Cure For The Monday Blues Challenge #1 Bohemian Rhapsody

Hi everyone from a very wet and windy Somerset..............someone up there is certainly testing our mettle and my thoughts go out to people living on the Levels.

Anyway one way to banish thoughts of this miserable weather is a fab new challenge called Cure for the Monday Blues run by the lovely Taheera.  Every Monday she will be posting an inspirational photo and here is the one posted for this very first challenge:

Aren't they the most gorgeous colours?  Makes you think of summer sun, sandy beaches...........oh well, we can only dream eh?  Here's what I came up with.

There's been a lot lately about spray painting using a hand pressed air tool with your alcohol markers.  This seems to have come about from the recent CHA exhibition.  When I saw it I thought, I've got one of those - so went hunting and sure enough I have got one but it's called Blitzer and my sister bought it for me donkey's years ago along with a video (shows how old eh?), marker pens and stencils.  So I dusted it off and got some Flexmarkers ready.  I've used a Clarity Stamp Stencil on a piece of white cardstock and sprayed the colours I needed.  It's surprising how much ink gets blown out over the card by just squeezing the bulb of the spritzer.

This was mounted on a 5" square card.  I die cut the two bottom corners using Cheery Lynn Fancy Corner Cuts #4 - these are great as you get three styles but two dies of each so you can cut the edges in one go.  I used the waste from the corners at the top of the spritzed card, added a ribbon and the sentiment is Stampin Up Whimsical Words which was cut out using SU label punch.  Final touch was some Liquid Pearls.

Thanks for dropping by.

Addicted to Stamps & More! Bingo Challenge #4

Morning everyone.......... well it's a new challenge over at Addicted to Stamps & More! and this week it is a Bingo challenge.  All you have to do is choose a line either horizontally, vertically or diagonally and make your card from the three elements you've chosen.  Here is the bingo card:

I've chosen diagonally with Orange, Free and White and have taken a little bit of artistic license by using gilding flakes "Sunset" which is mostly coppers.    So orange is the gilding flakes, free are my stamps and white is the base card.  I've inked my Clarity Stamps Hummingbird stamp with FlitterGlu and stamped onto a white pearl cardstock panel.  I then added the gilding flakes, rubbed over and then used a scoochy pad (like a soft Brillo pad!) to buff up.  I put some red liner tape around the edges of the cardstock and used the same method to add the gilding.  The sentiment is from Penny Black and is popped up on foam pads.  This was then layered on a DL card.

Thanks for dropping by - please pop over to the ATS&M blog to see all the wonderful creations made for you by the DT.

Make My Monday - Week 24 - CAS Christmas Card

The latest challenge over at Make My Monday is:

 Make a CAS Christmas Card with emphasis on the Sentiment.

CAS means Clean and Simple, minimal layers and no bulky embellishments - we want to see lots of White Space.

 

For this I've used the lovely Peace stamp from Clarity Stamps.  I've gold embossed it onto white pearl card and then stamped again onto copy paper and cut an aperture in the letter C.  I placed the copy paper over the top of the embossed image and taped it down.  I punched a circle out of the top of a sticky note for the moon and placed it on the card.  I then used my blending tool and Distress Inks to colour the sky and mountains.  I then removed the moon mask and using the Clarity miniature stamps used Memento ink and stamped Santa and his sleigh in the sky and then the fir trees - using the ink, blot, plot method to get a look of trees in the distance.  I then die cut the sentiment using my Spellbinders Creative Book Pages, ran a gold pen around the outside and mounted it onto a square white card blank.  Then came the tricky part of the operation - photographing it!!!  I have posted two photos so you could see one that shows the gold embossing and one that doesn't but shows the colours better in the letter C - so, you choose which is best!!

 

Less is More - Week 36 - One layer hearts

This week's challenge over at Less is More is One Layer:

The ♥ can be singular, multiple, any colour, but, MUST be a one layer card, with no additional layers stuck on, apart from the odd embellishment or ribbon!

I've taken a cream 5"x5" card blank and placed the largest of the Spellbinders scalloped heart dies centrally on the card front and then placed a smaller plain heart die in the centre of this.  I then ran them through my Joy machine with the embossing plates so nothing was cut.  I then die cut a piece of copy paper using the scalloped heart die so I could place this over the embossed shape on the card.  I have used Distress Inks all through this project and first stamped the heart stamp from SU Punch Potpourri which just fits inside the small embossed heart and then I placed a mask over the top of it.  I  used my ink dusters to colour the inside of the scalloped heart and then stamped a Clarity Stamp large floral flourish stamp over the top.  To finish I inked the smaller heart and stamped the sentiment which is from the SU Wonderful Words set.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Less is More - Week 23 - Something with Legs...........

This week's challenge over at Less is More is a one layer card and something with legs!!!!  Hmmmmmmm!!

I decided to use the lovely basque and feminine set from Clarity Stamps.  To start I made up an A5 card from white pearlised card and ran it through my Joy Trouvaille and embossed the smallest die from my Go Kreate XXL Frilly No 5 frames.  I then inked up the basque stamp and put some Angelina Fibre Cobalt Sparkles on top, placed a piece of baking parchment over and then ironed.  I then cut out around the image and threaded through some blue cord for the lacing.  The sentiment feminine was inked with Distress Ink Faded Jeans and stamped once one way, then I turned the card around and stamped it again to get the two legs.  I then added the basque using Pinflair Glue Gel.  The addition of some blue gems finished the card.

Thanks for dropping by.

Die Cut Dreams - Recipe

The latest challenge over at Die Cut Dreams is a recipe to use 3 stamps, 3 flowers and a bow.    I have used my Stampin Up church and sentiment for this card.  I decided to make it monochrome and so started with a cream card blank and added two background papers from my stash and a ribbon bow where the papers joined.  The large floral swirl is from Clarity Stamps.  I have used Distress Inks for all the stamping.  I cut out the main image with a nestie and added a frame around it.  The final addition was three flowers in matching colours.

Thanks for dropping by.

Bah Humbug Fancy Folds

Well, I'm not sure if this comes under the heading of fancy folds but I'll enter it into the Bah Humbug challenge this week and see what happens!!!

This is basically a slider card and I have taken red cardstock and made an open ended envelope with it, decorated the front with a Clarity Stamp sentiment mounted onto nesties.  I have watermarked the background using a Stampin Up set of snowflakes and punched gold mirri with a Martha Stewart snowflake punch.  I then made  up a card to fit inside the slider and used the SU snowflakes to watermark the card and gold embossed a snowflake onto nesties.  A red polka dot ribbon was tied around the card and gold mirri punched snowflakes with gems added.  To make the slider work you insert more ribbon into the centre of the envelope and slide in your card to the bottom.  Then tie the ribbon in a bow at the side and to open you just pull the ribbon and the card slides out.

Thanks for looking.

Bah Humbug - Elegance

This week's challenge over at Bah Humbug is "Elegance".

Although I have already used the "Peace" stamp from Clarity Stamps I hadn't had a chance to use the Noel Stamp I got in the same order.  So - elegance - I suppose it is up to each person to decide what is elegant to them but I hope I have achieved it in this card.  I started off stamping the word with Versamark onto white card and embossing in silver.  From a sheet of handmade paper in my stash I then cut out four ovals that would fit inside the O of Noel.  I then folded them in half and stuck each half to the next one to make a sort of paper bauble effect.  This was then stuck on top of the letter.

The image was then inked in silver and mounted onto silver mirri with each edge notched with a SU punch.  The remainder of the handmade paper was matted onto silver mirri and placed on a square white card blank.  A strip of silver ribbon was placed near the bottom of the card with a white organza bow placed on top.  With some scraps of the handmade paper I punched out some flower shapes which I used with some Prima flowers.  Finishing touches were some gems.

Thanks for stopping by.

Text

Over at Bah Humbug this week the challenge is text.  Luckily the stamps that I recently bought after watching Barbara Grey from Clarity had arrived and I'd been dying to play with them.

I have chosen the word Peace and stamped it onto coated cardstock with VersaMark and embossed in gold.  I then created a mask by stamping the word onto copy paper and cutting out the inside of the "C".   I then stamped the star inside the "C" with Versamark and then using my brayer I picked up some Adirondack ink in Denim.  I took a lot of the ink off the brayer and then did a "wheelie" and brayered through the mask which showed up the star previously stamped.  I then added the conifer trees and Santa's sleigh.  When it was dry I used another mask (Barbara uses Post-It notes but I didn't have any the correct size) from Frisket Film to cover the image.  I then brayered the borders with Denim but I realised as soon as I started that I hadn't got rid of enough ink - it should look quite faded and pale - but having started I had to finish!!!  I then took the conifer stamp again and stamped round the border.  The final touch was a thin line of gold ink around the main image which should make it look like a postcard - which it would have if it wasn't so dark.  Still, I really enjoyed playing with these stamps and looking forward to trying out the other one which is "Noel".

Thanks for stopping by.

Bah Humbug - Favourite Medium

This week's challenge over at Bah Humbug is using your favourite medium.  What a challenge to set us - how could you possibly choose your favourite thing; whether it be stamping, embossing, die cutting etc etc - the list is endless and it's just an impossible task.

I suppose when it comes down to the nitty gritty my favourite medium is stamping and so I have made a very simple card using the Papermania holly & berries which I stamped onto white card and coloured using AquaMarkers.  I then used a VersaMark pen over the berries and embossed with Red Tinsel powder.  The image was cut and matted using nesties.  I have used a square white linen card as the base and it's a tent fold.  I have stamped Clarity clever corners on the base card.  The sentiment is from the free set of stamps in the Creativity magazine which has been stamped and embossed and then layered using my SU punches.  I have used a pin from Posh Pins & Charms and added some ribbon and three gems.

Thanks for stopping by.

If only my waist was this size!!!!

I recently treated myself to two Clarity stamps - the corset and the word stamp "feminine". They have just arrived so couldn't wait to have a play and came up with this very quick card which I think is lovely.

I inked the corset up with black Memento ink, placed some Angelina fibres over the inked stamp with a piece of baking parchment over the top and ironed it. As soon as you see the image coming through the parchment then you know it's ready. I then inked up the word and stamped it twice to look like a pair of legs, cut out the corset image and glued it on top of the "legs". A piece of patterned co-ordinating paper (from my stash) covered my base card and I punched the bottom with a Martha Stewart deep edger punch (Floral Vine). A small piece of blue mirri card was placed at the bottom of the base card before attaching the paper. The main topper was matted onto another piece of blue mirri and attached to the main card. A small blue bow and some blue gems finished the card.

Thanks for looking.

Something old and something new...........

My great cyber buddy Liz of Make a Lasting Impression kindly sent me a sheet of her precious, mainly unobtainable, Grungepaper to have a play with. I haven't used it before and although very pliable it is quite fibrous and my punches didn't like it - so ended up putting it through my Big Shot with a scalloped circle Nestie. I spritzed with Glimmer Mists and then followed Tim Holtz' instructions for making his rose. I think it would be easier using a plain circle Nestie as the scallops don't help when curling the petals. Anyway I ended up making a couple and then had to make a card to put one on! I used my Clarity Stamps "Velvet" lady and dug out some fantasy fibres which had been lurking on a shelf for a very long time (something old). I decided to use two colours for her outfit which I was quite pleased with. The backing card is from my stash with an offcut edged with my Martha Stewart Arched Lattice punch, some mirri card behind and a ribbon added. The sentiment is from a Stampin Up set, matted and layered using the SU oval and scalloped oval punches. The leaves are made using my L-Em Fern punch.

The other day I was watching Create & Craft when they featured their Loopi Loom. I loved the effect you got with the scarf but thought it was pretty expensive at £22.99 for a piece of wood and a couple of dowel rods........... so I fluttered my eyelashes at my DH and no sooner said than done and I had my very own version. Last night I made two scarves using it and here is a photo of one of them.

This next card is a simple one made for a friend. I used the Papermania stamp set coloured with ProMarkers. The backing paper was from a SU set. I added a piece of ribbon and some gems. The sentiment is from a SU set and matted and layered using their punches.

Thanks for looking.

Reflections

Well, I know I said I probably wouldn't post again this side of Christmas but I have been playing with stamping reflections this afternoon trying to get ahead as it's one of the projects we are doing with our craft club in January.

I used two methods - using the brayer on the tree scene and using acetate on the boy fishing. I must admit I definitely prefer using the brayer as you get a much better image.

For the tree scene I inked up the stamp, which was in my stash and I can't remember where it came from (!!!!), and then ran the brayer up the inked stamp. I then rolled the brayer to the bottom of the image and rolled it over my coated cardstock and voila you get your reflected image. I then turned round the cardstock, inked up my stamp again and lined up the image with the reflection and stamped. The water was created by inking up the brayer and then running it over a crumped piece of copy paper. I used a mask for the sun and brayered over it and then removed it and then stamped my cloudy sun image (Clarity Stamps) over.


The boy fishing image was made in the same way except that you ink your stamp and then stamp the image onto acetate which is then placed over your cardstock, laid down and lightly rubbed over. I think there is a problem with this stamp as it wouldn't ink properly but is borrowed from a friend so I will ask her about it.

A quick tip - the Stampin Scrub from Stampin Up is amazing to clean your brayer on as it's a perfect size.

Thanks for looking.