Allsorts Challenge #724

 The Allsorts challenge this week is **anything goes with an option to create your own background** so it seems fortuitous that yesterday I was dabbling with some shaving foam and re-inkers - a technique I've never actually tried despite my good intentions.  I can't say my first attempt was too brilliant but at least the craft room smelled lovely when I'd finished 😉.  I was determined to use some of what I made so I started out by cutting a tag, adding some stencilling and a bit of stamping and gold embossing.  I then decided to stencil a partial design onto a square to fit a card blank. I had a ponder over a coffee break and at that point decided this would be ideal as a masculine card with a few additions so I die cut a clock from a piece of black card which  had been smooshed through some gold spray and this in turn was popped onto a circle of another background from my 'useful bits' box - made a long time ago so can't remember quite how it was achieved. Everything was put together, finally adding a metal embellishment and sentiment.  There you have it - a card for the challenge incorporating no less than three backgrounds made by me - job done!!

Large background - stencil from Aall and Create
Tag - background made using shaving foam technique with Distress re-inkers
Clock background - not sure but probably used a stencil spritzed with water, added embossing
Clock die - came with a Phill Martin magazine quite a long time ago
Letters stencil on Tag - Tim Holtz stencil
Sentiment - produced on the computer in Word

More Rain

 I have another rainy day card to share with you which is quite apt because after some sunny days over the Easter break we've had quite a bit of rain to follow.  This  happy little fellow doesn't seem to mind playing in the rain.  More of the same background paper as I used recently and the image was coloured using Inktense pencils and a water brush.  I've added a fancy border for a bit of interest.  Would you believe this came about because I wanted some tiny flowers for a different project so it made sense to also use the border for this one as well as saving the 'waste' little flowers 😊.  You might spot them in a future post.

Image - Playing in the Rain Stampin' Up
Border - punch from Docraft (probably no longer available)
Background - printed using free download from a magazine (not recent)

Interesting Technique

 I came across a technique for colouring card which involves spray starch, pigment powders and clingfilm.  If this sounds interesting to you can find it HERE.  I must admit I was a bit puzzled as to why spray starch was used instead of the usual water but gave it a go anyway.  I used Pixie powders, some of which have mica in them and some not but the inclusion of mica gives the finished result a lovely glimmer although of course this doesn't always come across in pictures on the screen.  Once the pieces were dry I used some of it to make a card which is actually  CASE'd from the one Christine made except that I used a different die and punched my butterflies rather than die cut.  Once the messy bit was done this was a quick card to put together and while I had the powders etc out I coloured more than one piece of card so I have some backgrounds for future projects.

Floral die - by Clarity Freshcuts
Butterflies - two punches from Stampin' Up (retired)

Alcohol

 No, I've  not been drinking it 😉. Whilst looking for something else,  I came across a pack of alcohol ink cardstock which I'd forgotten about so I decided to see if my neglected alcohol inks were still usable.  Fortunately they were so I coloured a piece of this card which has a lovely sparkly sheen, although of course this doesn't show up in the picture.  I die cut a flowery frame and a sentiment and made it into a quick and simple card.  The sentiment was cut twice and layered up to make it a bit more robust because it is very thin.on its own.

Background - alcohol inks on Ranger silver sparkle alcohol ink cardstock
Die - Allium Fresh Cuts die by Clarity
Sentiment - unbranded
Square dies - Creative Expressions Noble squares

Clean and Simple

Into a new month with the Stamping Sensations challenge and for April the theme is **anything stamped with the option of CAS**.  I've gone for the CAS option and hope that there is sufficient stamping to cover the anything stamped part.  I started by making a stencil using a rectangular die and then added some Distress ink onto a cream card.  Another small honeycomb stencil was used for a bit of detail and then the numbers and little 'splodges' were stamped.  All of this was done with the original stencil in place. A die cut bee and sentiment were added to complete the card.

Numbers - stamp from a Phill Martin magazine give-away (not recent)
Splodges - stamp from French Foliage set Stampin' Up (retired)
Bee - Tim Holtz Sizzix bee dies

Bunny Visits the Playground

At risk of boring everyone here's yet another card featuring this cute bunny and there is also another super one made by Di to see HERE.  Lots of tiny snippets used, mostly cream, so this one is for the Snippets Playground challenge where there is a great prize on offer for the lucky person chosen at random from the entries. I used a card blank and the square to fit was cut from a new A4 piece which of course has left me with snippets to use 😀.  Everything else was cut from small bits of cream card and then coloured using Distress pens and a water brush.I did find a scrap of brown for bunny.  I used a stencil for a bit of background detail and the legs of the stool and the 'floor' have been stamped with a wood effect.  The snail shell was brushed with Wink of Stella for a bit of shine.  The die cut sentiment was cut twice and layered up for dimension.

Some of my snippets

Stencil - from Lavinia
Bunny and Stool - unbranded
Wooden 'floor' - Tim Holtz die (very old) from Sizzix
Snail and Flowers - dies from Gummiapan
Grass - dies from Stampin' Up
Sentiment - Britannia Dies

Floral Card

 A floral card today, hoping to make someone think of better days to come instead of the dull and rainy days we've had this week. We have seen some sunshine today though. The leaves were stamped onto white card which was then die cut into a fancy edged rectangle.  The 3D flowers were stamped onto scraps of matching white card and fussy cut - there is a punch available for this step.  I printed some papers in suitable colours, added a stamped sentiment and a tiny gold bee cut from a scrap of card which had been covered with gilding flakes.

Stamping - Petal Park set by Stampin' Up
Papers - printed from a Paper Pantry USB
Sentiment - stamp which came free with a magazine years ago
Bee -  from a Tonic die set