Creature comforts

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week. As we’re approaching winter, I thought we could dress up some of our furry or feathery friends to help them stay warm and cosy.

I’ve seen this set of polar bears around and admired cards made with them for some time now so when I saw somebody having a crafty clear out on a well known auction site, I put in a bid and got them!

The little bear was stamped and masked, then the bigger one stamped behind him. I used grey ink for a softer outline and watercoloured them, then used a fineline marker to fill in eyes and noses. I gave the scarves fringes too, just because I could. A little flurry of enamel accent dots gives them a snow shower to enjoy.

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Paper:
Watercolour

Ink:
Hero Arts Shadow ink (Soft Granite)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Watercolour paints (Winsor and Newton)
Enamel Accents by Ranger
Fineline marker
Stitched Rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)

Thanks for dropping by!

Super scary season

As we’re approaching Hallowe’en, Rizwana would like to see some scary ghosts, witches, bats, spiders etc for this week’s challenge at Daring Cardmakers. Traditional green and purple welcome but branch out if the mood takes you that way!

I always say I don’t have any Hallowe’en stamps, so when I won a prize from Lost Coast Designs a while ago, I chose a stamp that might fit the bill! I think this raven would have done Edgar Alan Poe proud so could have gone for “Nevermore” but decided to leave it with no sentiment. I did play around with a sentiment strip but I liked it better without. LCD have their usual October 31 Days of Hallowe’en challenge running so I’m linking up there too. 

Stamping, masking, ink blending over a torn paper edge and a touch of Copic colouring is as complicated as things get here. I did doodle a border and splatter some white gold watercolour as finishing touches.

Stamps:
Goth Raven  (Lost Coast Designs)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink  by Ranger (Dusty Concord) and Oxide (Wilted Violet) 

Other:
Copic markers
Gansai Tambi Starry Colours paints
Fineline marker

Big on backgrounds

It’s Nat’s turn to set our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she’d like us to bring backgrounds into focus — stamp it, stencil it, blend it, whatever takes your fancy. 

I remembered that the current challenge at Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero is “merry everything” and decided to play there too. I used a background stamp for a light and flat, easily mailed festive card. I stamped the stripes, added a double layered die cut “merry” and stamped again to get a sort of eclipse sentiment without cutting into the base layer. The stamp is square which gives the opportunity for a quick composition with interest on a standard rectangle card base. I did doodled lines to close off the top and bottom of the square. 

The completion of the sentiment is heat embossed in white then swiped with the red ink to match the stripes. A few of the stars from the set are heat embossed in gold for embellishments and I added some Glossy Accents on the die cut word and that’s about it.

Stamps:
Canvas stripes  (Hero Arts)
Merry Stamp n Cut (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)
Versamark by Tsukineko 

Other:
Gold detail embossing powder
Glossy Accents
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Fineline marker
Copic markers
Gel glue

Autumn leaves

Time for a new challenge at Let's Squash It  and I’m delighted to be joining Jo and Gail as Guest Designer again this month. 

The theme this time is trees and/or leaves. I did a bit of both with trees on the embossing folder and die cut leaves for good measure. This little chap had a wintery adventure at this woodland spot last year, padding through snow between the trees — I thought it might be fun to give him some crunchy autumn foliage to kick up this year! I inked a piece of card with a few Distress inks then die cut the leaves to put under his feet.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Sentiment from Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade)

Other:
Woodland embossing folder (Stampin’ Up!)
Leaves dies (Impression Obsession)
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Fineline marker
Copic markers
Gel glue

Why not break out an embossing folder and something with trees or leaves and come join the fun, there’s always a little prize on offer for a randomly chosen winner at Let’s Squash It and it’s always a lovely bunch of crafters taking part!

Oh, and with his drift of autumn leaves and backdrop of tree trunks, Gnomie thought he should enter the Four Seasons October challenge, too!

October elements

Shabneez has chosen our mood board for October's "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week. As ever, just choose at least three elements to kickstart your card.

I chose the brick wall, a skinny circle (inspired by the rims of the things bottom right — I think they’re aerosol cans but I’m not 100% sure!) and some leaves. 

I decided to combine with a couple of other challenges too. The current Die Cut Divas theme is watercolour — I did the bricks by colouring an embossing folder with a couple of Momento markers and pressing a piece of watercolour paper onto it. I got a better impression on the test piece I did — typical! It still gave me a starting point, with a brush and a mixture of Distress inks and watercolour paints I ended up with a reasonable wall. I also watercoloured the die cut leaves.

An old friend from the days of Crafty Secrets being a sponsor company at Splitcoast is co-running a challenge based on the Four Seasons — I thought this fit the bill for autumn so I’m linking up for the October challenge there too.

Supplies:
Watercolor paper
Brickwork embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Momento markers
Winsor & Newton watercolour paints
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Leaves dies (Impression Obsession)
Fine Frames dies (Altenew)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Rusty Hinge)

Link in the chain - September

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge — mine has gone to Tina in Slovenia this time. 

From the options on offer I followed the sketch and used the theme of something beginning with or containing the letter Z. Pizza seemed like a good fit all round!

It’s my usual one layer card for CCC — I stamped and masked the pizza then masked the edges with low tack tape, cut some very narrow strips of the same tape to divide the area in to four and another strip for the sentiment. I inked the central area then inked more heavily over a stencil to give the pizza some pizzazz! Remove all the masking, add a touch of Copic colouring, stamp a sentiment and call it done. 

Stamps:
Discover Italy: Food/Menu (Scrapberry)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired) 

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger  (Peacock Feathers)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Copic markers
Strobe stencil (Visible Image)

Be Happy!

Shabneez is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — she’d like to see something featuring the word happy. I did have plans to make something with “happy” being a more prominent feature but things didn’t pan out that way.

This was made for a young lady who is very maths and science oriented (hence choice of background stamp) and whose favourite colour is purple. She’s not a girly girl so I thought this t-shirt might make a good base for her card.

I stamped the shirt, stencilled the swirl design and added just a bit of shading with a couple of Copics then cut it out. I masked the edges of the card with low tack tape, stamped the background and doodled a border. Die cut numbers and a stamped sentiment finish it off and the shirt is stuck on with gel glue to lift it slightly off the background.

Stamps:
Nothing to Wear (Visible Image)
Sentiment from Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)
Numbers border (Kaisercraft)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Wilted Violet)

Other:
Time Tunnel stencil (Visible Image)
Tim Holtz Alphanumeric dies (Sizzix) 
Copic markers
Fineline marker
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by!

Changing seasons

Our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week is being set by Dawn and she’d like to see something influenced by the changing seasons.

I’ve opted for the obvious autumnal feel and also combined with the current challenges at Let’s Squash It (emboss two thirds of your card) and Die Cut Divas (autumn). 

On my daily walk up the lane I pass lots of interesting dry stone walling, some of it a little tumbledown, some of it mossy or supporting brambles as well as keeping the cows and sheep where they should be! I haven’t used this folder for ages and I thought it would be nicely rustic with the autumn leaves. I added a bit of ink to the folder before embossing to accentuate the lines.  

Unusually for me, there’s no stamping (other than the sentiment). 

Stamps:
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Kraft

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Vintage Sepia)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Dry stone wall embossing folder  (Crafter’s Companion) 
Pan pastels
Leaves dies (Impression Obsession)
Corner Chomper 
Nail art gems

Words of comfort

At Daring Cardmakers this week, we’re reflecting on the UK’s national sense of loss and mourning as we say farewell to Queen Elizabeth II. We’d like to see cards offering comfort for those experiencing loss or a difficult time in their lives.

I tend to opt for simplicity when I make sympathy cards and this is no exception, just simple stamping, inking and a tiny bit of pattern added with a stencil.  

Stamps:
Nature I (Indigo Blu)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

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

Other:
Cressida Stencil (Memory Box)
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by.  

Into the woods

Miri is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week — she’d like to see woods and forests represented in some way. I decided to combine with the current challenge at Lost Coast where the team would like to see at least three stamps being used on our cards. 

I stamped the trees background directly onto the card base and brushed on a little ink in blue shades, stamped and cut out the owl and tucked him behind a die cut frame (black card dusted with Perfect Pearls in autumn shades). I coloured the card outside the frame with a black marker and added oak leaves cut from a larger stamped image. I was aiming for foreground with leaves then owl, background with bare trees but I can’t quite convince myself the oak leaves look right — maybe it will grow on me!

Sorry the photo looks a bit washed out, it was the best I could manage on a particularly dreary morning here in Northumberand. Hopefully any owls around here have good shelter - apparently they're not waterproof!

Stamps:
Trees backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Oak branch (Beeswax Stamps)
Twit Twoo (Indigo Blu)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black

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

Other:
Stitched square frame die (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Perfect Pearls by Ranger (Heirloom Gold, Bronze, Copper)
Black Fineliner