Harvest Home

Another Friday, another challenge from Daring Cardmakers. Shabneez is setting this week's theme and she'd like to see fruit, vegetables or grain on our projects as it's harvest time.

I'm easing myself back in to crafting after a couple of weeks' holiday. I'm never quite satisfied with the first thing I make after a break from my crafty stash but doing a bit of colouring was relaxing so I'll just settle for "hmm, that's OK".

I've combined digi and rubber here and pulled out the kraft cardstock for a rustic base with a bit of scuffing, tearing and wonky piercing done with a tracing wheel.

The kraft means it fits this month's challenge at Power Poppy, too.

Stamps:
Fall Haul digi by Power Poppy
Vintage Flourish by Indigo Blu
Sentiment from old CHF set

Paper: kraft

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tea Dye)

Other:
Coloured pencils (Prisma and Coloursoft)
White Posca pen
Tracing wheel 

Many faith and community groups use their harvest collections these days to boost their local food bank - do consider dropping something off if you possibly can, it will be hugely appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by!

April: showers and flowers!

Kathy is setting our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers today and she'd like us to celebrate the season by breaking out the spring flowers!

Hellebores are one of the earliest spring flowers and are probably about over by now but I've been eyeing up this image for ages and decided this challenge gave me a good reason to just go ahead and get it! I'm not much of a digital fan in general, I like my crafting to be time away from the computer but every now and again I give in to a lovely image! Since I just printed and then took it to my craft table it didn't feel much different to stamping and colouring in any case.

I printed on kraft and accidentally ended up doing "no line colouring" because the toner didn't fuse properly on the cardstock and mostly rubbed off as I worked. I'd done a test print card on ordinary paper first so I had a strong line image to refer to, though.

I decided to do a super-simple one layer card and just let the image speak for itself.

Supplies:
Hellebores digital stamp by Power Poppy
Sentiment from Big Day Today stamp set (Waltingmouse stamps, no longer with us)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Kraft cardstock
Coloured pencils
Corner Chomper

Have a lovely Easter weekend!

Pretty Peony

My usual fallback position for a feminine card when I'm feeling at a loss for inspiration is a big flower! Sadly this peony seems to have fallen off the catalogue at Paperbabe but there are others around that would make an equally bold and pretty statement.

I stamped the image twice, once in grey for the leaf layer and again in pink for the flower, coloured them separately, cut the flower out and stuck it on with glue gel for a bit of dimension. I used a combination of Copic base layer colouring and pencil detailing with gold gel pen and fineline marker in the centre.

The card base had a central square masked off and sponged, with just a tiny bit of subtle stenciling up the right hand side for interest. A simple sentiment and a few iridescent sequins finish it off.


Stamps: 
Peony and Bud by Paperbabe Stamps (retired, I think)
Say It All by Hero Arts

Paper: Smooth white

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Picked  Raspberry and Tumbled Glass)

Shadow ink by Hero Arts (Soft Granite)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Cressida Stencil by Memory Box
Copic Markers
Gold gel pen
Fineline marker
Coloursoft and Prismacolor pencils
Pinflair glue gel
Sequins

Thanks for stopping by!

Floral inspiration

Inspiration is everywhere but not always when you want it!

We have free rein for the postcard swap on UKStampers this month and I always find that the hardest challenge of all as I don't have a starting point! So I chose a challenge to give me a kick start - Indigo Blu are on their third monthly challenge and the theme is Flowers (details here).

This lovely Anemone Corner stamp has rarely seen ink so I thought I'd give it an outing. The word Inspire and the script I used to give the background a bit of interest are both from the Sarah's Choice set. Colouring with waxy pencils means there's a resist effect when you stamp with dye ink (as I did with the script stamp) which saves a masking job!

I finished with a tracing wheel and faux stitching on the white layer. As ever, the cards go through the post as genuine postcards with no envelope for protection so steering clear of embellies is a good idea!

Stamps:
Anemone Corner (Indigo Blu)
Sarah's Choice (Indigo Blu)

Paper: smooth white and black

Ink: 
Onyx Black (Versafine by Tsukineko)
Antique Linen (Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger)

Other:
Prismacolor pencils, Sansodor and blending stump
Tracing wheel
Fineliner

Thanks for stopping by! Why not come and join us in the postcard swap if you fancy some handcrafted happy mail?

Floral gift tag

Here's another guest project for the Chocolate Baroque Design Team blog.

While I had the Copic and Prismacolor pencils out to color the image on the seed packet I shared last week {here if you didn't see it and would like to}, I also coloured the floral spray from the Fragrant Honeysuckle set and turned it into a pretty tag. I think this would be a lovely addition to a gift of a bunch of flowers - perhaps for Mothers Day?

I stamped and cut out with a Beaded Oval Nestability die and then carefully cut the beads off, cutting round the flower head and leaves that extended beyond the basic oval shape. I coloured the image with Copics and Prismacolor pencils and then sponged ink round the edge. I stuck the coloured piece onto a second beaded oval die cut and finished with a simple ribbon at the top.

I used a Copic marker to colour white silk ribbon on this and the seed packet project - it's a great way to get a match for the colours in your image.

Stamps:
Fragrant Honeysuckle (Chocolate Baroque)

Paper:
Cryogen White

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
Jenni Bowlin ink by Ranger (Soap Powder)

Other:
Copic markers
Prismacolor pencils
Beaded Ovals Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Silk ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today!

New nest!

I needed a quick new home card last week - this is what I came up with. The kraft card base came from a huge rigid envelope that was supplied with the calendar we got for our kitchen this year. Obviously we weren't sending it anywhere so I chopped up the envelope for crafting :o) I love coloured pencils on kraft cardstock and I thought it would give a nice look to the eggs in this nest - a quick and simple card, appropriate for a spring move of house! It's a small one layer card (10.5cm square) with just a touch more interest added by embossing a frame for the image with a Nestie. Stamps: Nest and sentiment both CHF (retired) Paper: Kraft Ink: Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso) Other: Prismacolor pencils Nestabilites by Spellbinder (Large Square) Thanks for stopping by, hope you're all having a lovely Easter weekend!

Yellow Rose

I'm combining challenges again today. I hadn't come across the Copic Creations blog before but saw it in a post Sandy made on the Crafty Secrets blog because they are sponsoring this week's challenge. I decided to pair up their challenge to use your favourite Copic technique with the Crafty Secrets member company forum challenge at Splitcoast Stampers this week where Darlene has asked us to use yellow.

I don't really have a single favourite technique so I settled on doing something I haven't done for a while and gives an effect I love - combining Copics with coloured pencils. You get speed and vibrancy from the Copics and then control and depth by adding extra detail with pencils.

I've use the large stamp from the Crafty Secrets Rose set ( this is a 5" square card so you can see it's a good sized image) and added the little wording stamp which has the English and Latin names.

I think yellow roses symbolise friendship so this would be a nice card to send to a special friend for just about any occasion.

Stamps:
Rose set (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets)

Paper:
Smooth white
Radiant paper pad (Heartwarming Vintage by Crafty Secrets)

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Prismacolor pencils
Sewing machine and thread
Silk ribbon
Pearls

Thanks for stopping by!

ATC 2

Two ATCs with two ATC sets - I can't figure out if that's squared or quadrupled!

There are two new releases coming in the All Things Considered line that definitely have the smell of autumn about them! I have two ATC projects to share with you today, one from each set.
This is a fast and easy ATC made with the Fall Harvest set. The handwritten bill of sale is perfectly sized to matt onto an ATC-sized piece. All I did was overstamp the crow in the corn and add tiny touches of shading with a couple of Copics. I trimmed to leave the bird's tail "out of the box" for a bit of movement. Finally, I stamped the corn label on a separate piece, coloured it and stapled to the top. Super fast!

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Fall Harvest (All Things Considered line - releasing Tuesday Sept 1st)

Paper:
Simply Smooth Vanilla

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Copic Markers
Stapler

This second one is a little bit more involved but I had great fun making it! The tag is a "piece work" design with areas to record dates and quantities picked. I stamped two and then cut a slit in the gingham layer of the ATC so the second tag slips in there for safe keeping but is removable so you could write a secret message on the back for the recipient.

The apple advertisement is coloured with Prismacolor pencils on textured watercolour paper and lightly blended with OMS - it gives a lovely intense colour!

Stamps:
Can It (All Things Considered line - releasing Tuesday Sept 1st)
Fine Gingham backgrounder

Paper:
Kraft
Simply Smooth Vanilla
Watercolour
Dark brown from the covers of an old sketch pad

Ink:
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso and Lettuce)

Other:
Prismacolor Pencils/OMS/stump
Sewing machine and thread
Linen thread

There are more fab designs in each of these sets - I'll share a couple more projects tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by.

A cute cottage and some very exciting news!

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments about my Thomas Kinkade fisherman. I have another Kinkade to share with you today and some exciting news alongside it.

I think this image, Foxglove Cottage, has a lovely warm feeling to it and it would make a great card for someone special returning home from a trip or someone moving into a new place of their own. I blended the first layer of colour on this one with Sansodor to provide a soft base layer and then added shading and texture over the top with the same pencils. A little bit of Glossy Accents gives the windows and lamp a glassy sheen and a white pen adds highlights. I used a fine paint brush to transfer the white ink in places where I wanted very fine detail.

I made the sentiment panel by cutting a frame with two Nestability dies and colouring it with a Krylon pen. Once the Krylon had dried, I sponged black pigment ink over the top to 'antique' it a bit and I filled the centre of the plaque with Glossy Accents so that it looks a bit like a ceramic name plate.

So... the exciting news is that I submitted this card to the recent Design Team call at Cornish Heritage Farms and I heard earlier this week that I was one of three people picked to join the team *big grin*. I am absolutely thrilled to be joining a really talented bunch of stampers and I'm sure I'll be learning loads!

Stamps:
- Foxglove Cottage (Thomas Kinkade series at Cornish Heritage Farms)
- sentiment stamp (my own design)

Ink:
- Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)
- Versafine by Tsukineko (Vintage Sepia and Onyx Black)
- Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen)

Cardstock:
- Birchtone light and Birchtone medium by Prism Papers
- smooth white

Tools:
- Prismacolor and Lyra pencils (plus OMS and blending stumps)
- sewing machine & thread
- Classic oval Nestabilities
- fine paint brush

Accessories:
- brads
- Glossy Accents by Ranger
- Inkssentials white pen by Ranger
- Krylon leafing pen (copper)

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the card!

Gone fishin'?

Something a bit different from me today! Cornish Heritage Farms do several more detailed art lines including images by Thomas Kinkade (America's biggest selling living artist, apparently!). I got some images to play with and had great fun colouring! This one really makes you think about water and the fact that what you usually see when you look at it is not water itself, it's a version of everything above it! As ever, you can click on the pic for a closer view.



Sentiment is computer generated (Palace Script and New Century Schoolbook fonts) with a shadow added with a marker.

The little fly lure hanging from the hardware started life as an earring! Many, many years ago my aunt bought me a pair from a guy who'd obviously decided there was a lucrative jewellery sideline to his fly tying business! Sadly, I lost its partner a long time ago and my ear piercings healed so I can't wear earrings either. I decided to give this little fly a new purpose in life and add it to this card as it seemed perfect with this image!

Supplies: It Doesn't Get Much Better (Cornish Heritage Farms), Prism paper (Olive dark and medium), Adirondack ink (Espresso), Tim Holtz Distress ink (Antique Linen, Vintage photo), computer and printer, Prisma and Lyra pencils, OMS/blending stumps, Inkssentials white pen, antique copper hardware, Copic marker, sponge, old earring!

Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoy your day!

Think Pink!

I don't usually do pink. It's just one of those colours that's never really done it for me. But it's not really the colour in question here, it's breast cancer care. Over on the Bubbly Funk forum we're currently having weekly challenges leading up to a Cyber crop and a big Think Pink sale to raise funds for Breast Cancer Care - there's a Think Pink blog too, all the challenges will be there along with a gallery of completed projects.

Think Pink Blog

So although it's not geared to this week's challenge, I thought I'd add some pink in honour of the campaign when I made a card this morning (although all colours are welcome!). This card combines a Crafty Secrets Member company challenge (to use black in a vintage card) and a sketch challenge from Splitcoaststampers.

Supplies: Sew Special and Mini Memories (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets, Cheesecloth backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), Versafine Onyx Black, Clearsnap Fluid Chalk ink (Dark Peony, Rouge, Pink pastel, Creamy Brown), Cuttlebug Textile Texture folder, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, pinking shears, sewing machine and thread.

Why not check out the Think Pink blog to find out more about what it's all about?

Thanks for dropping by today, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Seaside diorama

I fancied having a go at a diorama card after seeing the tutorial at Splitcoaststampers and when my Seaside set arrived I thought it would make a perfect diorama subject! I remember those postcards you used to get where things appeared to move depending on how you held the card and thought the diorama had a bit the same effect!

Here's the card front on - it sort of loses the depth a bit but I wanted to get the whole sentiment on there as I think it's so sweet! The shells are on the card front, the little girl is on the middle layer and the sea and sentiment form the backdrop. I stamped the images so that they overlapped where the ovals would be cut and then used an oval template and a blade to cut the apertures, trimming round the images to leave them cutting into the space.

Here's another view, this shows the multi layers and the depth a bit better and lets you see that little flock of seagulls hoving in to view - hope they're not about to spoil her fun and dive bomb her sandcastles!

This kind of card just pushes sideways so that it flattens to go into an envelope - fun!

Supplies: Seaside stamp set (Crafty Secrets), Versafine Vintage Sepia, Adirondack (Cloudy Blue, Stonewashed, Denim), Tim Holtz Distress ink (Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Broken China), Nick Bantock ink (Charcoal Grey), Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, sponge, white gel pen

ETA a shout out for Dani of Four Creative Seasons - she has a fabulous eBay store and ships quickly and as cheaply as possible. She's my Crafty Secrets supplier of choice! Areas of California are suffering terrible fires at the moment and Dani is donating a portion of profits from the store to charities concerned with the fire fighting and relief effort. Why not check out the Four Creative Seasons store if you have some crafty pennies to spend?

Thanks for dropping by, hope the sun is shining on you today even if only metaphorically!

Pop-up book?

Darlene's challenge this week in the Crafty Secrets member forum at Splitcoaststampers is a great one! She's asked us to "check our calendars" and make a card for any occasion that's printed on there (so not all those birthdays and anniversaries etc you write in for yourself). As soon as I spied International Literacy Day on September 8th I knew I'd found my calendar occasion!

I love to read. I've always loved to read. I don't even remember learning to read and I was pretty fluent by the time I started school so it obviously didn't present too many difficulties for mini me! This little bookish chap is obviously having a fine old time in his imaginary world and I thought he'd be perfect on a surprise pop up card which was yesterday's technique challenge at Splitcoast (there's a tutorial here if you'd like to make a card in this style yourself).

I used a cheesecloth background stamp to make my card base a bit leathery looking like an old book binding and sponged the edges too for a more aged and handled appearance and added a border of machine stitching, again because it made me think of old style book binding techniques.

I made a little tassel at the top of the slider as I thought it looked a bit like a bookmark! I stamped the panel that's revealed when you pull on the slider with a handwriting style stamp in Antique Linen ink so that I can add a message without it being swamped by a strong pattern but there's still some interest there.

I thought I could turn this into a gift by tucking a book token in there so it slides out at the same time as the message is revealed (not sure if my American visitors have book tokens - in the UK we have a national scheme which means you can buy a token in almost any book shop and send it as a gift that can be spent in almost any other book shop).

Supplies: Story of Me and Journaling (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets), Cheesecloth backgrounder (CHF), Tim Holtz Distress ink (Fired Brick and Antique Linen), Versafine Vintage Sepia, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, sewing machine and thread, Brass and Cream Hardware stickers (Heartwarming Vintage/Crafty Secrets), Nestability Classic Circle (used as a guide with a scalpel), copper gel pen, old gold cord from stash, corner rounder.

Thanks for your visit today, hope you enjoyed it!

Welcome Baby!

I love the idea that all new babies have their name and birth recorded somewhere. I know in practice it's the boring old Registry Office but isn't it lovely to think that somewhere there's a cherub who has the job of writing it all down in a big old book? I thought this little guy from the Crafty Secrets Journaling set might be doing just that so I used him to make a card to welcome a new addition to the family.

The card base was scored on the diagonal to make a quilted effect and then I stamped the little sprig from the set to make the pattern in the centre of each quilt square. I used blue thread for my stitching but you could use an ivory or beige thread to make a 'neutral' card if you don't know whether you'll be welcoming a boy or a girl.

The silk ribbon is another of my adventures in natural dyes. Believe it or not, this one was beetroot (red beets for my American visitors). I was expecting red or at least pink but I gold this pretty dark ivory/champagne colour which is perfect with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink!

Supplies: Journaling set (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets), my own design sentiment stamps, Versafine (Vintage Sepia), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen), scoring board, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, Spica clear glitter pen, silk ribbon, sewing machine and thread, sponge.

Thanks for visiting today, much appreciated!

Memory Bird

Crafty Secrets is a member company at Splitcoaststampers (like a sponsorship deal, I guess) and as such, it has a member forum. There's a group of ladies in the forum who set up a weekly challenge a wee while ago with a new challenge each Tuesday. I'm usually a last-minute minnie and this is no exception (this is the last challenge, not this week's!). This also fit one of the challenges at Carolyn's to use new stuff.

Lori is hostessing the challenges on the Crafty Secrets member forum at the moment and for this one she offered a smorgasbord of inspiration and invited us to choose one or more elements from: old fashioned scrapbook style binding, stamping on ribbon, embossing (dry or heat) and bird/bug/animal images. I picked the lovely fat bird from Bird Notes and the scrapbook style binding and made this mini card:

It's the size of an ATC with a small margin added for the binding at the top edge. I thought it would be cute to add a photo or two inside and have it as a little handbag (that's purse for my American friends ;o) keepsake.

Colouring the bird with Prismacolor pencils gives enough of a 'resist' (as the leads are waxy) that the background stamping doesn't really take over that part of the card so you don't need to cut a mask.

Supplies: Bird Notes, Mini Memories and Story of Me (Clear Art Stamps by Crafty Secrets), Weathered Wood Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), Tim Holtz Distress inks (Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain), jute garden twine, vintage crochet trim, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump

This post is dedicated to Ms Keri Lee Sereika (of Pink Lemonade) as she says I'm not posting enough ;o) Being single Mom to three young kids while her DH is on deployment is obviously not keeping her busy enough - you take care Keri!

Thanks for stopping by today everyone, hope you enjoyed your visit.

Blog Candy Winner(s) and Come for Coffee

Thank you so much to everybody who left me their favourite dressing up memory for the Crafty Secrets blog candy, they were great fun whether I had images of you up a tree or covered in mini cereal packets! I asked Random to pick a number for me and it said...

The 15th eligible comment came from... TraceyR! Tracey was my only pop star wannabe with this memory:

I used to dress up with a towel on my head and a tennis
racket in my hand and sit at the top of the stairs and pretend
I was Mary Hopkins. "Those were the days my friends!" LOL

I can't remember why it had to be at the top of the stairs
maybe it was the stage. LOL

Congratulations Tracey, do let me know where to send your goodies and these booklets will be winging their way to you

I had so much fun reading your comments that I thought I'd do a bonus runner up prize, too. I will stamp a selection of Crafty Secrets images on smooth white cardstock that's great for all kinds of colouring media and send them to Random's next pick which was Number 6...

Kazza! Let me know where you are Kazza and I'll get your prize sorted out.

Thanks for joining in everyone!

Edited later in the day as I made a quick project for a Splitcoaststampers challenge to use inchies. I used just the one and made a quick invitation:


The inchie is made of reasonably heavy chipboard so it's easy to handle and I've added a magnet on the back so it can be used as a keepsake fridge or filing cabinet magnet.

Supplies: Tea and Coffee (Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps), Tim Holtz Distress inks (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain), piercer, nail art gems

Thanks for dropping by!

Ten Years Ago

This is a project that Sandy has featured on the Heartwarming Vintage blog but I thought I'd tell you a little bit more about it here since I have less to fit in to a post than she does!

We recently celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary and although we don't usually make a big thing of anniversaries, we thought we'd push the boat out a bit since it was a round number. We had a couple of days away in a nice hotel and I thought I'd make something a bit more 'special' than a regular card (as ever, you can click through for a closer view).



When Sandy sent me my lovely Guest Designer package, I looked at the Rosy Wishes set and thought "Eek, what am I going to do with that?" Guess which set I reached for when I sat down to make my first project? Yup, Rosy Wishes! I wanted to use a photograph of me on my wedding day (I joke that it's to remind DH how little I've changed in a decade - lol!) and the spray of roses stamp seemed like a perfect tie-in with my bouquet. I stamped it once and then inked up only the top part of it and stamped again to extend a little further up the side of the chipboard heart. As my bouquet was cream roses and ivy, I coloured the flowers with a cream Prismacolour pencil and just shaded a little with a light beige. I painted the ribbons with a gold pearlescent watercolour.

I sponged a couple of shades of green ink over the heart and then added marble 'veining' with a couple of gel pens. The photo was cut with a Nestability die and I made the mat for it by using the outer edge of the same die as a guide for a scalpel. Ivory silk ribbon provided a touch of luxury for the hanging loop and one of the small shapes from the Frame It set provided a delicate edging pattern.

I've never used cardstock stickers before and I have to say I was impressed. I wanted the holes where the ribbon is threaded through to look a bit more 'finished' so I chose a couple of eyelet stickers - so easy to handle and get properly placed and they're die-cut on the sheet so they're ready to just peel and go, there's no fiddling about trying to punch out holes in appropriate places or anything.

Supplies: Sweet Chips heart album and small die cut frame; Rosy Wishes, Sexy Little Numbers and Frame It Clear Art Stamps; Brass and Cream Hardware Stickers (Heartwarming Vintage); Tim Holtz Distress ink - Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint; Versafine Vintage Sepia; copper, gold and white gel pens; Nestability Classic Oval dies; 1" silk ribbon; Versamark and gold lustre powder; pearlescent watercolour; Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump

Thanks for your visit today, do let me know what you think if you have a moment to leave me a comment, I do love to hear from my visitors!

Double time masking

Two more CHF background challenges today - double time and masking.

The double time challenge asked us to use two or more background stamps in our designs. A friend had asked me to make a birthday card for her dad who is keen on vintage trains so I combined paisley (reminiscent of smoke from the funnel?) and broad stripe to evoke the tracks and made this...



Supplies: Paisley and Broad stripe backgrounders (both Cornish Heritage Farms), vintage train (unknown), ticket from Journey set (Crafty Secrets), sentiment from HOTP set. Brilliance Graphite Black, Tim Holtz Distress ink Antique Linen, Tea dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, watercolour pencil, scoring board, small circle punch (for ticket corners on main panel).

Broad stripe made another appearance for the masking challenge to pretty up a box to hold some notelets I made for my mum's birthday. The box originally held Belgian chocolates - a gift from one of DH's business trips to Europe but obviously I had to consume those rather quickly as the box was the perfect size for the notelets I'd made! I stamped the Daisy Jar on a piece of cardstock cut to fit the lid and then masked it to stamp the background.



Supplies: Daisy Jar and Broad stripe backgrounder (both Cornish Heritage Farms), Adirondack Cool Peri, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Clearnsap Chalk ink wisteria, Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, satin ribbon, empty chocolate box!

Both of these projects take advantage of the fact that with just a little fancy footwork, you can extend Broad stripe sideways and still have it looking perfect if your project is wider than the stamp - love it!

Thanks for your visit today, I hope you enjoyed it!

Fade away

The second challenge in Cornish Heritage Farms' Background Blitz was to use partial stamping of a BG on a project. I did a couple of things for this. The first one I combined with a competition on Crafts by Carolyn for a spring or summer themed card.



Polka dot backgrounder was partially inked and stamped at the top left. I used Michelle Zindorf's highlight/lowlight technique on the stamped swirls and the lovely flower came from Karen who slipped little packs of extras into the envelope when she coordinated a rubber stamped image swap on Bubbly Funk - thank you Karen!

Supplies: Polka dot BG,, Wishing You Sunny Days, Beautiful (all Cornish Heritage Farms), Clearsnap Fluid Chalk ink Tangerine, DCWV white core cardstock, sandpaper, white and metallic orange gel pens, embroidery thread, circle punch, fabric flower from Karen

The second one used a completely different approach - I inked the whole Woodgrain background and then used a baby wipe to remove a rough circle of ink where I wanted to stamp the bird. I used the faux burned edges technique to add depth to the edges.



Supplies: Woodgrain backgrounder and Time to Stamp(Cornish Heritage Farms), Bird Notes (Crafty Secrets), Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen, Tea dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain), Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump

Thanks for stopping by, we'll be stamping on something other than paper tomorrow!

Hot n Spicy!

The DCM team have issued a group dare this week - hot 'n spicy. We can interpret that any way we like so here's mine - you can click through for a closer view...



The chilli pepper was hand drawn and coloured with Prismacolor pencils blended with Sansodor. I messed up what I wanted to do a couple of times which resulted in it being cut out and used in a different way than I originally planned! Still, I quite like the extra little bit of dimension!

I used the faux burnt edges technique (tutorial here at Cornish Heritage Farms) and I thought a stamp to say the chilli had passed the censors in Bombay would be a fun finishing touch:o)

Supplies: Weathered Wood backgrounder (CHF), Passed Censor stamp (Alluring Impressions), Prismacolor pencils/OMS/stump, Tim Holtz distress inks (Fired Brick, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain), Tria marker, Copic blender pen

Hope your weekend has been a good one, may the spice be with you ;o)