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.

Moonlit Lioness

This weeks sees a new challenge over at Stamp n Doodle, where we ask you to include an embossed element on your creation. That could include heat embossing or dry embossing, and you are not limited where you use and include it (just as long as it is somewhere).

 I couldn't resist using this gorgeous digi stamp and creating a beautiful moonlit scene, with distress inks and stamps that I have in my stash.

Card Recipe

Stamp n Doodle digi stamp - Love is in the air

Silver Birch Trees, leaves and verse - Clarity Stamps

Base card - Tim Holtz core'dinations paper (adirondack)

White coated paper

black card stock

black self adhesive ribbon

Distress Inks (black soot, chipped sapphire, crushed olive)

Promarkers (sandstone, dusky pink, satin, primrose)

Silver embossing powder

Cuttlebug and embossing folder

You can see above what I used to create the card. To create the background, I printed the lions onto a coated paper, stamped and embossed the silver birch trees beside the lions. The same images were then printed onto sticky notes and cut out, to act as masks (you can see above the well used masks that are somewhat inky!)

By placing the masks over the images on the coated paper, also adding an additional 2" mask above the lions head that will create the moon.

 I inked up the brayer (roller) with the chipped sapphire ink, and starting in the corner over the moon, covered the paper working towards the bottom where the blue faded.

I then inked the brayer with black soot, and repeated the process from the opposite corner (by the trees) and worked upwards. The contours of the black were created by ripping copy paper into a hill formation, covering the blue sky, so that the colours are not mixed.

I continued inking until i was happy with the intensity of the colour.

When the masks are removed the image comes to life, and the lions then coloured with promarkers.

The second embossed element on the card is the base card. Because of the nature of the core'dinations paper, the embossing is sanded back and a subtle second colour is showing through.

Thanks for stopping by. Why not hop over to the Stamp n Doodle blog to get more inspiration from the wonderful creations of my team members, and maybe join in with the challenge too.

Challenges entered this week

Emmas craft challenge - Shades of blue

The start of Christmas

Although it has been a while since I posted last, I have still been creating. As well as the items I am sharing with you now, I have busy sewing and making curtains and blinds for the last remaining windows downstairs that were not dressed. As my eldest son put it 'we are now boarded in'! and it is lovely and cosy now to be able to shut and draw the curtains and blinds against these cold dark wintery evenings. As I chat with you now, the hail is coming down again for the umpteenth time today!

I wanted to start the countdown to Christmas with some special advent calenders, as gifts for my Niece Elena and the children of a friend.
I bought the advent calender kits from Kaisercraft, and decorated them with Basic Grey Nordic Holiday paper, Kaisercrafts Silly Season paper and My Mind Eye traditional christmas paper.
Each kit started out flat packed like this,

Using the Basic grey paper I created this fresh looking calender for Elena,

For my friends children I created a vintage looking calender with the MME paper, and then with the Kaisercraft paper proper traditional colours. I left them to choose who wanted which as they were both suitable for a boy and a girl.

I tried to make the central collage as dimensional as possible, and for the MME and Kaisercraft calenders I used the cricut Imagine to cut out the elements.

As a finishing touch before sending them on their way, I added a little festive chocolate to each of the drawers as a small treat and aide the passing of the days towards christmas.

I think they were all well received as a welcome surprise in the post. Next year I will make 2 more for my own boys, who this year were treated to Lego Star Wars calenders each (now I have even more Lego laying around on the floor and being sucked up in the hoover!)



 Thank you for taking the time to look.

Brayered Birthday Card

Hi, although I have not posted in a fair while, I have still been making. Now that I am getting the school routine running well, I am planning to post again on a much more regular basis - and I have a lot to share with you.
This card is for an Aunt of mine who has never forgotten my birthday, and my family's in years. This year she is celebrating a special birthday.
I have brayered the background with Tim Holtz distress inks and over stamped with some new tree and foliage stamps from Clarity Stamps.