Glorious Greens

is the colour theme for the Gingersnap Creations challenge

& this is the card I made for my MIL's birthday tomorrow.

Firstly I used 3 or 4 green distress inks to make the background which I then cut into squares & backed with dark green.

I added the ribbon & buttons & the birthday sentiment stamped with green stazon ink, mounted on white card.

The flower/vase image was stamped using the green stazon again & cut out leaving the white border.

The butterflies were punched using my Martha Stewart punch in the dark green backing paper for the base & multi coloured greens for the top, which I enhanced with crackle medium (doesn't show too well in the photo)

So there you have it - Happy Birthday MIL!

My December Postcard

The theme for the December postcard swap over on UK Stampers is 'The top of the tree'

I chose a star for the top of my tree & wanted it to be the 'star' of my postcard.

I started with a base of blue card & used blue stazon ink to stamp the background - Santa, presents & Christmas writing

I then stamped my star stamp & Happy Christmas & heat embossed them using gold embossing powder to make them 'pop' & become the focus of the postcard.

I kept the subtleness & stamped the wording underneath the star again using blue stazon ink in a triangle to represent the top of the tree.

I tried various attempts at this using more colour & bling but much preferred this version.

It was very difficult to photograph though, so hope that the recipient finds it better in real life :-)

LIM use Ink

Once more we are back to the second week of the month and so our challenge is for a 

ONE LAYER CARD

The special feature we would like to see this week is for you to 

USE INK
** This does include ink pads **

...hopefully in a way you haven't tried before.... or using a favourite technique.

I revisited a technique that I haven't used in forever after seeing the subject of the LIM challenge for this week.

I got out my brayer & a set of inks that I have hardly used & experimented with the different colourways & positioning on the page.

The inks are lovely & vibrant but unfortunately the camera hasn't picked it up very well.

For this card I placed the strip to the right & stamped using blue Stazon ink adding the sentiment straight onto the card as it's a one layer challenge.

I stamped the images slightly over the inked area for added contrast.

In this card the image is contained within the inked strip.

This reminds me of those 1970's posters :-)

and stamped the sentiment straight onto the card underneath the image.

a different colourway .....

again with the image stamped slightly over the edge.

The last placement was a rectangle in the middle of the card

and stamped the sentiment onto it

I used the same inks to colour the image of the castle using cotton buds as 'brushes' using in the main the same colours as the background.

Throughout I used post it notes to mask off the areas that I needed to protect from the ink.

I've had fun playing this week :-)

Crafty Cardmakers challenge No 32

The challenge at Crafty Cardmakers is to use a freebie

So I used the freebie visage image that came with Craft Stamper Magazine.

I inked it using timber brown stazon ink.

The bottom edge was cut using my new Tim Holtz die & I used my Martha Stewart edge punches for the strips above, finished off with the strip of heart lace. The with love sentiment I matted using my circle & circle scallop punches & added silver stickles to the edge.

Using the timber brown ink again I stamped the motif  straight onto the background paper & added the blooms over the top.

The butterfly is a Martha Steward punch & I again edged it with silver stickles & popped little dots of silver stickles into the holes at the bottom for added 'bling' when the card is closed.

Quick post before I jet home

Quick post just before I leave for the airport to jet off home. This is a thank you card that i made.

I stamped the leaf motif & the tank you sentiment using stazon ink. I added the ribbon & buttons.

Cuppa!

I found these cups & saucers in our local Charity Shop

And this is the result after a trip into my craft room this morning.

I used florists oasis to hold the flowers & tied ribbon round the top edge, just love the spotty ribbon!

 I used one of the buttons that a friend sent to me, a nice big one to make a bit of a statement .............

The saucer I stamped using blue stazon ink and my clarity stamp of a cup & saucer - rather appropriate I thought :-) I heat set the stazon & then tested it & it seems to be washable (by hand anyway!) I then added the pearl embellishments.

I have a few more cups & saucers to play with, some more 'cup' shaped :-)

Susan came to play.....

Susan came to play today - we had fun - once we managed to get into my craft room!

I used my new alcohol ink to do another tin. I used brown Stazon to stamp the images. Love the vibrant colour :-)






We also made the tag using emossing powders & inks. Then we decided to join in with the Crafts by Carolyn challenge Pocket full of Posies. I used the Swiss dots cuttlebug folder & some square brads along with some of my new ribbon.






We had a lovely time & will have more fun later :-)