Keep walking

More postcards for my dad and brother. Walking seemed to be figuring large in the news (Captain Tom’s fantastic fundraising efforts with his laps of his garden capturing hearts and minds) and in people’s lives more generally as their daily exercise. So, a walking theme it was...

I stamped the boots simply and just added a halo of pale blue round them, grounded them with a numbers border (to represent step count) and used alphabet stamps to create the wording, adding a bit of colour with a marker as they’re outline letters.

I’m tending to add a bit of Microglaze to my postcards these days, just to give them a bit of protection as they go through the post. I just apply with my finger and once it’s buffed with a bit of kitchen towel the application is completely smooth and invisible.

Stamps:
Combat boots (Deep Red Stamps)
Alphabet set (Hero Arts)
Numbers border (Kaisercraft)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Evergreen Bough)

Other:
Copic markers
Corner Chomper
Microglaze

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are keeping well.

Travelogue

Kathy is setting the challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week - she’s sending us on a travelogue! Anything to do with travel whether that be aeroplanes or suitcases, cars or compasses - what does “travel” say to you?

I’m sharing a card I actually made for an event at Splitcoast Stampers recently since my skills of organisation have gone to pot! I can’t tell you what the challenge was there but I thought it fit the travel theme so here it is!

I think my adventurer has gone for a swim in a beautiful lake - let’s hope those boots are still there when he gets back!

There’s a useful tutorial here to help if you fancy stretching your stamps and putting them into watery or icy settings!

Stamps:
Combat Boots by Deep Red Stamps
Sentiment from Essential Messages by Hero Arts (I think it's retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint)

Other:
Copic markers
White paint pen by Posca
Corner Chomper
MISTI to help me get the sentiment straight!

Thanks for stopping by!

Waving goodbye

Svenja has set the challenge for us this week at Daring Cardmakers - she'd like us to take time to say goodbye (retirement, leaving a job, sympathy, flying the nest, bon voyage etc).

This is actually a card I made during my time on the Splitcoast Stampers Dirty Dozen but this week has gone a bit pear shaped in terms of making anything and I thought the idea of saying farewell as someone sets off on a trip fit the theme so I decided to share this one.

The background is a piece that had been in my scraps pile forever. I thought it made a nice vibrant backdrop for the boots - a bit like a weird landscape and stormy clouds!

I stamped the image on the panel and then again on a scrap of white card, cut it out and popped it up just slightly with some gel glue.

Stamps:
Combat Boots by Deep Red Stamps
Sentiment from Journey set by Crafty Secrets (no longer with us)

Paper:
Hot press watercolour
Smooth white

Ink:
Graphite Black Brilliance by Tsukineko
Tim Holtz Distress reinkers by Ranger (Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord)

Other:
Fine line black marker
Pinflair glue gel

Thanks for stopping by!

If you go down to the woods...

It's Enfys's turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers and she's sending us down to the woods - make a card featuring anything that makes you think of the great outdoors: camping trips, woodland walks, picnics....

I went a bit "Victorian naturalist" on this one with a little watercolour study on a clean and simple card.

I stamped with Antique Linen and used the faint lines to do some borderless colouring. It's always useful to have the index image or to stamp the image in a dark ink on scrap paper to refer to when you do this, it lets your eye see the faint imprint better somehow.

Once the mushrooms were painted, I masked them and stamped in some grass and then added a weeny sentiment.

Stamps:
Mushrooms by Deep Red
Grasses by Inkylicious
Sentiment from Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse Stamps (no longer with us)

Paper: cold press watercolour

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Linen and Peeled Paint to stamp, plus Vintage Photo and Tumbled Glass for the watercolouring)
Pearlescent Chocolate Brilliance by Tsukineko

Other: Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by! Do have a look at the variety of ideas from the Daring Cardmakers - lots of fab takes on this theme!

Camper van!

We had a camper van when I was a kid - not quite like this one (ours wasn't old enough to have the split screen) but near enough for this stamp to bring back some memories of family holidays in Devon/Cornwall and Scotland. I thought that might make it a good choice for a father's day card for my dad.

I went for clean and simple with just the stamped image (coloured blue since that was the colour of our van) and some stenciled chevrons.

I added just a touch of textural interest by using Grunge Paste through the stencil and then colouring over the raised bits with Copics once dry and cutting out the body of the van and raising it a tiny bit on some gel glue over the same image stamped on the card base. I added a tiny bit of doodled detail on the coloured chevrons, too.

Stamps:
VW Bus by Deep Red Stamps
Father's Day Centers by CHF (retired)

Ink:
Brilliance Graphite Black by Tsukineko

Other:
Hearts and Arrows stencil by The Crafter's Workshop
Grunge Paste by PaperArtsy
Copic markers
Fineline marker
Pinflair Glue Gel
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

Hello!

Gah, what happened to September?! I had a holiday in August so I can excuse myself for that absence but September is another matter!

I've been doing a bit of crafting but nothing I could share. I've just managed a bit of time at the stamping table for a clean and simple card for the current That's Crafty challenge which is to keep it simple. That's Crafty is one of my regular shopping haunts but I tend to forget they host a challenge, too!

These Doc Martens are fun for masculine cards, maybe even for those pesky teenagers! I masked them so
that I could let them overlap the stencilled strip that's acting as an "anchor". As it's a slightly grungy design, I stamped the numbers border through the stencil, figuring that if it didn't make perfect contact at the edges that would be fine (it's actually pretty good, the stencil is not too thick). I doodled round the chevrons as well to make that border a bit more defined.

I finished it off with a few dots of Enamel Accents (not because I needed to cover up a stray ink smudge; who could think such a thing?).

Stamps:
Doc Marten Boots by Deep Red Stamps
Numbers border by Kaisercraft
Essential Messages by Hero Arts

Ink:
Versafine Onyx Black
Distress Mowed Lawn

Other:
Hearts and Arrows stencil by Crafter's Workshop
Black fineline marker
Enamel Accents

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a lovely weekend!