Deckchair stripes and sunny spots

Kathy is setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers today - the theme is deckchair stripes and sunny spots so of course my mind turned to... Christmas! Anything with stripes or spots or both works for this theme, you can make your own or use something already striped or spotted!

I got these penguins in the same package as last week’s tentacle die and since their hats and scarves are striped and spotted I thought they’d fit this challenge nicely and bag me my first Christmas card of the year! As I’m pushing my luck with Kathy in any case since it’s a Christmas card in July I thought I ought to up the stripe factor with a background stamp.

Jo’s Christmas Kickstart has just moved into the phase of the year where it becomes fortnightly and the theme is “hats” so I figured the bundled penguins worked for that, too.

Stamps:
Bundled Penguins (Stampendous)
Canvas Stripes (Hero Arts)
Sentiment put together from a couple of sets (Hero Arts and Waltzingmouse Stamps)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Momento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Tracing wheel
White enamel accents by Ranger 

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

July's elements

It's the first Friday of a new month so it's time for an "elemental" challenge over at Daring Cardmakers - just choose at least three elements of the inspiration picture to include in your project.

The lovely Svenja provided a fun and quirky mood board for us this month, from which I chose a tentacle, tickets, sequin waste circles (and the implied sequins!) and some of the colours.

I'd been tempted by this tentacle die in the past but seeing Svenja's mood board this month finally made me cave in and get it - it was cheap and it makes me smile!

Stamps:
Ticket Counter (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Watercolour
Black
Orange
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Pool and Stream)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed)

Other:
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose Studio)
Twisting Tentacle die (Memory Box)
Stencil (Memory Box)
Sequins

Here's our inspiration photo this month:

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

Link in the chain - June

It's reveal time at Card Chain Challenge - mine is winging its way to Dawn in New Zealand this time.

From the options for June I chose the theme (beach) and sort of followed the sketch. As the card needed to go half way round the world it’s a single layer to keep it light and flat for airmailing - masking is always a useful technique when you want a “layered” image without actually using layers!

I used a stiff stencil brush to stipple various light brown and yellowish inks to give the sandy strip the appearance of some texture

Stamps:
Antique Engravings and Color Layering Waves (both Hero Arts)
Seaside (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Tea Dye, Tumbled Glass)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Latte)

Other:
Copic markers 
Brown fineliner 
White paint pen by Posca

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe.

Let's go 3D

It's Dawn's turn to set our challenge this week at Daring Cardmakers and she's asking us to go 3D - make a bag or a box!

I always find myself wanting different ways to present gift cards come Christmas so I had a go at a pop up box and made it Christmassy!

I particularly liked the idea of adding a little extra, so I used this tutorial. I found a stash of Bazzil cardstock recently so picked out Limeade for a slightly brighter take on Christmas colours.

I did tweak the the tutorial as I added an extra bit so there's a divider towards the front to tuck the little extra into. I love her idea of the tube of Rolos but you could substitute other chocolate or sweets or something like a lipstick or mascara for a girlie gift I reckon. I also punched a half circle thumb hole to make the lid easier to open and clipped the back corners of the lid into a slope.

Slide the ribbon off, open the box and ta-da! (An old NT membership card is standing in as body-double for a gift card here).

Stamps:
Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Holly (Freebie magazine stamp)

Paper:
Bazzil (Limeade)
Deep red
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Crimson Red)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Labels die by Spellbinder
Circle punch by Fiskars
Red Spica glitter pen
Stitch tags dies by Waltzingmouse Stamps
Red gingham ribbon

Thanks for stopping by, take care and stay safe if you are somewhere where restrictions are easing.

A little glamour

We could probably all do with a little glamour in our lives right now, I suspect there's a lot of leisure wear, pyjamas and quite a few bad hair days going on! Ruth has set today's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers and the theme is glamour - whatever makes you feel like a movie star!

I made a card for a friend who is a musician. She sometimes plays for shows so a stamp called "Show Girls" seemed like a good idea - I was lucky enough to win a Lost Coast challenge a while ago and chose this stamp as part of my prize, I think these girls are great fun! My friend loves purple and although she's unlikely to be caught in this sort of outfit, she does love a bit of glamour (more usually in the form of nail polish, make up and a shiny or sparkly dress).

The girls are stamped and masked then a couple of purple inks smooshed on using a piece of acetate. A bit of simple copic colouring, a few sequins and a doodled grounding finish it off.

Stamps:
Show girls (Lost Coast Designs)
Birthday (Letter It range by Ranger)

Paper:
Bristol board

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

Other:
Copic markers
Sequins
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

Hope you are keeping safe and well, whever you are. Thanks for stopping by!

June Elements

As it’s the first Friday of the month it must be an “elemental” challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. Kathy has chosen our inspiration picture this time and it’s very summery indeed! Just chose at least three elements to include in your card.

I picked a drink with a slice of lemon and mint leaves, gingham pattern, a handwritten-style sentiment and yellow/green.

Although this stamp come with dies, I decided I didn’t want the white “halo” round the image this time so cut it out with scissors as it’s a reasonably easy shape.

Stamps:
Cocktail Time (Crafter’s Companion)
Birthday (Letter It range by Ranger)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Gingham ribbon
Corner Chomper 
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose Studio)

Inspiration picture:

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

Keep it in the family

It's my turn to set this week's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. It's World Family Day today so I chose the topic of "family". When I chose the topic I had no idea that it would have extra poignancy as many of us are not able to see our families at the moment because of the lockdown restrictions.

I chose a stamp that has “family” in its name and I reckoned that maybe we could all do with a bit of owlish wisdom to help us through the tough times.

Stamps:
Owl Family (Crafty Individuals)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Watercolour 

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Vintage Sepia)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Blueprint Sketch, Mowed Lawn, Spiced Marmalade)

Other:
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose Studio)

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

Inky!

Rizwana is setting her first challenge for us over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she'd like to see some inky backgrounds.

I have two quite different projects to share for this one but they both use the same basic technique - add some ink to a sheet of acetate, spritz with water and add to a sheet of heavy cardstock or watercolour paper.

For this bird card I stamped the image first and masked it, then added the inky background in a pale blue for a subtle effect. I painted the berries in green in the hope they'd look more like leaf buds for a more spring-time feel.

Stamps:
Blue bird with branch and berries (Crafty Individuals)
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Tim Holtz watercolour

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Stitched Rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose Studio)

The second project features more postcards for my dad and brother.

I added three different blues to some watecolour paper, building up layers using the acetate technique. Then I stared at them for ages trying to figure out what to do with them. I finally settled on a VE Day theme and added some bunting and stamped numbers since we're commemorating 75 years this year.

The blues lifted quite well from the open flag areas just with water but I decided I wanted a cleaner white so those are painted with a bit of gesso.

Stamps:
Artsy Banners (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)
A&P Numbers (Ma Vinci's Reliquary, no longer with us)

Paper:
Watercolour

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocen, Blueprint Sketch, Barn Door)
Mid tone ink by Hero Arts (Charcoal)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Gesso
Microglaze

Thanks for stopping by, if you fancy getting inky to distract yourself in lockdown why not come join us?

Card chain - April

I'm late for reveal day at Card Chain Challenge again - I'm sure I'm not alone in finding the days blurring into each other at the moment! Hope everyone's finding ways to cope and stay as sane and happy as possible.

Our options for April included the colour scheme of plum, lilac and black and the theme of hats. I couldn't find the stamp I originally planned to use so I revisted an old favourite from the long-defunct Tanda stamps.

My card went to Suzanne in Pennsylvania this time so it's a single layer to keep it light and flat for airmailing.

Stamps:
Retro Ladies (Tanda Stamps, no longer with us)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord)

Other:
Momento markers (Sweet Plum, Lulu Lavender)
Copic marker (Eggshell - used for skin)
Black fineliner
Stencil cut with Spellbinder Fancy Lattice die

Thanks for stopping by, may you and yours stay safe and well.

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.