I've come over all elegant!

I seem to have been going through a bit of a bright colour, funky image kind of phase just recently but I think I've been struck by a touch of elegantitis in the last day or so. Not like me at all, is it?!

A while ago, I saw a set by Stampin' Up! called Long Stemmed on eBay and thought it looked gorgeous. I've been on the lookout for one since then and finally managed to get one for only $6.50! That's four wood mounted stamps for just over three quid (OK, the shipping pushed it up some but still bargainous, I reckon).

I've been playing with the iris image first and there's something about the long curved stem that cried out for the elegant treatment so...



I'm really pleased with how this turned out. The stamped panel is made with the faux linen technique using glossy photo paper (from Aldi!). The iris is coloured with Copic Sketch markers with a little bit of white gel pen smudged over a few places for more 'painterly' highlights. I thought the Cuttlebug Textile Texture folder and ribbon would make nice textural elements here and I tried something a bit different by punching a hole near the edge of the stamped panel and threading the ribbon through so that the knot and loose ends overlap the panel a bit. I'm afraid I can't remember where I've seen this done - if it was you and you're reading this, let me know and I'll credit you properly, thank you!

See those tiny gems? They're the sort that are designed for sticking on your fingernails *lol*. My nails are plain and unadorned but I thought these would be perfect when you want to add just a little bit of subtle sparkle to a project and they're much cheaper than stuff packaged and sold to crafters! Asela on the Cornish Heritage Farms forum and gallery should take the credit for this one - thanks Asela!

Supplies: Iris from SU! Long Stemmed set, glossy photo paper, Tim Holtz Distress ink Weathered Wood, Nick Bantock inkpad Charcoal Grey, sandpaper, Copic Sketch markers (mallow, blue violet, cadmium yellow, pale yellow, lettuce green), white gel pen, Cuttlebug Textile Texture folder, acrylic nailart gems, ribbon from stash.

Thanks for looking!

New toys!

Wheeee! Postie brought me new toys this morning :o)

Out in blogland, I keep seeing people doing lovely colouring with Copic markers and I really fancied having a go. Here in the UK, they're ferociously expensive though so I hunted around and found some single markers at a reasonable price on eBay so I could get some 'close' colours to have a play and see if I liked using them. Here's my first attempt:



(Sorry Janice - it's the daisies again but I do love 'em and I get to keep this one!).

I tied this in with one of the challenges going on in the Big Weekend Challenge over at CBC and made a storage box for Primas etc by covering the top of an empty chocolate box with some DCWV card and adding some grosgrain around the sides.

If you fancy a play with Copics, Lisa Silver's tutorial here is a really great place to pick up some pointers to get you started.

Here's a close-up of those colour transitions. I'm quite happy with this for a first attempt but if any of you experts are looking then any hints and tips are always gratefully received :o)



Supplies: Daisy Jar stamp (CHF), Brilliance Coffee Bean ink, Clearnsnap Chalk Ice Blue ink, Copic Sketch markers: Y11S Pale Yellow, Y15S Cadmium Yellow, Y26S Mustard, YG09S Lettuce Green, G07S Nile Green. DCWV textured white core card, sandpaper, copper brads, copper gel pen, chocolate brown grosgrain.

As ever, photos are clickable for bigger versions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hand cut Christmas

The DCM challenge is set by Tracie this week and she's asked us to include some hand cutting on our cards. I had a total nightmare day yesterday where my mojo definitely left home but I managed this today. Not quite sure about it but I guess it's OK.



Tree was hand drawn and cut from a piece of thick card (back of a notebook) then covered with white core card and distressed. The big M and C were hand drawn and cut and the rest of the greeting stamped with alpha stamps and snipped into random shapes. I added a bit of inking and gel pen detail, a snippet of cuttlebug textured card, a star brad and a piece of ribbon to finish. Oh, and some piercing, of course ;o)

Adapt-a-stamp!

After putting a santa hat on Bossy the Cow a few posts ago, my mind started wandering around the possibility of adapting other non-Christmassy stamps to make Christmas cards. Here's what happened:



I coloured the Singing Swirly Bird stamp in festive colours and used a gold gel pen to add detail to the beak, wings and tail feathers. The holly garland is made of leaves cut on the CraftRobo with veins added freehand with a green metallic gel pen. I seem to have the urge to add a bit of piercing to everything at the moment - not quite sure why but things don't seem to look quite finished without it!

Supplies: Singing Swirly Bird stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment from MSE set, CraftRobo, Ranger Archival Jet Black and Brilliance Moonlight White inks, Prismacolor pencils, Sansodor and blending stump, green and gold gel pens, red linen texture cardstock, stitched grosgrain, corner rounder punch.

TFL!

In the Spotlight

My turn to set the challenge at CBC and for once I'm remembering to blog it too! The challenge is to use a spotlight technique to make a feature of one area of your design. I have two samples, one for the stampers, one not!

I was inspired by the lovely iris card on Lisa Silver's blog (thanks Lise!) to have a go at the spotlight technique with a new stamp I just got:



The stamp came from an eBay seller called zim-babe who tells me that it was made by an American lady called Susan Cotes who makes her stamps in her 'spare time', wow!

Supplies: unmounted cherry blossom stamp, sentiment stamp from HOTP set, Ranger archival jet black ink, Clearsnap creamy brown, dark brown and chestnut roan chalk inks, Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor, mini brads (Dovecraft muted colours), Fiskars circle cutter.

Then I thought it would be fun to try adapting the technique for non-stampers by using colour in a different way on a card based around die-cuts. I did two QK santas in white, just adding a tint of colour to their faces so they didn't look too much like the ghost of St Nicholas! The third santa got the full color treatment and a frame to really throw him into the spotlight. I couldn't resist just a bit of stamping though so the central band is stamped and coloured with a brush marker.



Supplies: QK santa die, Large Paisley Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment stamp from MSE set, Fiskars circle cutter, Whispers cherry red ink, red brush marker, Clearsnp chalk ink in ice blue and chestnut roan, Prismacolor pencils.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!

In the Spotlight

My turn to set the challenge at CBC and for once I'm remembering to blog it too! The challenge is to use a spotlight technique to make a feature of one area of your design. I have two samples, one for the stampers, one not!

I was inspired by the lovely iris card on Lisa Silver's blog (thanks Lise!) to have a go at the spotlight technique with a new stamp I just got:



The stamp came from an eBay seller called zim-babe who tells me that it was made by an American lady called Susan Cotes who makes her stamps in her 'spare time'.

Supplies: unmounted cherry blossom stamp, sentiment stamp from HOTP set, Ranger archival jet black ink, Clearsnap creamy brown, dark brown and chestnut roan chalk inks, Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor, mini brads (Dovecraft muted colours), Fiskars circle cutter.

Then I thought it would be fun to try adapting the technique for non-stampers by using colour in a different way on a card based around die-cuts. I did two QK santas in white, just adding a tint of colour to their faces so they didn't look too much like the ghost of St Nicholas! The third santa got the full color treatment and a frame to really throw him into the spotlight. I couldn't resist just a bit of stamping though so the central band is stamped and coloured with a brush marker.



Supplies: QK santa die, Large Paisley Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment stamp from MSE set, Fiskars circle cutter, Whispers cherry red ink, red brush marker, Clearsnp chalk ink in ice blue and chestnut roan, Prismacolor pencils.

Wrapped in Ribbon

The girls at DCM have been playing with ribbon from Ribbon Oasis this week so their challenge is for us to make a Christmas card featuring ribbons galore. Here's mine:



I cut a triangle from thick card to make the tree base and then wrapped lengths of various different ribbons aroud it. I've machine stitched a length of wide velour ribbon to the card base and cut a pot from the same ribbon as well. I added a few brads for baubles and a star brad to top the tree off. A stamped sentiment, a bit of piercing and a trio of brads on the right hand side finish it off. I didn't have gold brads so I covered some (and the star) with gold sparkle embossing powder so they all matched.

My original idea was to do some ribbon weaving but I decided I liked the stripes before I started putting ribbons through in the other direction!

Supplies: ribbons from stash, sentiment stamp from MSE set, mini brads, star brad, gold sparkle EP.

Thanks for visiting!

ETA: Blogger's image hosting seems to be playing up. If you can't see the image and you'd like to, it's here on my Photobucket.

Falling Leaves Bagalope

Lori posted a tutorial for a bagalope -a lovely gift sack made from an envelope- on Split Coast Stampers.

I decided to have a go with a brown envelope and combine it with Clare's Falling Leaves challenge on CBC and made this:



I had a vague recollection that paisley is based on leaf shapes so I used the large paisley backgrounder by CHF and inked it up in various shades of brown then added a little strip of Bazzill with small leaves punched out. I made the tag with a chunky foam stamp and pigment ink stamped on a coffee filter coloured with various food colourings and dusted with some gold lustre powder. I've tied the bag shut with some jute garden twine that I twisted to make a slightly chunkier cord.

Supplies: Large Paisley Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), chunky foam leaf stamp, chalk inks in burnt sienna, chestnut roan and dark brown, Pretty Colour dark brown pigment ink, small leaf punch, corner rounder, coffee filter, food colourings, gold lustre powder, jute garden twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Silly cow!

This is one of those daft cards that arises from the fact that your craft table is a total mess: you see two unexpected things next to each other (a stamped cow and a die cut santa hat in this case) and the cogs start whirring in your brain. Throw into the mix Nicola's latest Play on Words challenge on CBC and what do you get?



The die cut hat was too big for Bossy so I had to tailor-make one in her size but I think she looks kind of cute in it!

Supplies: Bossy the Cow stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms), Ranger Archival jet black ink, Clearsnap Ice Blue chalk ink, Prismacolor pencils, Gelly Roll glaze pen, gel pen, red linen cardstock, green tape ribbon from stash, paper piercer (AKA map pin!).

I'm frustrated - there are new stamps in the house but I can't have them yet! I got a friend to bring back more CHF stamps when he visited the States so that I didn't pay for international shipping and didn't have to worry about import duties (more to spend on the stamps!) but DH has bought them for my birthday so I have to wait - gah! My blog visitors will probably breathe a sigh of relief too since I seem to be forming an obsession with this cow and the jar of daisies ;o)

TFL!

Circle of Friends

Happy Birthday Daring Cardmakers!

DCM is celebrating its first birthday by revisiting the very first dare which took the theme of friends. To reflect the way DCM has grown, this week's dare expands on that first dare and we've been asked to make a 'circle of friends' card by including at least one circle in the card design. Here's mine:



The circle is vellum with the words if friends were flowers... written in white gel pen. I've stamped the daisy jar and cut it out then tied a little tag around the neck with raffia. I inked a little shadow underneath and did a bit of piercing at the corners to finish off.

Thanks girls, the dares are great fun and we all appreciate the time you take in setting it up every week!

Supplies: Daisy Jar stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms), vellum, gel pen, Prismascolour pencils and Sansodor, raffia

Oooh, I forgot! Both Nicola (dollydimple) and Debbie (bubblegum) have nominated me for the smile award thing. Thanks girls! There are so many of you out there who make me smile that I'm not going to do the nomination of 10 thing - I do hope you'll forgive me. I'd just feel rotten drawing up a shortlist! So if you're reading this, consider yourself someone who makes me smile :o)