Thursday, October 26, 2023

Seize The Birthday - Add A Sky


Hello, the new challenge for Seize The Birthday is up, chosen by Vicki, and it's Add A Sky.


Every once in a few years, I get out all my encaustic waxes and craft iron, and have a session.  It's not the kind of process where you can just make one card, so I sit there and iron a batch of images while everything's out, then put it all away again for a few more years.  I end up with several scenes ready to make into cards.  Here are a few more that I've just made up from my last ironing batch:






Anyway, enough of my encaustic wax cards, why don't you pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous cards with skies from the design team and our surprise party guests, and play along with us.  If you don't want to include skies, you can play with any birthday-themed project.

See you in the gallery!

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Visible Image - The Right Direction


Hi peeps!  I've been playing with The Right Direction stamp set, which has a couple of fabulous Ford Capri images.  So retro, and perfect for masculine cards.


I wanted to make it in a modern, graphic style to include the skyscape so I went with Warholesque primary colours and repetition.  

Then decided on the placement.


I didn't want the skyline to be central behind each car so I alternated the position as I stamped.


But it didn't look balanced, so I stamped in the gaps to make a continuous skyline behind each car.


Much better!  Here's a close up.


Loving the private plates!



Pop on over to the Visible Image store where you can find loads of fabulous stamps, coordinating dies  stencils, with loads of inspiration for each set.  There are some brilliant offers on too!






Thursday, October 12, 2023

Seize The Birthday - Hot Pink and Lime


Hello peeps!  Today we've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday, and it's my pick!  I've gone for hot pink and lime.  Why?, you ask.  Well, I had a background piece sitting on my desk, staring at me and I'm thinking, 'how on earth could I use this piece in a card?'  Well, this is how!


I used Twisted Lime and Crushed Olive on the base, with a bit of Walnut Stain round the edges, and Picked Raspberry Oxide for the numbers.  All the stamps and stencils are Tim Holtz.

Pop on over to the Seize the Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and from our surprise party guests, and join in the fun.  If hot pink and lime don't float your boat, you can still play along with any birthday-themed project.

When you're reading this I'll be in sunny Sicily.  See you in the gallery when I get back!

Sunday, October 08, 2023

Visible Image - Snowflake Grunge


Hey peeps, happy Sunday!  I've been making Christmas cards with the Snowflake Grunge set, and I've got one to show you here.

I stamped the snowflake across the centre of an A5 card, then cut the card down the centre so that I had two panels each with half a snowflake.  I stamped the Snow word, added some Lost Shadow on the snowflake for dimension, then stamped the snowflake cluster stamp with Lost Shadow.


As you can see, the Distress Ink didn't stamp the outline snowflake very clearly.  I'd stamped these freehand, so I couldn't line them up again, and anyway Distress Ink isn't the best ink to use with fine outline stamps.


So I inked up the stamp with Versafine Onyx Black and stamped it so that it overlapped the patchy stamping.


Then to jazz it up, I splattered some Gansai Tambi white gold paint over it.


I mounted the panel onto mirri card, then onto a 5x7 card base.


It's got a fabulous shimmer to it when the light catches it (which is difficult to capture with a camera!).


Click on the image for more details about this stamp set, and more card inspiration.  I'm off to use the other half of the snowflake!