A New Card

Amazing. At long last I have found some time to actually make some cards. I have had a lovely morning crafting away.

I am not sure about this stamp, it is either a lovely image or quite scary! I am not sure which. The stamp is from a set from Creative Expressions.

The base card is navy blue double sided pearlescent card as it eh mount for the stamped image. The background was painted with mica pants which were allowed to run and puddle. The background for the image was smililarly made but the paint was sprayed onto a non-stick craftinh mat and the card dabbed onto it.

The large button under the two flowers was made with Fimo, stamped to get texture, wiped over with mica powder before being backed to set the clay.

The two flowers were part of a prize from a card challenge.


Elephant Card

Good afternoon,

Here is my first challenge offering for this weekend. This one is for Critter Challenge #69 - I love Chocolate

The main focus needed to be chocolate brown colour so as usual I have gone a bit over the top.

The background paper script and the elephant are stamps from Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque - good name for this challenge!)

The background had the script stamp repeatedly used on a piece of cream card with Brown Stazon ink. This was then misted with Creme de Cacoa Glimmer Mist to add a bit of bling.

The elephant was stamped with Espresso Adirondack ink and a water brush was used to pull ink from the outline to shade the elephant. This was cut out with a circular Nestie and the image tinted whilst still in the die so that the cream border was maintained.

The patterned shape behind the elephant was made using a square pendant Nestie and chocolate card. 8 of the shapes were cut and folded using a Teabag folding technique. They were bonded together to give this lovely result.

To make up the card, which is A5 in size:
The base card is cream hammered card.
A layer of chocolate coloured linen card was added which was 5mm smaller all round than the base card.
The background paper was cut 5mm smaller all round than the previous layer.
A strip of the lovely crystals was added across the background card and then the top of this was covered with chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon. This was wrapped round to the back of the background and bonded in place to give a nice finish.I thought that the crystal drops reflected the decoration on the elephant's ceremonial covering.
This assembly was mounted onto the base card after which the Teabag folded rosette was bonded in place with DS tape. The elephant was added with Pinflair glue.

Finally a bow was made from the same ribbon and stuck in position with Pinflair glue as a finishing touch.

Butterfly Tag Card

Good evening. Here is a card for two challenges:
Crafty Catz #77 - Embossing
The Stampman challenge #20 - Embossing

The base card started out A5 in size and was cut out with a Grand Nestability and the edges of the yellow card were tinted with Distress inks. The mat was cut with a smaller size of Grand Nestie. This was ready embossed card and the embossing was enhanced with Distress ink.

The lower tag was first coloured with Distress ink and then embossed in a cuttlebug embossing folder.

The top tag was coloured with distress inks, and stamped with a Stampman Butterfly and flourishes by Sheena Douglass. All of these were stamped using Versamark and embossed with Moonglow embossing powder.

As a final touch the buttons were made from Fimo polymer clay which was embossed with a stamp to give the textured finish.

Blue Crane

Good afternoon. At last my craft room is set up and I can get back to my favourite hobbies. Here is a just a simple card to get me back into the swing of things. It is for the following challenge:
CES Challenge #31 - Monochromatic.

I chose to use blue for my base colour. This card is A5 in size. I sprayed the base card and the blue embossed layer with a lighter blue Glimmer Mist to give is a bit of shine. The embossed blue card is mounted on white card which in turn is mounted onto the base card after the dark and light blue ribbons had been wrapped around them. The dark blue bow was made separately and bonded in place with Pinflair glue gel.

The main image is following the great techniques as demonstrated by Barbara Grey. The mountains int he background were added using a torn edge of paper and a brayer using Denim Adirondack ink. The Crane was stamped using the same ink as were the flourishes at the top of the image. Grasses were used, again with the same ink, to complete the foreground.

The three little flowers, which were part of a prize from another challenge, were a bit too turquoise so I sprayed them with some darker blue ink to dull them down a bit. These were then bonded in place with Glue gel.

I hope you like the card. I will be uploading some more later this week to really get back into what I love doing best.

Peacock Lady - a Card for a few challenges.

 Good morning. Hurray for the weekend.

Here is a card for 4 challenges. It was mainly inspired by the Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight Challenge which required you to make your own design papers. You know how much I love doing that so here is the result.

This has been entered in the following:
Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight - Make you own papers
Crafty Card Makers #110 - Mothers Day
Totally Papercrafts #58 Add Buttons

Crafty Catz #74 Mothers Day

The backing papers were made using Glimmer Mists (in peacock sort of colours) and Glimmer Screens. Once dry it was stamped with a peacock feather stamp from Elusive Images. These were coloured with Twinkling H2Os.

The backing for the Peacock Lady (again an EI stamp) was card sprayed with the same colours as before but without the screens. She was stamped and embossed with silver embossing powder and colored with H2Os. She was mounted on dark green card and then a sheet of quite thick acetate was stuck into position over the top giving a curved surface. This was secured on the back with D-S tape and mounted on another piece of green card.

The dark green base card was A3 folded to give an A4 gate fold card. For the front of the card two panels of the hand coloured card were cut to size and mounted on silver mirror card. These were stuck to the front panels with D-S tape. The main image was mounted onto the left hand panel of the card ensuring no tape was put on the right hand side which would prevent the card from opening.

The buttons were made from Fimo and stamped with oriental style stamps and brushed over with Perfect Pearls mica powder. Once baked, they were threaded up with lilac ribbon to match the colour used on the dress.

A "love you" sentiment was added to tell Mum how much I love her. This as a stamp by EI, embossed with silver powder.

In side the card, I lined the left hand side with some paper printed from a Graphicus CD ROM. The front sheet is another hand decorated sheet. This time, I did not use the screens but it was stamped with feathers and coloured as before.I folded the sheet in half to find the mid line. It was flattened again and stamped with two peacocks (EI). The entire area of the stamp was then cut away to give peacock shaped apertures so the printed paper could be seen in the background.

This card was many hours in the making. I do hope you like it.

Yellow Rose - A card for 5 challenges.

Good evening. Here is a nice bright easel card which I am going to enter in 5 challenges:

Totally Papercrafts #57 - Shaped cards
Crafty Catz Weekly challenge - Colour Combo, Yellow and Green
The Stamp Man #18 - Mother's Day - Floral Theme
Sentimental Sundays #46 - Let's go Green (Colour or Recycled) + a sentiment
Diecut Dreams Challenge #85 Mothers Day or Special Friend

To create the shape I used Grand Nesties in both Scalloped Ovals and Ovals on both pale yellow hammered card and plain green card. Many of these were cut, matted and layered to give the final look. The largest plain oval was stamped with a flourish stamp (Creative Expressions) using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.

The large central rose, the leaves, the smaller rose on the base of the easel and the sentiment  are all stamps by Creative Expressions. They were stamped on white card, coloured with Distress inks and Aquamarkers.

The double bow incorporates both pale yellow organza ribbon with satin edges and pale green satin ribbon.

The sentiment says: "If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I'd be picking roses for a life time." My Mum passed away nearly 3 years ago so I don't have one to give the card to but I do think of her a lot.

Lazing on a Sunny Day - for 2 challenges

Good morning. I managed to sneak some time for another card this week. This is for 2 challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers #41 - Fabric
Critter sketch challenge #55

The layout is from the sketch challenge and the fabric elements are the ribbons on the buttons and the patterned flourish layer.

Buttons - hand made from Fimo, stamped with a pattern and coated with mica powder (Perfect Pearls) before baking. Ribbon threaded through and trimmed to length.

Fabric - plain cream calico which was dyed with Distress ink and Glimmer mists. When dry it was stamped with 2 different flourish stamps by Sheena Douglass in 2 different colour inks, trimmed to size, frayed and mounted onto the light blue mat.

Main image, by Clarity Stamps, stamped on glossy white card, trimmed with a Nestie and the edges tinted with Distress ink. This was mounted on a scalloped oval mat again cut with a Nestie.

Swirly central border cut with a Martha Stewart punch.

The card was assembled with D-S tape, extra tacky D-S tape for the fabric and Pinflair glue for the buttons.

I Love Ewe

Good morning. Welcome to Tuesday. I don't know about you but this is my least favourite day of the week. Monday, you still have the euphoria from the weekend. Wednesday, is all down hill to the weekend. That leaves Tuesday with nothing to recommend it!

Anyway, on to more important things. I don't believe this, my second "cute" card for this week. Not only that but it is made from the free papers etc from this month's "Simply Cards and Papercrafts magazine". I just fell  in love with these "In the Meadow" collection papers.

As I have already made quite a few more traditional Valentine type cards, it made a change to do something more light hearted.

This is card to be entered into 3 challenges: Sentimental Sunday #41 - Happy Valentine's Day, Craftycardmakers #39 - Hearts and
Critter challenge #51 - Include a Critter (Animal).

This is a very simple card. The two different colors of background paper were matted onto white card to stiffen them up. A plain cream webbing was used to cover the join. This was far more "rustic" than ribbon would have been. This was matted onto silver mirror card which was, in turn, layered onto the A5 base card blank made from double sided cream pearl card for a bit of luxury.

The heart frames were cut with both scalloped and plain hearts Nesties. The hearts from the centres were used under the sentiment. Stuck behind the frames were hearts which are a slightly different colour variation (but with the same pattern) as the background papers.

Two trees and two sheep were cut out. The second sheep was cut down to use the head to decoupage onto the other one with foam pads.

Everything was positioned onto the card and a few heart shaped flat backed gems were added to the hearts and the sentiment for some bling and a large bow, made from the same webbing was added as a final flourish.

Hydrangea

Good morning. Here we are at the start of another week.

This card is for the Sketch and Stash challenge # 54 here.

For the "stash" element is the hydrangea and flourish stamps both of which I have had for a least a couple of years but have lain neglected in the draw since I purchased them.

The main image was stamped with Versamark and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder. Once die cut with a Nestie, Faded Jeans and Dusky Concord Distress inks were used to colour the iamge but this was done whilst the image was still in the die so as to obtain the white edge. A length of lilac ribbon was threaded around the picture using the holes cut by the die. This was knotted at the bottom and the ends trimmed to length. A bow was made from the same ribbon and bonded in place with Pinflair Glue.

The scalloped square mat was a piece of white card which had the same colours of distress ink applied by splodging the ink on a craft mat, adding a spray of water and the dipping the paper onto the mat until a pleasing effect was obtained. Once dry this was cut out with the smallest size of grand nestabilities.

The back ground card is made from Centura white pearl card and is 7" x 7" in size. This was simply stamped with the flourish using Royal Purple Stazon ink. The edges of the card were tinted with Dusky Concord to add some extra interest. The dark purple strips were stamped using the same stamp but heat embossed with WOW powder - clear with hologram bits in it so you get a watermark effect with some shimmer.

Everything was layered together with D-S tape except for the main image which used large foam pads.

Bird Card for 2 Challenges

Sorry about this, third post of the morning but this one had to be done as one of the challenges expires today.

This one is for: Critter Sketch Challenge #50 and Crafty Catz Weekly challenge #68- Tartan/Plaid.

The two bird stamps are from Elusive Images.

The birds on the bird bath were stamped with Versamark onto the yellow card and embossed with a coppery embossing powder from Cosmic Shimmer. It was cut out with a Nestie and the edges tinted with Antique Linen and Rusty Hinge Distress ink whilst it was still in the die so that a yellow edge was maintained. This was mounted onto a larger scalloped Nestie shape in copper mirror card. The small birds were stamped  onto glossy card which had been brayered using ink from Spice Big 'n' Juicy. Once dry, they were cut out and mounted on copper mirror card Nestie Shapes.

The plaid paper had two circles and on border cut out with Nesties and all of these were mounted onto copper mirror card.

All of these elements were mounted onto an A5 size yellow card blank to fit to the sketch of the Critter challenge.

Oriental Lady

Good morning and Happy Sunday to you all.

A card for the The Stampman Challenge #15 - Oriental and .Sentimental Sundays #40 Chinese New Year

I decided to stay with the red, blank and gold theme for this so I started off with an A5 black base card.

The background was white card which was sprayed with Scarlet and Raven Glimmer Mist sprays. Once dry this was stamped randomly, using Versamark ink, with the same flower stamp that you can see on the left of the red card and this was embossed with clear powder. You can just see this effect along the top of the card. It was difficult to photograph!

The A6 central red card was stamped 6 times with the same stamp. Two more were stamped on individual squares of red, leather textured card which had previously been stamped with some oriental script. The script and flower stamps are by Judikins. The individual squares were mounted on squares of gold card and then mounted onto the red card.

The main image, by the Stampman, was stamped on leather textured card and sprayed with a pale glimmer mist. This was mounted onto gold card which in turn was added to the card using foam pads for extra depth.

Gold thread was wrapped around the spine of the  A6 red card and oriental style beads added to the ends of the thread. The A6 card was then taped shut and mounted onto the background card

Landscape

Good morning and welcome to Friday. That means the weekend is almost here. Hurray. Crafting time is nearly upon me!

However, I did manage to sneak some extra time in the last few days so here is my second challenge card of the week. This is for Critter Sketch Challenge #49 - Circle and Distress Effects

The card is based on an A5 brown blank card. The back ground started off as cream card which was: sprayed with several different green mica sprays, dried, screwed up, unscrewed, rubbed over with sandpaper to remove some of the spray on the high spots, rubbed over with Tea Dye Distress ink, sprayed with water, flattened out a bit and finally dried again. You almost have to feel sorry for it, to be treated so!

The border on the left hand side was designed on a Gypsy, cut on a Cricut and coloured with the same colour Distress ink.

The flowers: different size layers were sized on the Gypsy, cut on the Cricut, stamped with a random pattern, aged with Distress ink, shaped and layered with glue and a gem placed in the middle of each.

The main image - my favourite stamp at the moment from Sheena Douglass. The was stamped on water colour card with Adirondack Espresso ink and water brush whilst the ink was still damp. When dry, Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress ink were used to age it. The image was stamped again on glossy card and a suitable size Nestie used to cut out the required circle. This was coloured with Promarkers and bonded onto the large image matching the lines exactly to give a highlighted area. Pinflair glue was used to do this, rather than tape, to give 'slidability' to ensure the image was perfectly positioned.

The lovely sentiment, also from Sheena, was stamped, cut out and tinted in the same way and mounted onto the Scalloped Nestie cut out.

The cream webbing strip was coloured with Tea Dye ink.

The border was mounted onto the distressed panel only along the edge so that the main image could be positioned under some of the flourishes. Once this was bonded onto the base card, the webbing was added with a slight curve built in to follow the shape of the tree. Everything else was then layered on top of this to give the completed effect. Assembly of the card was done using D-S tape and Pinflair glue

Geraniums, a Card for 2 Challenges

Good morning. Here we are, Thursday again....which means it will soon be Friday and hence the weekend.

Here is a lovely card for two challenges: Crafty Creations - Let's Heat It Up and Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #38 - Flubbers.

For the first challenge it needed such things as heat embossing, warm colours or something to remind us of warmer places so I heat embossed a Geranium stamp (Elusive Images), which reminds me of all the window boxes in France in the summer, and used lots of warm sunny colours. For the second challenge - Flubbers means flowers so the Geraniums and the hand-made embellishments fit the bill.

The stamped and embossed image (brass WOW powder) was water coloured with Aquamarkers and a water brush. It was cut out with a Nestie and the edges worked with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. A slightly larger cut out was made from a coppery card to frame it.

The orange and yellow flowers and leaves were cut out in various sizes with a Cricut /Gypsy, layered up and a gem added for the centres.

The easel card was made from 3 large Grand Nestie scalloped circles (about 6" diameter) layered with slightly smaller ones. The central circles are made from a gorgeous hand-made, thick, textured paper, cut out with a Nestie and over sprayed with copper mica mist.

Everything was assembled with D-S tape, foam pads and adhesive to give the creation you see before you.

Butterfly Fairy

Happy Sunday to you all.

A card for the CES Challenge #20 - Angels and Fairies.

The main image is from a My Craft Studio - Silhouettes - Butterfly Fairy. She was coloured with Promarkers and cut out with a Labels Nestability.  The shape was edged with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. Glamour dust was added to her wings to add some fairy sparkle.
An orangey-yellow shape was cut out with the next size and finally the orange layer was cut out after drawing around the outside of the last one.
The card base was cut out from bright yellow, leather textured card with a Grand Nestability making sure that the cutting edge overhung the edge of the card to stop it cutting out 2 separate shapes.
Two butterfly stamps from Elusive Images were stamped randomly over the yellow card with Brown Archival ink. The same two stamps were used to stamp some butterflies on white paper. These were coloured with Aquamarkers and cut out.
Gold thread was used to weave in and out of the holes left along the top spine of the card and knotted at either end.
The card was assembled with double sided tape and with Pinflair Glue for the small butterflies on the corners.

Let's Party - A Card for 2 Challenges

Good afternoon.

Went out for a lovely walk on this cold and frosty morning and I was delighted to see the first catkins on the trees. This must mean that Spring is just around the corner.

Still, on to the main point of this blog - a card for 2 challenges: Cards for Men Challenge #2 - Let's Party and Die Cut Dreams #81 - Use a Digi and a Rubber Stamp Together

For the DCD challenge - the Let's Party was from a My Craft Studio No Stamp Required CD - it is a font so strictly that is 8 stamps which I coloured in with Promarkers after printing them out on Super Smooth Paper. The Pub and the Beer stamps are from a set by Creative Expressions.

The Cards for Men Challenge gave the theme of Lets' Party. I had no real party type stamps but I thought "well you can always party down the Pub". The pub was stamped onto watercolour paper with Adirondack Espresso ink and it was coloured using the same ink and a water brush. The edges were tinged with Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge Distress ink. The bear bottles were stamped and coloured in the same way and 5 sets were cut out - 2 for the label and 3 as individual embellishments

The Let's Party was cut out with a Label Nestability and with the cut out still in the die an edging of Rusty Hinge ink was added. A larger size of the same shape was cut from copper mirror board and the two were stuck together.

The base card is dark brown and A5 in size. The background layer a gorgeous piece of copper embossed card that I have had for ages and I can't remember where I got it from. Everything was attached to the base card with Pinflair Glue.

Birds - A Card for 4 Challenges

Good afternoon one and all.

Here is a card for 4 challenges: Totally Papercrafts #50 - Add a Heart, Crafty Catz Challenge #66 - Forgotten Stamp, Crafty Creations Challenge # 102 - It's a Bird Thing, and finally Crafty Cardmakers - Spotlight on Pencils.

The card is based on dark green hammered card, A5 in size. The backing layer was cream card that was sprayed with 3 colours of green glimmer mist and the polka dots were applied using metallic green paint through sequin waste.

The forgotten stamp is the large image, from Elusive images which I used a lot a couple of years ago but haven't used for ages. This is part of the bird element for 'it's a bird thing'. I stamped this onto white card and coloured it with Inktense pencils from Derwent. I used a blender pencil and burnisher to help blend the colours and to smooth the image out.

The two small hearts are from a free stamp from Craft Stamper designed by Elusive Images again. These were coloured in the same way as the main image.

To assemble, the background player was cut to size and the ribbons added before bonding it to the base card. The main image was added followed by the two hearts and finally the 3 groups of 3 sticky backed gems were attached for a bit of bling.

I think that about does it so I hope you like it.

Nymph

Good evening. Here we are at the end of Wednesday which means it is all down hill from here to the weekend and more time for crafting! Hurray!

A card for 2 challenges:
Critter Challenge #48, Colour and Embellishment which requires blue and silver with Pearls or Rhinestones and  Sketch n Stash #53 which provided the sketch for the card layout. The Stash element is the gorgeous blue patterned and textured card which I have had for ages.

A lovely blue pearlescent card provided the A5 base card. Lovely card this - it is white pearlescent on the other side giving a very luxurious inside surface as well.

A strip of the textured blue card was cut to size and it was edged with silver mirror card cut out with a Borderability. This is such a gorgeous pattern too.

The main image is from a Clarity stamp which was simply stamped on glossy, white card using Denim Adirondack ink. This was cutout with a circular Nestability and the edges tinted with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. A silver mirror card scalloped circle was cut to make the backing.

The flowers are from a Cricut cartridge - I can't remember which one. The two different sizes were made on Gypsy and cut on the Cricut. These were tinted with the same Distress ink and layered with Pinflair glue. The large rhinestones were set in the middle of each flower.

The card was assembled to give the result you see above. I hope you like it.

You Take the Cake - Card for 3 Challenges

Good morning.
Here we have a somewhat different style of card for me which is being entered into 3 challenges: Critter Sketch Challenge #47 - For the sketch design, Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #37 - Red and a Die Cut, Crafty Catz Challenge #64 - Food and Drink.

The reason that this is so different was because I had nothing in my stamping stash for Food or Drink so I had to resort to my Cricut Imagine cartridge which is suitably entitled "Yummy" - say no more!

The card is based on a 6" x 6" pink card blank. The square scalloped mats, the red oval  and the photo corners are all die cut with either Nestabilities or Sizzix dies.

The patterned paper was from my stash.The edges of the card blank and all the square mates were edged with "Worn Lipstick" Distress Ink.

For the food and drink elements, they were all done by the Imagine machine to print them and cut them out. The cupcakes were printed as layers so the extra cherries were printed to allow a decoupaged layer for added  interest.

Once all the elements were prepared it was a simple assembly job using double sided tape and foam pads. The final touch were the 6 pink flat backed gems added for sparkle.

Challenge links:
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #64
Critter Sketch Challenge #47
Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #37

Hope is the Companion of Power - Card for 2 Challenges

Second post of the day as I catch up on a few challenges. This is the problem of working full time - not enough time for crafting during the week.

This card is for 2 challenges - Cards for Men - Sketch Challenge and Die Cut dreams - Quote. See the end of the post for the links.

I started off with the cream, hammered card blank A5 in size. The background is a piece of kitchen roll which was used for moping up the craft mat when I was using glimmer mists in tones of brown. This was trimmed to size to give an even border all round and mounted in place with double sided tape.

The quote, from a chap named Sydney Bremer, is an Elusive Images stamp. The balloon, the checked background and the sentiment are from Creative Expressions.

The checked pattern has been stamped in black archival ink onto wood veneer which has previously been sprayed with Glimmer Mists. The balloon as done in the same way.

The quote was stamped in black archival ink on satin card which had been previously brayered with ink from a Big and Juicy ink pad. The sentiment was stamped onto the same type of card which had been sponged with the same colour as used on the quote.

The quote and the sentiment were matted onto a copper coloured textured card which I have had for ages and I haven't a clue where I got it from. The same card was used with an oval Nestability to cut and emboss the shape as required by the challenge sketch.

Everything was mounted onto the kitchen roll background with tape except for the wooden elements for which I used very large, strong foam pads.

Challenge links:
Cards for Men Challenge #1 - Sketch
Die Cut Dreams Challenge #80 - Quote

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