Sunday Sketch and Stamp challenge #99

This is my card for this weeks challenge on the Sunday Sketch and Stamp blog. I'm really enjoying using the sketches at the moment, and a great way to use the really pretty Basic grey, Capella collection of papers. Also I was able to get back to using some of my favourite stamps, these being from the wonderful designs of Barbara Gray at Clarity Stamps.

 

Card Recipe
6x6" base card - white watercolour paper
backing papers - Basic Grey Capella collection
Embellishments - Flower & white flourishes, cordinating card stock stickers from Basic grey
- flourishes enhanced with liquid pearls (soft pink & white opal), faux pearls, sticky gems
Tim Holtz Distress Inks - weathered straw, bundled sage, brushed courdroy, peeled paint

To create the scene in the smallest circle (2.5" diameter)  I used a collection of miniture clear stamps from Clarity, stamping them with distress inks onto watercolour paper. Having built up the scene, I used I make up sponge and again the distress inks (see the picture for colours), picking up small amounts of ink at a time and dabbing onto the paper. The bird table was masked, so it could be watercoloured  after.

 

Thanks for taking a look.

D is for Dad - an Embossing Challenge

Hi Stamp n Doodle challenge time again, this week we ask that a form of embossing is used on your creation.  Of course, we would love to see you use a STAMP-N-DOODLE image on your creation, but you are not required to use one to join us. Come have some fun and a chance to win a digi from STAMP-N-DOODLE SHOP.

This week I am getting ready for holiday, can't wait we are jetting of to Spain for the first week of the Easter holiday and soak up some that elusive sun. Also can you believe we are having a couple of days skiing too - in Southern Spain! Seems mad doesn't it, but apparently the slopes of Granada, Sierra Nevada are worth a visit. I'm a novice myself, so I'm sure I'll have stories to tell on my return.

 

So here is my card for this weeks challenge, made very late last night while I was up with my little boy who was coughing all through the night. Of course hearing a toddler cough in bed means that you can't sleep yourself until they quieten down, unfortunatly last night he only had about 2 hours rest. It was the perfect time to create, strange I really get emersed in crafting at that late hour.

I pleased to say that tonight, he is tucked into bed and I havn't heard a peep from him, the doctor prescribed something that has obviously done the trick - phew

Card Recipe

Stamp-n-Doodle image - Lonesome cowboy

Art Nouveau Cricut cartridge - pg 44 cut the letter D (font 2) & all associated layers at 5.5"

Decorative papers - My Minds Eye, Complete Boy collection by Jen Wilson

& Core-dinations whitewash (sand colour)

Promarkers - black, warm grey 4, cinnamon, sandstone, Gold, blush, powder blue, ruby

Hero arts alphabet stamps & gold embossing powder

Scrappers floss (tawny)

The image was coloured with promarkers , but to give the clothes of the cowboy that old worn in look the whole image was first coloured in with the sandstone colour (warm grey for the shirt). The shading and extra colours were then added on top and the vibrancy of the colours were muted. I was pleased with the outcome, the more I use Lynnes digi stamps and promarkers to colour them, the more confident I am becoming and getting reasonable results (i think anyway).

I did cut away all the white paper from the image and this has allowed it to blend and bee part of the card, i think giving the illusion he is sitting within the D itself. Also if you look closely i have used a length of scrapping floss, coiled and stuck it over the rope that is being held - adds some dimension to the otherwise flat image.

I have used D, but of course it could have been anything, and would be ideal to personalise with the initial of the recipient.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and have a look.

Bye,

'Birdie Wishes'

Just a quick post from me tonight, its a bit late!
I have made this card and dug out products and stamps that havn't seen the light of dau for quite a while, and I am really enjoying re-visiting all the stash Iwas so excited to buy at the time.

The bird is from a collection of clear Inkadinkadoo birds, that are just so decorative. It was stamped in versamark clear ink and coloured with Rangers perfect pearls, a pigment coloured mica powder, that has an amazing sheen when tilted in the light. unfortunatly i could capture that in the photo.

I have also made this card using the latest sketch (#98) from the challenge blog Sunday Sketch and Stamp. I'm finding it a great way to to make a card, as alot of the time I usually take making decisions of the look of the card, can now be spent concentrating on the stamped image and embellishments.

Thanks for taking a look.

Challenge Circles - Happy Birthday Rosette

Tuesday is here again and time for another Stamp-n-Doodle challenge.

This week we are challenging you to use circles or ovals on your creation, what will you be able to come up with I wonder.

Of course, we would love to see you use a STAMP-N-DOODLE image on your creation, but you are not required to use one to join us. Come have some fun and a chance to win a digi from STAMP-N-DOODLE SHOP!

 I look forward to see what you post over on the Stamp -n-Doodle challenge blog.

I am really enjoying being on this design team, not only do I get a chance to use use some lovely images, but it is giving me a chance to actually get making again. I thought that while my husband was working away for a couple of weeks at a time I would have more time to create. Its not quite worked out that way, and I always seem to find I get caught up with giving priority to other jobs, and of course being a Mum.

Talking of which the inspiration for this card today, is the state of my 10 year olds' school books!! When he pulls them out for homework each night, I see them get progressively more dog-earred and graffitti'd as the year goes on. being I bit of a stickler more keeping papers and books neat and tidy, I really have to bite my tongue and not nag too much about keeping them tidy. It would fall on deaf ears !!!

As a celebration of the scruffy books, i too have created a neatly dog earred card  hehe........ hope you like it.

Card Recipe

Nice Kitty image from the Stamp-n-Doodle shop

Cricut Imagine cartridge - Notebook doodles (all paper on card)

Cricut Cartridge Ribbons & Rosettes - 6x stamp2 (p56) sections cut at 2"

promarkers

button & bakers twine from stash

Kaisercraft bubblewrap & grid clear stamps

various clear doodle stamps from stash

Black soot distress ink

Card Candy 8x8" card blank

Method

1) For the rosette, the way they are made using the cricut cartridge, is to cut sections a couple of inches long, in the desired height (remember the finished diameter of the rosette is twice the height of each section), and stick them all together forming a long chain.

The chain for this rosette ended up 3" high, 24" long.

2) Concertina fold all the way along the 24"  at the pre scored markers (to do yourself score along the strip at 1 or 1.5 cm intervals). Adhere the 2 ends together (ensuring the concertine continues) to form a ring.

3) Prepare a 2" diameter circle of cardstock with a generous 'dollop' of your tried and tested glue.  Push the centre of the concertina'd ring don onto the circle of card, and put a heavy weight on top  - and applly some patience while the glue dries. hehe, honeslty you really must be patient because the rosette will not be usable until glue has dried completely.

4) The image was printed then coloured with promarkers, and matted and latered onto co-ordinating coloured circle mats. Glue on top of rosette with a strong glue.

5) The rossette was placed onto the card and the backing paper was stamped with various doodle stamps using black soot distress ink. The distressed tearing of the backing paper was dampened slightly to allow the paper to soften and therefore be rolled and to stay in position.





Hope you have enjoyed this post, thank you for taking the time to look.



Mothers Day

Hi, I wanted to share the card I made for Mum this year for Mothers Day. I wanted to try something a bit different, and have had a couple of products sitting in my room that I havn't had a chance to play with since christmas, until now.

one of those was the cricut cartridge Art Nouveau, and also the Tim Holtz grunge paper. here you can see I have combined the two and created the dimensional swan.

If you don't know already, grunge paper is a grey flexible fibrous paper of a substantial thickness (2-3mm), but will very readily take any type of colour application, embossing, cutting, distressing etc.

The more I played with it, the more I wanted to do....so can't wait until my next project with it.

Card Recipe

6x6" card blank

Cricut Cartridge Art Nouveau - swan cut at 3"

Tim Holtz grunge paper

Tim Holtz Idealogy, lost & found paper pack

Distress Stains - chipped sapphire, dusty concord, victorian velvet, antique linen, picket fence

Tim Holtz tissue tape

Tim Holtz acrylic fragment 2" square

Stampers anonymous wallpaper cling stamp

Tim Holtz dusty concord distress embossing powder

Bo bunny metal slider

Scrappers Floss, Lace, gems, embossing folder, metallic rub-ons all from stash

Here you can see how I laced the scrappers floss to attach it to the lace and tie the bow. I doubled up the floss, to give a more substantial bow detail 

 

 You can see the dimension in the swan, with the wing being made up with four layers, before sitting on the body, providing the fifth layer. I have tried to capture from a couple of angles in the photos that the wing layers (feathers) are fanned. All layers reach across and sit under the small top layer (linen colour), and it was here that I glued each together, allowing the movement at the back of the swan.

 

This is the base of the card, taken from the ideology stack (6x6") section. Two strips of the tissue tape placed up the side and then run through the cuttlebug. it wasn't possible because of the size of the paper and cuttlebug aperture, to emboss the whole sheet, so the top third of the paper was stamped with the antique wallpaper stamp and then embossed with dusty concord embossing powder. The advantage being the special release particles within the powder allowing some of it to be rubbed away (without compromising the image), adding to the distress look. i was really pleased with the outcome. And the colours were gorgeous together.

  I was quite chuffed with how it turned out, and can't wait to use the grunge paper again, i think it can be put to use in many many ways.

Best go to bed now, its time to get some sleep.
Night night,

Sunday Sketch Challenge

I made this card using this weeks sketch from the Sunday Sketch and Stamp challenge blog. It was a perfect excuse (as if I needed one !) to use the papers from DCWV, that I 'just needed to have' when I saw them sitting in the craft shop, waiting to go home with someone (hehe, me!!:-)

I paper pieced the little hat and dress to match, the floral paper to one of the backing strips, reminds me of the cute little pinafores girls wear for school.

Card Recipe

Card base - 12x12" scalloped card cut down to 6x12"

DCWV patterned card stock - Linen Closet stack

SWALK stamp -Sunshine

Watercolour pencils

Prima flower and button

Blue organza ribbon

Cricut cartridge - Cindy Loo (tree altered to fit card with gypsy)

Thank you for taking a look.

Challenges entered
Sunday, Sketch & Stamp - Challenge #97 Marie's sketch and DT call
Sugar Creek Hollow - #3 Layers

Paradise Beach

This weeks challenge at Stamp n Doodle is ST. PATRICK'S DAY and/or GREEN and GOLD, you can use the theme, colours or both on your creation.

My Blog Hop Winner from last week was:

JOAN

who kindly participated in the hop and left comments on the blogs of all our DT members,
thank you also to everyone who played along, and left their fabulous cards on the Stamp n Doodle challenge blog.

If you would like to email me Joan at claire@cnewcombe.co.uk,  I can arrange for the digi image I used in the hop to be sent to you,

WELL DONE

 



I chose to go with using the colours this week and used the idyllic Paradise Exotic beach image from Stamp n Doodle shop

......ahhh, who wouldn't want to be walking along that beach watching the sunset ?

I wanted to keep the card simple so that the image can be the focal point.

Card Recipe

Base card - lime green 8x8" scalloped card by papermania

Basic Grey, Origins collection (sea salt)  patterned paper

Basic Grey co-ordinating stickers

Gold card stock

4 gold brads

Laser suitable acetate

Ranger Alcohol Inks - Citrus, Aqua, Watermelon, gold mixative

1) I printed the image at true size (5x4") onto laser acetate.

2) Onto a piece of smooth card (5x4") I used the alcohol inks to create the mood of the sunset beach colours, and my aim was to coincide a strip of blue and the red with the level of the sea. Instead of randomly dabbing the colours, I swiped them from left to right, flowing with the horizon.  By changing the colours and pattern of the inks, the mood of the image can really be altered.

3) I mounted the acetate, alcohol ink layer, and the gold card mat all together with 4 gold brads.

4) I cut the patterned paper from 12x12", to 8x8", according the orientation of the pattern. y placing the mounted image on the paper, it was covering some of the lovely flowing pattern - and as I am very fond of all the backing paper I have (something I'm sure you'll understand) the solution was to use a craft knife, cut around the essential parts of the pattern, and have them layer over the main image (a bit like a photo corner if you will).

5) The text was mounted firstly onto the same basic paper, then mounted again onto the reverse of the same sheet and gently nestled under the image.

6) The flourish in the top corner, and the flower next to the text are from the stickers sheet accompanying the paper collection (Basic grey, origins).

I hope this has given you some inspiration and confidence in using this type of digi image. The solid blackness can be a little intimidating - but honestly it really needn't be. Experiment and don't be frightened to use colour, or something a bit different.

Have fun with it.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and have a read.

The Leibster Blog Award

I am honoured to say that I have been awarded the Liebster Blog Award. I was chosen by Vee Cassidy and Anne Marie both of whom are regular visitors and offer support with the comments they leave. Thank you.

The purpose of the award is that each recipient has a small blog (less than 200 followers). Then in turn nominates five other recipients each of whom has a blog with less than 200 followers. Leibster is from the German and means "dearest" and the award is passed to people who have inspired and motivated me. It is hard to chose only five recipients as many of the people on Crafty Bloggers Network have done that.

However, my list is here and I want to thank each of you as you have inspired and motivated me with your work , and by adding to the supportiveness of the Network Thank you.

Donna    http://smileycrafter.blogspot.com
Judie      http://judie-ijustloveartymess.blogspot.com/
Bhwana http://ilovecreativity-bhawana.blogspot.com
Blanche http://sha-shajewelry.blogspot.com
Hussena http://quillandpunchworks.blogspot.com

Child Friendly Challenge & Blog Hop

Hello everyone! This week we are having a BLOG HOP to introduce our new STAMP-N-DOODLE DT members as well as for you to get to see our updated STAMP-N-DOODLE SHOP. We hope you will come hop along with us and we also hope you will play along in our NEW CHALLENGE!!

For the hop, you will follow the path to each DT member's blog, make sure you leave a comment on each and every blog in order to qualify for the prizes - each DT member will award a prize and there will be a GRAND PRIZE winner drawn from the challenge blog in addition to the challenge winner.

Our theme for the CHALLENGE is KIDS - can be images of kids, something for a kid, sentiment about kids - as long as it's something about kids, you can enter our challenge. You have until Monday, March 12 at 11:59pm EST to complete the hop and to get your challenge entries in to STAMP-N-DOODLE blog. We'd love to see you use an image from our STAMP-N-DOODLE SHOP, but it is not required to play along.

I really loved the image the image of the wolf that Lynne has on her website, and it can be interpreted in many ways. So this week I decided to use 3 of the images on a card, and take inspiration from the wolfs nature itself, being a loyal pack animal, and making a card that young children (probably girls) can send to their best friends.

Card Recipe

Stamp n Doodle digital image - Daydreamer

Backing card - 12x12" scalloped cream card, cut to form 6x8" folded base

Blue ribbon from stash

backing papers magazine freebie from stash (also used to make flower)

3D butterfly sticker from stash

1) The backing papers are edged along one side with a Martha stewart punch, edged with a light beige brilliance ink to highlight. The papers are layered together with the ribbon and attached to the base card.

2)  The flower corsage is comprised of pre printed hearts and 3 prima flower layers. The centre of the flower is made by fringing a 6x1" strip of paper, and rolling tightly (as you would a quilled strip). The roll is secured in the the last inch with double sided tape. Fan out the cut sections to look like a flower.

3) Layer up the 4 components of the flower and use a hot glue gun to secure each layer.

4) Finish the corsage with a sentiment of your choice and a 3D acetate butterfly.

5) The digital image was printed 3 times at a size of 1.25" square. Before cutting the digi images to size centre a 1.25" die cut frame over the image and cut around the frame.

6) Assemble the card with the digi images all on the same line at the bottom right of the card. To balance, place the flowers/heart corsage in the opposite corner, but still within the backing paper area to balance the elements of the card.

So, I bet you're ready to start hopping?!? Your first stop is STAMP-N-DOODLE blog, if at any time you get lost along the way, please return here to find your way back on track.

Your stops will then be as follows: You're next step after me (Claire) is VICKIE

ANNE-MARIE

BETH

CHANA

CLAIRE 

VICKIE

WENDY

AUDREY
LISA

Your final stop will be STAMP-N-DOODLE SHOP - you do not need to leave a comment at the shop. Have fun and hope you will also come play in the challenge!!

Irish Dancer

Can you believe it, the end of February is here, and that marks another stamp to be highlighted for the month over at Stamp n Doodle.
Being the month of March not only brings us St Davids day (on the 1st), but St Patricks Day on the 17th also, and therefore the Stamp of the Month is called Teagan's Irish Dance.

I went with the Irish colours for this card, and used the paper piecing technique to bring the image to life.

Card Recipe

Basic Grey card stock for base card (gypsy used to weld 2 x  Dots1-s 5 1/2 inch square)

white card stock (Dots1, page 34 cut at 5 /14 inch)

Patterned papers - free in magazine from stash

Promarkers

Cuttlebug & embossing folder

cricut Cartridge - Elegant Edges ( Dots1 cut on page 34 & Hearts1 oblong-s on page 26)

Gypsy

 You can see here, that I printed the image onto patterned paper, cut out the various sections of the dress (bottom stripy layer, and dotty pinafore), and also the chequered dog! LOL! (who knew a chequered dog would look so acceptable :-))

To complete the look the hat and shoes were also added from the stripy paper, and the rest of the image coloured with skin shades of promarkers.

In the colour palette above I you can see a ribbon, but as we all do, I changed my mind and wanted to complete the card with a slightly different look, and for some reason I had bubbles in mind -so I cut from the patterned paper circles in 3 sizes and layered them together. I even fashioned an appropriate clover shape to include as well !

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my 'makings' with me.