Time for a check up

Our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week is all about checks - backgrounds, accents, clothing patterns… there are lots of ways to add checks to your designs.

I opted for textured checks by using an embossing folder and went mixed media on this one. I rubbed a white crayon over the embossed piece (best done while it’s still on the folder as the support means you can press quite hard with the crayon) and then used a couple of Dylusions sprays. The crayon resists the spray but as you’ve generally got imperfect crayon coverage, you tend to get a nice slightly grungy effect.

The Party Puffin hasn’t been out to play for a while and I thought he’d be fun on the bright background. His crown and heart have some subtle sparkle courtesy of Spica glitter pens  

Stamps:
Party Puffin (Crafty Individuals)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black

Ink:
Brilliance (Graphite Black)

Other:
Dylusions sprays (Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime)
Checkerboard embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix - retired)
White crayon
Black fineliner
Spica glitter pens (gold and red)
Copic markers
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)

Thanks for stopping by!

Flag pole

Kathy has set the challenge for us at Daring Cardmakers this week and she'd like us to take inspiration from the flag of a country other than our own (we used this site for a guide to flags of the world).

I chose the flag of Estonia and in finding out a litte more about it, I discovered that the national bird is the barn swallow. I'm not sure mine is exactly the right type but it is a swallow so I thought it should see the light of day.

Representing a white stripe proved a bit difficult - I ended up doing a very, very light wash of colour underneath so hopefully the eye sees blue, black, white above the sentiment. The image is stamped on the card base and then again separately on Bristol and just the bird cut out and stuck on with gel glue for a bit of lift.

Maybe I was drawn to the Estonian flag because I've been listening to some Arvo Pärt recently (I'm in good company, he's apparently the most performed living composer). Spiegel im Speigel is just beautiful - if you have a few quiet minutes to spare, this version has the string part taken by cello rather than the more usual violin and I think it has a lovely, haunting almost hypnotic quality.

Stamps:
Joy (Carabelle Studio)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Watercolour
Scrap of Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Watercolors (Winsor & Newton)
Pearl pen by viva Decor (Ice White)
Copic markers
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

June’s elements

It’s the first Friday of another month so our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week is an elemental one - choose at least three elements from Rizwana’s lovely summery mood board to inspire your project. 

I chose ice cream in a waffle cone, blue background inspired by the clear summer skies and script style sentiment. As my ice cream cone is a set dated 2016 I’m also playing at Retro Rubber where there’s an “anything goes” theme at the moment. 

I smooshed blue ink onto the card base with a piece of acetate, stamped a double cone and cut it out, then decided it really should be a triple and stamped the yellow blob and tucked that in behind. Then for good measure I did the green blob again, cut it out and used glue gel to stick it on so the whole shebang has some dimension. A few stamped dots extend the background out a bit. The layering stamps do a great job but I did add a tiny bit extra shading with a couple of Copics.

Stamps:
Color Layering Ice Cream (Hero Arts, 2016)
Birthday (Lettering Range by Ranger)
Dots from Believe in Unicorns (Visible Image, 2017)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Latte, Espresso)
Jenni Bowlin ink by Ranger (Lemon Drops)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Salty Ocean, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Pinflair glue gel
Wink of Stella pen (clear)
Copic markers 
White paint pen by Posca
Corner Chomper 

Here's our insipration pic this month - click through to see what my teamies were inspired to make!

 

Link in the chain - May

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge - my card has gone to Greta in Oregon this time. 

I often do one layer cards for CCC, especially if they’re ones that will be airmailed. I followed that philosophy this time, and from the options on offer I used the sketch, the colours (sort of) and the theme of coffee. 

Making a card using only the supplies in a single stamp set is satisfying and I managed to do that here. As it’s a clear set, I even managed to curve the sentiment before stamping. The circles are inked through my trusty piece of die cut acetate, I masked the lady and the cup before using a blending brush to add the Denim ink. The coffee bean is a single image but with a little basic masking it's easy to make a group of them and I have a couple of masks stuck to the packaging so I don't even have to cut those out.

Stamps:
Tea and Coffee (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black and Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Denim)

Other:
Copic markers
Scor It
Corner Chomper 
White paint pen by Posca

Thanks for stopping by, there are still a few days to sign up for the next chain if you fancy it - make and send one card, get a card from another player!

Molly’s makeover

Today, Molly has had a mermazing makeover for Daring Cardmakers. Jenny has set our challenge and as May is apparently the month of mermaids, she’d like to see these mythical creatures inspiring our cards. 

So, Molly thought it would be fun to dress up for the occasion. She found some sea-inspired colours in her eyeshadow palette, created a seaweed tangle wig, a coronet of shells and pearls and finally projected some fish, seaweed and bubbles onto a watery background. 

Molly’s streaming hair is created with hot glue with various shades of Perfect Pearls brushed over (I used black glue as it creates a lovely effect when you put mica powders over the top). I used blue and green metallic gel pens to add some finer lines between the ribbons of glue. Copic markers, various inks, glitter, pearl pen and Glossy Accents make this a genuinely mixed media makeover for Molly!

I’m also playing again at Lost Coast Designs where the current challenge theme is “under the sea”. 

Stamps:
Molly (Beeswax Stamps)
Under the Sea (Darkroom Door)
Seaside (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)
Antique Engravings (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Hero Arts shadow ink (Soft Granite)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Hot glue (black)
Perfect Pearls (shades of green and blue, I lost track!)
Copic markers 
Glossy Accents
Pearl Pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Metallic gel pens (blue and green)
Fibres stencil (Visible Image)
White paint pen by Posca
Glamour Dust (Crystal)
Corner Chomper 

Tropical paradise

Rizwana is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she’d like to see tropical birds, animals and plants. 

I confess I struggled a bit, I’m sure I have a flamingo stamp but he seems to have gone AWOL. Then I remembered this turtle and thought he’d be a good option. I’m sure turtles aren’t always tropical but they certainly can be! It also allowed me to combine with the current Lost Coast challenge where the theme is “under the sea”.

I'm a bit alarmed that I managed to use five different stamps/sets for what is apparently a very simple card!

Stamps:
Emerging Turtle (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Bubbles border (Lost Coast Designs)
Layering Goldfish, Layering Octopus and Essential Messages (all Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Pool)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
Copic markers 
Glossy Accents
Glamour Dust (Crystal)
Corner Chomper 

Proud as a peacock

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week - I'd like to see projects inspired by the beauty of the peacock. It could be an image of the bird itself, a beautiful "eye" feather or just the gorgeous colours applied to other images.

I decided to combine with the current challenge at Let's Squash It which is asking us to create some white space while we're embossing and add some bling. 

This peacock feather is slap bang in the middle of the folder - it makes a lovely dramatic focal point but leaves little flexibility for anything else.

I managed to position a card front in the folder so that the feather is on one side, leaving plenty of flat real estate for a good-size sentiment. The slot at the top of the folder is helpful as you can angle the card by letting a corner poke through.

The feather is coloured with several media, all of which have metallic or iridescent finishes which don't really show up on the photo - please use your imagination to supply peacock sheen! My go to tiny gems add a bit extra bling.

Stamps:
Putting on the Ritz (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine (Onyx Black)

Other:
Peacock feather folder (Darice)
Metallic pencils
Metallic markers
Perfect Pearls
Spica glitter pen (Turquoise)
Nail art gems

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Link in the chain - April

It’s reveal day once again over at Card Chain Challenge - my how time flies! My card has gone to Nelleke in the Netherlands this time. 

From the options on offer I chose the sketch and the colour palette (oh, I used a die cut too!). I did try for a one layer card but I couldn’t get the embossing quite as I wanted it so I ended up cutting the embossed panel (with four “planks” to reflect the sketch) and sticking it to a card base. I used a fineline marker around the edge. The butterfly was stamped, coloured and cut out, the leaf sprig is die cut and coloured with a couple of Copics and the whole lot is assembled with some gel glue.

Stamps:
Antique Engravings, Say It All (both Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

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

Other:
Pinewood planks embossing folder (Stampin Up)
Back to Nature dies (Sizzix, I suspect they're retired)
Copic markers
White crochet cotton
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Brown fineliner

Vellum

Dawn has set the challenge for us at Daring Cardmakers this week. She says she finds vellum tricky to work with so she'd like to see some ideas.

My instinct with vellum is to go for soft and pretty so I decided to challenge myself a bit extra and see if I could do something more masculine. I ended up using it as an overlay to tone down a busy background to make more of a feature of a sentiment. 

I couldn't actually find my vellum so I used a sheet of heavyweight tracing paper - this is some that has draughstman's markings on it so I kept that part as a sort of base line for my piece.

The age old question of how to attach vellum is solved here by wrapping it round the panel and sticking to the back . I also added a few dots of glue and then used black enamel dots to hide those spots.

The background has been in my scraps box for years - it was part of a masterboard for resist techniques but I stand little chance of remembering what was on it - spray inks, acrylic paint, white embossing powder and gesso at a guess! 

Stamps:
Numbers border (Kaisercraft)
Birthday (Letter It range by Ranger)
Essential Message (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black
Mixed media piece from scraps box
Heavyweight tracing paper

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukieko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Anthracite)

Thanks for stopping by!

Book lover

Svenja has set our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers today - she’d like to see us celebrating books and reading. 

I fully intended not to use the little reader again having used the stamp for a recent dare but in the end just couldn’t resist! I did change things up a bit by adding some hand drawn pigtails. I found a piece of book text with finger-painted circles in a box of bits and used that as my background. I added a bit of Picked Raspberry ink over the open text areas and a strip of washi tape for grounding. 

I decided the reader needed to stand out a bit more against the busy background so I added some vellum circles just to tone it down slightly behind her. 

Stamps:
Story of Me (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Old book page with acrylic painted circles
Vellum

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide (Picked Raspberry)

Other:
Washi tape
Copic markers
Black fineliner
Large circle squeeze punch by Fiskars
Pinflair gel glue

Thanks for stopping by!