Link in the Chain - June

It's reveal day once more at Card Chain Challenge. My card has gone to Dagmara in Poland this time.

From the options on offer I chose the themes of coffee and friendship and the technique option of embossing.

I noticed Dagmara mentions on her blog that she keeps pet rats. Having recently acquired the Katzelkraft City Rats stamp set I decided they should be the ones enjoying a coffee together. I did change the facial expression for the rat on the left -- he's usually looking rather scared. I covered up part of his face when I inked the stamp then drew in a little smile instead. His companion looks as if he's enjoying the aroma of that coffee, I just hope they don't over indulge! 

It's my usual one layer aesthetic for CCC, the embossing adds a bit of texture and there's a tiny touch of sparkle on the spoon, courtesy of Wink of Stella. The images are coloured with a mixture of Copic base layer and pencil detail and white paint pen over some of the steam lines.

Stamps:
City Rats (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Coffee and Chocolate (Stamperia)
The Cafe (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Pop Culture border embossing folders (Cuttlebug)
Pan pastel (Phthalo green tint)
Wink of Stella (clear)
Posca paint pen (white)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by! There are a few more days left to sign up for the July chain if you fancy making and sending one card and getting a card in return. All the details here if you’d like to join the fun

Round and round

It's my turn to set the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week — our theme is "circles". Feature circles or something that is made up of or contains circles on your project.

My froggy has circular puddles and a circular eye. There are even little circle elements on the stencilled strobe lines. 

I got this stamp set because I really liked the frog, I didn’t expect to use the Spanish language sentiment. A friend who has recently retired is making a concerted effort to improve his Spanish and went to Spain just before his birthday so I made this for his return — never write off a stamp is the lesson here!

Stamps:
Cosmos Frog (Stamperia)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!