Crackle Flower

I'm determined to use up some of the (many) patterned papers I've hoarded for a very long time, and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches seemed like the ideal way to do that. If I'm not too late this will be my second entry for the current challenge over at CASology where the cue card is "birthday".

I'm not sure who the papers are by, but I added a subtle touch of bling to some of the stripes & diamonds with my Wink of Stella. The greeting is by Paula Pascual & it's stamped in Lulu Lavender. I'm also not sure who made the chipboard flower, but I added a little bit of texture to it by painting it with Distress Crackle Paint and added a jewelled brad by My Mind's Eye.

Snippets & Sparkle

I loved the simple sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch this week but I also wanted to go over & join the fun in the Snippet Playground. With this card I've managed to do both, and as it's a birthday card I'll enter it into the challenge over at CASology, too, where the cue card is "Birthday".

The snippet of paper has been in my stash for ages, I'm not sure of the maker. You can't see it in the photo but I added a touch of Wink of Stella sparkle to some of the stripes. The chipboard flowers have also been in my stash for years; I painted them with a couple of coats of gesso then once that had dried, coloured them with Mulberry Promarker. I found some Crackle Accents and decided to see what that looked like, so here's a close-up:

To be honest the flowers didn't turn out as I'd imagined at all but I really quite like them - I think they look a bit weird in the photo but trust me, they look much better in real life!

The greeting by Clearly Besotted was stamped in Memento Lulu Lavender, and the Happy Birthday was given the Wink of Stella treatment, too.

Vintage Car

Another card which was the result of experimenting well outside my comfort zone, but which I thoroughly enjoyed making. The backing paper was made using an Imagination Crafts Diamond background stencil, sponging through it with various Distress & Memento inks.  When it was finished I didn't like the white background so I brayered over it with Distress Antique Linen.  Straight edges to the paper just didn't look right somehow, so I tore them & re-inked the edges with Antique Linen again.

The main image from Inkadinkado was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa onto an Inkylicious tag which was sponged round the edges with Distress Antique Linen.  I replaced the original string with twine.

The numbers started out as bare chipboard which I gessoed (is there such a word?!), embossed in my Cuttlebug & inked repeatedly until the colour was fairly close to the Kraft base card - closer than the photos would have you believe.  I also sponged round the edges of the base card to add a little bit of extra depth.

More experiments to follow!

Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Stencil: Imagination Crafts Diamond
Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Peanut Brittle, Toffee Crunch, Distress Antique Linen.