Early bird

Miri is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week: it's the early bird that catches the worm! She'd like to see birds, worms, sunrises - anything to do with the saying.

Lost Coast Designs are currently asking us to "tweet this" so I'm linking up there too.

I thought I was going to have to miss the DCM challenge this week but I managed to make a super-fast one layer card with a stamp that does a lot of the heavy lifting to make a dramatic impact with very little effort. A little stencilling for a background, a few sequins and a simple stamped sentiment and call it done.

Stamps:
Spring bird (Bloom Art Stamps)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine
Tim Holtz

Other:
Rays stencil (Visible Image)
Sequins
Corner Chomper

 

 

Spring postcards

I made more postcards to send to my dad and brother  - the first ones are here if you’d like a peep - inspired by thoughts of spring. In Covid-19 related news for the week was that more people are hearing birdsong as the world goes quiet in other ways so a bird seemed like a good way to go.

This handsome stamp and a pale blue evoked a spring vibe, I thought - he is called “spring bird” after all! We have both thrushes and blackbirds busy in the garden at the moment finding nesting materials.

I masked the bird's body before stencilling the background so those lovely woodcut-style lines stayed white and crisp.

The theme of the current Lost Coast Designs challenge is spring - all the challenge details are here and this time around I’m taking advantage of the fact you don’t have to use Lost Coast or Carmen’s Veranda stamps to play along, all rubber or clear stamping is welcome! If you’re tempted to break out some spring time images or colours why not play along too?

Stamps:
Spring Bird (Bloom Arts Stamps - store is now on Etsy)
Sentiment from Wildflowers (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)
On the Desk (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and healthy.

Midsummer!

As it’s the longest day today for those of us in the northern hemisphere, Nat’s challenge for us over at Daring Cardmakers this week is to celebrate summer, bonus brownie points for inspiration from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

As it was one of the very first Shakespeare plays I saw on stage (although strictly speaking it wasn’t on stage - it was a promenade performance in a park) I decided to go that way. Titania says this to Bottom after he has been transformed and she enchanted - Bottom really isn’t very bright and since he’s sporting a donkey’s head at this point he’s not terribly handsome either. If you ignore the original context though, it just sounds like a nice thing to say to somebody!

I had a go at some lettering to make a feature of the quote (Act 3, Scene 1 if you were wondering!). I looked at lots of fonts online, sketched the large words and filled in with a pen. It's a bit wibbly but it's OK for a first attempt! The smaller words I printed out, transferred onto the card with the trusty old "scribble on the back with a pencil" method and went over with a pen so they still have a handrawn quality. I could be happier with the line spacing too but you live and learn!

I’m also playing along at Retro Rubber who currently have an “anything goes” theme - just use stamps that are older than a year.

Stamps:
T’wit T’woo by Indigo Blu (approx 2015)
Flowers from Bird Paradise by Bloom Art Stamps (2016)
Shakespear's name from Wild Flower by Crafty Secrets (approx 2009)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Latte)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pnecils
Fineline marker
Gold gel pen

Thanks for stopping by! We'd love to have you play along at DCM!

Link in the chain - February

It's time for the reveal of the Card Chain Challenge for February! As usual we had lots of options to play with - I chose the theme of birds and the colours (honey, raspberry,  strawberry). My card has gone to Gail who does a fabulous job each month as part of the team who keep us all organised!

I inked up my circular Gel Press Petite rather like a big stamp (I will get round to using it some other way soon!) and then sponged extra ink over the impression to blend a bit more. I thought the colour combination was quite reminiscent of a sunset.

I added tiny speckles and "twinkles" in faint colour by stamping off on scrap first.

Stamps:
Spring Bird (Bloom Art Stamps)
Believe in Unicorns (Visible Image)

Paper:
Bristol board:

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Wild Honey, Picked Raspberry)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Watermelon)

Other:
Gel Press Petities
Charcoal pencil
Black fineliner
Hello die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)
Pinflair gel glue

There are a still a few days to sign up if you'd like to be a link in the next chain - make and send one card to the person "up chain", receive a card from the next link!

Paper roses, paaa-per roses....

Sorry, since seeing Dawn’s challenge for Daring Cardmakers this week I’ve been singing the Osmonds in my head! The challenge is not limited to roses though, Dawn would like to see hand made paper flowers of any kind on our projects - you could use dies, punches, freehand shapes, roll them, sculpt them... just make a paper flower, however it takes your fancy!

I opted for a crepe paper number made with circles - alarmingly the first one I made was back in 2010 using this video tutorial. I ran a pale pink Copic marker round the petal edges for extra definition and then used various bits that were lying around on my desk (background, bird, clock) to make a sort of collage feel card. I didn’t include a sentiment so it’s an all-purpose card.

Stamps:
Bird from Spring Bird and foliage from Bird Paradise (Bloom Art Stamps)
Clock from Time To Stamp (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bamboo mixed media paper by Hannemuhl
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Olive Grove)
Tim Holtx Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Juniper reinker)

Other:
Black fine line marker
Pinflair glue gel

For the flower:
Heavyweight crepe paper 
Spellbinder circle dies (large and small used here - the two smallest dies from the large set and the "in between" one from the small set)
Copic marker
Elmers glue 
Glamour Dust Crystal glitter 
Velvet brad 

Thanks for stopping by, we’d love to see your flower creations if you have time to join us!

Blue skies

It's Friday so it must be Daring Cardmakers day - Nat is setting our challenge this week and she'd like to see us being inspired by the colour blue. We finally seem to have some blue skies so perhaps those will inspire!

This is not the card I set out to make - that one ended up in the circular file in the craft room. This clean and simple affair makes use of a scrap of background from another project and an elegant silhouette of spring blossom.

The background piece is just reinkers dribbled onto wet watercolour paper with a bit of white acrylic paint sponged through circles once dry for a sort of bokeh effect.

Stamps:
Spring Bird by Bloom Art Stamps
Say It All by Hero Arts (retired)

Paper:
Bristol board
Watercolour

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Various Distress reinkers

Other:
White acrylic paint
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely weekend!

Watch the birdie

Shabneez has set the challenge for us today over at Daring Cardmakers - she'd like to see some birds on our projects. It could be the focal point or an embellishment, a stamp or a die cut, anything birdie goes!

I love the woodcut style of this stamped image. I did have plans to use some of the other elements from the set (flowers and foliage) but in the end he just refused to share the limelight and insisted on flying solo!

I dripped inks in colours I hoped would evoke spring and stamped the bird once the ink was dry. I really wanted the etched lines of the image to show well (the intensity of the inks obscured them a bit) but I didn't fancy cutting out his legs! My usual solution is to stamp again on matching paper, cut out the main part of the image and stick over the top of the original stamping.

After adding some dots with a pearl pen I decided I'd like the ones on the blue ink to blend in a bit so once they’d hardened I painted over with Precious Metal paint. I’ve had my little pot of the stuff at least eight years and it’s probably a good six of those since it was last open but it’s still totally usable - hooray!

Stamps:
Spring Bird by Bloom Art Stamps
Sentiment from an old Hot Off The Press set

Paper:
Watercolour

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Time Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean reinkers)

Other:
Misti (invaluable for a solid image on textured paper!)
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Precious Metal paint by Viva Decor (Blue Azure)
Fineline marker

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace on earth

I love to watch the birds that come to the feeder and shrubs outside my window - this handsome chap would be a very welcome visitor!

This is my first project with this lovely bird stamp, I think the woodcut style of the illustration is just gorgeous. Bloom Art Stamps has just moved its store to Etsy which should make things easier for international shoppers, too!


Because this kraft card has quite a bit of texture, I stamped with the MISTI so I could make sure I got good coverage in the more solid areas of the stamp. I added just a touch of white pen to the markings on his head, wings and tail.
I cut tiny slits each side of his body so I could thread the die cut branch through to give him a wintery perch. Nail art gems provide berries for him to feast on and a "hidden" die cut sentiment adds to the overall calm feel, I think. I went over the stamped snowflakes with a Wink of Stella pen to give them subtle sparkle which is just about visible on the photo but looks lovely in real life!

Stamps:
Bird Paradise by Bloom Art Stamps
Grunge Flakes by Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous
Peace Stamp & Cut by Hero Arts

Paper:
Kraft
Scrap of dark brown for branch

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Branch die by Craft Emotions
Nail art gems
Wink of Stella pen (clear)
White Posca paint pen
Fine line brown marker
Glossy Accents by Ranger
MISTI

I'm afraid I failed with this week's DCM challenge - do check it out though, it's another in the Christmas countdown so a chance to get ahead with those festive projects!

Thanks for stopping by!