May's elements

It's Dawn setting the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week - as it's the first Friday of a new month it's an elemental one, just choose at least three elements from the picture to kick start your project.

A neighbour across the road was celebrating a big milestone birthday this week. We popped a bottle of champagne into a gift bag for him so I took inspiration from the tall glasses in the photo and made a card to tie in with the gift.

Other inspiration elements are yellow and green from the colour scheme and stacked squares. I used gold emobssing powder for the sentiment so that it's opaque over the stems of the glasses. There's some clear Wink of Stella going on so the champagne has some sparkle.

Stamps:
Champagne Celebration (Crafter’s Companion)
Birthday (Letter It by Ranger)

Paper:
Bristol board
DCWV

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versmark by Tsukineko

Other:
Copic markers
Clear Wink of Stella pen
Square dies (Spellbinders)
Giold gel pen
Gold detail embossing powder

Here's our inspiration picture this month:

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and well.

Keep walking

More postcards for my dad and brother. Walking seemed to be figuring large in the news (Captain Tom’s fantastic fundraising efforts with his laps of his garden capturing hearts and minds) and in people’s lives more generally as their daily exercise. So, a walking theme it was...

I stamped the boots simply and just added a halo of pale blue round them, grounded them with a numbers border (to represent step count) and used alphabet stamps to create the wording, adding a bit of colour with a marker as they’re outline letters.

I’m tending to add a bit of Microglaze to my postcards these days, just to give them a bit of protection as they go through the post. I just apply with my finger and once it’s buffed with a bit of kitchen towel the application is completely smooth and invisible.

Stamps:
Combat boots (Deep Red Stamps)
Alphabet set (Hero Arts)
Numbers border (Kaisercraft)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Evergreen Bough)

Other:
Copic markers
Corner Chomper
Microglaze

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are keeping well.

Creative Chaos

Svenja is setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she'd like to see some sheet music on our projects.

I couldn’t find my book of old and damaged sheet music so I printed a freebie score onto copy paper (it’s Beethoven —Für Elise— if any musically literate folk are trying to make it out through the other stuff here!)

I use my Gelli plate to do a print from a magazine onto the musical score, tinted it with Distress inks, stamped some circles and a sentiment (which I curved slightly before stamping to follow the shape of her face a bit more closely). The circles have a tiny bit of grey shading to give them some depth.

Creative chaos is a polite term for the usual state of my craft room!

Stamps:
Limor Circles (Indigo Blu)
Creative Chaos (Visible Image)

Paper:
Plain copy paper
Black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tattered Rose, Picked Raspberry)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Wilted Violet)

Other:
Copic markers
Gelli plate 
Black acrylic paint
Brayer

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you and yours are keeping safe and well.

More postcards

I'm still making postcards to send to my dad and brother during lockdown. I managed to forget to photograph last week's (featuring big fat bees) but remembered this week - butterflies to celebrate the little critters being back out in force in our garden and along the lane.

The usual postcard etiquette is at play here - single layer, no embellishments so there's no risk of anything coming loose and messing up sorting equipment etc. A bit of drop shadow on the big butterfly, done with a couple of grey markers, gives the design an illusion of depth.

Stamps:
Wings (Darkroom Door)

Paper:
Bristol board

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

Other:
Copic markers
Cressida stencil (Memory Box)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are staying safe and well.

CAS with some sparkle!

Dawn has set the challenge for us over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she'd like to see clean and simple cards with a dash of sparkle.

For saying I tend towards CAS in any case, I had a nightmare coming up with this and I’m not convinced I like it now!

I’m still working my way through a stash of stamps I bought when they were on sale and I have birthday and Christmas presents uninked as well so I’m trying hard not to buy new stuff!

Stamps:
Creative Chaos (Visible Image)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukineko 
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Broken China)

Other:
Detail white embossing powder
Zig Clean Colour markers (pink, red, blue)
Sequins
Fineline marker

Thanks for stopping by, remember to stay home for everybody’s sake even if the Bank Holiday weather in the UK makes it tempting to go out and about!

Spring postcards

I made more postcards to send to my dad and brother  - the first ones are here if you’d like a peep - inspired by thoughts of spring. In Covid-19 related news for the week was that more people are hearing birdsong as the world goes quiet in other ways so a bird seemed like a good way to go.

This handsome stamp and a pale blue evoked a spring vibe, I thought - he is called “spring bird” after all! We have both thrushes and blackbirds busy in the garden at the moment finding nesting materials.

I masked the bird's body before stencilling the background so those lovely woodcut-style lines stayed white and crisp.

The theme of the current Lost Coast Designs challenge is spring - all the challenge details are here and this time around I’m taking advantage of the fact you don’t have to use Lost Coast or Carmen’s Veranda stamps to play along, all rubber or clear stamping is welcome! If you’re tempted to break out some spring time images or colours why not play along too?

Stamps:
Spring Bird (Bloom Arts Stamps - store is now on Etsy)
Sentiment from Wildflowers (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)
On the Desk (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

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

Other:
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and healthy.

Card Chain Challenge - March reveal!

I'm a day late but the Card Chain Challenge reveal for March is up. My card went to Linda in Minnesota this time.

From the options on offer I went for the colour scheme (lemon. lime, sky blue) and the theme of "things with wings" to make a clean and simple card that was good for airmail.

The butterfly is coloured with a Zig Clean Colour marker and a damp paintbrush to spread the colour for varied intensity.

The fact that there are three different sizes of each circle in the Indigo Blu stamp set means you can compose your own background quite easily with just a bit of masking.

Stamps:
Wings (Darkroom Door)
Limor Circles (Indogo Blu)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Twisted Citron)
Jenni Bowlin ink by Ranger (Lemon Drop)

Other:
Spellbinder die (Phrases Set 1)
Corner Chomper
Zig Clean Colour marker

Hope you and yours are staying safe and well in these strange times. Thanks for stopping by!

Recycling duty

Ruth has set this week's challenge for us over at Daring Cardmakers, choosing her topic well before the current state of affairs. It might be very apt for times when we have to stay in since it's about using what you already have, not nipping out to buy new: recycling!

I decided I'd make postcards to send to my dad and brother - a bit of actual mail dropping through the letterbox might be extra welcome at this time and I figured postcards might raise a smile or two as they worked their way through the mail system.

My recycled elements are the insides of a couple of "security" envelopes (the sort that have bank statements etc in them) and the pointing fingers which came from cartons of oat milk - the printed layer of the carton peeled off beautifully so they were easy to cut out and not too bulky.

The bubble borders are painted with iridescent colours so they have an extra soap bubbly look about them but of course that doesn't come over on camera.

On a side note: if you're looking for a plant-based milk that froths well and keeps that froth for the perfect cafe latte or capuccino, I have to say that Oatly Barista does the job extremely well!

Stamps:
Bubble border (Lost Coast Designs)
Just My Type (Ma Vinci's Reliquary, no longer with us)

Paper:
Security envlopes (stuck on white card)

Ink:
Archival by Tsukineko (Cobalt Blue) 
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Oatly carton
Perfect Pearls
Fine line marker

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and remember to wash your hands!

Lucky for some

It’s my turn to set the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week. As it’s Friday 13th today I thought we should focus on luck - some people might believe it’s unlucky but St Patrick’s day is coming up in Tuesday so I’m hoping we can balance it out with the luck of the Irish!

Different cultures have different symbols of luck. I chose a peony as they’re widely considered to be lucky. Apparently the reason they’re popular as wedding flowers is because they symbolise good fortune and a happy marriage. I didn’t need a wedding card today but maybe I should bear that in mind next time I do!

I fancied having a go at a truly monochrome card - I used three grey Copics, two grey pencils and a black ink pad. I think it creates quite a calm kind of look. I used a silver gel pen for the stamens in the centre of the flower so there’s just the tiniest bit of glitz.

Stamps:
Peony (Paperbabe, retired)
Birthday (Letter It range by Ranger)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Silver gel pen 
Scor-It
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by!

March elements

Miri has set our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers today and as it’s the first Friday of the month of course it’s an “elemental” one - just choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to include on your card.

That’s Crafty had a plate of Viva Las Vegastamps at a price I couldn’t resist in their end of year clear out sale - I really wanted it for the police box/Tardis image that’s on there but Brian Kesinger’s quirky illustration style should provide some fun, too!

Presumably Otto can build up a lot of speed on that penny farthing since he’s wearing driving goggles. Maybe when his tentacles get tired he just switches to a different pair since he has eight to chose from!

From the inspiration picture this month (it’s at the end of this post if you didn’t arrive via the DCM blog) I chose quirky octopus, painty strokes, little gold circles in threes, typewriter font and the colours. I stamped the image on the card just below the painty background and then stamped again on a scrap piece, coloured Otto, cut him out and stuck him on with gel glue so he’s raised up. The tiny circles are “stamped” with the little tube that’s sometime threaded on the end of a fine paintbrush to protect the bristles.

Stamps:
Otto's Sweet Ride (from Plate 909, Viva Las Vegastamps)
Sentiment from Mini Memories (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Delicata by Tsukineko (Golden Glitz)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Acrylic paints
Pinflair glue gel
Stitched rectangles dies, A6 size by Paper Rose

Here's our inspiration picture this month: