Starry sketch

As usual when needing to make a kiddie card, I used a couple of challenges to get me going - no idea why I struggle as much as I do with these but I daren't even start to think how long this took me, even with the kickstart!

The Daring Cardmaker's challenge this week is to use stars and the current challenge at Waltzingmouse Fanatics is to use this sketch.

Apologies for the quality of the photo - as any of you who have tried to photograph mirri card will know, it's an absolute nightmare! The card looks more "integrated" in real life but this was as good as the photo was going to get, I'm afraid.

I toook the liberty of changing the third rectangular panel on the sketch to a circle as it fit the space rocket better to make a sort of planet/moon thing there. I used marker caps to stamp the "craters" on there.

This is destined for a wee boy celebrating his sixth birthday, I hope it's OK!

Stamps:
Half Pint Heroes by Waltzingmouse Stamps

Paper:
White
Silver Mirri
DCWV textured blue

Ink:
Brilliance Graphite Black and Starlite Silver

Other:
Fiskars squeeze punches - small and medium star
Tracing Wheel
Copic markers
Pinflair glue gel
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Light as a feather

I've been meaning to play with the Waltzingmouse Fanatics since they launched but failing to get my act together. I also follow the Daring Cardmakers religiously each week and yet haven't played along in forever. So I'm combining challenges just for fun again today.

The DCM theme this week is feathers and as I've just treated myself to the WMS Fine Feathers set I thought I should take it as hint that those stamps needed to see ink sooner rather than later! The Fanatics asked for some texture on our projects.

I mixed some reinker and Perfect Pearls in a mini mister to make my own shimmer mist and sprayed some cardstock. Once that was dry, I added texture paste through a home made stencil, let that dry and spritzed again with the shimmery stuff.

I added some stamped splats and some actual splats flicked from a paintbrush before adding a strip with the stamped sentiment. The feathers are stamped on vellum and cut out (Claire does have cut files as well as matching dies for these stamps but I went for the old-fashioned scissor approach).

I cut my stencil from a piece of cereal box cardboard - the intricate die does need a couple of passes on this thickness but it went through and all the pieces popped out cleanly. I've given it a coat of Mod Podge each side and hope it will last for a few goes at least. I could have used acetate but I wanted something a bit thicker to use with the paste.

Stamps (all Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Fine Feathers
Splat That
Big Day Today

Paper: 
Laid texture
Vellum

Ink:
Pearlescent Chocolate Brilliance by Tsukineko
Distress Tumbled Glass reinker

Other:
Brown brad 
Spellbinder Fancy Trellis Die
Maimeri Light Modelling Paste
Turquoise Perfect Pearls
Mini misting bottle
Tracing Wheel
Corner Chomper
Snowflake Fresco Finish acrylic paint

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing with words

I decided I needed a little play with no real purpose in mind this morning. I did use a couple of challenges as a direction for play time but this is a project with no occasion or recipient in mind.

This week's Mixability challenge on Splitcoast Stampers is to "take it away" - do something to show what's underneath a top layer. Indigo Blu's Challenge 15 is "words are all you need".

This little scrapling (the piece left over when you trim a sheet of cardstock to make a square card) started off with a piece of old book page which was spritzed with Dylusions. I added a layer of Mod Podge and once that was dry, a layer of Fresco Finish acrylic paint. I laid a stencil over the top of the dry paint and used a combination of rubbing alcohol, baby wipe and elbow grease to remove the paint and let the inky text show through. I found this technique didn't work without a clear layer (the Mod Podge), I just ended up rubbing away the paper if I rubbed hard enough to remove the paint.

I doodled rough circles round the exposed areas then added a single word, part of a definition and random snippets of script writing with Brilliance ink and finished with a double layered punched star for a bit more drama.

I had fun doing something away from my "norm"!

Stamps: Sarah's Choice by Indigo Blu

Paper: old book page

Ink: Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Dylusions ink spray (Vibrant Turquoise)
Fresco Finish acrylic paint by Paper Arsty (Mermaid)
Mod Podge Matt
Random Circles mask by Tando Creative
Fineliner pen
Fiskars squeeze punches (star medium and large)

Thanks for stopping by!

Bright flowers

A friend asked me to make a card for her mum's 80th birthday. Her mum is a "young" 80, still an active member of her local badminton club etc, so I didn't want to do anything that looked too "old"! The only steer was "She likes flowers, especially poppies, and I'd like her age on there".

She also wanted a bigger format card - this is A5 size (for our North American friends, that's basically a whole sheet of cardstock folded in half to make the card base).

I did try something with an actual poppy stamp but I just couldn't make anything look right for some reason. I'd been experimenting with the carved flower stamps for something else so they were out on my desk and I thought if I stamped in red this one would look poppyish!

The vases are done by sponging through apertures cut with the Tim Holtz Apothecary Bottles die (small one done first and masked so it appears to be in front of the big one). As it's Distress ink, I was able to lift a bit of the colour with plain water to make highlights on the bottle shoulders - not sure how well that shows on the photo but it's quite effective IRL.

I kept her age subtle by stamping in Antique Linen and overstamping with the birthday sentiment. The panel is finished by adding a little patterning with a stencil and grounding the bottles with a darker ink before running a tracing wheel round the edge for a quick pierced detail and sticking to the card base with gel glue for a little "lift".

Stamps: 
Carved Flowers by Darkroom Door
A&P Numbers by Ma Vinici's Reliqary
Say It All by Hero Arts

Paper: Laid texture cardstock

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko - Pearlescent Chocolate (for sentiment)
Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door, Fired Brick, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain)

Other:
Cressida stencil by Memory Box
Apothecary Bottles die by Tim Holtz
Tracing Wheel

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday sub

I needed a simple card for a little boy's fifth birthday and thought the Half Pint Heroes set would work perfectly as he's into sea life (through the Octonauts, obviously!) and it makes a nice change from all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff currently invading their house!

I stamped, coloured and cut out a  submarine, cutting out the porthole too - a really easy way to do this if you prefer scissors to a craft knife is to use your Crop-a-Dile or other hole punch to "nibble" out a good size chunk so it's easy to get the scissors in there. I stamped the sub again on the base layer, stamped the boy's face on there and used gel glue to raise the cut out sub for some dimension.

The fish have Glossy Accent bubbles which will probably never be noticed but I felt the need to add them anyway!

Stamps:
Half Pint Heroes by Waltzingmouse Stamps

Ink: Graphite Black Brilliance

Paper: smooth white, kraft, DCWV textured blue

Other:
Copic markers
Glossy Accents
Pinflair glue gel
Dry wall tape
Tracing wheel
Corner Chomper
 
Thanks for stopping by!

Fantasy Garden

I'm back from holiday and easing into a bit of crafting! Lydia set the week's Mixability challenge on Splitcoast Stampers and asked us to go "back to kindergarten" and use crayons somewhere on our projects.

I rubbed white crayon over my embossed cardstock (leaving it on the folder makes this easier as you can press quite hard with the crayon without squishing the embossing) and then spritzed with a couple of Dylusions colours.

I put a bit of the fuchsia Dylusions on my cutting mat and used it with a wet brush to colour the flower. The flower center is Copic coloured with Prismacolor pencil highlights. Rubons add a bit of detail at the bottom and a sprinkle of tiny gems adds some sparkle.

I decided to go sentimentless on this one and have a multi-purpose card on hand!

Stamps: Large Striped Flower by Hero Arts 

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black 

Other: 
Tim Holtz embossing folder 
White crayon 
Dylusions sprays (Vibrant Turquoise, Funky Fuchsia) 
Hero Arts Palm die (cut apart) 
Tim Holtz Remnant Rubs - Words 
Copic markers (dark brown and dark bark) 
White Prismacolor pencil 
Acrylic nail art gems 
Fiskars squeeze punch small star 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a lovely weekend!

Passage of time

Another slightly messier style card from me today - I did balance out a bit with a wide border though! This is a 6" square card and the mixed media panel is 4" square in the middle.

I've combined this week's Splitcoast Stampers Mixability challenge (use book print on your project) with the current Pan Pastel UK Challenge blog challenge to use three textures.

I used modelling paste with some plastic canvas. Once it was dry, I stamped the time sentiment with Versamark and used  Pan Pastel to colour over the paste and the stamping.

My second texture is the part circle cut from gold mountboard and dry embossed and the third is the star which is punched from tomato paste tube and beaten up with an embossing stylus then coloured with a Copic marker for a more copper tone. I used the same marker to make some neutral sequins and tiny pearls look coppery, too.

My French primer text came from the pack of paper ephemera I bought ages ago from a local trader who makes them up by putting together pages from books that are beyond hope in terms of being sold whole.

Stamps:
Clocks 3 by PaperArtsy
Essential Messages by Hero Arts

Paper: white and bitter chocolate

Ink: Versamark and Versafine Vintage Sepia

Other:
Maimeri Light Modelling Paste
Tomato paste tube metal
Fiskars squeeze punch - star
Uber embossing folder
Watch face
Sequins
Nail art pearls
Pan Pastel - Burnt Sienna Shade
Old book page
Scor-It board
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Another mono printing adventure!

While thinking about mono printing for the current Craft Stamper challenge, I had an idea that might get me round my patterned paper problem - what happens if I incorporate a focal point on the print itself by using masks, I wondered?

This is what happened. I didn't get my masks quite right and ended up adding the small heart as a separate layer cut from another print but it basically worked!

I brayered red paint onto the acrylic block and pressed a background stamp into it then lifted a print. Then I did a layer of burnt umber and burnt sienna textured with plastic canvas and placed my two heart masks on there before pulling the print (I used acetate to cut my masks as it's a bit easier to handle than damp paper!).

Here's where I slipped up - for the final layer (which is white with a smidge of gold, textured with a very open weave, cheesecloth type fabric) I wanted to subdue the background heart by overprinting and leave the foreground one more vivid but I used the wrong mask so the big heart overlapped the small one! To rescue it, I did a second print with the the red paint and stamp (no layering this time) and die cut the smaller heart from that.

The flourish in the corners is stamped with gold ink and shows up differently at different angles (which makes it hard to photograph, sorry!). It's finished with a stamped and heat embossed sentiment, charcoal pencil drop shadows for both hearts and the small heart stuck down with some Pinflair glue gel for a little height.

There's still time to play along in the Craft Stamper challenge to use your acrylic block for some mono printing - you'll find all the details here and we'd love to see you!

Stamps:
Leaves #3 background stamp and sentiment (CHF, retired)
Vintage Flourish (Indigo Blu)

Ink:
Delicata Golden Glitz by Tsukineko, Versamark

Other:
Titanium white, true red, burnt umber, burnt sienna Americana acrylic paints by DecoArt
Dazzling Gold acrylic paint by DecoArt
Charcoal pencil
Detail black embossing powder
Sizzix primitive hearts die
Pinflair glue gel

WMS - To Die For

I'm joining in with the Waltzingmouse Stamps Pajama Party for the first time - I finally managed to get things in order to get something made on the right day!

Challenge 1 is "To Die For" - Waltzingmouse has recently added their own Cutting Edge dies alongside the stamps and Claire's challenged us to use them in our creations.

I ended up doing something out of my comfort zone and probably not "typical" of WMS style! I actually intended to make something Christmassy with the lovely Bright Season Lantern die but of course I got distracted along the way - when cutting the lantern from kraft cardstock to use as a template, I noticed the "waste" from the centre of the lantern looked like an elegant vase or plant pot and that set me off in a totally different direction!

I've used a piece of paper that had been used to clean a painty brayer as my background with just a little doodling for a border and some splodgy white dots added through a stencil with a Posca pen (smeared while still wet) at top left.

I cut the top off a second "pot" with some pinking shears and added that as an extra detail, inking all the edges for a bit of depth. The "flower" is a heart cut with the smallest die from the "My Heart" set and coloured with Copic markers. I stamped leaves from Funky Flowers with acrylic paint for a splodgy look, cut them out and added them and a wire stem. Pot, heart and leaves are all stuck on with Pinflair glue gel for some dimension.

The sentiment is all from the Say It Loud set, snipped into individual words and finished with a little more doodling.

If you fancy playing along, you can upload entries for the Pajama Party until midnight tonight and there's a sketch challenge to play with for the rest of the week too - details here.

Supplies:
My Heart and Bright Season Lantern dies (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Say It Loud and Funky Flowers stamp sets  (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Acrylic paints
Brilliance Graphite Black ink
Distress Vintage Photo ink
Copic markers
Copic fineliner
Posca white pen
Sequin waste mask (Tando Creative)
Pinking shears
Florist wire 
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

Experimenting with mono prints!

The Craft Stamper blog challenge has gone monthly so that means it's time for a new one!

This time we're using an acrylic block for mono printing (effectively using the block like a Gelli plate). I've resisted the lure of the Gelli, mostly because I suspected I'd make prints I liked and then my PPP (patterned paper problem) would kick in and I'd have no idea what to do with them.

When Trish told us what this month's challenge would be, I decided I'd have a go. Not sure if I set myself up for it but I proved myself right - made prints I liked and then couldn't use them! This is the attempt I'm happiest with.

I used Americana craft acrylic paints on the biggest acrylic block I own. If I remember rightly I did a layer of gold with plastic canvas pressed into it and lifted before taking a print, a layer of burnt umber and black with star masks scattered over and finally a layer of white with a piece of lace pressed in and lifted before taking the print (you can see the large diamond design of the lace as well as the overall texture if you let your eyes relax a bit!).

I've stamped a sentiment in one of the larger stars, some astronomy charts towards the bottom and then stamped and cut out a pointy finger to highlight the sentiment. The gold stars are punched from tomato paste tube metal (with the smaller punch I used when I made masks for the printed layer). A wee snippet of film strip ribbon seemed to tie it all together.

Not very typical for me but it was fun to get painty for a change! It may not be the perfect mono printing surface but the acrylic block made a good play surface if you're anything like me and just fancy a dabble!

Stamps:
Past Times by Hero Arts
Reach for the Stars by CHF (retired)

Other:
Large and small star squeeze punches by Fiskars
Lamp black, burnt umber and titanium white Americana acrylic paints by DecoArt
Dazzlong gold metallic acrylic paint by DecoArt
Tim Holtz Film Strip ribbon
Brilliance ink - Graphite Black
Tomato paste tube metal

As ever, there's the chance of a prize (lovely limited edition paints from PaperArtsy this time!) and of having your card in print in the magazine if you're the winner - we'd love to have you play along! All the details, including the deadline, can be found here.