Birds

The title of today's post is the theme for the current challenge on Make My Monday.  I've used a mixture of stamping and die cutting for this card and the details are below.  Do take a look at the bird themed cards on their blog - great inspiration from the Design Team as usual.

Circular shapes - Tonic dies
Image - from Wetlands stamp set Stampin' Up onto Spellbinder circle
Sentiment - from same stamp set on SU punched shapes
Ribbon strip - SU banner dies by Sizzix

Pixie Snippets 136

I have something a bit different for the Pixie Snippets challenge this week - certainly lots of 'snipping' involved in the making I can assure you!!  Several years ago in a fit of enthusiasm I bought this twelve inch MDF mirror frame, full of good intentions to decorate it in some way but somehow managed to 'lose' it in my craft room (maybe too much 'stuff' in there??)  For some reason it came into my mind recently and I mounted a thorough search, eventually coming across it and a few other 'lost' items too.

I started by giving the whole thing a couple of coats of black gesso and while that was drying I started on spraying lots of watercolour paper with Glimmer Mist, adding some Distress ink once it was dry, before setting about to cut it into various 'tiles' which I juggled around until they fitted nicely.  The next task was to sort out a few embossing folders and emboss the pieces which were then further enhanced with Treasure Gold and a bit more Distress ink. Flowers were cut from the remaining snippets using Tim Holtz tattered flowers die and some swirls cut from scraps of mountboard coloured with matching Distress stain. I've not added the mirror tile in the centre yet because I thought it would be difficult to photograph but will do that this morning so that after all this time the project is completed.  I thoroughly enjoyed doing this as a change from making cards.

The embossing shows up better in the enlarged picture (just click on the image)

Male Room Challenge

The theme of the Male Room (men only cards) challenge this time around is GEOMETRIC and this card incorporates several geometric shapes one way and another.  Background paper is from Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby collection, details of other items are below.  The trellis was cut from grungeboard three times - framework was coloured with Distress paint and the inserts were designer paper stuck to grungeboard and foil stuck to grungeboard (now of course I have spare frames and inserts to combine in another project or two). This is a fortnightly challenge and I very nearly missed getting this made in time.

Background - Tim Holtz Vintage shabby paper
Embossed panels - Texture Fades folder
Car - Marianne die
Side Panel - Tim Holtz Frameworks Trellis cut from grungeboard and coloured

Flower Patch

I thought I'd try the new photopolymer stamps from Stampin' Up although I think on the whole I still really prefer rubber ones.  I chose the Flower Patch set which of course has been on back order ever since the new catalogue launched but mine arrived yesterday so just had to have a quick play.  I used an embossing folder for the background (a magazine freebie) and added some stamped flowers and a greeting which came with the set.  These flowers have matching dies to cut them out although a little manoeuvring is necessary to get them in the right orientation.  There could be a few more floral cards coming off the 'production line'!!

A New Challenge Blog

There is a new challenge blog around from Chocolate Baroque and because I have a vast collection of their stamps I thought I should definitely take part.  This month they have given us colours to use as our inspiration - the three primaries plus green and you can read all about it HERE.  I've chosen to use Distress inks to make my background and also another piece which has been stamped with one of the birds from the Doodle Birds/Doodle Butterflies collection (it's possible this particular stamp hasn't actually been inked prior to today) although I have used some of the others in the sets which I've had for a while.  I started by pressing ink pads onto a glass mat and spritzing with water before dragging watercolour paper through to pick up colour, spritzing again with water to get the lighter piece. The darker background was over stamped using part of the bird stamp and using all the colours, sponged around the edges and then sprayed with Glimmer Mist marshmallow which has given it a nice sheen in real life.  The bird panel was cut out with Spellbinder dies and the sentiment stamped onto a strip of the left over inked card;  a ribbon and some gems complete this card.

Distress Ink Pads - Worn Lipstick, Faded Jeans, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint
Stamp - Chocolate Baroque Doodle Bird
Dies - Spellbinder

Butterfly

I've missed a couple of weeks on the Make My Monday challenge, mainly because I don't really 'do' end of term or holidays but this week's theme of Butterflies is more me.  I've used an old wood-mounted stamp and simply dragged in the colour from the water based ink using a damp brush to give it more colour and added a few gems.  There are some great cards from their design team as always with a variety of different styles.  The colour looks a bit odd on the screen but the centre background is lemon using same pearly card as the filigree bow so no idea why it looks different!!

Background - paper from a magazine from way back
Ovals - spellbinder dies
Bow - Itty Bitty bow from Sue Wilson (Creative Expressions)
Butterfly - Anita's stamp
Sentiment - computer generated on Stampin' Up punched shape

Pixie Snippets 135

Apologies for my lack of posts for the last few days but unfortunately the heat tends to drain all my energy and I've not been fit for much.  Fortunately it is a little cooler (but only a little) today and I have been tinkering in the craft room with a large project (a mirror frame) which you will probably see when it is completed.  I made a card for my daughter in law using some more of my snippets for the Pixie Playground challenge.  She loves elephants and this image has been in my box of bits and pieces for a really long time so I decided to use it for her card.  This lovely baby is from a Joanna Sheen CD containing beautiful animal images painted by Jane Netley Mayhew.  I found some more snippets to punch the two borders and die cut a fancy mat for the picture, added a few 'orphan' flowers from the bottom of a glass pot of mixed colours - again these have been on my shelf for years but are just right colourwise for this card.  In view of the length of time my son's card took in the post this one is already on its way - what's the betting it will arrive far too early!!

Image - by Jane Netley Mayhew CD from Joanna Sheen
Decorative Layer - Tonic die
Borders - tonic punch
Flower centres - X-cut punch