iPhone, uPhone

I'm still in iPhone mode, and the more I looked at Marion's inspiration card at Muse, the more I saw an iPhone in that frame.  I wasn't sure how I was going to incorporate a flower and foliage into a card with an iPhone, but hey, that's what artistic licence is for.  Who needs a reason anyway?

I made some modelling paste up from Polyfilla and a combination of Distress Ink, Memento Ink, and because neither of them were working, a good dollop of purple acrylic paint, which I should have just gone for in the first place.  While the chevrons were still wet I sprinkled them with ultra-fine glitter.  And then the phone rang.  Rapidly drying stencils, glitter everywhere...

I'm playing along with CASology where the cue word is purple:

And with CAS-ual Fridays where the challenge is to have something extending over the edge of your card/project,

And at Seize The Birthday where the theme is always birthday, but this week's topping is chevrons.

And I'm also sharing it in the gallery at the Stencilled Online Card Class.  I so enjoyed that class.  If you were ever unsure about taking the plunge with stencils, give this class a go.

Hugs To You

An ex-colleague has just been diagnosed with cancer so I wanted to send her an uplifting card, and hopefully this will do the trick.  I've used the colours scheme from ColourQ (although I don't have the exact shades, so I went for the nearest match):

And I've used the sketch from Paper Smooches SPARKS

Stamps: Paper Smooches Reflections, Sentiment Sampler

Under My Umbrella And A Case Of Being CASEd

I'm playing along with Dynamic Duos which closes in a few hours.  It's Black Tie week and the theme is pink and black with a dessert option of an umbrella.

As there are a couple of "love" challenges around, I thought this Unity Stamp image was perfect.  I stamped it on a small panel and coloured it, then wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it.  I had the die-cut iPhone on my desk so I thought about making it look like a photo taken on an iPhone.  I've been coveting the Skyline stamp by Penny Black ever since I saw this post by Heather T.  It arrived today so I tried it out as a murky city background.  A bit like the weather we've been having all month, but at least we've not had any of the extreme stuff that other parts of the world are getting - no-one ever died from drizzle.  I added the STAMPlorations I ♥ U image in pink for a bit of balance.

So, on to the other challenges.  At City Crafter the challenge is Love Story

At Keep It Simple, the challenge is square

And at Simon Says Wednesday challenge, Simon is starting a monthly workout.  This month it's all about "new".  (New stamp, new iPhone die.)  Love the workout gear, Simon!

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And if you take a look at the new blog on the block, Time Out Challenges, they're introducing their 4th round of challenges which is to CASE a card with your own twist.  DT member Shery has showcased this card of mine.  Pop over to see how she CASEd it with a twist.

my card

They're also having a DT call with the theme Love and Friendship, so I'm throwing my hat into the ring with my umbrella card.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Stencilled Day 4

This is my second post today.  Click here for 12 Tags of 2014.

More stencil homework from the Online Stencilled class.  So the several panels of stencilled dots that I made with the clear embossing paste have now dried.  On one of them I overlaid the chevron stencil and sponged over the top with Canteloupe, Morocco, Rhubarb Stalk and Sweet Plum Memento inks and buffed the spare ink off.  I die cut the Penny Black Bashful die and coloured it with the same inks (plus Bamboo Leaves and Olive Grove), adhered that to a black panel, stamped the sentiment on a bit of trim, and tied some baker's twine around the panel.

I'm entering this into the Simon Says Monday Challenge, Anything Goes with Twine or String

And also into this week's Muse, where the inspiration is provided by this gorgeous card from Marion:

Just in case you're wondering - the chevrons, the flower, the leaves, the sentiment, the angled panel, the gems (or clear stencilled dots in my case).  They're all there, just stretched and re-coloured.

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 - January

I've decided to join in with Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of 2014, and here is my effort for January.  And below is Tim's.  The theme is "time".  I don't have any clock parts so I went for gears for the imagery, but added a clock rub-on and appropriate sentiment.  I sponged the gears with Distress Inks, then decided to paint them with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint and it dried a bit bubbly, but it made the gears look rusted and blistered, so it was a happy accident.

I'm entering it into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes with Twine or String, and I'll be back in a few with another entry for this challenge.

Stencilled Day 3

Day 3 of Stencilled, and it's about texture and dimension.  I don't have any modelling paste, I just use Polyfilla (or spackle, depending on which part of the world you are in).  I coloured some Polyfilla with gold Adirondack Metallic Acrylic Paint Dabber.  The sheen didn't translate into the paste, but at least the colour did.  I butted two pieces of card side by side and taped the stencil centrally over them, because I only wanted partial coverage.  Anything to cut corners.  I had some paste left over so I stencilled some leaves on more card, but because that's thicker/larger areas, it hadn't dried, so I'll finish them tomorrow.

Once the piece was dry I sprayed it with gold shimmer rain mist thingy stuff, cut a butterfly from gold card and leaves from vellum and stuck it all together and added some pearls.

Here's a closer look.  You can see the gold spray better:

I'm entering this into Divas By Design, a new one to me, and the challenge is Anything Goes.

Stencilled Day 2 (and more of Day 1)

Here's today's homework for Stencilled Day 2.  For my first card I chose Kristina's technique, a quick, easy and non-messy way of using stencils.  I've used the colours from ColourQ's challenge.  The sentiment is stamped in Archival Chocolate although it looks black in the photo.

I'm also entering it into this week's Less Is More, where it's a sketch challenge:

 

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I also had a play with one of the techniques that Julie Ebersole demonstrated, spraying.  I haven't got any spray inks but I've got some very old spray silk paints, so I tried them.  Sort of worked.  This is one attempt:

A few large-ish blotches, but I'm happy with that, I like blotches.  A grungy alternative to sequins.  The birthday die-cut had been lying around on my desk for weeks, so it was high time it made its way onto a card.  I'm entering this one into Seize The Birthday with Toppings (colouring).

In her class, Julie said, "commit to the spray".  Laura said in her class, "Let go".  What happens when you over-commit and you let go is that you can get unexpected results.  But again, I really like it.  The spray paint got behind the stencil so there are very few white stencil marks.  But what I got instead was a lovely solid coloured impression of the stencil amongst the spatter and spray.  I certainly wasn't going to waste it, so I added some butterflies, text and stitching (although the stitching reminds me more of corrugated wood fasteners).

You know, this card fits the current sketch at STAMPlorations.  Tilt your head to one side and you'll see the three blocks and a bit of artistic licence with the strip and the sentiment.  There' still time to play, and there's a prize up for grabs.

Stamps used:  STAMPlorations Patchwork Frenzy: Graphic Pentagons, Vignette Chevron & Arrows