Link in the chain - Octobter

It's reveal day at Card Chain Challenge. Mine has gone over the Pond to Linda this time.

From the options on offer for October I chose the colour palette (ruby, amber, sapphire) and the theme of shoes. Those things combined in my head to make a Wizard of Oz vibe so yellow brick road it had to be! That meant my usual one layer creations for CCC fell by the wayside as I wanted to use this brickwork embossing folder. 

The shoes have some glitter pen on them for a bit of glamour and the tiny nail art gems add a bit extra in that department. 

Stamps:
Wizard of Oz (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
DCWV

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Wild Honey)

Other:
Copic markers
Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Brickwork 3D embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Nail art gems
Spica glitter pen (red)

Thanks for stopping by! There are still a few days to sign up for the November chain if you fancy it, all the details here

Uh oh... here comes trouble

The end of the month is almost upon us so Dawn is asking us to be inspired by all things Hallowe'en for this week's challenge at Daring Cardmakers. If you don't want to make something spooky, you might choose something like the colours usually associated with Hallowe'en to inspire an autumn or even Christmas card.

As Lost Coast Designs is nearing the end of their annual 31 Days of Hallowe'en celebration, I thought I'd play along there as well so I've used Frankenstein and gone with a black and white theme since the classic film is B&W.

It’s a one layer card with just simple stamping and masking and minimal supplies here but I think it's got impact - what do you think?

Stamps:
Frankenstein (Carmen's Veranda)
Sentiment from Little Monsters (Technique Tuesday, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Soft Granite, Charcoal)

Other:
Copic markers (Cool Grey 1, 3 & 5)
Shattered stencil (Tom Holtz)
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

Come play…if you dare!

New home

I needed a new home card with a masculine vibe and thought the current challenge at Let's Squash It would provide a good starting point.

Gail and Jo would like us to double emboss this time - use one folder over another or heat emboss a piece that's been squashed in a folder or squash a piece that's been heat embossed. 

I used a brick folder to emboss a piece of white cardstock and then ran that through another folder to get the keys. I thought bricks and keys made the perfect combination for a new home! 

The bricks squashed a bit flatter than I would have liked but they're still there enough to be picked up with some Rub n Buff for a subtle dackdrop. I did beef up the silver of the keys a bit with a gel pen.

Supplies:
Bristol board
3D Brickwork embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Great Babette embossing folder (Couture Creations)
Silver Leaf Rub n Buff by Amaco
Silver gel pen
Black fineliner
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)
Versafine by Tsukinko (Onyx Black)

Thanks for stopping by!

Penguins in pink

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers - as October is breast cancer awareness month and today is "wear it pink" day I thought we'd focus on people or things wearing pink.

I've opted to try to get going with Christmas cards and dressed a couple of penguins in pink hats and scarves using several shades of pink Copic marker along with a couple of greys for shading and the obligatory orange for beaks and feet.

A pearl pen has given them some dimensional snow to stand in and I added it over the stamped dots above their heads, too. I used chalk to add a bit of cloudy background blue for the image.

Stamps:
Bundled penguins (Stampendous)
Sparkle all the way (Crafter’s Companion)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Chalk
White paint pen by Posca
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Candy corn colours

Svenja has set the challenge for us at Daring Cardmakers this week - she's giving us sweet inspiration with either candy corn or peppermint fondant, extra virtual browine points if your card relates to sweets.

I didn't manage the confectionary theme, I just opted for candy corn colours of orange, yellow and white.

An acrylic block with curvy sides provided the "stamp" for my colour block base - I tapped the ink pads onto it, spritzed with water and pressed it onto the card base. I did give it a little help with a damp brush as the coverage was just a bit too hit and miss.

I stamped the sentiment then stamped the flower to grow out of it. I stamped again on a scrap of white and cut out the flower head, gave it a bit of shading with a couple of grey pencils and stuck it over the top. A tiny bit of detail stamped with yellow ink at the bottom of the card and call it done.

Stamps:
Creative Chaos (Visible Image)
Birthday (Letter It range by Ranger)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Carved Pumpkin)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Grey pencils

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Link in the chain - September (and August!)

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge. Mine travelled around the globe to Suze in New Zealand this time and I chose the colour palette and the theme of flowers from the options on offer.

The first hollyhock stem was stamped and masked before stamping a second behind it. I coloured the flowers with Copics and then added some extra shading and detail with coloured pencils. It was one of those cards that doesn’t like having its photo taken, I did my best!

Stamps:
Jumbo hollyhocks (Stampendous)
Landscape quotes (HobbyCraft)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Spun Sugar)
Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Soft Granite)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Corner Chomper

I realised I forgot to blog August’s card which went to the lovely Jo. From the options on offer I chose the theme of the sea, the colour pallet and the technique of stamping (it’s almost guaranteed I’m going to hit that any time it’s one of the options, it’s rare indeed for me to make a card with no stamping!). 

Stamps:
Create Your Own Calm (Visible Image)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Copic markers
Fibres stencil (Visible Image)
Stickles
Silver gel pen
Corner Chomper 

Wild hare day

Nat is setting the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she'd like to see animal prints or wild animals. I suspect she was thinking lions and tigers (oh, my!) but I've gone a bit closer to home. I've never seen a domesticated hare so it must be a wild animal, right?

This lino cut style hare is actually sold as a Christmas stamp (it has a festive sentiment along with it) but I figure it's really a year-round image, just switch out the sentiment.

I stamped in black on the card base then again in chocolate brown, cut out the hare and raised him just a bit on some gel glue. Some dots with a couple of Copic markers to fill in some sky and a stamped sentiment and call it done.

Stamps:
Start Gazer (Woodware)
Sentiment from Big Day today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)

Othe:
Copic markers
Pinflair glue gel
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Got your number

The current challenge at Let’s Squash It wants us to use an embossing folder featuring numbers or letters and then sand the embossed surface. 

I went back to an offcut of the heavyweight disposable aluminium platter I used for the last challenge, embossed a square of it in the part of the folder that has numbers (and the Roman numerals on the clock face, too) then painted it with gesso.  Once it was dry, I added drops of alcohol ink in various greens and blues and spread them into all the nooks and crannies. More drying time and then bring out the sanding block to expose the silver metal of the high spots. 

I did a bit of stamping on the card base, messed up the sentiment and so added a separate strip to cover the booboo. Finished with some Enamel Accents dots and I have a masculine birthday card to add to the stash.

Stamps:
Numbers border (Kaisercraft)
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Aluminium platter
Patchwork embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Gesso
Alcohol inks
Black Enamel Accents by Ranger
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by!

Circles and words

Jenny is setting the challenge for us today at Daring Cardmakers and she’d like to see circles featuring as a design element. I wanted to use this Bubble Border stamp as it has loads of circles and so decided to combine with the latest challenge at Lost Coast Designs which wants us to use sentiments of at least five words. 

It really is a champagne celebration - this border stamp has been in my stash for 10 years this month! It’s seen a fair bit of use in that time so I reckon it was money very well spent as I don't think it has dated at all (and looking on the Lost Coast shop now I see it’s still only $4!). I heat embossed with gold powder and then used several shades of gold watercolour paint to fill in the circles. I used a couple of pen caps as stamps to add bubbles breaking out from the central column and finished with some sequins and the simply matted sentiment panel. 

Stamps:
Bubble border (Lost Coast Designs)
Putting on the Ritz (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versamark by Tsukineko
Delicata by Tsukineko (Golden Glitz)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Gold detail embossing powder
Gansai Tambi Starry Colours
Stitched rectangle dies (Paper Rose)
Sequins
Corner Chomper 

 

Movie mania

The current Lost Coast challenge has us focusing on the wonderful world of the cinema with Movie Mania.

My first idea was to turn the Showgirls stamp into a whole row with a bit of masking (to represent the movie A Chorus Line) but Riet beat me to the same idea and I didn't want to look like a copycat! I went through several other ideas (Gnomeo and Juliet, anyone?) but then another idea for the same stamp popped in to my head. Can you spot the movie reference?

Using some dragonfly wings (and a piece of acetate to reverse them since they pointed the wrong way) I've transformed the girls into Absinthe fairies and given them extra Parisian flavour with a misty Eiffel Tower in the background. There's some fairy sparkle on wings and costume accents, courtesy of Spica pens.

Stamps:
Showgirls (Lost Coast Designs)
French Mail and Poppies (both Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Shadw ink by Hero Arts (Soft Granite)

Other:
Copic markers
Flim strip ribbon (Tim Holtz)
Spica glitter pens (green and turquoise)
Glossy Accents (to stick the film ribbon down invisibly)

Got the movie? Get your best Kylie impression out for the Absinthe fairy from Moulin Rouge!