Pound Shop Pretties

It's Daring Cardmakers day again and today's dare is asking us to use Pound Shop (or dollar store) finds. I hope I'll be forgiven for using Pound Shop stuff that was already in the house rather than making a trip for the dare!

I needed a thank you card and this is what happened - several Pound Shop elements going on here and hardly any stamping - unusual for me!

The card base itself is Pound Shop - my local one has packs of rigid "envelopes" that are perfect as sturdy card bases if you chop them up and nobody would ever know it wasn't sold as kraft cardstock.

The pearls came from The Works and if I remember rightly were a pound per sheet - there were the two sizes of round pearls, pointed ovals and a couple of shapes made out of tiny pearls (hearts and stars - I'm unlikley to use those but the sheet was cheap enough not to worry about it)

Quite a while ago I bought a black scrapbook (again, my local Pound Shop) thinking that black paper is always useful. However, I then discovered that the paper quality is absolutely rubbish so I tucked it away as something to find a use for later!

To make the leathery panel with it here, I scrunched it up and generally abused it until it had a nice surface texture and the fibres had broken down well. Then I spritzed it with a couple of Glimmer Mists and some walnut ink and let it dry. I used a piece of tape sheet (another Pound Shop buy!) to stick it to some cardstock for stability and then whip stitched the panel to the card base.

Stamps: My Type alpha stamps (Ma Vinci's Reliquary)

Paper:
Kraft (rigid envelope, chopped up)
Black (kind of sugar paper texture)

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo)

Other:
Pearls (The Works)
Paper flowers
Tim Holtz Alterations die (Elegant Flourishes)
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers
Glimmer mist by Tatered Angels (Copper and Antique Brass)
Walnut ink
White embossing powder
Sequin waste
Rub n Buff by amaco (Gold Leaf)

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely weekend!

Gingersnap Thank You!

Gosh, October has flown past, hasn't it? This is the last of the challenges for CHF's month of sponsoring the Gingersnap Creations blog. The challenge this week is a Random Redhead one of "Thankfulness". I decided to go for a straight "thank you" card to say thanks to the Gingersnap blog for making us so welcome as guest designers this month!

I felt like doing something completely different in terms of my style when I sat down at my stamping table and this is what happened! Inspired by Jo Capper-Sandon's sprayed background in Craft Stamper mag a couple of months back, I made a sort of ethereal background piece by putting a few hedge clippings on white cardstock and spraying with Red Maple Glimmer Mist. I overstamped with dragonflies, script text and clocks then added one cut out clock where the dragonfly wings are coloured with Spica glitter pens and the whole lot is coated with Rock Candy Crackle paint.

We've been using natural materials in our Gingersnap projects this month and I think I could have claimed that the hedge trimmings were it 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.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Botanical Bliss (All Things Considered line)
Fancy Thank You

Paper:
Smooth white
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)

Other:
Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels (Red Maple)
Birch twigs
Linen thread
Distress Crackle Paint by Ranger (Rock Candy)
Tags Trio dies by Spellbinder
Spica Glitter pens (turquoise and green)

Thanks for stopping by today, I really appreciate your visits!

Autumnal Thanks!

I needed to make a thank you card and a had a couple of things churning around in my head that got translated into this project!

Hels posted a card made with a technique using spray starch and Perfect Pearls and the Tanda Teaser challenge this week was a colour combo - russet and gold.

My first play with the starch was a bit feeble so I Googled and found a posting on a forum that made me think I should have just dumped the Perfect Pearls straight on the foamy starch rather than waiting for the bubbles to subside. Much better! Then rather than doing the embossing technique that inspired me in the first place, I decided to cut a couple of leaves as embellishments from my pearl covered piece. I used an embossing stylus to give them some "oomph" by making lines for veins on the front of the leaf and then flipping it over and using little circular motions to dome out the sections between the veins.

The final element churning around in my head was that I've been loving the way Julia Stainton uses this freesia stamp in a kind of "supporting role" way rather than necessarily making it the star of the show so the stamping on the sentiment panel was inspired by that.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Freesia
Fancy Thank You
Fine Houndstooth Scrapblock®

Paper:
Cryogen white
Black (for the leaves)

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso and Latte)

Other:
Labels Four Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Pearls by Kaiser (tinted with Copic marker)
Vintage Lace
Grosgrain ribbon
Skeleton leaves
Spray starch
Perfect Pearls (Copper and Gold)
Sewing machine and thread
Thanks for stopping by!