November Quintiles

Well November seems to be rushing by while I've been pondering how to depict the theme of FIREWORKS  which was the obvious choice for the Quintiles this month.  Eventually I had a flash of inspiration and decided to use some of the stamps from  Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque) sets - Retro flowers/Vases because they  gave me the impression of bursts of colour in the sky such as would be seen with fireworks.  I used two different approaches here - one using the clear embossing resist technique, starting with yellow card and gradually adding images followed by a slightly darker colour of distress ink, then more resist with a darker colour and so on.  The other one was made using very dark purple card with  stamped and embossed images using various colours of Cosmic Shimmer embossing powders.  The descriptive word was typed on the computer and cut out with a label die.   It is lucky really that I actually got these made this month because it took me so long to come up with an idea but hopefully they will get there in time!!

Twelve Tags 2013

I expect many of you know about Tim's 12 tags series but if not you can check it out here.  I've not used all of the ideas this year and somehow I never seem to have quite the items he's used  although I can usually improvise if necessary.  The chalkboard technique used on the latest one has taken my fancy so I had a go but instead of using the traditional 'blackboard' colour I've used a very dark purple card and rather than make a tag I've decorated the cover of a journal. I've also incorporated a few of his other techniques from Creative Chemistry.  I won't go into details because you can read all about it on his blog but I used one of his blueprint stamps, Distress inks and stains along with various masks/stencils for the background.

All I need to do now is launch into jornalling which is an entirely new field for me - very daunting seeing all those blank pages staring at me!!

Creative Chemistry

Yesterday I decided to have a play day, experimenting with some of the techniques to be found within Creative Chemistry 102 from Tim Holtz - great fun resulting in a selection of backgrounds and some embellishments which will be incorporated into projects. This one is a sort of layered effect using masks, stamps and inks and I added some embossing and embellishments to turn it into a male card (always useful to have in the box) - I find on the whole I tend to make more female cards than male ones so I might try to concentrate on the male themes.  I guess my next task will be to have a bit of a tidy up before I can do much more - such a messy worker!!

Steampunk Theme

The STEAMPUNK theme this week on Make My Monday has been chosen by Suzi - well chosen for me at any rate because this is one of my favourite genres. I've used a backing paper from Papermania Chronology range; an embossing folder called Uber by Couture Creations and a stamp from Chocolate Baroque Steampunkery set - this is the first time this particular one has been inked.  The quotes are also from this stamp set and have been cut to resemble the 'chit-chat' stickers. The stamped image was cut out and the clock face has been layered for a bit of dimension. If you like this theme why not take a look at what the design team have made and perhaps take part yourself this week.

Create a Scene

The challenge this week at Make My Monday is to CREATE A SCENE and for this one I first made the background by again using the masking technique spotted in the current Craft Stamper.  The mask was first swiped with blue ink and lightly spritzed with water before pressing the card onto the wet ink. The technique in the mag uses the same colour ink to sponge through the mask once the first layer is dry which works very well, but this time I tried another colour.  The scene was created using a Spellbinder die for the ornate fence; Memory box dies for the tree and birds; Sizzix dies for the leaves and acorns using a page from an old book.  There was a little stamping of feathery grasses behind the fence.  The leaves on the tree were swiped with Versamark and embossed using Distress powder to give them a crunchy autumnal appearance.  I'm undecided at the moment about adding a sentiment to this card so will leave it for the time being until I have an actual recipient in mind.

There is a challenge over at Country View Crafts running for a month and the theme is LAYERS so I'm adding my card to their blog as well.

HOC Challenge

We are into the second week of the House of Cards challenge for September which means it is still with the same colour scheme but this time in the CLEAN AND SIMPLE style.  My regular followers will know that this style isn't a favourite of mine but I do like to rise to the challenge!  I used a linen textured square card and having cut a mask from paper using a Sizzix die (Stampin' Up) I brushed three of the colours through the aperture and then stamped a SU floral stamp in the darkest purple, adding a little butterfly for  interest and balance.  The sentiment is die cut from matching card.   I'm off now, back into my comfort zone!!

Quintile Time Again

I've managed to make my quintiles for September quite early in the month this time around and here is the first of them.  The theme is AUTUMN and I've used a stamp from Chocolate Baroque build a tree set and stamped the leaves in autumn colours.  The background was done using a technique spotted in Craft Stamper this month - inking onto and through a mask and it is one I will be using again, trying out various masks in my collection.  The words were produced on the computer.  I will show you the other one another day.

Memories are Stitched

I've been dabbling about with Distress inks, specifically Chipped Sapphire, which is maybe not a good colour to have all over my fingers when I'm demonstrating for a couple of days.  I guess my hands will need a good scrub unless I do something like making bread (only joking honest!!) but that does make the hands really nice.

I'm not totally convinced about this card now it is done but I did get to play with inks, texture paste (which I coloured with a drop of paint), stamping on tissue and some die cutting so I enjoyed the process. Backing paper is from Tim Holtz vintage shabby collection, textured through a mask with said paste and the stamped piece on tissue was applied over part of this to tone it down a bit.  Stamps used were by Tim Holtz and the border at the bottom was cut using one of his 'on the edge dies' with the addition of some die cut tattered lace.  The sentiment stamp was from Creative expressions, cut out with a Spellbinder die and I added a few flowers from my stash. Some silver gilding wax was applied to the scissors and bobbins.

House of Cards Challenge

It is the fourth and final week of this month's sketch challenge at House of Cards and the style this time is vintage/shabby.  Now I know it is fine to change the orientation of a sketch from vertical to horizontal but I've gone way 'off piste' today and put mine on the skew so I hope that is also acceptable.  Background is a piece of Tim Holtz Kraft Resist card, sponged with Distress ink - I  added some cut and embossed cogs with the addition of a little ink and Treasure gold.  The postcard was made using a stamp from Chocolate Baroque on a scrap of watercolour paper.  The penny farthing was cut with a Memory Box die and popped onto a Sizzix (Stampin' Up) die shape.  The tattered banner was from a Tim Holtz Sizzix strip die and two little metal charms were added to comply with details the sketch layout.  I wonder what HOC will come up with for the September theme - always interesting to see how others interpret these suggestions.

A Bit of Mixed Media

I've had this box lying around for quite a while with the intentions of decorating it in some way - it started off as a plain kraft coloured box of about 7" square.  My first move was to cover it all with a layer of gesso, followed by Distress paint in Weathered Wood with a final light touch of Rusty Hinge.  There were a few things I wanted to try on this and one of them was the faux aged metal effect which I spotted on Jenny's blog recently where she had used it to good effect on a pocket watch.  As I have this die I thought I'd use it too - the face of the watch was printed from the Wellington CD which I used recently (Docrafts).  The image was resized  to fit the die, sponged with some Distress Ink and then covered with rock candy crackle medium, hands were from a Marianne die which luckily was the right size. I started the background by sponging distress inks and overstamping with various text and images.  The area over the text in the top left has been textured through a diamond mask with glass bead texture medium which dries clear to show what is behind it - unfortunately because it is clear it hasn't shown up well on the photos although I'm pleased with the effect on the actual box.!!  The grungeboard swirl was coloured with rusty hinge and clear embossed.

It so happens that Make My Monday this week are asking for 'anything but a card' so this will be my entry for their challenge and also it fits the metallic theme on Sunday Stamper where hopefully faux metal will be acceptable.

I've managed to get a half decent photo of the glass bead texture medium area - not easy to photograph

Dimension

The challenge at Make My Monday this week is to add some dimension to the project.  I've done this in a fairly simple way with multiple layers.  The embossed panel has some red gilding  wax added to highlight the texture; the next layer had texture paste applied through a stencil mask. then coloured with Distress ink; the car was from Creative Expressions stamped and embossed; fancy metal brads rubbed with gilding wax were added to the wheels.   I finally added a couple of tickets and a bow tied with some pieces of red waxed cord left from making a bracelet (knew it was worth saving them!!).

Quintiles for August

It is Quintile time again for the swap at Chocolate Baroque - for anyone who may not know, a quintile is a piece of art which is five inches square and because they need to be posted it was suggested they should be kept reasonably flat.  The theme this month had me in somewhat of a quandary because in fact there was no theme -'free choice' we were told with the usual proviso of using Chocolate Baroque stamps and/or products purchased from them.  I think this month has proved beyond doubt that I have way too many of their stamp sets as well ink pads and other forms of colouring along with CDs, papers, dies and so on - you get the picture I'm sure; but what to use??  Not long ago I purchased a gelli plate from them and thought I would use that to make the tiles before deciding which stamps etc to use.  I had a session of dabbling with acrylic paints and the gelli along with various masks, crumpled paper and so on until I had a reasonable selection of coloured backgrounds.  Below are my two final results and I have a few more usable backgrounds to play with for something else.

A long post today, sorry - details below each picture

Background made by adding gold paint to the plate and removing some of it with crumpled copy paper before pulling a print.  (not my idea, I saw this demonstrated by Barbara Grey on TV).  Once dry it was sponged with Distress ink which of course has been resisted by the gold and has coloured the card (originally white).
Image - CB stamp from Lily Pad clear set, paper pieced flowers and lanterns.
Background overstamping - CB stamps from Moonlit Waterfall clear set

For this one I added yellow paint to the plate, then used a mask from Special Touch for the first print, added blue paint to the plate and used a Glimmer Mist butterfly mask before pulling the final print.  I quite liked this result so didn't want to cover up too much of it.
Sentiment -  CB stamp from Live out Loud set
Butterfly - CB stamp from UA4SP0236 set

Vintage Shabby

The challenge this week on House of Cards blog is VINTAGE/SHABBY still within the colour scheme for the month. Backing paper here is from Tim Holtz vintage shabby pad, overstamped with leafy swirls (Chocolate Baroque).  The wording is also a stamp from Chocolate Baroque onto a Spellbinder label.  The strip of pattern used a stamping wheel from Stampin' Up and the flowers were stamped using their Vintage Vogue set (retired I think), then cut out with scissors.  The leaves were cut from a scrap of card which I had lying around which had been spritzed with Glimmer Mist - never throw any useful scraps a\way!!. A lacy die cut and here it is - my take on the vintage shabby theme for the week.

Balloons

The theme this week on the Make My Monday challenge is BALLOONS  of any type so I have chosen to go with an olde worlde hot air balloon using a stamp from Crafty Individuals.  It was stamped twice and the balloon layered up after colouring the white card by 'mopping' up some mixed Distress Stains from a glass mat. Background paper is from the Papermania Chronology range and I've raided my bits boxes for other items to include - luckily I had this die cut clock, the scrap of card stamped with cogs and the ticket so was able to colour them with distress inks to match.  I stamped the words and cut them out to resemble the chit chat stickers so apart from the backing paper the rest of the card has utilised things I already had around - they just needed finding and putting together.

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely weather although I must say that when you get really hot just sitting still it is a bit too much for me and I would prefer it slightly less warm - fussy aren't I??

4th July

The theme given for this month on the Chocolate Baroque quintiles swap was just this - 4th July which really had me stumped for a while and my original thought was to do something just using the colours until I saw some ideas on the Tim Holtz blog in keeping with the date.  I've made a rosette more or less as he had done using a Sizzix die and some tissue tape.  My next thought was celebrations, then fireworks, but of course no CB firework stamp until I remembered there was something which might do the job amongst my collection of their stamps.  I eventually used just the flower heads from a stamp in the Wisteria Lane collection and then sponged the card to look like night sky.  A Cuttlebug embossing folder was brought into service to make some red stripes and a silver star cut out for the centre of the rosette. A couple of words in the style of Tim's chit chat stickers and there it is - 4th July.  We submit two quintiles each month and I usually try to make them different but I'm afraid this month they are both almost the same which doesn't matter because when they are sent on to the other participants they will go separately to two people.  This monthly challenge is brilliant in that it makes me consider what stamps and other items I have which can be pressed into service for the various themes and often leads to quite a bit of 'thinking outside the box' and/or improvisation - sometimes even using stamps within a set which maybe haven't actually been inked before!!

Sweet Home Alabama

This song title is the theme of the Sunday Stamper challenge this week and Hels is asking for something relating to home.  I've used a quirky house stamp designed by Sam Poole, stamped twice and part of it cut out to add some dimension.  It was clear embossed and then coloured with Distress stains and Distress ink pads. The background was made using the same colours and was embossed using a Special Touch mask which I inked with the darker colour to transfer some colour to the white card before adding more ink after it was embossed. (colours used were Seedless Preserve and Mustard Seed).  The 'graffiti' was sponged through another mask using black soot ink and a text stamp also by Sam Poole was put onto a scrap of torn card, a little punched and coloured flower just finishes the grungy homely look. I must say my hands needed a good scrub after all that inky play!!

Dance in the Rain

While having a bit of a sort out of my working space I gathered together a selection of bits and pieces, experiments with gelli plate, odd bits of stamped images and of course the usual scraps of paper and card so before consigning them to the 'bits boxes' I thought I'd make a couple of cards using some of them.  This one is quite appropriate for the 'summer' weather we are having today - grey and wet at the moment!!  Background is one of the gelli plate experiments, over-inked with Distress inks and then stamped using the lovely water droplets stamp from Designs by Ryn.  The words were produced on the computer and cut out using a Sizzix framelits set (Stampin' Up).  I didn't think I wanted to cover up any more of the background so left the card fairly simple.  Off now to complete the sorting out so that I have space in which to work and who knows I may find some more treasures to use on something else.

Faux Chalkboard Technique

This is the technique being demonstrated on the Technique Tuesday blog and as it is getting very close to the closing date I'm posting a second card for today which I've just made playing around with this technique.The idea is to use white embossing powder onto dark card and with words of course it could look like a chalkboard.  Background is a piece of experimentation with the gelli plate which has been  over-inked with distress inks.  The stamps are by Sam Poole and the 'blackboard' has been cut out using a Sizzix (Stampin' Up) framelits die and the quirky flower was stamped, embossed and cut out with scissors.

Flowers for Make My Monday

When I saw the theme for Make My Monday this week I was pleased, then spotted the dreaded words 'clean and simple' which isn't really my chosen style. I decided that while the floral bouquet stamp by Chocolate Baroque was out I would use it again but in a different way.  I've had this stamp plate for quite a while but to my shame this the first time I'd actually used that particular stamp - shame really because it is so pretty.  I cut a mask out of thin card using a Spellbinder die and coloured through it using distress inks before stamping the flowers in black - a simple stamped sentiment and the CAS floral card is done.  Do take a look at the various ideas made by their design team - lots of ideas there.

The sunshine seems to have deserted us for now and it is dull, grey and very wet this morning so you can probably guess what I will be doing today.- once I've tidied away the stray ink pads, stamps and so on which seem to be cluttering my working space.

PS there is a great giveaway from the Ribbon Girl - leave them a comment to be in with a chance

Embossing Powders

I was playing around yesterday with some Sheena floral stamps and Cosmic Shimmer embossing powders and ended up with this card - would you believe it the challenge this week on Sunday Stamper is to use embossing powders, how lucky is that?  Mind you this is nothing like as adventurous as the work Hels produces so take a look at her wonderful blog to see what she made this week - stunning!!  I started by stamping the flowers using Versamark and a blue EP onto some scraps of Tim Holtz vintage shabby paper.  These were then painted over lightly with some shimmer paint, then cut out ready to arrange onto the background. These Shimmers Blingz came my way a very long time ago as a give-away prize from Craft Stamper and to my shame I don't think I'd used them until now when I spotted them lurking on a shelf!! The green layer was stamped in the same way but using a green CS powder and shadow stamping with green ink.  Background layer was made by sponging Distress inks and spritzing with some glimmer Mist - a very subtle sheen which doesn't show up on the scan..  The butterfly was cut out using a give-away die (from a recent magazine) and this was also painted with the shimmer paint.