More than words...

Susan is hosting this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge and she's asked us to use more than one sentiment and NO image stamps on our single layer creations - details are here.

I had fun finding lots of examples of the word love in my stamp sets (some were the single word, some needed selective inking from a longer phrase), then used alpha stamps to spell out LOVE in bigger letters and used selective inking on the word your to stamp YOU in red. It really could have done with being just a fraction further to the right so I added a red dot to extend the visual impact of the word - I think I succeeded in rescuing it!

Embossing the card front with a Nestability provides some definition for the stamped area without creating clutter or breaking the rules for a one layer card!

I think this would make a good masculine Valentine or anniversary card.

Stamps:
My Type alpha stamps (Ma Vinci's Reliquary)
Various CHF and Crafty Secrets sentiments

Paper:
Smooth white

Ink:
Versfine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black, Satin Red)

Other:
Nestabilities by Spellbinder (Large Square)

Thanks for stopping by!

Just for You

I made a second card using the black, white and one other colour scheme set for the recent Inchie Inklings challenge.

This pretty aqua shade is one of my favourites from the original DCWV mat stack and I thought the Retro Circles embossing folder would go well to pick out the little background swirls on the inchie stamp. This is a really quick and simple project - took me longer to sort out the thread in my sewing machine than anything else!

Stamps:
Inkadinkado Inchie Stamps Flowers
Sentiment from a HOTP set

Paper:
smooth white
DCWV

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Tim Holtz Texture Fade folder (Retro Circles)
Sewing machine and thread

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

One layer Wednesday - bare tree

Yes, I know it's Tuesday - I'm six days late rather than a day early! I haven't played in the One Layer Wednesday challenge for a while and thought it was about time I put that right. Jennifer is this week's hostess and she's challenged us to make a one layer card featuring a bare tree.

I found a stamp I forgot I had (me? too many stamp? never!) - I'd tucked it into the case with the Lovely as a Tree set, obviously thinking that any time I reached for the trees in the set, I might consider this one too.

I got some Neocolour II water soluable pastels for Christmas -thanks Mum and Dad!- so I've had my first little play with them here for a swoosh of sunset colour. A stamped sentiment and a few hand drawn details (the birds and the grounding for the tree) finish it off.

Stamps:
Tree by Stamps Away
Sentiment from Journaling set (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)

Paper:
Watercolour

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukinko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Neocolour II water soluable pastels by Caran d'Ache
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers
Copic Multinliner

Thanks for stopping by!

Parisian Chic

This week's challenge in the Crafty Secrets member forum over at Splitcoast Stampers is to use some of the new stuff we got for Christmas. The Jamara embossing folder and Tumbled Glass ink were both under the tree for me this year. And although it's not newly acquired, I've never used this particular shape label die from the set so I guess I could count that as new, too!

I combined my two new items by inking the negative of the folder here to get colour in the low bits and leave the raised bits white. I find it works best if you brayer the ink onto the folder (less splotchy than if you tap the pad directly onto the plastic).

Stamps:
Sew Special (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)
Haute Couture (Cornish Heritage Farms - retired)

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Cuttlebug embossing folder (Jamara)
Fancy Labels die by Spellbinder
Copic markers
Vintage lace
Flat back pearls
Silk ribbon
Sewing machine and thread
Tracing wheel


We watched the Chanel biopic Coco Before Chanel on DVD last night - maybe that's why Parisian chic came to mind today (not that she'd have approved of the corset, of course!).

Thanks for stopping by!

Little wishes

There's a new challenge over at Inchie Inklings: black and white plus one colour. I like to play along with these when I can and I managed a card for this one today.

It's a very simple design but I liked the idea of using the texture to represent the seeds drifting out from the dandelion clock with the little gems for a touch of fairy dust to help those wishes along!

Stamps:
Inkadinkado Inchie Stamps Flowers

Paper:
Black
White

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Texture Fade Embossing folderCopic marker (to color the mat to match the gems)
Acrylic nail art gems

Thanks for stopping by!

Vintage riches

I'm trying to get back in to a bit of crafting and blogging but being hampered by damaged fingers - ouch! This card took ages and to top it all it's one of those projects that looks so much better in real life and just refuses to photograph well! Never mind, I decided to share anyway so that I could wish you all a Happy New Year!

This week's challenge in the Crafty Secrets member forum at Splitcoaststampers is to use up some leftovers. If you're a regular visitor you may have realised I don't use patterened paper very often so most of the leftovers on this project are things other than paper!

I did sacrifice a 3.5" square of my favourite ever Crafty Secrets paper that I've been carefully hoarding, having tucked it back into the stack after being trimmed off an earlier project. I then restricted myself to things that were lying around on my desk, some made as experiments or intended for other projects and then not used in the end, others just offcuts of trimmings etc (and yes, my desk is very messy - lots to choose from!). Even the dark red cardstock has some trial stamping and embossing on the back of it! I stamped on the biggest flower with the same script stamp as the little plaque to tie it together and used Copic markers to alter the colour of flowers and brads etc where necessary!

Stamps:
Artsy Banners (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)

Paper:
Dark red (Paper Mill)
Radiant paper pad (Crafty Secrets)
Scrap mountboard (cut with a Cutlebug square tag die)

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Sewing machine and thread
Crystal chain from broken necklace
Paper flowers (including one coloured with Glimmer Mist)
Cog die cut
Snowflake punchie
Brads
Brass star charm
Silk ribbon

Thanks for stopping by - I hope 2011 brings you big highs, small lows and boundless creativity!

Pinwheel ornament

Inspired by Lisa Zappa's tutorial (here) I made this little pinwheel ornament for a challenge with the theme A Song in the Air.

The border is stamped with the music and small pennant stamps from the Artsy Banners set and I used the triangles to guide my score lines rather than measuring out on my scoring tool as Lisa does in her tutorial. Robins about to burst into song keep with the musical theme and make this a quick and easy project as it's a printed image so no tricky colouring involved!

Stamps:
Artsy Banners (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)

Paper:
Ivory
Christmas Creative Scraps (Heartwarming Vintage by Crafty Secrets)

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Silk ribbon
Copper jingle bells
Squeeze punch by Fiskars (large circle)
Circle cutter by Fiskars
Scor-It
Gold thread

Thanks for stopping by!

Rejoice!

I'm creating along with Creative Belli Challenge again for the second of my projects as Guest Designer with them this month - thanks for asking girls!

The challenge for this fortnight is to use stuff beginning with R. I'm boosting the Christmas card stock again with this one - I like to stretch my stamps by using ones that are not designed to be festive and giving them a little Christmas makeover! The word Rejoice is from a stamp set called Rose (can I count it twice on the "R-ometer" do you think?).

I managed quite a few Rs here:
Red
Ribbon
Rejoice
Rub n Buff
Rhinestone
and if it's not too cheeky - rounded corners!

I used Rub n Buff over the raised parts of the embossed panel and rubbed some along the edges of the matting strip to make a rich gold border.

Stamps:
Rose (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)

Paper:
Red
smooth white

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Crimson Red)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)

Other:
Rub n Buff by Amaco (Gold Leaf)
Flowers by Prima
Brad by Making Memories
Grosgrain ribbon recyced from packaging
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Textile Texture)
Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers
Nestabilities by Spellbinder (Labels Four)

Thanks for stopping by!

Something old, something new...

I'm delighted to be joining the Creative Belli Blog with a couple of Guest Designer projects this month. The first is for the current challenge... Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.

As I need to boost my stack of Christmas cards I stuck with a festive theme.

Old: the DCWV white core card has been in my stash for five years or so and the square crystal brad is probably not much newer!
New: the stamp set is a recent release and one of my latest acquisitions
Borrowed: the layout is from a sketch on Kathy's Sketch File and I borrowed a tool from the world of sewing (a tracing wheel to do the piercing round the image panel)
Blue: cardstock for the snowflake panel and crystal brad

I used several of the smaller stamps from the set to create the background directly onto the card base. The glittery strip was done with a piece of double sided sticky sheet with glitter pressed on top and then I think the rest is self explanatory!

Stamps:
Christmas Mail (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)

Paper:
Kraft
Smooth white
DCWV white core

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Crimson Red)

Other:
Cuttlebug embossing folder (Ice Crystals)
Deko Ice glitter by Efco (Crystal)
Double sided tape sheet
Tracing wheel
Copic markers
Silk ribbon
Crystal brad

Thanks for stoppping by!

Vintage and modern

I'm taking part in a Christmas ornament swap over on UK Stampers.We can specify whether we would like traditional or modern colour schemes and then we make an ornament for each person in our group. A couple of people in my group wanted modern colours and the rest opted for traditional. I tried for a basic design that would work either way and came up with these microscope slide ornaments.

The traditional colour scheme ones have a vintage feel with copper tape, vintage buttons, a bit of wire work and a jingle bell and bow to finish. The backs are textured with a Cuttlebug folder rather than being a second glass slide.

The modern colour scheme ones are a bit more "disco"! I combine pink and aqua for the stamping and then added glitter, bugle beads and a star shaped gem as finishing touches. Silver thread tied through a second short row of beads at the top provides a hanger. Again, the back is textured with a Cuttlebug folder but it's silver this time - I used aluminium tape stuck to a piece of card and used a strip of the same tape to seal the edges of the ornament.

Stamps:
Christmas Mail (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)

Paper:
White

Ink:
Adirondack Pool and Clearsnap Chalk ink Pink Pastel (modern design)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger in vintage Photo and Versafine by Tsukineko in Crimson (traditional design)

Other:
copper wire, glitter, buttons, Superglue, bugle beads, gems, Textile Texture embossing folder, Krylon leafing pen in copper and silver, silk ribbon, jingle bell

Thanks for stopping by!