We Three Kings

Hi to you all.  I am here with a card made with two challenges in mind.  The first is the Rudolph Days Challenge run by Mo over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo, which runs from the 25th to the end of every month and the theme is alway Anything Goes.  The second is NBUS Challenge No. 9 (NBUS means Never Before Used Schtuff) run by Darnell of djkardkreations.  She is running three back to back challenges to celebrate her 5th Blogaversary, having written 1000 posts and reaching over 1000 followers which is a great achievement.  This is the second and the optional theme this time is Steganography which in essence means concealed/hidden words.  If this doesn't make a lot of sense perhaps all will become clear after seeing the card I made, or perhaps not...lol.

I decided to use this new set of stamps by Habico which I was lucky enough to win over at the playground not long ago.  The three kings is the largest stamp in the set and a lovely one to colour.  Anyway, here is what I used for the card:

Habico Stamp Set.
Stamping/Gelli Plate Card 7"x 7".
Wooden Stamp with a Star (unfortunately don't know the make and old so no longer available).
Gelli Plate 6" x 6".
Adirondack Inks:  Butterscotch, Sunshine Yellow. Espresso and Stonewashed.
Tonic Scalloped Square Layering Dies.
XCut Sentiment.
MISTI Stamping Tool.
Spectrum Noir Coloured Pencils.
Gold Mica Powder.
White Funky Foam.
White Base Card 8" x 8" cut down just under 6" x 6".

I started with a piece of the gelli card and using the inks I created the background by placing blue at the top and yellow, butterscotch and a little espresso ink towards the bottom.  I spritzed with water and pressed the card onto the surface of the plate and pulled the print.  I did add extra of some of the colours still using the gelli plate and spritzing to build up the colour a bit on the sand area.

When dry I cut it with one of the scalloped dies (second largest) and then stamped the Wise Men into position using the MISTI but first making sure I had allowed enough room for the sentiment to be placed at the bottom.  I stamped using the Espresso ink and it took several goes to get a really good impression, but the beauty of the MISTI is that you can overstamp as many times as you wish.

I coloured it using my pencils and I also finished with some Gold Mica mixed with a waterbrush and carefully painted on to various parts of the scene.  I also used it for stamping the star by actually painting it on the the rubber stamp.  I did have to go over the star after stamping to darken the impression, but I think the result is nice and shimmery.  I also added a little shading under the feet of the camels using some Espresso ink with the waterbrush.  It doesn't show up that much now as that is where the sentiment is.

The hardest part of the whole process was doing this hidden sentiment.  I started by die cutting the sentiment from the scene first being careful to save all the little pieces (13 in total).  I then cut another using some white funky foam which I backed with Stick It adhesive.  The next step was to mount the scene on to the base card having first fixed a piece of the Stick It adhesive to the back of the the piece before adhering to the card.  I did this as none of the small pieces had any sticky on them I then stuck the funky foam sentiment into the space (excluding all the little pieces apart from the dot for the 'i' which I placed in the hole.  *I then fixed all the little coloured pieces I had kept into the spaces being careful to position them correctly by looking at the top layer to see that they matched correctly.  I then adhered the top layer with some photo glue. 

*With hindsight I think it would have been better to fix the top layer and then inset all the little pieces last as it would have been easier to match them up but I got there in the end and was pleased with the result.  The foam made it stand out better and by setting the little pieces at a lower level gave it more dimension and again made the letters easier to decipher.

I hope you managed to stay awake throughout that rather long winded explanation..lol.  Thank you for taking a look today and I'll see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers January Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes (no twist).
Artistic Stamper Challenge - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Japanese Lady

Hi everybody.  I hope that January is going well for you.  We are about three quarters  of the way through it and already the nights are beginning to be lighter which pleases me greatly.  I have felt very lacklustre and have not really got going with my cardmaking since Christmas.  I did spend quite a bit of time after Christmas and into the new year sorting out my crafting area and that is done now and everything is a lot more tidy, well, at the moment..lol.

Anyway, getting to the point, our lovely friend Darnell over at djkardkreations is hosting her NBUS Challenge No 8 to celebrate her 5th Blogaversary and having done a staggering 1000 posts and having over 1000 followers, is no mean feat I feel.  In case you are not aware NBUS stands for Never Before Used Schtuff and I know we all have some of that kicking about the place so this is a great time to use it.  She is generously offering some lovely prizes and this is the first of three challenges back to back too.  Darnell also has an optional theme for this challenge which is to 'Use Coloured Pencils on Kraft'.  I don't have many pencils but did the best with what I had, so here it is.

For this card I used:

Japanese Tea Garden Embossing Folder and Lady Stamp (magazine freebie).
Crealies Pierced Rectangle Nesting Dies. 
Adirondack Espresso Ink.
Versafine Smokey Gray Ink.
Spectrum Noir Coloured Pencils.
8" x 8" White Base Card with the width cut down to 6".
Kraft Card.
Sentiment Stamp.

I'm afraid I'm a bit addicted to magazine freebies and I picked this one out, back in December I think, because it had a lovely embossing folder and a border folder too and this very pretty lady stamp, so I thought it was a good deal, and this is its first outing.   I have to say that sometimes the stamps do not stamp that crisply, but now I have a MISTI to help me, instead of putting too much ink on to make sure that there are no bare patches, you can go easier on the ink and stamp as many times as it takes to get a good image, and it is so much better and easier.

I started by cutting a piece of kraft card using the second largest Crealies Die which was just the right size for the embossing folder, which I then used to make the pretty flower frame.  I then placed the lady and stamped with the Espresso ink using the MISTI.  When it was perfectly dry I used the coloured pencils to colour her in.  To finish I adhered this to the white card base and stamped the sentiment, again using the MISTI and the Smokey Gray ink.

Thank you for dropping by and I'll be back soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Penny Black and More January Challenge - Anything Goes.
Country View Challenge January -  Anything Goes.

Honey Doo Flower Anniversary

Hi everyone.  I made this anniversary card back in early December but with all the Christmas cards it has been sitting there waiting its turn.  The new season of anniversary card sending doesn't start until April so this may be the only one on show for a while. 

For the Card I Used:

Honey Doo Crafts - Flowers for Design Stamp Set.
Leonie Pujol - Dotty Heart Embossing Folder.
XCut Hearts and Kisses Embossing Folder (difficult to find at the moment).
Creative Expressions by Sue Wilson - Orange Blossom Leaves Die. 
Sue Wilson Congratulations Sentiment Die.
Tonic Scalloped Square Layering Die Set. 
Adirondack Ink - Cranberry.
Distress Ink - Faded Jeans.
Snippet of White Card.
Snippet of Red Card. 
Cosmic Shimmer White PVA.

I started with a white snippet and made an embossed background with Dotty Hearts Embossing folder.  In order to make it square I had to extend it a bit.  I then attached it to the white square base card.

I found a red scalloped square in my bits box and added it to the middle of the card on top of the Dotty Hearts.

I then found a white heart in my bits box left over from another card and I coloured it using Distress Ink in Faded Jeans applied with one of my new Clarity Brushes.  The colour looks much paler because the brush covers it very slowly and so you can stop when there is as much colour as you would like.  I then embossed it with the Hearts and Kisses Embossing Folder.  I adhered this to the red scalloped square.

I made my flowers by stamping onto a snippet of white card using the Adirondack Cranberry Ink.  I stamped one large and four small flowers.  I blended the ink into the centre of the flowers using a waterbrush and then added a small amount of the Faded Jeans to the outside of the petals.  I cut all the flowers out and shaped them a bit.

I cut both of the dies from the Orange Blossom Leaves die set using a snippet of white card and this gives you a mirror image set.  I cut each of the cluster of leaves into three and using Pinflair Glue gel I attached the flowers and the leaves so they framed one side of the heart.  I finished by adding the centres to the flowers with the White PVA.

I finished with a Sue Wilson 'congratulations' die which was also in my bits box and the blue was the perfect colour to go with the flowers and heart.

Before I go I would like to introduce Kate aka Cuilliesocks whose blog you will find here.  For those of you who haven't come across her before she has a very interesting and varied blog and loves her stamps and getting inky.  She also loves knitting and as her name suggests socks figure highly,  and enjoys singing in a choir, and I'm sure she would appreciate your visit.

Thank you for looking at my blog today.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Playground - Weeks 263 and 264 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.
Simon Say Monday Challenge - Be Square.  (Square card and square white embossed and red mats)
Happy Little Stampers January Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
Country View Challenges  January 2017 - Anything Goes.

Winter Stag

Hi all.  This will be the last Christmas card on here for a while as now we are into the new year Christmas is definitely over for another year.  It was made for our DS in Australia and I was waiting for it to arrive before showing it here.  Unfortunately it didn't arrive until a few days after Christmas, although I thought I had sent it in plenty of time, but sadly his card to us has still not arrived, although hopefully it may drop through the letter box when we are least expecting it to.

I love this Serendipity stamp call Buck but over here we would normally call it a Stag, hence my title.  It is one of those stamps that you can change to suit the season and that is what I have done here.

Used for this card:

Serendipity Stamp - Buck.
Sheena Douglass Frosty Ice Embossing Folder.
Adirondack Ink - Stonewashed and Espresso. 
Distress Ink - Shaded Lilac.
Memento Ink - Bamboo Leaves.
Snippets of White and Silver Mirri Card.
White Base Card cut to fit a 6" x 4" envelope. 
Cosmic Shimmer White PVA.

I started with a snippet of white card and embossed it using the Frosty Ice EF, and I cut it down so that it would fit the A6 sized card as the original size is 5" x 7".  I then stamped the Stag into the centre using the Espresso ink, but as it is a large stamp I masked off some of the top and bottom so it fitted the space better.  I blended the ink a little with a waterbrush  and then added the sky using the Stonewashed and a little of the Espresso and Shaded Lilac to give the impression of distant trees.  I also added some Espresso and Bamboo Leaves ink for the foliage poking through the snow.

I finished with the White PVA on the tree and the snow in front of the Stag, and then die cut a sentiment from a snippet of Silver Mirri card.  I then layered it up using another Silver Mirri snippet and adhered to the white base card.  I have shown it here without the personal sentiment which obviously I added before sending it.

Thank you for visiting today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 262 where we use our snippets of paper and card etc.
Penny Black and More Challenge - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Happy Little Stampers January Watercolour Challenge - Anything Goes (no twist).
Happy Little Stampers January Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes (no twist).