Here's One I Made Earlier...

Another week has gone by and the hand is slowly improving.  Still can't stamp, but I can click a mouse and scroll through some of my old photographs of stuff I made.  Found this one, made more than a year ago using stamps from Clarity Stamp, Adirondack dye ink pads and Nestabilities Labels 2.

Last but not Least

The last of the 6 cards I made for the Elusive Images DT application - a colour challenge.  Glenda had specified that one of the projects submitted must follow a specifed theme and given a choice of about 4 or 5 themes, I chose a colour challenge - Brown and Teal. 

This time the main image is by Clarity Stamp, but the patterns in the dress, and on the edge of the inside back, are done using what I tend to think of as "incidental stamps".  Those small decorative stamps that come on sheets of unmounted stamps which, while they are pretty, often sit around unused because we are not sure what to do with them!  The stamp in question comes from the Elusive Images "Delightful Damask" themeplate

To make the card I stamped the lady onto some white card using a permanent black ink, I also made several stampings onto pages of a post-it note pad, making sure that part of the image fell over the tacky area, this was for cutting out to make masks for the dress.   I placed the masks in turn over various parts of the image and coloured the dress using a stencil brush and Versamagic inks in the appropriate brown and teal colours.  The pattern was added  by overstamping through some of the masks with the pattern stamp from the Delightful Damask themeplate.  The border round the image and also on the edge of the inside back of the card was created in much the same way, using masking, stencil brushes and overstamping.  The right hand edge of the front of the card has been trimmed back to reveal the stamped border inside the card. 

The background layers were cut from card in the challenge colours, the ornate cormers were cut with a Cuttlebug die.  I should appologise for the photo, this one seems to have a lot of camera shake in it, I always take more than one picture of my card, but in this instance I must have deleted the wrong image from the camera and as the card is no longer in my possession I cannot take a better picture.

Two Tags and an Alcohol Ink Background

Recently I have been playing with some stamps I bought last year from Graphicus, they all have a nautical/sea theme. I have a card idea in my head for the image of the sailing ship, but it's not quite there yet. I thought I would stamp out the images last night and see where they took me. While I was playing I thought I would try out a background technique I have been wanting to have a go at since I bought some Isopropyl Alcohol a month or so ago - a much cheaper alternative to Alcohol Ink Blending Solution and it's pretty good for cleaning up that tacky gunk that cutting sticky things leaves on our scissors too! You can get it through any Pharmacy tho you may have to ask for a special customer order.

Anyhow on to my tags. First step was to chop open on 3 sides one of those tough cello bags that I get every time I buy unmounted stamps from Graphicus so as it could be opened up like opening the pages of a book. Next I dripped Alcohol Inks (the colours are Denim, Stream, Stonewashed and Lettuce and a tiny splodge of Silver Metallic Mixative) inside my "cello book" and spritzed this with some of the Isopropyl Alcohol which I had decanted into a Tim Holtz Mini Mister. Closed the cello pages and sorta smeared things around with my fingers, then opening the pages back up, I took 2 semi gloss tags I bought in Grapicus some time ago, laid them back to back and placed them between the pages of cello and once again kinda smeared things around with my fingers - I really liked the end result, the colours are lovely and soft and best of all permanent so they won't bleed when you do other stuff with them.

The stamping itself was simple enough, stamps from the Elusive Images "Undewater", "Seashore Scenes" and "Seashell Collage" themeplates stamped in Midnight Blue Stazon. The gulls in the tag with the sailing ship are from a stamp by Clarity Stamp.

On the tag with the seahorse I tried adding a little colour with Twinkling H2O paints to the shells and sea bottom to get a more sandy look - it think it looks OK even tho the paints are transparent so some of the blue/green tones of the background show through. On the tag with the sailing ship I used a white gel pen to add some foam to the waves under the ship.

With hindsight the silver mixative may have been a mistake as Stazon does not work so well with the metallic mixatives - the silver floats up to the surface of the stamping - must try this next time with Archival ink and see what happens.

Birthday Card for a Man

As well as our Wedding Anniversary, hubby also has his birthday in June, so I made this card for him.

The background was created using torn paper masks with sponges and a mixture of Adirondack dye and pigment inks. The stamps are all from Clarity Stamp except for the Birthday greeting. I enjoyed playing with my sponges and inks, trying to get a feel the rays of the sun shining down through an early morning mist. However, perhaps the thing I enjoyed most about this card was that for once I seemed to get the matting nice and straight - hubby loves to tease me when my cards are a little squint and this time he couldn't!

A Sympathy Card

What can I say, these are perhaps the hardest cards we ever have to make because we want them to say so much and yet there are no words that can be said to make things better. I tried to create a mood of calm and peace - I hope I succeeded

The stamps are all from Clarity Stamp, the technique of creating reflections with a Brayer is one I learned some time ago from Clarity's very talented owner, Barbara Gray. Ink pads were all Adirondack dye based inks from Ranger - mostly Mountain Lake which is one of the now sadly discontinued Adirondack Rainbow pads. I added some of the individual colours from that are combined in the rainbow pad around the edges of the card blank -the colours were Stream and Lettuce.

Silhouette Birthday Card

This card was made for a Birthday Swap Group and now that the recipient has seen it I can post it here. The stamps are from Clarity Stamp.

The main image was stamped using dark blue Stazon ink onto some glossy card which I had first coloured with my brayer and Ranger Adirondack Inks. The Bullrushes were stamped onto some light blue card with more of the Adirondack inks. Both layers have been matted onto some silver foil card. The greeting is from a set by Woodware - the set I have shown on this blog a few time, but couldn't recall the maker - I came across them the other day in an online shop so now I know who makes them and very useful those tiny text messages are. The flower and brad are part of a kit which I bought from QVC, they are made by Paper Mania.

Moon Card

The challenge for Sunday Stampers this week was to create something with the Moon as your them. This is what I came up with.

My starting point was a stamp I have from Clarity Stamp which is a quotation from Walter de la Mare - it's hard to read in the photo but it says :

Slowly, silently now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon:
This way, and that she peers and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees.

I started with a base of navy card, punched a circle of white paper for my moon and stuck it to the card. Then, using a one of the tree stamps from the Arboretum themeplate by Elusive Images I stamped and heat embossed the tree using silver EP.

I then added some silver chalk to create the impression of thin streaks of cloud across the face of the moon and also applied some of the chalk at the base of the tree to ground it. This was matted onto silver foil card then onto more of the navy card stock.

Easy Elegance and a Thank You

The challenge theme on My Time To Craft this week is "Easy Elegance" My interpretation of that is something elegant but simple to make - a nice way to ease back into making something after the rush of Christmas crafting! So my card is just one stamp, one ink pad, a gold pen and a few peel-offs - couldn't be simpler.

The stamp is from Clarity Stamp and one I have been lusting after for a long time! I finally treated myself to it and a couple of others at the NEC in November and this is it's first outing. I stamped the image using Tim Holtz' Distress Ink in Aged Mahogany then, using a water brush, pulled in colour from the stamped image. Using the same ink pad and Judikins Color Duster I stippled some of the ink round about the image to soften the background and added the gold edge with a Sakura Pentouch pen.

The image was mounted on some Basill cardstock and then onto white linen finish card. The greeting and corners are peel-offs.

I also need to say thank you to Smullis for passing on to me a Kreativ Blogger award - it's in my side bar. As I had received this award previously I hope I can be excused from passing it on again as I think most of the blogs I love to visit already have this one. Please take time to visit Smullis blog Dragonfly Dreams, she has some lovely work to share. Oh, and incase like me, you find yourself wondering what "letterboxing" is then you may find this wikipedia link useful.

Autumn ATC

The theme for Florrie's Weekly ATC Challenge on Craft Swap forum is Autumn - Season of Fruitfulness. I made the background for this ATC using Adirondack Dye inks in Butterscotch, Terracotta, Ginger and Espresso. The Leafy twig with berries in the center is from a clear stamp set bought in Partners but I can't recall the manufacturer. It was stamped and heat embossed with copper EP and the leaves coloured with a Stampin' Up marker. The leafy spray at the edges a stamp from Clarity Stamp.

Chic

This card was made for a swap where the theme was "chic". I love this elegant Erte lady stamp from Clarity Stamp, very stylish and elegant! The papers are from the Artylicious Filigree Fusion CD, and the stamp used on the UTEE is from the Filigree Fusion Themeplate designed by Elusive Images to co-ordinate with the papers on the CD.

More Glimmer Mists

I have been playing with Glimmer Mists again. This time I used one of the Glimmer screens and 3 different colours of Glimmer mist to create a background, I then used stencil brush to stipple on some pink ink around the edge of the stencil flourish to give it a bit more lift. The stamped quotation is a stamp by Clarity Stamp and was stamped with Versafine Onxy Black. I wish the camera could capture the shimmer better.

Three Challenges - One Card

This card has been in my head now since I made hubby's birthday card. As the idea formed I thought great, I can make that for Fab's Big Christmas Challenge this month. It also works for the Daring Cardmakers challenge this week as the theme is "Christmas in June" and my third challenge is My Time to Craft where this weeks's theme is "Seasons".

The card was made using a limited edition stamp from Elusive Images which has been made for members of the Graphicus Guild. I stamped the image in black Archival Ink, then created masks by stamping on to scrap paper and cutting out the elements I wanted to mask. With my masks in place I was able to use my brayer to colour the hills in the background and then to colour the sky using Adirondack dye based inks. The Christmas star was stamped with a stamp from Clarity Stamp and heat embossed using a mix of gold and holographic embossing powders. I mixed them as I wanted only just a hint of sparkle. I then added snow to the tops of the hills and on the trees with a white Sakura Souffle Pen and finally added another hint of sparkle using Stickles glitter glue in "Frosted Lace". The Frosted Lace is not a very sparkly glitter so it's quite subtle. The backing paper is from the Artylicious Season's Greetings CD set and the words are from a favorite Christmas Carol - "In the Bleak Mid Winter".

Some More Skinnys

Well life conspired again to keep me away from my craft stash last week - don't you just love it when you think you have lots of free time and things just happen! Oh well that's the way the cookie crumbles, maybe this week I can have a bash at making some cards for Fab's Christmas Challenge. I want to join his "nutters" this time and try to make 6. But first I have been making more skinnys for the swap list with a floral theme which I joined. The swap is organised by Craft Swap Forum.

From the left the first skinny was made using a stamp which is a limited editon stamp from Elusive Images and made avaiable to members of the Graphicus Guild. I stamped this with Black Stazon then painted the flowers with Twinkling H2Os, allowing the colours in the flower to bleed a litte into each other. The edges are inked with some Violet ink from a Petal Point pigment ink pad.

The middle skinny was made using a brayer and masking technique. The stamp is from the Laura Ashley Contemporary Collection. First I stamped my image onto my card stock using a Kaleidacolor ink pad (Desert Heat), next I stamped the image again twice onto a post-it note and cut the images out to create masks. The masks were then placed over the original stampings and I used a brayer to create my background this time using the Fresh Greens Kaleidacolor ink Pad.

The third skinny on the right was made with some Moondust Pearlecent card - I love the shimmer on that card. First I used a sponge to blend in 2 colours of inks which would work well with the Prima Flowers from the "Stone Rose" collection. The inks were from an Adirondack Rainbow pad called Stained Glass. I used the same ink pad to ink a stamp from Clarity Stamp and stamp the leafy background. Finally I stuck on the Prima Flowers and added a gem in the center of each.

Two More Cards for the WSW Challenges

It's been a busy week this week, so I have not managed as many of the World Stamping Week Challenges as I would have liked to, but here are 2 more I have done. The first was to make a Long Tall Card, or as we call it here in the UK a DL card. The second challenge was to create a project with the theme "Winged Creatures"

For the Long Tall card I used a floral stamp from the Elusive Images "Damask Squares" themplate which I stamped in Versamark and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powders onto some Moondust pearlescent card. I then blended in a little Adirondack ink in Eggplant around the edges and finally ran my versmark pad around the edge and sprinked on more of the Cosmic Shimmer Powder to edge the piece. This was mounted onto black card which I had randomly stamped a background on using a butterfly stamp from the same themeplate with Opalite Ink in Orchid Ice. The Opalite ink is an interference ink so can appear almost invisible until the light catches it - it works best on dark card.

For the "Winged Creatures" Challenge I decided it would be fun to make a card featuring a dragon from the Elusive Images "Here Be Dragons" themeplate. First I created my background using a brayer and some torn paper to mask a skyline and a seperate mask for the moon. The ground was brayered on with Distress ink (Pine Needles) and the sky was layered using Adirondack Dye inks in Stonewashed, Denim and Eggplant. Once this was done I used a stamp from Clarity Stamp to stamp in the moon and cloud details using Encore Silver ink. The trees were stamped in Versafine Onyx Black using stamps from a set by The Angel Company and now my background was ready. Next I stamped and embossed the dragon image in with black embossing powder, painted this with various shades of Twinkling H2Os and then cut him out. The dragon was mounted onto the card with foam pads. Finally I used some Distress Ink (Old Paper) to age a long narrow strip of paper by applying it with an ink blending tool and stamped a text stamp from the "Here Be Dragons" themplate in the middle of the strip using Adirondack ink (Cappuccino. The extra length of paper at the top and bottom of the strip was rolled up to create a sort of scroll and this was stuck down on the card. The message on the scroll reads "Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup"

Sunday Stampers Challenge - Ebony & Ivory

This week the Sunday Stampers Challenge hosted by Ink On My Fingers was to use only black and white. I have had a project in mind for a few weeks now involving the 2 stamps I used, but had been hanging back. The truth is I was dreading finding out that the idea in my head would not work in reality. However this week's challenge theme made me decide it was time to throw caution to the wind, get out the stamps and inks and go for it. I am glad I did because I am pleased with the results.

First I stamped the face stamp which is an Impression Obsession stamp, then used a stamp from Clarity Stamps to create a frame around the face. Both were stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I then trimmed my card and mounted it onto layers of black and white card. Finally I took some black card to make my card blank and stamped the Clarity stamp all around the edges using Brilliance Moonlight White ink.

My first Skinnys

I recently signed up to take part in a Skinny swap on Craft Swap Forum. I have never made a skinny before, but they are much the same idea as Fat Pages except for being a different size. The size is 5" x 3", and they should always be decorated in portrait orientation. Like a Fat Page the back should be decorated, but not as heavily as the front. A margin area on the left side should be kept clear to allow them to be punched for binding into a book.

Anyhow here are my first 3 skinnys from left to right:

The first on the left was made using a stamp from the Elusive Images Peacock Glory Themeplate which I heat embossed in gold then coloured using stencil brush and inks from a Kaliedacolour pad (Blue Breeze). It was then mounted onto a backing paper made using a technique I learned from my friend Jan aka Far North. It involves stamping a scrunched up plastic bag all over some paper and is lovely messy inky fun! Some ribbon making a loop behind added a bit more texture and interest.

The middle one was made using Hero Arts stamp which I stamped with Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black) then coloured in with a light wash of water colours. I added some clear glaze from a Sakura Glaze pen over the postage stamp to give some dimension and then cut stamped image. Next I mounted it onto a background I had made using Petal Point Fluid Chalk inks to colour the card and then stamped the edges with a Stamp from Clarity Stamp which I had inked up with an Adirondack Rainbow pad(Woodlands) The tag is secured with a brad at the top and some foam pads at the bottom edge.

The last one on the right is a stamp from Creative Expressions stamped in Jet Black Versafine ink and coloured with Twinkling H2Os. I edged the cardstock with touches of Brilliace Lightning Black and Rocket Red ink.

A New ATC Challenge

I enjoyed taking part in the ATC challenge last week. The challenge is hosted on Craft Swap Forum and is a weekly challenge Called Florries ATC Challenge.

This week the theme was backgrounds. I used stencil brushes and a Color Pallet ink pad (Greenery) which has 3 shades of green pigment ink to create the background, then stamped over it with a leafy spray stamp from Clarity Stamp using VersaColor Ink this time (21 Green). The flowers were punched from 2 colours of cardstock then layered up and finsished off with a touch of Sakura Glaze Pen in the middle. I really like the way the inks seem to glow in the center of the background.

An ATC and a FLAP

I tried a challenge for the first time this week. The challenge was to make an ATC which incorporated geometric shapes. This was made using Adirondack inks to create and stamp the background then the same stamp was used again with black stazon to repeat the image on silver foiled card. Shapes were then cut from the foiled card and placed so they matched up with the stamped impression on the background. The stamp is from the Elusive Images Damask Delight Themeplate.










This was made for a swap where the them was to create a vintage feel. I used PetalPoint Fluid Chalk inks to make the background and also to stamp the edges and the main image. The lettering was done on my computer, cut out and inked to blend in with the background. The stamp is by Clarity Stamp.