Ornamental Beauty (the Rummage Bin line)

Ink:
Stazon by Tsukineko (Jet Black)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Satin Red)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Paper:
Kraft, smooth white, black

Other:
Velvet brad (Making Memories)
Lace trim (Prima Marketing)

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate you taking the time. Hope you enjoyed it!

Live Life Wisely the DCM way

Now there's a mantra we could probably all use from time to time: live life wisely! This week's challenge over at Daring Card Makers is a sketch. Here's my take on it...

When I cut my piece of twill tape for this card, it curled over at the end and I decided I liked the effect so I stitched it down in a way that let it keep right on curling!

My only change to the sketch was to tilt the rectangle at a slight angle as straight didn't really seem right with the slightly grungy feel of this. I've roughed up the edges a bit too (I just use scissors held in a V shape to do this).

Stamps: Journal Box, Time to Stamp, Aged Sheet Music Scrapblock™, Spanish Script Backgrounder (all Cornish Heritage Farms)

Ink: Adirondack dye ink by Ranger - Espresso and Latte

Paper: Prism Suede Brown dark, smooth white, ivory hammer texture

Other: blending chalk, cotton twill tape, extra large eyelet (We R Memory Keepers), sewing machine and thread.

TFL! Hope you liked it :o)

Kathy's sketch

Kathy's celebrating 40,000 visitors to her blog with a little sketch challenge.

Here's the sketch - I do hope she'll forgive the little liberties I've taken with my card. I've extended the panel on the right out to the edges of the card and used the knot of my ribbon as the circular object. Still, sketches are for inspiration, not slavish copying, right?






I've used stamps from the set I picked as part of my prize when I won the Crafty Secrets Easter Printables contest (post here if you'd like to see the card) as Kathy likes needleworky things so I thought it would be appropriate. Sadly the photo doesn't show the sparkly bits! I used a Spica clear glitter pen on the lace round the top of the bodice and it looks very pretty and girly in real life!

Supplies: Sew Special (Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps), Cuttlebug Textile Texture embossing folder, vintage buttons, Brilliance Graphite Black, Colorbox Pigment Frost White, piercer, white gel pen, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, grosgrain rescued from a pack of Dasiy D's paper swatches, waxed linen thread, Copic Atyou Spica clear glitter pen

Hope you're all having a lovely day and the sun is shining on you!

Bright Suzies

I don't know about you but I seem to have been looking at Christmas cards forever and thought it was about time for a bit of a change. Here's another card created with the stamps I got for my birthday. This one uses a sketch posted by Debbie Olsen as part of Lisa Strahl's 30th Birthday Bash over at the Cornish Heritage Farms forum.



I changed the proportions a bit and because the image was slightly too wide for the triptych to work, I've cropped the flowers to make each panel a bit narrower. I cropped each one differently for a bit of added interest. Isn't this Black-eyed Susan lovely and cheerful-looking?!

Supplies: Single Black-eyed Susan (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment from Woodware Tiny Phrases set, Tsukineko Brilliance Black Graphite, Copic Sketch markers, DCWV textured cardstock, orange grosgrain from stash, paper piercer

Thanks for stopping by!