Happy Christmas

Good morning.
Here we are, Christmas Eve. We are just about ready for the big day. It may be 04.30ish but the gammon is on the stove for the next 2 hours before being baked in the oven. The mince pies need to be baked and relatives need to fight their way through the snow from Yorkshire to get here this evening.
I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and an excellent New Year for another year of crafting, challenges and blogging!
See you soon,
Hugs,
Shirl xx

Pink Roses

A second post today to catch up on another challenge. This is for the Crafty Creations Challenge #98 - Photo Inspirations. From the photo I took the colour pink and rose elements from the fabric.

On a 6" cream base card I layered up some very pretty pale pink and cream paper which is a very old design from Joanna Sheen. It is very delicate and features roses and hearts.

The rose images, both the spray and the individual corner flowers are from Creative Expressions stamps. The spray and 4 single blooms were stamped onto slightly textured cream card with Versamark and embossed with Platinum WOW powder. These were coloured in with two shades of pink Twinkling H2Os to give a slight sheen.

For the main image, once the paint was dry, the shape was cut out with a square scalloped Nestability. The edges were then tinted with Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick Distress inks using a blending tool. The four individual blooms were cut out, just outside the embossed line.

The main image was bonded in place with double sided tape. The leaves, which were part of a prize for winning a challenge, were mounted in place with Pinflair glue as were the 4 roses.

Challenge link: http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-98-photo-inspiration.html

Spring Card

Good morning. I seem to have nothing but clear snow for the last couple of days so it is good to find some time for some crafting again.

This card is for the Critter Challenge #44 - No pattern paper.

I really enjoyed this one. I got right away from Christmas, Christmas colours etc and went for a spring theme.

The stamps are from Sheena Douglass' A Little Bit Sketchy range - Poppies and Daisies.

The base card is A5 in size in a very pale yellow hammered card. The flower strip is fabric and a very old part of my stash that I just knew would be needed one day.

A dark yellow linen card was embossed with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and then Spiced Marmalade Distress ink was applied on the raised areas to highlight the embossing. This was matted onto gold mirror card and applied to the base card.

The main image was stamped onto cream, slightly textured card and embossed with Platinum WOW powder. The image was tinted with Aquamarkers. Once trimmed to size, the edges of the card were coloured with Dried Marigold and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. The small daisies were stamped, embossed and coloured in the same way. The lovely sentiment was stamped and embossed on another piece of cream card which had been cut out and embossed with a square scalloped Nestability. The edges were tinted with the same Distress inks again. The image was matted onto a piece of gold mirror card which was the waste from cutting out a frame with a Shapability. The sentiment was matted onto a slightly bigger square scalloped gold mirror matte.

All of these elements were then added to the base card. As a finishing touch the individual daisies were added to the sentiment.

Challenge link: http://critterchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-44no-pattern-paper.html

Peacock Feather Card

This is a card for the Totally Papercrafts Challenge # 46 - Paper Piecing.

The base card is dark green hammered card A5 in size. Two contrasting green cards were given a pierced edge using a Borderability die. These were embossed and Pine Needles Distress ink highlights the embossing. The same coloured cards were cut with circular Nestabilities to continue the pieced theme.

An A4 piece of white card was sprayed with Glimmer mists in various greens and lilacs in a random way. Once dry this was over stamped with a Peacock Feather stamp from Elusive Images. The eye of each feather was painted with blue and lilac Twinkling H2Os.
This was trimmed to the required size and the sentiment applied in the corner with a Clarity stamp - Birthdays are a Feather in the Wing of Time.

The two sheets and the stamped sheet were applied to the base card with double sided tape. The peacock feather was cut down to the required size and boded in place with Pinflair glue. The layered discs were bonded together and then more Pinflair glue applied before bonding in pace over the end of the feather.

Challenge Link: http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-46-paper-piecing.html

Bear Card for 3 Challenges

Good morning and welcome to another cold and frosty one.

This card is for three challenges, the links for which are given below. Two challenges and a Bear Theme on the other other was anything but a Christmas card.

I am a great bear lover, having a collection of about 60 of them. Therefore I was horrified to realise the I had nothing about bears in my craft collection. Consequently I had to make do with what I had got i.e a lot of stuff bears. So it is my pleasure to introduce to your Spencer Bear.

I took a photograph of him and imported it into Digital Scrapbook Artist 2. I put the photograph through Cut Out Studio and removed all the background. Then in Photo Lab I removed the colour and gave it more of a sketch look. Once printed on Super Smooth paper, he was recoloured using Promarkers and then the edges aged with 2 different colours of Distress ink.

The background was a piece of white card that I was using to mop up excess Glimmer Mist sprays last week when I was making a large batch of A4 decorated card up for future use. When the masks got too much spray on them I put them upside down onto the sheet and the excess spray was transferred. Do this enough times and you get some quite interesting patterns! This card was trimmed to size and then any white areas covered over with distress ink and the edges aged with ink too.

A ribbon was wrapped around the card and then it was bonded to the dark brown A5 base card.

Mean while the picture and a backing mat was cut out with some Nestabilities. These were mounted onto the card and the three flowers, which I made a few weeks ago, were attached with Pinflair Glue.

Challenge Links:

http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge97-beary-project.html

http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/2010/12/craftycatz-birthday-bear-challenge.html

http://ceschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-16-anything-but-christmas.html

Purple and Teal Card

Here is a card for the purple and teal sketch challenge for the Critter sketch challenge blog # 43.

Teal was a very difficult colour to find, I can tell you. In the end I had to resort to My Craft Studio and just try and concoct the correct colour so I hope that I am not too far off!

The base card is a dark purple 6" x 6" card. This was layered with Teal paper and a gorgeous lilac textured card. The stripe across the middle is more of the dark purple card with a 6mm lilac ribbon.

The image is from an Elusive Images Paisley stamp which I think is absolutely gorgeous. It was stamped with Versamark and embossed with Obsidian Teal Moonglow embossing powder.

The flowers were painted with Purple Twinkling H2Os and the leaves with Teal H20s. Therefore I managed to get at least two teals into the card. The image was cut out with an oval Nestability. The edges of this were tinted with Dusty Concord Distress ink. The image was mounted onto a Purple Mirror card scalloped oval. This assemble was mounted onto the base card.

A bow was tied, from the same ribbon as used on the strip across the card, and secured in the top right hand corner as a finishing touch.

Challenge link: http://critterchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/challlenge-43sketch-and-color.html

Morning Glory

Good evening to you all. Welcome to another cold December evening. Still, there is nothing like a bit of crafting to make you forget the cold outside.

This card is for the Sketch and Stash Challenge #50. The stash used was the textured lilac card used for the base card which I have had for years and the beautiful stamp from Elusive Images.

The lilac A4 card was folded in two to make the A5 base card, The edges were tinted with Dusty Concord Distress ink to give some contrast.

The image was stamped onto plain white card and coloured in with Promarkers. A second image was also stamped and only the two blooms were coloured in and cut out. The edges of the first image were tinted with the same Distress ink that was used on the card base.

A ribbon was wrapped around the image and secured on the reverse side. A bow was tied, using the same colour of ribbon, trimmed and bonded in place with Pinflair glue. Four border strips were cut from lilac paper using a Borderability die. Two of the border strips were carefully bonded in place with double sided tape along the long sides of the image. The other 2 strips were trimmed to the required length and secured in place along the top and bottom edges. This whole assembly was then bonded to the base card.

A short strip of the textured lilac card was cut and some ribbon stuck along the centre line. One end of this strip was cut to give a forked end. This was stuck at a jaunty angle in the top right hand corner and the extra flowers bonded in place with Pinflair glue.

Challenge link: http://sketchandstashchallenge.blogspot.com/2010/12/sketch-n-stash-challenge-50.html

Spotlight on Tags

This tag is for the Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight on Tags.

This is a cream standard size tag. It was coloured with Distress inks using a blending tool.

All the stamps used are from Sheena Douglass' new range of A Little Bit Sketchy stamps.

The sentiment was stamped on the tag with Adirondack Espresso ink.

I coloured a piece of plain white card with distress inks and water. When dry the leaves and acorns was stamped in Versamark and embossed with Brass Regular powder from the WOW range of embossing powders. The leaves were cut out by hand.

All of the embellishments were positioned using Pinflair glue.

A mustard coloured organza ribbon completed the tag.

Challenge link: http://craftycardmakers.blogspot.com/2010/12/spotlight-on-tags.html

Seeing Triple

Three cards for one challenge. Well that is a bit different. Here are my entries for the Die Cut Dreams Challenge #77 - Seeing Triple.

The cards feature the same stamp from Creative Expressions on scalloped squares, cut using a Nestability, made from card that was coloured by myself by splodging different colours of Distress inks onto a non-stick mat, spraying with water and then dipping the card onto the ink, drying the card, dipping again etc until I was happy with the results. Each of these cards were made with a slightly different colour mix of inks.

The base cards are made from commercially produced pearlescent card all featuring the same pattern but one is pale pink on cream, one mustard yellow on cream and the last one pale blue on cream. They are A5 in size. It also uses a sheet of gold embossed cream vellum.

A 21cm square was cut from the A4 card and this was folded to give the A5 size. The short part became the front of the card. Using my Ultimate Pro, the scalloped edge was embossed and trimmed back to the embossed line. One third of the vellum sheet was embossed and trimmed in the same way and layered under the front fold. A piece of A4 cream pearlescent card was cut in half to make an A5 piece which was also embossed and trimmed in the same way and bonded under the vellum layer. The piece that was left after trimming the first piece of A4 down to a square was bonded on the inside of the back of the base card to give the pattern down the right hand edge.

A slit was made in the spine of the card to pass the ribbon though which was then knotted in the centre of the card and trimmed.

The main images were all produced in a slightly different way.

The one on the left was white glossy card which was dipped in the same way as described above to give a soft colouring. The image was stamped with black Stazon ink and when dry was trimmed to size.

The middle one was made using plain white card. the image was stamped using a Big 'n' Juicy rainbow ink pad. When dry it was trimmed to size and a layer of Versamark ink was applied over the whole image and embossed with clear powder. This was repeated to give a very glossy finish.

The right hand one was stamped on plain white card in black ink. This was then hand coloured with ink with touches of Twinkling H20s.

The images were mounted onto the three different coloured scalloped squares which in turn were bonded to the base cards.

Challenge link: http://diecutdreams.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-77-seeing-triple.html

CES Challenge #15 - Sketch

My entry for the CES sketch challenge this week.

All stamps - the poppies, trees, flourishes and sentiment are from Sheena Douglass' new range - A Little Bit Sketchy.

The base card is A5 in size and dark brown.

The background is a piece of kitchen roll which has been used over many week to mop up ink and glimmer mists from my non-stick mat. Never waste a thing is my motto.

The dry kitchen roll was backed with card to make it more robust and trimmed to size. Gold ribbon was wrapped round it before it was mounted on the card.

For the poppies: A piece of plain white smooth paper was coloured with 3 different Distress inks. Water was splashed onto the paper and lifted off again with a tissue to remove patches of the colour. The whole thing was then sprayed with Glimmer mist and allowed to dry. The poppies were stamped with Timber Brown Stazon and the poppy heads coloured with Aquamarkers. These were then cut out with Circular Nestabilities and mounted on Gold Mirror card also cut to shape with scalloped Nestabilities.

The sentiment was stamped onto watercolour card in the same Stazon, coloured over with Distress inks, trimmed to size and mounted on gold mirror card.

The flourish layer was simply stamped with brown ink, coloured with Distress inks and trimmed to size.

The main image was stamped onto watercolour card with Adirondack Espresso ink and a damp brush was used draw the ink into the picture to tint it.

All the individual elements were mounted onto the card either with double sided tape or Pinflair glue.

Challenge link: http://ceschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-15-sketch.html

New Year Card

A card for the Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #61 - Happy New Year.

I decided not to go for the Party theme but to remind people that Spring is just around the corner once Christmas has come and gone. I like to look on the optimistic side of life!

The card is 7" x 7" - it's not often I make a square card but this seemed to suit the embellishments.

Layered onto the dark green base card is a mat of holographic card. On top of this is a layer that I made consisting of a piece of white card that I splattered with Purple and Green Glimmer Mist sprays. The splatter was created by spraying the mists onto a some twigs of a fir tree from my garden and then just slapping it onto the card - messy, but fun! When dry and trimmed to size two pieces of organza / satin ribbon were wrapped around it and secured in place with tape. This layer was then mounted onto the card.

The Happy New Year sentiment is from a Clarity stamp. The full stamp had more text that this so I just inked up the text that I wanted with Versamark and it was embossed with Platinum Sparkle powder from WOW. This was trimmed and layered on silver mirror card, green card and another layer of silver.

The main image of snow drops, another Clarity stamp, was embossed with Platinum Regular powder from WOW. I did not colour it in as I felt that the white card suited the stamp. This was layered up on Silver, green and silver again with shapes being cut out with Nestabilities.

The flowers and leaves in the bottom right hand corner were cut from a sheet manufactured by Klever Konstructions. They were warmed with a heat gun and before they cooled the flowers and leaves were shaped to the desired positions. These, and the green bow, were bonded into place with Pinflair glue.

Challenge Link: http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-61-happy-new-year.html

Christmas Punches Challenge

Good morning. Well, after about 3 inches of snow yesterday, it is now raining here in South Wales and hopefully washing it all away. I just hope that it does not freeze tonight!

Here is a card for the Totally Papercrafts Challenge #45 - Christmas Punches. I thought, to start with that I did not have any. But trawling through my memory to the dim and distant past I remembered some Sizzix Paddle Punches and one border punch from Fiskars that I got years ago.

Consequently here is my holly based card that I hope you like.

A pale blue A5 size card provides the base and layered onto this are three layers of paper - two of silver pearlescent and one blue that have been punched along the edges with the holly border punch and mounted onto the base card.

The image, from Creative Expressions, which features holly, was stamped with black Stazon and coloured with distress inks. This was cut out with the small scalloped Nestability and was mounted onto a large scalloped Nestability cut out, which is made from the same material as the base card.

This was mounted onto the card with foam tape to create a gap under it. The green holly leaves were punched out with a Paddle Punch and bent up along the spine to give them some shape. These were then bonded in pace with Pinflair glue. A light blue double bow was added as a final embellishment.

Challenge link: http://totallypapercrafts.blogspot.com/2010/12/challenge-45-xmas-punches.html

White and a Splash of Colour Challenge

Good morning. Here is my entry for the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #35 - White and a Splash. i have to say that this was not an easy one. What constitutes a "splash"?

So I started with an A5 sized plain white card for the base.

An A6 piece of silk art card was run through my Cuttlebug using Swirls embossing folder. This was trimmed to size and then I followed over the raised pattern with Frosted Lace Glitter glue from Ranger and allowed it to dry.

The central image is a stamp from Creative Impressions which was coloured with Twinkling H2Os and edged with distress ink once the oval shape had been cut out with a Nestability. Double sided tape was applied all the way around the underside of the oval and a white fabric ruffle added. For the strip at the bottom of the card a strip of navy blue card was edged with the ruffle in the same way. The Ivy Leaves were embossed on white card using a Crafter's Companions Embossing board which fits the Ultimate Pro. Once cut out, a very small amount of distress ink was applied with a blending tool to define the edges.

The swirly card was layered onto a piece of navy card to define the edges and this in turn was bonded to the white base card. The central image was mounted onto this using Pinflair glue.

The ruffled strip was bonded in place with double sided tape and then the ivy leaves added with Pinflair glue to ensure that they were at different heights to give extra depth to the card.

Challenge link: http://craftycardmakers.blogspot.com/2010/11/challenge-35-white-splash.html

Card for the Critter Challenge #42

Good evening. Here is my entry for the Critter Sketch challenge #42.

It is based on a 7.52" square navy blue card. The first layer was white card which was sprayed using two colours of Glimmer Mist using pieces of fir tree as masks. This was trimmed to size and mounted onto the base card.

The vertical and horizontal strips were made from silver mirror card which were cut out with Borderabilities and mounted on strips of white card which had their edges tinted with blue distress ink.

The main image was stamped with black Stazon ink and coloured in with Twinkling H2Os. It was cut out using a scalloped circular Nestability and the edges tinted with Distress inks applied with a blending tool.

The sentiment was stamped (Clarity stamp) and embossed with platinum WOW powder, cut out with a circular Nestability and mounted onto a scalloped circular silver mirror card layer.

The large circle is a paper doilley which had its edges tinted with Distress ink.

All these elements were layered onto the base card and three silver mirror card snowflakes were added in the the top right hand corner.

I hope that this meets the challenge sketch and that you like the result.

Challenge link: http://critterchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/challenge-42sketch.html