Painty Flower

Here's my tag for Hels Sunday Stamper challenge this week where the idea is to include Texture or Raised Areas.

I don't have any Distress Paints (yet!) so used what I have. I started with a Sky Fresco Chalk Paint (Paperartsy) background and then added some Ferro through an Imagination Crafts Leafy Swirl stencil.  Once that had dried, I replaced the stencil and painted with green acrylic paint.  It was a smidge too wet and soaked under the stencil - nearly threw it away at that stage but then decided to go back in with the Sky which luckily is opaque and covered it up.

The flower uses a variety of acrylic paints (blues, greens, teal & silver) spritzed with water and mopped up with card (see Tim Holtz's tattered floral challenge) and then cut using the Tattered Florals and Tattered Leaf dies.  I've overstamped the leaves with the Walesby Flourish stamp in Emerald Archival and some of the flowers with the Mack Rose stamp in Vermillion Archival - stamps are from Oak House Studio. I've layered the flowers up with some spacers and foam pads and then finished with a brad. 

So I have raised areas on my background and a raised flower so hope that fills the challenges.  Thanks for taking the time to look!!

Patchwork

Here's my card for the Less is More Challenge week 108 where the recipe is to use some Paper Piercing.
 

 
The first thing that jumped to mind was stitching and patchwork so that's what I've done.  The squares are all Kiss Stamping using Colour Chemistry pigment ink pads - Spring Green on Powder Blue and vice versa, then Daffodil on Lemon Yellow and Valentine on Daffodil..... I think!   I just armed myself with a square palette stamp and a few texture stamps - kissed them together and stamped till I liked what I saw.  They are all Oak House Studio stamps - Rosette, Mack Rose, Thoresby Scroll and Walesby Flourish.


Here's a close up showing my paper piercing around the edges!!

I've just finished the card by matting the squares onto some pale blue card.


Well that's my card and now back to watching the rugby!  Thank you for taking the time to look and for all your lovely comments.

H for Halloween

Here's my next ATC for The Craft Barn's Alpha/Dictionary Challenge week 4 where the letter is H.

Plenty of options this week but the first word that jumped out at me was Haematite which set the red colour scheme, then Haemaglobin (red & blood), Halloween and Headstone.  So my ATC is an amalgamation of all those words.

The background is Festive Berries and Barn Door Distress Inks dried and then sprayed with Fired Brick re-inker to create some drippy blood.  I also stamped the tails from the butterfly (Tim Holtz's Fairytale Frenzy set) in Vermillion Archival to add to the effect.  The main stamps are from Tim Holtz's Mini Blueprints set - the Headstone with the Handwriting on it, the bat and the bones.  I've added the torn dictionary definition for Halloween and the alcohol inked white vinyl Thicker.

I'm not sure why it ended up so bloody and spooky - maybe I should have chosen to do something pretty with Houses or Hedges but still.  I thought this challenge would be fun to do but didn't realise it would be quite so educational!!

Anyway, hope you like and thanks for looking.  Off to have a look what everyone else has done!!

Alcohol Inks again!!

My alcohol inks were still on my desk so thought I'd create a little tin for a present.

I found the tin in my stash so thought I'd better use it - it had some printing on so I sandpapered it to leave a clean surface.  If you look closely you can actually see the scratches in the surface!!   Anyway I used Denim, Sailboat Blue, Wild Plum and Purple alcohol inks to colour the metal, added some Silver Stickles and sealed on some Beadazzles with gloss lacquer.  I've just added a decorative brad to finish.

Hope you like and thanks for looking!!

Faux Airbrushing

Here's a card for The Craft Stamper Blog - Take it, Make it Challenge which is to copy the Faux Airbrushing techniques as displayed in the March 2013 magazine.

Love the subtle look you can achieve with this technique so thought I'd have a play.  I couldn't find a new sponge so cut the sponge off  a scratchit - no doubt the scratchit part will come in useful on a later challenge!!

I've masked off a panel on my card and faux airbrushed Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Barn Door Distress Inks to create the background and then overstamped this with Oak House Studio's Sunflower stamp in Onyx Black Versafine. A very clean and simple card just finished with a Hero Arts sentiment.

Well it's been snowing here all day so I thought I'd use bright colour and sunflowers to cheer the place up.  Hope you like and thanks for looking!!

Let Your Heart Sing

It's a ONE LAYER CARD over at the Less is More Challenge week 106 and the theme is MUSIC.

I really must remember to buy a music stamp - I struggled last time and so I've used the same technique.  I've masked a panel on my gloss card and then stuck some music peel-offs towards the top.  I've blended Broken China, Dusty Concord and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks over the panel and music, and then overstamped this with the bird on a branch stamp from Chocolate Baroque.

Well back to the rugby although I don't think I've missed much - not so many tries this weekend!!  Anyway thanks for looking!!

Love Heart

Here's a twinchie for the Show us your Twinchie Challenge where the theme is Love is in the Air.

I've made a shrink plastic heart - stamped the Heart Palette with Rocket Red Brilliance and then once it'd dried, I overstamped it with the English Garden Text in Blazing Red Stazon. I remembered to punch a hole before shrinking the plastic and just added a few fibres.  I've gold embossed the edges of the twinchie and added the sentiment (all Oak House Studio stamps).

Twinchies are very addictive and it's a challenge to get as much detail as possible onto such a small space.  If you've never had a go, then now's the time to start - check out the link above.  Meanwhile thanks for looking!!

Tim's Tag - February 2013

Here's my take on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013 - February.

Now this was definitely a challenge as I don't have those blueprint stamps or the embossing folder or the tissue tape etc etc.  However the whole point I think is to take the general concept and improvise.... so that's what I've done.

The background is Festive Berries and Barn Door Distress spritzed with water .......so far, so good!  My Queen is a Paperartsy stamp by Lynne Perella  (LPS008) watercoloured, layered and with a gold crown. I've sanded back Black Magic Core'dinations embossed in a script folder and the charm is an oval fragment stuck over red paper and chitchat stickers.  It's finished with the hand, some raffia and some homemade tissue tape  (tissue, double sided tape and stamping).

I had great fun searching out all the bits and pieces - hope you like my take on Tim's tag and thanks for looking.

Animals

Tricky challenge on Hels Sunday Stamper this week - the theme is animals and whilst I have loads of bird stamps, I don't have any animals except this dragon.  I'm hoping this fit the bill!!

The background is a mix of Barn Door and Dusty Concord Distress Inks spritzed with Oak House Studio's Colour Chemistry Ink in a Bottle (Jubilee Red) to try and create an imperial/royal tone.  All the stamps are Oak House Studio too - Diana's Dragon is gold embossed and coloured around the fringes with purple marker and the oriental text is stamped with Dusty Concord.  The tag is just finished with ribbon and a chinese charm.

I'm not sure I really like this tag but I do love the stamp and dragons are real aren't they???  Anyway thanks for looking and hope you're all keeping nice and warm.... it's very blustery here!!

Enjoy Embossing

Another ATC for The Craft Barn's Alpha Dictionary Challenge where this week the letter is E.

I couldn't think of any of my stamps that began with E so read through my dictionary and liked the look of Emboss, Emerald and Enjoy and thought I'd combine the three.  The background is a mix of Mowed Lawn Distress and Fresh Green Versacolour mixed with water and mopped up.  I've dry embossed this with Tim Holtz's Checkerboard Embossing Folder, swiped over a little Versamark and then heat embossed it with Gold EP.

My (main) chosen word is ENJOY so the focus is this Oak House Studio stamp embossed with Verdigris EP.  The ATC is just finished with the torn dictionary definition and an alcohol inked white vinyl Thicker - Pesto, Meadow and a smidge of Sailboat Blue.

My dictionary is not a standard one - it's designed for foreign students studying other subjects in English, so the definitions are sometimes a bit strange.  But at least this time I did find a colour to base my design on and when I saw emboss, well I had to include embossing as well.

Hope you like and thanks for looking.  Thank you also for all your kind comments on my previous ATCs - they are very much appreciated!!

Krafty Flower

Here is a card for the Less is More Challenge where the theme this week is to use KRAFT & CREAM.

I've die cut some Tattered Florals, Tattered Leaves and a Scroll from Kraft card and stamped some of it with Brilliance Cocoa Bean to create interest.  I've used the Mack Rose Stamp from Oak House Studio on two of the flowers layering it up with a plain one in the middle and stamped the English Garden Text on the leaves.   The flower is stuck onto Cream Linen card and is finished with a Hero Arts sentiment.

It's the Less is More Challenge's 2nd Birthday so congratulations to them and if you fancy a challenge, why not join in.  I like getting inky and messy, but sometimes it's challenging to do clean simple cards too!

Paperartsy ATCs again

Here with another couple of ATCs inspired by Suzanne Czsoek on the Paperartsy's Blog.
 

The backgrounds are a mix of  Guacamole and Sky Fresco Paints spread on a craft sheet, spritzed with water and then mopped up with the ATC.  Same technique as Tim Holtz has been showing with his new paints but the Frescos seem to work just the same!!  Again they're both overstamped with images from Lynne Perella's stamp set  LPC008 in Onyx Versafine and edged with Salty Ocean Distress. 

Hope you like and thanks for looking.

Paperartsy ATCs

I've been reading the Paperartsy's Blog with interest over the last few weeks and was inspired by Suzanne Czosek to play with some Fresco Paints and Crackle Glaze to make some ATCs.

The left one is painted with Guacamole with Sky on top and I've added some Faded Jeans Distress Stickles.  The  right one is Orchid with Sky on top and edged with Picked Raspberry Distress Inks. They're both overstamped with images from Lynne Perella's stamp set  LPC008 in Onyx Versafine. 

I think I need a little more practice and more paint colours!

Alcohol inks

Just a quick post to show a couple more backgrounds done with the technique I saw over on Roni's blog HERE.

The one above is a mix of Meadow, Pesto and Lettuce alcohol inks with dots of Sunshine Yellow, and the one below is Red Pepper, Watermelon and Wild Plum.  This one I've done a border using felt and a bit of Pitch Black added to the mix.
 

I love this one but I'm not sure what to do with it at the moment so I'll wait for a suitable occasion when I need a background. 

The next technique of Roni's I want to try is Blown Stickles - a blob of Stickles and then blasted with a spray of air.   Don't have an air spray can (yet) and whilst I've used a straw for blowing the stains, I can't help thinking more pressure will be needed for Stickles. 

Anyway off to play with Paperartsy paints for Leandra's challenge so watch this space.