Make My Monday Challenge 14

The folks over on the Make My Monday blog have a new theme for the month of September - steampunk and for this first week they are asking for an ATC which something I've not made for simply ages as I find the small size a bit restrictive. However I decided to have a go and have actually come up with two - couldn't decide between them so they are both here (sorry I put one a bit crooked in the scanner). The one on the left has a sponged background with some overstamping using stamps from 7 Gypsies and the lettering in the top corner is a stamp from a teeny tiny set by Chocolate Baroque. The butterfly has been cut out and layered.  For the card on the right I first stamped part of a Christmas tree from Chocolate Baroque Steampunk Christmas using Versamark ink and embossed with clear powder before sponging and a bit more overstamping.  A Tim Holtz die was used to cut out a cog shape which was then run through a Cuttlebug embossing folder, sponged with colour and layered.  The hot air balloon from 7 Gypsies was stamped and cut out also.  I might say that this set of clear stamps from 7 Gypsies caused me a problem in that they were so difficult to remove from the carrier sheet I felt I was in danger of actually ripping them as they stretched to an alarming degree - thankfully no damage was done and they stamped nicely.

CD Sunday - Peacocks

The challenge on the CD Sunday blog is 'inspired by peacocks' and there are prizes on offer too. I did a bit of 'thinking outside the box' and chose an image of a peacock butterfly from Joanna Sheen's CD of Jane Netley Mayhew designs - printed  onto pearlescent paper and decoupaged. Background paper is from Artylicious Peacock summer Party CD (Chocolate Baroque) and the Art Deco peacock feather was a Tanda stamp embossed in gold.

A Scheduled Post - I Hope!

I've just switched to the new interface on Blogger and thought I'd try out the scheduled post option to see how it goes.  This card was made using a Polkadoodles stamp from the Wonderland set coloured with Promarkers. Background papers are from Funky Hand and the sentiment was a free digi download but I'm afraid I can't recall who designed it.  I think I will probably stick with this new interface although it is quite an adventure searching for the various functions - I reckon the success of this scheduled post might be the deciding factor.

Forgotten Friday 31

It's time for my Forgotten Friday 31 challenge card to get an airing - this seems to have been a very short week somehow.  This week I've used an image from one of my many My Craft Studio CDs and although I looked at this one ages ago when I first bought it I've not used any of the artwork until now.  This cute character is Violet and the image was cut out using Nestabilities labels die, the sentiment was printed from the CD and I added a border, ribbon and flowers.

Bah Humbug Challenge 35

Friday seems to have come around so quickly again this week (I blame the Bank Holiday) but anyway that means it's time for the Bah Humbug challenge which this week is 'sentiments or text' and they would like words to be the main feature. It so happens that on Monday I was persuaded to buy a pad of lovely vintage Christmas papers by Cart-Us so I really wanted to use some of it this week.  As well as backing papers there were also some pages of lovely old postcards etc and you will notice that the one I've chosen  actually ties in with the stamped sentiment.  This sentiment is on a set of seasonal words from Chocolate Baroque and it's one of my favourites - this was cut out with a Nestability label and I just added an ornate die-cut corner (Marianne die) and a border which was also from the paper pad, as was the background.

Make My Monday challenge 13

Over on the Make My Monday blog we are on the last week of the 'things with wings' challenge and this time they've given us a photograph to use as inspiration in any way we like. I chose a piece of green background paper from my stash of beautiful papers which came as part of my membership of the Graphicus Guild and I must admit I do tend to hoard them. I stamped a birdcage and embossed  in white onto the background (Papermania stamp set) and the bird from the same set was stamped in brown, cut out and coloured with pencils.The flowers were made using some white glassine paper and then sprayed with Glimmer Mist; the leaf was cut using a Marianne die and the greetings printed and cut out using a punch and shapes cut with Cuttlebug dies.  Take a look at their blog using the link above and see if you think this is a reasonable interpreation of the photograph.

Bah Humbug Challenge 34

The challenge at Humbug Hall this week is 'here come the girls' and they are asking for something girly and/or with some bling. Once I'd remembered that I had a pad of Smirk  collection Christmas papers by Papermania this card was quite quick and easy to make using one of the sheets with glitter already on it.  I simply added a computer printed greeting using a stamp and punches from Stampin Up, added some glitter  and a scattering of glittery snowflakes and there you have it - here come the girls!