Oh man!

Kathy is setting today's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers - she'd like some inspiration for all the masculine cards she needs to make with the focus on the men, not the boys!

I think my make would work for teens upwards if you have a drummer or music fan in your life.

I used an embossing folder to "stamp" the background and added some shading with a Copic marker. The "happy" is glittery for an extra bit of rockstar glam!

Stamps:
Feel the Beat (Visible Image) 
Happy Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts - both bits of the sentiment)

Paper:
Bristol board
Silver glitter

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Soft Granite)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Twisted Citron)

Other:
Rays embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix, retired)
Copic marker
Black fineliner

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas already?

It's Miri's turn to set us a challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week and she's asking us to use candles.

The only candle image I could think of in my stash was in a lovely set which is definitely a Chistmas set and my brain failed to come up with an alternative use for it so it's Christmas in February! Still, making some cards throughout the year is a good thing, reduces the panic come November!

I picked up a scrapling from the pile and made a wee card with just stamps and ink. I did add a tiny bit of shading to the leaves and berries with a couple of markers but that's as exotic as the supply list got!

Stamps:
Bright Season (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Woodgrain background (Darkroom Door)
Sentiment pieced together from Festive Foliage (Waltingmouse Stamps, now available at Gina K) and Peace Stamp & Cut (Hero arts)

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black, Olympia Green)
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Sunshine Yellow)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo)

Other:
Corner Chomper 
Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by!

Link in the chain - January

The first  Card Chain Challenge for 2019 has its reveal today. My card went to Lucille in Colorado this month and from the options I chose the theme of New Year and the sketch. I started out following the colour scheme of denim, cornflower and white but none of my blue inks were quite right for cornflower so I went with a purple instead.

I painted over the clocks with water to blur them a bit with the idea they’d represent the old year receding behind the new one represented by the big numbers - not quite sure it worked but hey ho! Splattered ink breaks up the white and gives a sort of party feel, I thought! A few iridescent sequins seemed to be called for to finish it off.

Stamps:
A & P Numbers (Ma Vinci’s Reliquary, no longer with us)
Asian Garden Additions (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Time to Stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Clocks Plate 6 (Paper Artsy)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Inks:
Versamark by Tsukineko 
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Blueprint Sketch, Wilted Violet)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Silver detail embossing powder 
Corner Chomper 
Grey Copic markers
Sequins

The Card Chain Challenge has a fun community of international card makers - why not sign up for a few challenges in 2019? You get the fun of sending your card somewhere you know it will be appreciated as well as receiving a lovely card too! There are still a few days left to sign up for February here.

February elements

It's my turn to set the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week - it's the first Friday of the month so we're going "Elemental". Just choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to kickstart your project. Colour palette counts as one choice so if you go with colours, choose at least two other elements as well.

For inspiration this month, I photographed a few things from my craft room and used a chunky sweater as a background for some extra texture - picture at the end of this post if you didn't arrive here from DCM!

I chose three circles, denim texture, pearlescence, lines reminiscent of the rib knit and the turquoise/blues/greys from the colour palette and made a CAS, masculine kind of card. The "washi tape" strip is made with a stamp that is probably intended to be twill but has always made me think of denim when it's stamped in blue.

Stamps:
Pic Nic Patterns (Waltingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Fine Lines Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Happy Samp & Cut (Hero Arts - for the die cut "Happy" as well)

Paper:
Bristol board
Silver pearlescent
Silver glitter

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Broken China)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Denim, Sronewashed)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Circle Nestabilites by Spellbinder 
Corner Chomper

Here's our inspiration pic for February:

The team made some lovely things and very varied - why not hop on over for a look! Thanks for stopping by!

Colourful!

Ruth has set today's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers - she'd like to see lots of colour on our projects this week.

I'm afraid my week went rather pear-shaped so I decided I'd share this rainbow scrapling I made for a Splitcoast event last year since rainbows are about as colourful as it gets!

Stamps:
Sentiment from Wild Mushrooms by Power Poppy
Paper:
Bristol board
Smooth black
Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Other:
Umbrella Man die cut (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Timeworks mask (Tim Holtz/Alterations)
Pan Pastels and chalks to make rainbow
Spectrafix Degas fixative
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper
Black Enamel Accents by Ranger
Charcoal pencil

Thanks for stopping by!

Just stamping!

It’s Dawn’s turn to challenge us over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she’s asked us to use stamps and ink only, no embellishments, no die cuts, just stamps and ink.

Some of the team found this a real challenge but I must confess my biggest problem was deciding which stamps to use! Stamps and ink are right up my alley and I’m quite likely to make a card that doesn’t feature anything else even without being given a specific restriction! (witness last week's DCM card!)

Although I used an outline image that needed colouring, I stuck to the challenge by using ink as my colouring medium - I hope that’s in the spirit of the thing! I just squished Distress inks into the lid of the pad and used a small brush to paint the image with them.

Stamps:
Sun Ripened II (Stampin’ Up, retired)
Sentiment from. Hero Arts set

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (as watercolours, Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass)

Thanks for stopping by!

January Elements

Happy New Year! It's the first challenge of the NewYear after our wee break so today over at Daring Cardmakers is Elemental day - choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to kickstart your creation.

I chose the butterfly, grass stalk, chevron pattern and the blues/aquas from the colour palette.

I got a pack of Gel Press Petites for my birthday and had a first play here with the circle one - I just used it a bit like a big stamp to layer up the inks and then add the chevron pattern by stamping onto the gel plate itself before transferring to the paper. It made it really easy to line up the repeat pattern (it's a border stamp).

Stamps:
Antique Engravings (Hero Arts)
Thankful Silhouettes (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)
Offbeat Backgrounds (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Say It All (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Stonewashed, Denim)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Copic markers
Wink of Stella (clear)
Gel Press Petites
Corner Chomper 
MISTI 

Here's the lovely mood board we have for our January inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by!

Snow

The theme at Daring Cardmakers this week is snow - a few flakes, a blizzard, a snowman or peaceful snowy landscape - anything as long as it features snow!

I've gone retro with a bit of recyling thrown in for good measure (tomato paste tube metal is great for embossing and makes lovely metal embellishment dots if you dome out circles with a stylus). I’ve used an embossing folder that suggests swirls and some die cut flakes to finish.

Supplies:
Metal from a tomato paste tube
Retro Circles embossing folder
Gesso
Snowflake die (Waltzingmouse stamps, no longer with us)
Brilliance ink by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Memento Luxe ink by Tsukineko (Love Letter)
Crop a Dile and small circle punch
Pinflair glue gel
White and chocolate brown card stock

Thanks for stopping by!

November Card Chain

It's the last Card Chain Challenge of 2018 and my card this month has gone to Marga in Spain.

From the options for the month I chose the colours and the theme of baubles. Sticking with my strategy of one layer cards for air mailing I did some masking. Since I also chose to heat emboss that was a little bit tedious but I like the effect of the single image being made into a group.

The front ornament has clear Wink of Stella for some sparkle - it just looks a bit odd on the photo!

Stamps:
Holiday Ornaments (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukineko

Other:
Detail embossing powder (gold)
Memento markers (Lady Bug, Rhubarb)
Gold gel pen
White paint pen by Posca
Wink of Stella pen (clear)
Micro Glaze
Brusho pignment powder (Emerald Green)
Joy Stamp n Cut (Hero Arts)
Corner Chomper

There's a little Christmas break while the Card Chain Challenge folk catch their breath so there's no December challenge but if you fancy making and receving a hand made card each month, why not subscribe to e-mail updates at Card Chain Challenge so you can sign up when January's challenge goes live?

Thanks for stopping by!

Stars up above

Daring Cardmakers is seeing stars for this week’s challenge - whether it’s a single star guiding the three wise men or a whole sky full of them, let's see some stars!

Retro Rubber is celebrating its 100th Challenge with a tic-tac-toe board and I’m playing along there too. I chose the middle row: ink smooshing, confetti, die cut or punched shape. I hope die cut confetti fits the bill, I don’t have any other sort in my stash. The larger star is punched.

The dancing snowman has been in my collection since 2009 and I thought the sentiment suited him!

Stamps:
Dancing snowman (Cornish Heritage Farms, sadly no longer with us)
Sentiment from Festive Foliage (mine is the original Waltzingmouse Stamps set, the same design is now available from Gina K)

Paper:
Bristol board
Silver glitter card

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers)

Other:
Copic markers
Confetti die by Mama Elephant
Star squeeze punch by Fiskars
Black fineline marker

Thanks for stopping by!