January CAS Stencil Challenge

Hi everyone.  I am trying very hard to get an entry in for at least one of Loll and Bonnie's Challenges, and this, the CAS Stencil Challenge is their latest one which started this month and I'm sure it will be a big success.   The theme this time is Sponging, and the challenges close on the 24th of the month so I am just in time.

I have some rather fun stamps which I bought recently by Joy Crafts featuring these cute pugs but unfortunately I'm not sure whether they are still available.   I also went out a day or two ago to buy some necessary crafty bits which I was running low on, and what should I see but a That Special Touch Mask with heart shaped paw prints called Paws for Love which goes perfectly with my sweet little pugs so I just had to get it,  and here is what I did.

I started with a snippet of white card about 4" square and using some distress inks sponged the ink through the stencil using a blending tool and Distress Inks in Fossilized Amber, Mermaid Lagoon and Candied Apple.  I started with the yellow then added the blue which mixed and made a pretty turqoise colour, and then I added some red to the little hearts, and this did mingle with some of the other inks, but I was pleased with the effect.  To finish I blended some more blue round the edges.

I then got another snippet of white card and stamped the pugs using Versafine Smokey Gray Ink, and then coloured with some Fossilized Amber, Brushed Corduroy and Hickory Smoke using a watercolour brush, and finished with a bit of Candied Apple on the bow and the little heart.  I then cut out the dogs and the little heart leaving a little bit of a white edge.

I finished by stamping and heat embossing a sentiment from the set on to a snippet of black card using WOW Opaque Bright White Ink and cut it into a fishtail banner and layered up the pugs on to the edge of it and added the little red heart.

Thank you for visiting today and I hope to see you again soon.  Thank you for all the lovely comments you leave which I really appreciate.

I am entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Have a Heart.
Uniko Challenge - No. 51 Anything Goes (Optional Twist: Love).
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes (Optional Twist: Watercolouring).
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 344 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.

January Twofer Challenge

Hi there everybody.  The Twofer Card Challenge is run by our lovely blogging friend Darnell and the theme this time is birds, and as the title suggests to enter you make two cards using the same stamps, stencils or dies but for two different occasions, and the bird central to both my cards is an image from a set by Chocolate Baroque called  Let Your Heart Sing, and here they both are.

As I was running out of time and I wanted to get an entry in this time, the first card is one I made for the Chocolate Baroque TV shows last month but which hasn't been seen anywhere yet.  A bit of a cheat but OK I hope.

I started with a Brusho background in shades of green, Emerald and Leaf Green, and also some Yellow.  I darkened the edges with some Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks.  I then stamped a border using a small flourish stamp from the set and added a small bird on a branch in the centre using Onyx Black Versafine Ink.  I decided to make it like a tile so I covered it with Versamark Ink and heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss Embossing Powder.  I did this twice to build up the shine.  I finished the topper by matting it on to a Crealies Pierced Rectangle using white card.

I then embellished the card base using another of the bird images from the set along the bottom and up the sides using Versamark Ink and heat embossed with WOW Gold Metallic EP.  I then blended some Fossilized Amber DI over the top using a blending tool, and faded the colour out where the stamping ends.

I decided not to use a sentiment on the front as I didn't want to cover up the pretty gold embossing.

For my second card I decided to make a circle shape with some leaves from a set by Inkylicious called Mini Branches which I was lucky enough to win over at The Playground recently.  I started by cutting a mat using the largest square stitched die from a set by The Works.  I was going to use a Gina K Wreath Builder stencil which was also part of the prize, and using my stamp positioner, to place the leaves in a circle.

I wanted to use a slightly larger square than the 4" one the stencil allows, and although I managed to make it work on a piece of copy paper by overlapping the card on the stencil the same amount on either side of the cut out positioning places, when I came to do the same on the actual piece for some reason, probably user error..lol, it wasn't going well, so I decided to just place the stamps around by hand, still using my Misti, and it didn't finish up with the neatest circle ever but having spent quite a long time doing it I decided to go with it.   I used Brushed Corduroy Distress ink on the stems and Peeled Paint DI for the leaves.  I then placed the bird within the circle again using Brushed Corduroy for the bird's perch, and then Broken China and Fossilized Amber DI's on the bird itself, with some Aged Mahogany on the three little flowers.   I took the ink pads to the stamp inside the Misti for both the leaves and the bird, using one colour at a time to colour the image, stamping in between until I achieved the right result.  Rubbing the ink off the stamp from any areas I didn't want it was a bit fiddly but I do like the end result.

I then added the background brushing the ink on making sure to keep within the confines of the leafy circle which is easier with a stencil brush, again using Broken China and Peeled Paint DI's and using a mask cut from a piece of paper for the hills, and also a straight edge to use below.

I finished by adding the sentiment to the topper using Versamark Ink and heat embossing with WOW Copper Metallic Embossing Powder.  I then mounted it on to a piece of craft foam before adding it to a white 6" square card.

I really wanted to enter the challenge this time as I have missed the last couple of  months, and as I was running out of time using the one card which I had already made helped me along a bit, but this is a slight cheat and hope that Darnell thinks my shortcut is an acceptable one.

Thank you for visiting today and I'll be back soon.

Quick Cards for January

Hi there.  It's the middle of the month and time for some more 15 Minute cards over at the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog, and here are  my two cards.  This first one is using the stamp set Let Your Heart Sing, and also one of the papers from the set My Floral Soul.

I started by finding a piece of one of the papers with a fairly plain bottom area and some blue at the top which had the look of a sky and I stamped the image using Distress Ink in this purple colour Dusty Concord.  I then added a bit of Adirondack Sunshine Yellow through a Visible Image stencil called Strobes using a round blending tool.  I didn't do it as is, but I moved it around to get the bits of white where I wanted them omitting the central piece, and I also used my round blending tool to made a round inked shape for the sun.  I then used some more Distress Ink in Abandoned Coral just above the tree line and darkened the sun shape to give more contrast.

 

I finished the card by adding a dark blue mat and added this to the white base card. 

I made the second card using the set Live Out Loud and another of the papers from My Floral Soul.  I started with the background and chose a piece of the paper and cut it to fit the white card.  I then stamped the image on to a piece of white card using Versamark Ink and heat embossed with WOW Opaque Bright White Embossing Powder.  I then used Mermaid Lagoon and Wilted Violet Distress Inks and a waterbrush to fill in the background areas of the stamp and cut it out and mounted it on to a piece of co-ordinating blue cardstock.  I finished by stamping the sentiment using Versafine Majestic blue Ink.  The edges of the stamp are uneven in case you think my cutting out is completely useless...lol, although I did cut some of the edges a bit straighter, and looking again now perhaps I could have straightened the curve on the left a bit more.

For lots of great inspiration every day visit the Design Team Blog.

Thank you for looking at my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

Chocolate Baroque January TV

Hi everyone,

I'm back to give you a quick sneaky peek of my samples which are part of the Chocolate Baroque 2nd Birthday shows on Hochanda tomorrow at 10am and 3pm. 

There are some beautiful new stamps and Lesley and Judith will be doing some great demonstrations throughout the two hours and they hope you will be able to join them for their celebrations.

Chocolate Baroque Cards for November TV

Hi all.  Here are three cards I made for the TV programmes in November with some new stamps.  I did intend to put these up towards the end of last month, but decided there being so much else going on to leave them until the new year.

I have used two of the stamps, featuring flowers called Shared Beauty and Be Kind, and also a large tag called Tagtastic which has different shapes and designs of hole protector if that is what it is called, i.e. I mean the piece that goes around the punched hole to help to stop it from tearing.  There are also some lovely new papers in beautiful bright colours called My Floral Soul and that is what I am starting with.

I used one of the papers featuring a very pretty flower design in the corner with a sweet butterfly.  I decided to cut round the flower to the point where I could place a circle die and have the cut piece of flower over the circle, I think they call it the 'under the edge' cutting technique.  I used a script stamp from Paisley Elephant and embossed using Versamark Ink and WOW Gold Metallic Embossing Powder on to a slightly larger circle which I tucked behind the circle aperture.  I also used one of the sentiments from Shared Beauty which I placed in the aperture again using the Gold Metallic EP.  I also stamped a bit of the script on to the patterned paper using Ground Espresso Distress Ink and also darkened the edges with it.

The second card features the Be Kind stamp and also the tag which I used to make a bookmark.  I started with the bookmark using another of the pieces of patterned paper featuring a pretty rose and feather.  I stamped the tag on to plain white card and then covered each side with a piece of the paper making sure that the rose and feather image was on the front of the tag/bookmark but omitting the words at the bottom. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the bookmark on its own, which would have been a good idea.  I stamped one of the hole protectors, the square one on to another small piece of the paper and cut it out and placed it in the centre of the tag a litte down from the top.  I then cut out the square shape in the centre using a craft knife.  I finished by threading some beads on to each end of a piece of purple embroidery thread which are kept in place with knots above and below the beads.

I then made a pocket to hold the bookmark using the Be Kind stamp which I heat embossed on to a piece of blue vellum using WOW Bright White Opaque EP.  I then coloured the flower and a bit of the surrrounding script using a turquoise blue and purple pencil.  I then made a crease round the image and placed the vellum over some white card the same size and adhered it at the back.  I then mounted this on to another piece of white card which I inked around the edges using Dusty Concord DI.

Lastly I adhered another of the papers to a white base card and I cut out each of the words which ran along the bottom of the paper which I used for the bookmark and which had approriate words for the image, and glued them to one side of the card, and I finished by placing the pocket to the left with the bookmark inside.

The last card features the Shared Beauty stamp.  I started by choosing another of the lovely papers and mounted this on to a piece of dark blue card sandwiching a piece of knotted sheer pink ribbon between the layers.  I then stamped the image on to a piece of white card using Dusty Concord DI and then heat embossed over the top with WOW Clear Gloss EP which did make the image quite dark, and fussy cut this out.  I then stamped the central flower three times on to another piece of medium weight white card using the same ink, and cut out the whole flower, then from the second image I cut just the central piece, and then from the last image I cut just two of the petal from the central piece.  I then coloured it all using Picked Raspberry and Dusty Concord DIs applied with a waterbrush.  I then layered it up on to the base image using Pinflair Glue Gel.  When dry I glued this on to the card front and added another of the sentiments from the Shared Beauty set using WOW Opaque Bright White EP.

I am entering this card into the following challenge:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - No. 342 where we use our snippets of card and paper etc.  (snippet of blue card, white card for image and more snippets of white card for the three layers of the flower).

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

A Year in Cards

Hi everybody.  For several years now at New Year I show cards which reflect my last year of blogging, one for each month.    I think this last year has probably been my best so far, definitely more prolific and including new challenges with things I thought I would never be lucky enough to do.  I have chosen some which were my personal favourites, and some which were popular with you out there, so here they are.

I hope you like my selection, and there were others which I would have liked to show too, but was strict with myself to keep it to just one from each month.

Thank you for joining me today, and I would like to wish you all

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR