Indigoblu June Challenge

Hello.

I decided to have a go at the Indigoblu challenge again but have left it  till the last minute as usual. I'm  particularly annoyed with myself as the colours are right in my comfort zone.
 But, I needed a birthday card so decided to use the colours of the challenge and, as I did get it finished in time, have submitted it.

I have used an old stamp called Twit Twoo, which I really like and which I have used many times.
It is a lovely owl image and is great for male and female cards.

 

I stuck with a very simple layout.

 

 The owl was stamped onto thick parchment paper and coloured with water colour pencils. Then I tore around the edge and stuck it onto brown craft card. I repeated the tearing, although this proved quite difficult as the craft card was tough and quite hard to tear!

 

The background was done with a mouldable foam pad, which was heated and  pressed onto real ivy leaves. It has then been stamped with Distress ink.

  I haven't used this for ages and had forgotten how useful it is for making unusual backgrounds. When you want to change the image, the block is heated again and can then be pressed onto another texture, so the background can be coordinated with the main image.

 Endless possibilities.

 

Well must finish.

Hope your crafting is going well and bye for now.

Carole

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Baroque Lady - Summer Fair

Hello to anyone visiting.

I have been playing with a beautiful new stamp that I have just purchased from Chocolate Baroque, called Summer Fair.


It is one of a series of four, depicting the four seasons.
I particularly liked the summer one as I have a poppy seed head stamp which matches perfectly and can be used as a background or border . (September-Poppyseed).

I decided I would do another card using the challenge colours , which I think are gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

In fact, I ended up doing two with slightly different techniques so decided to show both.

In the first sample I have stamped and embossed onto  parchment paper.  Haven't used parchment for ages and had forgotten how delicate it looks when coloured. The background is done with Distress inks and then over stamped with the poppy seed heads, in the same colours.


The second card has a background the same as the first and the lady is stamped and embossed onto white card and coloured with the same colours of Distress inks.

I'm sure I will be using this stamp a lot as I really like the design.

Hope you have enjoyed your visit and happy crafting.

If you are at the Doncaster Craft show at the weekend, please come and say hello. I shall be demonstrating  on the  ArtCuts stand. May see you there.

Bye for now

 

Best wishes

Carole

 

Chocolate Baroque challenge 24

Hello.

Another Chocolate Baroque challenge with gorgeous colours.

What an amazing sky in the inspiration photo.

Couldn't wait to do a card and just happened to need a birthday card for a friend.
So what better excuse to use  these beautiful colours.
Love the way the colours go together.



I have used the flower border from Floral Edges and randomly stamped the background. Then I stamped and embossed some extra borders and cut out sections to overlay .

The centre piece was stamped  with the Fantastic florals and then coloured with Distress inks.

I took some of the colour off the berries with a wet brush and when dry, painted with Distress ink.
These were then glazed with glossy accents. I stamped two extra butterflies to overlay and raise above the main design.

                          May have to do another one with these colours, really gorgeous.

                                                                 Thanks for visiting.

                                                                         Bye for now.

                                                                         Carole

 

Chocoalte Baroque challenge 23

Hello.


I've  been having fun this week doing another challenge with these gorgeous colours.

It has, however, taken me ages, due to a lot of faffing about, to get the layout to my satisfaction.
Always the way with me!! Anyhow, this is the card I am submitting.

I have used the beautiful lady from the Mackintosh Beauty set again, the background on her dress is the Baroque Orchid stamp.
The card  background  is clear embossed on white, using the dress design of the Butterfly Dress stamp.  This is brilliant for backgrounds, when the bodice is masked off.

The card is made with a mixture of Distress inks, VersaMagic and Brilliance. Blueprint sketch, Peacock feathers, Aloe Vera and Brilliance Pearlescent purple.

                                                                    Happy crafting
                                                                          Carole

Craft room plaque

Hello again.
This is just a quick post to show you a plaque that I decorated recently.

Artcuts have several different craft plaques that you can decorate to fit in with  your colour scheme and I think they would make a lovely gift for a crafting friend too.
I used some of the beautiful Chiyogami paper and coordinated the ink pads to stamp a design.




The plaques can also be personalized, like the one below.


                               

You can also get one saying My Craft Space, for anyone who doesn't have a dedicated room.
I don't really have a room that is just my craft space, but it sounds grand!!

Wherever you are crafting, hope you are having an enjoyable time.
                                                                     Bye for now.
                                                                          Carole

Birthday card for a friend

Hello.
Today I would like to show you a card I made using the Tim Holtz birds.
I know these have been around for ages but I have only recently used mine. I had swapped these with a friend, so decided to send her a card that I made, using them.

I really like these quirky designs.

 

 

I stamped and coloured the birds with  Blue print sketch distress ink, which I have only just got around to getting. It's a lovely vibrant colour. The eyes, beaks and wings were coloured with a clear Wink of Stella pen, giving a soft glimmer. I then put glossy accents over the eyes and beaks.

 

The background stamps and the words, are from various Hobby Art stamp sets.

 

There seem to be various quirky creature stamps around at the moment and I recently bought a Katzelkraft cat set. Must get on and make something with them now.

Bye for now.

Carole

 

 

Chiyogami papers - Butterfly heart

Hello to anyone reading this.
Hope your crafting is going well.

I have been having fun using the beautiful Chiyogami papers that ArtCuts sell.

They are gorgeous Japanese, hand  silk- screen printed  papers, that are very robust and brilliant to use.

They are also great to stamp onto, as you can see on the sample.

 The flowers were stamped onto Cherry blossom blue and Cherry blossom lilac papers,  with a Versafine inkpad and  then cut out.






I then  rearranged them onto the heart.  When I was happy with the arrangement I stuck them down with PVA glue.

I swiped a VersaMagic inkpad over the heart to do the background colour. It is easier to do this before sticking the flowers down. I left it until afterwards because I wasn't sure whether to colour all over or just around the edge, as I do like to see the plain wood.



The butterflies were coloured in the same way as the heart, and the embellishments added.
Then they were stuck onto strips of acetate and the other ends were stuck to the back of the heart, so that the butterflies float and bounce. This gives movement to the project.

The flower stamps are in a Hobby Art set called Garden Birds.



Keep an eye on the ArtCuts website, as there will be  some technique snippets coming soon, one of which will be showing how easy it is to cover the shapes, with these gorgeous papers.

Thanks for stopping by.
See you soon.
                                                                          Carole