Steampunk Rose

When I saw these  Steampunk Butterfly stamps from Chocolate Baroque I just knew that a set had my name on it!  This card is made using the unusual rose which I love, a corner stamp and also another one which has been used on the background (a fragment reminscent of a rose window).  The main image coloured with Coloursoft pencils was stamped twice so that I could layer up the flowers and leaf; the background was a piece of watercolour paper inked with Distress stains and Adirondack ink, overstamped with the fragment and silver mica powder brushed on before the ink dried.  Pewter WOW embossing powder was used on the rose and on the corners. The main image and the metallic effect piece were cut using  Stampin' Up framelits dies (Sizzix).  A Tim Holtz embossing folder was used to produce the metallic piece which was a scrap of card with aluminium adhesive tape applied (bought from the DIY store).

It has been raining relentlessly here all day - and probably most of last night too, so I made the weather an excuse not to go out but stayed in to play with my new stamps.  Much more fun!!

Technique Tuesday

I was invited to take part in the Technique Tuesday challenge and there is a tutorial over there for this faux tile technique - follow the link to see it and also the work by their design team.  I used another Elusive Images stamp (now Chocolate Baroque), some Tim Holtz vintage shabby background paper and die cuts using up the other half of the Top Note piece which I cut yesterday and also a lattice Memory Box die. The sentiment was produced on the cojmputer and is layered onto an X-cut tag shape also die cut. I can see lots of potential for this idea and will probably be using it again as I'm sure it can look very different depending upon the stamps used.

Make My Monday

This is the final challenge for this year at Make My Monday because they are having a couple of weeks off - well deserved because they have worked hard to bring us some very interesting challenges.  This time they've given us a bingo card choice and I went with the diagonal line of  PATTERNED PAPER, FLOWERS AND WORDS.

The background paper is from a Prima script pad and the die cut piece of patterned paper is a scrap using the Top Note die from Stampin' Up.  The main image is a stampe I've had for a long time but which remains a firm favourite - from Elusive Images (now of course Chocolate Baroque).  It was stamped twice and the daisies were cut out and layered for dimension, colouring done with Distress Inks and Coloursoft pencils.  It is nice to be making something non seasonal for a change and once past the longest day on Friday, hopefully we can start to look forward to the Spring.

Z is for ZIA

For anyone who doesn't know, ZIA is Zentangle Inspired Art - Zentangle is a registered name reserved for the genuine article.  My final tag for the alphatag swap just had to be this because I so enjoy drawing tangles and anyway I was at a loss to think of anything else for which I had something to use which came from Chocolate Baroque.  If you are interested in the  Art of  Zentangle there are several books and also suitable pens available on their website.  I simply stamped the words (Choco Baroque stamp) and then drew some tangles around them before sponging the edges of the tag and adding a ribbon.