Getting to know you

Dawn has set the challenge this week at Daring Cardmakers and she’d like to know a little more about our crafting selves, asking: what is your favourite crafting style or technique? Where do you craft?

I found this quite difficult as I don’t really have a single style or favourite way to do things so I tried to zoom in on a few common denominators!

I  almost always use stamps when I craft and I like to colour in. Floral stamps are a favourite thing to use. I keep telling myself  “no more flowers, you have enough” and then something like this pretty magnolia shows up in a sale and I can’t resist!

Mum has observed in the past that I often go off the edge with images so obviously I had to do that here.

I tend to use minimal layers; even if something is not necessarily a clean and simple design it’s unlikely to involve more than a couple of layers and I’ll often use just a card base, as I have here. I often round a single corner of a card, too.

I really enjoyed using a single die cut word with stamps to complete the sentiment on my Christmas cards this year so I thought I’d try extending that idea to other occasions. This Hero Arts set has lots of options to go with the ‘happy” so hopefully I’ll get plenty of use out of it.

I’m lucky enough to have a room to craft in. On the down side that does mean that it’s often a complete mess because I don’t have to clear up after myself as a I go!


Stamps:
Magnolia by Stampendous
Happy Stamp & Cut by Hero Arts

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Wink of Stella pen (clear)
Sequins
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by!

On the March!

Can you believe it’s a new month already?! That means it’s time for an “elemental” challenge at Daring Cardmakers - choose at least three elements from the picture Miri has for us this month as a kickstart for your card.

I really struggled with this! In the end, I put an extra restriction on myself and that seemed to do the trick: make it masculine (or at least not girly)!

I chose the dark wood grain (floor bottom left), denim, flash of yellow, circular frame (chair backs bottom right) and silver accents (chair legs bottom left). I carried the wood grain patterning over into the embossed texture on the base layer as well.

Stamps:
Country Charm Textures (Cornish Heritage Farms,  no longer with us)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, I believe this set is retired)

Paper:
Smooth white
Silver glitter (10 sheets in a pack from my local £1 shop and the perfect weight for punches!)
Scrap of yellow DCWV

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo, Mustard Seed)

Other:
Denim fabric
Nestabilities by Spellbinder (large and small circles)
Pine planks embossing folder by Stampin Up!
Small circle punch
Star squeeze punches by Fiskars
Glue gel by Pinflair
Brown fine line marker
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by! We’d love to see you over at Daring Cardmakers and the team has made lots of lovely samples - looks like it was just me who struggled! Here's Miri's inspiration picture if you'd like to show us what you make of it - which three elements inspire you?!

Stencilled Scrapling

Svenja has set the challenge for this week's Daring Cardmakers - she'd like to see stencils and shades of green on our projects. I've made a scrapling in which the stencil took a bit more of a supporting role that my original plan but I find you can't always dictate what happens at the craft table!

I started with a piece of mixed media paper with Juniper ink sptritzed and pooled on it that was left over from a previous project and built up from there, stencilling and stamping over the top. A pretty die cut butterfly, a spatter of Enamel Accents and pen dots and some messy silver thread and I called it done - I seem to be having a problem including sentiments on things at the moment!

Supplies:
Mini Butterfly Duo dies by Time Holtz/Sizzix
Wings stamp set by Darkroom Door
Bamboo Mixed Media paper by Hannemuhl
Scraps of black and orange cardstock
Juniper Adinrodack dye ink by Ranger
Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint Distress ink by Ranger
Cressida stencil by Memory Box
Copic markers
Clear wink of Stella pen
Black Engamel Accents by Ranger
Fine line marker
Silver thread
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Take a break

We have a challenge from Enfys over at Daring Cardmakers today - she'd like to see something you associate with a morning break. Coffee, tea, biscuits, cakes - what do you have mid morning?

I'm likely as not to choose a cup of tea if I'm at home. If I'm out and about I might go for a cafe latte but even then it might well be tea, usually Earl Grey and no milk!

This set is perhaps more of an afternoon tea image but they're pretty stamps and I'd be happy to see a tea pot like this one at a morning break - it's usually a much more prosaic mug around here!

The tea pot is stamped on the die cut and the rest of the images are stamped and cut out with the coordinating dies then popped up at various levels with some gel glue. The spoon has some Wink of Stella on there for a bit of metallic sheen.

Stamps:
Tea Time (stamp and die set by Graphic 45/Hampton Arts)

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Hioltz Distress ink by Ranger (Bundled Sage)

Other:
Lables 20 Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Copic markers
Charcoal pencil
Pinflair glue gel
Piercing tool
Wink of Stella clear pen
Jamara embossing folder by Cuttlebug

Thanks for stopping by!

Cosy home

Miri has set the challenge for us this week at Daring Cardmakers and she wants to see cosy homes featured on our cards.

There really is an explanation for a Christmas card in February! I’m trying to play along with the Dirty Dozen Christmas challenge at Splitcoast Stampers this year - the idea is to make at least one card per month to a theme set by our hostesses to avoid the mad dash at the end of the year. If you’re a Fan Club member at Splitcoast why not come and join us?

It seems I have a severe shortage of anything house-related in my craft room so when I thought of this stamp for Miri’s DCM theme, I was delighted to find a way to use it, even though it’s a bit unseasonal (and means I must apologise to Kathy, who typically shudders at the mention of making Christmas cards before about September!).

The central image was stamped on a separate piece of card stock, coloured and cut out then stuck on with some gel glue for a bit of lift - it means the card is still flat enough for regular postage but has a bit of something special about it. There's lots of Glamour Dust on the snow drifts and roofs too but as ever with glitter that's a bit difficult to see in the photo, I think.

Stamps:
Snowy Postcard by Stampendous
Grunge Flakes by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain)

Other:
Copic markers
Clear Wink of Stella pen
White Posca paint pen
Pinflair glue gel
Glamour Dust by DecoArt (Crystal)

Thanks for stopping by!

February flamingo

It's the first Friday of a brand new month. That means it's time for an "elemental" dare over at Daring Cardmakers and Dawn has chosen the inspiration picture (it's at the end of this post) this time. It could lend itself to Valentines cards if you have those to make but equally could provide inspiration for any sort of project. As ever, just choose at least three elements from the picture to kickstart your project.

I sort of deconstructed a bit on this one! Rather than going with a flamingo, I zoomed in on the feathers and the concentric circles of its eye for two of my elements.

The third element is the coloured foil appearance of the balloons - I used silver mirror card and some alcohol ink for the die cut feathers. A very light rub over with a sanding block made silvery highlights for the embossed veins on the feathers.

Stamps:
Limor Circles by Indigo Blu
Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse Stamps (no longer with us)

Paper:
Smooth white
Silver mirror card

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

Other:
Feathers Duo die/folder by Tim Holtz/Sizzix
Fucshia Copic Various refill ink
White Enamel Accents by Ranger
Corner Chomper

Here's this month's inspiration photo, we'd love to see you at DCM if you fancy playing along!

Thanks for stopping by!

With a splash!

It's Friday so it must be DCM day - Kathy is challenging us to make a card using black and white with a splash of one other colour.

I've gone for a green alien on a night sky. This is going to a little boy who has already had a liver transplant and is currently undergoing chemo. He loves to check the mailbox each day to see whether there's anything for him and I thought he might get an extra kick out of something that's crossed the Pond to reach him.

The sentiment is three die cuts stacked together, alien's eyes have Glossy Accents and he's raised up with some glue gel so that there's a bit of dimension going on.

Stamps:
Monsters Ink (Technique Tuesday, retired)

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black

Other:
Fiskars squeeze punches (stars)
Phrases Set 1 by Spellbinder
Copic markers
White Posca paint pen
Fineline marker
Glossy Accents
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

New year elements

A third of January gone already - eek! Hope it's not too late to wish everyone a very happy and peaceful new year.

Of course a new month means an "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers, see the end of this post for the lovely inspiration picture Shabneez chose for us this month. As ever, just choose at least three elements from the picture to kickstart your project.

I chose the shell, burlap, coiled white thread and a translucent circle to make a masculine birthday card. The burlap is stamped through an aperture cut with a Nestie so it's directly on the card base rather than being a separate layer.

Stamps (all retired or from companies sadly no longer with us):
Antique Engravings by Hero Arts
Burlap backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms
Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse Stamps

Paper:
Bristol board
Kraft
Vellum

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Latte)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
White crochet thread
White Enamel Accents by Ranger
Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing tag

This week's challenge at Daring Cardmakers is to make a tag or label for a gift.

I've gone for a sort of cosy rustic vibe - of course embossing like this does mean you have to back it with a second, plain tag otherwise it's impossible to write on!

Supplies:
Cable Knit embossing folder (Stampin Up!)
Compliments of the Season stamp set (Waltzingmouse Stamps/Gina K)
Kraft and ivory cardstock
Tags dies by Tim Holtz/Sizzix
Brilliance ink by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
White pigment ink 
Just neglect bells
Satin ribbon
Corner Chomper
Tracing wheel

Thanks for stopping by, hope your Christmas preparations are going to plan!

December elements

It's the first Friday of a new month and that means the Christmas countdown begins in earnest but it also means an "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers. We have a very festive picture for inspiration his month (it's at the end of this post if you didn't arrive via the DCM blog) - just pick at least three elements to help kick-start your project.

I chose the wooden floorboards, heart, five-point star, script and sans serif font combo, and the red and white from the colour scheme and made a simple card that has a bit of a Scandi feel to it, as do some of the elements in the picture.

Stamps:
Wood grain (Darkroom Door)
Merry Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Smooth white
Kraft
Red

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Detail white embossing powder
Heart die
Star punch (Fiskars)
Confetti die (Mama Elephant)
Corner Chomper

Here's the picture for this month.



Thanks for stopping by!