Tuesday 30 December 2014

Anything but a card ...

Well, that's Christmas done and dusted for another year!  New Year is looming - resolutions to be made and the past year to reflect on!

My post this evening is a little different as it does not involve a card although I have used many of the techniques I use when card making.  This is the Christmas present I made for my crafty mum, she chose the pen holder at a crafting event at Doncaster Dome and suggested I buy it and decorate it for her Christmas present.




I painted the whole thing with Chalk paint from PaperArtsy and used a crackle glaze between the base layer (Dolly Mix pink) and the top layer (Chalk).  I stamped the JoFY flowers on to tissue paper and coloured them with Inktense pencils I then adhered them using Matte Multi Medium - this was a technique that I had never used before.  I used beeswax to seal the paint and to protect the surface.  I'm pleased with how it turned out and my mum was delighted with it - in the same way that all mum's are delighted with gifts their children make!

I'm going to enter the December challenge on the PaperArtsy blog.  Gabby Price showcased the technique of stamping and painting on tissue paper on the PaperArtsy blog.

I used the following:

Mdf pen holder - by MDFMan
PaperArtsy Paints -Dolly Mix, Chalk and Crackle Glaze
JoFY Stamps
Derwent Inktense Pencils
Ranger Multi Medium Matte

Enjoy!

Wednesday 24 December 2014

Snow family ...

Happy Christmas!  Shopping is all done, presents are wrapped, cake is iced, menus planned all with a little time left for crafting!!

I made this card for the challenge at "Less is More" where the theme for the week is Family - I wanted to come up with something more imaginative than this but sometimes the ideas are just too well hidden to find!  So here is my take on Family:



This card means that I have achieved one of my 2014 Resolutions to enter weekly "Less is More" challenge every week!!

Simple stamping water coloured using distress inks and Inktense pencils.  Hopefully I will have time next week for more crafting before the New Year arrives.  In the meantime I wish you all a very Happy Christmas!

Enjoy!

Sunday 14 December 2014

Snow ...

Eleven sleeps until Christmas, are you all sorted and ready for the off?  I just have cards to write and post, presents to buy and wrap, food to plan and order, tree to buy and decorate ... and the list goes on! I'm sure it will all be alright on the day!  As ever with so much to do I've taken time out to do some crafting!!

This card continues my obsession with non-traditional Christmas colours - for all my blog followers it will not be a surprise to see me using shades of blue and turquoise for another card.  Taking the theme of Snow from this week's challenge at "Less is More" and remembering to make it a One Layer Card, this is it:



I first stamped the snowflakes and sentiment, I then embossed a snowflake in the centre using a snowflake die and finally used some clear Wink of Stella to add a little sparkle to the centre snowflake.

Enjoy!

Sunday 7 December 2014

Snowflake Joy ...

It's a quick post to share a card I made this afternoon - well I put it together today but it is made with pieces of leftover inked and distressed card stock. This week's challenge at "Less is More" is a colour challenge and how lucky am I? it just happens to be my go to colours for this year's Christmas cards - turquoises, ice blue, teal - see below for the details.

Here is the card, simple in design with just a little colour.




It is not the most exciting or imaginative card that I've ever created but ideas are in short supply at the moment.  I've been busy making stock for a couple of craft fairs as well working on some Christmas presents and my brain can nly concentrate on a limited number of things at once!

This is the Design Seeds picture showing the colours for the challenge:


As well as the "Less is More" challenge I am going to enter this month's challenge over at Virginia's View Challenge where the theme is "Distressed".

I used the following:

Distress Inks - tumbled glass, peacock feathers, evergreen bough
Impressions Holographic embossing powder
Sizzix snowflake die

Enjoy!


Sunday 30 November 2014

Stars to celebrate too ...

A quick post with a second card.  This time layers, textures, inks as well as die cuts! Still clean and simple with lots of white space but not one layer - the idea and layout is the same as the earlier card I posted here.

This time I started with a piece of water colour card which I blended with distress inks and then spritzed with water.  Once dry I stamped over the top, with the same inks, using the Gorgeous Grunge set to create some texture.  I then used a star mask and some clear texture paste to add some shine but like clear embossing it is difficult to see in photographs. I used the stars mask and some texture paste coloured with distress inks to add a layer of stars in the background.

This is the card:
Too late to photograph in the sunshine!


I should have taken this photograph before die cutting the stars!
You can see the detail created by the stamps.
I'm entering this in the "Less is More" challenge.

I used:

Golden Gel Light Molding Paste
Cosmic Shimmer Texture Paste, Clear
Distress Inks - Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean
Stampin Up - Not Quite Navy INk
Stampin Up - Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set,  Stars decorative mask
Clearly Besotted - Many Messages Stamp Set
Sizzix Framelits - Star dies

Enjoy!

Stars to Celebrate ...

Good afternoon, the sun's shining, the leaves are falling and it's not raining!!   A beautiful Autumn day in the UK (at least in the South of England!)

After completing the weekly ironing I've been crafting!  

My first post is all about "Less is More" they are celebrating their 200th challenge - congratulations to Chrissie and the design team.  This is one of the first challenges that I entered and this year I have tried to enter each week (so far, so good!).  To celebrate the them is "Celebration".  I decided to design a card as a tribute to a regular criteria on the blog - the One Layer Card.  I've grown to love the challenge of creating one layer cards - the results are not always great but they always involve a lot of thinking!

This is it:


The complete star has clear Wink of Stella for sparkle -
it doesn't show in the photograph
I used:

Distress Inks - tumbled glass, peacock feathers, salty ocean.
Stampin Up - Not Quite Navy ink
Stampin Up - Gorgeous grunge stamp set.
Clearly Besotted - Many Messages stamp set

The layout is based on the sketch challenge at STAMPlorations


I'm also going to enter the challenge at Addicted to CAS where the code word is Dots.

Enjoy!


Saturday 22 November 2014

Jingle all the way ...

This is the theme for this week's challenge at "Less is More" and it includes anything Christmassy!  Seems like another opportunity to add to the Christmas card stash.

I had some card already coloured with distress inks and embossed using a stencil and clear embossing paste, I used this to die cut a couple of baubles, I also die cut extra baubles in Bermuda Bay card and by layering these up I was able to give some body to the decorations.  I used the same technique with the 'Happy' sentiment and stamped and embossed 'Christmas'.



I'm going to enter the following challenges:

"Less is More" - Anything Christmassy

Inkspirational  


TIME OUT challenges - Embossing with the optional twist of sparkle

Enjoy!

Friday 21 November 2014

Happy Snowflakes ...

I started crafting this morning at 6am!  I should have been getting ready for work but I just needed to complete a card.  I was inspired by a birthday card Sandie (a great card creator and blogger) had shown on her blog London Days.  I thought it might convert into a Christmas card, so not wanting the idea to disappear out of my cluttered brain I decided to make a start before heading off to work.

This is my take on the layout:



It looks a lot better in real life - I need to do something about inside lighting for my photographs!

I'm going to enter the card into the following challenges:

Uniko Studio Challenge 16 - Anything Goes

TIME OUT Challenges 19 - Embossing with the optional twist of sparkle

I used:

Stampin Up Inks - Bermuda Bay and Not Quite Navy
Distress Ink - Salty Ocean
Personal Impressions - Silver Dollar Embossing Powder
Uniko Studio - Stunning Snowfalkes
XCut - Christmas Sentiment Dies

Enjoy!

Thursday 20 November 2014

More Trees ...

This week seems to be disappearing at super speed.  I had hoped to spend most evenings creating Christmas cards otherwise I'm just not going to have enough to send - there could be some late nights coming up!!

Tonight's card is a second one for the challenge at "Less is More" with the theme of more than one tree.

I created the tag from some card stock and then using some molding paste I embossed through a snowflake stencil to create the textured background. Cut and embossed two triangles to create the stylised trees and coloured using some distress inks. The 'Happy' sentiment was die cut out of white, light blue and navy blue card to give a more solid look. Here is the finished card:

Artificial lighting does not enhance my photographs!!!


Enjoy!

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Christmas trees ...

Whizzing in for a quick post this evening ... my sewing machine is still out, so card crafting is taking a lower priority at the moment!!  I was also in Lincolnshire visiting family (and craft shopping) at the weekend so no time for crafting.

Tonight's card is in response to this week's challenge at "Less is More" where the theme is 'More than one tree'.  It is rather ironic as the card I created for the challenge last week involved more than one tree!  This seems to happen quite often to me -  I make a card one week and then it fits the theme the next week and I really have to think hard about another design!! 

So here is my card with two trees!




Enjoy!

Sunday 9 November 2014

Circles but not quite round...

I've managed to create a couple of cards this afternoon - same design, similar techniques just different colours.

The first one was created with the monthly challenge at STAMPlorations in mind where the theme is Stamps and Layers.  Although I like the idea I'm not happy with the execution of it as the overall shape is not really wreath like - I even drew a circle to work around!



I used:

STAMPlorations Joyful Stamp Set
Penny Black Wonder Collection
Stampin Up Inks Mossy Meadow and Riding Hood Red

I then started again and still managed to create a wreath that is not quite round! I wonder if I need new glasses!!  This time I've added silver embossing  as a metal element as this is the theme for the November challenge over at Virginia's View Challenge - I'm not sure whether this is enough metal but I thought I would give it a go.



For this one I used:

Penny Black Wonder Collection
Personal Impressions Silver Dollar Embossing Powder
Versafine Onyx Black.

Unfortunately the silver doesn't shine so much in the photograph.

Enjoy!

Starry night ...

Well it has been a very slow week for card crafting - no ideas, no energy and very little time! Also not helped by the fact that I've had my sewing machine out!  I had an idea to make some cushions for my stall at a couple of upcoming craft fairs - once I start sewing I just can't stop!

Back to card making business - today's effort has taken me three attempts before I was reasonably happy.  It is One Layer week at "Less is More" with the theme of Starry, Starry Night.  My card involves masking, stamping and embossing!



Enjoy!

Sunday 2 November 2014

Purple Christmas ...

Good afternoon!  If you've visited my blog recently you have seen the Christmas cards that I have been making in colours other than traditional red and green.  Well just when I thought I would try some in traditional colours the wonderful designers over at "Less is More" decided that this weeks challenge would be to create a Christmas card NOT using red or green!!! So this is my contribution to my growing stash of Christmas cards.



A simple design, I think I might make a view more of this design in different colours and maybe a little more embossing.

I used:

Uniko Studio - Stunning Snowflakes
Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac
Memento Ink - Grape Jelly

I'm also going to enter the challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More where the theme is Clean and Simple.

Enjoy!

Monday 27 October 2014

Poinsettia ...

First day of a week's holiday has been a flurry of housework and still left time for crafting - work in the mornings and play in the afternoons!

This card picks up on the recipe at "Less is More" of using newsprint and uses the sketch from the current challenge at STAMPloration



Apologies for the photograph but the natural light had disappeared before I was ready to take the photograph.

I used:

Pages from an old French Grammar book
Festive Berries distress ink and Versafine Onyx Black ink
Penny Black Stamp set - Wonder Collection.

This is the sketch:


Enjoy!

Sunday 26 October 2014

Flowers and Newsprint ...

A quick post this evening to share a card for this week's "Less is More" challange - it's recipe week you need to include newsprint on your card whilst keeping it clean and simple.



I used the following:

Creative Expressions Newsprint stamp
Eclectica from PaperArtsy EEV10 stamp set by Ellen Vargo
Distress Inks - spiced marmalade, picked raspberry, seedless preserves, peeled paint, pine needles, mustard seed.
Versafine - Smokey Grey

Enjoy!

Bee Happy ...

When I started my blog I didn't realise that I would "meet" so many different inspiring, supportive and friendly people and that I would become one of the "card crafting blog community".  I have met some amazing designers whose work is so fabulous that it makes me want to keep trying to achieve and create such wonderful art.  

One of my favourite designers is Shirley at Shirley Bee's Stamping Stuff and it's her birthday!!  Maria (another great designer, rieslingmama.blogspot.com ) invited me along with others to join in with a blog party by creating a card just for Shirley.  I'm honoured to be invited and it is a real pleasure to create a card, this is the card:



I've coloured the flowers using a new (to me) product called Brusho - it is only by following Shirley's blog that heard of this paint.  Having seen it I just had to get some!  I think I need to practise more on how to get good results with it but it sure is a fun medium to use!

Have a very Happy Birthday.

Enjoy!

Thursday 23 October 2014

Cross stitch creature ...

A busy weekend followed by a hectic week at work - no crafting and too much driving!!  At last I've managed to create a card but only one!

This week's theme at "Less is More" is Little Creatures and this is my contribution to the challenge:



Simple design with a cross stitched image.  That's all I have to say today.

Enjoy!

Sunday 12 October 2014

Vintage ... ?

I'm doing an evening course at the moment on Printmaking and really enjoying it!  The last two weeks we have been trying out dry point etching and I think I am hooked!  My problem now is to find the money to invest in a printing press otherwise it is going to be a short lived adventure!

I created two designs - a beautiful robin and some Christmas decorations. The prints have a vintage feel to them, largely because I used sepia ink and cream paper.  I decided to cut up one of the prints to create a card for the current challenge at Mixed Media Card Challenge - the theme is Vintage with the optional element of incorporating a key.  I haven't used a key and now I've finished the card I'm not even sure that it is vintage! (apart from the look of the baubles).  I'll leave the challenge designers to decide whether it fits the theme or not.



I'm really not sure about this one but when I started my blog I promised myself that I would show all my cards - even the ones that I wasn't sure about.

Enjoy!



Saturday 11 October 2014

Pick up a penguin or two ...

Another card for my Christmas stash!! Two cute little penguins balanced on a sentiment.  It is one layer time over at "Less is More" with the theme to include two of something - this is it:




I water coloured the penguins using distress inks - having photographed the card it does look as if the penguins are floating on thin air!!

I'm going to enter the card into these challenges:

"Less is More" - one layer and two of something.

Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes

Virginia's View Challenge - CAS

Enjoy!

Monday 6 October 2014

Guest Design post! ...

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a winner of a sketch challenge on the STAMPlorations blog part of the prize was to guest design for the first of the October sketch challenges (there are two each month).  As always I was excited but nervous - I tend to jump at such opportunities and then spend days worrying about whether I will be able to come up with a design.

This is my design for the challenge - I hope it inspires you to have a go and join in with the challenge at STAMPlorations.



I used the beautiful poppy stamp from STAMPlorations Bloom Sketches and coloured the flowers with Inktense pencils and created the background sing distress inks.  

If all goes well this post should go live while I'm at work and also at the same time as the challenge goes live - all this is dependent on blogger working correctly and me working the time out correctly.

Enjoy!