Happy Birthday Less is More!

One of my favourite challenge blogs, Less is More, celebrates its 4th birthday so what better way to mark the occasion than to make them a birthday card? The theme is pink & grey, and I've combined this with the current sketch over at Case this Sketch.

Two things about this card are unusual for me: one, I knew exactly how I wanted it to look and two, I was able to devote enough time this morning to making it! I started off with the Clearly Besotted "Full of Surprise" present & balloons. The present was stamped in Hero Arts Soft Granite, the balloons in Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. I then painted the ribbons to match. 

The number 4 (by Kirsty Wiseman for Personal Impressions) and the greeting (maker unknown) were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. The paper by Teresa Collins was fussy cut, then I painted one of the stripes in Picked Raspberry, and the edge in Wink of Stella which unfortunately doesn't show up in the photos. I finished off with a black sequin in the centre of the bow. 

Happy Birthday Less is More - long may you continue!

Sketch Saturday #341

A quick post for what was not a quick card!

A lovely neighbour of my Mum's passed away early on Christmas Day; Connie had been like a second grandmother to my family, often babysitting for us when we were young. This card is for her family.

I liked the simplicity of the sketch over at Sketch Saturday so I decided to play along, tweaking the sketch slightly to suit.

I started with a "twinchie" by Magenta Crafts which was bare chipboard. I used a couple of coats of gesso to provide a base for Distress Inks in Salty Ocean & Peacock Feathers. The stamped image is by Papertrey Ink from their Round & Round set. The background strip was made by playing with an Imagination Crafts stencil, the same Distress Inks & some water. I used the same stencil with some Black Soot Distress Ink for the leaves then kept the sentiment (again by Papertrey Ink) simple as I thought there was already enough going on.

Ode to Joy

Well, okay, not actually an ode, I don't do poetry! This is more of an "homage to joy": Joy Taylor over at Simple by Design where I saw this stunning card with a video of how it was made. I'm never comfortable copying ideas exactly so I decided to combine it with the All Things Metallic challenge over at Virginia's View. I'm also entering this into the Festive challenge at CASology and the Shine challenge over at Inkspirational.

I began by stamping some Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments stamps (free from a magazine last year) onto Crafter's Companion watercolour card using Versamark ink. I then embossed with some old Heat It Up! gold embossing powder. Using similar techniques to those Joy used I watercoloured the images with Seedless Preserves & Picked Raspberry Distress Inks, the bottom one of the two smaller ornaments being a mix of both inks together.

I cut the sentiment stamp from the same set to make it fit the card better, inking & embossing it as above. I decided that adding any other embellishment would be a touch too much so simply mounted the image onto American Crafts textured card to finish. Here's a close-up of the ornaments:

Autumn

Autumn has definitely arrived here today and that's the theme of some of the challenge blogs I follow. I've combined the autumn theme with one or two other challenges & this was what I came up with:

The background is by Kaisercraft, stamped in Adirondack Paint Dabber in Terra Cotta. The leaves were created from One Strike Filler (aka spackle) using a stencil I made on my Sizzix Eclips. I coloured them by dropping diluted Distress Inks onto them as they take the colour very easily. I used a mix of inks: Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Gathered Twigs and Barn Door. The greeting is from Clearly Besotted's Many Messages set, in Memento Potter's Clay which was also used to stamp the Flourishes border by Marion Emberson Designs.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Addicted to CAS: Theme "Stencil"

Virginia's View: Theme "CAS"

Less Is More: Theme "Autumn's Bounty"

Stamping Sensations: Theme "Autumn"

CAS(E) This Sketch: sketch below

Wings and Things

This one layer card was inspired by a stunning project by Jennifer Mullens in this month's Craft Stamper magazine, and although I've not managed to achieve the 3D effect that she has I'm still happy with the result. I'm entering this into the Things with Wings challenge over at Stamping Sensations.

The butterflies (Hero Arts) were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black first, then masked. I then stamped the leaves (Imagination Crafts) and used masking fluid to cover them. I masked off the entire top half of the card then stamped the woodgrain effect (Kaisercraft) in Distress Black Soot, but using the third generation of ink to mute the effect. I then very lightly sponged more Black Soot at the top of the "wood panel". The greeting (Papertrey Ink) was stamped in Memento.

I had intended to make this card monochrome but the masking fluid had discoloured the card, presumably because it isn't watercolour card but card by Limetree Crafts intended for alcohol ink markers. So I ended up watercolouring the leaves & butterflies but tried to keep the colours muted, in keeping with the occasion.

Geometric

Another week, another challenge, this time the one over at Addicted to CAS where the theme is geometric. This was an ideal opportunity to try out a recent Ebay purchase of some Clearly Besotted stamps & dies, and another watercolour technique. This time the technique is to emboss with the dies rather than cutting the card, and to let watercolour paint fill the embossed lines.

I decided to cut out one or two of the shapes to let the black background show through, and stamped some of them with a variety of the stamps from the set. The greeting is by Woodware, and the enamel dots were created with Ranger Enamel Accents.

The Sky's the Limit!

I've not had much time for cardmaking lately but I hope to rectify that over the next day or so! I made this card over a week ago but just hadn't got round to posting it. It was inspired by the challenge over at Addicted to CAS where the code word is SKY, and as I'd just bought these new stamps as a bargain from Make the Day Special it seemed like the ideal opportunity to test them out.

I stamped the tree, greeting & birds onto watercolour card, then sponged Distress Inks over the tree. I kept it simple, which is always a good idea when you're entering a Clean & Simple challenge!! The sponging is in fact more graduated than it looks in the photo, I'm not really sure what happened there.

Stamps: Unity Stamp Company "With Sympathy"

Distress Inks: Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa

Life!

Life seems to be getting in the way of crafting a little bit too much just lately! I've recently become a Governor at my son's school, and although I'm pleased to be able to repay his teachers' dedication & hard work, I can't help thinking that it's no wonder schools can't find people to take the job on!! To pile so much responsibility onto volunteers is unrealistic & I doubt Michael Gove would do the job himself . . . . but then, who would want him to, as he is clearly clueless about education?

Anyway, enough of the rant.

This card is for two challenges. The first is Week 177 at Less is More where the theme is Watercolour. The second is a new challenge called NBUS - "Never Before Used Schtuff"(!) where the inaugural theme is friendship.



The background was created by wiping Distress mini cubes in Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade and Gathered Twigs across an acrylic block, spritzing with water then laying it onto watercolour cardstock, leaving it to sit for a while before removing the block.

The Memory Box Prim Poppies are made from the NBUS: mica tiles I bought years ago in a sale at a long-closed craft shop. They can apparently be die cut quite easily. Oh, yeah? Hmm, I don't think so! They were a nightmare which I will never, ever repeat. The problem is that the mica tiles are in layers, which separate as soon as you breathe on them. Anyway, despite all that the finished effect is quite pleasing.

The sentiment is one I've never used before (more NBUS!) by Personal Impressions, stamped in Yinks Chocolate ink.

ATCAS #19 - Summer

Another card for my sister's birthday last week & which I decided was just right for entering into challenge 19 at Addicted to CAS, where the code word this time is Summer. This was my first try at brayering ink onto an acrylic block then stamping with it.  I masked off part of the block to make an "ink pad" about 10cm square then inked my cardstock with it. (I later discovered I didn't need to use the brayer at all, just swiping the ink pad across the acrylic block worked just as well.)  Once it was fully dry I stamped the images & greeting with Versafine then decided to resist the temptation to add any further embellishment.  I'm pleased to say my sister loved it!

Cardstock: Xerox Colotech Plus 300gsm

Inks: Adirondack Cloudy Blue, Sailboat Blue, Distress Antique Linen

Stamps: People & bird - freebie, Greeting Elzybells (no longer available)

Bus-mad Dave's 50th Birthday Card

A friend of ours turned 50 yesterday - but we only found out last night that it was his birthday!  So this card was hastily put together this morning and given the short notice I decided to stick with a formula which I've used before, but this time with a little twist.

As Dave spends most of his spare time travelling on strange buses I knew exactly which image I wanted to use: it's from the Papermania Portobello Road range of stamps, bought months ago with him in mind. I stamped it onto an Inkylicious tag inked round the edges once with a light colour & then on the very edges with a dark brown. 

The backing paper was created by scouring the internet for a timetable for a number 50 bus & printing it in sepia tones onto linen finish paper.  I then brayered over the top with Distress Antique Linen & sponged in various brown inks through an Imagination Crafts mask.

The numbers came out darker than I planned.  They started out as plain chipboard, coloured with Memento Rich Cocoa & double embossed with clear UTEE.  To try to balance out the dark numbers I inked the parcel twine I used on the tag with some more Rich Cocoa.

Stamps: Papermania Portobello Road

Cardstock: Papermania Kraft

Tag: Inkylicious

Linen paper: Paperchase Linen Embossed White 100gsm

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Toffee Crunch, Peanut Brittle, Distress Antique Linen

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.