Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Eat More Cake


This is the other card that I made for the CASology challenge:


I think I eat more chocolate than cake for my birthday.  Well, I will have when I finish the huge box of chocolates my hubby bought me!  (He gets to eat all the coffee ones because I don't like them.  Although I have been known to nibble all the chocolate off any that have been left in the box too long after I've finished all mine...)

The cupcake was stamped onto kraft card, so I'm also submitting it into the CAS-ual Fridays challenge:


Image is from Kanban - Coffee Shop, sentiment is from Fiskars Make a Wish Quotes.

Sugar Plum


The cue word at CASology this week is:


The image is a bargain bucket stamp, and the sentiment is from Blonde Moments Sweet Somethings.  I made another card for this challenge and couldn't decide which one to submit, so I'll just submit both of them!  Look out for the next post.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Mellow Yellow


This card is tiny, only about 96mm square.  I don't normally use this size, but this arrangement fitted it perfectly.  I did try it on a larger card first, but it looked a bit lost.

I've taken a few liberties with this sketch from The Paper Players:


I've moved the focal shape, added a second focal shape, and re-arranged the horizontal banner.

Nah, nothing so clever.   It's a collage stamp, so what you see is what you get, but it more or less fits the sketch.  I stamped the image onto white card twice in Colorbox Ochre, and once in Versafine Onyx Black, then sponged all three with Scattered Straw Distress Ink then layered the elements as shown.

The colour scheme is from Dynamic Duos monochromatic week:


The collage stamp is from Crafty Individuals CI-006.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Autumn Birthday


I've been playing with monochrome leaves again, this time using the rose leaf from the Hero Arts Delicate Leaf Cluster set CL477.  To change things round a bit, for this card I sponged the background, three colour blocks (Crushed Olive, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade distress inks) to fit the sketch from Less is More.  I was very brave and turned the sketch round:


The challenge at Simon Says is AUTUMN LEAVES.

And the challenge at Young Crafters Unite is:


The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted Butterfly Wishes.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Born To Be Wild!


The challenge at One Layer Wednesday, hosted this week by Karen, is to create a card that makes you SMILE.  Well, she doesn't just make me smile, she makes me laugh. (The Drama Queen, that is, not Karen!)

And the cue card at CASology this week is:


I think she qualifies on that score as well!

The colour scheme comes from the ColourQ challenge:


The image stamp is 80386 Drama Queen from Stamps Happen, and the sentiment is from Diamonds.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Let's Do Lunch - And a Movie!


Here's another card for the Runway Inspired Challenge.  


I created the horizontal stripes by inking the side of a narrow acetate block with Brilliance Rocket Red, and stamping the side or the edge onto white card.  I like how it turned out slightly grungy where the coverage wasn't 100%.  The ribbed base card matches the runway, and the blue gems reflect all those smart phone screens on the front row.

I'm also entering this into the CAS challenge at A Blog Named Hero.


The ticket stamp is from Inkadinkado, and the chevron paper is Madison from Penny Black.

Not Quite So Burnished Velvet


The challenge at Lawnscaping is to try a new technique.


Ardyth had created a card using the burnished velvet technique in this post which I wanted to try.  And I wanted to use red glitter so that I could enter my card into the Runway Inspired Challenge:


Just one small problem.  Well, not small enough, actually.  I didn't have any red micro glitter.  So I've used chunky dunky red glitter (well, it's fine glitter, but it looks chunky dunky compared to micro glitter).

The chevron paper is from Penny Black Madison range, and the sentiment is from Woodware FRCL069, stamped in Versafine Smokey Gray.  

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Orange Flowers


The challenge at The Paper Players this week is to create a clean and simple project incorporating frames.


And the colour scheme at Dynamic Duos is Pumpkin Pie and Black, with Die Cuts as a dessert option. It's hard to resist dessert options...


I used two Spellbinders Nestabilities circles to cut a frame from orange textured card, and cut a large circle from spare white card.  I stamped the flowers (Personal Impressions Marion Emberson Designs PICSA6224) with Colorbox Amber, and the sentiment (Personal Impressions Paula Pascual PICS033) in Versafine Onyx Black, then added some black Stickles to the centres of the flowers and doodled some lines around the outside of the card.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Swirly Birthday


Over at Play Date Cafe they are celebrating their 3rd anniversary with a new look and a week-long party, and there are lots of goodies on offer.

This week's colour scheme is:


Flame ... Grape ... Mulberry



I made two versions of this card, simply because the first version (below) looked more orangey rather than flamey, so I redid it using a redder colour.  Then I got a smudge of ink on the second version (above) just to the right of the "Happy",  and I saw stars.  Lots of them.  Can't decide which version I like better.


I'll enter the orangey one in A Blog Named Hero's CAS challenge, seeing as it's the more CAS of the two.



The swirly stamp is a freebie from a magazine, and the sentiment and star are from Hero Arts CL139 Birthday Messages.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

More Autumn Leaves


I made a card similar to this a while ago, but using a different leaf, and keeping it monochrome.  So this time, I wanted to see what it looked like using colour.  The colour scheme at ColourQ was the perfect fit:


And so is the challenge at Less is More:  AUTUMN  

The leaf stamp is from Hero Arts CL477 Delicate Leaf Clusters, stamped in Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink (first and second generation), and the birthday stamp is Whispers Words from Docrafts.

I can just hear the rustle of those leaves as I kick my way through them!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

C'mon, Santa!


I'm not trying to wish Christmas on us just yet, but it looks like Rudolph is!  The cue word at CASology this week is:


And the challenge for One Layer Wednesday, hosted this week by Heather, is to feature squares on your card.

The stamp is called "Rudolf Waiting for Santa" 1604E by Stamp-It, and it's in its unadulterated form here, stamped with Versacolor Icicle which is 5 shades of blue.  I haven't had to do any clever masking, blending, aligning or doctoring.  In fact, the only doctoring I had to do was with the photo to get it light and bright enough to publish.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Wing Washing Day

Couldn't you just do with a spare pair of wings some days?


The colour scheme at The Play Date Cafe this week is:


Bubblegum ... Tangerine ... Pear

... which just happens to match these fairy wings hanging on the line ;)

The challenge at Less is More this week is to make a one layer card on the theme of wings.

And the challenge at A Blog Named Hero is:

Well, these wings are freshly washed, and the card is CAS.  The stamp is from Lavinia Stamps.

When in Doubt...

...make a Christmas card.  So I did.  Two.  Then when I photographed them last night they were far too dull and dark, so I left it until this morning so that I could photograph them in natural daylight.  Well, in typical English fashion, it's been persisting it down all morning, too dark to take photos, and now I've missed the deadline for one of the cards.  And when I re-took the photos, I found out why they turned out badly last night - I'd left the camera on twilight setting.  Duh... :)

But I'll show you both the cards anyway, because I'm entering them into the Hero Arts competition for October.

This first one is still within the deadline for the Paper Players challenge.  Not very Christmassy colours, you'd think, but I like using non-traditional colour combos.





And this is the card that missed the colourQ deadline.  Again, you wouldn't necessarily think Christmas with these colours (especially with the witch's hat as a visual).



The bauble stamps are Hero Arts LL947 Decorative Ornaments Fancy Notes, and the sentiment is Hero Arts F3682 Christmas Wishes.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

CASology Leaf


This week's cue word at CASology is:


I've only used this leaf stamp a couple of times, mainly because I wasn't sure how to colour the whole image.  But this time, I decided just to colour the leaves, seeing as they were the subject matter of this challenge.  By keeping the rest of the image monochrome, it's faded into the background a little, and helped to keep the card reasonably CAS overall.

The other problem I had with the stamp was because of its shape, it's not ideal to be stamped directly onto the card base.  So I stamped it onto spare white card, rounded the edges to mimic the stamp outline, then layered onto black and rounded those edges too.  I quite like how it turned out, and I think I will be using this stamp more often.

The With Love sentiment is from Penny Black 30-105 Gratitude, and the leaf stamp is from Paper Inspirations K5008 Climbing Vine Botanical.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

RIC #21

This is my second post of the day, because I didn't get my act together yesterday!  Click here or scroll down for my LIM Silver post.

This is the inspiration photo for the Runway Inspired Challenge #21:



And here's what it inspired me to create:


The patterned panel is Rubber Stampede 3255R Signature Background inked in Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks, then spritzed.  I cut a nice wide strip and added two thin strips of white either side to represent the binding around the model's top, and added a cord bow to represent the shoelace.

Hi Ho Silver


This is one of my all-time favourite stamp combinations for celebration cards.  It works for engagements, weddings, and anniversaries, and best of all, it's pretty quick to make.

The challenge at Less is More is to have a touch of silver in your creation.  I've gone all-out silver.

The wording stamp is from Penny Black 2000K Dearest Wishes, stamped in Versamark and heat-embossed silver.  The glasses image is from the Judikins Wedding Cube, again stamped in Versamark and heat-embossed silver.  The image is then layered onto silver mirri card and layered with pop-dots.

(It looks just as stunning using gold!)

Monday, October 08, 2012

Beautiful Butterflies


Look at these lovely stamps from Clearly Besotted, a new stamp company launched by the very talented Stephanie Wincott and her sister Jenny.  To celebrate the launch of their stamps, there is a giveaway on Stephanie's blog, Stamping & Sharing.  Leave a comment before 12 October and you could win some fabulous blog candy.

My stamps were in my hot little hands within 24 hours of placing my order, and I knew exactly what I was going to make with them.

The challenge at The Play Date Cafe is black, white and a splash of plum.


And the challenge at One Layer Wednesday, hosted this week by Susan at Simplicity, is to make two cards, using the same stamp two different ways.  

On the multiple images card I stamped the butterfly in Encore Ultimate Metallic Purple (the nearest I had to plum), and then stamped three more times without re-inking.  Through trial and error (read: after several botched attempts), I found that I couldn't get a decent fifth image, so I re-inked, then stamped off three times to get another fourth image.  I added some tiny 2mm crystal AB gems from Meiflower on the main butterfly.

For the single image card, originally I was going to colour in the butterfly, but I do like monochrome, and couldn't bring myself to spoil it, so I just added the gems as per the multi image card.


But the stamp set has two more butterflies, and it would have been rude not to give them the same treatment :)  The blue is Encore Ultimate Metallic Blue.


This next pair was actually my original attempt, but it turned out more pink than plum.  The ink used was ColorBox Dark Peony chalk ink.  I think this one's my favourite.


I've also bought the Christmas set, and I can't wait to use it!